Issei Okamoto -- Machi no Seikatsu（街の生活）

 

Seeing that the previous article for Agnes Chan's 1985 "Tasogare Monogatari"（黄昏物語）was concocted by composer Akira Okamoto（岡本朗）, I figure that it's time to bring back one of his old ditties.

(22:15)

Back then, he went by the stage name of Issei Okamoto（岡本一生）and his first representation on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" was through his debut single "Moonlight Singing"（ムーンライト・シンギィング）which was also the title track for his debut album coming out in June 1978. I found another fascinating track on "Moonlight Singing" which is called "Machi no Seikatsu" (City Life).

I call it fascinating since this song to which he provided words and music expresses itself as a hybrid of sorts. The first few seconds show off that City Pop including that representative Fender Rhodes sparkly riff and some sophistication with the strings before "Machi no Seikatsu" then reveals itself with this odd toy-store marching drumbeat and muted horns which sound as if they came off of a Henry Mancini soundtrack. The inclusion of a honey-toned saxophone and a Latin guitar contribute not to a cacophony but a hearty variety of what Okamoto feels is the usual melding of lifestyles in the city. It's what I would find through a day-long walk through Tokyo as partially shown through the thumbnail photo of the Omotesando-Aoyama intersection at the top. Yep, plenty of different things to see and do in the big megalopolis.