Artist: LOUDNESS
Album: "DRAGON + GHETTO MACHINE (2CD)"

Year: 1999
Media type: CD

Probably the best known of Japanese Heavy Metal bands led by the extraordinary guitar talents of AKIRA TAKASAKI. The band issued a run of highly respected albums during the 80's with 1985’s 'Thunder In The East' in particular being regarded as a true classic of the genre. Since dropping their global strategy, LOUDNESS retired to their homeland, where they still occupy an exalted position and regularly deliver high quality metal for the domestic audience.

The band was originally created as a Pop act LAZY during 1978, where Takasaki went under the stage name of 'Suzy', but a shift to heavier material prompted the apt title of LOUDNESS in May 1981. The musicians at this stage banded together Takasaki and his fellow LAZY colleague drummer MUNETAKA HIGUCHI with ex-ZEPHYR bass player Masayoshi Yamashita and singer MINORU NIIHARA, the latter previously frontman for EARTHSHAKER.

Bearing in mind the foursome’s intentions, choosing a band name would be as obvious as simply adopting the name on their amplifiers which best summed up their ambitions – Loudness. Wasting no time, that same August LOUDNESS soon put together their debut album offering, 'The Birthday Eve' being issued as a bi-lingual Anglo / Japanese effort through Columbia’s Denon subsidiary in November 1981. A showcase debut concert, held at the Asakusa International Theater, attracted a sold-out audience of 2,700 fans. Only released in Japan, word of 'The Birthday Eve'’s quality nevertheless filtered through to the international metal underground.

Their next record, 'Devil Soldier' in July 1982, propelled LOUDNESS to major status in Japan. However, its reliance on intricate and distinctly Japanese rhythms and tempo changes made it a bewildering listen to most Western ears. January 1983’s 'Law Of Devil’s Land', engineered by Daniel McClendon, reverted back to the melodic accessibility of the debut, even being promoted by a short burst of concert dates in the USA, during July 1983, and Europe the following month.

With global appeal being afforded, LOUDNESS Takasaki made time to craft his debut solo effort 'Tusk Of Jaguar' for 1983 release. Only available in Japan it nevertheless sold strong on import as word of Takasaki's prowess spread. For this record Takasaki utilised all of his LOUDNESS band mates, vocalist Minoru Niihara, bassist Masayoshi Yamashita and drummer Higuchi Munetaka.

LOUDNESS’ drummer industriously engaged himself in a swathe of extracurricular endeavours too. As well as delivering his bombastic solo opus 'Destruction' he worked alongside singer Hamada Mari on her first brace of albums as the HIGUCHI PROJECT TEAM and scored production credits for local act MAKE UP. Meantime, Takasaki, Yamashita and Higuchi also all sessioned on the first two albums by HONJOH MISAKO.

Loudness then got back into the fray with the 1984 'Disillusion' album, having been recorded in the UK in September 1983 with engineer Julian Mendelsohn, breaking down further barriers globally with licenses to the enterprising Music For Nations label in the UK and Roadrunner for Europe. A double live album, 'Live-Loud-Alive', capitalised on this progress.

The LOUDNESS name now warranted effective worldwide distribution and the band duly signed with Atlantic Records for the USA and Boudisque for Europe. Perfectly placed, the group wisely used this opportunity to launch their tour de force, January 1985's 'Thunder In The East'. Produced by Max Norman in Los Angeles the previous August, the esteemed deskman responsible for metal landmarks by OZZY OSBOURNE amongst many others, 'Thunder In The East' impressively muscled its way onto the US Billboard charts, peaking at number 74 and remaining lodged in the rankings for nineteen weeks. In Japan the album entered the top five. Keen to tear up the road in the USA, LOUDNESS acted as support to MOTLEY CRUE’s nationwide tour, this trek making Loudness the first Japanese act ever to perform, on 14th August 1985, at the prestigious Madison Square Garden venue in New York.

The winning Norman formula was retained for follow up 'Lightning Strikes', cut in December 1985 and surfacing in March 1986. The Japanese edition of the same album, named 'Shadows Of War', gave collectors a reason to purchase both. Enhancing their profile, 'Lightning Strikes' climbing to 64 on Billboard, LOUDNESS hooked up with SAXON for UK tour dates to promote the record.

