Aidoru Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）, lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composer Kazuo Zaitsu（財津和夫）...that could be one potent combination for a song. Indeed, they did collaborate for a B-side on Seiko-chan's hit 12th single, "Himitsu no Hanazono"（秘密の花園）from February 1983, "Renga no Komichi" (The Brick Lane).
Compared with the summery and dreamy A-side, "Renga no Komichi" is that somewhat tear-inducing ballad about a lost love and the memories that it brings when a young lady is walking down that brick lane where her former beau's house is. Matsuda's vocals and Zaitsu's melody both bring over that wistfulness about what could have been and what is sadly the case now. I think that guitar really takes it home, and how about that instrumental bridge?
I couldn't find any live performances of "Renga no Komichi" on YouTube so I'm not sure whether the song was a favourite on Seiko-chan's playlist, but I think it would certainly be a welcome song to perform on stage. The song did pop up on her album of B-sides, "Touch Me, Seiko" from March 1984 which also hit No. 1 on the album charts.
Hello Canuck,
ReplyDeleteThe B-sides of her singles were something we looked forward to as much as the A-sides. In a time when the B-side of a single was more often than not some throw away tune that hadn't made the cut, the producers behind "the Seiko project"(as Takashi Matsumoto calls it) put much thought and care into it.
Matsumoto has said in an interview that what they were striving for was the series of singles by the Beatles in the 60's where some of their most loved songs were found on the flip side.
Seiko's B-sides were pretty popular/well known as she got to perform a lot of them on TV shows. This, as you may know, was due to the fact that many of her singles were tie-ins with TV spots for cosmetics/candies/electronics companies, making it difficult for her to perform them on certain shows with competing companies as sponsors.
Hi, Kaz.
DeleteAll my compliments to Matsumoto and the various composers (including Yuming) along with Seiko herself for the effort they put into those B-sides. Those early singles could even be treated as double A-sides. I'm especially grateful since at one point, I had been worried that because I have been really a fan of mostly her early 80s material that there was nothing more to write about, but the B-sides have kept the Seiko file open. :)
Understood on the potential sponsorship minefield when it comes to those songs.