Strawberry Path - Woman Called Yellow Z (1971)

FLIED EGG / STRAWBERRY PATH was a series of Japanese progressive rock projects in early seventies carried out by two key players Shigeru NARUMO (guitars, keyboards) and Hiro TSUNODA (drums). In the late sixties, Shigeru has already been famous and charismatic on Japanese underground rock scene. Woodstock Festival could notify him of a need to hold Japanese rock festivals and let him give some reasonable concerts (called '10 yen concert') in Hibiya Open-Air Concert Hall with great players ... Shinki Chen (ex-Food Brain, Speed Glue and Shinki), George Yanagi (ex-Power House), Hiro Yanagida (ex-Apryl Fool, Food Brain), or Hiro Tsunoda (ex-Sadao Watanabe Quartet, Food Brain). This experience might be the basis of a project named STRAWBERRY PATH.

STRAWBERRY PATH shot only one album - 'When The Raven Has Come To The Earth' (1971). In this work, Shigeru could play multi-instruments at the same time (a keyboard by his left hand, a guitar by his right hand, a bass pedal by his feet!). Influenced of Jimi Hendrix or lots of British progressive artists, he tried to shoot the psychedelic and progressive style with Hiro's jazzy and freaky drumming. At an opening performance of the Pink Floyd Japan tour, Shigeru and Hiro persuaded Masayoshi TAKANAKA (bass) to join them...after a month, these three talented players changed their outfit name from STRAWBERRY PATH to FLIED EGG.

FLIED EGG produced two album - 'Dr. Siegel's Fried Egg Shooting Machine' (1972) and 'Good Bye Flied Egg' (1972). (Anyway, Dr. Siegel is of course Shigeru NARUMO himself.) They turned up the colours and influences of British rock. Masayoshi, an only 17 year-old bassist, could evolve and dignify the works with his heavy and steady bass plays. The novel project could impress strongly Japanese rock fans and broke up in 1973.

Shigeru trained lots of younger musicians or enjoyed playing some gigs with his mates in his later years, and passed away in 2007.

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