(empty karaoke track)
Number: 003
Lyricist/Composer/Arranger: Tatsuro Yamashita
From his 1983 album: "Melodies"
Here is another song of the city that sings of the hustle and bustle there when "...the twilight is drenched by the wind" (from the lyrics). The setting of a secret crush on a woman whose footsteps send a man's heart a-flutter is quintessentially Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）the Romanticist, so his own handling of the guitar solo has that excitement imbued into the musical notes to send them flying into the crimson sky. After "Ashioto", when you listen to his "Mokusou"（黙想）and "Christmas Eve" in succession, that feeling will further increase.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
That 1983 album was ahead of it's time! It is so so interesting that when it was first released "Christmas Eve" was basically ignored but after a decade later became a smash hit. Not a Christmas goes by that I do not hear it! As for あしおと there sure are a lot of covers on it on Youtube but you can find the original album version here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rEeavtBkXgU&list=PLD-vCQinCeDOyyNdbjh_tsqEDB1wd4LBu&index=10
ReplyDeleteHi, Brian. Good to hear from you. Thanks very much for the link...it's always preferable to have the original song but I gather that the above karaoke track might be good for budding musicians. It was definitely a feel-good story about "Christmas Eve" getting its due several years following its initial release.
DeleteSpeaking of Tatsuro Yamashita, Sony Japan is doing a vinyl reissue of the albums he released on RCA and they created a Youtube channel for it and they also released a brand new music video for "Sparkle." I don't think it'll come to streaming services but I still hold out hope.
ReplyDeleteI did indeed hear about all of those precious albums returning to vinyl after all these decades. I figure that the 6th floor in Tower Records Shibuya may exceed capacity limits for the foreseeable future. :) Not sure about any of them hitting streaming, though. Tats has been pretty stubborn about that.
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