Casiopea (album)

Casiopea is the debut studio album by Japanese jazz fusion band Casiopea, released on May 25, 1979 by Alfa Records.

Recording and production

The album was recorded between December 1978 and March 1979 in Japan. It was the first album released by the group since their debut performance on EastWest '77.[citation needed]

Several notable American jazz musicians, such as The Brecker Brothers and David Sanborn, contributed to the album.[citation needed]

Cover art

The cover depicts two race cars battling on a circuit, possibly Fuji Speedway's hairpin turn.[better source needed] The cars are late-1970s Group 6 sports prototypes from the Japanese Fuji Grand Champion Series, most likely a Lola T290 -Mazda and a March 74S from the 1978 and 1979 championships respectively.[better source needed][original research?]

While the cover featuring two race cars is used on current releases, the original cover of the first pressing featured a picture of the band standing with pills falling in front of them. This release also had different pictures on the insert (the insert notes remained the same as later pressings) and a red circular label with yellow numbers on the left. The 1980 reissue pressing features the same picture as the first pressing but with different circular label, this time featuring an Alfa Records logo on the right.

The album is one of Casiopea's most famous, being their most streamed album on Spotify.[citation needed]

Track listing

All tracks were written and arranged by Issei Noro, except for horn arrangements by Jun Fukamachi and string arrangements by Hiroki Inui.

Credits

Casiopea

• Issei Noro – Yamaha SG2000 electric guitar, acoustic guitar, vocals on "Dream Hill"
• Minoru Mukaiya – Fender Rhodes piano, acoustic piano, Yamaha SK-20, Yamaha Electone EX-1, vibraphone
• Tetsuo Sakurai – 1974 Natural Finish Fender Jazz bass guitar
• Takashi Sasaki – Drums

Additional musicians

• Randy Brecker – trumpet on "Time Limit" and "Black Joke"
• Michael Brecker – tenor saxophone on "Time Limit," "Tears of the Star," and "Black Joke"
• David Sanborn – alto saxophone on "Time Limit" and "Black Joke"
• "Tomato Strings" ensemble – strings

Release history

See also

• 1979 in Japanese music

External links

• at Discogs
• at MusicBrainz