Ami Ozaki -- Taiyo no Hitorigoto（太陽のひとりごと）

 

Seeing that my last article's song had some bossa nova interwoven into its tapestry. why not go for a bigger dose of the Brazilian genre today?

Ami Ozaki's（尾崎亜美）2nd original album, "Mind Drops", from June 1977 has given me an impression that it is one of the major releases within that gelatinous region of New Music and City Pop, so perhaps I should give the entire album its own article someday. However, in the meantime, I'll stick with the first track on "Mind Drops", the calm blue ocean of "Taiyo no Hitorigoto" (Soliloquy of the Sun) which was written and composed by the singer.

The arrangement by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）takes us into cocktail-sipping bossa nova territory although the opening scat of "dabba dabba da..." has me thinking of good ol' kayo kyoku as well. But it isn't Yuming's（ユーミン）husband helping out with the duet here. It's actually Sumio Akutagawa（芥川澄夫）behind the mike. At the time, he was a director at Toshiba EMI and had once been a guitarist for the folk group Toi et Moi（トワ・エ・モワ）earlier in the decade. 

Speaking of "Mind Drops", you can also take a gander at another track from the album, "Hatsukoi no Toori Ame"（初恋の通り雨）.