“Action Direct” was first released by Kojima ALM Records in 1985 in a tiny run and has been elusive ever since. Now, twenty years later, Tiliqua restores it to its former glory in the form of an identical limited LP edition (of 250 copies) and a first time ever limited CD edition (of 800 copies). The CD version is carefully crafted and housed in a deluxe fold out sturdy carton mini-LP styled record sleeve (hand numbered) complete with fully detailed and extensive liner notes by Alan Licht and Johan Wellens. The LP comes as a hand numbered deluxe hard carton single jacket edition containing an explanatory insert that is printed separately on high quality glossy paper. Both editions are true beauties to behold, doing the music and Takayanagi justice. As far as the music is concerned, I leave you with a few quotes lifted out of the liner notes in order for you to get a glimpse of the stratospherically heights the music tends to skyrocket into. “Action Direct is his final extension of his Mass Projection/cool mode - the spaces in his playing now filled in with tapes and effects instead of reeds, bass, cello and drums, the sustain now applied to a wall of sound rather than simple guitar feedback, the spare gestures now appearing against a self-created backdrop of noise.” And “…show a progression similar to Miles Davis’ pre-fusion mid-60’s albums, whose increasing use of pulse suggested rock without directly referencing it; Action Direct could be seen as Takayanagi’s Bitches Brew” (AL) “Action Direct embodies a certain duality, a dichotomy between musician and instrument, machine and man and between science and art. While bestowing his concept with the character of music (or musical collage), Takayanagi set out to transcend and empower the physical identity, reality and significance of the individual sound atoms that lay at the core of this conceptual piece. By unleashing a vast array of demonic sonic clusters and fragmentation bombs, he created a new sonic language that vibrates through our present-day existence” (JW).