2.12.10

Kan Mikami - Yūyake no kioku kara (1977)



夕焼けの記憶から (Yūyake no kioku kara) from 三上寛 (Kan Mikami) was released in 1977 on Victor Japan. The title translates to 'From Memories of Sunset'. It was recorded in Aomori as the subtitle tells us (青森ライブ, Aomori Live). The date is not specified.
The tracklist is as follows:
1. よいしょよいしょ
2. 小便だらけの湖
3. 誰を怨めばいいのでございましょうか
4. オートバイの失恋
5. あっぱれ、あっぱれ
6. 青森県北津軽郡東京村
7. 夢は夜ひらく~あしたのジョーなんかきらいだ
8. なんてひどい唄なんだ
9. Bang!
10. 教訓110番

Or in rōmaji:
1. Yoisho yoisho
2. Shōben-darake no mizūmi
3. Dare o urameba ii no de gozaimashō ka?
4. Ōtobai no shitsuren
5. Appare, appare
6. Aomori-ken Kitatsugaru-gun Tōkyō-mura
7. Yume wa yoru hiraku - Ashita no Joe nanka kirai da
8. Nante hidoi uta na n da
9. Bang!
10. Kyōkun 110ban

The first track doesn't appear anywhere else in Mikami's work. A pity, it's a nice little track I would have loved to hear on a studio album. The title seems to be a mishearing of 良い死を、良い死を (yoi shi o, yoi shi o; 'a good death, a good death'), if I made that out correctly from the liner notes. But what with my lousy Japanese skills and the crazy-small fonts on my CD reissue here (seems to be a facsimile of an original gatefold vinyl jacket), who knows.
Track 2 is from the debut album 三上寛の世界 (Mikami Kan no sekai, 1971). The song title means 'Lake Full of Piss'.
Track 3 (my tentative translation: 'Whom would it be allright for me to curse?') and 6 (which seems to reimagine Tokyo as a village in the Kitatsugaru district of Aomori prefecture) are from the third studio album ひら'夢などあるじゃなし (Hiraku yume nado are ja nashi, 1972).
Track 4 ('Unrequited Love of a Motorcycle'?) and 5 ('Bravo, Well Done!') are from the seventh studio album (and at that point the last one), simply entitled 寛 (Kan, 1975).
Track 7, the centrepiece if you will, is a spine-chilling rendition of what was possibly Mikami's signature track in the early days, even if he didn't write it (it is originally by Keiko Fuji (藤圭子)). Yume wa yoru hiraku ('The Dream Opens at Night') pops up on several of his live and studio albums starting with the debut (I have 8 different recordings of it here, with varying lyrics), but nowhere is it as emotionally wrenching as here on this recording, where it segues into a second half, the title of which means 'I Hate Stuff Like Tomorrow's Joe').
Tracks 8 ('What a Terrible Song!') and 9 are from the fifth studio album, the experimental Bang! (1974). Too bad he didn't perform its stunning opening track that night.
The last track ('Lesson no. 110') isn't on any of the studio albums, but was recorded live on 2 other occasions (that I know of): on the compilation albums '71中津川全日本フォークジャンボリー実況 ('71 Nakatsugawa Zen-Nihon Fōku Janborī Jikkyō, that is to say the '71 Nakatsugawa All-Japanese Folk Jamboree Live) and on 1974 Hobo's Concerts III.
As far as live recordings of singer-songwriters go, this is impossible to beat in my book. There would be many more Mikami live albums in later years (9 altogether by my count), but this is the one, folks. Goosebumps every time.

Files have been tagged in Japanese. 320kbps.

Buy the 2006 CD reissue on Showboat, or try first.

OMG! Reupped once more!

8 comments:

  1. really beautiful album. Yoisho yoisho blew my mind and I've been listening to mikami for a while...

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  2. Hi! Could You please re-upload this album. For a while now I've wanted to try Kan Mikami's older stuff.

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  3. Your wish has also been granted!

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  4. Thank you so much! Kan is amazing, all thanks to you for this amazing discovery =)

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  5. I know I'm late but could you please reupload it one last time for a music lover down in South Africa.

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