5 More Private Press/Rare Albums I Bought (That Are Actually Kind of Good)

It has been a long time since I last posted on this blog. I've been quite busy with school work and college applications, but I am finally back. I am here to share 10 more rare or self-released albums that I encountered on my way of randomly buying stuff from the disc market. This article is a continuation of a previous one I wrote for this blog last year. You can see it here.

So, without further to do, let's get to these rare albums.

1. Minobu Takahasi - Restart 

Year: 1998

Label: Not On Label

Upon seeing this album cover, I knew it is a self-released album. The bad image quality as well as the serif typography used on the cover art all just screams private press. I had no idea what kind of album this is, but looking at the cover art, my experience tells me that this album is likely to align with what I dig for. 

And boy does it align well. Despite the low sound quality and the cheap synth sound on everything, "Restart" is actually a very well-composed and well-arranged album. Highlights on the album include upbeat city pop arrangement "あの空を忘れない", instrumental mid-tempo jazz-funk "City Lights", and "Simulation Lovers", which probably took some inspiration from Tatsuro Yamashita's "Someday". Other tracks are not bad too. Most ballad tracks are groovy and would fit in the city pop realm. Some even reminded me of Toshiki Kadomatsu's ballad works. 

The album's packaging is very crude. You do have all of the lyrics and credits in the album booklet, but it looks like it was printed by a cheap home printer on recycled paper. The disc is plain white with a sticker that states "Restart Minobu Takahashi". The back cover is just a photo of Takahashi walking on the beach with his email and website below. The tray also includes an advertisement for the company that presumably helped to press the disc. 

Minobu Takahashi's website was archived by the Way Back Machine, you can see it here.

2. C. Moon - Current

Year: 1998

Label: Alpha Agency STMY-0001

I picked this one up for a little bit more: about 300 yen. The album cover looks right. It feels fuzzy and somehow reminds me of the term "light mellow", which is why I bought it. 

My predictions were correct. Most of the songs did turn out to be light and mellow, but they were ballads that are too slow to be enjoyable. The only good song is "Silence", which is actually what I thought this album would mostly contain. "Silence" is a mid-tempo funky pop song that reminds me of Momoko Kikuchi's works, though "Silence" does not feel as airy. If Momoko Kikuchi's albums feel like sitting on the windy deck of a cruiseliner staring at the ocean, this song feels like sitting in the couch in your living room and looking at a picture of the ocean.

3. Mo' Better - Sea of Love

Year: 1997

Label: Garage One GOMB-0001

According to the album insert, "Mo' Better" is a five-piece chorus group consisting of "BOSS", "KAZZ", "ATSUSHI", "KATSUHIRO", and "KOUDAI". The album is very chorus-heavy. "Mo Groove" is the only good song from this album. I can really see the effort of the group to merge their chorus into the funk arrangement of this song. 

4. V.A. - Girls Meeting Compilation Vol.1

Year: 2002

Label: Girls Meeting Label GMCP-1001

"Girls Meeting" seems to be some sort of contest to find potential female singers. However, it probably did not attract any attention, because I literally cannot find any information on this CD online except for the original archived official page.

The album was produced by Muneo Teruya, and the linked song is composed by 大竹智勇. The album includes songs of various styles, but if I were to sum it up, it is a crossover of R&B and early 2000s electronic music. 

5. Kenji Ise - Together

Year: 2012

Label: On Brace OB-0001

Kenji Ise is a Japanese saxophonist who studied under Japanese saxophone master Hidefumi Toki. This is his first album. 

This one is probably the least rare album on this list, but it is definitely the hottest and the one I definitely do not want to miss. From hot fusion jams to city pop-like tunes to romantic ballads, Kenji Ise demonstrated just how versatile he is as a composer and an arranger. All tracks on this album are of extraordinary quality, both in terms of arrangement and instrumental performance. 

Of the 8 tracks recorded, M1, M2, M5, and M7 are funky fusion jams with no vocal. M3 is a song with a vocal that has city pop flavors, but the arrangement is simpler than M1 and M2. M4 and M6 are ballads. M8 is a slower, rock-like arrangement.

Generally speaking, "Together" is a fusion album. There are lots of solos here and there, but some songs are definitely produced with the style of AOR and city pop in mind. The result is an album that oozes funk from start to finish. It is an album that gave me goosebumps when I first heard it because it is way better than I expected. I would definitely recommend it to J-fusion fans.

Kenji Ise actually has a working website. You can check the credits for this album there. He also seems to have a new album coming out soon, titled "Burnout", which is mentioned in this tweet from him.