1975 Albums

Led by Fumio Miyashita and Kei Ishikawa Far Out was one of the original Japanese psychedelic bands. They released one album of lo-fi psychedelic rock, 日本人 (“Japanese”), in 1973. Miyashta then recruited a new lineup as Far East Family Band, including two keyboardists: Akira Itoh and Masanori Takahashi, the latter more famously known as Kitaro. Nipponjin, which carried the subtitle, “Join Our Mental Phase Sound,” was mostly a re-recording of their “The Cave” Down To The Earth album, but with English lyrics and Klaus Schulze hired for the remix.

In 1974, Achim Reichel rediscovered Novalis for his Gorilla Musik production company. New to the band were two guitarists, Detlef Job and Carlo Karges. The latter, previously with Tomorrow's Gift, would make a significant impact with both his songwriting and German-language lyrics. In fact, Novalis would be one of the first German groups of the era to shun the prevailing trend of English lyrics to instead explore the lyricism of their native tongue. Back with the Brain label, they released their second album, simply titled Novalis.

In 1974, Jim Pembroke released a solo album, Pigworm, featuring members of both Wigwam (past and present) and Tasavallan Presidentti. Wigwam then added guitarist Pekka Rechardt for a farewell tour and live album, Live Music From The Twilight Zone, the final release from the band's (more or less) original lineup. However, a contract from Virgin Records may have enticed some of the band to reconsider. Now consisting of Pembroke, Rechardt and drummer Ronnie Österberg, Wigwam added keyboardist Esa Kotilainen and Tasavallan Presidentti's bassist Måns Groundstroem to their lineup.