RAMU -- Ai wa Kokoro no Shigoto desu（愛は心の仕事です）

A few years ago, I wrote about RAMU's（ラ・ムー）lead track on their sole 1988 album "Thanks Giving", "Rainy Night Lady", and had assumed that it was the song that I'd heard on an episode of "The Best 10".

But then I heard this number, RAMU's debut single "Ai wa Kokoro no Shigoto desu" (Love is a Heart's Work), and my memories finally came back into focus as far as this song was concerned. This was actually the tune that I saw being performed with aidoru Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）as the main vocalist.

Released in February 1988, I've gone over "Ai wa Kokoro no Shigoto desu" a number of times, and it was a bit strange to hear the whispery vocals of Kikuchi behind the mike rather than the stronger voice of Anri（杏里）handling the song. As I mentioned as well in the article for "Rainy Night Lady", "Ai was Kokoro no Shigoto desu" has that style of Omega Tribe although near the end with that wailing chorus, I also got hints of Earth Wind & Fire and "Fantasy".

It must have meant a bit of a double-take for many Momoko fans seeing their heroine tackling something more on the lines of R&B-flavoured pop while dressed in an outfit that would later represent Chisato Moritaka's（森高千里）appearances on the stage. Initially, it was also odd for me and when I did catch that VHS tape of "The Best 10", I was kinda left scratching my head at what I'd just seen.

But with the passage of decades and realizing that Kikuchi had always possessed that City Pop esthetic within a number of her songs from her solo aidoru albums, I think that the whole RAMU thing has become somewhat more acceptable in my head now. However, even back then, it seems as if folks were pretty accepting of the band, since "Ai wa Kokoro no Shigoto desu" did break through the Top 10 to reach No. 9. Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）, the same fellow behind "Rainy Night Lady", took care of composition duties for their debut single while Masao Urino（売野雅勇）provided the lyrics on the prowling philosophy of love.