Godiego -- Holy and Bright（ホーリー＆ブライト）

It's been a tad over 6 years since I put up a Godiego（ゴダイゴ）single onto "Kayo Kyoku Plus" so I will have to correct that oversight. The last one was for "Taking Off", one of the group's contributions to "Galaxy Express 999" back in 1979.

Many of Godiego's hits have imprinted themselves onto my memory such as "Taking Off" and "Gandhara"（ガンダーラ）, another classic of theirs that became the ending theme for the TV fantasy-adventure "Saiyuki"（西遊記）. However, I had never heard of "Holy and Bright" which was actually the ending theme for the second season of the series.

Compared to the dreamier and more introspective "Gandhara", the band's 12th single "Holy and Bright" from October 1979 comes off as being more of that second adjective in the title and just quite a bit bouncier. The original Japanese version was written by Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）with Godiego vocalist Yukihide Takekawa（タケカワユキヒデ）providing the happy-go-lucky music and keyboardist Mickey Yoshino（ミッキー吉野）arranging everything.

The B-side happens to contain the English version of the song with those lyrics being provided by Yoko Narahashi（奈良橋陽子）. Come to think of it, there are parts of both versions that kinda has that Electric Light Orchestra feel to them. The single got as high as No. 17 on Oricon and finished 1979 as the No. 97 single of the year.

I have to say that although "Gandhara" will always be cherished, I'm making some good friends with "Holy and Bright" as well.