Alfee -- Love Letter（ラブレター）

It's been almost a couple of years since my last Alfee（アルフィー）entry on the blog, but since I have covered a lot of their 80s hits, I wanted to check out more of their material before finally making it big with songs such as "Marie-Anne"（メリーアン）in 1983.

As I mentioned in the article for that very song all the way back in 2012, Alfee was certainly paying their dues since their debut in 1974 with "Natsu Shigure"（夏しぐれ）since they didn't get any hits throughout the 1970s. So what was happening between their folk beginnings and their pop/rock heyday? Well, apparently, they got dropped by their recording company and ended up doing a lot of backup duties behind other singers.

In fact, it was almost another four years since their 2nd single "Seishun no Kioku"（青春の記憶...Salad Day Memories）was released (I will have to write about that soon), when Alfee came out with their next record "Love Letter" in January 1979. Written and composed by Alfee guitarist Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦）, it was neither folk nor rock but something along the lines of a bossa nova...perhaps even edging into New Music and Mood Kayo...tune.

The song was also Alfee's first tie-up with a company, the stationery manufacturer Showa Note, and although "Love Letter" wasn't a hit, it seems from the YouTube comments for the videos that have shown the song that folks still remember the commercial (unfortunately I couldn't find the ad) that was adorned with the song. Maybe it didn't initially resonate with the folks at large, but it's an interesting discovery for me as a number before the 1980s Alfee.

According to the J-Wiki article for "Love Letter", Alfee played the song as part of their encore at a 1986 concert (which is above), and Takamizawa got rather emotional afterwards stating that he couldn't quite believe that he would ever perform the song in front of a huge audience. By the way, "Love Letter" was first placed on the band's 2nd album "TIME AND TIDE" from August 1979.