Ruiko Kurahashi -- THE BEST IN MY LIFE

Some years ago, I had put up an article on an album by one of my favourite singers, Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）"Main Course" (1986). Unfortunately, most of the videos for the songs covered in the article have been taken down one by one until only one has remained. So I had to put the article in mothballs, but I can still talk about the one that still lives on YouTube.

That track is "THE BEST IN MY LIFE" which in terms of content and title is about as close as any Japanese singer has probably come to a Whitney Houston power ballad without it actually being a Whitney Houston power ballad. Written by Yumi Yoshimoto（吉元由美）, who would help out Anri（杏里）later on with a lot of her R&B/pop material in the late 80s and into the 90s, and composed by Katsuo Ono（大野克夫）, who created the melodies for Kenji Sawada's（沢田研二）hits "Katte ni Shiyagare" and "Casablanca Dandy", plus an early Kurahashi song "Uwasa Still Love You", "THE BEST IN MY LIFE" can be the song to provide the finish for a concert. One darkened stage, one spotlight on the singer...that's all that's needed for this ballad. And right at the end, she can walk off the stage to rousing applause. Heck, in a certain mood, a box of tissue might be mandatory. I think it was certainly needed for Kurahashi above who got a bit verklempt.