Available at Amazon Japan
| Panta - P.I.S.S. |
| Panta,
he of Zuno Keisatsu and solo fame, is a man who has been making music
for longer than many of his fans have been alive (next year, Zuno
Keisatsu will celebrate its 40th anniversary, and that wasn't even
Panta's first band.) He is in many ways defined in terms of his
politics, and indeed, Zuno Keisatsu saw its first two albums suppressed
as a result of their left leaning rhetoric. When I started digging
through his enormous catalog, I was warned that, with the heavy
political focus, the lyrics were the thing: having limited Japanese,
I'd miss the point. There is, naturally, some truth to that. Which is
why P.I.S.S. is such a good entry point for the uninitiated. The context: Panta had just completed "Kristall Nacht," a concept album about the Holocaust that was the result of a decade long gestation period, and which he still considers to this day to be his most important work. He began having ideas about resurrecting the equally serious Zuno Keisatsu, who had broken up thirteen years previous, but had to wait a year for co-Keisatsu Toshi to finish his commitments. So with time on his hands and a huge, emotionally wrenching project finally in his rear view mirror, he called up Roosters/Rock 'n' Roll Gypsies guitarist Hiroyuki Hanada and set about making a straight on rock album. With all the politics and anecdotes flying around, it's easy to miss the fact that Panta knows his way around a hook, and in fact has quite a successful side career writing for such pop artists as Keiji "Julie" Sawada. On a purely musical level, he has a singular talent for conveying dramatic despair, underscored with a dark, angry heart, much like Bruce Springsteen at his most anthemic. It's one of the reasons his political songs are so revered, as they dig into the heart as well as the head. But the last time he tried dropping the politics, it backfired in a big way, resulting in "Kiss," a well intentioned but ultimately disastrous collection that annoyed critics and baffled fans. With that failure's title in mind, he called his second go at apolitical rock 'n' roll "P.I.S.S," and the result is an immeasurably more successful slab of unpretentious. The title track kicks off with the best Stones riff Keith never wrote, Panta's rough hewn vocals sneering with the rage he denied himself on "Kristall Nacht." He shows he can convey urgency in any situation with "Jin Jin Jin," an amped up blues rocker that takes the well worn story of a frustrated lover and laces it with just the right level of anger. Then there's "フェロモンの誘惑" ("The Temptation Of Pheromones.") Panta's vocal crosses the line from rage to pleading and back again, dancing across the divide with the slightest changes in his delivery as guitarist Hanada barges in with an unstable, driving solo. It's not the kind of track that hits on the first listen, but repeated plays reveal new twists and clearer rage until the whole thing sounds like one long, cathartic rant. Panta indulges his pop instincts with the closing track, "One Night Lover," a duet with Jpop vocalist Miki Matsubara. Skillfully avoiding schmaltz while still keeping it sentimental, it's a surprising end to an album with more piss (sorry) and vinegar than tenderness. Yet it somehow fits, the one night stand being the ultimate conclusion to the hormonal setbacks of the previous nine tracks. After getting this off his chest, Panta and Toshi would rejoin in secret for Zuno Keisatsu's reunion album "7," and Panta would return to the seething rage he's best known for. But "P.I.S.S." is more than a breather, or a tossed off filler between political statements. It's a chance for its creator to show off a side that is oft neglected, and serves as a good entry point to see what he can do when the ills of society take a backseat to matters of the heart. |