Anzen Chitai -- Gin'iro no Pistol （銀色のピストル）

I wrote the article on Anzen Chitai's （安全地帯）multi-record (and CD) album, "V" almost a couple of years ago but didn't include this track, "Gin'iro no Pistol" (Silver Pistol), perhaps because I wanted to dedicate a separate article on it. Mind you, it's a week shy of 2 years so I've been rather tardy, but, hey, at least I'm back on it.

And this is not just one of my favourites from the 1986 album, but one of my favourites by Anzen Chitai, period. It's got some of the band's particular sound from the previous albums plus those great horns that came to inhabit a number of the tracks for "V". Written by Goro Matsui （松井五郎）and composed by Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）, the song deals with a fellow with some major commitment issues that even the titular pistol (thankfully figurative rather than real) cannot resolve.

I've loved the thumping beat that launches things off here along with the horns and then Tamaki's plaintive vocals begging that all this pain of the heart would just go away. It's one cool song that managed to still bring goosebumps after hearing it for the first time in a long while. And although it was never released as an official single, I think it's still a must-hear from the fans at concerts. On a personal note, I heard it a fair bit on my friend's car stereo as we were driving through the streets of Toronto at night after a Kuri run...a great night driving song.

The above video has the band performing at the Budokan in Tokyo in 1987. Not quite sure about that silver number Tamaki was wearing but the music and his vocals were still cool.