In a Model Room

In a Model Room
Studio album by P-Model
Released August 25, 1979 (1979-08-25)
Recorded Tokyo, 1979
Studio Sunrise Studio (Recording & Mixing)
Freedom Studio
Electro Sound
Genre
Length 33:28
Language Japanese, English
Label Warner-Pioneer
Producer
P-Model chronology
Air on the Wiring
(1978)		 In a Model Room
(1979)		 Landsale
(1980)
Singles from In a Model Room
  1. "Art Mania" c/w "Sunshine City"
    Released: July 25, 1979 K-17W
  2. "Kameari Pop" c/w "Health Angel"
    Released: December 25, 1979 K-23W

In a Model Room is the debut album of Japanese band P-Model.

Background

By 1978, Susumu Hirasawa, guitarist and vocalist of Mandrake, one of the few Japanese progressive metal bands at the time, was unsatisfied with the style the band worked in, feeling that progressive rock had lost its social relevance and became solely for entertainment.[1] By then, Mandrake had only achieved reception by a niche live audience that were into progressive rock and bit parts. Around this time, Hirasawa came across punk rock groups like Sex Pistols, 999 and Métal Urbain;[2] their band also discovered the Nylon 100% café bar/live house, where they were introduced to new wave music and visuals. Sensing that it was the advent of a new era, Hirasawa and keyboardist Yasumi Tanaka started writing songs in the punk/new wave style, and cut their waist-length hair short.[3] Mandrake had turned into a half-hearted band and, after declining an offer from the director of Victor Music Industries, Hirasawa decided to "abort" Mandrake, characterizing it as the defeat to commercialism. The band's final live performance was a three-hour show at the Shibuya Jean-Jean, meant to be the symbolic burial of Mandrake's aborted body.

On New Year's Day 1979, the members of the band held a meeting to decide how they would reform. Bassist Tohru Akutu, still attached to progressive rock, decided to depart from the band. The instruments which "emitted a pretentious grandeur" (most of them painted in dignified colors like purple, gold and burgundy) were either repainted in bright colors (like yellow, light blue and pink) or sold off to buy ones more adequate for what the band envisioned. It was decided that their name would be changed to something that evoked the new development of a mass-produced industrial good.[4]

Composition and Production

Most of the songs on the album were created by Mandrake late in the group's existence, which allowed for a quick debut release. The songs show a tendency for complex compositions and unusual time signatures. The lyrics reflect on the sociopolitical issues of Japan at the time, during the Japanese post-war economic miracle, and were influenced in part by Nineteen Eighty-Four.[5]

In a Model Room was produced by Masahide Sakuma, keyboardist of the new wave band Plastics, who agreed to do so on the strength of the album's first track.[6] Described by Hirasawa as "an honest man who acted with a life-sized air of cleanliness", Sakuma was swiftly trusted by the band, who were cautious with making their debut.[7] Producing for the first time outside of his band, Sakuma went on to become a renowned session producer.

The instrumentation is a mix of standard punk with electronic devices for mechanical tones: A Roland CR-68 drum machine does simultaneous beats alongside a standard drum kit; the Maxi-Korg 800DV synthesizer was used for a unique blipping noise, dubbed by the music press as a "musical stapler",[8][9] and as a vocoder[10] for "Art Blind". P-Model came to argue with Warner-Pioneer, Sakuma and engineer Makoto Furukawa daily over the Yamaha YC-10 combo organ: The band chose it for a clicking noise made when a key is pressed, the production wanted to take it out of the mix and constantly told P-Model to rent an expensive keyboard, which they refused adamantly.[11] P-Model would alter the equalization settings Furukawa used to remove the clicking noise every time he looked away from the mixing console until he stopped noticing it.[12]

Hirasawa re-recorded the album (with the exception of "Sophisticated") in 1999 as Virtual Live-1 [P-Model Live at Roppongi S-Ken Studio 1979].

Legacy

In 2007 Rolling Stone Japan ranked it at number 52 in its list of the 100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums of All Time and Snoozer ranked it at number 125 in its list of the 150 Greatest Albums of Japanese Rock 'n' Roll.[13] Polysics covered "The Great Brain" for the 2007 album Karate House and have performed "Art Mania" live. A cover of "Art Mania" using Kagamine Rin is included on the Hatsune Miku sings NEW WAVE cover album.

Track listing

All tracks written by Susumu Hirasawa, except where noted. 

