SAIICHI SUGIYAMA/SO AM I
Written and Produced by Pete Brown (the Cream lyricist) and Saiichi Sugiyama
This album was released in Japan in July 2004 and won critical acclaim by the Japanese rock and UK blues press. It is now being released in th [+]SAIICHI SUGIYAMA/SO AM I
Written and Produced by Pete Brown (the Cream lyricist) and Saiichi Sugiyama
This album was released in Japan in July 2004 and won critical acclaim by the Japanese rock and UK blues press. It is now being released in the US in August 2006 through CD Baby.
THE SESSION:-
Following directly on from 2002 collaboration with Pete Brown on the Japanese “Sunshine of Your Love” project, the work commenced on the recording for Saiichi's second solo album, "So Am I" in the spring of 2003. The sessions at Chapel Studios in Lincolnshire and also Fortress, Livingston, and Mark Angelo’s Studios in London were co-produced by Pete Brown and Saiichi.
The band consisted of Zoot Money (keys and vocals), Dave 'Clem' Clempson (rhythm guitar), David Hadley-Ray (bass), and Simon Edgoose (drums), with Pete on percussion and backing vocals. The resultant album is essentially about songs. The 14 tracks on the album show Saiichi expanding beyond the blues guitarist mode to embrace his Beatle and West Coast influences and give a nod to American R&B and Japanese ballads.
The opener, “A Cellar Full Of Noise,” is bursts out with a cacophony of vocals by Saiichi, Jim Stapley of the up and coming London rock band Dekko, and the amazing Rietta Austin as well as twin lead guitar by Ben Matthews of Thunder and Saiichi; not to mention some neat blues harp by John O’Leary of the original Savoy Brown Blues Band. “Student Susan” is essentially a Mersey Beat number with Pete Brown’s lyrics based on his real life encounter with a former girlfriend of the Beatles in his Liverpool days in 1964. There are also some blues guitar moments, notably one fiery blues instrumental featuring Saiichi, Clem, and Zoot playing lead in turn.
Saiichi and Pete flew out to Tokyo in May 2003 to capture harmony vocals by Mark Horiuchi, the former member of the legendary early '70s Japanese acoustic rock group GARO, who had a formative influence on Saiichi. Mark sang on five tracks, and the acoustic track “Seagull” in particular captures the magic of the CSNY era, Mark playing his signature acoustic lead guitar over the open tuning guitar texture laid down by Saiichi.
The title “So Am I” has a reference to the centerpiece of the album, the epic 8-minute “Old Samurai.”
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