Happy Monday and welcome to the first full week of December. Darn balmy in the Greater Toronto Area at 11 degrees Celsius although the equivalent temperature in Tokyo would more than likely elicit plenty of "Brrrrr" from the citizens there.
This particular article for singer GWINKO is so far the earliest song from her discography that I've covered since the ones that I've written about all start from the 1990s. "Gwinko's Christmas Carol" is the first track on her November 1987 single "Sweet Heart", and it's a pretty rousing J-Xmas tune with some Motown soul mixed in like honey into hot chocolate (apologies if that sounds a little too sweet). It's not quite as funky as her later stuff but I think that her own Christmas carol is the type of song that can be heard during the afternoon of December 25th when everyone's back in the house following one intense round of sledding or skating outside just enjoying some of that aforementioned hot chocolate and other holiday sweets. The crazy observation that I have here is that I think GWINKO's vocals sound a bit reminiscent of those of little Michael Jackson in the early 1970s.
The lyrics for "Gwinko's Christmas Carol" were provided by Akane Tsukinogase（月の瀬茜）and the happy melody was composed by Kunio Muramatsu（村松邦夫）from Sugar Babe.
I'm a sucker for picture disks, so I picked up "Sweet Heart" when I got the one from Onyanko Club. Hers is the better of the two. GWINKO also has a Christmas song on the 1991 album "Dance to Christmas," from Yoshiyuki Ohsawa. It's a decent album overall.
ReplyDeleteMorning, Scott. I'll have to check out that "Dance to Christmas" since I saw the title and Ohsawa has come up with some good stuff on his own.
DeleteAnd I think you're right!
ReplyDeleteActually, I think the Michael Jackson comparison is not bad. She debuted when she was 14 and also had a little bit of the wunderkind thing going on. She was singing and dancing energetically. Here is her doing some live performances of songs off her first album, at 14. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bknEcxS-JI
ReplyDeleteMuch of her stuff was taken off YouTube awhile ago, but it seems that it is easier to find her concert footage and other videos now.
14 years of age and she's boogeying like a pro out there! I found out that she was one of the very first students at the Okinawa Actors' School, the same academy that a young Namie Amuro would also attend.
DeleteThe powers-that-be can be very mercurial about what they will allow up and how long they can stay up, but YouTubers have also been quite stubborn and resilient about their favourite singers. :)