This is my first review on Head Heritage so you must excuse me if it is a little shorter than the wonderful reviews I read on here.

Ceremony ~ Buddha Meet Rock was originally released in 1971 by Japanese label Teichiku, and re-released in 2000. This trippy album is a true meeting of East and West, combining Buddist chanting with psychedelic/progressive rock.

Track 1 — Prologue, opens with the sounds of footsteps and horses moving on a cobbled road overlaid with David Axelrod’s ‘Holy Thursday’.

Track 2 — Shomoyo part 1, begins with a gong and a slow beat, then a guitar starts jamming and male and female voices begin chanting the Gongyo a morning mantra, the bass begins after several minutes and the lead guitar pick up pace. 7 1/2 minutes in after a period of calm the music picks up pace and an oragan adds to the mix, with the chanting appearing sporadically. At 12 minutes the track ends having calmed down again.

Track 3 — Gatha, is very simple and beautiful, an electric guitar and sitar play in unison, with snatches of slide guitar and tinkling percussion appearing towards the end of this beautiful track.

Track 4 — Flower Strewing, begins with more chanting and a prominant bass guitar, this chant is a Kirisange, a short refrain intended to lead to religious ecstacy, a very slow beat enters into the track and the deeply meditative vibe continues for several minutes.

Track 5 — Shomyo Part 2, has more hypnotic music than previous tracks with chanting low in the mix.

Track 6 — Prayer Part 1, has gentle percussion and acoustic guitar, with simple piano notes and ethereal male voices sighing.

Track 7 — Prayer Part 2, has the sounds of a woman in the throes of sexual ecstacy while the band jam manicly, ending with the sound of a door being closed.

Track 8 — Epilogue, has the sounds of birds singing and again uses ‘Holy Thursday’.

Apparently even this re-issue is now deleted and fast becoming scarce, get a copy while you can, you will certainly never hear anything like it.