Junko Ohashi and Minowa Central Station -- Sentimental Lady (センチメンタル レディー)

A nice little slice of nostalgic downtown contemporary from the 1970s, it's been a long time since I've welcomed Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）and her band Minowa Central Station（美乃家セントラル・ステイション）to these pages through this song.

"Sentimental Lady" was released as the B-side to her 9th single "Starlight Train"（スターライト・トレイン）in April 1978. It's been quite a while since I've heard the full-throated vocals of Ohashi and on a nice summer day like this, it's nice to hear some of the old stuff. How old, you may ask? Well, when Takashi Matsumoto's（松本隆）lyrics include the words "transistor radio", I had to go gulp. I actually lived in those days...pre-Walkman. There is also something to be said about the slow disco beat by Ohashi's husband, Ken Sato（佐藤健）. This isn't quite boogeying music under the disco ball at Lexington Queen on a Saturday night; it's more of the lounging stuff while nursing a cocktail in the late afternoon just before the party night begins.

"Sentimental Lady" was placed as a track on her first BEST compilation, "Special Blend Album"（スペシャル・ブレンド・アルバム）which also came out in the same month as the single. Heck, even the album sounds like a fine old whisky.