Anzen Chitai -- (VI) Tsuki ni Nureta Futari （月に濡れたふたり）

For their huge album "V" in 1986, Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）was starting to explore a little further afield in their music: a bit more blues, fusion and the like while still retaining their unique Anzen Chitai sound. I think the exploration continued in "Tsuki ni Nureta Futari"(Moon-Bathed Couple), their 6th album which was released in April 1988.

I got that feeling right from the first track, "I Love You Kara Hajimeyou"（I Love Youからはじめよう...Let's Begin With I Love You) which starts with a blast of guitar and horns. It sounds like a triumphant return for the band whose "V" had been released about 18 months previously...it's probably the purely happiest Anzen Chitai song that had been released as a single (their 18th) up to that point in their career. I could just imagine the charismatic Koji Tamaki walking down the red carpet with all the rose petals falling down upon his beaming countenance (sorry, that was a bit florid...).

"Jirettai"（じれったい）is also a track on the album. It had been released a year previously as the band's 15th single in April 1987, and it's a tune that melds the Anzen Chitai sound with some raunchy funk. I first heard it at Kuri as someone sang through it at karaoke, and I asked my Checkers/CCB-loving friend about what the title meant. She rather blanched and got very coy and refused to tell me. Well, as it turned out, the title just means "vexing" or "irritating"....although according to the suggestive lyrics, maybe Tamaki could have also intended it to mean "horny". In any case, it's a fun song that's about as close to a danceable tune that the band has made. The single itself was the 77th-ranked song of 1987. All of the songs, by the way, were written by Goro Matsui（松井五郎） and composed by Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）.

Throughout the album, Anzen Chitai tries out a bit of techno swing (No Problem), a kid-friendly tune (Yume no Pocket) and some African rhythms (Shade Mind). "Juliet" was their 16th single (December 1987), and it starts out with some serious strings before it changes into a sweeping, dreamy ballad; I kinda wonder if Tamaki and Matsui had actually been thinking of one-half of Shakespeare's most doomed couple before she met the love of her life. Furthermore, I wonder if a lot of Koji's fans in the audience swooned at the thought of changing their name to Juliet whenever he performed the song during concerts.

The title track, "Tsuki ni Nureta Futari", is Anzen Chitai's stab at bossa nova/European balladry. I could imagine Julio Iglesias tackling this one, but Tamaki pulls out the vocal dramatics for their 17th single (March 1988), as he goes from his soft and buttery stylings to near-operatic heights. He could probably rival his old buddy, Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）, in the serenading department.

The album itself was the 19th-ranked album of 1988 with 360,000 units sold. The above is another round of  Anzen Chitai performing "Jirettai" at Tokyo's Budokan back when Tamaki was still the lean, mean singing machine. There are quite a few more interesting tracks on the album, but I'll profile them separately at a later time.

Anzen Chitai VI