I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Ami Ozaki/Saori Minami -- I've Been Mellow
Ami Ozaki （尾崎亜美） wrote, composed and arranged this song which also has the Japanese title of 『春の予感』or "Spring Premonition". It was never released as a proper single but as a track on her 3rd album, "Stop Motion" released in July 1978. True to its title, it's a mellow ballad...something to listen to on a beach on a lazy afternoon. Along with the previously released "My Pure Lady", it's one of her early classics.
It was also originally created for 70s aidoruSaori Minami （南沙織）as her 25th single (released in January 1978) and as the Spring campaign song for Shiseido Cosmetics. The arrangements for both are quite similar so I'll let you decide who you like better. In any case, the single went as far up as No. 25 on the Oricon weeklies, and was included in Minami's 18th album, "I've Been Mellow" which peaked at No. 39.
I'm a bit late for this one and you're probably already aware of this trivia anyway, but just like "Olivia wo Kikinagara" was dedicated by Ami Ozaki to Olivia Newton-John, "I've Been Mellow" was also referencing Olivia Newton-John's "Have You Never Been Mellow".
Hi J-Canuck,
ReplyDeleteI'm a bit late for this one and you're probably already aware of this trivia anyway, but just like "Olivia wo Kikinagara" was dedicated by Ami Ozaki to Olivia Newton-John, "I've Been Mellow" was also referencing Olivia Newton-John's "Have You Never Been Mellow".
Hello there. Thanks for the information, and actually I hadn't known about that although it makes sense now. Much obliged.
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