Emergency was recorded in 1976 by Akira Ishikawa and Count Buffalos for Toshiba as a direct-to-disc session: the signal went from the mixing desk straight to the cutting lathe, with no tape in between, so every side had to be played in one pass. Producer Koji Kusano, engineer Yoichi Namekata and cutting engineer Shogo Takeuchi ran the date.

The band is a full jazz-funk unit: Masao Suzuki and Ken Muraoka on saxophones, Koji Hatori on trumpet, Eiji Arai on trombone, Hideo Ichikawa on electric piano, Hiromasa Suzuki on clavinet, Takao Naoi on guitar, Masaoki Terakawa on bass and Larry Sunaga on percussion, with Ishikawa at the drums.

Hiromasa Suzuki's Yama-To-Mizu, written for a Sansui audio demonstration record, opens the album, followed by an instrumental reading of the Stylistics' You're as Right as Rain, Hal Galper's Phases and a drum solo by the leader. On Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight and I've Never Found a Man the singer Tan Tan (Harumi Oozora) was recorded without a limiter, and every breath comes through.

The sessions produced more than one take of each side, and a second pressing, Emergency Take 2, came out the same year. This edition goes back to the original session takes and, with modern digital editing, picks the best passages from each to assemble a single version of the album.

Japanese reissue by Universal Music, Pure Vinyl pressing.