Water in Time and Space

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Water in Time and Space
File:Water in Time and Space.png
Studio album by Susumu Hirasawa
Released September 1, 1989 (1989-09-01)
Recorded April – May 1989
Studio
Various
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Genre
Length 43:16
Label Polydor K.K.
Producer Susumu Hirasawa
Susumu Hirasawa chronology
Water in Time and Space
(1989)		 The Ghost in Science
(1990)The Ghost in Science1990

Water in Time and Space (時空の水 Jikū no Mizu?) is Susumu Hirasawa's first solo album. It is the first part of a trilogy, with The Ghost in Science being the second, and Virtual Rabbit being the third, that explores reality, religion, science and dreams.

Background

In December 1988, P-Model, the post-punk/new wave band that Susumu Hirasawa was the leader of, was "frozen" after spending 2 years unable to arrange a recording deal and him realizing that it stopped being a band after Hirasawa became the major creative force that only kept operating due to his emotional attachment to it, combined with an unhealthy mental situation through most of its existence.[1] The album they planned to record, Monster, would have continued the style built up in One Pattern and been themed around Jungian psychology & Japanese folk tales (Hirasawa was particularly inspired by Hayao Kawai's The Japanese Psyche: Major Motifs in the Fairy Tales of Japan, and also read Joseph L. Henderson's Thresholds of Initiation[2]). Songwriting duties were shared among band members, with Hirasawa contribuiting five songs.[3]

While working with P-Model, Hirasawa also maintained side projects at the same time, namely Shun and Fukō Project, where he made sampling experiments with the technology he was using; through those two and P-Model side-releases, Hirasawa developed new arrangements of older songs. Hirasawa was also carving out a career as an amateur CG artist in the beginning of 1989, establishing the private label "Photon" to distribute tapes through a mail order circle. On 1 March he changed the name of his management office from "Model House" to "Octave" as an untying of his other outlets from P-Model, the official fanclub followed suit a month after the album's release, from "Moire Club" to "Hirasawa Bypass". In the 4 April, Hirasawa signed a contract with Polydor and started recording the album in their studios, taking only a month to do so. His first solo tour took place one month later.

Composition

In a situation somewhat similar to the creation of In a Model Room a decade earlier, Hirasawa had a cache of material to work with: half of Water in Time and Space consists of new arrangements of songs that he worked with while trying to make Monster, none of which were included on a major label release before the album. To prepare for the songwriting of new material, Hirasawa rerecorded Mandrake's "Happening by the Windowsill" (unreleased at the time, original later included on Unreleased Materials Vol. 1) as an étude. This rapprochement with progressive rock manifests itself in non-standard melodies, somewhat neoclassical in nature.[4]

Water in Time and Space features a large variety of styles, such as march, symphonic rock, western and folk; influenced by some Jungian and Andean themes. The press release defines the genre as "Isotonic Pop" (アイソトニック・ポップ Aisotonikku Poppu?).

Free from the constraints of P-Model, Water in Time and Space lacks the nerved energy of the band, with a light and brisk feel. The album, although made with the heavy use of digital devices, is one of Hirasawa's least electronic works, with acoustic tones prominent throughout. Hirasawa kept working with sampling after One Pattern's release, his approach to it changed slightly in 1987, which is reflected on this album. Found sounds, such as bird chirping and coin rolling, are used as rhythmical backbone to the songs, unlike the MIDI Guitar percussion solos from One Pattern.

Production

Water in Time and Space is built around the Korg M1 workstation synthesizer, whose expansive, organic-sounding sound palette completely replaces the digital tones from the Casio synths used by the 1986–88 P-Model. The M1's built-in sequencer and large memory bank led to a shift in Hirasawa's production style: With the M1, he could record parts of songs that weren't completed in studio at home, effectively getting more equipped to make music by himself and less dependent on labels to record music. Although this aspect changed, some equipment (Hirasawa's trademark Talbo guitars and electronic devices) from P-Model's One Pattern & Monster are carried over, as well as the mechanical lo-fi sound of the former album, setting up the general production style of Hirasawa's first solo phase.

Besides the electronics, Hirasawa also performed with plucked string instruments and, for the first time on a released recording, percussion instruments. He's given a blanket "all instruments" credit. Only two tracks were performed by Hirasawa completely solo, the others feature a variety of guest performers: Session musicians for parts he couldn't perform by himself and friends from the underground new wave scene that P-Model was a part of are the most prominent. For songs that required choral backings, Hirasawa would get whoever was present during recording and form an impromptu choir. Two of the featured musicians, Kazuhide "Kitune" Akimoto (former P-Model roadie & Amiga CG apprentice of Hirasawa, listed in the "Thanks" section as "Akimoto-kun") and Shingo Tomoda (drummer of the disbanded technopop band Shi-Shonen), became members of Hirasawa's solo backing band.

