Hiroshi Kamayatsu -- Pineapple no Yukue e (パイナップルの彼方へ)

Can't consider myself a prolific baker but once in a while, I like to whip up some old-fashion Pineapple Upside-Down Cake for the family. Haven't done it since COVID-19 darkened our shores, but perhaps I can do it again in the near future.

A few weeks ago, I was given a recommendation by Rocket Brown from Come Along Radio, and it was a surprising one. From 1978-1979, the late Hiroshi "Monsieur" Kamayatsu（かまやつひろし）provided 4 albums for Trio Records, and half of them were releases based on the AOR genre.

All this time, I had seen the congenial Kamayatsu on TV for years and knew him as an ever-grinning tarento and a musician from the Group Sounds period via The Spiders and then as someone who embraced folk and rock (maybe one of the New Music pioneers) going into the 1970s. However, I'd had no idea that he also headed into Margaritaville later that decade. Indeed he did, though, with "Walk Again" in 1978, and then this album the following year, "Pineapple no Yukue e" (Up In The Pineapple).

I was only going to talk about the first track, "Do You Wanna Ride" but then ended up listening to the next three tracks since I got rather entranced by them. As for "Do You Wanna Ride", which was composed by Monsieur and written by Yutaka Hoshi（星豊）, it's indeed him singing in both English and Japanese, and I swear that he could be singing about that front cover showing the beach and the palm trees as he invites the listener to come along with him in his wonderful world. That cover is so AOR-friendly (including the lettering) that I had a huge craving to buy a hammock from Canadian Tire (curbside pickup, of course).

Batting second at 3:28 is "No No Boy" which is a song that had originally been recorded by him and the rest of The Spiders back in the 1960s. This cover version takes on a more upbeat but just-as-gentle feeling when compared to what I think is a more melancholy original. At 6:13, "No No Boy" gets quickly shuffled off for Track 3, "Gentle Wind", a brief instrumental composed by Ken Morimura（森村献）. that begins with that 1970s City Pop/AOR trope of the Haze riff, but I think the melody has got a bit more of a funky breeze kicking about in there with a little wacka-wacka for good measure.

Finally at 8:05 is "Summer Love Again" which seems to contain a hint of Neil Sedaka and Akira Terao（寺尾聡）. This is another short-and-sweet track with perhaps a little City Pop in the arrangement which will have the libations flowing under the beachfront umbrellas. Takeshi Shima（島武実）this time provided the lyrics for Kamayatsu's mellow melody.

Indeed this is some fine Resort Pop for folks who want to listen to something summery and relaxing. Referring back to my second paragraph about showing some surprise that Kamayatsu did embrace his inner AOR, I think that surprise should be curbed somewhat because of course he wasn't the only one to do so. People who were involved in 1970s folk such as Iruka（イルカ）and bassist Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）from Craft（クラフト）also took their 1980s plunge into City Pop/AOR through "Follow Me" and "midnight cruisin'" respectively.