567, By Miroku(JVC Audiophile Highlights Series).

567, by Miroku.

I am reviewing this CD as there seems to be interest expressed by some of our readers. There doesn't seem to be much info about this CD tittled 567, by Miroku, recorded and released in 1986 by JVC. According to a senior audiophile in regional circles, he mentioned that it was actually Leo Fung, then leading hifi reviewer in Hong Kong, who first brought this CD to the attention of the audiophile world. Musically, this is essentially a fusion of Japanese folk with modern pop arrangement structure and a re-curing theme, much like a modern cinematic soundtrack. There's much use of traditional bamboo instruments(made famous by Denon's recording of Take-Take) here. There's also the odd Kodomo drums track for those who wish to exercise their woofers and stretch their power amps. Ha! Ha!

Track one starts with a recording of the waves and seagulls flying over head in the back ground, then music breaks out in to a re-curing theme of electric guitar and bamboo instruments with pop vocal sensibilities. This theme would re-cur over the course of the remaining CD.

The audiophile killer track two, which feature all studio effects, quietly haunting scene by the river, where stone throws are bounced across the flowing water's surface over the sound stage, from left to right, with insects in the back ground. The female haunting voice drifts in, out and around the sound stage, about 30 feet in depth perception on the best of sound staging systems, maybe 15 feet on fairly well set up systems, but less depth perception in poorly set up systems. Does your system pass this acid test? If your system is well set up, the whole track is eerie, just like that scene where the female tormentor was climbing out of a well, next to a river, in the vintage Japanese horror flick, The Ring. And by the way, please forget about the awfully adapted for Hollywood version of the movie! Just in case you're wondering.

Track three is an English vocal based pop track, much similar in concept and execution like track one. Track four is a rather serene and nice sounding Japanese song for easy listening. The remaining tracks sounds much like traditional Japanese cultural music.

There are a total of eight tracks on this CD and production for sound quality is first rate. There is total silence, in the back ground on every track. This silence is what makes this CD(especially track two) sound so realistic, when one does dark room listening. It's scary enough to make the hair at the back of one's neck stand, mine certainly did when I first heard it!

By the way, I now reference this CD in the form of a 16 bit AIFF file, ripped to my hard drive, and played back via my Bryston BDP/BDA-1 combo via my system. For your information, this CD has never been re-issued by JVC and therefore, you should not expect to find it on the shelves of your favourite music store. Only used copies can be occasionally found on e-bay, usually with high bidding prices! For the faint hearted vinyl collector, there's an LP version too, usually bidding well in to four figures of US currency. Go figure.