Monta & Brothers -- Akai Umbrella（赤いアンブレラ）

 

This is the first Monta & Brothers（もんた&ブラザーズ）article that I've written since "Dancing All Night" nine years ago although leader Yoshinori Monta（門田頼命）has shown up on the pages of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" a number of times but just under that his own name. Whenever I hear the name Monta & Brothers though, it's always going to be Monta's rasping voice with the funky uptempo "Dancing All Night", the band's debut single in April 1980, that comes to mind.

And that is why Monta & Brothers' second single, "Akai Umbrella" (The Red Umbrella), is quite the left turn here. Released half a year after "Dancing All Night", it's the emotion-drenched (and perhaps rain-drenched considering the title) story of love broken forever where the howling winds during a storm feel less stinging than the sight of the former love's tears trailing down. If that sounds a tad florid, have a listen to the melody by Monta himself which takes on the epic downfall of a Greek tragedy, and the singer's ragged vocals complement the emotional breakdown in "Akai Umbrella". Taeko Tsugao/Togao（栂尾多恵子）provided the lyrics.

I couldn't find any scenes or trailer for the movie on YouTube, but apparently according to the J-Wiki article on Monta & Brothers, "Akai Umbrella" was used as an insert song on the 1985 Japanese movie "Love Hotel"（ラブホテル）. However, there is a Wikipedia article on the flick.