The fairytale of three asian record-making musketeers
Speed, glue & shinki
The band's sound desires...
‘Speed, Glue & Shinki‘ consisted of three members :both Filipino Joey Smith (aka “Speed”) the drummer, Masayochi Kabe (aka “Glue”) the bassist and the Japanese guitar god, Mr. Shinki Chen. One of the greatest contradictions of its era, if not all time, is Speed, Glue & Shinki’s groundbreaking debut album, “Eve” (1971). It is a primitive, deranged, and occasionally downright sloppy mutation of acid blues and proto-metal, akin to the Bloomfield/Kooper/Stills Super Session crashing headlong into earliest Zeppelin and Sabbath records, performed by musicians whose instrumental prowess was truly unquestionable.but this would never allow you to know! Indeed, frontman and group mainstay Shinki Chen was frequently dubbed “the Japanese Hendrix“, and before this unholy union was formed under the direction of Atlantic Records Japan executive Ikuzo Orita, both drummer Joey “Speed” Smith and bassist Masayoshi “Glue” Kabe had impressive resumes of their own.
... A beauty in "EVE"
The “Mr. Walking Drugstore Man“, Eve’s opening statement of Neanderthal heavy blues (and take these reds too, maaaaaaaan), for example, where Joey’s hazardously distorted singing plead their illicit drugs craze-case to his pusher; or “Stoned Out of My Mind“, which is more direct, musically tighter, and slightly less sluggish; Shinki’s masterful guitar playing reflects the growing paranoia and rising pulse brought on, among other things, by “all of the straight people staring” at the band’s long hair. The utterly hilarious “Big Headed Woman” is sandwiched between these twin towers, which only hold 13th floor elevators. She inhales Link Wray’s “Rumble” through the bong that gave rise to Zeppelin’s half-speed rendition of “You Shake Me,” and she ridicules the young woman who dared puff on all of Joey Smith’s “stuff” while “balling another man at night”.
"I've been riding down the highway
Trying to ease my mind, ease my mind
I've been riding down the highway
Trying to ease my fucked up mind,
yeah, ooh
And if I don't take care
Think I'll have to go back where I came, yeah"
“Stoned Out Of My Mind” – partial lyrics
Here are some pictures of the original vinyl pressing from 1971 on Atlantic.
a beauty in "eve" Pt.2 ...
A little while later (and far less successfully), another track, “Keep It Cool“, essentially repeats this same, vile cuckold tale; however, “Ode to the Bad People” eventually takes a break from the drugs long enough to deliver some characteristically utopian hippie messages against the album’s most urgent, lucid sonic backdrop. Furthermore, “Someday We’ll All Fall Down“, the album’s closing track, takes an incredibly surprising turn into Dylanesque acoustic guitars and soft-spoken philosophies that literally sound like the work of another band. Meanwhile, the instrumental bass solo “M Glue” merely serves as the soundtrack to Masayoshi Kabe’s raging addiction to Marusan Pro Bond Glue. What a journey! Therefore, don’t let the three sweet schoolgirls on Eve’s dust jacket deceive you; Speed, Glue, and Shinki delivered one of the most terrifying peeks into the dark heart of rock & roll with this low-fidelity masterpiece.
Related acts: Leaf Hound, Stonewall, Blue Cheer, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, T.2., Orang-Utan, Felt, Granicus, The Edgar Broughton Band, Bulbous Creation, Black Cat Bones, Big Brother Ernie Joseph, Bolder Damn, Dragonfly, Freedom, The Moving Sidewalks, Chico Magnetic Band, Jimmy Hendrix, Speed Glue & Shinki, Ellison, Fat, Mountain, Fraction