Mariko Tone -- Matenro Monogatari（摩天楼物語）

Well, hadn't realized that it was so long since I put up a Mariko Tone（刀根麻理子）article, and in that one for "Just A Moment", I had mentioned that I regretted not including her in the blog a lot sooner. Some 5 odd years later...

For that matter, one Gibbs slap later, I've decided to include Tone's "Matenro Monogatari" (Skyscraper Story) into the blog. A track from her 2nd album "Purple Rose" from October 1985, this paean to the chilling effects of heartbreak in the cruel grey city was written by Tone and composed by Masahiro* Kawano（川野真寛）, and it's got that lovely arrangement of a late 1980s City Pop with that certain melody line bringing in those certain synths of the time.

In a way, "Matenro Monogatari" (great name for a City Pop tune, by the way) rather reminds me of some of the songs that Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）sang during that decade. There's that feeling of sophisticated urban pop further enhanced by that doodling jazzy guitar. However, whereas I picture Kurahashi sitting rather languidly in that expensive restaurant at the top of the Keio Plaza Hotel in West Shinjuku, there's something closer to the ground floor when I listen to "Matenro Monogatari" as if Tone is not at the top of that ivory tower but she's actually surrounded by a lot of towers as she makes her way pensively through the concrete jungle. Nothing like West Shinjuku to bring up a lot of City Pop images.