1971 WL promo red wax Masahiko Sato and Sound-Breakers “Amalgamation” on Liberty.

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Here's another streaking comet I’ve been after for what seems like my entire life (probably while still in the womb, Natal Me was longing for its brilliant clangor), that finally landed as a result of The Great Wax Purge. It took some major negotiation, but in the end I suppose was worth the wait (weight?) after all, and immediately got shelved in the special Wax Safe Room beneath the castle, not the fake one full of Albanian Rolexes to fool looters, but there real one with the three-meter thick magnetic steel door, lab-quality air filtration system, hydraulic locks, humidity control, and round-the-clock guard suspended from the ceiling in a Kevlar suit.

Man I love this record even more than I love owning this record, but they’re close. I mean, of all the music I transitorily own, I think the package of this one, meaning art, design, feel, thickness, pressing, label, is one of the best. I like to stare at it sometimes. Other times I look at it obliquely, in a sideways stance, like you do with an unleashed German Shepherd you’re not entirely sure is friendly.

And the music? CRUSHES FRONTAL LOBE.

​I dunno, maybe it’s just me, but I’m a pure sucker for out-experimental, funky pastiche, organ jazzer, political jazz-rock, cinematic, attention-deficit, lunatic, balls out hammer jamming with a side of classical composition tossed in for spice. Sidemen? Oh, only Kimio MIZUTANI slanging crazy git, Hiro YANAGIDA stomping organ runs, and Masaoki TERAKAWA plucking mad bass, plus, of course, the keyboard (Ring Modulation) chops of the master, Mr. Sato(h). Plus Louis Hayes getting seriously heavy on drums! Which both makes perfect and no sense at all. The badboy comes in two parts, which is good because there are two sides, both extended excursions of the highest order. Are they “songs”? Not really. “Suites”? That’s closer. “Experimental Wig-outs”? Now we’re talking. Yeah, “Amalgamation (Kokotsu No Showa Genroku)” is THE BOMB. Nuff said.