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.

Monday, September 25, 2017

Rie Miyazawa -- Gokigen na Heart (ごきげんな HEART )


I can't remember the article for it right now, but I did mention that after listening to a long-neglected album once more and being surprisingly more reasonable toward it now, I would probably be inclined to give the only album I have of Rie Miyazawa(宮沢りえ), "Mu", another go of it. Admittedly, I was being a bit sarcastic about that.


And yet, I did play the album again last week for the first time in probably close to 25 years. Strangely enough, I'm still hitting 1.000. Not to say that "Mu", Miyazawa's debut album from 1989 is any classic. She didn't particularly possess a robust set of vocals but the songs and arrangement behind them are not too bad.

The opening track of the album "Gokigen na Heart" (Happy Heart) is a generically pleasant pop song of that time period with Rie-chan breezily singing away about waking up all cheerful and stuff and sending off the darling with a blown kiss. The lyrics were provided by Masami Tozawa(戸沢暢美)who's written a number of songs for Miki Imai(今井美樹)and the melody was whipped up by Takashi Tsushimi(都志見隆)who has often made music for Kiyoshi Maekawa and The Cool Five(前川清&クールファイブ)!

I don't know how the album did per se but I wonder how "Gokigen na Heart" would have fared under stronger singers such as Misato Watanabe(渡辺美里)or Mariko Nagai(永井真里子). Still, I can say that "Mu" can come back in from the cold.


4 comments:

  1. Ooooh, Gokigen na Heart! One of my fave songs from Rie Miyazawa. Mu is certainly a catchy album, it features lot of synths and eurobeat beats in most of thr songs.

    I particularly like this album aside the weak vocals by Rie Miyazawa.

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    1. Hi, PocariDev.

      Good to hear that there is another person who was happy with "Mu". I'm still picking away at some of the neglected albums of my youth. :)

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  2. Hi J-Canuck!
    It is great to meet people who enjoy these early 90's catchy tunes.

    By the way, check this vídeo con Youtube. Do you have any info about this singer? The song is called "Shut up!!" and I think she has released an álbum ...

    https://youtu.be/MZWhvbX5_2Q

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    1. Hi PocariDev.

      Yep, that's definitely J-Pop from the late 80s/early 90s....lots of funk there.

      The singer's name is Aya Fukuoka according to the kanji. I was able to find a little information on her on only one website called spysee.jp. Apparently she was born in 1972 and released the single "Shut Up" in September 1991 although this wasn't her debut single...that may have come earlier in the year.

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