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Just about 3 years ago, I wrote about actress Keiko Takeshita（竹下景子）and the fact that I was surprised that she actually released music in the late 1970s and early 1980s considering that I had only known her for her TV appearances. Her debut single was the innocent kayo "Kekkon Shitemo Ii desu ka"（結婚してもいいですか）from 1978 which sounds like a tune that someone like Agnes Chan could have tackled in the early 1970s.
Well, I got another surprise here as well, since the B-side to her 1980 3rd single "Watashi no Naka no Onna-tachi"（私の中の女たち...The Women In Me）, "Bedside no Komori Uta" (Bedside Lullaby) has her performing some of that soothing City Pop/AOR. Although Takeshita's voice still retains some of that innocence, her performance here sounds more assured and slightly richer. Of course, I will always appreciate that playful Fender Rhodes and that chorus acting like a sunset wind blowing through the windows. Plus, I also like that trombone solo. Akiko Tsuchiya（土屋明子）provided the lyrics while Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）came up with the melody that's a bit more reminiscent of her New Music/City Pop days through "Sunshower" and "Mignonne", rather than her dramatic comeback of "Romantique" which came out in the same year as this Takeshita single.
did this sample Michael Jackson's "I Can't Help It" or did Michael Jackson sample this because early today I found that the baselines sound similar. Here just take a listen
ReplyDeleteMichael Jackson: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=re3MOe1SBOs
Keiko Takeshita: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqplvRrzYZ0
Hello, @akiyamathe7th and thanks for your comments. Yup, they do sound very similar if not identical. No surprise there since there was a lot of liberal borrowing of hooks by Japanese composers and arrangers back then.
DeleteIf you have some time and interest, you can listen to examples of similarities between Japanese and Western songs that my friend Rocket Brown compiled: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CCpBkGF-RU