Had never heard of singer-songwriter Naomi Tamura（田村直美）until all of my anime-loving buddies breathlessly told me about her impending appearance on the Kohaku Utagassen to sing the opening theme for "Magic Knight Rayearth", "Yuzurenai Onegai" （ゆずれないお願い）.
"Yuzurenai Onegai" was Tamura's 4th single in November 1994. Well, I'm talking about her 3rd single this time which came out just a couple of months earlier in September. "Eien no Ichibyo" (One Second of Eternity) was created by Tamura and Hiroto Ishikawa（石川寛門）, the same tandem behind "Yuzurenai Onegai" and it depicts more of an uncertain time when compared to the triumphant follow-up single. The lyrics in "Eien no Ichibyo" talk of two people who just can't seem find the gumption to finally come together and time's being frittered away.
I've got to say that Tamura has got that remarkable voice and the entire song thrums with all of that nostalgic 90s pop/rock that I remember. Strange for me to say, perhaps, but "Eien no Ichibyo" strikes me as being the equivalent of a very efficient assassin...just make that path toward the next target, get the target and then move on. No extraneous tangents or electric guitar wailing away.
However, the song was used on a commercial for Camellia Diamonds, and it was Tamura's first Top 10 hit as it peaked at No. 10. It also became a track on her debut album "Excellent" which came out at the same time as the single. That one made it as high as No. 19 on the album charts.
Hello J, thanks for sharing. I found Naomi Tamura's name vaguely familiar but have only heard one or two of her songs before. I love this pop-rock sound in the 90s. I will be checking out more of her songs.
ReplyDeleteI realise that "Eien no Ichibyo" has a Cantonese cover version but unfortunately, the album it was on did not receive much promotion or attention, probably because the singer (Sammi Cheng) was about to move to a new record label at that time. She went on to become one of Hong Kong's most successful singers.
Hello, yung. Good to hear from you again. I'm also not too knowledgeable about Tamura's material outside of "Yuzurenai Onegai" and one other song that she did but from what I've heard, she's got one heck of a voice.
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