So it was rather strange when I bought the VHS tape of their 1st compilation of their music videos, "Heart On Wave" and saw the above video of their 4th single, "Namida wo Misenaide" (Don't Show Me Your Tears) from March 1989. It was the single immediately preceding "Samishii Nettaigyo" and the video had the ladies just looking oh-so-genki and bouncy. Quite the contrast from what was to come. And I think I had to adjust the color control settings while the video was playing as well.
"Namida wo Misenaide" was given Japanese lyrics by Neko Oikawa（及川眠子）. And it was another hit for the Wink girls as it hit No. 1 on the Oricon weeklies for 3 straight weeks and became the 10th-ranked song of the year. The above video is one of their performances on TV. I've always wondered what those orchestra members must be thinking when they are just watching the singers performing in front of them to the pre-recorded backing track without any need for their help.
As was the case with some of Wink's earlier material, "Namida wo Misenaide" was actually a cover of a Eurobeat tune. The originating band this time was Moulin Rouge from Slovenia which first started in 1985 and is still active today. Producer and keyboardist Matjaž Kosi was the one behind the music with vocalist Alenka Šmid-Čena singing the lyrics for what was their 3rd single in 1988.
Hi J-Canuck.
ReplyDelete"Namida wo Misenaide" is not among my favorite Wink singles. Yeah, it's a classic, and a catchy one, but I think I heard it too much over the years, which made me kinda sick of it nowadays. Also, even though it's a bubbly eurobeat song, I prefer when the girls acted like porcelain dolls, as was the case in "Ai ga Tomaranai", "Samishii Nettaigyo" and "One Night In Heaven".
The good thing about "Boys Don't Cry" is that it made me a fan of Moulin Rouge. I was even able to buy an original copy of their album last year from ebay. Their other stuff surely is more along my taste than "Boys Don't Cry": pure eurobeat from the late 80s.
Yamaha RX-5 can be heard in this song.
ReplyDeleteHello, YMOfan04. Was the RX-5 pretty much the go-to instrument for a lot of 80s songs?
DeleteI'm pretty sure it was used/heard in late 80s and early 90s dance music. Go listen to some Soviet disco songs from 1987-90 (Laskoviy May, Mirage, etc.), you could hear it alot.
DeleteLate 80s and early 90s, eh? So, before the RX-5, what was the popular drum machine back then? Was it the Linn?
DeleteIn the early 80s, there was Roland TR-808, TR-909, Linn LM1, LinnDrum (aka LM2), etc.
DeleteIn the mid 80s, there was Korg DDD-1, Yamaha RX-11 (released in 1984, two years before RX-5), Emu Drumulator, Roland TR-707, etc.
I've listened to some of them on YouTube. The 909 sounds quite a bit more snare-y than the 808.
DeleteTR-909 is very prominent in house and techno music. It's rarely used in other genres including synthpop.
DeleteI'm also gonna have to check out those Soviet disco songs. When I think "disco", the former USSR doesn't usually come to mind. 😊
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