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You\u2019re the drummer for one of the most well-known bands on the planet. It\u2019s November, 2003, and you\u2019ve just begun a year-long world tour by finishing up two sold-out dates in Tokyo in front of 26,000 rabid fans. What do you do now? Do you reach for your pharmaceutical of choice? Do you take advantage of the local lovelies backstage? Or do you just get back on the bus and fire up the game console?<\/p>\n
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If you\u2019re Lars Ulrich of Metallica, you grab your new bass player, Rob Trujillo, and go out into the night in search of the Holy Grail of guitar gods. You ask the taxi driver to take you to the Roppongi district, home to nightclubs, seedy love hotels and the occasional Yakuza. There, in a small nondescript club, you jam the night away with one of the finest guitarists the world has never heard of.<\/p>\n
For three decades, Kyoji Yamamoto has enjoyed a stellar career in his native Japan, first as the leader of the seminal Japanese bands BowWow and Vow Wow, even appearing onstage with Bow Wow at the renowned Reading Festival.<\/p>\n
Kyoji was also a member of the supergroup Phenomena II, and since has had homeland success as a producer and a solo artist. Despite a brief flirtation with international stardom in the 1980s, when Vow Wow relocated to the United Kingdom to ride the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, he has existed in relative obscurity in the West.<\/p>\n
Until now.<\/p>\n
City Boy Records (New York) has just released Voyager: The Essential Kyoji Yamamoto, a compilation that, for the first time ever outside of Japan, brings together 13 of the finest guitar instrumentals from Kyoji\u2019s three solo albums on one CD: Mind Arc (1998), Requiem (1999) and Time (2005). With extensive liner notes, never-before-seen photographs and two exclusive unreleased downloads, this CD release is the perfect introduction to a musician whose time has finally come.<\/p>\n
From the arena-rock sound of \u201cVoyager\u201d to the hauntingly beautiful version of \u201cAve Maria\u201d; from the Hendrix-inspired \u201cWalrus\u201d to the flamenco rave-up of \u201cSpanish Pirates;\u201d and from the aching blues of \u201cRiver of Time\u201d to the anthemic \u201cTime (I Have Seen Everything and I Want to Tell You Something),\u201d this CD will take you on a long and unforgettable voyage from Japan to your soul. All you have to do is let Kyoji Yamamoto be your guide.<\/p>\n
http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=U84szTNrBGQ<\/p>\n
The CD is available at www.cityboyrecords.biz . City Boy Records PO Box 684 Syracuse, NY 13201<\/p>\n
Downloads available at iTunes, Rhapsody, Amazon and more.<\/p>\n