Namie Amuro -- a walk in the park

Along with "Chase The Chance", "a walk in the park" would be my other favourite Namie Amuro （安室奈美恵）uptempo song. Once again written and composed by J-Pop impresario Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉） for release in November 1996, I actually first came across the original music video for it via a karaoke capsule of all places. Yep, that's right....a karaoke capsule in a video arcade in Ikebukuro, Tokyo. The miniaturization of venues for singing one's favourite hit songs continued aplomb from full bars to booths to something no bigger than one of those passport photo booths. I decided to check one out while my buddy was trying his luck with the UFO Catcher games, and found Amuro's latest hit.

Of course, the Okinawan singer already had a slew of successful uptempo songs and ballads under her belt, and her magnum opus of "Can You Celebrate" was just around the corner, but "a walk in the park" had that right dance beat for me. It was just fun to listen to, and although its TV tieup was as a commercial song for a Maxell audiotape, I always thought this would have made for a great theme song for some sort of cop show or thriller program. In a way, the progression of the song reminded me of that for a kid's superhero show: the opening verses of some sort of musical uncertainty until the triumphant refrain.

I would have liked to have found the full music video for "a walk in the park", Amuro's 8th single, but I could only get an excerpt via the official commercial for the single itself. In any case, the song was yet another million-seller for Amuro as it peaked at the top spot. It also became the 13th-ranked song for 1997. It was also a track on her album, "Concentration 20" which was released in July 1997.