Improvised Music from Japan / Discography

Kazue Sawai

Eye to Eye

(Japan Traditional Cultures Foundation/Victor Entertainment, VZCG 735) (Japan) (CD)


    A Picture of You and I
    Words and music by Ayuo Takahashi
  1. When I Was Eight (6:05)
  2. Wedding Night (2:34)
  3. When You Were Forty (2:53)
    Kazue Sawai: 17-stringed koto
    Hiromi Ohta: vocals

  4. They Set on Two Bamboo Stools and Gazed at the Moon and Its Reflection in the Lake (8:35) Music by Ayuo Takahashi
    Kazue Sawai: 17-stringed koto
    Ayuo Takahshi: keyboard (Prophet 2000)
    Louise Brouard: voice
    Terry Brown: voice

  5. A Song to Fallen Blossoms (13:09)
    Words by Cao Xueqin, music by Ayuo Takahashi
    Kazue Sawai: 13- and 17-stringed kotos
    Ayuo Takahashi: keyboard (Prophet 2000), electric guitar, back vocals
    Peter Hammill: vocals
    Sarah Jane Morris: vocals
    James Warren: choir
    Guy Evans: drums

  6. A Letter from a Stranger's Childhood (6:07)
    Music by Robin Williamson
    Kazue Sawai: 17-stringed koto

  7. Midare (10:49)
    Music by Kengyo Yatsuhashi
    Kazue Sawai: 13-stringed koto

  8. Eye to Eye (8:45)
    Words and music by Ayuo Takahashi
    Kazue Sawai: 17-stringed koto
    Hiromi Ohta: vocals
    Ayuo Takahashi: keyboard, back vocals

  9. While I Was Crossing the Bridge (13:32)
    Music by Yuji Takahashi
    Kazue Sawai: 17-stringed koto

Produced by Ayuo Takahashi
Recorded and mixed by David Lord at Crescent Studios, Bath, UK, August 1987
Remastered by Ichiro Tanaka at Victor Studio, Tokyo, February 15, 2010
Photos by Kiyotane Hayashi and Taro Yokota
Original design by Ayuo Takahashi and Tsuyoshi Aruga
Reissue design by Kiyomi Hashimoto
Include a 16-page booklet with Japanese liner notes by Ayuo Takahashi and Yuji Takahashi; lyrics in Japanese or English; biographies of Kazue Sawai and Ayuo Takahashi in Japanese and English; Japanese biographies of Hiromi Ohta, Peter Hammill, Sarah Jane Morris, James Warren, Guy Evans, Louise Brouard, Terry Brown, and David Lord; and photos

Released in April 2010
Originally released in 1987 as a CD on Art Front Produce (AFP-001)