Susumu Hirasawa Review Extravaganza, Part 1: Mandrake

To kick off my track-by-track review of everything that great man has ever done, I figured I'd start at the beginning: his little-known Prog band, Mandrake. I don't think it deserves such obscurity. I'll be reviewing its two albums, Unreleased Materials Vol. 1 and 2.

UNRELEASED MATERIALS VOL. 1

First off, you must know that I am a huge Progressive Rock fan. Finding out that Susumu Hirasawa, a man I love so very much, was in a Prog Rock band in the 70’s was a great moment for me. Why the heck is Mandrake not considered a classic band? It’s just as good as Yes or King Crimson ever was, I think. Although, I guess it’s for the same reasons why Susu is popular enough in Japan but nearly unknown anywhere else. Isn’t it sad~

This and its sister album were actually released in the 90’s, but the material was recorded in the 70’s.

This album certainly has its dull moments, but most of it consists of some of the best things I’ve heard. If the last song didn’t exist, and if the remaining songs had more memorable melodies, this would have gotten a 10.

8.5/10

KAZARI MADO NO DEKIGOTO

This is probably my favorite song. I mean that. Not just my favorite song in Susumu Hirasawa’s entire discography, but I mean my favorite song ever. It’s just perfect in every way. Classic Progressive Rock by one of my most beloved artists, not too long, not too short, never devolving into random instrument wankery like so many other Prog songs, incredibly beautiful… It’s great, no doubt about it. Now, I know some people dislike Prog Rock, I know it’s pretentious, I know it’s outdated, but as usual for me I don’t think that really matters. Everybody needs to hear this. I’m not going to pretend that my word is God, but I think this is one of the few songs where I have a right to gush about it. I don’t do it often, but this amazing and sadly obscure song deserves it. Go tell your relations. This is a perfect 10 in my book.
10/10

SYUMATSU NO KAIJITSU
Longer and less action-packed and memorable than the first track, but still absolutely lovely. Susumu’s guitar work and songwriting are great as usual, but his voice isn’t really suited to that typical Progressive Rock voice that you hear Jon Anderson, Geddy Lee and such singing in that he tries to imitate, and that I will now call The Shriek for short. Anyways, he tries to sing like that with this band, and it sounds alright but pretty strange. Also, being a classic Prog song, free up a little time to listen to it. It also has a few blank spots with nothing but a softly-playing keyboard, which is nice, but as you will see later in the reviews I am a bit impatient for slow songs. However, it doesn’t linger on these spots too long, which is great. The keyboardist, or whatever the word is, is very good anyways, so it stays relatively enjoyable.
9/10

OKASARETA KYUDEN
Another song that’s about 13 minutes long. I don’t know if it’s just me, but Susu’s voice is pretty quiet in this. This song is a bit heavier than the previous track, but I don’t think the tune is as good, and it certainly doesn’t even touch the first song on the album. There’s a sort of guitar solo a bit more than halfway through with synth as well that sounds pretty cool, and then Susu and the drums come in and it turns into what I think is the best movement of the song. Overall still pretty enjoyable, even if it goes on for a little too long.
8.5/10

SUKURAN NO TOBIRA
Arrgh! That noise at the beginning! Even when the tune starts up, it still sounds weird… But that’s not out of the ordinary for either the artist or the genre. Oh, did I mention this is nearly 20 minutes long? I think to myself, hey, I listened to all of Thick As A Brick in one go, this is nothing, honestly. But Thick As A Brick was generally more interesting than this. This song lapses in and out of having a tune and being instrument wankery, and when noodling around with your guitar takes up more than 3 minutes, well, it makes me just not want to listen to it anymore. The melodic parts are nothing special, but occasionally the noodling about produces an interesting riff that I would think would have been great if it was expanded on. I don’t really think Susu is singing in this song, and if he was, maybe he shouldn’t have sung with a head cold. Or is that just me?
4/10

UNRELEASED MATERIALS VOL. 2

This was recorded live, and I don’t know if it’s just me, but the sound quality is pretty bad. The song quality has taken a small dip too.

MANDRAGORA
The opening is pretty creepy-sounding, which I like. However, in a short while, it starts to sound like a bit like a typical late period P-Model track with more acoustic drums and stuff. That’s not to say it doesn’t still sound cool, but… Well, I’ll explain it once I hit a track later on that gives a good example of what I mean. Anyways, about 3 minutes in it gets really nice sounding. Susu’s voice comes in, and a concrete melody is formed, and the piece really comes together, for a while. After a drought, a new tune comes in near the 9 minute mark, and it’s KMND quality, I swear. However, the lead up to such a great ending section wasn’t great enough.
8.5/10

TALES FROM PORNOGRAPHIC OCEANS
Haha, very funny title, Susu. I’ll admit that I laughed when I saw it. Anyways, it kind of starts from where Mandragora left off, and it is near-instantly cool. Susu’s guitar work is underrated, let me say. It gets slower in the middle, and consists of keyboard noodling, mostly, but once Susu starts singing again, you know the drill, it gets interesting once again. So far, it seems to be a theme of the album’s songs to have a ridiculously good second half.
9/10

NAGARE NO HATE NI
The drums and keys that start this song off start nice, but soon get rather uninteresting. At least more parts are added to the riff before it stops at the 3-minute mark. Then there’s a bit of happy time with Yasumi Tanaka and his keyboard, as usual, although he’s good at making it sound alright. But suddenly, after about a minute of that, a fab guitar riff comes in, and everything is once again right with the world. But just as suddenly, it degenerates into eardrum-piercing cacophony. I won’t waste your time with further play-by-play, but it gets better. It’s hard to rate these songs because some bits are really good and others… aren’t.
8/10

IRIYOUBACHI NO YUUWAKU
This song starts with a lot of clocks ticking, which is interesting. Here is where you can see P-Model in this the most, just listen to that first keyboard bit! The little tune after is uplifting and slightly silly, and I like it. Then the tune switches, and it gets all King Crimson on you, if you know what I mean by that. This song is relatively short, but I think it’s a nice ending.
8.5/10