SHOGUN/Fujimal Yoshino -- One On One（You’re The One）

If' I'm gonna be finishing up the City Pop triplet today, there's no better way to wrap it up than with Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）.

From his "Romantic Guys" album released in July 1983, here is "You're The One", about as much of a courting song as any romantic tune out there in Japan. I guess that I can call it an AOR ballad with some more edge, thanks to some great horns, and of course, there's that marvelous creamy crooning voice of Yoshino. Then as we get deeper into the song, those nightside horns come further into play so maybe that's when the City Pop comes through. It's kinda like that franchise I remember from Tokyo, Pronto, which was a café during the day before making the switch to a bar at night.

I only found out earlier today that the "Romantic Guys" track is actually a self-cover of what Yoshino recorded with his old band SHOGUN a few years previously in their July 1980 album "You're The One". The title track, though, had a slightly longer title with "One On One (You're The One)", and there was a slightly jazzier arrangement. Fujimal composed the music while bandmate Casey Rankin provided the lyrics.

Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）has been praised for that romantic voice of his, but I also think that Yoshino possesses those love-me vocals.