Artwork

The artwork of Water in Time and Space was done by Kiyoshi Inagaki, who had done some graphic work for P-Model and Shun. The art design of the album set up some general design characteristics for Hirasawa's solo albums: Water in Time and Space is Hirasawa's first album where a photo of him was used for the cover, with the colors heavily manipulated; the symbol on the cover is Hirasawa's autograph, which makes various appearances through his works, being heavily prominent in the early stage of his solo career. The art is themed around water imagery. The photographs in the booklet feature Hirasawa wearing a suit jacket with a large black vertical stripe on the middle of the jacket, two smaller white stripes running between the large black one and the sleeves, and lack sleeves; popping out of the main stripe is a gaudily-patterned ascot; Hirasawa wore this in his 1989 shows.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Susumu Hirasawa, except "Root of Spirit", with titling by Toshiaki Minejima and string arrangement by Jun Miyake. 

No. Title Length
1. "Haldyn Hotel" (ハルディン・ホテル Harudin Hoteru) 4:32
2. "Root of Spirit" (魂のふる里 Tamashii no Furusato) 5:42
3. "Coyote" (コヨーテ Koyōte) 4:48
4. "Solar Ray" (ソーラ・レイ Sōra Rei) 3:08
5. "No Workshop" (仕事場はタブー Shigotoba wa Taboo) 4:02
6. "Dune" (デューン Dyūn) 4:36
7. "Frozen Beach" (フローズン・ビーチ Furōzun Bīchi) 4:53
8. "Water in Time and Space" (時空の水 Jikū no Mizu) (instrumental) 2:17
9. "Skeleton Coast Park" (スケルトン・コースト公園 Sukeruton Kōsuto Kōen) 5:52
10. "Venus" (金星 Kinsei) 3:17

Track information

Haldyn Hotel

An Andean-influenced march with an intro consisting of train sounds (similar to "Station to Station" and "Trans-Europe Express"), the "Haldyn Hotel" mentioned in the lyrics is said to have been a Psychiatric hospital that once existed in Peru; the song's lyrics also mention the city of Trujillo, and "Haldyn" is a Japanese phonetic spelling of "Jardín" (Spanish for "Garden"). One of the verses invokes Odic force and Dowsing.[5] The bridge heavily features two crumhorn lines, one performed by a professional wind instrument player and the other by Hirasawa, who has no experience with the instrument.[6] On most live performances Hirasawa would improvise a guitar solo instead of using a crumhorn.

  • A bit of the song's intro was used as the coda of "QUIT" from The Ghost in Science. Hirasawa would later do a similar technique with the also march-like "Parade" from Byakkoya - White Tiger Field & Paprika.
  • A live version from 1990 is on the error video/error CD album. This versions segues off the extended intro to roll call Hirasawa's live band at the end of the previous song, "FGG", and features, besides the band, live orchestral backing and a Wind Synthsizer solo by Kazutoki Umezu for the bridge.
  • Remixed in 1991 by Masanori Chinzei (of Magnet Records, by then Hirasawa's stablemate engineer) and subtitled as "Fractal Terrain Track", with the crumhorn parts from the bridge being used standalone as the new intro, as well as the instrumentation and choral backing having a cleaner, less compressed sound than the original mix.
  • A live version from 1994 is on the making of tokyo paranesian video, with the guitar parts heavily prominent in the mix and fretless bass playing by Toshihiko "BOB" Takahashi. Another live version from the same year is on the HIRASAWA error ENGINE - Hirasawa Three Acts in Three Hours～Lower video, with the same core live band as the previous, as well as violinists Tadahiko Yokogawa & Yōko Honji and Umezu, who plays a soprano saxophone solo for the bridge. Hirasawa sings different lyrics for the last repeat of the chorus.
  • A brief snippet of the song's intro melody was uploaded as a "Standerd [sic] MIDI file" (uploaded on hqx, lha/lzh and au file formats) on Hirasawa's "Ghost Web" site in 1995.[7]
  • Rearranged in a Thai style for the Sim City Tour. Live recordings of this arrangement performed on that tour and on Unreal Soprano are on the accompanying video releases.
  • A studio recording of the Thai arrangement is on the SWITCHED-ON LOTUS memorial album, and also available as a free MP3 on Hirasawa's website.[8]
  • A live version of the original arrangement performed by Hirasawa solo in 2007 (the first time he performed this arrangement since the creation of the Thai one) is on the PHONON 2550 LIVE album/PHONON 2550 VISION video. This version has an intro that's piano-based, with hi-fi synth strings and a percussion loop. The guitar solo, performed on the ICE-9 guitar, has a unique sound. As the song ends, Hirasawa plays train whistle sounds on the Graviton.
  • A live version from 2012 is on the PHONON 2555 VISION video. This has a symphonic intro with timpani and Misa Kitara-controlled Zeusaphone backing by the live band. Hirasawa sings his parts of the chorus while covering his mouth and headset microphone with his mouth, and the solo is performed on Zeusaphone by PEVO 1go.
  • A subway advertisement for a "Haldyn Hotel" appears in a scene of the film Perfect Blue.[9]
Root of Spirit

