Susumu Hirasawa (Mandrake) -- Iriyou Hachi no Yuuwaku（いりよう蜂の誘惑）

John Severns via Wikimedia Commons

 

I'll tell you...I get all kinds of images when I listen to this one by technopop pioneer Susumu Hirasawa（平沢進）. This is about the earliest that I've gone in his long career and "Iriyou Hachi no Yuuwaku" (Temptation of a Bee) is part of his discography when he was with the progressive rock band Mandrake. 

Mandrake was a band I mentioned in my previous Hirasawa article back in October for "Dummy no Sakuryaku"（ダミーの策略）. By the time that this particular song came out, the band was pretty much on its last legs and to be honest, I don't think "Iriyou Hachi no Yuuwaku" sounds really anything prog rock. It sounds as if Hirasawa really wanted to show off this wonderful new genre called technopop. Anyways, "Iriyou Hachi no Yuuwaku" was a track on the compilation record titled "Synthetic Space" which was released in 1978.

Starting off with a ticking that reminded me of a disco version of the theme from the famed American newsmagazine show "60 Minutes" and then some really furious tearing out of pages from a book, the synths in this one really do sound as if a bee were falling into temptation. Then, it goes into something out of a Tex Avery cartoon before there is an ominous fadeout and fade-in which takes we listeners into a fearsome odyssey out of yet another 1980s "Doctor Who" episode. The intrepid bee comes sonically back leading to an apocalyptic conclusion...maybe this is the Butterfly Effect brought to its ultimate power. I can't even imagine what the production staff must have thought when this was recorded.