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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.

Friday, October 18, 2024

Hideko Hara -- Aoi Rhapsody(青いラプソディー)

 

Hard to believe, but it's been almost eight years since I posted a song by actress Hideko Hara(原日出子)titled "Yakusoku"(約束)from 1981. As I mentioned in that article, I'd thought that we would be getting a City Pop tune from the first few bars, but it actually turned into a regular pop tune...not that I have anything against it for that reason.

"Yakusoku" was Hara's 2nd single of her brief music career. The follow-up and her final single was "Aoi Rhapsody" (Blue Rhapsody), and this time, the needle pulled further away from regular pop into City Pop. As was the case with that 2nd single, Takashi Matsumoto(松本隆)was the lyricist and Kyohei Tsutsumi(筒美京平)was the composer but the arranger this time was Kazuo Otani(大谷和夫). The result was something breezier and more summery.

As well, the chorus is given more oomph thanks to Yasuhiro Suzuki's(鈴木康博)participation in the backup vocals. It's almost eerie how Suzuki's tones just about bring his entire band of Off-Course(オフコース)into the proceedings. The vocal blasts by the man are a bit jarring, though.

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