Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- Time The Motion

Back in July 2012 when I put up my article on Kahoru Kohiruimaki's（小比類巻かほる） dynamite "Dreamer", I rather lamented the fact that I couldn't find any other of that song's companion tunes from her 6th studio album, "Time The Motion", released in November 1989. Well, there have been some developments since that time and I now have been able to hunt down some of the other tracks. Of course, I've put up "Dreamer" once more above from one of Kohhy's concerts.

I mentioned in the other article that "Time The Motion" was that transitional album in Kohiruimaki's career. Some of the tracks hearkened back to her early brassy pop/rock of the mid-late 80s while others started looking forward into the R&B she would explore from the 90s onwards. Track 3 is "Ii Ko wo Daite Nemuri na yo" （いい子を抱いて眠りなよ....Get That Girl） which is more in that old pop/rock vein. It's a fun bopping-along song which talks about keeping the good times rolling while performing those sets and then partying as if it were 1999 (the reason I used those last 6 words will become evident later for those 80s music fans). No matter which phase of her career it is, Kohhy has always loved having those horns provide that extra oomph. The live version of the song was actually released as her 13th single in February 1990. The singer wrote the lyrics while Yoshiaki Ohuchi （大内義昭）came up with the melody. 

The middle of the album goes into some rather unknown territory with tracks like "Mind Bells" and "Bliss" which were created by The Artist Formerly Known As The Artist Formerly Known As Prince and Levi Seacer, Jr, with Kohiruimaki providing the Japanese lyrics. I'm sure getting some of the album produced at Prince's Paisley Park Studios must have been a royal thrill for the singer. The above is "Mind Bells" which is a slice of Princely funk....a little esoteric for my tastes but interesting to hear nonetheless.

The final track I'll show for tonight is "Riverside Park" which is the 2nd-last track on "Time The Motion", and seems to act as musical denouement for the album. It doesn't really spark like some of the other big tracks and it's a bit of a breezy little tune which was once again made up by the singer and Ohuchi. The video above for the song was included in the VHS tape of the "Dreamer" video, and as you can see, "Riverside Park" was used as the background tune for the production of "Dreamer", and to show Kohhy enjoy that drive through Los Angeles via a BMW. Yes, imagine the possibilities....

I'm glad that I could finally concoct up an article for "Time The Motion", although there are some songs I would have liked to have featured such as Tracks 7 to 9: "Everything's All Right", "Asphalt no Kaeri Michi"（アスファルトの帰り道...The Asphalt Way Home） and especially the cool title track itself (with a Prince-like riff at the beginning) since all of them pack their own individual wallops. But perhaps someday, one of them will get up there.

June 6th 2022: All of them are up there now!