Super review by Cal Gibson, of The Secret Soul Society.

Subtitled Tokyo Jazz-funk from Electric Bird 1978-1987 this is a wonderful stroll down forgotten jazzual highways and byways, stuffed full of on-point musicianship and the slinkiest of moods and grooves. DJ Notoya has done a sterling job of musical excavation. He’s checked down the back of every sofa in town, and come up with a bunch of proverbial bangers.

Electric Bird was a sub-label of the Japanese label King records, and from the evidence gathered here they had plenty of goodness on the books. Shunzo Ohno‘s In The Sky starts things off, warm and leisurely, loping and laidback: shades of Azymuth in the thematic structure, a touch of Allan Holdsworth maybe in the featured guitar break. A low-slung jazz-roller for the floors that like some depth to their selections.

Mikio Masuda‘s Let’s Get Together is hot on its heels: a Rhodes-fired extravaganza that’s begging to be looped up and sampled to smithereens. Again it’s a roller, a deep-pocketed stroller, full of love and life and laughter, the musos stretching out, taking their time, fingers flying over the keys, drum patterns constantly shifting: one hell of a mover.

Toshiyuki Honda‘s Living In The City kicks right back, a flute-filled ode to the joys of urban life (one can only assume cities were more amenable back then, back before we descended into today’s angst-ridden stress zones). The fretless bass licks are pure Pastorius, the spirit of Jaco transplanted to Tokyo. Synth pads billow and flair under the flute fills, handclaps drop in and, yes, life is easy when you’re young, free and single…

Katsutoshi Morizono‘s languid Space Traveller is a beautiful way to end the collection: a cosmic tip of the hat to the wonders that surround our tiny planet. Souljazz pimped and pumped into the infinite: celestial stargazing meets Herbie Hancock-esque vibes way, way, out in the endless night. Strap on the spacesuit and drift away cosmonauts: the pain and pleasure of the daily grind put into perspective by the vast unknowable wilderness that surrounds us when the sun goes down. A fitting finale then to a brilliantly curated offering. Wewantsounds are one of the reissue imprints that do it right: the lost golden nuggets are presented beautifully, space and time is collapsed as we delight in music’s infinite, boundless, power to transport us to better lands.

DJ Notoya presents Funk Tide can be pre-ordered directly from Wewantsounds.