Shiori Sasaki -- Simple Love（シンプルラブ）

 

Continuing on from Akiko Matsumoto's（松本明子）cover version of "Tasogare My Love", I would like to also feature yet another loving tribute to the works of Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）. "Tasogare My Love" in its original form may have been more of a straight pop or kayo kyoku, but this next one is most definitely in the good-time City Pop mode.

In early 2023, music journalist Toshikazu Kanazawa（金澤寿和）launched the direction of an album compilation of City Pop covers called "City Pop Avenue ~ Paper Moon Project" featuring female singers who have taken the baton for the urban contemporary in recent decades. I'm pretty confident that the name of "Paper Moon" was taken from Ohashi's 1976 album of the same title and it's one of her covers that starts the album off.

"Simple Love" was Ohashi's 5th single from 1977 that seemed to highlight all that was cool and good about the night life in Tokyo. The disco times are back again (including the wacka-wacka guitar) for the cover version by Shiori Sasaki（佐々木詩織）, who has been on KKP before as a featured performer with the urban contemporary duo of Blue Peppers, and she sounds as smooth as butter. The arrangement isn't quite as brassy as that for the original but it does reflect how the urban sounds sound these days. Ohashi's husband, Ken Sato（佐藤健）, took care of the melody while Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）was behind the lyrics.

As well, back in 2022, I posted my own favourites by Ohashi so you can have a gander at those, too.