Akiko Yano is a female Japanese pop/jazz singer and also a pianist. This was her debut album (she has another one from this year according to discogs) and apparently it made a splash in the scene for its unique sound. In retrospective I don't think it's that unique considering that in the 70s there were a lot of more experimental Japanese "sort of" mainstream artists but the hype should not detract the actual value of this record. The music is a big salad of all kinds of styles but if we tried we could pin it on psychedelic pop? Maybe? The album starts with a relatively jazzy track that devolves into scat singing solo by Akiko. As we go on with the tracks you'll notice more congas getting ever present. But they stop and the music take a more Japanese turn in sound. After a while it tones down and when you reach track six it's all happy piano ballad with prog rock weirdness in the back. The album is glued together with a consistently great vocal performance by Akiko in all of the tracks. For some it might be over-expressive but if you're used to jazzy vocals you should not have a problem with this. As with music her singing changes styles often but she seems mostly comfortable in all of the settings. This album is a journey, if you're up for one then you're bound to have a good time. Background listening this is not.
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