------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Artist: Off Course (Kazumasa Oda: vocals, keyboards, a. guitar Yasuhiro Suzuki: vocals, a. guitar, flute) Title: Off Course I: Boku no Okurimono -- My Souvenier Production Co: Off Course, with some help Cat#: TOCT-6701 Release: Album - 1973 CD - 6/7/91 Price: 2500 yen Length: 33'22", 11 tracks Track Data: 1 Boku no okurimono 3'18" 2 Yomigaeru hitotoki 2'44" 3 Kare no hohoemi 3'24" 4 Suiyoubi no gogo 2'49" 5 Chikyuu wa semaku narimashita 2'41" 6 Demo mou hana wa iranai 4'00" 7 Arukou 2'54" 8 Hon no sukoshi no aida dake 2'06" 9 Hariwasureta shashin 2'54" 10 Shizuka na hirusagari 2'18" 11 Sawayaka na asa o mukaeru tame ni 3'48" Goodies: Standard jewel box and lyrics booklet. Comments: Off Course's first album. Like most of their early music, very mellow, almost folk. Lots of acoustic-only tracks, lots of wonderful layered vocals that were Off Course's trademark. Not as impressive as some of their following albums, but a darn good first effort. (David Luke: luke@wombat.ee.byu.edu) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Artist: Off Course (Kazumasa Oda, Yasuhiro Suzuki, all vocals. No instrument credits given) Title: Kono michi o yukeba/Off Course Round 2 -- Goin' My Way Production Co: Off Course (with some help) Cat#: TOCT-6702 Release: Album - 1974 CD - 6/7/91 Price: 2500 yen Length: 33'12", 12 tracks Track Data: 1 Puroroogu (Prologue) 1'37" 2 Sukimakaze 2'28" 3 Hatachi no koro 2'37" 4 Nichiyoubi no taikutsu 2'39" 5 Wakare no joukei (1) 3'24" 6 Wakare no joukei (2) - mou uta wa tsukurenai 3'29" 7 Atarashii kadode 4'11" 8 Ano kado o magareba 2'21" 9 Wakasugite 2'16" 10 Nogasu na chansu (chance) o 2'35" 11 Kubiwa no nai inu 3'45" 12 Waga tomo yo 1'07" Goodies: Standard jewel box and lyrics booklet. Comments: A little more produced and together than their first album, this release continues the soft, folkish, long-on-vocals sound that was Off Course's signature in their early period. This album seems to be very reflective and introspective, with lots of songs about examining your life, changing the path you're on, etc., esp. tracks 3, 7, 8, and 11. (David Luke: luke@wombat.ee.byu.edu) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Artist: Off Course (Kazumasa Oda: vocals, keyboards, msic. Yasuhiro Suzuki: vocals, guitars, drums, percussion, harmonica) Title: Wine no nioi Production Co: Toshifumi Mutou Cat#: TOCT-6203 Release: Album: 1975 CD: 7/6/91 Price: 2500 yen Length: 38'31" -- 12 tracks Track Data: 1 Ame no furu hi ni 2:57 2 Kino e no tegami 3:08 3 Nemurenu yoru 3:16 4 Shiawase nante 2:44 5 Wine no nioi 3:13 6 Are kara kimi wa 3:16 7 Ukiyo ni 2:54 8 Shounen no you ni 1:40 9 Ame yo hageshiku 3:14 10 Ai no uta 4:14 11 Gensou 3:14 12 Roujin no tsubuyaki 4:28 Goodies: Standard jewel box and lyrics booklet. Comments: Good stuff! This is certainly the best of Off Course's first three albums (this being the third). The album is very tight, very well produced. It's long on the folk-ish, mellow, kind-of sad sound that was Off Course's trademark in their early years. There are some more energetic songs too, like Tracks 3 and 9 (which is one of my very all-time favorite Japanese songs). This is probably the most representative of Off Course's early albums (at least that I've heard). Highly recommended. (David Luke: luke@wombat.ee.byu.edu) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Artist: Off Course (Kazumasa Oda & Yasuhiro Suzuki: vocals, various instrments) Title: Rare Production Co: Off Course Cat#: CT23-5407 Release: 1/24/1990 Price: around 2500 yen Length: 56'00" -- 16 tracks Track Data: 1 Gunshuu no naka de 2 Hi wa mata noboru 3 Yoake o twuge ni 4 Utsukushii sekai 5 Osaraba 6 Kanashiki akogare 7 Wasureyuki 8 Mizu irazu no gogo 9 Yasashisa ni sayounara 10 Rondo 11 Christmas Day 12 Yoru wa futari de 13 Ai no owaru toki 14 Aitsu no nokoshita mono wa 15 Umi o mitsumete 16 Torisugita yoru Goodies: Standard jewelbox, one-sheet fold-out lyrics card. Comments: More good stuff. Where did these songs come from? I don't know. My guess is that most of them were recorded before Off Course's first album, judging from the style and the fact that 8 of the 16 were written by non-Off Course personnel (the only 8 non-Off Course songs I've ever seen). I know of four of these songs which show up on other collection albums (Tracks 7, 9, 13, and 16) -- the rest were new to me. So anyway, the feel of this album is much like their early albums. (David Luke: luke@wombat.ee.byu.edu) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Artist: Off Course Title: Three and Two Production Co: Toshiba EMI Cat#: TOCT-6942 Release: 3/3/93 (CD release -- original release 10/20/79) Price: 1800 yen (original LP release was ETP-80107, 2500 yen) Length: 9 (tracks) Track Data: 1 Omoi no mama ni 4:43 2 Koi wo dakishimeyou 4:06 3 Sono toki hajimete 4:21 4 Rekishi wa yoru tsukurareru 4:12 5 Ai wo tomenaide 3:55 6 SAVE THE LOVE 8:19 7 Shiokaze no naka de 3:50 8 Ai aru tokoro e 4:47 9 Umarete kuru kodomotachi no tame ni 6:22 (with "Itsumo itsumo", live) Goodies: Standard jewel box, fold-out lyrics sheet with photos of the band. Comments: For the first six years of their recording career, Off Course was Oda Kazumasa (who is still recording solo and doing very well) and Suzuki Yasuhiro. They did all the vocals and most of the instruments, using various other musicians as needed. In 1979, they joined with three other musicians: Shimizu Hitoshi on base, Oma "Jiro" Hitose on drums, and Matsuo Kazuhiko on guitar. Suzuki and Oda remained the center of the band, doing all the lead vocals (until their last couple of albums), producing the albums, and writing all the music and lyrics. As their first "band" album, this album has a much stronger "band" feel than their earlier work, with more and heavier guitar, more prominent bass and percussion, and less of the acoustic work and melodic, layered vocals that had been an early trademark (though there's still lots of good Off Course harmony). Good music! (David Luke : luke@boi.hp.com) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------