LOUDNESS' 1987 record 'Hurricane Eyes', co-produced by Eddie Kramer and Andy Johns, witnessed the first attempt by their US label to smooth out the perceived cultural differences and, as such, saw the inclusion of influences in the form of former ANGEL keyboard player Gregg Giuffria adding a few deft touches whilst backing vocals came from GIUFFRIA's DAVID GLEN EISLEY and Todd Howarth of FREHLEY'S COMET. The experiment failed, and 'Hurricane Eyes' barely scraped into the US top 200 placings. May 1988's 'Jealousy' mini-album, only released in Japan, found studio guests Paul Raymond, ex-UFO and MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP, and Frank DiMino, ex-ANGEL, supplying backing vocals. Yamashita subsequently joined Paul Raymond in the studio for his PAUL RAYMOND PROJECT album.

The group had staked its claim outside of Japan but struggled to expand its support beyond the metal die hards. Keen to push their investment into the mainstream rock arena placed the focus on Niihara’s vocal stylings, judged by many to be far too Japanese in dialectic approach to cater for radio. These thoughts culminated in LOUDNESS undergoing a drastic facelift in December 1988 as the band dumped Niihara. The former frontman founded DED CHAPLAIN then SLY with drummer Munetaka Higuchi for four albums.

In his place, Loudness drafted American ex-OBSESSION vocalist Mike Vescara. This revised format, renewing ties with former producer Max Norman, bowed in during 1989 with 'Soldier Of Fortune'. Studio keyboards were delegated to DIO man Claude Schnell. A successive release, a combination of archive tracks and new material billed 'On The Prowl' came out in February 1991. An EP, 'Slap In The Face', followed that October. The results were kinder to the Western ear but whilst US objectives were being pursued, LOUDNESS' change of policy had triggered a downturn in enthusiasm for recent albums in Japan. Vescara opted out, going on to work with YNGWIE MALMSTEEN, ROLAND GRAPOW and MVP. Another casualty would be founding member Masayoshi Yamashita, who also took his leave.

By 1992 Akira Takasaki had stomached enough of the machinations of Atlantic and brought back LOUDNESS to being an all Japanese band with Masaki Yamada, previously of the fabled EZO, now handling vocals and Taiji Sawada, from the hugely successful X and D.T.R., installed on bass guitar. This unit cut the self-produced, and decidely heavyweight, 'Loudness' album for Warner Music. The rejuvenation triumphed, with 'Loudness' hitting the number two spot in Japan in June 1992. The band gigged across Japan in January 1993, but both Sawada and Higuchi decided to leave shortly upon completion.

With Grunge biting hard, even in Japan, Takasaki adopted an unconventional approach the next album in line, 1994’s 'Heavy Metal Hippies'. Yamada's EZO drumming colleague Hirotsugu Homma was requisitioned for recording. Musically this collection of tracks, engineered by Chris Tsangarides and finding Takasaki also adding bass guitar to his duties, veered between aggressive, stripped down Thrash and languid sub-Grunge and was critically dismissed by much of the core fanbase. The new look LOUDNESS was completed at December 1994 show at Club Citta in Tokyo, as ANTHEM veteran Naoto Shibata marched onto the stage with his new comrades. A full-blown tour took place in April 1995, spawning another concert recording, October’s 'Loud n’ Raw', sporting a cover version of DEEP PURPLE’s ‘Speed King’.

Ex-bassist Sawada came back to the fore in 1995 with the high profile KINGS project in collaboration with Shuichi Aoki of NIGHT HAWKS on vocals and guitar, SEIKIMA II guitarist Luke Takamura and 44 MAGNUM drummer Satoshi 'Joe' Miyawaki. During 1996 AKIRA TAKASAKI issued another solo album, 'Respirator', which found him enjoying the company in the studio of the MR. BIG duo of guitarist PAUL GILBERT and drummer Pat Torpey.

For the 1997 studio album, 'Ghetto Machine' released on the Rooms label, Takasaki relocated LOUDNESS to California to record at the famous Berkeley Fantasy Studios. Songwriting and lyrics were aided by Stefan Galfas, known for his work with EZO's 'Fire Fire' album. Ex-LOUDNESS drummer MUNETAKA HIGUCHI meantime issued his 'Dreamcastle - Free World' solo set the same year in collaboration with DOKKEN's Jeff Pilson and a sprawling international guest cast. On a roll, LOUDNESS laid down the quick fire 'Dragon' in San Francisco, marketed by shows across Great Britain, Holland, Belgium and Germany in May 1999. Paying homage, dramatic Swedish Sympho-Death Metal act THERION would give a nod of appreciation to LOUDNESS with their cover 'Crazy Nights' on their 'Crowning Of Atlantis' album.

