Toshiki Kadomatsu & Yurie Kokubu -- It's Hard to Say Good-bye

I've put up quite a few articles tonight but none of them thus far has been a City Pop number, and it's a Friday. So, I gotta finish things up with something appropriate.

Folks, I may have indeed found the right tune to end another work week here with the ideal City Pop/AOR duet. May I introduce Toshiki Kadomatsu & Yurie Kokubu（角松敏生・国分友里恵）and "It's Hard to Say Good-bye"? The Japanese title happens to be "Sayonara wa Ai no Kotoba"（さよならは愛の言葉...Good-bye is a Word of Love）.

Written and composed by Kadomatsu with brass arrangement by Jun Sato (佐藤準...also on keyboards), this was one of the two songs on Side B of the City Pop master's first 12-inch single "Do You Wanna Dance?" from October 1983. Everything is there for a Kadomatsu love ballad: the heartfully soulful vocals, the mellow horns and the elegant keyboard...ahh, and I shouldn't forget the sax by Jake H. Concepcion! But it does start out with some surprisingly tender strings that made me initially wonder if things were going in a different direction. However, when I heard that horn come in, I was reassured that it was truly another Kadomatsu ballad. Nurse that relaxing cup of coffee or glass of cocktail.

Have a good weekend!