Tatsuro Yamashita -- Artisan

In June 1991, Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎） released his 10th album, "Artisan". He settled on this title since for the album he wanted to be heard as "an artisan of sound". Yep, a bit pretentious but hey, he IS an artisan....a damn fine one, at that. And boy, does he start the album off with a wallop with "Atom no Ko"(アトムの子...Children of the Atom). There is a relentless storm of a drummer just going nuts throughout the song which almost threatens to overwhelm even Yamashita's voice. Yamashita created the song as a tribute to the late Osamu Tezuka(手塚治虫）, the manga king who created the legendary hero "Astro Boy", known in Japan as Tetsuwan Atomu. Through that brash melody, his message is simple: no matter how old we get, we are all children of the Atom (i.e. Astro), and as such we can live together in harmony and build a better future for ourselves. The video above is a concert version, and all I can say is that the drummer there must have lost 3 kg in sweat after he left the stage. His wife Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや） is one of the backup singers on the original studio version.

(karaoke version)

The second track is "Sayonara Natsu no Hi"（さよなら夏の日...Goodbye Summer Days). Compared to the raucous "Atom no Ko", this song is a gentle evening breeze. Yamashita had written it as a remembrance and a farewell to his childhood days. I've enjoyed it especially near the end when it reaches a crescendo with a switch in keys. As of this writing, we're coming to the end of another summer, so I think playing this tune has quite the poignant heft now.

(karaoke version)

"Turner's Steamroller"....fascinating title for a tune with just as fascinating an origin. Apparently, the ingredients needed for this song to take form was a crying woman, a 19th-century British painter and the band U2. Yamashita was at an Aoyama restaurant/bar called CAY to catch the American soul vocal group The Dramatics when he came across a crying young woman in a corridor as he was heading to the washroom; the image stuck with him. Then later on, in the same place, he saw a painting of Joseph M. W. Turner's "Rain, Steam and Speed" hanging on the wall. He put the images of the painting and the young woman crying together to imagine the everchanging ways of the world and the just-as-everchanging moods between men and women. As for the U2 connection, Yamashita had always wanted to write a song reminiscent of the band's melody...I'm thinking "With or Without You". In any case, the steamroller seemed to be the best sort of vehicle to illustrate what he was imagining about.

The final track for this entry is "Tokyo's A Lonely Town". The arrangement is pure classic Yamashita as he provides his usual Beach Boys-type vocal layering. However, the song was adapted from The Tradewinds' "New York's A Lonely Town" back in the 60s. It's a fun tune to listen to as Yamashita adapts certain lyrics to make it Tokyo-centric. And yeah, Tokyo can be pretty lonely for a newcomer without much money. Take it from someone who knows. By the way, the above is the original version by The Tradewinds while the video below is Yamashita's version.

"Artisan" is a great album for Yamashita fans, but I think it can also attract a lot of people who have never heard of the veteran musician before. As I said, the supposed reasoning behind the title may have been a bit fey, but the variety of songs in this album does show that Yamashita is a craftsman, and doesn't that mean the same thing as "artisan"? The album peaked at No 1 on the Oricon charts and finished up as the 18th-ranked album of 1991. It also includes the song "Endless Game" which has already been profiled. The first three songs listed here were also released as singles, but "Endless Game" was the one that scored the highest at No. 5 during its run on the charts.