Masayuki Suzuki -- Wakare no Machi (別れの街）

Kazumasa Oda（小田和正） wrote, composed, produced and even provided backup vocals on this urban contemporary song for Masayuki 'Martin' Suzuki.（鈴木雅之）.  It's interesting how these two have paralleled each other. Both were lead singers for popular groups (Oda for Off Course, Suzuki for the doo-wop group The Chanels...later Rats & Star) a decade ago before going solo.

Suzuki went into a more soul/R&B direction after going solo in 1986. Not only Oda, but husband & wife team Mariya Takeuchi （竹内まりや）and Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）, and Ray Parker Jr. have also had a hand in his songs. I first heard "Wakare no Machi"(The Parting Road) as the Camellia Diamonds commercial song for 1989 (Camellia Diamonds always got some pretty cool tunes for their TV ads). The sax and synth intro sounds somewhat like Glenn Frey's "You Belong to the City", but goes into Oda Urban territory. It's a great tune to listen to at night while on the road. It was the first track on Suzuki's album, "Dear Tears". The single itself peaked at No. 45.