Mint Jams

Mint Jams is the seventh album and the second live album by Japanese jazz-fusion band Casiopea, released on May 21, 1982. The album's title is an arrangement of the band members' first and last initials.

Mint Jams
The album cover of Mint Jams, depicting a spoon scooping out mint colored jam from a jar.
Live album by
ReleasedMay 21, 1982
RecordedFebruary 23 & 24, 1982
VenueChuo Kaikan Hall, Tukiji Tokyo Japan
GenreJazz fusion
Length36:16
LabelAlfa
ProducerShunsuke Miyazumi
Casiopea chronology
Cross Point
(1981)
Mint Jams
(1982)
4x4
(1982)

Description

Live sound recordings from a two-day performance at Tokyo Kaikan were used, and subsequently remixed at Alfa Studio 'A' by Shunsuke Miyazami, Satoshi Nakao, Norio Yoshizawa and Atsushi Saito. The songs were specifically re-arranged with the studio work in mind, and no dubbing was performed in the studio for segments such as the outro to 'Time Limit'. To achieve the likeness of a studio quality sound, the audience noise from the Chuo Kaikan live performances were cut from the mix, except for during the bass guitar and drum solos in 'Domino Line', and the rag-time piano breakdown in 'Swear'.

Besides the title of the album being an arrangement of the band members' first and last initials, it derives the word 'mint' to imply 'a mint condition' and 'high performance'. The word 'jams' describe their live performance of which the source material was taken from.

Mint Jams was originally planned to be a compilation album with "best-of" Casiopea songs.

This album is widely considered to be Casiopea's best, as it combines their live dynamism and precision with careful studio work.

Mint Jams was also Casiopea's first album to mainly feature the Yamaha GS-1 FM synthesizer, operated by Minoru Mukaiya. This synthesizer was subsequently used in many of their live-performances.

The European version of Mint Jams was released in the same year as the Japanese release. The following year, in 1983, when Casiopea visited London to record the album JIVE JIVE, a promotional live concert was held.

Track listing

All music is composed by Issei Noro

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Take Me"4:51
2."Asayake"4:58
3."Midnight Rendezvous"4:57
4."Time Limit"2:38
Total length:17:24
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Domino Line"7:22
2."Tears of the Star"4:29
3."Swear"6:48
Total length:18:39

Personnel

Casiopea:

Production:

  • Shunsuke Miyazumi producer
  • Satoshi Nakao – associate producer
  • Norio Yoshizawa engineer
  • Atsushi Saito – assistant engineer
  • Toshinao Tsukui – art director
  • Masao Hiruma – illustration and design
  • Kouji Suzuki remastering engineer (2016 reissue)

Release history

Region Date Label Format Catalog Note
Japan March 21, 1982 Alfa Records 30cmLP ALF-85869[1] stereo
United Kingdom 1982
Netherlands 1982
Sweden 1982 Sonet Records SNTF-924
Japan December 21, 1983 Alfa Records 12cmCD 38XA-5
1984 30cmLP ALR-20002
Sweden 1984 Sonet Records 12cmCD SNCD 924
Japan January 25, 1987 Alfa Records 32XA-112
March 21, 1992 ALCA-277
July 27, 1994 ALCA-9007
July 23, 1998 ALCA-9202
January 23, 2002 Village Records remastered 12cmCD VRCL-2207 DSD, LP paper jacket
February 14, 2002 VRCL-2227 DSD
May 27, 2009 Sony Music Direct MHCL-20009 DSD, Blu-spec CD, LP paper jacket
December 10, 2014 HYBRID SA-CD DYCL-446 DSD, ORDER MADE FACTORY
February 3, 2016 Music download 1076210122 iTunes Store[2]
4582290414003 mora AAC-LC 320kbps[3]
A1003862351 Recochoku AAC 128/320kbps[4]
B01B5ATMFW Amazon.com[5]
Btqo2vsuzhatovitlmjn42qysey Google Play Music[6]
July 27, 2016 4582290419152 mora DSD 2.8 MHz/1bit[7]
smj4582290419152 e-onkyo DSD 2.8 MHz/1bit[8]
11188 HD-music DSD 2.8 MHz/1bit[9]
4582290419145 mora FLAC 96.0 kHz/24bit[10]
A1004668159 Recochoku FLAC 96 kHz 24bit[11]
smj4582290419145 e-onkyo FLAC 96 kHz 24bit[12]
11178 HD-music FLAC 96 kHz/24bit[13]
9b1bb9ff260e89188f84 AWA 320kbps[14]
November 10, 2016 23fddOrAvvFX0iJQL5vvZ4 Spotify[15]

Full Live

Aside from Casiopea Perfect Live II, all Casiopea lives officially released are cut.

Some songs are missing from the official release, some are not in the right order and some are shorter. "Galactic Funk" was played with a special intro.

No.TitleMusicfrom albumLength
1."Galactic Funk"Issei NoroCross Point 
2."Eyes Of The Mind"Issei NoroMake Up City 
3."Take Me"Issei NoroSuper Flight 
4."Time Limit"Issei NoroCasiopea 
5."Lakai"Issei NoroEyes of the Mind 
6."Smile Again"Issei NoroCross Point 
7."Sunnyside Feelin'"Akira JimboCross Point 
8."Midnight Rendezvous"Issei NoroCasiopea 
9."Any Moment (We'll Be One)"Harvey MasonCross Point 
10."Domino Line"Issei NoroCross Point 
11."Swear"Issei NoroCross Point 
12."Asayake"Issei NoroSuper Flight 
13."Black Joke"Issei NoroCasiopea 
14."Tears Of The Star"Issei NoroCasiopea 

References

  1. "Casiopea-Mint-Jams". discogs. discogs. Retrieved 2014-11-09.
  2. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". Apple Inc. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
  3. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". LevelGate Co.,Ltd.. Archived from the original on 2016-02-28. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
  4. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". RecoChoku Co.,Ltd. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
  5. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". Amazon.com, Inc.. Retrieved 2016-02-03.
  6. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". Google Inc. Retrieved 2017-02-09.
  7. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". LabelGate Co.,Ltd. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  8. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". Onkyo & Pioneer Innovations Corporation. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  9. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". JVCKENWOOD Victor Entertainment Corporation. Archived from the original on 2016-08-04. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  10. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". LabelGate Co.,Ltd. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  11. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". RecoChoku Co.,Ltd. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
  12. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". Onkyo & Pioneer Innovations Corporation. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  13. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". JVCKENWOOD Victor Entertainment Corporation. Archived from the original on 2016-08-04. Retrieved 2016-07-31.
  14. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". AWA Co. Ltd. Retrieved 2017-02-12.
  15. "MINT JAMS CASIOPEA". Spotify AB. Retrieved 2017-02-08.


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