Toshiki Kadomatsu -- Night Birds by Shakatak

 

I think that I may have mentioned the British jazz-funk band Shakatak in a past article on KKP, but I rather wish that I had heard about these folks decades earlier since this is the type of music that I would fall for. But better late than never, I always say. Shakatak was founded in 1980 and one of their biggest hits was "Night Birds" which climbed to No. 4 according to the Official Charts Company in the UK in 1982. 

Listening to "Night Birds", I get both day and night images of having some sophisticated fun in some swanky resort, and I think just from this song alone, Shakatak rather sets itself apart in sound from other fusion or AOR bands that I've known including Spyro Gyra and The Square. It's that nimble piano, I believe, that's the key (no pun intended) ingredient.

City Pop maestro Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）spearheaded a project in 1996 and 1997 called VOCALAND which centered around some of the new female singers of the time, although male singers came aboard in the second album produced within the project. All in all, according to J-Wiki, six singles and two albums came about because of VOCALAND.

Well, lo and behold, that first album "VOCALAND" came out in July 1996 with one of the tracks being Shakatak's "Night Birds" with a new vocalist, Tamara Champlin, and some oomphed-up Latin beats. Of course, the original band's William Sharpe and Roger Odell were the songwriters but it was Kadomatsu behind the new arrangement or adornment. I have to say that it was a nice touch of the YouTube channel Hitoemon to put in that driving video since "Night Birds" seems perfect as a song to enjoy while bombing down the Tokyo highways. "VOCALAND" the album peaked at No. 10 on Oricon.