Satoko Shimonari -- Time goes by

Well, aside from yesterday which was sunny and pleasant, this whole week is going to end up being a washout. Toronto Island may even have to be evacuated due to possible flooding from all the rain coming down. I don't think I have heard of such a thing in all my years growing up and living here.

Anyways for those folks residing in a precipitation-filled zone today, perhaps this song might lift spirits to a certain extent. I had actually written an article about little-known singer Satoko Shimonari（下成佐登子）a little over a year ago via her 2nd single "Ame"（雨）which came out in May 1979. I was quite drawn to her performance since she sounded similar to one of my favourite songbirds, Junko Yagami（八神純子）, back then, and finished things up by saying that I would like to hear more of her.

Lo and behold, I encountered this pleasant piece of pop in the last several hours, also done by Shimonari. But this was several years later in her career, circa December 1987 via her 5th album "Keep In Touch". One track, "Time goes by", is one of those songs that had me thinking uptempo contemporary pop by female singers such as Miki Imai（今井美樹）and Kaori Kuno（久野かおり）from the late 1980s into the early 1990s. Fully realizing the years that have passed since her debut, it was still surprising to hear such a refreshing change in the music. I can only hope that the rest of the album is just as sparkling; that is, if I can track a copy down. Yui Masaki（真沙木唯）, who has written for folks like Anri（杏里）and Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）, provided the lyrics here while Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）composed the melody.