Asami Kado -- Promise（プロミス）

 

Coming across this new discovery called "Promise" by singer-songwriter Asami Kado（門あさ美）, I got a bit snarky inside and wondered whether this had anything to do with that margarine William Shatner had once hawked on TV or the Japanese loan-sharking company.😈

But no, of course not. Instead, "Promise" was the B-side to Kado's September 1981 6th single "Gekka Bijin"（月下美人）and unlike the boppy Latin of that A-side, "Promise" is a softer, middle-of-a-pleasant-evening mid-tempo City Pop tune written and composed by the singer. Maybe it's not dinner time anymore but it's also not time to retire back to the penthouse suite quite yet. This is the song to accompany the short stroll over to the couple's favourite bar for one more drink...promise!

I especially love the intro with the cool chorus and the arrangement in general reminds me of the AOR by folks like Airplay and Rod Temperton. And then there is that lone trumpet solo...some fellow on the top of a Manhattan brownstone somewhere playing away during his break. I couldn't find "Promise" on any of the studio albums that were released at around the time that "Gekka no Bijin" came out, but perhaps it's popped up on one of the BEST albums by Kado.