Ain Soph - 1992 - 5 OR 9 Five Evolved From Nine

Ain Soph
1992
5 OR 9  Five Evolved From Nine

01. Villa Adriana
02. The Two Orders of Image
03. Fragments from the Pass
04. Ancient Museum
05. Seascape (Little Pieces Part 4)
06. The Valley of Lutha
07. Shadow Picture
08. Little Wind
09. Stonehenge


- Yozox / guitars
- Kikuo Fujikawa / keyboards
- Masahiro Torigaki / bass
- Taiqui Tomiie / drums

Ain Soph - 1994 - Quicksand-Special Live Vol.3

Ain Soph
1994
Quicksand-Special Live Vol.3

01. A Cloudy Sky - Part 1
02. The Swan Lake
03. A Cloudy Sky - Part 2
04. Magic Carpet
05. Moon Watch
06. Quicksand
07. Little Pieces - Part 5
08. Variations on a Theme by Brian Smith
09. Little Pieces - Part 6
10. Ancient Museum

- Yozox / guitars
- Kikuo Fijikawa / keyboards
- Mitsutaka Kaki / keyboards
- Masahiro Torigaki / bass
- Taiqui Tomiie / drums

Ain Soph - 1993 - Mysterious Triangle

Ain Soph
1993
Mysterious Triangle

01. Beyond the Place (9:32)
02. Time Machine (10:16)
03. Mysterious Triangle (7:33)
04. Junglegym (6:21)
05. Sleeping Sun (6:48)
06. The Lost Era (13:20)
07. The Valley of Lutha (9:13)
08. Marine Menagerie (12:52)


- Yozox / guitars
- Kikuo Fujikawa / keyboards
- Masahiro Torigaki / bass
- Hiroshi Natori / drums

Guests:
- Hisashi Nagao / electric sax (6)
- Hideki Mori / sax (6)

Ain Soph - 1991 - Ride On A Camel

Ain Soph
1991
Ride On A Camel

01. Ride on a Camel (11:30)
02. Intro-Metronome 7/8-Peacock's Feather Metronome 7/8 (Reprise)(12:40)
03. Oddessa (12:40)
04. Aria (11:20)
05. Turkey's March (4:15)
06. A Story of Mysterious Forest (Original Version)(24:25)

- Yozox / guitars
- Kikuo Fujikawa / keyboards
- Masahiro Torigaki / bass
- Hiroshi Natori / drums


Apparently this album was a demo of early album tracks that became a sort of melting pot mixing different 70's sessions. Definitely inspired on the softer symphonic Canterbury such as Camel, these sessions predates their debut album, recorded while called Techni-Sozo and while not completely devoid of interest, this only draws yawns from the listener past the first track. Yes, although this album could be interesting if correctly recorded, it is difficult to listen to this compilation filled up to the brim, with some really boring moments (the suite that stands as track number 2), while others are actually fairly nice: the opening title track and the Oddessa track are quite interesting even if they appear unnecessarily elongated. Other parts (like Aria) appear to have been lifted from Camel
One of the main flaws of this "album" is its length, but also apart of the short Turkey, all of the tracks are well above the 10-min mark, culminating in the Mysterious Forest first version, which is the epic of their first real album, but this version is somniferous. Obviously if you are an Ain Soph fan, this album might just be essential.

Ain Soph - 1991 - Marine Menagerie

Ain Soph 
1991 
Marine Menagerie

01. Wind and Water (0:33)
02. Flooded by Sun Light (7:18)
03. Marine Menagerie (10:38)
04. Little Pieces part 3 (1:27)
05. Variations On a Theme by Brian Smith(Original Version) (8:49)
06. Ride on a Camel(13:53)
07. Metronome 7/8 (13:43)
a) Peacock's Feather
b) Metronome 7/8


- Yozox / guitars
- Kikuo Fujikawa / keyboards
- Masahiro Torigaki / bass
- Taiqui Tomiie / drums 


Ain Soph's third album consists mostly of re-recorded versions of tunes from the band's early days - written and developed during the late 70s -, plus an original version of 'Variations on a Theme by Brian Smith', whose first official version had appeared in the "Story of Mysterious Forest" album. This original version is somewhat rougher, with its varied musical motifs less developed, and a harder edge on the guitar parts. Speaking of the general tendency of "Marine Menagerie" as a whole, the band's approach is focused on giving more room to the melodic progressive stuff (a-la Camel), which means that the jazz stuff is a bit decreased, although still maintaining a strong presence in the band's sound and style. The album kicks off with a brief, ethereal display of guitar picks on the higher notes, appropriately titled 'Wind & Water', which then gives way to the beautiful, melancholic 'Flooded by the Sun', which sounds to me very much inspired by "Moon Madness"-era Camel. Things remain the same with the following namesake track, if only developed a bit further thanks to its longer extension. With the excellent piano solo 'Little Pieces Part 3' (keyboardist Fujikawa seems to be offering a tribute to the memory of Alan Gowen) and the aforementioned 'Variations' the Canterbury thing that Ain Soph so unabashedly loves returns to the fore. The same Canterbury thing persists on the last two suites, combining itself fluidly with the Camel- inspired symphonic majesty. 'Ride on a Camel' and 'Metronome 7/8' (the latter, including a quotation from a Caravan's theme from their '74 live album) contain your usual prog pomp and circumstance, full of clever musical ideas, mood and tempo shifts, impeccable performances in both the alternate guitar/synth solos and the solid rhythm section: all of these elements are fully integrated with good taste and exquisite class, which allows the band not to lose sight of the musical motifs, always keeping the soloing in its right place. Though this album doesn't impress me as much as their previous two, it is definitely an excellent opus

