Esoteric (label)
01 October 2009 (released)
01 December 2009
Oh ya gotta love those wacky Japanese! ‘Go Too’ is the THIRD in the ‘Go!’ trilogy put together by Japanese master Stomu Yamashta and it is probably on of the most underrated Jazz Fusion albums of all time.
Yamashta is/was a percussionist, composer and producer and he put together the original ‘Go!’ album featuring Stevie Winwood (Traffic, Spencer Davis & Blind Faith), Michael Shrieve (Santana), Klaus Schulze (Tangerine Dream) and Al Di Meola (Return To Forever) and then followed it up with a live performance from Paris for the imaginatively titled ‘Go! Live from Paris’.
‘Go Too’ originally came out on Arista and, excepting Steve Winwood, used the same group of artists and created a supremely atmospheric and virtually orchestral work that manages to combine just about every influence available in the mid-seventies. Doni Harvey and Linda Lewis take care of the vocals and give the thing a soulful feel against Schulze’s keyboard wizardry and Paul Jackson’s heavy funk basslines while Al Di Meola gives the whole thing speed and an incredibly detailed guitar line. Mike Shrieve’s drumming is superb and with Jess Roden and Brother James also weighing in on vocals every number is able to stand alone or form part of the supremely imagined whole.
. ‘Seen You Before’ is a speed chase with keyboards and guitar leading into a sublime funk/jazz piece, ‘Madness’ alone has more music and more twists than most musicians entire career, ‘Mysteries of Love’ has an eerie Japanese feel to its opening and a virtually baroque beauty to the keyboards and strings and then the vocal brings the song down to tear your heart away and ‘You And Me’ featuring whale song and lonely keys delivers a simple soul and jazz song that hits some real soul heights.
All round it stands up brilliantly today and stands as a terrific example of ensemble playing with real heart.