Yuya Uchida & The Flowers — Challenge! (1969)

Uchida Yūya

Japanese singer, record producer, and actor, born 17 November 1939, Nishinomiya, died 17 March 2019, Tokyo.

Made his rockabilly debut in 1959 at the Nichigegki Western Carnival. Later masterminded the career of The Tigers , The Flowers and Flower Travellin' Band.

In Groups:

The Flowers, Yuya Uchida & 1815 Super Rock 'N' Roll Band, Yuya Uchida & 183 Family Band

http://www.uchidayuya.com/index.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuya_Uchida_(singer)

Flower Travellin’ Band started playing in the late 60s as a cover band of Japanese showman Yuya Uchida, who took on the role of vocalist, as did his partner Remi Aso. Under the name Yuya Uchida and the Flowers, they recorded an album called Challenge, which included new versions of the then hits, for example, songs by Janis Joplin. The band caused a mixed reaction because of the LP cover, on which the guys were depicted in what their mother gave birth to.

After the release of this album, Aso left the band, and Uchida left this project to do other things. Therefore, the remaining members decided to continue themselves under the name Flower Travellin’ Band, the group continued to produce Uchida. Together with new vocalist Akira "Joe" Yamanka, they released the album Anywhere in 1970, which again had high-quality covers, including a reworking of the Black Sabbath song. They even decided on another nudist cover, this time they were riding naked on motorcycles.

Both cover albums were well received by music lovers and music critics. Nevertheless, the next release of Satori made the deepest impression, especially on the Western world, it was often said that it came out ahead of its time. Psychedelic rock in the style of heavy metal, created by F.T.B., influenced many bands with its unique sound, creating entire genres of psychedelic progressive rock/ heavy metal and their underlay. The album was also released in the US and became a little more successful in Canada, where the song Satori part 2 even hit the charts.

In 2002, film director Takashi Miike used the entire Satori album as the soundtrack to "Deadly Outlaw: Rekka", in which the songs are played in special chapters of the entire film. Yuya Uchida and Akira "Joe" Yamanaka both starred in this film, which tells about the conflict between the Yakuza clans.

After such success, Flower Travellin’ Band played the opening act for many famous bands and released two more albums: Made In Japan and Make Up. In 1973, they were chosen to open for The Rolling Stones, whose concert was later canceled due to problems with vocalist Mick Jagger's visa. Later that year, the band broke up because the members wanted to start their solo careers.

After the breakup of the band, the side project Kuni Kawachi and Flower Travellin' Band released the album Kirikyogen. The recording was actually finished in 1970, but due to the fact that the producer Uchida was not satisfied with its quality, the release date was postponed.

Akira "Joe" Yamanaka has a long and quite successful solo career, he even performed some F.T.B. songs at his concerts. Guitarist Hideki Ishima released only one album, but still remained in the music business. He is known for creating his own instrument, the sitarla, which is a combination of an electric guitar and a sitar, an Indian stringed instrument.

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