Hiroshi Sato -- Eve no Asa wo（EVEの朝を）

From fujiya-peko.co.jp

Just finished listening to the entirety of Rocket Brown's interview of Scott for his "Holly Jolly X'masu" podcast via Discord, and you can find out about the Mixcloud version of the show through my article on Yosui Inoue's（井上陽水）"Merry Christmas" article that I wrote earlier this afternoon. From the playlist today, it looks like I may have a lot of material this Yuletide season.

As one fellow commented on Discord when this song was played, "Man, what an intro!". Yep, I can agree with that assessment. We're referring to Hiroshi Sato's（佐藤博）"Eve no Asa wo" (Xmas Eve Morning), an October 1989 single and the first killer track on what is a compilation album by the singer-songwriter called "Hiroshi Sato '90 ~ Snow Land" also released on the same day. I was fortunate enough to discover that "Music Avenue", that Japanese-language music blog that I've often seen, also provided an article devoted to "Snow Land", and author kaz-shin stated that Sato had intended the album to be played on the car stereo while heading over to the ski resort. At the time, skiing was becoming a very popular leisure activity, something that the album cover makes abundantly clear. 

From Discogs.com

Going with what I've already mentioned, "Eve no Asa wo" has quite the intro with guitarist Takayuki Hijikata（土方隆行）blasting mellow Xmas tune-accustomed ears with a sound that is reminiscent of a scene from the first "Back to the Future" when Marty woke up his father with his own guitar. Sato really must have wanted everyone to have that ton of aural coffee. It's almost as if he had wanted to say, "SCREW YOUR NOG AND RELAXING FIREPLACE! I'M PARTYING ALL OVER TOWN TODAY!!" 

Once everyone is awake and assuming that the musician is going atypically metal, those familiar synths and Sato's soothing voice come rolling in for what comes across as folks taking a fun trip through a future city of glass and steel on Christmas Eve. Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹）joins in with his own guitar and saxophonist Masato Honda（本田雅人）helps out with some of that Steely Dan sound that's further accentuated with some of Sato's own layering vocals. Couldn't have asked for a more dynamic Xmas song but admittedly, if I hadn't heard the title and the fact that it was on an Xmas-themed podcast, I wouldn't have known that "Eve no Asa wo" was anywhere related to the holiday.