(Prism and Keep Guitarist) Akira Wada in 3 albums [1981 The Guitar, 1983 Out and about, 1985 Yellow Moon]

 

Discogged:

Japanese fusion guitarist. Born August 26, 1956 in Tokyo. Passed away March 28, 2021.

In Groups:

Akira Wada With Friends, ExhiVision, Keep, Prism (9), W.I.N.S, Duologue

Probably it would be fair to say the 2 bands, Keep (founded by our beloved Fukamachi) and the very prolific Prism, were a bit more progressive with their fusionary outpourings, than Wada's solo material.  People should check those out if they haven't already of course.

From the first album, which features the unbelievable oddity of having side one as regular instrumentals and side two identical songs with backing parts lacking the melodies for 'karaoke' purposes, Oneness Cry:

You can discern immediately we are dealing with the standard Japanese instr. fusion sound of that era we have heard so many times before.  In terms of commercialese, smooth, light fuzak, this is solidly middle of the dial between say 80s David Sanborn and Masahiko Satoh on the other more progressive end.  At least the energy is quite intense and all melodies are played by his wonderfully crisp and clean electric guitar.  (He plays a Fenderish guitar which, according to AI is "a signature model from P-PROJECT by Fernandes, custom made.")

The super-lovely You from the second album:

The third album is an odd mix, being electric guitar melodies on top of orchestral arrangements, all instrumental (apart from a relatively trite song for a certain Julia) as usual.  Surprisingly, it contains the best compositions in my opinion, and they sound like extensions of the last track You from the 2nd.

Last track on the 3rd, Cresendo [sic]: 

Note that after this one the next release came out in the 1990s so I didn't bother listening to it.

source https://progressreview.blogspot.com/2025/08/prism-and-keep-guitarist-akira-wada-in.html