Yasuhiro Abe -- We Got It!

I think the video above fits Yasuhiro Abe's（安部恭弘） debut song, "We Got It!" to a proverbial "T" since I can only envision Abe flying about in a really sleek car on the highway as he is singing this. Mind you, I don't think one can actually take so many thrill-seeking liberties on the Kan-Etsu Expressway in Tokyo, but the sentiment is there.

"We Got It!" was released in November 1982, and Abe and Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）were behind the creation of this song. He's been mentioned alongside fellow musician Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一） and a few others as members of the City Pop fraternity, and with Inagaki, Akira Inoue（井上鑑）and Yudai Suzuki（鈴木雄大）as the New Wave Four. I've yet to hear any songs by the latter two singers, and Inagaki has a mellow crooning approach to his songs. But in the relatively brief time I've gotten to know Abe and his discography, he's got a bit more of a dynamism in his music, thanks to that wailing electric guitar and a pounding keyboard. You might say if Inagaki is resting comfortably on the hood of his car overlooking the expressway, Abe is down on that highway at full throttle.

And yet, although that driving beat is there in a lot of his songs, his voice is still quite gentle on the ears. It might not quite soar like the vocals of Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）, but it seems to always propel itself forward or even playfully amble along such as in my favourite song of his, "Irene". Abe may not have ever hit the big heights on Oricon, but his music is still my kind of music.

Yasuhiro Abe -- BEST