 "They call me a human. I am a human being!"
So begins "The Question Mark," the 18 minute opener of "Love Will Make
A Better You," the debut from avant jazz rock band Love Live
Life + One. The man who has just alerted us to his
existence...the + One...is Akira Fuse, a 60s era vocalist more
known for light, mainstream pop than the free form, completely tripped
out psych jazz that makes up this album's five tracks. Historically
speaking, it's a bizarre match, like Tom Jones singing for King
Crimson. But it works, actually making the already out there songs even
more surreal.
And surreal is the word. Not just in terms of who was performing with
who, but in terms of the music itself, a tumultuous clatter of horns,
flutes, pop, and the chunky guitar of Foodbrain axeman Kimio Mizutani.
The closest comparison I can come up with would be mid 70s King
Crimson, particularly the livelier parts of "Islands" or "Larks Tongue
In Aspic." There's some genuine fire whipped up in "The Question Mark,"
as Mizutani's guitar spasms collide with the heavy, serious horns,
evoking a dark vitality that genuinely fuses the jazz and rock elements
into something altogether different. On headphones, it's unstoppable,
with the instruments strictly segregated in their assigned speakers,
70s style (why don't they mix them like that anymore?) As manic as it
gets, it never loses sight of the song, and when Fuse returns to his
mantra, more sure of himself, it's a genuinely dramatic moment.
Now that we've finished with the birth, it's up to Fuse to live his
life, and "Runnin' Free" is him doing just that, picking up from
where side one left off. Three of the four tracks that comprise side
two are more pop based, less out there, occasionally resulting in
moments that get uncomfortably close to mid 70s car chase music. This
isn't actually a problem...it adds a shade of nostalgic color that was
undoubtedly not present during the album's 1971 release...but it does
contrast with the immediacy of "The Question Mark," and the transition
to more dated material can shake the listener out of their reverie. But
considering where we started, "less out there" is still pretty out
there: the title track may not be a free form freak out, but it's still
definitely a freak out, with Mizutani's guitar bashing against the band
and Fuse's overdriven soul brother delivery scraping the same heights
as Ricky Lancelotti's utterly berserk vocals on Frank Zappa's "50/50."
This is sweat pouring, veins bulging, heavy soul, and you can almost
feel the stressed throbbing that must have been happening in Fuse's
temples.
Then comes "Shadows Of The Mind," and as the title suggests, it's a
less grounded affair. Opening with sad, syrupy strings, it takes an
unexpectedly vaudeville turn, with Fuse lamenting over wailing, almost
comic horns. It shambles along in chaos until roughly halfway through
it's nearly nine minute running time, finally picking up steam but
never quite coming together, eventually collapsing in an exhausted heap
of sound, then returning to the strings. Incredibly, the song concludes
with the opening theme, but flanged and melted, as if the narrator
barely survived the ordeal. While much of "Love Will Make A Better You"
is utterly bonkers, "Shadows Of The Mind" is out and out nightmarish, a
nervous breakdown in the middle of the second side.
After this singularly insane debut, Love Live Life sat on the sidelines
for three years, then returned to their original, Fuse-less lineup,
thereby dropping the "+ One" and to recording two more albums. It's
this, however, that lingers, so much so that Fuse still performs the
title track live, although (as of this writing) it's frustratingly out
of print (NOTE: it's been reissued, link below.) It's simultaneously of and outside its time, displaying a
wealth of early 70s soul/rock/jazz signifiers, yet being so exaggerated
in its execution that it stands alone. Proceed with caution, but
definitely proceed.
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Available at Amazon Japan
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