2 posts tagged “手島いさむ”
You might find this hard to believe but I am actually quite shy, and the more I like an artist the harder it is for me to write about them. This is the most difficult post I have written so far. Difficult because it's so hard to convey my awe and amazement satisfactorily.
As I was saying last time I was hugely impressed by Abe Yoshiharu after watching the Unicorn reunion dvd, and listening to all the stunning Unicorn albums. There was something very mysterious about his intense level of charisma, something very unusual about him generally, that I just couldn't figure out.
Then I watched Unicorn movie 3.
@______@
And it all fell into place. Abe B suddenly made total sense. I was completely astonished by his performance. I just LOVE being surprised like that. Surprised and totally enchanted. It felt as if I had arrived home at last after a whole lifetime of wandering. I won't spoil it by going into detail, but everything about that live is stunning. They are on full throttle as a band, incredibly powerful and subtle at the same time. It's a total treat to watch from start to finish. You can see from their faces they know they are peaking musically. I think they are getting so much pleasure from what they do that it becomes a totally magical event, superceding anything I have seen from rock music before. Quite appropriate that the tour is called Beast of a Storm (Kedamo no Arashi) because it really is a totally cyclonic performance.
It is certainly Abe Bs energy that sets them all off, opening with such a blistering and highly dramatic performance of CSA. There is something quite Kiba-esque about the way he sings and moves in this song. So much impact! I am really awed! And its not just because he also does some really pretty moves and wears his silks so beautifully. I am full of admiration for anyone with good kung fu, but on its own it's nothing unusual. What IS unusual is every other facet of his talent combined.
.
Of course the voice is paramount. I have been listening to his solo while I paint the last few weeks, and I am totally addicted to his breathy warm honey tones. And thrilled by all that leonine roaring. Such a beautiful paradox that he can be so gentle and also so fierce. I suspect this is a large component of his fatal attraction, which is amply illustrated in movie 4...
He also writes the most wonderful songs, and has an inate gift for instrumentation. He is a real composer, not just a songwriter.
*sighs*
And so funny too. They all are. How could they not be? They are far too intelligent to not be funny.
All this impresses me much more than kung fu, but the combination is unstoppable. I have honestly NEVER seen anyone burn up the stage like he does. He has that quality about him that just draws your attention like a vortex. I think it's partly because he so very engaged. So dedicated and involved in what he is doing, genuinely loving playing with the crowd, and doing his mad beautiful cabaret. He is an incredibly courageous performer, a natural actor and a gifted dancer too. A born artiste. Made for the stage. There is this other thing I've noticed about him too. His ability to absorb the energy from an audience, so that the more adulation he gets the more he seems to literally glow with it. I wonder if when you do this you get their pain as well as their joy?
Oh and about 1173. My friend AlienMaskedCreature figured out what this means. "Ai no keyword 1173" is a line from the WAO! single Abe wrote which has been translated into English here.
11 is ii which is good.
7 is nana, so na
3 is mi
so "ii nami" = GOOD WAVE
The Keyword of Love is a Good Wave.
I totally agree with this statement needless to say. :)
Because I say so fool!
:D
Actually I was among the last to know, but in a way that makes it all so much more fun. I have had lots of catching up to do. I have been listening to the albums continuously recently, since being totally mind blown by the reunion dvd, and they are all spectacular. What is most stunning about this band is their originality, versatility and their musical skill. I cannot find anyone to compare them to East or West. Unique Unicorn. If anyone deserves world wide fame it is them, or maybe looking at it from the other direction, we all need their soul medicine most urgently in these end times. Whether or not the world is capable of comprehending them is another question. Perhaps having never experienced good music they are no longer capable of recognizing it.
The whole phenomena of the Eighties band boom in Japan is quite unique. There was no such creative flowering in the West at that time. Of course there were buds, but mostly these ended up shriveled on the bush due to the fact that the corporate swill machine had taken effective control of popular rock and pop. Any original successful musicians around in the Eighties had usually already become established in the Seventies. Of course the Eighties now seem almost interesting in comparison with the oceans of bland shite that have followed in the last two decades, but the fact remains music was dead and buried in the West.
Strange then that Japan should have not one great band but a dozen, and probably many more I am as yet unaware of. Strange and very delightful, from the point of view of someone just discovering it all. It's almost like someone rewrote the Eighties, and made it cool. XDD
It has to be said, I was at first blinded by the Tamio. I guess it's to be expected, as I am particularly interested in vocals, and he is the best. I have heard his singing described as Rococco or maybe you could even say Baroque. Whatever it is its way beyond the skill level of any other rock musician. He is not just technically skilled either but fully connected heart and soul and beyond. Totally spectacular really. And his solo is an epic sonic adventure that I am still half way through.
But all of them together is something else again. It's a very powerful magic, and you only really understand how it beautifully it works when you see them live. Now I think the others are all just as cool as Tamio, and I love all of their songs and personalities and I love the chemistry they all have together. Every member of this band can and does do everything brilliantly. They swap roles and instruments continually. This makes for an amazing show, a collective experience that demonstrates the ultimate truth that we are all stars. I guess that's why they have always been so empowering and powerful. Though of course there is probably a great deal I am missing out on. The feeling coming from the vast crowd was amazing. It was a really potent love helix they had going down. You could feel all the happy memories awakened by familiar songs, peoples life times coming around again, all the emotion of it. They generated so much warmth and affection. They are basically a happiness machine, which in these times is a very good thing to have handy. It's a funny thing just how truly world changing something like that can be.
And I have to admit, I was totally starstruck by Abe Yoshiharu. For his electric charisma on stage, and also for the gorgeous songs he wrote for the reunion. He is the Fire Starter. Unicorn are two snake trees grown wild and profuse in the earth of Nishikawa Koichi, and the water of the fluid fingered Tessy, then set on fire by the mad pyromaniac Professor Abe. Ebi is the Yin snake and Tamio the Yang, so they make a very pretty spectacle especially when all lit up. What is most cool about Abe B though, are his transformations. He hovers behind his wall of keyboards looking all sultry and boffinish and then suddenly he explodes out into crazy karate Elvis pastiches! ADORABLE! XD
