Miki Imai -- Tasogare no Monologue （黄昏のモノローグ）

I decided to go way back this time for a Miki Imai （今井美樹）song. In fact, I'm heading back to her debut single, "Tasogare no Monologue" (Monologue in a Twilight ). Released in May 1986, I remember the tune as one of the tracks on her first album, "Femme", although I didn't know at the time I bought the CD that it had been her first song. It was written by Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）and composed by Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロ）, and was the theme song for an NTV drama titled "Tsumatachi no Shotaiken"（妻たちの初体験...Wives' First Experience）.

I'm not sure how listeners initially reacted to "Tasogare no Monologue" when it was released by this 23-year-old woman who had been known up to that point as a model and budding actress, but I was pretty charmed by Imai's light and breathy vocals for her launch as a singer. Since it was her first single, the melody was somewhat different from the melodies that I had enjoyed her singing with into the late 80s. There was almost something of an aidoru ballad bent to it but not quite.

Not sure how high the single itself went on Oricon (actually it went up to No. 37), but as for "Femme", it managed to peak at No. 47 as an LP when it was released in December 1986. "Tasogare" actually didn't get onto Imai's first BEST album, "Ivory" in 1989, but it did get onto her 3rd compilation of hits "Imai Miki from 1986" which was released in July 1998.

A very young Miki Imai
from the pages of Myojo.