Taeko Ohnuki -- Iidasenakute （言いだせなくて）

Another track from Taeko Ohnuki's （大貫妙子）fascinating "Mignonne". "Iidasenakute" (Can't Get The Words Out) could've been great as a theme song for some meet-cute romantic comedy done in the late 1970s. It's one of my favourite tracks on the album. It starts off as if Ohnuki had decided to launch her new phase as a technopop artist a few years ahead of schedule, only to suddenly abort liftoff and go straight into a mellow but fun mid-tempo disco tune. Instead of being inspired by the Yellow Magic Orchestra, "Iidasenakute" seems to be channeling the R&B groove of Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）, especially with the "whoo-whoo-whoo-ing" chorus near the fadeout.

I've heard the song a number of times on the album now, and along with some of the other myriad tracks on "Mignonne", I think it illustrates some of the directions that Ohnuki had been trying to explore at the time...to some frustration, according to the liner notes in the re-release. Ohnuki's loss at that time is our gain now. Although I obviously appreciate her decision to go wholeheartedly for the next number of years into the European/technopop stage of her career, listening to "Iidasenakute", I sometimes wonder what other fun disco tunes she could've concocted. But then again, Yoshida and a few other singers were already dabbling in that area, and so Ohnuki probably came to the gradual decision that she needed to try something very different.