Ain Soph - 1986 - Hat And Field

Ain Soph
1986
Hat And Field

01. The Swan Lake (5:45)
02. Little pieces part 1 (1:34)
03. Suite: Hat and field: (10:02)
a) Triple echo
b) Hat & field
c) Deep feelin'
d) Triple end
e) Spanish channel
04. Mizzle (3:41)
05. Canterbury tale (for Pye Hastings & Richard Sinclair) (2:57)
06. Magic carpet (6:57)
07. Little pieces part 2 (2:31)
08. Pipe dream (7:53)



- Yozox / guitars
- Kikuo Fujikawa / keyboards
- Masahiro Torigaki / bass
- Taiqui Tomiie / drums


It took 6 years for Ain Soph to finally record this amazing follow-up to their equally amazing debut album. The original lineup 90 (the band was formed in '77) was fully incorporated, since drummer Tomiie and keyboardist Fujikawa rejoined their former fellows (they had left before Ain Soph's debut was recorded). Some of the material already existed during the old days, so basically 'Hat & Field' is like a groups of four musician friends catching up. The title shows one of their major influences, Hatfield and the North: since these guys are really Canterbury freaks, it's no wonder that we can also find the inheritance of other similar acts such as National Health and Gilgamesh, as well as 'Rain Dances'-era Camel. The most explosive moments show the clear influence of Return to Forever and Holdsworth's solo albums. The playing is superb: not only each individual is a top-notch master on their instrument, but also they can interpleay with immaculate fluency through all these complex time signatures and complicated compositions, keeping an aura of delicate sophistication, as if it were actually an easy task to do. The moments in which Yozox and Fujikawa lay their challenging interplays are executed with infinite finesse. As in their previous album, the appearance of some exotic lines reminds the listener of their Japanese essence: their jazzy prog is not a clone, but the result of an inventively idiosyncratic recreation of an established pattern. There is a subtle difference, though: 'Hat & Field' puts a major emphasis on the jazz factor, subduing the symphonic thing for that matter. The beautiful opening track 'Swan Lake' is really captivating: through its tasteful delicateness, it has a subtle energy in it that makes it catchy. 'Hat & Field', the namesake suite, starts the same way, until an explosion of pyrotechnics takes place during its last section: this explosion is effectively continued in the glued following track 'Mizzle'. 'Magic Carpet' and 'Pipe Dream' follow in the same vein as the opening number, while tracks 2, 5 and 7 work as relaxing interludes, which create an introspective, slightly melancholy mood. Lovers of Canterbury and the best 70s jazz-fusion will most likely love this one too, and eventually, discover the particular beauty of Ain Soph's own jazz-prog voice.

Ain Soph - 1980 - A Story Of The Mysterious Forest

Ain Soph 
1980 
A Story Of The Mysterious Forest

01. Crossfire (2:54)
02. Interlude I (1:30)
03. Natural Selection (8:10)
04. Variations on a Theme by Brian Smith (9:44)
05. A Story of Mysterious Forest (18:47)
a) Awakening
b) Longing-Whith the Wind
c) Mysterious Forest
d) Passion
e) Deep Sleep
f) Darkness
g) Dance
h) Misfortune
i) Mysterious Forest
j) Awakening
06. Interlude II (0:33)


- Masey Hattori / acoustic & electric pianos,
celeste, Hammond organ, clavinet, synthesizers, strings, vocoder, mellotron
- Hiroshi Natori / drums, percussion, crystal gong
- Masahiro Torigaki / bass
- Yozox Yamamoto / acoustic & electric guitars


After some years of hard struggling in the Japanese music market, Ain Soph eventually managed to make their recoding debut in 1980... and what a debut! Their prog style is based on a delicate, ellegant balance between the jazz area (the fusionesque drive of Return to Forever and Pastorius-era Weather Report, the melodic candor of Canterbury) and the symphonic stuff (74-77 Camel, 76-78 Genesis, WYWH-era Pink Floyd), resulting in a colourful combination of well crafted compositions and top-notch musicianship. The addition of Asian lines and textures allows the band to create an idiosyncratic ambience for their prog style, despite the clear presence of the aforementioned influences. 'Crossfire' is a real crossfire of guitar and synth duelling thorugh their alternate amazing solos, on the solid foundation laid by the rythm section: something like 'Los Endos'-meets-'Romantic Warrior'. The level of proficiency doesn't decay for a second along the whole album. Despite the title's destructive implications, 'Natural Selection' reminds me of Gilgamesh's delicate exquisiteness, with a definite exotic Far East flavour that helps things seem warm and peaceful; things get more intense in the following number, 'Variations on a Theme by Brian Smith', in which Ain Soph exercise their own version of the jazz-fusion prototypical sound - including some Flamenco-like lines on acoustic guitar, just like Di Meola. The absolute gem in the album is the namesake suite, which allows the band to explore futher into their symph prog leaning: the succession of varied melodic lines on the wings of a well structured sequence of diverse rhythm patterns and ambiences makes this track a masterpiece in itself. I feel unable to make myself clear about the captivating beauty of this piece. I'll only mention some of its most brilliant fractions: the Camel-esque eerie intesity of c and i; the magical melancholy of d; the playful Latin-jazz tinged colours of g; the visions of an early morning forest depicted on a and j. All in all, this suite is something to enjoy properly as a whole, making it so easy for the listener to keep his full attention for almost 20 minutes. The two interludes are musical portions on acoustic guitar, that provide some introspective touches in the middle of a repertoire full of splendid showstoppers. A masterpiece!!