Kinokuniya Band -- Crystal Magic（クリスタルマジック）

Fellow City Pop fan Jerry and I were talking over the weekend and one topic that we touched upon was the difference between 70s and 80s City Pop. I'm not sure if we were able to answer that one definitively but personally I think one difference was how the keyboard was played in those two separate decades. Not being a musicologist or musician, I can't recognize a certain type of keyboard by sound alone. However some of the genre stuff that I've heard from the former decade had that sound that I can only describe as being reminiscent of fog vaporizing in the morning air. Namely, there was a mistiness to that sound.

I've got another example here tonight via Kinokuniya Band's（紀の国屋バンド）"Crystal Magic" which was a 1979 EP but was also included as the lead track on their album from the same year "Street Sensation". I can hear that misty keyboard but I also pick up on some other 70s City Pop tropes. One is just how free that guitar solo (with that remnant of psychedelia) is, and then there is the mellowness of the funk involved although everything is going at a good beat.

Up to this point, I've written two other articles on Kinokuniya Band, but finally, I have been able to track down all of the members. Of course, I was able to find out about vivacious vocalist Masako Takasaki（高崎昌子）right from that first article, their cover of Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）"4AM", but I was surprised to discover that arranger Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）had also been part of the band as the keyboardist, joining Takasaki and his brother, percussionist Mac Shimizu（マック清水）. They were joined by guitarist, vocalist and synth operator Haruto Kawabe（川辺ハルト）, guitarist and vocalist Motoki Ichisaki*（市崎元輝）, bassist Kinta Moriyama*（盛山キンタ）and drummer Ryutaro Yokozawa（横沢龍太郎）.

*Once again, I've come across names that have various readings so I may be wrong in their transcription. If anyone knows the correct reading, I'd appreciate the heads-up.