This song by Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）was something that I only found out about not too long ago but it's one that I have quickly grown to enjoy. I never saw it in her BEST compilation albums and never heard it performed on any of Yamaguchi's TV appearances but I think that perhaps her discography of wonderful music was so large that it was just treated as a relatively minor hit.
Her 8th single "Mizuumi no Kesshin" (Lakeside Resolution) starts off with a question by the singer herself "Do you believe in destiny?" and then progresses into some soul-searching while Momoe-chan and her boyfriend take a walk by a body of water. She has to ponder within herself whether this man is THE ONE for her.
"Mizuumi no Kesshin" was released in March 1975 and as a relatively early single in her career, Yamaguchi was singing this with the innocence of a girl grappling with these new feelings of love which was quite different from what she would often be singing in the latter half of her career when her persona in those songs was more of a jaded figure who knew her way around the downtown life. Mind you, even in the early 1970s, some of her singles back then also raised eyebrows with their perceived raciness in the lyrics.
Strangely enough, it was the same duo behind one of those supposedly racy tunes "Hito Natsu no Keiken"（ひと夏経験）, lyricist Kazuya Senke（千家和也）and composer Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）who also worked on "Mizuumi no Kesshin" which raises much milder sentiments. The dreamy delivery of her vocals, the tenderhearted mandolin in the intro, and the wistful arrangement of the song help bring out the sighworthy nostalgia. "Mizuumi no Kesshin" reached No. 5 on Oricon and ended up as the 44th-ranked single of the year. It was also a track on Yamaguchi's 6th studio album "Juu-roku-sai no Tehma"（16才のテーマ...Theme of a 16-Year-Old）from May of that year; it made it all the way up to No. 3 and was the 48th-ranked album for 1975.
Like all her early songs, her best performance of this is in her final medley (the red dress section). The pity about her retirement is that she was at her absolute peak in terms of ability, and could conceivably have improved still. Earlier performances of Mizuumi no Kesshin sounded a bit strained, as she often did. Her 1980 performances, particularly in that medley, sounded relaxed and with an easy command of feeling.
ReplyDeleteListening to a 1975 performance, it's really hard to imagine the great singer she would become. She learns to relax a little in 1976, but finds her voice in 1977, although she still has difficulty at times (listening to a rendition of Wakare Uta from 1978 is painful, especially in comparison with how easily Hiromi Iwasaki dances around the melody). For some reason, she goes extra husky in 1979. But in 1980, she's reached a place that she's comfortable with, and reels off the emotions with ease.
Hi, Jim.
DeleteMomoe could have easily continued with her career long into the 1980s. It would have been interesting to see how she could have affected the 80s aidoru trend or whether she would have changed her style dramatically. But I've always thought that the only reason she was in show business was to earn money; she apparently had no particular joy in singing...at least professionally. So when the marriage proposal came in, she saw that as her ticket to retire.
Hello Canuck,
ReplyDeleteI just feel so bad for then 16 yr old Momoe chan here. While her peers(Junko, Masako, et al.)was singing about sunny teenage romance, they made her sing THIS, a song about doomed lovers contemplating suicide!
Hi, Kaz. Good heavens, I didn't realize things were that dark in the lyrics. I had only seen it as a young girl struggling with her internal feelings.
DeleteCame across Rinne when browsing the tubes. It's from her last album. I think her vocal and the bass guitar are competing to see who sounds deeper.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg0ktrQOHGY
Hello, Jim. Yep, I listened to "Rinne" last night. It's very much the Yamaguchi/Uzaki/Aki creation that everyone used to hear in the latter half of her career. Momoe could be downright scary when she sang...kinda like the most conservatively dressed teenage punk on the stage.
Delete