WE ARE JUST TAKING OFF

ABOUT THIS ALBUM

Released in August 1978, WE ARE JUST TAKING OFF was the second album by Sadistics, the instrumental-minded group formed after the breakup of the Sadistic Mika Band by Masayoshi Takanaka, Yukihiro Takahashi, Tsugutoshi Goto, and Hiroshi Imai. The record captures four musicians whose individual styles were already beginning to point toward different parts of Japan’s late-seventies future. Takanaka’s “Blue Curacao” and “Close Your Eyes” bring the tropical guitar language of his solo work, Takahashi’s “Adios” and “Game” add a sharper pop sensibility, Goto contributes the instrumental “Nao,” and Imai supplies the expansive title track and “Floating on the Waves.” “On the Seashore,” written by Goto with lyrics by Takahashi and featuring vocals by Goto and Haruko Kuwana, has since become especially valued among AOR collectors. The album is remarkably relaxed despite the level of musicianship: funk, Latin rhythm, fusion, soft rock, and coastal pop coexist without sounding like technical exercises. In retrospect, it documents a brief but important moment when several musicians central to later Japanese fusion, technopop, and city pop were still working together in one highly flexible band.