Originally released on the April 1988 CHARITY ORIGINAL TAPE BY SUSUMU HIRASAWA Cassette Book, an EP of mediation music made to help out the Gunma-based "Human Earth - Awakening Village" (人間大地・めざめの里 Ningen Daichi・Mezame no Sato?) psychological counseling healing center (listed in the "Thanks" section as "Mezame no Sato") that Hirasawa frequented; the original version is different from this one and has never been re-released. The song is, similarly to Hirasawa's work on Berserk, inspired by the works of Carl Jung, who Hirasawa is deeply influenced by. It's also the ending theme to Showdown, the third and final episode of the Original video animation series Detonator Orgun, whose music was composed by Hirasawa. It was used on a Suntory Old commercial,[10] which aired in 1992. Around the same time, the ESSENCE OF HIRASAWA SOLO WORKS best of album was released. The album was titled after the song, which was released as a single to promote it; the artwork is two stills taken during the commercial's production.

  • A live version from 1990 is on the error video. In this version, the horns are performed live, the "bird chirping" rhythm is performed by Shingo Tomoda on electronic drums; from the first chorus following the solo onwards, a drumming pattern replaces the string rhythm that appears in the album version on this part, and a short bit of the opening white noise of "Skeleton Coast Park" marks the end/beginning of a bar.
  • Covered by Hong Kong musician Danny Summer (Chinese: 夏韶聲) for the 1991 album Acid Rain (Chinese: 酸雨) with the title "Childhood Reverie" (Chinese: 童年夢想).[11] The cover samples the original's "bird chirping" rhythm while keeping the overall structure and vocal melody, however, the new string parts (arranged by Dominic Chow) have a traditional Chinese feel to them, the vocals, sung in Cantonese (the new lyrics by Richard Lam) and the guitar solo are completely different. Hirasawa has said that he might have not been paid his royalties,[12] but has given Summer proper permission to do the cover.[13]
Coyote

Originally composed for the P-Model album Monster, "Coyote" is a Western-style song, following on One Pattern's "Astro Notes". The song developed out of a country-style arrangement of the song "Boat"[14] (from the album "Scuba", a snippet of the country version can be seen in the BITMAP 1979-1992 video). The guitar riff came from a commercial jingle for "Teijin WOW" jeans (released on the Model House Works tape included with the first volume of the "Moire Club" newsletter).

  • A live version, performed by P-Model, at a faster pace than the studio version, had been released on The Physical Atlas of Three Worlds video before the studio version.
  • A live version, by Hirasawa and his live band, was released on the error CD album, it incorporated a carnivalesque merry-go-round-breakdown passage as its intro.
Solar Ray

A sound collage-styled song, mixing "found" percussion with classical guitar work and symphonic backing, the vocal melody is in pentatonic scale. The only track to not feature guest musicians.

  • Remixed, subtitled "SPECTRUM 2 TYPE", opening with a line from the chorus and the percussion replaced by a prominent, more conventional take.
  • A live version of this song, with a live orchestra and a backing band, was included on the error CD album.
  • Rerecorded in the P-Model kernel as "Solar Ray 2" for the album Solar Ray; it is the album's opening track and might have been the source for the album's title; this rerecording was Rearranged by Hirasawa during a surge of surplus solar power and released as "Audio File to Honor the Hunter".[15]
No Workshop

Originally composed for the P-Model album Monster. The chorus on the P-Model version of the song had its backing vocals sung by P-Model bassist/keyboardist Teruo Nakano, the version on this album has Jun Togawa singing the backing vocals on the chorus. Hirasawa had intended for Togawa to sing in the planned Monster recording, using a "Mountain Hag" style performance[16] (the press release compares her to Nina Hagen). The song's arrangement incorporates percussive elements used by Hirasawa on Shun・4. The chorus vocals are yodeled; this was Hirasawa's second yodeling song (the first is the Yasumi Tanaka-penned "anothersmell" from Potpourri). As a joke, Hirasawa incorporated elements of "Quizás, Quizás, Quizás" in "No Workshop":[17] The string parts of both songs share similarities; and ki sasu (着さす?), pronounced the same as "quizás" (キサス kisasu?), is repeated multiple times on the verses.