Shibata and Homma both contributed to the 2000 GRAHAM BONNET fronted ANTHEM album 'Anthem Heavy Metal'. Ex-LOUDNESS frontman Minoru Niihara was fronting X.Y.Z. in 2000. However, Niihara and Takasaki buried their differences the same year for 20 Anniversary LOUDNESS gigs and a reformation album, March 2001's 'Spiritual Canoe'. With Loudness fever at a new high, a DVD dubbed 'The Soldiers Just Came Back' satiated fans further and the group partnered with Canadian thrashers ANNIHILATOR for Japanese concerts that September.

During November of 2001, released consecutively with a brand new LOUDNESS album 'Pandemonium', a LOUDNESS tribute album arrived in Japan entitled 'Rock n' Roll Crazy Nights'. Contributers included FULLTRAP, CLOUD NINE, PULLING TEETH, SUNS OWL, Tommy Heart of FAIR WARNING on 'Crazy Nights' and AKIRA TAKASAKI lending a hand to DEV LARGE's take of 'How Many More Times'. 'Pandemonium' live dates were captured for posterity on the DVD '20th Anniversary Pandemonium Tour', hitting stores in February 2002. With their work ethic now fully engaged, LOUDNESS put out next album 'Biosphere' in September, again backed up by a concert DVD, 'Live Biosphere'.

On January 7th, 2004 the band released 'Terror', their eighteenth studio album. Live work would include the group’s showing at the gigantic Osaka and Tokyo ‘Sonic Mania’ festivals sharing the stage with EVANESCENCE and KORN. Naturally, a further DVD set, 'Live Terror 2004', ensued.

The October 2004 collection 'Rockshocks', released through Tokuma Japan Communications, would be a compilation of archive tracks chosen by fans. The following month a brand new Japanese language album, entitled 'Racing', was issued by the same label. LOUDNESS issued the live DVD 'Rock-Shocking The Nation' in March 2005 with the English language version of 'Racing' following in April.

Leading German Metal band METALIUM's fifth opus, 'Demons Of Insanity-Chapter Five' saw Japanese versions of the album adding a cover version of the LOUDNESS classic 'Rock n' Roll Crazy Nights' re-billed as 'Heavy Metal Crazy Nights'. Another German Heavy Metal band, POWERGOD, cut a cover version of 'Heavy Chains' for inclusion on their 'Long Live The Loud – That's Metal Lesson II' released through Massacre Records in July 2005. This recording saw Minoru Niihara adding vocals with Rod Gonzales of DIE ARZTE on lead guitar. The German label Drakkar Records would also pick up the 'Racing' album for European license in September.

LOUDNESs scheduled US dates for 2006, their first appearance on the continent in many years. Minoru Niihara announced the release of a new solo album, 'Ashes To Glory', issued in February in Japan via Tokuma Japan Communications. Self-produced by Niihara and Wyn Davis the record saw the inclusion of guest rhythm section bassist Jeff Pilson of DOKKEN and DIO plus drummer Vinny Appice, of DIO and BLACK SABBATH.

www.rockdetector.com

TRACKLIST “DRAGON”:

01. 9 Miles High
02. Dogshit
03. Wicked Witches
04. Crazy Go Go
05. Voodoo Voices
06. (Japanese)
07. Babylon
08. Crawl
09. Forbidden Love
10. Mirror Ball
11. Taj Mahal
12. Nightcreepers

TRACKLIST “GHETTO MACHINE:

01. Ghetto Machine
02. Slave
03. Evil Ecstasy
04. San Francisco
05. Love And Hate
06. Creatures
07. Katmandu Fly
08. Hypnotized
09. Dead Man Walking
10. Jasmine Sky
11. Wonder Man

LINE-UP:

Minoru Niihara (vocals)
Akira Takasaki (guitar)
Masayoshi Yamashita (bass)
Munetaka Higuchi (drums)

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