Asami Kado -- Kibun wa Mou Menthol（気分はもうメンソール）

 

Although the usual period during the 24-hour cycle that City Pop evokes is early evening into night, I have encountered some songs that bring up memories of the early morning hours just when the sun is about to peek out. So it is with Asami Kado's（門あさ美）"Kibun wa Mou Menthol" (Feel Like a Menthol Cigarette) which is the lead track on her July 1982 fourth album "Hot Lips".

Written and composed by Kado with arrangement by jazz musician Naoya Matsuoka（松岡直也）, the story is established even before the first note is played when a woman leaves a hotel in the wee hours but not before she leaves a message for her date from the night before who is probably sleeping it off upstairs. Meanwhile, the front desk clerk is probably rolling his eyes and thinking "Ah yes, it's Saturday, isn't it?".

Well, that last part is my own concoction but please allow me to be a bit snarky before the weekend. In any case, "Kibun wa Mou Menthol" is, I think, all about the hopefully amicable understanding of the one-night stand or maybe the well-established weekly tryst with the lady taking off in the taxi. As she does so, she's appreciating the freshness of the morning air equating it with the cool inhalation of that menthol cigarette. She can now slough off the sordid but fun hijinks of the previous night and look forward to the new day with a feeling of refreshment as the breeze flows in through the rear window.

The melody by Kado is just as light and airy and still has that feeling of being in the city. Keyboards and strings bring out that AM sensation, and in terms of singers, I think of folks like Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）and Ami Ozaki（尾崎亜美）. I would also like to give my compliments to the guitarist for the solo, whether it be Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）, Akira Wada（和田アキラ）or Takayuki Hijikata（土方隆行）. "Hot Lips" peaked at No. 10 on the Oricon album charts.