Photographs (Casiopea album)

Photographs is the seventh studio album by Japanese jazz fusion band Casiopea, released on April 23, 1983 by Alfa Records.

Background and recording

Prior to recording, each member went on a trip to various parts of the world to gain inspiration (Issei Noro to India, Minoru Mukaiya to Europe, etc.). These trips gave the album a new style, while also keeping with the established sound from Cross Point. This album also marks Casiopea's first use of the E-mu Emulator sampling keyboard.

"Looking Up" and "Misty Lady" were very popular among fans, and became staple tracks in live shows.

Promotion

On the same day this album was released, Casiopea performed at the "Hot Sounds Island" Music Festival at the Nippon Budokan concert hall, where they performed "Looking Up" for the first time. The last song Casiopea played was a cover of Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely". This concert was filmed for television, and three songs from this concert, "Looking Up", "Space Road", and "Eyes of the Mind" were released on the Casiopea, Again DVD in 2000.

Track listing

Personnel

CASIOPEA are

Issei Noro - Electric guitar (Yamaha SG-2000, SG-1000 Fretless), Electric acoustic guitar, Sitar, Amdeck Percussion Synthesizer, Prophet-10, Linn LM-1, Vocal (A2, B2)

Minoru Mukaiya - Keyboards (Yamaha GS-1, DX-9, CS-70M, CP-35, Moog the SOURCE, Roland VP-330, Prophet-10, Oberheim OB-Xa, Emulator, Linn LM-1)

Tetsuo Sakurai - Electric Bass (Yamaha BB-2000 Milk Bass, Kramer DMZ-6000B), Vocal (B2)

Akira Jimbo - Drums (Yamaha YD-9000 RG), Percussion, Amdeck Percussion Synthesizer, Linn LM-1