Credits

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Eri Hiramatsu & Kaname Nemoto -- Kaerimichi de Ciao (帰り道でチャオ)

(excerpt only)

I think this song is one of the reasons that I just don't want to merely get a BEST hits album by a singer. Going into an original album, I have been able to find tracks that never got released as singles but are just fun examples of ear candy.

Getting interested in Eri Hiramatsu(平松愛理), I bought her 6th album from December 1993, "Hito Yo Hito Yo Yume ni Migoro"(一夜一代夢に見頃....The Best Time To See A Dream In One Night In One Lifetime) one day. Among the highlights (all of the songs were written and composed by Hiramatsu) was a great Latin Jazz Xmas song, "Holy! Hot Christmas" and this duet number by her and Stardust Revue's lead vocalist, Kaname Nemoto(根本要) (yep, I was inspired by nikala's article on one of the band's songs).


"Kaerimichi de Ciao" (Ciao On The Way Home) sounds like that light uptempo Carpenters song that never got to see the day of light. Mind you, neither Hiramatsu nor Nemoto sound like Karen, but that boppy keyboard intro and the chorus by the duo had me thinking a bit. In any case, "Kaerimichi de Ciao" doesn't revolutionize J-Pop by any means, but it's just a happy little duet about a man and woman goofily in love without any major hangups. To me, that "ciao" on the way home just means "See you tomorrow, same bat time, same bat place, same bat channel".....yes, that was my Adam West Batman reference of the year. Those two will be together forever, come hell or high water. The rom-com-like melodic arrangements pretty much cement the overall theme, and I'm sure there have been a few real couples out there in Japan who have tackled the tune in karaoke boxes over the years.

As the vocal for Stardust Revue, I've heard Nemoto give those great heartfelt performances of some pretty epic ballads, so it was nice to hear him to give his part to a cute little love song.

"Hito Yo Hito Yo ni Yume Migoro" got as high as No. 2 on Oricon.


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