Miki Imai -- Shizuka ni Kita Solitude （静かにきたソリチュード）

(instrumental version)

Wow! Haven't heard this one in quite a while. Miki Imai's（今井美樹）"Shizuka ni Kita Solitude" (The Solitude That Came Quietly) was not only her 3rd single from March 1988 but it was also on her 3rd original album, "Bewith" which was the second album that I had ever bought by her after getting her 1989 "Ivory".

There's nothing like a pre-1990s Imai song to bring in the nostalgia since I've tied in a lot of her songs back then with my time in Gunma Prefecture. Written by Masami Tozawa（戸沢暢美）and composed by Hideya Nakazaki（中崎英也）, "Shizuka ni Kita Solitude" has that adult contemporary laid back beat with the soft Imai vocals that had me falling in love with her material in the first place. The lyrics may be sad as the singer pines for that lost love but the melody itself is so comfortable.

The song did pretty modestly, reaching No. 25 on Oricon but it won Nakazaki a Japan Best Composition Award at the TBS Tokyo Music Festival in 1988. As with many a Miki Imai song during the late 80s, "Shizuka" is great to sip a coffee to in some cafe...which is how I got introduced to Imai in the first place.