Commenter and then KKP contributor nikala was most likely the first one to relate the music of Chu Kosaka's（小坂忠）great 1975 album "Horo" (ほうろう) with the Philly soul of "Shirakechimauze" (しらけちまうぜ). Listening to that one, I definitely got the feeling that outside of the usual enka and kayo kyoku singers who got their fame on television back in the day, there were artists such as Kosaka pushing the boundaries of truly New Music. In a few months, it'll be two years since Kosaka left this mortal coil at the age of 73.
Right after "Shirakechimauze" which starts off the B-side of the original 1975 LP comes this laidback tune "Ryuusei Toshi". If that title sounds familiar to you, then you must have read last Friday's article on "Ryuusei Toshi" by Original Love and then covered by Junk Fujiyama（ジャンクフジヤマ）. Indeed, it is the same title but a wholly different song as it is written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed/arranged by Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）.
To further distinguish Kosaka's song from the Original Love song, I'm actually going to go with the translation that YouTuber Purplesound had provided for "Ryuusei Toshi", and that is "Meteor City" rather than the more romantic-sounding "City of Shooting Stars" I gave for last week's tune. But then again, Kosaka's "Ryuusei Toshi" is in itself a romantic song about a couple languidly enjoying their time in bed while the titular meteors are flying through the sky and burning up. Hosono's arrangement includes some wonderful guitar playing by Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）and keyboard work by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）and Akiko Suzuki（鈴木晶子）...who's better known now as Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）. By the way, Matsumoto even includes some references to author H.G. Wells and fictional character Captain Nemo.
As well, Kosaka's "Ryuusei Toshi" will be showing up on Yutaka Kimura Speaks next week.
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