Anzen Chitai -- Kikkake no Wink（きっかけのWink）

How does that saying go, "Happiness is a warm blanket, Charlie Brown"? Well, I guess for this situation, I can put it as "Happiness is finding a new Anzen Chitai song".

Yes, indeed. I've been a fan of Koji Tamaki's（玉置浩二）band for almost four decades and it's only within the last few weeks that I first heard "Kikkake no Wink" (The Wink That Started It). Perhaps now I should hand in my entire collection of Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）albums in shame...or not. Then again, it was a B-side to the band's December 1987 16th single "Juliet", which I do know very well as this dreamy ballad from their 1988 album "Anzen Chitai VI", and quite often B-sides have tended to become forgotten when it comes to retrospective releases. Yes, I know...excuses, excuses.

Once again, it is lyricist Goro Matsui（松井五郎）and composer Tamaki behind the breezy "Kikkake no Wink", and although it is a B-side, it's another finely-honed Anzen Chitai song. I'd say from the first few listenings to the upbeat number, it sounds like one of their older songs that would have belonged to their very first album "Remember to Remember" given the horn-heavy production that went into "V". It's quite different from "Juliet" and comes across as Juliet and her Romeo heading off on a joyful spree in a resort town following the heavily romantic courtship on the A-side.

Anyways, I'm very happy to make your acquaintance, "Kikkake no Wink". Welcome to the Anzen Chitai file on KKP! Before I do go for tonight, I should mention that this particular B-side did make it onto a couple of BEST albums: the 1994 "Anzen Chitai Another Collection ~ Album Mishuuroku Kyoku Shuu"（安全地帯 アナザー・コレクション -アルバム未収録曲集-...The Unrecorded Song Collection Album）and the 2005 "Anzen Chitai COMPLETE BEST".