Customer Reviews

Second Time Around

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
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GHOST is Japan's greatest psych-prog-noise-whatever band of commune dwelling hippies (I have heard rumors that there is some sort of GHOST house in Tokyo). The lyrics tend to the worst kind of Donovan-esque hippie dippy mystical drivel (all delivered in English with what seems to be a less than proficient knowledge of the English language - "spirit and spiral took a time trip eternally into the sun" - huh?) but since to my ears the vocals are mostly incomprehensible I don't hold it against them since singer Masaki Batoh has a pretty voice and English isn't his first language. I remember hearing a lot about GHOST before I actually heard them. They had a lot of hype around them before DRAG CITY started releasing their albums I think it was five or six years ago and I was into all things Japanese (yes, it involved a certain Japanese girl I was seeing at the time but let's not get into the sordid details) and listening to lots of that crazy Japanese music (HIGH RISE, GUITAR WOLF, BOREDOMS, HAINO etc). I remember being slightly disappointed when I first actually heard GHOST but they definitely grow on you. Of all of the Japanese noise bands I used to like, GHOST remains my favorite, if only because in the intervening years my tolerance for FEEDBACK/NOISE/SCREAMING has gone down in my old age (take my MERZBOW CDs please) and SECOND TIME AROUND remains my favorite GHOST CD. (note: unlike most amazon reviewers, I give five stars sparingly)

Mixing together heavily-amplified psychedelic guitar riffs and pastoral tunefulness delivered through acoustic instrumentation, Ghost set a pattern on their third release "Lama Rabi Rabi" that has largely continued on their subsequent recordings. "Second Time Around", Ghost's aptly named sophomore release, looked backwards at the reflective tranquility of their eponymous debut while also anticipating the passages of naturally elevated volume produced through aggressive riffing on percussive and woodwind instruments traditionally associated with Japanese folk music that counterbalance many of their compositions after this release. Not as ornate and elegant as many of the cuts found on their fourth release, "Snuffbox Immanence", but more dynamic than its predecessor, the vast majority of the songs on "Second Time Around" give an appreciative fan of Japanese psychedelic folk not only immediate pleasure, but also (if listened to in retrospect) a tantalizing hint at the direction the band was about to chart. As of the date of this review, Drag City has not offered "Second Time Around" for re-release, so if you can grab a decent copy from Amazon you'd be well-served; it's a must-have for any anyone who's already purchased their past four releases, and definitely stands alone on its own merits if you're just encountering the band for the first time.