Mind of the Universe

No, this album has not been re-released and is out of print in Japan and the U.S. afaik.

I got a hold of a used copy of the Japanese pressing quite by chance and realized it has more than minor differences. The Japanese version actually has a shorter playing time and contains more tracks.

The thing I don't think anyone spotted on this mailing list (or I did before today) is the Japanese version removes all the Holst tracks. The American version contains several partial tracks from "The Planets" while the Japanese version offers a new version of "The Unanswered Question" with crowd sounds and a German announcer, "Dawn Chorus" (Villa-Lobos' "Preludio" from "Bachianas Brasileiras") and "Blast Off" which is the openning of "The Planets" but does not contain any Holst material and then adds some new live sounding vocoder material I don't quite decipher, other than that the FX sounds are from prior pieces, 2:30 total.

I guess the extra Holst might be a bit more substantial while the Japanese track sequencing starts things and flows more like a whole concert experience rather than a collection of tracks.

I put a track list of both on my webpage changing the names of the same tracks to be the same so you can get a better idea of what the differences and similarities are between the two. Before I changed the names I realized it was tough to figure out the exact differences since both versions call the same track two different names

http://www.artskool.biz/jem/it.html

Anyone know if there was a Japanese LP, or did the Japanese release first come out in 1991 as a CD? (the Nasu Fantasy site only lists the CD).

I wonder if the lack of Holst meant this would have been a UK or European release had there been one??

 

I certainly remember seeing the LP in the stores, but they were probably the US versions.

That may be the reason. I thought all of that was cleared up though? Didn't they wind up releasing Planets in Europe at a later date?

BTW Nick, that is a great resource (the discography) that you have there on your webpage. Lots of info.

I don't know if we've covered this in the past, but what was the "Back to the Earth" concert like? Oh, and how on Earth did you happen to run into Tomita there? There must have been a lot of people. You mentioned that Tomita signed your program, but I didn't see the autograph on the links (to the program pics).

 

The Japanese cover is quite different, it has a sort or red-orange hue photo with the Pyramid suspended over the crowd.

As far as I know the problem with "The Tomita Planets" was only in England, I guess I'm not sure how and when general European releases were put out versus specific UK ones, so that's what I mentioned Europe. Anyway I'm purely guessing but it's intersting that the key difference is the Holst tracks. Now "Back to the Earth" also had those pieces so maybe it was to make the 2 albums a bit more different, but there still are duplicated tracks like the fairly lengthy "Tristan und Isolde"... and "Unanswered Question" with the German announcer might be something at least a German speaking audience might appreciate? (though Japanese listeners I think enjoy hearing international recoginition of their artists)