Mint Jams

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Mint Jams
CasiopeaMintJamsalbumcover.jpg
Live album by
ReleasedMay 21, 1982
RecordedFebruary 23 & 24, 1982
VenueChuo Kaikan Hall, Tsukiji Tokyo Flag of Japan.svg
Genre Jazz fusion
Length36:16
Label Alfa
Producer Shunsuke Miyazumi
Casiopea chronology
Cross Point
(1981)
Mint Jams
(1982)
4x4
(1982)

Mint Jams is the seventh album and the second live album by Japanese jazz-fusion band Casiopea, released on May 21, 1982. The album's title is an arrangement of the band members' first and last initials.

Contents

Description

As Alfa Records expanded into Europe, it was planned to produce an album for Europe by one of its artists, Casiopea. Initially, it was planned to be a compilation of best songs from existing albums, but was later turned into a live album.

Live sound recordings from a two-day performance at Tokyo Kaikan were used, and subsequently remixed at Alfa Studio 'A' by Shunsuke Miyazami, Satoshi Nakao, Norio Yoshizawa and Atsushi Saito. The songs were arranged in advance with studio work in mind.

To achieve the likeness of a studio quality sound, the audience noise from the Chuo Kaikan live performances were cut from the mix, except for during the bass guitar and drum solos in 'Domino Line', and the latter-half part of 'Swear' which include the drum and rag piano solo.

Besides the title of the album being an arrangement of the band members' first and last initials, it derives the word 'mint' to imply 'a mint condition' and 'high performance'. The word 'jams' describe their live performance of which the source material was taken from.

This album is widely considered to be Casiopea's best, as it combines their live dynamism and precision with careful studio work.

Mint Jams was also Casiopea's first album to mainly feature the Yamaha GS-1 FM synthesizer, operated by Minoru Mukaiya. This synthesizer was subsequently used in many of their live-performances.

The European version of Mint Jams was released in the same year as the Japanese release. The following year, in 1983, when Casiopea visited London to record the album JIVE JIVE, a promotional live concert was held.

Changes in Post

There were many changes in the arrangements and sound of songs in post such as:

"Tears of the Star" had a removed 30 second intro. "Domino Line" has bass and drum solos from both concert dates. The outro for "Swear" was cut down ~40 seconds. "Midnight Rendezvous" had an added clap sfx. "Time Limit" had more than a minute removed.

Track listing

All music is composed by Issei Noro

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Take Me"4:51
2."Asayake"4:58
3."Midnight Rendezvous"4:57
4."Time Limit"2:38
Total length:17:24
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Domino Line"7:22
2."Tears of the Star"4:29
3."Swear"6:48
Total length:18:39

Personnel

Casiopea:

Production:

Release history

RegionDateLabelFormatCatalogNote
JapanMarch 21, 1982 Alfa Records 30cmLP ALF-85869 [1] stereo
United Kingdom1982
Netherlands1982
Sweden1982 Sonet Records SNTF-924
JapanDecember 21, 1983 Alfa Records 12cmCD 38XA-5
1984 30cmLP ALR-20002
Sweden1984 Sonet Records 12cmCD SNCD 924
JapanJanuary 25, 1987 Alfa Records 32XA-112
March 21, 1992ALCA-277
July 27, 1994ALCA-9007
July 23, 1998ALCA-9202
January 23, 2002 Village Records remastered 12cmCD VRCL-2207 DSD, LP paper jacket
February 14, 2002VRCL-2227 DSD
May 27, 2009 Sony Music Direct MHCL-20009 DSD, Blu-spec CD, LP paper jacket
December 10, 2014 HYBRID SA-CD DYCL-446DSD, ORDER MADE FACTORY
February 3, 2016 Music download 1076210122 iTunes Store [2]
4582290414003 mora AAC-LC 320 kbps [3]
A1003862351 Recochoku AAC 128/320 kbps [4]
B01B5ATMFW Amazon.com [5]
Btqo2vsuzhatovitlmjn42qysey Google Play Music [6]
July 27, 20164582290419152mora DSD 2.8 MHz/1bit [7]
smj4582290419152 e-onkyo DSD 2.8 MHz/1bit [8]
11188HD-music DSD 2.8 MHz/1bit [9]
4582290419145mora FLAC 96.0 kHz/24bit [10]
A1004668159Recochoku FLAC 96 kHz 24bit [11]
smj4582290419145e-onkyo FLAC 96 kHz 24bit [12]
11178HD-music FLAC 96 kHz/24bit [13]
9b1bb9ff260e89188f84AWA 320kbps [14]
November 10, 201623fddOrAvvFX0iJQL5vvZ4 Spotify [15]

Full Live

Aside from Casiopea Perfect Live II , all Casiopea lives officially released are cut.

Some songs are missing from the official release, some are not in the right order and some are shorter. "Galactic Funk" and "Tears of the Star" were played with special intros.

No.TitleMusicfrom albumLength
1."Galactic Funk" Issei Noro Cross Point  
2."Eyes Of The Mind" Issei Noro Make Up City  
3."Take Me" Issei Noro Super Flight  
4."Time Limit" Issei Noro Casiopea  
5."Lakai" Harvey Mason, Bob James Eyes of the Mind  
6."Smile Again" Issei Noro Cross Point  
7."Sunnyside Feelin'" Akira Jimbo Cross Point  
8."Midnight Rendezvous" Issei Noro Casiopea  
9."Any Moment (We'll Be One)" Harvey Mason Cross Point  
10."Domino Line" Issei Noro Cross Point  
11."Swear" Issei Noro Cross Point  
12."Asayake" Issei Noro Super Flight  
13."Black Joke" Issei Noro Casiopea  
14."Tears Of The Star" Issei Noro Casiopea  

See also

References

  1. "Casiopea-Mint-Jams". discogs. discogs. Retrieved 2014-11-09.
  2. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". Apple Inc. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
  3. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". LevelGate Co., Ltd.. Archived from the original on 2016-02-28. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
  4. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". RecoChoku Co., Ltd. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
  5. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". Amazon.com, Inc.. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
  6. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". Google Inc. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
  7. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". LabelGate Co., Ltd. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  8. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". Onkyo & Pioneer Innovations Corporation. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  9. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". JVCKENWOOD Victor Entertainment Corporation. Archived from the original on 2016-08-04. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  10. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". LabelGate Co., Ltd. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  11. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". RecoChoku Co., Ltd. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
  12. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". Onkyo & Pioneer Innovations Corporation. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  13. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". JVCKENWOOD Victor Entertainment Corporation. Archived from the original on 2016-08-04. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  14. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". AWA Co. Ltd. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
  15. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". Spotify AB. Retrieved 2017-02-08.