Kenjiro Sakiya -- Aisarete mo Inai ~ Harlem no Tenshi-tachi（愛されてもいないーハーレムの天使たちー）

I'm putting up my fourth article tonight partially because I felt the need to get down a City Pop song since it is Friday night after all. Just me, I guess.

Every time I see this cover from singer-songwriter Kenjiro Sakiya's（崎谷健次郎）debut album "Difference" (1987), I wonder whether the designer was inspired by the fellow who had come up with the designs for Bobby Caldwell's albums. Silhouettes and soothing pastel colours...couldn't get more City Pop than that.

Anyways, I've got another song from there since there are two more from "Difference" that have been featured through my BEST article on Sakiya. This would be "Aisarete mo Inai ~ Harlem no Tenshi-tachi" (Unloved ~ Angels of Harlem). Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）came up with the lyrics while the singer came up with the rumbling melody describing the tough life on the streets in the New York neighbourhood.

Launching with some Dazz Band funk, there is that layer of smooth City Pop keyboard as well. I like Sakiya's vocals as well especially when they soar at certain points in the song, and I may have mentioned this before, but it's interesting how he sounds like Noriyuki Makihara（槇原敬之）years before Mackey even debuted. "Aisarete mo Inai", with all that bass (synth and guitar) and grinding guitar, tries to keep that toughness but I think the singer's high-flying voice, that City Pop keyboard and then the jazzy piano riff in the middle tend to pull things down south to 5th Avenue and the rest of midtown Manhattan. There's even a bit of a surprise two-thirds of the way through when the listener can be forgiven for assuming "Aisarete mo Inai" ends at a full stop only for the rumbling to return to continue for almost another couple of minutes. This is Sakiya going downtown.