Toshimaru Nakamura - Side Guitar

In some ways the title of this album is very misleading. As pointed out by Nakamura on the sleeve, side guitar refers to the credit given to a backing guitarist on Japanese pop records of the '60s and '70s. Something like a rhythm guitar player I imagine. However, on this album there might be one recognizable strum of the strings. What this recording really consists of is three long drone pieces. The first starts off into some high pitched territory which is hard to settling into right away. Before long it does become quite peaceful and very relaxed. From there on out, the album is very subtle with many changes of texture coming and going slowly, creating a very enjoyable meditative listening experience.