TUBE -- The Season In The Sun

Back in April 2012, when "Kayo Kyoku Plus" was but a wee 2 months old, I wrote about one of my favourite songs from the 1980s by a band that has rivaled other groups like Omega Tribe and Southern All Stars for the summer music beat. Of course, that would be TUBE. As soon as I heard "Season In The Sun", visions of white sand, coral reefs and blue water rushed into my head like a wave. I first heard the group's first big hit on a compilation tape and then I came across the subject of the above photo one day when I did one of my usual shopping runs at Wah Yueh.

Sure enough, the cover had everything I dreamed of when I heard "Season In The Sun", so I plunked down the cash and bought TUBE's 3rd LP from June 1986 (great release date). But the album title was "The Season In The Sun"...you might say it was the definite article (sorry, that was an inside "Doctor Who" joke). The J-Wiki article never mentioned the reason behind the adding of the "THE", but it never entered my mind back then and I won't let it bother me now. Moving on...

As with a number of articles I have done for other albums, there were no videos for most of the tracks on YouTube, except of course, "Season In The Sun". So I'm putting up the video here as well since it is just a great song and also to herald the return of plus-degree weather to my fair city. Just seeing the young Nobuteru Maeda in his T-shirt and semi-pompadour managed to de-age me by a few years. I have to also thank singer-songwriters Tomoko Aran（亜蘭知子）and Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）for creating this one.

Ah, before I forget, I should actually make the roll call on TUBE's behalf:

Nobuteru Maeda（前田亘輝）: lead vocal and guitar
Michiya Haruhata（春畑道哉）: guitar, keyboards and background vocal
Hideyuki Kakuno（角野秀行）: bass and background vocal
Ryoji Matsumoto（松本玲二）: drums and background vocal

http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%82%B7%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BA%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B6%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B5%E3%83%B3-TUBE/dp/B0000A12DK
(excerpts from the album only)

It was nice to put the LP on the platter again for the first time in at least 20 years. Track 1 is "Weekend - NATU - Tsushin"（通信...Communication） which was written and composed by the lead singer himself. It's all about hitting the beach and having as much fun as possible. As I mentioned, "The Season In The Sun" is TUBE's 3rd album, but it was interesting listening to this first song since Maeda's voice sounds a bit like those male vocalists for anime themes back in that decade. I thought he was going to yell out, "YOU THE SHOCK!"

The track that follows "Season In The Sun" is "Ano Ko ni Q-Josho"（あの娘に急上昇...That Girl Really Turns Me On）, a bit of a humorous-sounding tune that has a Benny Hill saxophone and a 50s-style beat as Maeda sings about getting a date with that girl walking on the beach by any means possible. Speaking of Benny Hill, I could imagine if there were a music video, it would have Maeda and band running after that poor lass and causing all sorts of mayhem just like on the British comedian's show. Kyoko Hoshino（星野今日子）was behind the lyrics and Daiko Nagato（長戸大幸）took care of the music (Nagato was also the producer for the album).

"Right On!" seems to have Maeda in Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）mode with the vocal gymnastics (still can't decipher what he blurted about at the beginning)  he plies here. The theme is similar to "Ano Ko ni Q-Josho" except that the singer is much hungrier and more aggressive about his target. And the rest of the band is more than ready to follow his lead. It may start innocently enough but then the guitar just starts wailing away and then the music goes into warp drive. Nagato once again composed here while Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）provided lyrics.

https://music.apple.com/jp/album/the-season-in-the-sun/1535481258

(excerpt only)

Probably next to "Season In The Sun", "Have A Nice Trip" is my favourite song on the album. Hiroaki Sei's（瀬井広明）music takes things to the music of Anri（杏里）and Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）of 1980s Resort Pop. The beat is mellower and that saxophone was the biggest thing that had me thinking of Yamashita back then. And Shinji Moriyama's（森山進治） lyrics bring up a positive feeling about a breakup for a change. Perhaps the couple may have only wanted a summer fling...some good times on the shore and then head off back to their respective worlds once the fall comes in.

"The Season In The Sun" was TUBE's first Top 10 album, getting as high as No. 3 on the weeklies and ending 1986 as the 12th-ranked album. Selling 600,000 albums meant that TUBE finally broke through. As I mentioned in the article for "Season In The Sun", Maeda was thinking that this would be their final stab at stardom before packing up and going home. I don't think they have looked back since then.