"Ame no Drive" (Drive in the Rain) is a pleasant torch song written and composed by Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや） back in 1980 as one of the tracks from her 4th album, "Miss M" . Her earlier years often had the young singer-songwriter fishing into the Great American Songbook for inspiration such as 50s and 60s novelty pop, so why not jazz? She may not have frightened the spirits of Ella, Billie or Rosemary but I thought she handled herself well enough with that low silky voice of hers.
Although she's no longer all that prolific in her releases (her last original album was back in 2007 according to J-Wiki...however, she just released a new single a few days ago), Mariya still raises a fair bit of attention in the media whenver a new song of hers is on the cusp of coming out, and for me anyways, her earlier hits still manage to evoke a lot of nostalgic enjoyment of the 70s and 80s in that American style.
 |
| Mariya Takeuchi -- Miss M |
This is so relaxing. So much better for relieving stress than alcohol. At least you wake up feeling refreshed (like after a walk in light rain), rather than rolling around with a headache. Then again, my alcohol tolerance is pretty low, even for small amounts. Jazz all the way.
ReplyDeleteI'm still familiarizing myself with Mariya's music, and I know you've done quite a few profiles on her, so I'll be using those as a guide. So far I've been enjoying "Variety" and "Quiet Life". Feel free to recommend anything else of hers.
Ah, so I'm not alone then. That's good. My years in Japan have basically gotten me used to that one medium mug of beer but that's about the extent of it. "Variety" and "Quiet Life" are fine albums. I just listened to "Miss M" again last night and I also heartily recommend it as well. Still cannot believe that half of Toto and David Foster were involved in the making of that album!
ReplyDelete