Yukari Isshiki -- Ghost Town（ゴースト･タウン）

Had my annual physical today. No big surprises so far in terms of my weight and blood pressure but there's still a blood-and-urine test to get out of the way. Of course, right after that, we all went to McDonalds. Strangely enough, though, I hadn't had a Big Mac meal in several months and never garnered any sort of craving which I think is a good thing. However, my observation was that the Big Mac has somewhat shrunk; it was actually more of a Moderate Mac. Again, that shouldn't be a bad thing for someone my age and physical condition but I'm beginning to think that the Golden Arches may soon end up with a false advertising charge.

Anyways, enough of my dinnertime indulgence. Ten days ago, I wrote an article featuring some interesting websites proffered by a couple of the faithful commenters, one of which showed a huge list of singers and their debut years. So I took a look at 1981. I was entranced by the visage of one such singer by the name of Yukari Isshiki（一色ゆかり）because of those come-hither eyes.

For some reason, the description at that site hinted that Isshiki had initially been marketed as an aidoru. But listening to this track, "Ghost Town", from her sole album "Let's Begin" from June 1981, I think she should have been labeled more as a pop/rock singer. That husky voice of hers had me associating her more with singers such as Ann Lewis（アン・ルイス）and Yuki Katsuragi（葛城ユキ）than Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）and Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）. Shosuke Nagato（長戸秀介）took care of the lyrics while Junichi Kawauchi（河内淳一）composed the song whose guitar solo reminded me somewhat of The Eagles.

Plus, the Aichi Prefecture-born Isshiki, who was born Youri Sugimoto（杉本誘里）in 1962, once she entered high school in Chiba Prefecture, helped create a band by the name of...well, Fuckt...where she served as guitarist and vocalist. Not sure how that name got past the PTA and teachers but then again, perhaps back in the late 1970s and early 1980s, English slang didn't quite permeate Japan as much as it does now. The band covered songs by Prism and Masayoshi Takanaka（高中正義）which I don't think were quite all that punk or hard rock (I'm taking the band name into consideration here), but it's hard to believe that a member of a band with that name would be modeled into a boppy frilly dress-wearing aidoru.

Under the name of Yukari Isshiki, the singer released one single "Gambler"（ギャンブラー）and that one album "Let's Begin" in 1981. She would go back to her real name and release four more singles up to the end of 1987, and one more album "Dynamyte"（ダイナマイト）in 1984. By that point, she was apparently going for a more heavy metal sound. She even went into the anison and seiyuu business as well.