Murasaki were a Japanese hard rock band, competitive, though a little too derivative (to say the least): their style was too influenced by Deep Purple for their own good. This self-titled album from 1975 it’s ok, good musicianship, not very good sound, and making a music that Deep Purple were making 3 or 4 years before (“Devil woman” for instance is almost a rip-off from “Hard lovin’ man”). There are more bluesy moments, like in “Rock and roll nightmare”, where can be heard some synths, or in the Murasaki’s version of Deep Purple’s “Lazy”, which is correct. The Deep Purple impersonation goes on with “Maze”: over 9 minutes of a quite dull hard rock with a solo of the drummer in the end. Possibly the song to pick up here (and that save the album) could be the last one: “Far away” that seems to have some note of distinction, other than that, Murasaki were mostly a replica of the Mark II, lacking the personality of their paisans The Flower Travellin’ Band, for example, and surviving only as a footnote in the 70s Japanese rock. Line-up / Musicians George Murasaki/keyboards Eiichi Miyanaga/drums Masao Jouma/vocals Ikuo Shimoji/guitar Kiyomasa Hika/guitar Toshio Jouma/bass
Discography(Album) Murasaki 1975
1.Double Dealing Woman 2.Devil Woman 3.Rock and Roll Nightmare 4.Lazy 5.Do What You Want 6.Maze 7.Far Away
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