“Nippon Rock 'n' ’Roll documents the rise of Masaaki Hirao - dubbed “The Japanese Elvis”. Hirao was one of the famed Rokabirii Sannin Otoko (Three Rockabillies), alongside singers Mickey Curtis and “Kei-chan”, Keijiro Yamashita. In early 1958, the rokabirii buumu (rockabilly boom) was born, the first youth music tribe in the Land Of The Rising Sun. Rokabirii may resemble US rockabilly, but this Nipponese version is a more varied dish Hirao's covers of Eddie Cochran, Elvis Presley and Little Richard are not kitsch renditions, but raw, desperate rockers. Hear a Paul Anka makeoverput through a rocking mangle; a smattering of jazz; a twist of New Orleans; and some Japanese folk songs with a greased-up quiff. The studio numbers included here are hardboiled, with unkempt live recordings that really rock. Tough drums back up honking sax, in a pedal steel pandemonium with slap bass. In the words of Elvis: these guys “get real gone”.
