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The story of the 70s supergroups is well-known: it almost seemed like there was a race to see who could assemble the greatest names under one banner. Around the middle of that decade, Japanese percussionist and composer Yamashita Tsutomu, much better known as Stomu Yamash'ta or even more simply as Stomu Yamashta, gathered some almost exaggerated names from various backgrounds. Electronic and cosmic kraut for Klaus Schulze, soul, blues, rhythm and blues for Steve Winwood, jazz rock for Michael Shrive and Al di Meola, jazz and blues for Jerome Rimson. This diverse group produced a studio album under the name of Go and this live recording is the direct consequence. Recorded at the Palais des Sports in Paris on June 12, 1976, it was released with a decidedly high mix and sound quality, even by today's standards.
The album mirrors the studio work and, while reordering some sequences, remains quite faithful to the original import, which featured suites that were not too long, divided into tracks with direct impact and short duration, often very different from each other. It is crucial for the overall sound to consider that all the musical composition is by Yamashta, hence the predominant sounds, very Japanese, merge with jazz, soul, pop, funky and electronics forming a rather unique whole. Each of the great musicians mentioned above has the space and, of course, the ability to infuse a bit of their own ego into the tracks, giving in to rich moments of great sonic transport.
If everything starts with the synths of Schulze and Yamashta taking center stage, gradually as the concert takes shape, scenarios of decisive variety intersect, among tracks that cross Santana and Spencer Davis Group ("Ghost Machine"), Traffic and Japanese tradition ("Windspin" and "Winner/Luser"), Sly & the Family Stone with Pink Floyd ("Crossing The Line"), up to the funky blues ethnic ballad "Nature" where we find a vibrant and captivating Winwood like we have rarely heard before and up to the long and expansive "Man Of Leo" dominated by a phenomenal Al di Meola, who improvises, at times, as an emulator of Zappa, Page, Rundgren, Holdsworth and pushes beyond, up to imitating himself and the dazzling adventures of Return to Forever. As with the beginning, the finale is dedicated to the synths, in an electronic space hyperbole of Schulze.
An album that makes eclecticism its own sense, transversal like few, rich in everything without belonging to anything and anyone, excellent in composition, excellent in technique, captivating without a moment of superfluous. Simple, direct, but never trivial.
Stomu Yamashta - Go Live From Paris (1976) -- Sioulette
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