Naoki Watanabe -- Veranda no Carib（ベランダのカリブ）

Nope, not exactly a view from a veranda but it was actually a shot that I took from the pier in Mexico during the family cruise back in 2017. Kinda hard to imagine people taking cruises nowadays but perhaps when the pandemic is all over...🙏

Yet another lovely song that I found on "Light Mellow ~ Moment" recently, this is "Veranda no Carib" (Veranda Over The Caribbean) by musician/songwriter Naoki Watanabe（渡辺直樹）. He got to finally sing the number through his first of four original albums "She" released in 1987.

Watanabe armed with his bass has been with a number of his bands in his career which is now approaching 50 years. He and Ichiro Nitta（新田一郎）started up the brass funk band Spectrum (officially, Watanabe is known as Spectre No. 4), and then he later joined up with other City Pop giants such as Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）and Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）on AB's. In fact, fellow AB's bandmate Yoshihiko Ando（安藤芳彦）provided the lyrics to "Veranda no Carib" to the Watanabe-penned song.

I have to say that Watanabe has got a pretty resonant mid-level voice as he sings "Veranda no Carib" and Ando's lyrics indeed take his partner out onto a cruise liner in the Caribbean. Not surprisingly, the 5-minute song has that same effect as a relaxing nap on the outer deck of the Harmony of the Seas while docked by Puerto Vallarta for the day.

Ah, final thing: I was just reminded that Watanabe's sister is singer Shoko Minami（南翔子）who is also represented on KKP via "Nakimane"（泣きまね）.