  • It was performed live by P-Model, with an arrangement not as layered as the one on Water in Time and Space: The intro only has one drum machine pattern and is longer; the verse melodies are completely different, shorter than those of the solo arrangement, structured differently and having different lyrics; Hirasawa's vocals on the transition to the pre-chorus and the end of the chorus were crescendoing chants. No recordings of P-Model performing the songs have been officially released, although bootleg recordings exist.
  • Live versions by Hirasawa and his live band were included in the making of tokyo paranesian, HIRASAWA error ENGINE - Hirasawa Three Acts in Three Hours～Lower and PHONON 2555 VISION videos and the error CD album. On the error ENGINE and 2555 versions, Togawa sings the parts she did on the album version (on the latter it's a sample of her performance from the album version activated by a MIDI-triggering laser harp), in the tokyo paranesian version, the members of Hirasawa's backing band sing backing vocals on some of the verses. The 2555 version features a new intro and guitar backing by PEVO 1go (using a modded "Alumini Clear" Talbo, while Hirasawa uses ICE-9).
Dune

Originally composed for the P-Model album Monster. The song was never performed live, existing only as an instrumental demo under the provisory title Gen (げん?). The solo recording, inspired by the SF-Fantasy series of novels of the same name, features the Amiga program "Say".

  • A live version of the song, performed by Hirasawa and his live band, was included on the error CD album. Another live version, performed by Hirasawa, Yasuhiro Araki and PEVO 1go was included in the PHONON 2555 VISION video.
Frozen Beach

Originally released on the 1984 P-Model Cassette Book Scuba, which had been issued on CD with a new mix a few months before Water in Time and Space's recording started, "Frozen Beach" was a P-Model concert staple, being the last song played before the encore of P-Model's last show.[18] The version on this album had fuller arrangement, with live drums; the sound of crashing waves in this song (which were also present in previous versions) segue into the next track. The theme of the trilogy is taken from the lyrics of this song.

  • Live versions performed by P-Model are included on the MOIRE VISION and The Physical Atlas of Three Worlds videos.
  • A live version performed by Hirasawa was included in the PHONON 2550 VISION video (the first time that the song had been played live since 1994).
  • A slightly altered version of the Scuba version's lead synth melody was used by Hirasawa for a "Kansai Yamamoto Prêt-à-Porter" commercial (released on the Model House Works tape included with the first issue of "Moire Club").
Water in Time and Space

A relaxing, short, simple and sparse instrumental, built around acoustic guitar and piano playing, unlike anything else that Hirasawa has ever done.

  • Remixed, subtitled "Full Size", with reverb on the piano parts and its running length doubled, for the third episode of Detonator Orgun.
  • Covered by Ichiko Hashimoto when she appeared as a guest on a Susumu Hirasawa live show on 28 September 1989 in the Inkstick Shibuya Factory (the last show of Hirasawa's "Water in Time and Space Tour Part 2"); on this live show Hirasawa played Hashimoto's songs on guitar, while Hashimoto played Hirasawa's songs on piano.
Skeleton Coast Park

A large-scale, epic style song, pointing to Virtual Rabbit and some of Hirasawa's later works.

  • A live version of this song was included on the error CD album.
  • Rearranged by Soft Ballet (Ryoichi Endo, Ken Morioka and Maki Fujii) for two shows with Hirasawa on vocals & guitar, as well as session/touring member Wataru Kamiryo on drums. This version has a more dance-oriented style, incorporated a short new section before the first pre-chorus and features Endo singing wordless chants.
  • Another live version was included on the HIRASAWA error ENGINE - Hirasawa Three Acts in Three Hours～Lower live video. The intro of this version, while it still retains the "coin roll" sample, has a completely different melody and uses narration from Fukō Project's "Fukō Part One".
  • The song's guest vocals were later re-used by Hirasawa in a slowed-down version for the title track of the KAKU P-MODEL album Vistoron.
Venus

An acoustic ballad which touches briefly on the concept of philosophy (In philosophy, Venus is associated with water and the ocean and is the guide through the fearful world of the unconscious,[19][20] sharing a similar thematic to the song's lyrics), which Hirasawa would later explore with Philosopher's Propeller. Used as an insert song in "Pursuit", the second episode of Detonator Orgun.

