Personnel: Naoko Yamano (vocals, guitar); Michie Nakatani (vocals, bass guitar); Jeff McDonald (vocals, background vocals); Pat Fear (guitar, background vocals); Atsushi Shibata (guitar); Dave Landry (recorder, bass guitar); Dave Landry (recorder); Noboru Yamada (saxophone); Steven McDonald (bass guitar, background vocals); Steve Davis (bass guitar); Atsuko Yamano (drums, background vocals); Victor Indrizzo (drums).
Audio Mixer: Yasushi Utsunomiya.
Audio Remasterer: Ohji Hayashi.
Recording information: BJ Studio, Nishinomiya, Japan (??/1986-04/1990); Eggplant, Osaka, Japan (??/1986-04/1990); Yotsubashi LM Studio, Osaka, Japan (??/1986-04/1990).
Photographers: Atsushi Shibata; Shonen Knife.
This was the first album that Shonen Knife created after the band's cult status in America had been established with the tribute album EVERY BAND HAS A SHONEN KNIFE WHO LOVES THEM. This Japanese trio of sisters Naoko and Atsuko Yamano and their friend Michie Nakatani had been releasing records for seven years by the time 712 appeared in 1991. The set is rife with references to commercial products ("Fruit Loop Dreams," "Diet Run") and bands ("Blue Oyster Cult," "Redd Kross," "White Flag"). In one way or another, the music also reveals the trio's love of everyone from the Monkees to Jonathan Richman, and plenty more. The girls open the set with a song about their own band, describing themselves as "ultra eccentric super cult punk pop band," which is pretty accurate. The album includes covers of the Beatles' "Rain" and John Lennon's "Luck of the Irish." Full of spunk, verve, and innocence, 712 is a winning album.
Professional Reviews
Spin (11/91) - Highly Recommended - "..Michie, Naoko and Atsuko still triumph..."
Magnet (p.89) - "[The album] on which its primitive musicianship and shameless love for Western pop culture finally achieved na?ve genius."
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