Long Season

Front cover of Long Season reissue

*Note: this is the page for the album. For the song, see Long Season (song). For the poetry book, see Long Season (book).*

***Long Season*** is the sixth studio album by Fishmans. It was first released on October 25, 1996, and to this day stands by far as their most famous release outside of East Asia. The album was recorded as a followup to previously-released single *Season*, functioning as a single 35-minute long epic heavily based upon the musical themes of said single, divided into 5 parts. On Fishmans' official online website, the band describes the album as (translated to English):

> An experimental, visually evocative album that includes gentle rhythms and Shinji Sato's unique whisper-like vocals, which take you on a journey from the heat of summer to another world of tranquility.
>
>

*Long Season* would be the first Fishmans release to feature Michio "Darts" Sekiguchi, as well as many other prominent guest musicians such as UA and MariMari. Apparently, sessions for the album never included one complete performance, rather most sections of the album were recorded separately and weaved together by ZAK. According to band collaborator Minoru Yokoo, many of the sessions of the album were fairly nonchalant and uncoordinated, being created mostly as an obligation to their 3-albums-in-2-years contract with Polydor.

Fishmans' website does not list *Long Season* as a full-blown canon studio album, rather calling it a "One Track Album". This contrasts with their other studio albums, which are all listed numerically (1st album, 2nd album, et cetera).

As of 2019, the bridge in the cover artwork, Mitakeko Bridge was washed away by a typhoon, though the path next to it where the band members stand on is still present. It has not since been rebuilt.

## Track listing

1. Long Season (35:16)

* Part 1 (8:43)
* Part 2 (5:24)
* Part 3 (6:33)
* Part 4 (4:47)
* Part 5 (9:49)

## Artwork/Packaging

Scans are from original digipak release POCH-1602.

Back.Inner artwork, page 1.Inner artwork, page 2.Inner artwork, page 3.Paper insert.CD.Spine.
## Personnel

### Band Members

* Shinji Satoh (vocals, guitar, lyrics, composition)
* Yuzuru Kashiwabara (bass)
* Kin-Ichi Motegi (drums)

### Other Musicians

* Honzi (keyboards, violin, accordion, organette 20, vocals)
* Michio "Darts" Sekiguchi (guitar, chorus)
* Asa-Chang (percussion)
* Taiji Sato (guitar)
* UA (chorus)
* MariMari (chorus)
* Masaki Morimoto (whistle)
* Butchy (chorus)
* Naoko Ohmiya (chorus)
* Yoshiko Ohmiya (chorus)

### Other Personnel

* ZAK (producer, programming, recording engineer, mixing engineer)
* Yuka Koizumi (mastering engineer)
* Akiko Ueta (manager)
* Ichiro Asatsuma (executive producer)
* Yoshiyuki Okuda (executive producer)
* Tadataka Watanabe (executive producer)
* Toshiya Sano (A&R)
* Masaki Morimoto (A&R)
* Naoko Nozawa (artist promotion)
* Katsuyoshi Kinase (marketing promotion)
* Akiko Ueta (artist management)
* Mooog Yamamoto (art direction, design)
* Mariko Yamamoto (art direction, design)
* Phonic (art direction, design)
* Ayako Mogi (photography)
* Crion Yamamoto (photography)
* Junko Ishiwata (styling)

### Special Thanks

* Ace Shimizu
* Minoru
* Ohmiya Family
* Nakazato Family
* Think Sync Integral Co., Ltd.
* Kazuo Nagano
* The Sadakichi
* Tsukasa Fukuoka

## Issues

* 1996 - **POCH-1602** (CD, Polydor, Japan)

CD was printed in a larger digipak case, making artwork a bit longer than other issues.

* 1996 - **POCH-1602** (CD, Polydor, Japan)

Printed in jewel case. All further CD issues would be printed this way.

* 2009 - **UMCC-9012** (Limited CD, Milestone Crowds, Japan)

* 2012 - **UPCY-9231** (Limited CD, Universal, Japan)

First issue to use accompanying promo sticker which states "...we are not Four Seasons" (seen to the right). All consecutive issues possess this promo sticker.

* 2016 - **UPJY-9033** (Limited 12", Universal, Japan) - Part of reissue series Fishmans 25 - Silver Anniversary! 2016.
* 2016 - **UPCY-7175** (Remastered CD, Universal, Japan) - Part of reissue series Fishmans 25 - Silver Anniversary! 2016.

## Trivia

* (2 / 3) of the Setagaya Trilogy

* The shortest album Fishmans had ever released, followed by Orange.

* Album cover photo is believed to have been taken just off of the southeast end of Mitakeko Bridge, located on Mount Mitake in Ome, Tokyo, Japan. The bridge was swept away, and surrounding trails and paths were heavily damaged in 2019 because of the flooding of the Tama River, caused by Typhoon 19.
* Despite the band only consisting of 3 official members at the time this album released, the CD artwork depicts 5 vaguely human silhouettes. This is the same amount of band members Fishmans' original lineup contained. It's unclear if this is a reference to the original lineup, if it is referencing the growing involvement of support musicians Honzi and Michio "Darts" Sekiguchi, or if it's completely unrelated.
* Part 4 contains a whistled verse done in the tune of the extra verse in Season.

1. ↑ https://rateyourmusic.com/release/album/fishmans/long-season/
2. ↑ https://racerafting.blog/2019/10/15/御岳渓谷の台風19号での被災状況/