RAMU - Shonen wa Tenshi wo Korosu「少年は天使を殺す 」

80s JPop group ラ・ムー (RAMU alternatively spelled La Mu) was one of those eccentric, mixed-up bands that had an almost schizophrenic identity. While band leader and keyboardist 松浦義和/Matsuura Yoshikazu (occasional member of the Japanese fusion band プリズム) and drummer 中西望/Nakanishi Nozomu seemed to want the steer the group towards a more "rock band" sound along the lines of perhaps サディスティック・ミカ・バンド or 安全地帯, the band's songs seemed to be more along the line of R&B and Funk in thanks in large part to the powerful background vocals of American backup vocalists ロザリン・キール/Rosaiyu Renee Keel and and ダレル・ホールデン/Darelle Foster Holden. With the inclusion of guest vocalist, 80s Pop Idol 菊池桃子/Kikuchi Momoko, whose bubbly and ethereal vocals seemed in stark contrast to Keel and Holden's strong R&B chorus, ラ・ムー sure made for a very confusing group sound indeed. Over at his blog J-Pop Oya-Ji suggests that ラ・ムー was formed in response 本田美奈子's "MINAKO with WILD CATS” group but I'm not so sure about that as the latter group seemed more along the lines of SHOW-YA or プリンセス・プリンセス.

ラ・ ムー only released one full album with 1988's 「THANKS GIVING」 which featured their singles 「TOKYO野蛮人」 , 「青山Killer物語」, 「愛は心の仕事です」 and their only hit 「少年は天使を殺す」 which charted at No. 4 on the オリコン charts for that same year. Needless to say, they couldn't really find an audience. Whether it was because of the odd pairing of モモコ's idol pop singing style with Matsuura and Nakanishi's fusion of progressive rock/R&B/Funk sound or the fact that they just didn't have the backing of a major publishing label, they quickly faded into obscurity within a year and a half.  For モモコ (who had mixed feelings in the beginning about collaborating with Matsuura and Nakanishi) this was a blessing in disguise as she had  wanted to move away from singing to pursue her acting and CM work.

I personally love ラ・ムー and thought that their songs were quite upbeat and unique albeit their song titles were a bit morbid and dire sounding. While モモコ was brought on for her 'star power', the real great finds  I thought were Keel and Holden whose vocals were very memorable. While neither spoke a word of  Japanese, luckily most of their song chorus was in English for the most part.

After they disbanded, most of the members went their separate ways. I couldn't really find any more information on the whereabouts of Matsuura, Nakanishi and Keel and where they went. Holden returned to the U.S. where she continued to sing and now headlines a show in Las Vegas as a jazz performer.  The name  ラ・ムー is now more identified with the メガディスカウントスーパー"LA MU" in 大阪/Osaka.

 Couldn't find a live performance of 「少年は天使を殺す」 unfortunately so here instead is a performance of 「青山Killer物語」.  (Actually, I found a recording of the latter.)

RAMU - (L-R - Top Row - Matsuura, Nakanishi; L-R - Front Row - Holden, Momoko and Keel.