Tamori -- Standard Whiskey Bonbon

I've mentioned bespectacled Japanese TV giant Kazuyoshi Morita（森田一義）here and there in the pages of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" over the years, notably because the theme song for his former noon hour variety show on Fuji-TV, "Waratte Ii Tomo"（笑っていいとも）has been featured. Within the medium, Tamori（タモリ）, as he's much better known, is one of the Big Three when it comes to recognizable faces who have been around for decades along with comedians Sanma Akashiya（明石家さんま）and Beat Takeshi（ビートたけし）.

Coming back to Canada years ago, the only time that I can see Tamori via TV Japan is through his long-running "Music Station" on TV Asahi and NHK's "Buratamori"（ブラタモリ）. Since the former ends up being broadcast here in the wee hours for some reason, I really only watch the latter on Sunday nights as he and an NHK announcer take their own walking tours of various sites throughout Japan.

(32:29)

Now I knew that Tamori had some musical talent. When he was helping out on the Kohaku Utagassen many moons ago, I remember him playing the trumpet for one of the musical segments on the 1983 show. And there's even an album featuring him somewhere within the book "Japanese City Pop".

Sure enough, I was listening to New J Channel on YouTube earlier tonight and the song that came on was by Tamori himself. With the easy-to-remember title "Standard Whiskey Bonbon", this is a track from his 1981 album "Radical Hystery Tour". As the last sentence in the previous paragraph indicates, the song is indeed a bossa-tinged City Pop cocktail which sounds more 70s than 80s in the arrangement. It's quite relaxing as if the listener is actually sucking back on that titular confection amid summer comfort. Although I think Tamori has had a far more successful career as a TV emcee, he's not too bad behind the mike.

Although I couldn't nail down who the songwriters were for "Standard Whiskey Bonbon" exactly, I read on Tamori's J-Wiki profile that Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）of the legendary Southern All Stars（サザンオールスターズ）and Masahiro Ando（安藤まさひろ）from the fusion band The Square had provided some of the tracks for "Radical Hystery Tour". As for Tamori, his album output consisted of 5 releases between 1977 and 1986.