Haruo Chikada & Vibratones -- Kinyoubi no Tenshi（金曜日の天使）

Thanks to the blog, I've learned about a lot of new singers over the nearly 8 years that it's been in operation, and one of those folks is Haruo Chikada（近田春夫）. My knowledge of him is still quite slight but my impression thus far is that he was going into some eclectic directions with his music with the help of artists such as Yellow Magic Orchestra.

In early 1981, Chikada got involved in a soundtrack project in collaboration with a duo called Jinshu Netsu（人種熱...Race Heat） comprising of Yutaka Fukuoka（福岡ユタカ）and Haruo Kubota（窪田晴男）, after which the three then recruited a few more members to become Haruo Chikada & Vibratones（近田春夫&ビブラトーンズ）. On November 25th of that year, the new band released their debut album "Midnight Pianist" and their first single "Kinyoubi no Tenshi" (Friday Angels).

Had never heard of "Kinyoubi no Tenshi" before, so giving it a try, I did get those New Wave vibes, although I didn't really hear any heavy use of synths until nearly the end. Certainly seeing Vibratones behind Chikada looking like they were about to head for a party thrown by UK band Visage cemented my impression.

Chikada & Vibratones would release one more single and a total of four albums including a BEST album in 1988. However, according to their J-Wiki article, basic activity finished up in 1984.

May 20, 2022: The band Passepied（パスピエ）covered the song back in 2016.