Tsukasa Ito -- Namida no Crescendo（涙のクレッシェンド）

 

A few weeks ago, I read a tweet from one of my Twitter buddies stating that Tsukasa Ito's（伊藤つかさ）"Namida no Crescendo" (Crescendo of Tears) was the only saving grace from her April 1984 5th album "Crescendo" and that her following album "Osusume!"（オススメ！）that came out in December of that year had no redeeming features whatsoever. Granted, even for a young lady in aidoru mode, Ito's voice was never heard as being all that strong and there's perhaps a big reason that she's only been described as an actress in her J-Wiki file (despite the presence of a discography there). However, her "Kanashimi wo Uketomete"（悲しみをうけとめて）from the latter album isn't all that bereft of intrigue, especially with that combination of synthesizers and a Maynard Ferguson-loving trumpet, but yeah, I am reminded of her vocals which had my face contorting a bit at times.

It just goes to show though that the aidoru of the 1980s had a lot of good support from the songwriters and arrangers surrounding them. But anyways, let's go to "Namida no Crescendo", which was also her 6th single from February 1984. Written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）, composed by Kazuhiko Matsuo（松尾一彦）and arranged by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）, the song is going into that more languid ballad-y (approaching AOR) style that was one part and parcel of the aidoru experience back in that decade. I also have to say that the backup singers in the main chorus were also quite heavenly for the hell being suffered by that lass in the song who has found out, gosh darn it, romantic relationships often don't take. Bitterness hasn't tasted so sweet.