#barcarole

This time we have a snapshot from the movie 'Ich will nicht wissen, wer Du bist' (1932), ('I Do Not Want To Know Who You Are'), in which Gustav stars beside actress Liane Haid as a nobleman who, having presently fallen from grace, finds himself acting as a lady's chauffeur (all the while, of course, wearing the uniform with unparalleled grace).

To me, this remains a beautiful, intriguing picture - sensual yet elegant, and so, oh so cinematic.

My relationship with the music of Yuji Toriyama began earlier this year, when Studio Mule released their second Midnight in Tokyo volume. There amidst all the loved up soul, funk, boogie, and disco sat Yuji’s “Bay/Sky Provincetown 1977,” a track that completely floored me with its magical balearic fusion vibrations. As I explored Yuji’s back catalog, I was happy to learn that the relatively new Time Capsule Records was issuing a compilation of some of Yuji’s most stunning compositions. The result is Choice Works 1982 - 1985, a five track vinyl collection curated by Kay Suzuki that pulls from Aerobics (1982 with Ken Morimura), Yuji Toriyama (1983), and A Taste of Paradise (1985). Every single cut is remarkable, with breath-taking explorations in guitar led fusion and funk wrapped around by cosmic electronics and humid tropical atmospheres. And the packaging is incredible, featuring eye popping colors, detailed inserts, and a comprehensive essay that tracks Yuji’s musical development from his childhood through to A Taste of Paradise. And luckily for a gear nerd like myself, the text spends considerable time discussing Yuji’s consistent curiosity in the most advanced musical technology available. He was the rare musician in Japan at the time who matched musical skill with expert knowledge in programming, readily mastering and employing the most cutting edge samplers, sequencers, drum computers, and synthesizers in order to create the magical sonic worlds of his dreams.

Yuji Toriyama - Choice Works 1982 - 1985 (Time Capsule, 2018) The wiggling and funked out synth bass of “Night Together” supports liquid guitars and a rainfall of piano enchantment. The vibe is of heartache in paradise as everything flows into an emotional dreamworld of cosmic-aquatic magic. Twinkling percolations descend over tight riffs and sections with blasting 16th note rhythms see dueling guitar leads reaching towards the sky in harmonized perfection. Elsewhere, glassy sequences work the mind while Yuji lets loose a blistering fuzz solo that moves between sensual runs, fiery shredding, and triumphant leads soaring through a tropical cosmos. Near the end, as everything glides towards a sunset horizon, surfadelic guitar echoes and string scrapes dance through the night sky. “Stranger in the Mirror” heads towards balearic waters, which is no surprise given its genesis at Sea West Studios in Hawaii. Chiming harmonic guitar cascades and their golden arpeggiations intertwine with aquamarine leads of eternal beauty…as if Manuel Göttsching were jamming out by the sea. Twanging bass guitars pulse over shakers and kick while chimes percolate over the mix like strands of diamonds. Massive tom fills sweep the song into a fantasy world of oceanic romance as soft sky-seeking synths float above lush vocoder lullabies and swaying downtempo rhythms. At some point, the shimmering guitar webs are accented by faraway fuzz solos and as the song concludes, euphoric whale song synthesizers are overdubbed by aching melodies flowing in counterpoint.

“Donna,” was also recorded with Rick Keefer at Sea West studios and is named after his wife Donna, who contributes vocals. Low slung bass licks sit aside a stomping disco beat accented by industrial noise snares and hard hitting claps. Slap bass magic is sprinkled throughout the mix, crystalline guitars of aqua and turquoise melt over everything, and emotive bending synth leads ring out in one ear while their feverish echo trails dance in the other. Yuji dazzles overtop with a solo comprised of delicious slides…vocal, wailing, desperate…with whammy bar pyrotechnics evoking some sort of 80’s hair metal fantasia rocketing above a wonderland of seaside funk. And later, the track settles into an extended bass and drum stomp with strange synthesizers wavering around Donna’s breathy vocal fx. “Maze” is indebted to Pat Metheny Group’s “Barcarole,” down to Yuji’s use of the Roland G-505 guitar synth. Sequenced marimbas followed by rainbow tracers and machine gun bass drums lock in with crashing snares until an electro-funk ether effortlessly fades in. Shakers hypnotize the mind and growling MJ-style bass synths work up the scale while twinkling tones of starshine metal move through polysynth solo adventures. And during a weird percussive midtro, we head deep into the jungle as strange animals converse in the trees and clouds of insects move in spellbinding patterns. Throughout, Yuji’s guitar synth leads fly towards the sun under morphing LSD fx and the track ends with a blissful outro of angelic new age pads and expressive cosmic solos.

The title of “Bay/Sky Provincetown 1977” is due to co-producer Naoki Tachikawa, who felt the track had “a summer seaside vibe, reminiscent to an imaginative European town.” We start with a rattling panorama of hand percussion leading a vaguely Latin shuffle, as cinematic noir-soaked guitar lines drift in the clouds. Thumping basslines groove away as the guitars grow windswept and forlorn, with swelling liquid slide notes and twilit melodies tracked by FM synth bells. Luscious chord movements and dreamworld arps create a background of oceanic euphoria while swelling strings and organs add rainbow colorations, everything setting the stage for paradise guitar leads and David Gilmour-style aqueous delay fx. At some point, an exotic stringed instrument drops golden beads of light and eventually gives way to an emotional blues solo wherein Yuji’s dazzling fretwork evokes gemstones sparkling in a pool of moving water. Beautiful organs with soft Leslie rotations solo alongside the guitars until the vibe changes near the end, with further layers of minimalist percussion entering and helping the rhythms zone out even further. Celestial synth chimes create a sparkling electronic background over which wave motion guitars drop their entrancing spells and it all so strongly evokes Naoki’s imaginative European beach town paradise that you can practically hear the waves crashing and smell the salt in the air.

This one is from Barcarole (1935), a romance film set in Venice, in which Gustav starred beside newcomer Czech actress Lida Baarova – by then his marriage was dissolving, as he would soon be divorced from his first wife, opera singer Gitta Alpar, by whom he had his only daughter, Julika; and according to Lida, they both fell helplessly in love on set.

They very soon became an established couple, with Lida spending most of her time at Gustav’s beautiful villa in Schwanenwerder – but then things fell tragically apart, as we all know.

But this lovely movie clearly shows the budding chemistry between the two of them, as well as allowing us to admire an extremely charming and super classy (just as usual) Gustav, still equipped with the heavy kind of make-up that by then was very much an ever-present heritage of the silent movie era!

🎬 Title: Barcarole Story: In her first night shift at a nursing home, Zdena, a young nurse, is immediately confronted with a challenging situation: she must handle the body of a resident who has passed away. This film presents a poignant exploration of troubled youth intertwined with a realistic encounter with mortality, combining physical intensity and touches of absurd humor. ⭐ Rating: 0 (0…