KAZZ -- Movin' Groovin' (Album)

Hi, I am HRLE92, a new author of this blog. I run a Youtube channel called "Island Fantasia" to upload music. If you like city pop, AOR, or jazz, you might find something interesting there.

"Movin' Groovin'” is the first album released by Japanese singer-songwriter Kazuyuki Kawakami (川上和之) in the name of KAZZ in 1992. It was produced by Koichi Fujita, who was in charge of producing the majority of Omega Tribe and Momoko Kikuchi albums. Tetsuji Hayashi (林哲司), Kaori Nishina (仁科かおり), Koichi Fujita (藤田浩一), KAZZ, and a mysterious songwriter named Happo were in charge of composing the music. Keizo Nakamura (中村圭三), Ken Shiguma (志熊研三), and Hiroshi Shinkawa (新川博) are in charge of the arrangement. (For detailed credits, please see the Discogs page.)

After taking a look at the album credits, the musicians on the album immediately remind me of Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe (KSOT). Out of the 8 names mentioned previously, 4 were involved in the creation of at least one of KSOT's albums. This is why I asked the listeners “Have you imagined what kind of music S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe would release if they were never disbanded?” in the descriptions of the two songs I uploaded to Youtube. 

The themes of the album are similar to that of the KSOT's albums, which is basically seaside and love affair. The sound of the whole album gives me an image of a windy beach in the afternoon. I think the arrangers really tried to fuse the western trend at the time into their works when sticking to the general concept of a “seaside city pop” album. For example, the drum patterns in the song “Speed of Life” were clearly influenced by the New Jack Swing trend at the time. 

Out of the 9 tracks on the album, I especially recommend the 3rd, 4th, 6th, and 7th tracks. By my standards, they are the best ones on this album. However, other tracks are definitely not bad. I think if you enjoy Omega Tribe's music, you would also enjoy this album.

Overall, I think the composers, producer, and arrangers did a great job in creating “Movin' Groovin'”. Its intended theme was delivered well, the songs sound very nice to me, everything is right with this album. But when it was released, the market did not agree. 

From 2015 to 2021, the physical CD of this album only showed up on Yahoo Auctions 4 times. It is obvious that the public did not like this album too well, and it ended up being one of the rarer city pop CDs. My theory for the commercial failure is that the style of the album is too old compared to other, more popular 90s city pop albums. If you listen to other city pop albums from the 90s, you would find “Movin' Groovin'” to be very different from them. It was released in the 90s, yet half of it sounds like it was from the 80s, and the market was not willing to buy something that sounds old. Besides that, some of the melodies are also too hard for the general public to appreciate. Some songs do not feel very “comfortable” to listen to for a person who does not get the point of the album. 

When “Movin' Groovin'” did not capture people's hearts upon its first release, under the current resurgence of city pop music, it is probably going to get more exposure and appreciation. That is what I hoped when I uploaded the video.

Two pages from the album booklet. Scanned by me. 

Associated links:

- Discogs link to album: https://www.discogs.com/KAZZ-Movin-Groovin/release/16564773

- KAZZ's Twitter account: https://twitter.com/KAZZCAFE?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

- A playlist that consists of more of KAZZ's music: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg_HqxwT_GA&list=PL_ITOztUccVw0Z0PNGgijt8ViBnGQNin1

- KAZZ's official webpage: http://kazzcafe.air-nifty.com/

Thanks for reading!