Saori Yagi（八木さおり）...the name sounded very familiar when I first heard it, and perhaps that was because she has been an actress for a few decades. But no longer being a J-Drama fan, I can't really remember any of the shows that she's been in.
And yet, I did bookmark this YouTube video which features one of Yagi's early songs when the lass spent her early years as an aidoru for a short while in the late 1980s. This thumbnail has her looking rather beatific and according to some text in one of her photo books titled "Metro City" (via J-Wiki), she was born Christian with her baptismal name being Maria Magdalena.
Supposedly, Yagi is also a huge Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）fan but more for guitarist Yutaka Takezawa（武沢豊）rather than vocalist Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）. By the same token, I also found out that Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）was also a huge fan of hers to the extent that he even composed a song for her titled "Tsuki to Koigokoro" (The Moon and One's Love) as a track in her second album "Moon & Love" from November 1987. Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）provided the lyrics.
When I first heard "Tsuki to Koigokoro", there was that certain familiarity in the melody as if this had been made for Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）, although Yagi's delivery is far different from Watanabe's voice, and sure enough, it was indeed Komuro behind the song. In total, Yagi released 6 singles and 3 original albums with her debut single "Hitomi de Kataomoi"（瞳で片想い...Falling In Love with My Eyes）from October 1986 having the highest ranking at No. 20.
Hi J-Canuck!
ReplyDeleteHuge fan of her here, especially her first album.
We've already talked about her in one of Marcos V. article (http://kayokyokuplus.blogspot.com/2017/10/some-early-works-of-tetsuya-komuro.html).
This song is another take of TM Network song "Resistance" and that's also why it sounds so much Komuro-like.
Hey, Daemonskald! Long time, no hear.
DeleteGood heavens! I didn't even realize that it was another version of "Resistance". Amazing what arrangements can do!