NUTS -- Heart Beat Express

 

It's quite the lovely day outside if a wee cold out there. Hopefully, all of you are enjoying your weekend.

NUTS is a 1990s pop duo that I had last posted about back in 2019 so it's time to give them their due once more. Plus, it is brilliantly sunny in my neck of the woods so something just as light and happy is appropriate. Just to remind folks, the duo consisted of vocalist Tomomi Saito（斎藤友美）and keyboardist Akihiko Hirama（平間あきひこ）. What I hadn't realized was that Hirama was once part of the funk group JADOES.

So far, this is the earliest that I've gone in NUTS' discography. Their 4th single from February 1995 is "Heart Beat Express" which is quite the bouncy number. It almost achieves 1990s City Pop status but in the end, I went with regular pop in Labels. There's no mention of whether it was it was tied up with any particular commercial but I think it should have since it does sound so welcoming for a product or service such as Japan Railways. Being a 90s song, it does have that clear and crisp brassy synth work; sounds like I described a brand of beer. The single was also included in NUTS' debut album "Ticket to Happiness" which was released about a month following the single.