NASA -- Sexy Spicy Baby

Well, after spending a few hours working on that Author's Picks article on City Pop albums, I've gone off and done another article on the genre. This one comes from the freshly-acquired "Light Mellow ~ Beams" CD, and as I stated in that article, the song is getting its presence known for the first time on compact disc.

I've never heard of this band NASA and I have no idea why the group of musicians went with this name (perhaps one of them was a fan of space travel). I was also surprised that the National Aeronautics & Space Administration hadn't made any intense inquiries to Japan about copyright at the time (or maybe they discreetly did). However, I have heard of the lead vocalist Toshio Kamei（亀井登志夫）who I've seen as a songwriter for a number of other artists over the years. But I didn't know that he was also a violinist.

Even in the liner notes in "Beams", there isn't a whole lot written about NASA aside from the lineup for the band, but in 1980, they released the album "Sen'ya, Ichiya"（千夜一夜...THOUSAND NIGHTS, ONLY NIGHT）, and the track "Sexy Spicy Baby" sounds pretty cool. As the writer for the notes, Toshikazu Kanazawa, puts it, this one is a case of City Funk, although I think it can also traipse into really bouncy pop.

It's a fun four-minutes-and-change with Kamei's melody as he sings Yukari Nukumizu's*（温水ゆかり）lyrics about a guy simply fawning over his girlfriend as she picks through foodstuffs such as coffee beans, sweet basil and orange pekoe tea. Well, I'm glad that he's as committed to her as she is to her herbs and stuff. I love those old-fashioned pop keyboards but there is also that pleasant little musical "battle" at the end of "Sexy Spicy Baby". At first listen, I had assumed that it was guitar vs. keyboard, but actually the latter instrument is probably Kamei's sonic violin. Kinda makes me wonder if NASA had started out as a progressive rock band.

*Not sure if that last name is correctly rendered since there are a number of readings for the kanji. As usual, if you know the correct way to say the lyricist's name, please let me know.