Masayuki Suzuki -- ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL

 

Another one of my purchases in the last few weeks from CD Japan has been Masayuki Suzuki's（鈴木雅之）triple-CD package commemorating his 40th anniversary in the music business, "ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL". Released earlier in April, I wanted to get this primarily because of his more recent material all put onto CD 3, but unlike "Martini" and "Martini II", his earliest BEST albums as a solo artist, the first two discs are a celebration of his doo-wop days as the lead vocalist of Chanels （シャネルズ）later to be known as Rats and Star.

Now I mention that I got the 3-disc album. The first-issue version of "ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL" has an extra 4th CD which has mostly karaoke versions of those Chanels hits but also a few live recordings that hadn't been released. I think that special first-release package is still available but I didn't bother paying the extra cash for that since I have never and never will perform karaoke at home.

Irasshaimase, baby!

Usually for a BEST article, I would put down the list of the tracks but considering the overwhelming amount of tracks for this one, I've decided to put up the link to a website that has them written down in romaji.

Disc 1

Disc 1, titled "Mr. Black 2nd" consists of new re-recordings of some of those Chanels/Rats And Star hits along with some of the songs that probably inspired young Martin. First off, the CD starts with "Ultra Chu Chu Medley", Suzuki's 41st single which was released in July 2020 and includes "Hurricane", "Machikado Twilight", "Akogare no Slender Girl"（憧れのスレンダー・ガール）and "Shuumatsu Dynamite"（週末ダイナマイト）. Given an added dance beat by Pizzicato Five's Yasuharu Konishi（小西康陽）, it's an invitation by Suzuki saying "Hey, this is where I came from!".

When I first looked down on the playlist for "ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL", I noticed "Tears On My Pillow". The 1958 classic by Little Anthony and the Imperials was a song that I used to hear all the time on those K-Tel compilation LP commercials back in the 1970s; probably at the time, there was some of that returning love for the oldies thanks to George Lucas' "American Graffiti" and then TV's "Happy Days". I don't think even Suzuki can eclipse The Imperials but dang, he's pretty close with this one which is the coupling song to "Ultra Chu Chu Medley".

Another one that caught my eyes and ears was Suzuki's cover of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" originally by Queen. When I was first discovering the band, this was one of the songs that helped me in their introduction to my memories and senses. It's not just the doo-wop for this version but an extra dollop of rockabilly jazz with added thanks from rock n' roll band The Shaolin Brothers（少林兄弟）and Chanels member Yoshio Sato（佐藤善雄）. Lots of fun to be had here.

There was a cool new song that I hadn't heard before titled "Tamashii no Brother"（魂のブラザー...Soul Brother） but I will cover that on its own sometime next month since there is the new version in "ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL" and then the original version during the Chanels' days.

Disc 2

Disc 2 is "the year of RATS best" and is for all of those die-hard Chanels/Rats And Star fans out there. The longest of the 3 discs by far at around 74 minutes, it has a lot of the band's original material. To be honest, I realized that I'm probably going to be more of the Masayuki Suzuki fan than a fan of Chanels unless the disc's contents grow on me some more since I think having over an hour of doo-wop going through my head is a tad much.

However, having said that, listening to the tracks on Disc 2 piecemeal has been more enjoyable. For example, there is "Akogare no Slender Girl"（憧れのスレンダー・ガール...Slender Girl of My Dreams）, Chanels' 6th single from March 1982. Written by Chanels' member Masashi Tashiro（田代マサシ）and composed by Martin with arrangement by the band and Kunio Muramatsu（村松邦夫）, "Akogare no Slender Girl" stands out for some of those horns which sound like the Tijuana Brass with Herb Alpert. The original single peaked at No. 13 on Oricon.

Yes, I now have to insist that it's good for me to appreciate the Chanels discography on a slowly, slowly basis since I really like their 5th single "Namida no Sweet Cherry"（涙のスウィート・チェリー...Sweet Cherry of Tears） from September 1981 on its own instead of being sandwiched between tracks like sweet cherry jam between Wonder bread. It's so doo-wop 50s that names like Richie and Mary Beth and things like jukeboxes, bobby socks and slow dances came immediately to mind (though I wouldn't be born for another decade after that era). This actually hit No. 12. Lyricist Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）and composer/arranger Daisuke Inoue（井上大輔）were responsible for this ballad for all you lovers out there.

The last one I'm gonna cover from Disc 2 is "Madonna wa Omae dake"（マドンナはお前だけ...You're The Only Madonna For Me）, Rats And Star's penultimate 16th single (including the Chanels' singles) from their original run together released in April 1985. It's still got that band swagger with a bit of Latin incorporated into the doo-wop. Yukawa was once again behind words while this time Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）provided the music. The song was perfectly fine for Rats And Star fans but I think from the No. 57 ranking, music tastes were moving on from the doo-wop craze at the turn of the decade. Of course, the disc also includes hits like "Runaway" and "Me Gumi no Hito"（め組のひと）.

Disc 3

"Perfect Vision" is the title given to the third disc which is half-filled with Martin's 5 new releases and half-filled with the karaoke versions. Of course, "DADDY! DADDY! DO!", "Motivation" and "Tatoe Sekai ga Soppo Muite mo"（たとえ世界がそっぽ向いても）are included. The first track, though, is "Iki mo Dekinai Gurai"（息もできないくらい...Can't Even Breathe）, a swing stomp perpetrated by the singer and rock band Kishidan's（氣志團）Sho Ayanokoji（綾小路翔）. As someone mentioned in the comments for the above video, this would probably have been ideal as an opening theme for another fun anime although I don't think it quite fits the "Kaguya-sama" franchise. Ayanokoji and Takeshi Kiuchi（木内健）came up with the song.

The final sung track is "Polaris"（ポラリス）, a bluesy ballad with a touch of gospel written, composed and co-sung by Angela Aki（アンジェラ・アキ）. It was used as the theme song for the 2019 NHK drama "Banjou no Himawari"（盤上の向日葵...Sunflower on the Board）. After all of the action within this CD alone, it's nice to finish off with something relatively quiet.

"ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL", I'm happy to say, broke into the Top 10 and hit its high of No. 4. My congratulations to Martin and the production staff for another wonderful BEST album. Also I missed his big day by a few days, but Happy Birthday to him on his 64th which he celebrated on September 22nd. The Kohaku Utagassen won't be the same this year but I do hope that he will get selected, if only to perform "DADDY! DADDY! DO!".