Pizzicato Five feat. Hisashi Kato -- Nagame no Ii Heya（眺めのいい部屋）

 

This is the view that I had from my room in the R&B Hotel in Otsuka, Tokyo back in 2017. Nope, I wouldn't call it panoramic either but it was still glorious from my point of view because I was back in my old stomping grounds once more. Nice cool draft wafted in, too.😙

It's Wednesday...Hump Day once more...the peak of the week's doldrums so why not bring in something to bring up happiness levels a little. I offer "Nagame no Ii Heya" (A Room with a View) which comes from Pizzicato Five's November 1999 12th album "Pizzicato Five".

The album has been categorized on J-Wiki as a mere pop and rock album and perhaps P5 at this point had been fading away from its Shibuya-kei heyday, but "Nagame no Ii Heya" still sounds like the cool Japanese genre of the 1990s was still coursing through its veins. From the groovy rhythms to the over-the-top horns to the DeVol arpeggios to the vocals of the Divine Ms. Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴）, I manage to get that feeling of yesteryear. Written and composed by Yasuharu Konishi（小西康陽）, Nomiya is joined by the leader of the rock band The Collectors, Hisashi Kato（加藤ひさし）, in this fun tete-a-tete. I've mentioned the band once before almost a couple of years ago when I wrote about their "Christmas Song".