  • Live versions were included on the error CD album, featuring an extended coda led by Kazutoki Umezu (created mostly so that Hirasawa would have time to change costumes mid-show) and the HIRASAWA error ENGINE - Hirasawa Three Acts in Three Hours～Upper video, performed by Hirasawa solo.
  • Rearranged in a symphonic, orchestral, string-oriented style as part of "The Aggregated Past KANGENSHUGI 8760 HOURS" project, this version was released on the Hen-Gen-Ji-Zai album, this version of the song had 5 sketches released by Hirasawa on the Kangen Shugi website as he worked on it.[21][22][23][24][25] This arrangement was later performed live and released on Tokyo I-jigen Kudou.
  • Performed live on the "I3 DAYS'94 TOKYO & OSAKA" festival as a guest on Takanori "TAKA" Yamaguchi's solo live show (TAKA was Hirasawa's backing keyboardist at the time and Hirasawa produced and played guitar on his second solo album).
  • Covered by Jun Togawa and Missa Fukuma (sister of P-Model member Hajime Fukuma).

Personnel

Additional musicians
Production
  • Yoshiaki Kondo (Gok Sound) - Recording & Mixing Engineer
  • Shinichi Tomita (Mix), Nobuhiko Matsufuji (Mix), Atsushi Hattori (Mix), Masanori Ihara (Gold Rush Studio) and Yoshikatsu Takatori (Sound Inn) - Second Engineer
  • Kiyoshi Inagaki - Art Direction
  • Mado & Vincent - Photograph
  • Akemi Tsujitani & Michiko Aoki - Styling
  • Kazunori Yoshida - Hair & Make Up
  • Mitsuo Nagano (for Octave) - Artist Management
  • Mitsuru Hirose - Publicity Coordination
  • Office Moving - Concert Coordination
  • Kazuyoshi Aoki (Polydor Records.) - A&R
  • Osamu Takeuchi (Polydor Records.) - Assistant
  • Thanks: Yasumasa Mishima, Yumiko Ohno, Masaya Abe, Mezame no Sato, Kei Fukuchi, Akimoto-kun, Kazumi Sawaki, AC Unit, Ice Grey, Nobuyoshi Matsubara, Akira Ito, Aria, Casio, Signifie

Release history

Date Label(s) Format Catalog Notes
September 1, 1989 (1989-09-01) Polydor K.K. CD HOOP-20343
July 1, 2005 (2005-07-01) Universal Music Japan, Universal Sigma Digital Download none
February 29, 2012 (2012-02-29) Chaos Union, Teslakite CD CHTE-0054 Remastered by Masanori Chinzei. Part of Disc 1 of the HALDYN DOME box set, alongside "Solar Ray (SPECTRUM 2 TYPE)" and "Bandiria Travellers [physical navigation version]". "Haldyn Hotel [Fractal Terrain Track]" is on Disc 3 (CHTE-0056); "Water in Time and Space (Full Size)" is on Disc 9 (CHTE-0062).
September 24, 2014 (2014-09-24) Universal Music Japan SHM-CD UPCY-6909 Part of Universal's "Project Archetype" (supervised by Osamu Takeuchi & Kasiko Takahasi). Remastered by Kenji Yoshino (supervised by Chinzei) with both original liner notes and new ones.[26]
  • "Haldyn Hotel", "Root of Spirit", "Coyote", "Frozen Beach" and "Venus" are included on the ADVANCED ROCK 3 promotional sampler.
  • "Solar Ray (SPECTRUM 2 TYPE)" is the B-Side to the "World Turbine" single.
  • "Haldyn Hotel [Fractal Terrain Track]" is the B-Side to the "Bandiria Travellers [Physical Navigation Version]" single.
  • "Venus" is included on Detonator Orgun 2; "Water in Time and Space (Full Size)" and "Root of Spirit" are on the Detonator Orgun 3 soundtrack album.
  • "Haldyn Hotel [Fractal Terrain Track]", "Root of Spirit", "Skeleton Coast Park" and "Venus" are included on the Root of Spirit～ESSENCE OF HIRASAWA SOLO WORKS～ compilation.
  • "Haldyn Hotel" (and "Fractal Terrain Track"), "Root of Spirit", "Solar Ray (SPECTRUM 2 TYPE)", "Frozen Beach", "Water in Time and Space (Full Size)" and "Venus" are included on the Archetype | 1989-1995 Polydor years of Hirasawa compilation.

References

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  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  10. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ https://twitter.com/hirasawa/status/477066896471097345
  13. ↑ https://twitter.com/hirasawa/status/477083784676786176
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ https://twitter.com/hirasawa/status/615504506835574784
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  21. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  22. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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