Three things come to mind when I think of Chisato Moritaka（森高千里） in the early part of her career: her cool beauty, the minimalist song titles (The Stress, The Mi-Ha), and the Eurobeat arrangements.
Ahhhh....oh, yes, and one more thing:
HERE!
Legs that come up to
Anyways, "Benkyou no Uta"(The Study Song) is another one of her infectiously catchy tunes delivered in her high-pitched nasal voice. She frenetically exhorts the kids that it's much better to study than not to study....wow, a truly binary message! It does help that if she actually came into the classroom as a teacher, half of the class at least would listen to her every word.
The song was first included on her 1991 Best album, "The Moritaka" (ザ・森高）; she just loves those definite articles. The single went as high as No. 4 on Oricon.
Nowadays, Moritaka is enjoying life as a still-youthful middle-aged wife (to actor Yosuke Eguchi), mother and pitchwoman for everything from detergent to video cameras. No more high legs, though.
Man, that's a great site. Keep up with the great work.
ReplyDeleteI really enjoy Moritaka's early career, specially the Michi/Seishun single, released in 1990. Michi is a song I play almost everyday since I discovered Chisato Moritaka 2 years ago. It's a very beautiful ballad with a sad guitar touch near its end. About Seishun, I can actually feel some youth melancholy behind the melody. I'd like to hear your opinion about both songs sometime. Sorry for my poor english, and greetings from Brazil!
Hi, Bode1967. And thanks for the compliment. My blog is very much a DIY (do-it-yourself) project; nothing slick, just my thoughts and YouTube connections. It's great to hear from someone down in South America. I've had quite a few people view the blog from places like Brazil, Chile, Columbia, etc.
ReplyDeleteActually, that very single you mention...Michi/Seishun was my first purchase of a Moritaka disc of any kind. I decided to get it after watching the music video for "Michi"on late-night Japanese TV. It was just a close-up of her singing the song, but very nice, considering some of her more elaborate videos. "Seishun" is an uptempo piece that I like also for the background strings (not sure if they are real or synthesized).
Tell you what, Bode? It's been a while since I've written about Chisato. I'll write up an article in the next few hours.
Oh, and as for your English, I wouldn't worry about it at all. You're fine....this is coming from an English teacher of 25 years'experience.
Hope to hear from you again.
Thanks for your answer, and i'm looking forward your new Chisato article.
ReplyDeleteI don't own the Michi/Seishun single, but I have both songs in the compilation called "The Best Selection of First Moritaka 1987-1993". But I'd buy the single because I find its cover very charming.
Even being so simple, the "Michi" video is really nice. I love her look around this period. Her beauty was, and still is, quite something.
And "Seishun" is even better when performed live with a band. I'm a bit suspicious because I really enjoy live concerts and TV shows.
I'll keep following your site and I plan to comment in other articles you've written about Akina Nakamori and Wink, because I'm a huge fan of them as well.
Keep on commenting, bode.
DeleteYup, the "Michi"video is really nice. It's different from her other videos...no focus on her legs. I'll see if I can get another Wink entry up there, but I've already got a few Akina articles. Looking forward to your comments.