Love Psychedelico - THE BEST



LOVE PSYCHEDELICO

Love Psychedelico (ラブ・サイケデリコ - RABU SAIKEDERIKO) is a Japanese band, widely popular in Hong Kong, Japan and Taiwan.

The band was formed in 1997 by singer Kumi (born April 11, 1976 in Chiba Prefecture) and guitarist Naoki Sato (born July 21, 1973 in Shizuoka Prefecture), while studying at Aoyama Gakuin University in Tokyo. They signed with major label Victor in 1999. In Japan they are often called Delico for short.

Their first album, The Greatest Hits, sold over two million copies. Their second album Love Psychedelic Orchestra, released in January 2001, sold 90,000 copies.

They have released two albums since, Love Psychedelico III, in early 2004, and compilation album Early Times, in February 2005. This best-of compilation received a positive response in the Taiwanese J-pop market and the group visited Taiwan in June of that year. They held a concert in Taipei on June 22 where many fans gathered, including a sizable number of celebrity attendees. It proved to be a very successful concert for the duo who do not usually appear publicly.

Love Psychedelico also toured extensively through the club and bar circuit in the United States, garnering largely positive reactions. American cities the band has said to have enjoyed playing were Nashville, Austin, and Kumi's childhood home of San Francisco. For the promotion of their new album, Golden Grapefruit, Love Psychedelico made their first televised music program appearance on Bokura no Ongaku. It is also notable that they were interviewed by Yoko Ono, widow of John Lennon.

They released a new album called This is Love Psychedelico on May 20, 2008 in the United States from HackTone Records, marking their American debut. This album was also released on June 18, 2008 in Japan as This is Love Psychedelico ~U.S.Best~.

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Style

Stylistically, Love Psychedelico is highly reminiscent of the British Invasion of the late 60s, both members having cited The Beatles and Led Zeppelin as influences, though the influence of American folk and blues are also present (Kumi having claimed Janis Joplin and Sheryl Crow, and Sato Bob Dylan, as influences). To pay tribute to their influences, Love Psychedelico sometimes borrow song titles from the bands that influence them.

Kumi's lyrics are a mix of English and Japanese, a phenomenon common to popular Japanese music. Kumi often attributes her English language proficiency to her early childhood in San Francisco, California.

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