One of the many things that I have missed about living in Japan is the privately-owned coffeehouse. I mean I was OK with places like Starbucks, Doutor and Excelsior Coffee but it was those cafés in the neighbourhoods of Tokyo and surrounding environs that had their own cozy ambience that I really appreciated. The coffee may have been expensive but I think the experience was well worth it.
Just today (in fact, only within the last 30 minutes), I discovered this folk group called Belle which had its time in the 1970s. There's nothing about them up on J-Wiki and very little information elsewhere online, aside from the covers of their singles which show a four-man band. Apparently, they had a couple of notable songs at least.
One such song is "Coffee Ippai no Shiawase"* (A Coffee Cup of Happiness) which was written and composed by Masami Koizumi（小泉まさみ）who wasn't a part of the band although he did have his own folk group called Koizumi Masami & Kongari Toast（小泉まさみ&こんがりトースト...Masami Koizumi & Dark Toast）. It's a wistful and slightly baroque number about a young man sending a letter to a former flame and wondering how she's been doing. The main reminiscence is set around their old haunt of a coffee shop that they used to frequent despite the fact that the guy was no coffee fan.
As for the release year, I've been seeing 1974 and 1976. Belle had participated in the Yamaha Popular Song Contest, so from what I remember of the pattern of songs and bands regarding this competition, the band probably entered the 1974 contest with "Coffee Ippai no Shiawase" and then perhaps the song was released as a single in 1976. However, I will throw in the two years in Labels just to cover all of the bases. It's indeed a pleasant ballad with the harpsichord (I think) and the strings.
The harpsichord is such a nice touch. It makes the song!
ReplyDeleteBelle were a quartet, and I can’t find the members full names anywhere. The only documentation I can find refers to them by their first names: Nao, Tom, Hiro and Takashi. They recorded two albums, Coffee ippai no shiawase in 1974, and Belle 2〜Image Box in 1976.
Unrelated, except maybe thematically, but I am also reminded of another coffee-themed Popcon cult favorite folk song, “Coffee Cup” by April Dancer.
Masami Koizumi was not only a singer-songwriter, but also a talented illustrator: he did the striking covers to Melody Land (his album with Kongari Toast) and Cotton House (his solo debut) as well as Kyoko Kosaka’s 1975 album Kyoko (the one with her big hit “Omoide makura” on it), which he also worked on in a songwriting capacity.
Hi, Mike! Thanks for the additional information on Belle and Koizumi. Yeah, the harpsichord does add a nice touch, and it's an instrument that I've heard for some of these 70s songs all these years.
DeleteI can’t confirm it, but it looks like Koizumi may have been involved with the second Belle album, Image Box, in some capacity. That sure looks like his art style on the cover, anyway!
Deletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlbe73oWryw&t=24s