Senri Oe -- Juunin Toiro (十人十色)

I gotta admit, I have a soft spot for the whimsical and fun-loving kinds of Japanese singer-songwriters like Senri Oe (大江千里), KAN, and Noriyuki Makihara (槇原敬之). Combine catchy singable melodies with quirky personality and you got yourself a recipe for good mood. Of the above-mentioned artists, Senri was the one who debuted first and the one I got to know more recently. One time I just stumbled across some of his album covers on a music blog and became curious about what this geeky-looking singer sounded like. Appropriately enough, J-Wiki provides a chronological history of the types of glasses he wore through the years. Yep. But anyways, Senri probably received more profit writing songs for Misato Watanabe, Hikaru Genji, and Hiroko Yakushimaru, among others, but he did have a handful of his own hits in the 80's and early 90's, including "Juunin Toiro" (十人十色....Different strokes for different folks) profiled here.

Born and raised in Osaka, Senri wanted to become a singer ever since being introduced to Gilbert O'Sullivan in grade four. After entering a number of musical competitions including Yamaha Popular Song Contest, he was eventually scouted by CBS Sony in the early 80's and released his first single Wallaby Megisutete in 1983. In those days, his casual looks and musical attitude earned him the nickname "Male Yuming". I've also heard people refer to him as the Japanese Rick Astley. Probably not the most honorable comparison, but hey, I don't always take my music seriously. At least that's whom Senri resembled until the late-90's, when he decided to shed his former goofy image and become a serious jazz musician.

"Juunin Toiro" was released in November 1984 and became his breakthrough hit, peaking at No.5 on Oricon charts . It was later included on his third studio album Miseinen (未成年). It's a simple yet memorable tune that I'd take with me on a walk in the sunshine. I'd even skip along to it if I weren't so self-conscious about doing silly things in public. It also comes with a fun and silly PV. Whoever directed this certainly was inspired by old detective shows and then sprinkled it with some vanilla icing and cheesy dancing.

And here's the song in the CM for Mikakutou's "Date Kiss" candy product featuring Senri himself. You'll notice that the arrangement here sounds different from the single version. Apparently Tetsuya Komuro (小室哲哉), who was then just starting out with TM Network, was originally assigned to arrange the song, and that's the version featured in the CM. While the recording was still in progress, he was replaced by Nobuyuki Shimizu (清水信之), who re-arranged the song into its definitive version. No hard feelings for Komuro, though, since he and Senri eventually became buddies.

Source: tayune shop