Hiromi Iwasaki -- Yugure kara...Hitori（夕暮れから。。。ひとり）(Part 1)

 

Chanteuse Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）has been in the music industry so long that she's had a lot of different images since her debut as a teen in 1975. However, the one image that will always stick with me is the one when I had first known about her in the early 1980s as you can see above: elegant, svelte and hair that went all the way down to her waist.

Yugure kara...Hitori

Today, I want to explore her 11th studio album from July 1982, "Yugure kara...Hitori"（From Twilight--Alone）. I've already written about some of the tracks on this No. 4-ranking LP: the surprisingly downtown warp-speed "Koi wa Senso"（恋は戦争）, the 1970s kayo kyoku-reminiscent 27th single "Lemon"（檸檬）which begins the album, and the follow-up single "Madonna Tachi no Lullaby" (聖母たちのララバイ）that has become one of her trademark songs. Even with those three covered, there are seven more tracks on the original LP alone so I'll be splitting up my impressions into two parts with Part 2 coming in next week.

Let's see if we can go for three songs here beginning with the second track. Following the innocent and sweet "Lemon", there is "Tobashite, TAXI" (Step On It, Taxi), a keyboard-funky urban tune of giddiness about a woman hopping into a taxi to confront a lover at his hotel on whether the rumours surrounding him are true; apparently, she's still in the denial stage. Written by Chinfa Kan（康珍化）, composed by Toshio Kamei（亀井登志夫）from the band NASA and arranged by Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）, the lyrical content may be rather tense but the arrangement speaks of one exciting time in the big city. This particular song isn't to be confused with the similarly-titled "Tobashite Taxi Man"（とばしてTaxi Man） by Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）from her 1983 album "Relief 72 Hours". May I just complete this paragraph by noting how amazing her voice is when she yells "TAXI!". The multi-cab crash that could result if she yelled it in that way.

Following Track 3 "Koi wa Senso", Iwasaki turns from the disco-lined streets of Roppongi to an area that's much more discreet...say a boutique hotel off the main drag or an exclusive restaurant. "Yoake no nai Asa" (夜明けのない朝...Morning Without a Dawn) sounds like it should have been recruited to become a theme song for those weekly murder-mystery dramas on Japanese television as was the case with "Madonna Tachi no Lullaby" and a few other contributions by her. However, it remained just a track on "Yugure kara...Hitori" but it stands out for that wonderful intro and throughout the song it has that one foot in classy Fashion Music territory although the chorus rhythm with the punchy percussion keep things in the metropolis. Kaoru Ito（伊藤薫）was responsible for words and music with Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）handling the arrangement here.

If I'm not mistaken, "Single Man" was the final track on Side A of the original LP. Taking on a gentle 1950s pop ballad form, Iwasaki sings about the realization that a summertime romance is about to head to its end as the autumn comes. Good times...but hey, that's the way it goes. Akira Ohtsu（大津あきら）was the lyricist here while Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロー）and Kenji Omura（大村憲司） were the composer and arranger respectively. 

Just before tackling the album here on KKP, I had been wondering whether I would be getting a mix of her City Pop from the late 1970s and that murder-mystery balladry that was her thing in the early 1980s. So far, I think I've been getting even more variety with "Yugure kara...Hitori". Looking forward to the second half which will basically look at all of Side B.