Japanese Electric Foundation
Open Your Eyes
Don’t You Care
Green Tambourine
The Japanese Electric Foundation was a one-off project comprised of several Japanese musicians, the most notable of them being Hiroshi Matsuda and Hideyuki Nozawa, who are both in the Japanese megagroup Southern All-Stars.
Southern All-Stars are a ridiculously big deal here in Japan, probably the biggest rock band of all-time. Bigger than YMO, bigger than Mr. Children, bigger than X Japan. They’ve been around for 40 years and have more hit singles than any band ever.
I don’t like them. I think they’re kind of boring. But hey what do I know?
Anyways, I didn’t know that this was a SAS side-project when I bought it, I just gave it a quick listen at the record store because of the name (I misread it as “electronic” and assumed technopop or new wave). It’s actually reminiscent of the Madchester scene of the late-80s, which is really incredible considering this came out in 1986, well before most notable Madchester releases by acts like The Happy Mondays and The Stone Roses dropped.
I think the sonic similarities are just a coincidence. Madchester is psychedelic electronic rock music. This is electronic-influenced covers of psychedelic pop music from the 60s and 70s, so the commonalities make sense.
There are non-covers on this album, but to be honest they’re the weaker tracks, sounding much more like generic Japanese rock music of the era. I prefer these covers by far. As far the original versions go, you probably know “Green Tambourine,” the psych-classic by The Lemon Pipers. You also most likely know “Don’t You Care,” which was originally performed by The Buckinghams (trust me, you know it). Finally, there’s “Open My Eyes” which was originally a Nazz song, Nazz being the psychedelic group fronted by Todd Rundgren. I vaguely recognize the original, but for me it’s the most obscure of the three, it’s also the best of the bunch, really good arrangement.
The psychedelic pop music of America and the UK was hugely influential for Japanese musicians, even leading the way for an entire genre of music in Japan that was known as “group sounds,” which was Western style rock music meshed with Japanese pop music from the 60s. Go to YouTube and check out The Spiders if you want to hear some of that. The Southern All-Stars were never a “group sounds” band, but they were no doubt influenced by them, and I have to imagine that played a big part in this side-project of theirs choosing the cover songs that directly led to that genre. Also Todd Rundgren is fucking huge in Japan so there’s that.
I wish they would’ve kept this group up for a bit. The original tunes aren’t great, but who cares? The covers are so original and fun that they more than make up for it. And who knows? With a bit more influence from the burgeoning Madchester scene, this group really could’ve been something.
Or they could’ve just given us an entire LP of Rundgren covers, who’s to say.