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.

Sunday, August 16, 2020

Selfish -- Realize


Happy Sunday! Hopefully, a good bunch of you are contentedly digesting your usual Sunday breakfasts. It was the usual cholesterol-laden bacon-eggs-pancakes combination for me.


I wrote about the band Selfish a few years ago and nope, there's not a lot written about them aside from what I could find at that Japanese-language blog of 1990s City Pop. As for anything English, I think perhaps "Kayo Kyoku Plus" is the only source right now. In any case, here is the second entry by vocalist Hiroyuki Imura(井村裕之), drummer Yukihiro Matsumoto(松本幸裕)and trumpeter Naoki Otsubo(大坪直樹), their October 1993 single "Realize".

To be honest, I find the subject for that first KKP article on Selfish, "Jiyu ni Natte"(自由になって)more intriguing but "Realize" is a pleasant enough song with some of those old-fashioned end-of-the-century synthesizers. Imura has got an appealing voice which can soar and the arrangement reminds me of some of the more straight-line pop that Sing Like Talking was coming up with at the time. Otsubo was responsible for the melody while Shun Taguchi(田口俊)provided the lyrics.

3 comments:

  1. This track is giving me Daytona USA vibes due to those synth horns. If you removed the vocals from this, it could easily fit in as BGM to a Sega racer from that era. Definitely an exhilarating track. Nice find once again J.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah, try imagining the cars lining up at the starting line especially in the moments before Imura sings.:)

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