Flower Travellin' Band
Anywhere

They may have told you that "Satori" is a masterpiece.

"Satori" is not a masterpiece, it is a very good album. Very appreciable, aged so-so. Acidic and sharp guitars, mostly. Raga Rock or whatever they call it? That too. Vocal parts worth a complaint, though. Earplug-worthy. This is "Satori". Let's not burden it with unnecessary weight, it shouldn't be.

What is "Anywhere"? First of all, it is the debut of FTB. Not everyone is supposed to know this, because not everyone is Julian Cope - with my due respect for Julian Cope and the many wonderful things he did for me in the '80s. But above all, it is a modest record, very modest, at times embarrassing when compared to what many - many - English-speaking bands were doing in the '70s. A barely salvageable record, let's say. You can't cover your ears. You can't say this is an album that exceeds sufficiency, Japanese or not. Let's be serious - or try to be, as much as one can manage; and I'm saying this especially to you, Julian, you who considered this album so much as to make it the cover of your "Japrock..." or whatever it’s called. But I don't hold it against you, the cover is iconic, the cover is beautiful, but the cover doesn't make the album. Because then you listen to the album and it is not a pleasant listen, to be honest.

An "Intro" and an "Outro", to begin with, both played on a harmonica, which is quite bluesy - but the harmonica on "Dolce Di Giorno" scratched more, considering that those accompanying Lucio were the Dik Dik; yes, them, with all due respect for the Dik Dik. Intro and conclusion for what? Empty imitation of Western customs. It’s not a concept album, given that all the tracks are in English. And believe it, they are covers, not a single note composed by them. "Louisiana Blues" - McKinley Morganfield. I mean, these guys are really smoked up. I mean, even Jagger & Richards made a decent figure, especially in the early days, when they dared - and I mean dared - to engage with Muddy Waters' repertoire - oh, excuse me. And indeed the results are not good. The first part is quite hard in the style of Taste's "Sugar Mama" or "Catfish," so to speak, but they don't have Taste's technique and they stretch out a mediocre version of the blues for fifteen minutes, heavy enough, but without high points. The singer attempts high notes, a poor man's Jack Bruce, but if it already required all of Jack Bruce's will not to look bad on monsters like "Spoonful" and "Rollin' & Tumblin'," here the limit of decency is largely exceeded. The middle part is more psychedelic, certainly more interesting but boring, just to stretch things out and accumulate precious minutes for the album’s duration. 

"Black Sabbath" is better, in fact definitely the best track on the whole album and - in hindsight - a version that partly does justice to the original Sabbath track. I say partly because Iommi is not there, and if something like "Black Sabbath" is not played by Iommi, it loses half of its substance. But once again it is the singer who is pitiful, literally outraging Ozzy with a performance like a breathless Ian Gillan which, however, it must be said, doesn't manage to ruin everything because here the band is focused, it is in shape, we are already in the territory of "Satori." There, I hadn't finished saying it when one of the worst renditions of "House Of The Rising Sun" I've ever heard comes along. Acoustic, and the choice would also be spot-on. But the poor performer delivers a performance bordering on the irritating, violating what is a text of despair with his "di-di-di-du-du" between one verse and another which is something beyond comment. The instrumental part is decent, nothing special. Wouldn't it have been better to cover something else? Who knows. 

But here it is, for the grand finale - indeed - the final comedic acts. "21st Century Schizoid Man". I feel like swearing, but by now I have decided to find it amusing and not get angry. I say: but who are they, the Bi-Kyo-Ran, the only Japanese worthy of interpreting the King? No, simply FTB. Damn it. But I have to admit, the singer is brave, if nothing else. After Muddy Waters, Ozzy, and Eric Burdon, he even tries Lake. And here, in my opinion, he gives up from the start, it sounds like he's singing with his nose pinched. Better that way, less damage. Apart from the pronunciation, which I think he makes up the lyrics. Except for the title. But let's get to the musical part. No sax. And well, even the Crims of the Wetton period did without it. Nice guitar solo, nice but too conventional, Fripp's madness is light years away, here in my opinion the meaning of the piece is completely lost. Anyway more than listenable. Long bass solo, boring and useless, over drums that don't seem to know what they are up to, but at least manage to cause some racket. And the guitar resumes with those half-Arabic passages that don't fit. But the laughter comes at about 10:50 when they decide to imitate the well-known - very fast - unison passages that precede the theme's recapitulation. They perform them at half speed, the guitar misses more than one note and goes out of time more than once.

And that's when I turned it off, because it was truly too much.