Anzen Chitai -- Happiness

 

Especially after writing about something supremely sweet and fluffy like "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?", I think that it's never a bad thing to head for something more downtown and shibui some decades back. So why not head over to Hokkaido for some Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）?

Looks like I've been doing the band's third album "Anzen Chitai III ~ Dakishimetai"（安全地帯III〜抱きしめたい...I Want to Hold You） piecemeal rather than tackling the whole thing unlike some of their other releases. Well, so be it! It spreads the wealth, so to speak. So, joining "Koi no Yokan"（恋の予感）and "Y no Tension"（yのテンション）on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" is "Happiness" which is Track 3 on this December 1984 album. As well, I have to say that "Happiness" was also the B-side to the single version of "Koi no Yokan".

Heck, if you think the cover is darn moody and shibui, have a dive into "Happiness". As usual, written by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）and composed by vocalist Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）, this has got the early Anzen Chitai sound down pat with Tamaki's silky vocals and those mesmerizing guitars. Listening to it again, I got those old images of being sidesaddle in my friend's car going through downtown Toronto while listening to the band on the car stereo. Meanwhile, Matsui's lyrics are about some Lothario, more of a romantic Hyde rather than a Jekyll. enticing a young lady into a night flight of thrills.

I've mentioned that "Anzen Chitai III" peaked at No. 3 on the Oricon weeklies, but I've yet to state that the album actually also reached No. 3 on the 1985 yearly charts.