Haruhi Aiso -- Otoko to Onna de

Methinks that if and when I go onto my next CD binge, I'm going to have to see whether I can track down a Haruhi Aiso（相曽晴日）album. Perhaps she may not have ever become the most well-known figure in Japanese pop music, but from the music that I've heard by this singer-songwriter, she's got a nice way about her in creating ochitsuku melodies.

I first heard about her a few years back with her "Coffee House nite"（コーヒーハウスにて）from 1983 which comes across as a down-to-earth AOR ballad straight from the West Coast. Now, I've discovered her "Otoko to Onna de" (As A Man and A Woman) which was released as her 5th single in March 1985. With lyrics by veteran Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）, this one is a more pensive and classy urban contemporary number concocted by Aiso like a smooth cocktail with some good sweetness but perhaps with some bitters in there, too. The setting sounds like it's in some hotel top bar with a dance floor and the couple is getting just a tad woozy from all of the love and alcohol. I like the piano and those certain City Pop chords.

Perhaps the only thing that I could rap her knuckles for would be her pronunciation of "Je t'aime". I'd thought she said "Today...".