Koji Tamaki -- Roman （ロマン）

When Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）sings a ballad, he has the potential to squeeze tears out of a slab of granite. Case in point, the beginning from his 1993 2nd album, "Akogare"（あこがれ...Yearning）. The titular introductory track, composed by Tamaki, is a throat lump-inducing elegiac instrumental. Then, he starts giving voice on the 2nd track, "Roman"(Romance), a song that was also made by Tamaki and given words by Akira Sudo（須藤晃）. His tender vocals provide a really sentimental tribute to the power of romance and love, and the piano and lush strings figuratively carry a huge heart on their proverbial sleeve. Although I never got into the Korean dramas that became big hits in Japan from the mid-2000s or so, I just think that "Roman" would've been a perfect song as one of those shows' themes.

I bought Tamaki's first solo album, "All I Do" some years before getting "Akogare". I haven't really listened to that debut album all that much lately, but I remember it as Tamaki getting down and funky (although the ballads are in there as well). However, listening to the first two tracks from "Akogare", the contrast between the two albums couldn't have been greater. It's Tamaki as a sadder if wiser man....not quite as cocksure as in the previous album.

"Akogare" was released in March 1993 and peaked at No. 4 on Oricon.

I'm dedicating this song to an old friend of mine who I first met at around the same time as this album's release. She definitely made an impression on all of us in my university club with her enthusiasm and a mile-wide smile. A few years later, I would be a guest at her wedding which was held at one of the nicest Italian restaurants in Tokyo. A few hours ago, I found out from a mutual friend that she had passed away too soon from pancreatic cancer.