Masaaki Hirao and His All Stars Wagon: Nippon Rock'n'Roll (Big Beat/Border)

 |   |  1 min read

Masaaki Hirao: Jailhouse Rock
Masaaki Hirao and His All Stars Wagon: Nippon Rock'n'Roll (Big Beat/Border)

How global was Fifties rock'n'roll?

In New Zealand we had Johnny Devlin, "the Wanganui Elvis" and within four months of Heartbreak Hotel and All Shook Up, Kazuya Kosaka and the Wagon Masters in Japan had covered them. 

Rock'n'roll went global very quickly.

Kosaka wasn't alone in Japan either. Or in his use of a band name with "wagon" in it.

This 23 song collection of live and studio songs by Masaaki Hirao is subtitled "The Birth of Japanese Rokabirii 1958-1960" and has our man covering the usual songs -- Lawdy Miss Clawdy, Jailhouse Rock, Lucille, Jenny Jenny -- but also offering a bunch of songs written for him by Japanese writers who got the idiom very quickly.

The excellent liner notes by compiler Howard Williams acknowledge the importance of Kosaka whose country style paved the way for the likes of Hirao who -- with Mickey Curtis and Kei-chan Yamashita -- shoved the country music towards rockabilly ("rokabirii") and learned his moves by looking at photos of American stars and trying to figure out what they were doing.

Williams also notes the role of Kyu Sakamoto and how even this far back the ground was being laid for subsequent "idol singers" who are still popular today.

All this is very interesting, rather more so than some of the music here it has to be said.

The studio songs are undeniably sound (not a patch on Elvis, Little Richard and others) but the live tracks -- nine of the 23 -- only highlight Hirao's shortcomings. What is interesting however is how the music was a strange variant of American rockabilly and rock'n'roll.

As in New Zealand where many of those on the earliest rock'n'roll recordings were jazz musicians (so would slip sideways into what they knew during solos), so too there can be strange tangents at times, notably from the sax players who sound like they'd be more at home on New Orleans jazz or small band swing.

The guitarists however knew how to burn. Or at least play very, very fast.

So here's an album of oddities (Jailhouse Rock and Lucille in Japanese), rock'n'roll era ballads (Little Darlin'), some real scorchers and a lot of songs you might be happy to have heard.

But maybe just once.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

RECOMMENDED REISSUE: Frank Black: Teenager of the Year (digital outlets/vinyl)

RECOMMENDED REISSUE: Frank Black: Teenager of the Year (digital outlets/vinyl)

The programme for releasing albums is much the same as it ever was: a drip-feed of singles, promotion and PR swing into action, interviews . . . The biggest difference between now and five or... > Read more

Jools Holland and His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra: Rockinghorse (Rhino)

Jools Holland and His Rhythm and Blues Orchestra: Rockinghorse (Rhino)

The celebrity-guest collections and R'N'B Orchestra discs from Jools Holland have often been tasty but a few not entirely successful. This sometimes breathless rush of boogie-woogie piano, big... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

JACK BODY INTERVIEWED (2001): From street to string section

JACK BODY INTERVIEWED (2001): From street to string section

The music skitters off the disc as the Greek fiddle player takes to the tune at alarming speed, the notes slewing into each other. The piece is Horos Serra, recorded for a 1973 collection, and... > Read more

Morocco: A practical guide

Morocco: A practical guide

The deserts and mountains of Morocco have seen a bewildering array of oddities: Egyptian zombies; Carrie, Samantha and the other Sex and the City gals traipsing through the sand; Jesus tortured... > Read more