Oh, Maekawa...
Among the handful of Cool Five hits that introduced me to this here gentleman in a dapper suit, "Tasogare no Nioi" (The smell of evening) was the first solo effort I had heard from him about a year back. It was hard to ignore the YouTube thumbnail of the song's MV that had presented a still of Kiyoshi Maekawa (前川清) reclining on a sofa with a red rose in hand, so I went ahead to see what exactly I was in for. For the record, I thought he looked kinda goofy in that pose and up to that point in time, I hadn't seen a singer do something like that before.... But I ain't complaining.
Anyway, I loved Mae-Kiyo's attempt at being/looking seductive as much as the blare of the sax throughout this mostly mellow tune, but the added sting of the electric guitar gives the modern Jazz Mood Kayo a kick to it. Quite relaxing and it's lounge-worthy music. A good song to listen to at the bar after an arduous day of work while having a drink too. I usually listen to it on the train ride home, especially when I leave late and the rays of the light orange setting sun shine into the carriage... quite atmospheric and nice when I think about it now, the flesh is mostly too tired and harassed by the peak-hour commute while there and then to realise that though.
"Tasogare no Nioi" was released not too long ago on 20th March 2013. Like some of Maekawa's better known singles, the lyrics and music were done by Toyohisa Araki and Takashi Tsushimi respectively (荒木とよひさ . 都志見隆) . It did fairly alright on the regular charts, peaking at 93rd position.
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| The rose petals remind me of "American Beauty", a movie I'm too lazy to get myself to watch. |
www.teichiku.co.jp
Oh, that sly devil, Kiyoshi! I have to say that he does look good in a suit. "Tasogare no Nioi" makes for a good walking song through the areas of Ginza or Akasaka...the expensive neighbourhoods with all of the bright lights and tons of bars one on top of the other.
ReplyDeleteI've only been to the nicer, touristy part of Ginza, you know, that area with malls galore, so I've yet to see the part with the bars. Frankly, I think I might much prefer walking through Ginza's drinking hole rather than stand around in malls with nothing to do... seems like a lot more fun really. As for Akasaka, it seems like an interesting place, but I somehow I never got the impression that it's an expensive neighborhood with the number of bars there.
ReplyDeleteI've been to a few of them in the Ginza area. One of them was pretty trendy...one of my students drank down a Grasshopper for the first time there, and he had a tough time standing up after that. Another was a fairly grungy hole-in-the-wall under the Yamanote Line tracks. It was pleasant enough although I wasn't brave enough to try the food offered.
DeleteAkasaka has some reasonable izakaya on the 1st floor but as one goes up the floors, the price increases accordingly.