Mariya Takeuchi -- Miss M

My last Mariya Takeuchi (竹内まりや）entry was on "Morning Glory",  one of the tracks of her 1980 album, "Miss M". To recap from that entry, Mariya's 4th album was a trilateral effort involving Canada's David Foster and members of the band TOTO who helped the 25-year-old singer craft one of the more consummately City Pop/AOR albums made for Japanese audiences.

Well, I'm gonna cover a couple of more songs from that album which peaked at No. 14 on Oricon.

There's more of a departure on this album from the Connie Francis style of song that Mariya had been singing. Track 1 proves this in a big way. "Sweetest Music" was written by David Lasley and composed by Peter Allen, and it sounds like a bit of disco, a bit of Doobie....and all Mariya (awwwwwwwww). It, along with the next two songs covered, are all in English which she can use quite well. There was another video on YouTube which has Mariya actually performing the tune in silver garb with a trio of backup behind her...can't be missed for the cute (and kitsch) factor. On the original recording, the band Chicago's Bill Champlin is one of the backup vocals. The video at the very top is a cover by The Masochinstic Mika Band.

The other track from "Miss M" I wanted to present is the soulful "Every Night" which was composed by Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎） and written by Alan O'Day, who also wrote the lyrics to a wonderful Yamashita ballad, "Your Eyes". It's always nice to hear the old-school AOR.

Mariya auditioning for "Doctor Who"?