Credits

I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.

Monday, December 9, 2019

Sugar -- Ijiwaru Shine(いじわるShine)


Happy Monday! Didn't think that I would find, let alone, hear another song by the 1980s pop trio, Sugar. The trio of lead vocalist/keyboardist Miki Kasamatsu(笠松美樹), leader/bassist Kimiko Mohri(毛利公子)and guitarist Kumiko Nagasawa(長沢久美子)were famous for the sweet-sounding but bile-filled hit "Wedding Bell" which got them their lone shot on the 1982 Kohaku Utagassen. After that, though, my impression was that Sugar was more of the one-hit wonder.


Still, I was happy to discover that one of their later songs got onto the "Drive" entry in the "Light Mellow" album series of City Pop/AOR. Titled "Ijiwaru Shine" (Nasty Shine), this was written and composed by the late Mohri as a plenty mellow urban contemporary number about keeping the good summery times going. Originally, it was a part of their third album "Sugar Bean" from May 1983. Very pleasant combination of those familiar City Pop instruments including a flugelhorn (I think) and the harmonies of Sugar that I remember from "Wedding Bell".

In Mohri's lyrics, there was mention of drinking back a ginger ale, probably between puffs of that cigarette. Considering that I've heard the drink even being included in a City Pop song title, I'm kinda wondering whether Canada Dry was the official non-alcoholic libation of the genre everywhere.


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