Nope, this one isn't from "Mint", but from the Meiko Nakahara（中原めいこ）album coming afterwards, "Lotus no Kajitsu"（ロートスの果実...Lotus Fruit）, released in July 1984.
I've heard my share of heartbreak songs over the past several days, so it's nice when I can cover the odd happy romance once in a while. Previously, I'd assumed with a title of "Cloudy na Gogo" (Cloudy Afternoon), this would be another ballad about a lonely person sighing by a raindrop-spattered window as he/she wonders what happened to the love. Instead it looks like Nakahara's creation is just about a couple spending a lovely and loving time within the confines of their urban apartment while the clouds open up on the city. Never a bad thing, that.
That familiar piano that comes in and out puts "Cloudy na Gogo" in good ol' City Pop territory, and of course, Nakahara is one of my princesses of the genre, but there are also those strings and the arrangement sometimes that kinda steals this mid-tempo tune into simply romantic pop balladry. But by the end, City Pop and AOR come up with one of their own by throwing in that saxophone. It's a nice way to end "Lotus no Kajitsu".
Hello J-Canuck,
ReplyDeleteOh my! This song sounds like “Private Beach” which is where I heard Meiko Nakahara originally.
It’s off of her 1990s album “303 E. 60th St”.
https://youtu.be/zMVr1W2hqZg
Going through the comments someone even remarked that it sounded like a Cloudy na Gogo remix.
You live and learn everyday.
Thanks!
Hi, Chasing Showa.
DeleteOne time, I looked for that address from her album in New York City. Google Images showed 303 E. 60th to be some sort of rundown bar. Not sure what it was back in 1990, though.
Hello J-Canuck,
ReplyDeleteI did a search on the address, specifically for that year, and it brings up a Castilian restaurant. However, that's when the album was released. Although New York, being New York, this address could have been something else in the previous years leading up to this album.
Right now it is prime real estate.
You know, gentrification and all of that...
That being said, "Private Beach" is what made me notice Meiko Nakahara. Yes, I did buy the album because it was so damn good.
https://youtu.be/8y0LBasIKGA
Thanks!
Hi again. Being in Manhattan, I wouldn't be surprised that it would be prime real estate. I will have to see if another Nakahara album can get onto my Xmas wish list.
DeleteHi J-Canuck,
ReplyDeleteThat's what I get for looking for this information in English! I found out that the address we both looked up in Google Maps - the rundown bar/Castilian restaurant - is next door to the actual address.
After looking through Street View I saw the high rise next to these (former) businesses and found out it was the Evans View (formerly the Uptown Memphis) Condo/Apartments.
It appears that Meiko Nakahara stayed in that building for a few years.
Thanks to this article for the details:
http://hitstudio.seesaa.net/article/167293760.html
It was prime real estate then and still is now.
Thanks.
Hi, Chasing Showa.
DeleteJust saw the photos for that article. Nice digs for Meiko during that time. Can't imagine how much those would go for.