Kiyoshi Hasegawa -- City Lights Blue

 

Earlier this spring, I introduced singer-songwriter and guitarist Kiyoshi Hasegawa（長谷川きよし）who has had a long career spanning all the way back into the late 1960s. His "Wakare no Samba"（別れのサンバ）was his 1969 debut single and a wonderful example of how much he loves Brazilian music. I pointed out that I think bossa nova is probably his beloved genre.

However, Hasegawa has also tackled folk music and apparently that's how he started gaining his fans. Interestingly enough, he is one of those Japanese folk singers who also made that leap into the world of City Pop, and so we have his 1985 album "This Time" and this one track "City Lights Blue".

Hasegawa seems to take to the urban contemporary genre like a duck to water if "City Lights Blue" is of any indication. He was responsible for the groovy music while Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）provided the lyrics. As usual, I'm a sucker for those rhythm keyboards and that bluesy guitar and the only thing I'm disappointed is that "City Lights Blue" is quite short at a shade over three minutes and the ending is surprisingly abrupt. But perhaps he's like any showman and likes to leave his fans wanting more. Yes, I'd like to know more next time about "This Time".