Nagisa no All-Stars -- Moonlight Rhapsody

Perhaps the weather for Tokyo and Toronto is tied at the hip this year. We've finally been getting drenched with some necessary rain although in all likelihood we may still be a bit short in the precipitation department. Meanwhile, the Pacific side of Japan is enduring the arrival of Typhoon Chanthu although I think a lot of the Kanto is in even more dire need of rain than we are.

Well, whichever area you may be in, may some sunlight enter your window. I can help out a bit with this mellow ballad by the Nagisa no All-Stars（渚のオールスターズ）, "Moonlight Rhapsody". Up to now, all that I've heard from this supergroup consisting of TUBE and their songwriters have been very uptempo running-along-the-shoreline stuff, so it was a pleasant surprise to hear something this relaxing by Nobuteru Maeda and Yuiko Tsubokura（前田亘輝＆坪倉唯子）. Maeda wrote the lyrics and his fellow bandmate from TUBE, Michiya Haruhata（春畑道哉）composed this melody which starts things off as if I were going to hear a straight City Pop ballad. However, Maeda and Tsubokura and the arrangement by the All Stars keep it all hanging in that Venn diagram shared zone among City Pop, J-AOR and pop. Anyways, I have that craving to drink something sweet and mellow on hearing this one.

"Moonlight Rhapsody" is the suitable final track on the Nagisa no All-Stars' 3rd and final album to date, "Nagisa no Cassette, Vol. 3" which was released in July 1989. It managed to rise to No. 14 on the Oricon charts.