Masayoshi Takanaka - Rainbow Goblins Story Live at Budokan 1981 (2026 Reissue) [Japanese Import] Masayoshi Takanaka

A close look at the full scope of Masayoshi Takanaka’s legendary concert RAINBOW GOBLINS STORY! This release captures the legendary two-day concert held at Nippon Budokan on March 10 and 11, 1981, the very day and the day after the release of Masayoshi Takanaka’s masterpiece The Rainbow Goblins.

The first part recreates on stage the concept album The Rainbow Goblins, which Takanaka created based on the inspiration he drew from Italian painter Ul de Rico’s picture book The Rainbow Goblins, while the second part is made up of Masayoshi Takanaka’s hit songs. Now, for the first time, that full performance sees the light of day as a single audio work. A huge rainbow neon arch stretched across the stage, with its seven colours lighting up in various patterns in sync with the music. Combined with what was then a state-of-the-art laser show and a mountain-like stack of equipment onstage, it created a fantastical world. The seven musicians appeared wearing costumes in different goblin image colours, while Takanaka, dressed in a yellow jumpsuit with rainbow-colored hair, played a rainbow-colored Yamaha SG. The world of The Rainbow Goblins that Masayoshi Takanaka, already at the peak of his popularity as one of Japan’s leading guitarists, brought to life onstage returns now, on its 45th anniversary, with vivid sound.

The analogue edition consists of three LPs in clear lime yellow, clear red, and clear blue, evoking both the three primary colours of light and the colours of the rainbow Yamaha SG Takanaka played in the first part of the concert. It also comes with a booklet packed with photographs capturing this fantastical stage production created with the latest technology of the time. Mastering and analogue cutting were handled by Alex Wharton at Abbey Road Studios London. Liner notes are by Masayoshi Kondo and Yoshinobu Maruyama.