It’s
time for another Minako Tanaka (田中美奈子) gem, and this time it’s one of my
personal favorites.
“Last
Graduation” was released as a single in May 1993, and it served as the lead
single for Minako’s last original album, “ROLL ON”, which was released in 1994.
Initially, I wanted to talk about the full album, which is, alongside her debut
album “Kimi no Hitomi ni Utsukushiku” (君の瞳に優しく), the best release of her career. The
problem is: Minako Tanaka’s songs are especially hard to find online, and I
only listened to the majority of her songs after buying used copies of her
albums on ebay.
With
these limitations in mind, my solution was to talk about “Last Graduation”,
even if the version posted on YouTube is not in its entirety (the final part is
very beautiful and the album version is even better).
Way
different from Minako’s Eurobeat roots, “Last Graduation” shows a more mature
sound composed of 70s disco. The arrangement is quite nice with a big focus in
the horns, but also with synth-y strings accompanying in the background (real
strings were not very used in the 90s). In fact, her “ROLL ON” album is very focused
in this type of disco/R&B sound, something that helped it in my personal scale.
I can even hear a bit of Masayuki Suzuki (鈴木雅之) and his nightlife style here.
Like
I said, it’s a pity that YouTube or other sites are not offering the full
version of “Last Graduation”, but we can have a taste of it through the black
and white video with the always gorgeous Minako Tanaka.
Lyrics
and music were composed by the great Kahoru Kohiruimaki (小比類巻かほる), while arrangement was done by Keiichi
Ueno (上野圭市).
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| "ROLL ON" |
Oh-so-KOHHY, Marcos!
ReplyDeleteMinako's vocals aren't quite on par with those of Kohiruimaki but the video, Minako's looks and the musical arrangement just remind me of Kahoru's upbeat songs. And it was quite a new dynamic change for Minako...a lot more urban and fun. Nice to see downtown Tokyo at night again.
Just by coincidence, before I saw your entry here, one of the new NHK "hobby" shows came out on TV Japan; this time, it was for those folks who were interested in learning about tennis. Minako Tanaka was the new celeb student...still looking good at 47!
Minako's late efforts were pretty different from her roots, and in a good way. I think you'd like the "ROLL ON" album very much, J-Canuck. It's very your style. Well, I always think that while listening to it.
DeleteAbout Minako, it's nice to see she still work as a tarento. She continues to act as well, and, like you pointed out, I agree she is looking good. From her contemporaries, I think only Shizuka Kudo didn't age very well, unfortunately.
Yeah, I think if "ROLL ON" is along the Kohhy lines, then it might be worth taking a listen to.
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