Last updated 08.3.13
(*) means I don't own this album and haven't listened to it.
(@) means I don't own this album but have listened to it.
thanks to RG for the loan of some material!
Keigo Oyamada (the guy behind Cornelius) was the overall artistic director for the Trattoria label's 250 releases.
(now many or most of which are out of print) .
Before becoming Cornelius, Keigo Oyamda teamed up with Kenji Ozawa to create the duo Flipper's Guitar. They were kind of a tongue-in-cheek pop band. They released 3 studio albums, a live album, and a "best of". (added by Nick Reed)
Holiday in the Sun1993 (EP) (*) Nick Reed adds: Cornelius's debut EP. Came out in 1993 and contains two tracks from The First Question Award with remixes, and "Diamond Bossa", a non-album track. |
(*) Single released in 1994.
Nick Reed adds:
Contains the instrumental version plus a short montage of tracks from the full album.
First Question Award1994 PSCR-5080 menu 29 First solo album. Probably out of print. Nick Reed adds: Those who know Cornelius by his American-released albums will probably be a little shocked by this. It's just a fun pop album, with mostly full orchestrations, with a lot of over-the-top cheeriness (two tracks sound like gameshow themes!) Pretty good stuff that draws a clear line between Flipper's Guitar and Cornelius, although this is better than any of the FG albums. |
69/96Menu 69 Second solo album. Early copies came in a vinyl slipcase. Probably out of print. Nick Reed adds: Keigo was born in 1969, and the album was released on 1996, with 96 tracks spanning 69 minutes (most of the tracks after 15 are either blank or filled with sea noises, except for tracks 69 and 96). In addition the album has a lot of references to 1969 ("Moon Walk"). This is the first glimpse of some of the sound experimentation and genre-hopping that would appear on Fantasma, although for the most part he sticks to a heavier sound, with distorted vocals and drums that sound ripped straight from "When the Levee Breaks".
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96/69 96.6.9 Trattoria Menu 96 (PSCR 5480) This is a remix/redo/reprise of 69/96 though it isn't that clear in english. It has the silver cover with a salaryman in a state of pannic. Quite entertaining listening. Ishino, Sunahara and Y. Konishi all appear. Probably out of print. < this is the regular cover. There is a more elaborate initial cover with a picture disc, tiny booklet and similar die cut sticker on the front. |
Fantasma1997 Tratoria, Matador Menu (US 1998) cd: OLE 300-2genius arranger/producer Keigo Oyamada's main project Cornelius' US debut. Hear all sorts of great rock/pop sounds with electronics. The initial Japanese pressing came in a double thick case and contained some foldup headphones. Later pressings didn't . I'm sure his point besides novelty was he carefully crafted stereo mixes and effects best listened to in stereo. |
Free Fall1998 Matador (U.K.) cd: OLE 308-2
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Typerite Lesson is a non-album track from Fantasma. I found it on a British released Cornelius single Free Fall. Takako Minekawa (uncredited on at least this single) repeats letters of the alphabet, all acronyms (FBI, CIA, etc. with a probably problematic for U.S. release final pair), presumably as she is practice typing, while a groove spins alongside-- odd, and perplexing but worth a listen. I heard mention of another band, Afghan Wigs doing something very similar piece of music, I don't know how they connect if at all - cover? coincidence? influence? the first two tracks are from the album Fantasma |
CM
This album compiles remix work Cornelius did for other artists. A second album CM2 was released more recently in Japan. |
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FMThis album contains remixes of Fantasma by other artists. |
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PointCD album. U.S. Release on Matador Nick Reed adds: A lot of people were disappointed by this since it didn't sound too much like the critically praised Fantasma. Personally I think it's even better. The album seems to be assembled from scratch, one note at a time. There is one very cool thing I noticed about this album - on Fantasma, the grand finale "Thank You For The Music" had a flashback of all of the album's tracks with a bunch of random samples taken from throughout the album. I guess the significance is that Fantasma is kind of an amalgam of many styles of the past. On Point, the first track, however short, is sort of a flash forward of some of the album's tracks, sort of a preview of what's to come. To me it sort of represents that this is the future of music to come. Although many of the styles are already pioneered, the spin put on it by this album is very memorable and new. To top it off the songs themselves are nothing short of top notch - it runs from funk to dance music to heavy metal to bossanova to exotica yet still retains its thematic unity. In my opinion it's Cornelius's best work and so far one of the best of the decade. |
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| Excellent Surround + regular sound DVD of music videos of every track on the Point album + a remix audio CD called PM. More than worth it for the DVD alone (did the remixers even get paid?). Don't be confused by the 2 different size cases. One is DVD size the other is CD size. Both have the same 2 discs inside. Both were released separately in Japan making the U.S. release quite a bargain! |
(*) 2006
Nick Reed adds:
His latest full-length. Many saw it as a disappointment, since each of his four previous albums took a distinctly new direction for the man. This one seems to be in the same vein as Point - although that's not necessarily a bad thing, as Point is his most distinct and original album. This one's even more abstract and a little less musical. It results in one fantastic track "Fit Song" which sounds like nothing else and has an amazing music video. The first half is the more upbeat stuff and the second more ambient. I saw a concert of his when he was touring this album and the synchronization of the music with the videos was mindblowing (considering it was a live band). The final track is a cover of Sinatra's "Sleep Warm".
(*) 2008
Nick Reed adds:
An 8-song EP. The title track is taken from Sensuous and is the 3rd single, the other two being "Breezin" and "Music". Contains a brilliant cover of YMO's "Cue". However, this and the 19-minute "Kling Klang" (edited down from 34 minutes, kind of a waste since it's just a bunch of wind chimes) can be found on the Breezin' single. Also contains a cover of Sketch Show's "Turn Turn" with Ryuichi Sakamoto as a guest. That originally appeared on the Haroumi Hosono tribute album. The remaining tracks are two acapella versions of "Music" by Petra Haden (one in English and one in Japanese) plus a Prefuse 73 mix of the title track. Worth picking up if you don't have the other tracks.
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