Vodka Collins is a Tokyo

Tokyo

, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...

 based Japanese-American rock band, formed in 1971. The core band members are drummer Hiroshi Oguchi

Hiroshi Oguchi

Hiroshi Oguchi was born in Kawaguchi Japan, November 28, 1950. He died January 25, 2009, in Tokyo Japan, of cancer....

 (formerly of The Tempters

The Tempters

The Tempters were part of Japan's Group Sounds pop music era in the 1960s.Featuring lead vocalist Kenichi Hagiwara, who was also known by the nickname of Shoken, they rivaled The Tigers for the top spot in the Japan rock scene hierarchy...

), singer-guitarist Alan Merrill

Alan Merrill

Alan Merrill is an American vocalist, guitarist, and songwriter. In the early 1970s Merrill was the first westerner to achieve pop star status in Japan...

, singer-guitarist Hiroshi "Monsieur" Kamayatsu (formerly of The Spiders) and bassist Take Yokouchi

Take Yokouchi

Take Yokouchi is a musician best known for his work with the Japanese glam rock band Vodka Collins. Take was originally a live touring guitar player for the popular teen idol band The Four Leaves.When he was approached to join the new band Vodka Collins in 1971, it was on bass guitar, and a job he...

 (formerly of the Four Leaves

Four Leaves

was a Japanese boy band from the talent agency Johnny & Associates. Four Leaves was one of the earliest acts produced by the agency, and the four-member group first formed in 1967 and made their record debut with the single the following year. They disbanded in 1978, but they reunited in 2002....

 backing band, High Society). In later reunion recordings in the 1990s, Yokouchi was replaced by Masayoshi "Mabo" Kabe (formerly of The Golden Cups

The Golden Cups

were one of the top bands performing in Japan's Group Sounds scene in the late 1960s.Featuring singer Dave Hirao, guitarist Eddie Ban, and bassist Masayoshi "Mabo" Kabe, and made a number of hit singles in addition to many re-workings of international songs. A full length documentary film about the...

) on bass guitar.

All of the band's released works are original compositions by lead singer Alan Merrill. The band have made 5 albums, the most well known being the glam rock

Glam rock

Glam rock is a style of rock and pop music that developed in the UK in the early 1970s, which was performed by singers and musicians who wore outrageous clothes, makeup and hairstyles, particularly platform-soled boots and glitter...

 album "Tokyo - New York

Tokyo - New York

Tokyo – New York by the band Vodka Collins is an EMI-Toshiba LP, recorded in 1971-72. The album was a top seller and yielded hit singles "Sands of Time", "Automatic Pilot", and "Billy Mars"....

" released in 1973 on EMI

EMI

The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

 records. Other album titles are "Chemical Reaction", "Pink Soup", "Boy's Life" and '"Boys In The Band".

Discography

• "Tokyo - New York
  Tokyo - New York
  Tokyo – New York by the band Vodka Collins is an EMI-Toshiba LP, recorded in 1971-72. The album was a top seller and yielded hit singles "Sands of Time", "Automatic Pilot", and "Billy Mars"....
  
  "
• "Chemical Reaction"
• "Pink Soup"
• "Boy's Life"
• "Boys In The Band"

External links

Vodka Collins website Vodka Collins fansite Vodka Collins site Author Julian Cope's Vodka Collins research Keith Cahoon's Nippop webpages