Hiroshi Uchiyamada & The Cool Five -- Hiren（悲恋）

Well, "Uta Con"（うたコン）isn't on tonight so most likely it'll come back next Tuesday. However, that means another week without my kayo fix.😞

Gotta say that I really like the cover for this single by Hiroshi Uchiyamada & The Cool Five（内山田 洋とクール・ファイブ）from November 1971, "Hiren" (Tragic Love). I'm not a critic for graphic art or photography at all, but there's something quite cool about vocalist Kiyoshi Maekawa（前川清）and his five on the spiral staircase with the white background.

Written by Kohan Kawauchi（川内康範）and composed by Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）, "Hiren" is quite interesting in that I still identify it as an atmospheric Mood Kayo although there isn't anything about it that refers to being in a bar or on a pier or at a nightclub. In fact, I would say that Maekawa sings his heart out about the loss of love in general. Perhaps it would be even more accurate to say that he fairly rips his cardiac organ out in anguish.

That gory scene aside, I think "Hiren" also stands out for having its melody being dramatically driven by some epic strings almost right from the beginning (nice timpani there at the start) although there are horns in there. Those strings seem to take the place of that lone trumpet that often accompanies a Mood Kayo ballad. I can just imagine Maekawa standing on the top of some weather-battered bluff and screaming his lungs out in romantic despair. "Hiren", by the way, peaked at No. 22 on Oricon.