Shinki Chen
Shinki Chen & His Friends

What can we say about someone who has had the privilege of being affectionately dubbed, not without (benevolent) irony, the "Japanese Jimi Hendrix"...? First and foremost, it's essential to clarify: for the person in question, such labels are far too limiting, and they truly do not account for a legendary (as well as mysterious) personality of Japanese "underground". We are talking about Shinki Chen, a guitar idol of the local scene (in fact, one of the very first Japanese Rock musicians ever), an artist who has been rediscovered over the years even in the West, where he has now risen to the status of a cult artist, known to very few and appreciated especially by followers of Acid Rock and certain German Kosmische Musik. His remarkable albums, both solo and as a collaborator on various alternative projects, are rare treasures for collectors around the world, as well as objects of true idolization (the term is not an exaggeration) by fans of such underground music gems.

Born in Yokohama on May 30, 1949, Shinki Chen was fortunate to in participate youth bands that reflected much of the new musical trends of the '60s, from Surf to Rock'n'Roll, from electric Blues to imported Beat (with London and Liverpool being the inevitable points of reference, and Kinks and Yardbirds as our most adored groups); except for a short stint on drums, the guitar had always been his favorite instrument, which he had decided to play professionally from then on, experimenting with new sounds and avant-garde techniques with an almost "artisan" flair; these were the years when the use of the "fuzz" distortion was rampant, characteristic of the contemporary California scene and destined to become a constant in Chen's style: a harsh, rough, corrosive, distinctly "freak" style in philosophy, open to various dissonances and noise as well as unexpected moments of fluidity and lyricism. He had therefore become a member of Powerhouse, a group made famous in their homeland (and beyond) for live renditions of classics like "Spoonful" and "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl," also the namesake of a rare and only LP in 1969. After this group also dissolved, Chen had formed the short-lived Foodbrain (one album for them as well), before also participating in the Japanese version of the musical "Hair."

The only production under his name is therefore the present "Shinki Chen & Friends" (1971), simultaneously the most well-known album in the sparse discography associated with Our Subject (and notable also for its splendid cover portrait); the support band, or "Friends" as the title alludes, comprises musicians with a predominant Rock-Blues orientation, yet with definite acid-progressive influences that give the tracks a sense of precariousness, of constant unpredictability. Far from being simple secondary players, the leader's three companions (who is also a singer and performer of all the lead guitar parts) are reliable, confident instrumentalists, especially adept at exploiting timbres perfectly suited to the sound context in question. They are George Yanagi on bass, Shinichi Nogi on drums, and the experienced organist Hiro Yanagida, who had already collaborated with Chen during the Foodbrain period. The seven tracks in the repertoire are so many stages of an ideal trip (needless to emphasize the musicians' drug use) dominated by the guitar and the unusual sounds of Yanagida's "treated" Hammond, capable of offering glimpses of rare intensity and beauty; sluggish and sinister at times is the progression of the bass while percussion is filtered, almost muffled by the peculiar mixing (drawn close are the sound experiments of the tougher Beatles of the "White Album," or "Helter Skelter," to be clear). To suitably complete a sound portrait that is already fully defined (and unquestionably original, despite unavoidable references) is Chen's assertive vocality, whose timbres lie halfway between those of John Wetton and James Litherland of Colosseum: a voice suitable for the group's alienated Blues, but devoid of the dark and austere inflections imposed by the genre's standards; equally distant is the stubborn preference for the shrill and emphatic tones of certain period Hard singers; a voice that sounds reverberated, at times unsettling, incisive enough to make its way through a sound wall sometimes thin, sometimes constant, and impenetrable. Finally considering the undeniably "low-budget" conditions in which the album was produced, the production quality can be considered more than good (if not excellent).

Experimental, I would say almost bewildering is the debut of "The Dark Sea Dream": reverse tape play and guitar feedback fill an ensemble with more uncertain outlines than ever, halfway between the dreamlike suspension of blatantly "cosmic" atmospheres and the leader's furious instrumental lashings; the final result is however surprisingly assimilable, a testament to an approach that is anything but random and purely noise-driven. Extremely acidic Blues riffs carve through the beautiful "Requiem Of Confusion," in a chaos of filtered and "distant" sounds; the rhythmic fabric is more sustained in the subsequent "Freedom Of A Mad Paper Lantern," Jazz at the beginning and very similar, in the cadences, to that "Old Brown Shoe" George Harrison had signed just a year earlier, among the last pieces recorded by the Beatles. In the dreamy (and "pink-floydian") "Gloomy Reflections," the card of the "slow" is successfully attempted, with the organ creating astral and magnificent atmospheres, and the guitar performing enchanting embroideries. Hard is the approach in "It Was Only Yesterday," where Yanagida imitates Brian Auger, carving a solo space, and Chen engages in lightning-fast and majestic phrasing, while the long "Corpse" develops on minor tones and once again proceeds with a slowed pace (decisive here too are the organ's timely interventions, far from being a mere backdrop to the soloist's evolutions). The excellent insights already expressed throughout the album are finally confirmed and summarized in the concluding marathon (in vague Deep Purple style) of "Farewell To Hypocrites," structured in multiple sequences like an original and varied "acid" suite.

Four stars for a true legend that certain Psych-Rock enthusiasts are obliged to rediscover.