LÄ-PPISCH -- Magic Blue Case

 

One of my favourite movies of all time is "Ronin" (1998), which was one of director John Frankenheimer's final movies. A great spy caper movie starring Robert DeNiro, Jean Reno and Natascha McElhone, the plot and the characters all revolve around one little suitcase. What's in it? Who knows and who cares? It is the perfect illustration of that cinematic device known as the MacGuffin, and it was a fun two hours watching everyone stalk and kill each other over it.

For some reason, that was the movie that came to my mind as I listened to LÄ-PPISCH's September 1990 4th single, "Magic Blue Case". Written and composed by vocalist Kyoichi Sugimoto（杉本恭一）, the plot here revolves around a guy who finds a mysterious blue case one day, brings it home and finds himself rich beyond his means, only to find out that there is a fine print of sorts that doesn't bode well for the possessor. At the same time then, the song then reminds me of the tale of young Taro Urashima who brings home that forbidden box from his long time at the Dragon Palace, opens it and ends up older than the hills.

Speaking about the fine print, I should have read a bit more carefully about LÄ-PPISCH since all this time, I'd treated the band merely as a ska group, a la their light and nimble "Payapaya" （パヤパヤ）. However, according to their J-Wiki file, they actually have a much more varied resume as they have performed rock, alternative, New Wave, and funk. Listening to "Magic Blue Case", I get much more in the way of INXS than Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra.