Masataka Matsutoya/Yumi Matsutoya -- Hong Kong Night Sight

www.billboard-japan.com

I wrote about the first article on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" to be devoted to music producer Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）as a singer last year in March through his song "Kiri no Orita Asa"（霜の降りた朝）. It was a track on his lone solo album "Yoru no Tabibito"（夜の旅人...Night Travelers [although the official English title is Endless Flight]）from 1977, and I said that I would try to get my own copy of this special release, but it hasn't come to pass...yet.

Another track from the album is "Hong Kong Night Sight" which he wrote and composed. As I mentioned in the "Kiri no Orita Asa" article, probably the only reason that he released "Yoru no Tabibito" was that he had to fulfill an obligation on his contract with record label Panam.

Nope, singing wasn't quite his forte here but somehow it seems to work for me when it comes to "Hong Kong Night Sight" since it sounds like some callow young man making his first trip to Asia and adventure. The arrangement is also quite nice as it seems to include a hint of his old buddy Haruomi Hosono's（細野晴臣）Tin Pan Alley（ティン・パン・アレー）exotica sound. Nice inclusion of that in-flight announcement as well. You just kinda feel that you're on that plane for distant metropolises, that unofficial symbol of City Pop. Hosono, by the way, also participated in the album's recording as one of the two bassists.

A few years later, Matsutoya's wife, Yumi（松任谷由実）, provided her own cover of "Hong Kong Night Sight" in her 1981 album "Mizu no Naka no ASIA e"（水の中のASIAへ...To Asia in the Water） with a slightly more rousing arrangement but still within that City Pop sphere. Plus, Yuming（ユーミン）, I have to admit, has a more self-assured delivery than her husband. But again, Mr. Matsutoya had to fulfill that contract. Still, I like both versions with their slightly different styles.