means Gene Vincent in Japanese. He's always been more popular overseas than in the USA - this is common knowledge. England and France were particularly receptive to his timeless music. Japan was another such country.

Wanda Jackson, the 'Female Gene Vincent' as some called her and Gene's fellow Capitol recording artist at the time, had toured Japan during February and March 1959. She had electrified the Japanese in particular with her own inimitable version of 'Fujiyama Mama'.
When Gene and Jerry Lee Merritt (Gene's lead guitar player after the breakup with The Blue Caps) toured there from late June to mid-July 1959, the crowds went wild just the same - notably in Yakuska and at Tokyo's Nichigeki Theater. Feeling homesick, Gene managed to leave the tour before it ended and got back to the States, where he was due to cut another album in August. The fanatical reception he had got in Japan probably inspired his recording of 'Mitchiko From Tokyo' on August 6 which was the second cut on the second side of the excellent 'Crazy Times' LP.

Although Gene never toured Japan again, his popularity was such that no less than three 78's, twenty-two 45's, at least one EP and some twelve LP's (not counting various artists comps) by him were released there between 1956 and 1990.
This short piece will focus on these Japanese pressings and a selected disocgraphy will follow the text. When you're seriously into collecting records, you can't miss those from the land of the rising sun : they are pieces of Art in themselves. The only big problem which has plagued many of them until relatively recent times, was the use of that dreadful 'rechanneled stereo'. Thus, I have 'stereo' EPs by The Animals, The Dave Clark Five, The Spencer Davis Group and others which are virtually unbearable as such and must be listened to in mono ; of course, there remain the beautiful covers, the lyric inserts and the red plastic to be enjoyed endlessly. Yes, many of Gene's singles and albums in the '50s and '60s were pressed on both black and dark red vinyl ; and all of his singles had picture sleeves or more precisely, company sleeves with pic inserts. Some of them are pictured at left and below.

These are the highly sought after early Japanese albums. 'This Is Gene Vincent' is a 10" LP, shown here in its first pressing from 1959. My copy of 'The Best Of Gene Vincent' is the 12" second press from 1966. On the back cover, T-20493 is noted in brackets under the CR 7229 catalogue number and there's the Ever Clean logo which indicates it's a wine red vinyl Toshiba pressing. On the front cover, 'Jezebel' appears as 'Zezebel' ! Both LPs are in real mono sound.

The pièce de résistance for me is the 'Shakin' Up A Storm' LP (Odeon OR 7132), issued in red vinyl and complete with obi, inner sleeve plus an insert featuring all the lyrics to the songs. The front cover is similar to the original British issue but the back cover is different - the liners are in Japanese and there are no photos of Gene on stage with The Shouts. The track listing is the same of course but the sides are reversed, side one starting with 'Long Tall Sally' and side two with 'Hey Hey Hey Hey'. Mono only - the stereo mixes had probably already been erased.

Now, you can have a go at CDs too. Toshiba-EMI have put out quite a few of'em since the advent of this new format. I will only list a couple of nice ones which will neatly complete your collection - 'urbi et obi' !!

TOCP-9122 * Previously issued on CD as CP32-9046 * Reissue of LP ECS-90053 * Track listing : Be-Bop-A-Lula ; Woman Love ; Pink Thunderbird ; Race With The Devil ; Blue Jean Bop ; Lotta Lovin' ; Dance To The Bop ; Walkin' Home From School ; Your Cheatin' Heart ; Over The Rainbow ; By The Light Of The Silvery Moon ; Hey Good Lookin' ; Ready Teddy ; Maybelline ; Say Mama ; Be Bop Boogie Boy ; She She Little Sheila ; If You Want My Lovin' ; Mister Loneliness ; Lucky Star. A superb compilation, with all tracks mono except for 'She She Little Sheila' which is in true stereo.

TOCP-7969 * Issued in 1993 * This is a clever release, since it has the same track listing as Jeff Beck's excellent tribute LP : Race With The Devil ; Cruisin' ; Crazy Legs ; Double Talkin' Baby ; Woman Love ; Lotta Lovin' ; Catman ; Pink Thunderbird ; Baby Blue ; You Better Believe ; Who Slapped John ; Say Mama ; Red Blue Jeans And A pony Tail ; Five Feet Of Lovin' ; B-I-Bickey-B-I-Bo-Bo-Go ; Blues Stay Away From Me ; Pretty Pretty Baby ; Hold Me, Hug Me, Rock Me.Only five duplicates with the above CD. Magnificent mono sound ! The only mistake is the inclusion of the (otherwise quite good) 1964 version of 'Baby Blue' in place of the original 1957 cut.

Copyright PAUL VIDAL - Privas, France - 1999-2019