No. TitleLyricsMusic Length
1. "Art Mania" (美術館で会った人だろ Bijutsukan de Atta Hito Daro, Surely I Met You at the Art Museum[14])   3:09
2. "Health Angel" (ヘルス・エンジェル Herusu Engeru)Yasumi TanakaTanaka 2:32
3. "Roomrunner" (ルームランナー Rūmurannā, Treadmill)TanakaTanaka 2:32
4. "Sophisticated" (ソフィスティケイテッド Sofisutikeiteddo)   4:26
5. "For Kids" (子供たちどうも Kodomotachi Dōmo)Yūichi Hirasawa  3:31
6. "Kameari Pop"     3:56
7. "Sunshine City" (サンシャイン・シティー Sanshain Shitī)Y. HirasawaTanaka 2:03
8. "The Great Brain" (偉大なる頭脳 Idainaru Zunō) Fumiyasu Abe (uncredited), S. Hirasawa 2:03
9. "White Cigarettes" (ホワイト・シガレット Howaito Shigaretto)   3:15
10. "Pinky Trick" (MOMO色トリック MOMO Iro Torikku)   3:18
11. "Art Blind" (アート・ブラインド Āto Buraindo)   2:39

The group also planned to include the Mandrake song "Alien" (異邦人 Ihōjin) on the album, which was left off due to complications, but was later rerecorded, with new parts by Tanaka for Landsale.

Personnel

P-Model - Production, Arrangements
Staff

Release history

Date Label(s) Format Catalog Notes
August 25, 1979 Warner-Pioneer LP K-10017W First limited print run was pressed on clear pink vinyl.[15] The center labels refer to the sides of the record as "Models".
CS LKF-5029
January 25, 1992 Warner Music Japan CD WPCL-603 Released (alongside Landsale and Potpourri) a month before the release of P-Model.
May 10, 2002
July 4, 2014		 Chaos Union, Teslakite CHTE-0005 Remastered by Hirasawa. Part of Disc 1 of the Ashu-on [Sound Subspecies] in the solar system box set, alongside Landsale. The demo and "White Shoes" are on Disc 13 (CHTE-0017).[16] Re-released with new packaging by Kiyoshi Inagaki.
October 20, 2003 Warner Music Japan, sky station, SS RECORDINGS SS-101 Packaged in a paper sleeve to replicate the original LP packaging. Includes new liner notes by music industry writer Dai Onojima.

References

  1. ↑ "RocketBaby's interview w/Susumu Hirasawa". RocketBaby. Neo Cosmic Industries. Archived from the original on March 3, 2001. Retrieved 3 March 2001.
  2. ↑ "P-Model". '80s New Wave Special [80年代ニューウェーブ特集]. November 28, 2001. NHK. NHK BS-2.
  3. ↑ http://twilog.org/hirasawa/date-130417
  4. ↑ Hirasawa, Susumu; Nakano, Yasuhiro; Matsumoto, Masayuki (2006) [1997]. unreleased materials volume two (liner notes). Mandrake. Chaos Union, TESLAKITE. CHTE-0036.
  5. ↑ Takahasi, Kasiko (2010) [1999]. 改訂DIGITAL復刻版 音楽産業廃棄物 [Music Industrial Wastes Rev.2.4] (PDF) (in Japanese). P-Model Side — Open Source (3rd ed.). Fascination. p. 33.
  6. ↑ Sakuma, Masahide (February 25, 2009). "30th anniv.". Masahide Sakuma [homepage] (in Japanese).
  7. ↑ "佐久間正英プロデュース作品集・奇跡のコンピレーションCD『SAKUMA DROPS』". Speedstar Records (in Japanese). Victor Entertainment. Retrieved 18 February 2016. click Artist Comment, then click track 2 listed under DISC 2.
  8. ↑ "KEYBOARD FILE No.23: 1st KEYBOARD – 平沢 進(P-MODEL)とKORG 800DV". KB Special (in Japanese). No. 94. Rittor Music. November 1992.
  9. ↑ Sawada, Daisuke (March 19, 2009). "TECHNO POP IN 80's & 00's". TOWER RECORDS ONLINE (in Japanese). Tower Records. Retrieved 19 August 2015.
  10. ↑ "INSTRUMENTS CHECK – P-MODEL". Rock Steady (in Japanese). Vol. 32. Steady Publications. July 1980. p. 57.
  11. ↑ HIRASAWA SUSUMU 激烈インタビュー 「DAWの変遷」そしてライブでの表現について [Susumu Hirasawa Intense Interview — "Transitions of DAW" and its Expressions in a Live Stage]. TALBO Secret FACTORY (in Japanese). Ikebe Gakki. Retrieved 21 April 2015.
  12. ↑ https://twitter.com/hirasawa/status/363875183766937600
  13. ↑ Marx, W. David (November 9, 2007). "100 Greatest Japanese Rock Albums". Néojaponisme.
  14. ↑ "美術館で会った人だろ / Bijutsukan de Atta Hito Daro / Surely I Met You at the Art Museum". Hirasawa Lyrics.
  15. ↑ "IN A MODEL ROOM ピンク盤". 平沢博物苑 (in Japanese). Retrieved 11 November 2014.
  16. ↑ "DISC13". Ashu-on. Chaos Union. Archived from the original on February 14, 2005.

External links

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