Hi-Fi Set's career suffered a dry spell between 1979 and 1983 when Yuming no longer assisted them as a songwriter and they couldn't keep up with changing trends around the turn of the decade. During those years, they mainly performed 4 Beat Jazz, but it was obscure enough that those albums never got remastered on CD. In 1984, they finally found their new niche by teaming up with Masamichi Sugi (杉真理) who would take care of most of their songs from that point on starting with "Sunao ni Naritai". While the song still retained some of their signature jazziness, it also embraced that peppy spirit from the 80's that helped it appeal to new audiences. It also got a popularity boost thanks to being used as a CM jingle for Citizen "Riviere" watch. I don't have any Oricon data, but J-Wiki does note that the single was a moderate hit.
And last but not least, the song is turning 30 years old on January 21st! I remember when I first became attached to 80's music I didn't feel like like it was that old. But there you go.
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| Source: clambon.exblog.jp |
Hi, nikala. And very nice entry by Hi-Fi Set. There was that decade-long gap between the group's 70s heyday and their album "White Moon" in 1990 in which I was wondering what they were doing. "Sunao ni Naritai" sounds like them trying to break into Tatsuro Yamashita territory and going for a more uptempo poppier sound along the lines of what Yuming was also trying to do once she changed her name from Arai to Matsutoya.
ReplyDeleteAfter finishing a concert tour in early 1980, Hi-Fi Set went on a long vacation, which they hinted at on the very last track of their then latest album Quarter Rest: "We'll be back after we have taken our Quarter Rest".
ReplyDeleteWell, the vacation took about a year, part of it spent by the Yamamotos in USA, where they were introduced to the recordings of vocal group Lambert, Hendricks and Ross. This was the inspiration for their "vocalese" albums, produced by Masahiko Sato. I like the results a lot but, yeah, it wasn't very commercial and, coming after a long vacation, probably wasn't good for their popularity.
One thing I'd like to know is if they were dropped by Express (EMI) after that or their management just got a nice deal from Sony/BMG.
Hello, Artur. I checked out their J-Wiki article's history but couldn't find any reason for the change in labels. Hi-Fi Set was always a trio that I knew for their 1970s songs although I found out that they were still releasing some material in the 1980s. I wouldn't be surprised if the group and Express had decided to let their contract come to its natural end seeing that perhaps it was time for Hi-Fi Set to think about new directions.
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