Hiromi Go -- How Many Ii Kao? (How Many いい顔）

That cover for the single shown at the very bottom can write its own jokes. I think we all have to intone with each other...."It was the 80s....that was actually considered a cool hairstyle back then..."Kinda wondering if Go-san was probably saying in the photo, "Hey, just how much did I pay that barber?" As a Canadian, I would have yelled at him, "Hey, Gino Vannelli called. He wants his hair back!"

Jokes aside....I first heard this song by Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ） back on "The Sounds of Japan". It came on just after Junko Yagami's（八神純子） speedy "Purpletown"(already profiled), so hearing them back-to-back, I was pretty much ready for a nap. "How Many Ii Kao?"(How Many Nice Faces?) was Go's telling of a 20-year-old prostitute on the mean streets of Tokyo (I assume) as she goes over plans of her regular night and deciding which face should she put on for the tricks. The high-speed wailing electric guitar helps tell the story.

The lyrics were provided by Yoko Aki（阿木耀子）, who along with her husband, Ryudo Uzaki（宇崎竜童）, wrote many of Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵） later hits. Kazuya Amikura（綱倉一也） was the composer. Released in July 1980, it managed to reach the 8th spot on Oricon and ended up as the 46th-ranked song of the year.

From Joysound

The Aoyama district in Tokyo.
Nope, not exactly a mean street but it's
got that urban feature, and Go was walking through
here one time for a variety show.