Masayuki Suzuki/Tatsuro Yamashita -- Oyasumi Rosie （おやすみロージー）

Although Masayuki Suzuki （鈴木雅之）switched to a smooth soul style once he went solo, I think he never left that doo-wop from his Chanels days. Case in point is his handling of the Tatsuro Yamashita-penned（山下達郎） "Oyasumi Rosie" (Good Night, Rosie) which bookends his 2nd album, "Radio Days" from April 1988. Martin wrings out that lovelorn emotion as he pays tribute to good ol' Rosie, the lady who has flown the coop. It has that old-fashioned feeling of taking one's good time in delivering a tender-hearted ballad but still sounds pretty fresh at the same time as Yamashita backs him up on the vocals as well.

If I'm not mistaken, I think I also heard "Rosie" via a viewing of an Xmas-themed movie in the late 80s starring Yuki Saito and Kuniko Yamada. The movie also had Yamashita's "Christmas Eve" at the end, too.

(cover version)

Yamashita did his own near-acapella cover of "Rosie" which came out as his 20th single in September 1989 and also as a track on his album, "Joy -- Tatsuro Yamashita Live". The sub-title for the song is "Angel Baby e no Homage"（Angel Baby へのオマージュ...An Homage to Angel Baby）which brings up the story as to how the song came to be. Yamashita came up with the whole title from the 1960's doo-wop song "Angel Baby" by Rosie & The Originals. Rosie Hamlin recorded it when she was just 15 years old, and the song went all the way to No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100. "Angel Baby" also happened to be one of John Lennon's favourite tunes, and the late Beatle even recorded his own version of it in 1973. As for Yamashita's single, it peaked at No. 22.

As for another Tats & Martin collaboration, there is the cool and sultry "Misty Mauve" which was also included on "Radio Days".