Ken Nakano & The Flying Penguins

Thirsty

Melodius and discordant; spanning cultures and traditions

1	4:03	Wild Horse	medium rock
2	4:25	Thirsty	fast hard rock
3	4:52	Sitting In The Dark	ballad, some Japanese
4	5:34	Gypsy	medium rock
5	1:53	Gyakumodori I	acoustic, in Japanese
6	4:23	Heart Of A Rising Sun	slow rock, bluesy
7	4:03	Jessie	medium, in Japanese
8	4:36	Nine Miles	medium, hard rock
9	5:07	We Dream Together	ballad
10	2:07	Gyakumodori II	fast rock jam, in Japanese
11	4:35	Kaeru No Uta (The Frog Song)	ballad, in Japanese

Track 1. Wild Horse

An oft-told tale of bitter-sweet obsession in a 4 minute, mid-tempo rockbox.

Track 2. Thirsty.

The title track of this album is a heavy, driving rock number with steelwheels and chrome trim. A stellar performance by the Penguins is augmented by Ultra Bidé drummer Tada and his alter-image on the lead guitar.

Track 3. Sitting In The Dark

A moody, intimate (and bilingual) ballad. Ken felt most able to express the subtle lyrical nuances by taking advantage of both languages.

Track 4. Gypsy

Ken originally wrote and performed Gypsy with The Faith in 198?. It remained a part of his repertoire and through many a re-arrangement and translation the song has grown to gain a kind of anthemic status among friends and fans, alike.

Track 6. Heart Of The Rising Sun

Written by Ken's frequent musical collaborator, Jason Yoon-Hendricks, the song has a somewhat American flavor. In fact, it was inspired by the tragic life of a famous Japanese music idol. This story of hidden pain in the lime-light is, apparently, universal as Ken's re-interpretation illustrates.

Track 11. Kaeru No Uta (The Frog Song)

A beautiful ballad, if a bit odd for Western audiences. The song is about frogs struggling survive in the summer heat much as humans get uglier as they compete against one another in life.

• The Musicians:
  • Ken Nakano - Bass, vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion & taisho koto
  • Michiro Takai - Electric guitar, E-bow, keyboards
  • Wado - Electric & acoustic guitars
  • Sakae Namekawa - Drums
• Additional Musicians:
  • Jason Yoon-Hendricks (lead vocal on 9)
  • Tadayuki Hirano (lead guitar on 2)
  • Brian Jones (percussion on 5, pipetone on 11)
• Guitarists on 10 in the order of appearance:
  • Michi, Satoru Ito, Ken, Wado, Tada, Tesshii, Jason
• Tracks (1,3,4 &9) produced by Ken Nakano and Jason Yoon-Hendricks
• All other tracks produced by Ken Nakano
• Recorded and mixed by Brian Jones at The Place, New York, NY
• Mastered by Brian Jones at Invisible Arts, Jersey City, NJ
• Other Credits:
  • Cover Photo by Yoichi Inoue © 1994
  • Back cover painting by Eiji Matsukubo © 1994
  • Art Concept by Koichiro Shinohara
  • Art Direction: Relax Design Co. NYC

• Distribution: Dutch East India Trading Co; Ladyslipper; Goldenrod/Horizon
• Available on CD and Chrome Cassette
  

[Catalog] [Label] [Artists] [Feedback] [News] [In Progress]

Copyright 1996 Borderless Records Co., NY NY