MYTHS & LEGENDS

“My problem is that I don’t write lyrics, and without lyrics I can’t finish a song.”

Veteran keyboardist Ryo Okumoto is not most readily associated with a solo career. A mainstay of Spock’s Beard, he’s renowned for both his virtuosity and irrepressible stage antics, but as a solo artist? Less so. However way back in 1980, Okumoto released three solo albums within a six-month period, recorded in Japan, London and Los Angeles respectively. Two decades passed before a fourth solo effort, 2002’s Coming Through, emerged. And now a further 20 years on, Okumoto has at last unveiled a fifth solo album, The Myth Of The Mostrophus. So why the lengthy gap?

“Well, I’ve kept writing since , but I just kept getting