Akina Nakamori -- CD ' 87

First off, I'd like to wish Ms. Nakamori（中森明菜） a Happy 48th Birthday today. Hopefully, even if she's no longer singing (for the time being), she's enjoying her time with family and friends.

Akina Nakamori -- CD '87

So, on that note, I'd like to present a disc that I just had to have as an Akina fan. Titled rather drably as "CD '87", Akina Nation can thank the birth of an awards show for the creation of this mini-album. The very first Japan Gold Disc Awards was held in early 1987 to commemorate the best in music (1986) on the then-increasingly popular medium of the compact disc, and the awards show's first Artist of the Year (Domestic) was none other than the Tokyo native (Madonna was the International prize winner). In celebration of getting the award, the powers-that-be decided to pack together her 14th-17th singles along with their B-sides into one album, and all for release on May 1 1987 which was the 5th anniversary of her debut single, "Slow Motion". I think the relative rush job might explain the lack of imagination in a title. Ah, well, it was still a must-buy for me, one reason being the front cover of that come-hither profile of Akina. It was adapted from the very sexy (to me, anyways) black-&-white photograph which made for the jacket for "Tango Noir". Couldn't get that record, but I was enamoured enough to get this disc.

Track 1 is "La Boheme", the B-side to the mammoth hit and karaoke standard that was "Desire", her 14th single. A fine, propulsive accompaniment to "Desire" with the synths and electric guitar, it has the spirit of a steed. With lyrics by Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）and melody by Takashi Tsushimi（都志見隆） (who would compose tunes for a number of aidoru such as Naoko Kawai and SMAP), Akina makes an impression with the vocal tropes that she became known for during the latter half of the 80s: her soft velvety voice and that near-operatic vibrato (I wonder what she would've been like as an enka singer?).

This is indeed "Tango Noir", released as Akina's 17th single in February 1987. And the cover for the single was the one that a friend of mine showed me one Saturday night at a university event. Took a good long stare at that picture (and that was as far as it got....honest). As the title says, the melody, also by Tsushimi, had the feel of a particularly intense tango. And Akina seemed to put even more of an affectation in that velvet delivery. The lyrics by the late Kayoko Fuyumori （冬杜花代子）describe through the metaphor of the dance a particularly contentious relationship....quite a difference from the words from her earlier days, although Akina had always been pegged as the rebel in the aidoru troupe. The single hit No. 1 and became the 2nd-ranked single of 1987. And it also won as Best Single of the Year in the 2nd edition of the Gold Disc Awards.

"Abunai Mon Amour"（危ないMon Amour...Dangerous Mon Amour)is the B-side to Akina's 16th single, "Fin". Unlike the mysterious and dramatic feeling behind the A-side, "Abunai Mon Amour" has more of that fun and flirtatious side as Akina is in the car with her guy for a night on the town while she's wondering what kind of appealingly dark side he's trying to hide. Compared to the all of the other tracks on the album, this one has a bit more whimsy in it. The lyrics were by Eiko Kyo（許瑛子） with music by Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロ）.

The second reason I got this CD: this song. I saw Akina performing "Gypsy Queen" on one of the music shows, and the image of what appeared to be a shellshocked Akina singing in a weird dress with a chromakey desert behind her has never left my memory. A lot of drama was packed into her 15th single right from the get-go with that synth arpeggio and then her intro which she starts gently before giving this boom of a note before ending just as softly. And then the song just takes the listener on a nocturnal adventure of intrigue which takes a momentary detour for a great sax solo. Kudos to composer Wataru Kuniyasu（国安わたる）and lyricist Ikki Matsumoto（松本一起）. The song was released in May 1986, and reached No. 1. It ended the year as the 7th-ranked song.

Appropriately, the final track is "Fin". Released in September 1986, the lyrics were again written by Matsumoto, with Ken Sato（佐藤健）as the composer. There is a sense of moodiness in the music which is similar to the atmosphere surrounding "Gypsy Queen". Lyrically, the protagonist is a woman who fully knows that her lover is a girl-crazy cad but I'm not sure whether she's quite willing to kick him to the curb as he deserves. The repeated line of her pretending that her hand is a pistol made me wonder whether she would actually use the real thing. Again, just like with the sax solo in "Gypsy Queen", I really enjoyed the synth solo in this one as well. And like that song, it hit No. 1, although it ended the year a fair bit lower in the rankings at No. 25.

For a couple of years starting in 1986, Akina's work seemed to split into two wings. There was her album work starting with "Fushigi"（不思議...Strange) which seemed to incorporate more esoteric songs although they also enjoyed critical and commercial success via Oricon. But there were also her TV-friendly singles during that time which were never included in those albums but also had their time on the charts. I think for folks who enjoyed that latter wing, "CD '87" makes for an ideal way to catch up.