Monday, October 22, 2012

ALFEE -- Koibito Tachi no Pavement (恋人達のぺイヴメント)




My favourite ALFEE song, "Koibito Tachi no Pavement"(Lovers' Pavement), is that huge rock ballad that seems to have that small genetic connection with Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody". Somewhat shorter than the Freddie Mercury classic, I was struck by the grand piano intro and outro, almost as if someone bracketed an epic Japanese love song with two pieces of a concerto. I'm not sure what was going on in Toshihiko Takamizawa's(高見沢俊彦)mind when he was creating this mesh of rock and classical, but it's a beautiful piece even if his voice gets close to breaking when he reaches for those high notes.


Released in October 1984 as the band's 19th single, this was the first ALFEE song to hit No. 1, and it finished the year in the 67th position on the overall single rankings. It was also placed on the band's album, "THE BEST SONGS", released in December 1985 which peaked at No. 5.

3 comments:

  1. I love this song. The electric guitar, piano and strings arrangement combination was just mesmerising. Along with a few others, it was my introduction to the Alfee and Takamizawa in the mid 80s.

    They did a cover of this song for their ballads compilation in 2002, and over the years, still sing it now and then at concerts. Nothing beats the original version though. Still, I am happy and amazed that Takamizawa sounds almost the same as in 1984, managing to maintain his bright, high tones all these years.

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    Replies
    1. Hello, yung. Yes, it's quite the epic song, isn't it? I think it deserved its own movie. :) I'm quite impressed that Takamizawa can still deliver the goods with his voice over the decades.

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  2. There were two other Alfee ballads featuring Takamizawa on vocals that I heard around the same period, "あなたがそばにいれば" and "A Last Song". I think all three are brilliant.

    "A Last Song" featured a saxophone solo, which seems quite rare for an Alfee ballad. It was also in "The Best Songs", which despite its name was not quite your usual best album. It had 5 new songs and 5 recent singles or B-sides.

    "あなたがそばにいれば" had piano, blues harp, strings and a really cool electric guitar solo. Strangely, it was a song that they hardly performed live.

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