Osamu Kitajima – Osamu

Missing Minnie Ripperton in the credits!? >> Purple Hills And Crystal Streams

By far the best sounding records (with the other original Osamu vinyls) in my collection. Astounding soundstage, dynamics and clarity.

Excellent pressing. Found this in a shop recently and it sounds like it was just pressed yesterday. Clear sound, no static, no popping. Great album.

Really great reissue, in my opinion. I also own Benzaiten (original pressing) and Masterless Samurai (Oom Dooby reissue) so my comment is based on comparisons to these. Really amazing music!

Nice reissue. Not an audiophile one, but the sound is decent. Comes in a thick inner sleeve, so take care when you remove it. Flat record, some background noises here and there. Need to be cleaned. The more "Japanese" of all Kitajima's albums. Benzaïten and Masterless Samurai are essentials too.

This is the best of Osamu's output. The performance by Minnie Riperton ranks as one of the greatest female vocalizations i have heard. she used her FIVE OCTAVE range in its uppermost s to perfectly portray the effect that Osamu envisioned. truly a masterwork on everybody's parts.

the rest of the album is top notch with real stereo recordings of such things as a campfire with bursting embers, a two cycle motorcycle revving its engine over and behind rolling hills and a babbling brook that occupies actual space in a location that you would expect.

the Japanese pressing is the best but owning any clean copy should be the goal of any music lover that appreciates the genre that seems to be its own-Japanese Fusion. the instrumentation and expression exhibited here command attention and could cause the initiation of the unique genre that i have given a name.

I would hope that Osamu-san would continue this direction that he started with the release of Benziaten and continued through to another disc that i have of his: Epitome. They would all benefit from release on hi-rez, high quality vinyl re-releases utilizing the 45rpm/2 disc method that brings out the vividness and verisimillitude hidden in the master tapes and allowed escape via LP playback.

There is a movement going on right now that some audio enthusiasts (with big budgets) are using and that is open reel tape releases in two track, half track, 15 IPS format. this would be a good candidate for this format.

...hifitommy

this should be played at 45rpm, very mathy sounding