Band Wagon is the debut solo album of Japanese musician Shigeru Suzuki, released by Panam/Crown on May 25, 1975. It was recorded in Los Angeles, California with American musicians.[1] Two singles were released from the album "The Smell of August"/"Snow Express" and "100-Watt Lover", both in 1975.
Shigeru Suzuki's first solo album followed the disbanding of Happy End and the formation of Tin Pan Alley with Haruomi Hosono and Masataka Matsutoya. The musician said Band Wagon had a production budget of 6.4 million yen.[2] It was recorded in Los Angeles because studio rental fees were cheaper in America than in Japan.[2]
Suzuki's fellow Happy End bandmate Takashi Matsumoto wrote the lyrics to all of the songs.[3] Matsumoto said that Suzuki gave him free rein, and that he wrote the lyrics a bit like the ones he had written for their former band.[2] Because he was recording in America, Suzuki would convey a song to Matsumoto in Japan, such as the melodies and number of words he wanted, via long-distance telephone call, then wait about a week for Matsumoto to relay the lyrics to him the same way.[2] The lyricist said him doing this for just the lyrics to only a single song would incur a phone bill of ¥50,000 to ¥60,000.[3]
The track "Woman in the Dunes" was named after the novel of the same name and its film adaptation. Matsumoto cited it as his favorite song.[2]
Touring and live recordings
To tour the record, Suzuki formed the band Huckleback (ハックルバック, sometimes written as "Hucklebuck"), consisting of keyboardist Hiroshi Sato, bassist Akihiro Tanaka, and drummer Toshiaki Hayashi. The group played around 10 shows, before disbanding on November 16, 1975.[5]
Live recordings from the tour appear on 2008's Shigeru Suzuki History Box - Crown Years 1974–1979 box set. In 2014, Suzuki performed Band Wagon in its entry for his Get Back Sessions Special "Band Wagon" Live concert video. It peaked at number 272 on Oricon's DVD chart.[6] A 2-disc live album recorded during the original 1975 tour on April 4 and May 15 was released on September 23, 2015 under the title 1975 Live.[5]
↑ Hideo Okuda "Rock n Roll from the village" Korean translation Kwon Yong-ju 권영주 시골에서 로큰롤: 오쿠다 히데오 에세이 2015 "지금 들으면 역시 시대가 느껴지 는데, 이 순진함은 일본 록의 역사보다 쇼와 풍속사 에 기록해야 할지도. Band Wagon/Shigeru Suzuki 전(前) 해피엔드의 .."
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