Credits

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Friday, May 5, 2017

Junko Yagami -- Kinyoubi no Yoru (金曜日の夜)


"Kinyoubi no Yoru" (Friday Night)? Well, I'm actually writing this in the middle of Friday afternoon and the weather out there isn't too conducive for heading out for much partying tonight, unless dancing and getting drenched in precipitation is your sort of thing. Still, for a lot of folks, the spirit is willing even if the weather is not.


It's been a while since I put up a Junko Yagami(八神純子)disco number so here indeed is "Kinyoubi no Yoru", one of her uptempo tracks from her 4th album "Yume Miru Koro wo Sugitemo" (夢みる頃を過ぎても...Even If Dreamtime Passes) released in February 1982. For some reason, the song sounds a bit like the ancient "Disco Inferno" or even The Pointer Sisters' "He's So Shy" filtered through a Doobie Brothers arrangement but before anyone gets ideas that Michael McDonald took care of things, it was actually another MM who did....Masataka Matsutoya(松任谷正隆). However, Yagami wrote and composed the song.

Definitely classic Junko here with those high-flying vocals and the Latin characteristics. However, despite the disco feeling, it isn't about the night life in Tokyo but one woman's Xmas Eve-level excitement on the titular evening since she'll be able to meet that sweet fellow on Saturday. Methinks, she's not hitting the dance floor tonight...and if she's smart, she's not hitting anything caffeinated either.

"Yume Miru Koro wo Sugitemo" did very well. It peaked at No. 2 on the Oricon weeklies and ended up as the 34th-ranked album of the year. City Pop had some primo years back then.

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