Wednesday, February 14

February 14, 2018 - The Golden Cups - Hiwa-Mata Noboru (1968)


The Golden Cups were part of the Group Sounds era in Japan, an explosion of bands that formed following the 1966 visit by the Beatles. In his book Japrocksampler, Julian Cope included a couple of pages of Group Sounds record sleeves. It's nuts how many bands there were! Some other bands were The Tempters, The Tigers, The Jaguars, The Cougars, The Spiders, The Gullivers, and the Carnabeats, all dressed in similar groovy 60s styles and all rockin the British Invasion sound in their own imitative way, equal parts Godzilla and Hello Kitty.

Google translated Hiwa-Mata Noboru as "Wow, I climb again." I imagine the Golden Cups in their groovy 60s clothes climbing an electrical tower and plugging in a giant fuzz pedal. At 0:22, there is a little fuzz burst. Bolts of power rise on a Jacob's Ladder until at 0:50 the power is turned on full blast and the most raw, 'skinned knee on the gym floor', electric guitar solo rips out across Tokyo. It barely lasts ten seconds, but it burns right through everything. Hot wires of love, straight to the heart.


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