# Make Up City

Make Up City is the third studio album by Japanese jazz fusion band Casiopea, released on November 21, 1980 by Alfa Records.

## Recording

The album was recorded using 3M's newly developed 32-track digital tape recorder, and as such, was billed as Japan's first digitally recorded album. At that time, the latest model of 3M's DMS (Digital Audio Mastering System), which had been used by A&M Records since the late 1970s, was used for recording directly under Alfa Records. It was introduced at Studio Alfa's 'A' studio, but coincidentally this album was the first to be used due to recording schedules. Not only does it create a buzz, but it also contributes to the clarity of the sound. However, in a later magazine interview, leader Issei Noro reflected on the sound of those days and said, "The drawback of digital recording was that the sound was flat, so we decided to solve that problem by adding analog processing."
However, this album itself was not Japan's first digital recording work; the Japanese company Denon had developed the world's first practical PCM recording device, the DN-023R, in 1972.

## Music

This album marks the first time that all members have contributed songs. Noro had been in charge of most of the compositions for the previous three albums (the only exceptions being Tetsuo Sakurai's "Sailing Alone" and Steve Karmen's "I Love New York", both on Super Flight), and had planned to compose most of this album as well. However, in the middle of the songwriting process, Noro was hospitalized, and the other members suddenly decided to each write one song and bring it in. Minoru Mukaiya created an instrumental version of "Reflections of You," which was featured on Judy Anton's 1980 album Smile. In particular, Akira Jimbo had no prior experience in composing music, but by enthusiastically learning how to compose from Noro while he was in the hospital, he wrote "Ripple Dance," which marked his first step as a songwriter. All songs were performed by Casiopea members only, but Hideki Matsutake fully participated as the synthesizer manipulator.

## Album title

The album title was chosen from the beauty term "makeup", with the meaning of "creating a city." The jacket also features an illustration reminiscent of a futuristic city. However, the title literally translates to "Clean up the city." In fact, member Minoru Mukaiya, who was the MC for the tour at the time, said that Harvey Mason, who produced the band's next album Eyes of the Mind, said to him, "I was surprised, you guys, are you going to clean up the town?" The grammar in the title of the song "Eyes of Mind," which was included as the second song on Make Up City, was also pointed out by Mason, who asked, "Wouldn't it be weird if 'the' wasn't included?" It was written as "Eyes of the Mind" from then on.

## Track listing

All arranged by Issei Noro, except "Reflections Of You" by Minoru Mukaiya and Issei Noro.

## Personnel
### Band members

    Issei Noro - Guitar (YAMAHA SG-2000 & SG-1000 Fretless, Acoustic guitar)
    Minoru Mukaiya - Keyboards (Fender Rhodes 73, Acoustic Piano, Prophet-5, Mini Moog, YAMAHA SK-20 & CS-30, KORG 800DV, Roland VP-330)
    Tetsuo Sakurai - Bass (YAMAHA BB-2000 & BB-2000 Fretless, Fender Jazz Bass, Kramer DMZ-6000B)
    Akira Jimbo - Drums (YAMAHA YD-9000R)
* Hideki Matsutake - Synthesizer manipulator

### Production

* Executive Producer - Syoro Kawazoe
* Producer - Shunsuke Miyazumi
* Engineer - Norio Yoshizawa
* Assistant Engineers - Atsushi Saito
* Illustrator - Kazuyuki Takimoto
* Design - Hidetake Awano
* Cover Coordination - Toshinao Tsukui
* Liner notes - Jun Takemura
* Remastering engineer - Kouji Suzuki (2016)

## Charts

| Chart (1982) | Peak position |
| US Jazz Albums | 46 |

## Release history

| Region | Date | Label | Format | Catalog | Note |
| Japan | November 21, 1980 | Alfa Records | 30cmLP | ALR-28007 | stereo |
| United States | 1981 | Alfa Records | 30cmLP | AAB-11010 | |
| Europe | 1981 | Alfa Records | 30cmLP | ALF 85624 | |
| Japan | June 25, 1984 | Alfa Records | 12cmCD | 38XA-15 | |
| Japan | January 23, 1987 | Alfa Records | 12cmCD | 32XA-117 | |
| Japan | March 21, 1992 | Alfa Records | 12cmCD | ALCA-274 | |
| Japan | June 29, 1994 | Alfa Records | 12cmCD | ALCA-9004 | |
| Japan | July 23, 1998 | Alfa Records | 12cmCD | ALCA-9199 | |
| Japan | December 19, 2001 | Village Records | remastered 12cmCD | VRCL-2204 | DSD, LP paper jacket |
| Japan | January 17, 2002 | Village Records | remastered 12cmCD | VRCL-2224 | DSD |
| Japan | May 27, 2009 | Sony Music Direct | remastered 12cmCD | MHCL-20006 | DSD, Blu-spec CD, LP paper jacket |
| Japan | February 3, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | 1076212086 | iTunes Store |
| Japan | February 3, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | 4582290413976 | mora AAC-LC 320 kbps |
| Japan | February 3, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | A1003862366 | Recochoku AAC 128/320 kbps |
| Japan | February 3, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | B01B5AQ8LS | Amazon.com |
| Japan | February 3, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | Bv2fe2tatvwv7zxuuiizjum5ixu | Google Play Music |
| Japan | July 27, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | 4582290418704 | mora DSD 2.8 MHz/1bit |
| Japan | July 27, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | smj4582290418704 | e-onkyo DSD 2.8 MHz/1bit |
| Japan | July 27, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | 11184 | HD-music DSD 2.8 MHz/1bit |
| Japan | July 27, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | 4582290418698 | mora FLAC 96.0 kHz/24bit |
| Japan | July 27, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | A1004668191 | Recochoku FLAC 96 kHz 24bit |
| Japan | July 27, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | smj4582290418698 | e-onkyo FLAC 96 kHz 24bit |
| Japan | July 27, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | 11173 | HD-music FLAC 96 kHz/24bit |
| Japan | July 27, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | a7bf52beff4402e0f681 | AWA 320kbps |
| Japan | November 10, 2016 | Sony Music Direct | Music download | 263Am93kbmxHBsjdAvvUAx | Spotify |