Tokyo
Fasten Seat Belts

German-austrian band Tokyo, which is not the capital city of Japan, is back with a new remaster of a classic from the eighties just like their debut a few months ago. Yesterrock is remastering their three first album to be released on CD for the first time in the world. The first two are already out now and this is the second one instructing us that we are in for a ride. It was released for the first time in 1982, one year after the debut this album was released and like the re-issue of the debut album this one features a group of bonus tracks that are mostly demo tracks from the era but one rerecording of the opening track called Keiko.

Musically we recognise the sound that we heard on the debut but with some subtle differences, keyboard driven melodic rock music or AOR as it is sometimes called with catchy choruses and a very melody driven musical picture. Some people say that it sounds a bit like Toto which is a description that is not completely idiotic I would say, not the high pitched vocal style as Toto tend to have though. The album has a more timeless sound that the debut which sounded very eighties while this one sounds quite fresh and timeless. The exception to the timeless sound is the bonus tracks that are a bit murky and sounds a bit cheap in comparison. The album has sixteen tracks and it plays for an hour, had it not been any bonus tracks there would have been five less tracks and seventeen minutes less playing time.

In comparison to the debut I would hold this album as the better one mainly thanks to a better production and a more unified sound and higher level seen through the entire thing, the best tracks are rather equal between this and the debut. I would say that it is a solid performance with some really good tracks as well. Remastered to CD for the first time it is and I think it is an album worthy of such a thing as it is a very good album that I am sure most of the fans of melodic rock will enjoy.

All is not good though as I tend to think that this album thanks to the bonus tracks becomes too long, sure you could play the album and stop before the bonus tracks but they are there and it is complete album we review not how an album might sound when we have edited it to our tastes. It is the first time the album is remastered into CD-form so why not remaster it with the same content as the original release? I don’t think anyone would have seen that as a negative and that seems to be the way that Yesterrock most of the time release their re-issues.

But I think it is a really good album with the opening track Keiko along with the fifth track World of Promises and well worthy of the remastering honour. I can clearly recommend this album, sure the last bit I could be without but there are many good songs, some great and as a whole very good with the slight letdown in quite poor bonus tracks but also a bit too long playing time with its one hour. Some exciting, some less exciting but overall it is as I stated a very good album. If you like Toto I am sure you’ll enjoy this album which is great to listen to while driving, or playing for friends at a party or something, or just listening to.

So in the end I think this is a very good album finally being remastered for CD, sure I would have liked to see it without the bonus tracks as they feel a bit unnecessary. This album is recommended but with a slight reservation.