Well, although I've known about Yukiko Okada（岡田有希子）all these years, I never actually bought an album or a single by her. And the fact is that I've heard some of her songs through "Sounds of Japan" and the pertinent articles on this blog, and quite enjoyed them. So I figured it was time to get her represented on my shelves. I ended up buying a BEST CD of sorts titled "Yukiko Okada - All Songs Request" which came out in the early 2000s.
The first track was "Sayonara Natsu Yasumi" (Goodbye, Summer Holidays) that was written and composed by Mariya Takeuchi (竹内まりや...who was also on backing vocals). It was not a single but was on her debut album, "Cinderella" from September 1984. I've heard it twice so far and behind all of the aidoru sunniness (that began with what seemed to sound like City Pop chords), I was struck by how well she could sing even as a new face. Not to say that she had the resonance of Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）, but there was a certain assuredness to go with that especially girlish delivery that was perhaps quite refreshing back in that decade. It also unfortunately makes her untimely passing all the sadder.
Takeuchi created a number of songs for Okada during her short career along with my favourite song by her, "Dreaming Girl". Still a lot of her material to explore.
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