Apogee & Perigee Chojiku Korodasutan Ryokoki

UPDATE: It seems that the OP link is dead. I've re-uploaded the album HERE.



Is there other life in space?
Do neighbor planets have
Indigenous creatures?
Can humans live permanently in
colonies in space?
Do Extraterrestrials visit Earth?
Can humans travel to the Stars?

I had been planning to post the 1984 "soundtrack" album Apogee & Perigee; Chojiku Korodasutan Ryokoki, for quite some time. No need now, as I've just noticed that Ongaku Poland has recently upped it (Although I was already a follower of OP, I found the link initially via The Common Chant).

Discogs sez: "Apogee & Perigee are robots, this is a concept album or soundtrack to a musical that was never produced that tells their story. The album credits Apogee & Perigee as performers, but the lyric sheet includes some writing credits, and in addition the 2006 CD re-issue provides more information."

Testpattern seem to be the major creative force, but Discogs lists several YEN all-stars as contributors: Miharu Koshi, Koji Ueno, Miyuki Hashimoto, Hosono, and the one and only Jun Togawa, who can be heard singing in a duet with Yūji Miyake on the bittersweet "月世界旅行 (Gessekai Ryokō)" above.



All the available information is collected here, at Fanboy.com. I'd like to learn more about the two robots and the actual project, and what plans Yen and Testpattern had for its future. My Japanese trading buddies seem to not remember the album having much of an impact during its initial release. This is a real shame, as the music throughout is fantastic, an accessible yet complex emotional blend of optimism and melancholy, Greek tragedy played out as space-faring AI romance. The project is heavy with the kind of empathic projection that is often directed at non-living but "life-like" machines. A francise could have easily been created. See also the Sakamoto-scored film Where the Toys Come From for another example.



This really is an excellent, underheard album. That there seems to be an international swell of blogs posting this material is really exciting to me, and a good incentive to me to upload more and post more.

01. Testpattern, Masao Hiruma - Prologue (Hope)
02. Jun Togawa, Haruomi Hosono, Takashi Matsumoto - Gessekai Ryokou
03. Koji Ueno - Professor Persec
04. Miharu Koshi - Animaloid MV II: Tragic Comedie
05. Miharu Koshi - Sakasakenjin Egas
06. Jun Togawa - Theme Of Apogee
07. Miyuki Hashimoto - Queen Glacier
08. Jun Togawa - Theme Of Perigee
09. Jun Togawa, Haruomi Hosono, Takashi Matsumoto - Shinkuu Kiss
10. Testpattern - Hope

PLEASE ENJOY