Deka: I'll third the sentiment on the fact that Fushitsusha's "Double Live II," (PSF 15-16, 1991) is one of the most outstanding releases on PSF, but it's not really free improv, especially not "European Free Improvisation" a la Bailey, Brotzmann, et al. Some of it is pretty highly structured improvisation in the rock idiom. Probably the most important release on PSF and the more improvisational in nature is Keiji Haino's first solo album "Watashi-dake" (translation: Only Me) (PSFD 38, originally released on lp in 1981, cd released 1993). This voice and guitar record is an essential intro to Haino. Those two releases are more than ten years old. Probably the most exciting thing that PSF has released in the past decade is Keiji Haino's "cover band" trio, Aihiyo. This is Haino on vocals and guitar with a bass player (Masami Kawaguchi) and drummer (Ikuro Takahashi). Their second album, unofficially titled "Live", was released on PSF (PSFD-8006, 2000). This is a very unusual cover band; even when you know the originals, the song is barely recognizable. The best songs are those where you don't know the originals and the songs like "The rose has bloomed" (originally by Mike Maki) and "The wind is weeping" (originally by Mops) have all the ferocity of Haino's voice and the power of Fushitsusha blended into rock-oriented anthems. Foot-tapping fun. Listenable again and again and again. There's also a cover of The Rolling Stones' "Satisfaction". As for all the other artists on PSF, I have never really heard anything else that really (in my opinion) generates anything close to the interest that Haino does. Some people swear that Mikami Kan (who has 15 or so albums on PSF) is an equal to Haino, but everyone I have ever heard say that speaks Japanese. Perhaps, Mikami doesn't transcend the language barrier the way Haino does. Perhaps something else. The real person to address this question to is Alan Cummings, who has probably heard every release in the PSF catalog (and who has written English-language promotional material for most of them). He may still subscribe to this list. David K. On 7/4/03 4:16 PM, "deka" <deka@zebratelecom.ru> wrote:
Again and again looking through PSF catalogue from Forced Exposure I still can't decide what record to start with. What can you recommend for a free improv fan ?