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.

Saturday, June 1, 2019

paris match -- Let's Stay Together


It's a first day of a new month and it's the first Saturday so let's have something soothing in the afternoon. For decades, this song has been flitting around in the old memories, the classic "Let's Stay Together" by Al Green from 1972.


Well, the good folks at paris match came up with their relaxing cover of "Let's Stay Together" from their July 2004 album "♭5". Not sure how to read that title, though...b5? flat 5? In any case, vocalist Mari Mizuno(ミズノマリ)and her partner Yosuke Sugiyama(杉山洋介)give the original soul more of an introspective cup-of-chamomile bossa jazz twist.

Listening to this cover, I really ought to think about investing in another paris match album sometime soon. I had also been planning to include another song of theirs, "Cerulean Blue" in here as well, but it looks like the powers-that-be struck it down with their copyright Mjolnir.

2 comments:

  1. Hello J-Canuck,

    When I saw the name of this album I just smiled. I haven’t read music in a long time but everyone who does read it knows about this musical interval.

    You pronounce the name of this album Diminished Fifth (5th). It is the infamous Tritone interval or the Devils interval used in most modern musical genres (classical, jazz, blues, R&B, C&W, pop, metal etc.).

    For more of an explanation.

    https://www.npr.org/2017/10/31/560843189/the-unsettling-sound-of-tritones-the-devils-interval

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Chasing Showa!

      Thanks for telling me about the Diminished 5th. I went over to NPR to read the description and hear a bit of "Tristan und Isolde" so I could understand what you and they were talking about.

      I also went to a YouTube video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NTUTAdTEaII&t=254s) to get a bit more insight, and on top of the fact from the NPR article that the tritone was used to signify fear and tension, I found out from Warren's video that it was also used as a transitional chord for going from a major to a minor chord. Quite interesting!

      Delete

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