Soul Media – Memory Lane [Nippon Columbia]

● Transparent sky-blue vinyl edition
● Japanese import
● Label: Nippon Columbia
● Cat#: HMJY-224
● Pressed & Printed in Japan
● Official reissue. Original release: 1980

The final album under the name Soul Media was Memory Lane, recorded in 1980. Inagaki stated at the time: “We tried to make this work as an anticipation of the future of fusion music.” Rather than being an extension of the jazz-rock sound he had explored in the seventies, it represented more of a new step forward at the beginning of a new decade.

Inagaki and his collaborator Norio Maeda sought an unusual level of perfection in the songs, arrangements, and performances, intending to go beyond expectations and take the sound to a new level. Inagaki later commented on Maeda's achievement on this album by saying: “This was meticulously executed.”

It is an inspiring and fresh-sounding work, which today remains as vivid and exciting to listen to as it was at the time of its release.