Anri -- Innocent Time

Ahhh....innocent times indeed. No need to worry about things like income tax, pension plans or what-not. Anri（杏里）came out with her 17th single, "Oriental Rose" back in February 1986 as I was going through 2nd year at the University of Toronto, and yep, I didn't have to worry about the above things, except for those irritations known as exams and essays.

In any case, I was more interested in the B-side to that single, "Innocent Time". It didn't become an Oricon hit although I think it was good enough to earn an A-side. Every time I hear Anri singing it, it just reminds me of those wonderfully breezy summery songs that came out by specialists like her, TUBE and Omega Tribe in the 1980s. Composed by Anri herself and written by Kazunori Sonobe（園部和範）, "Innocent Time" is about as sunny and smiling as they come and has about as much to do with work as laying on the beach all day. The melody alone just seems to whisper, "hedonism".

And as the video below will tell you, it can reflect both the best of enjoying the summer and winter. In fact, "Innocent Time" was used as the theme song for this TV Tokyo show called "Ski Now '86" for which the below is the opening credits. My favourite part is that electric guitar solo in the middle as well as that thumping bass throughout the song.