Masahito Arai -- Fuyu no Photograph（冬のフォトグラフ）

 

Just a seasonal photograph of the Mitsukoshi Department Store in Ginza passing through.

I've seen the name of singer-songwriter Masahito Arai（新井正人）from place to place and time to time, but this is the first time that I've included him in the annals of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", so I bid him welcome at last. Arai began his career in 1977, first as the vocalist for the band Diary（ダイアリー）and then in the same position for the vocal group PAL in 1979.

According to his J-Wiki profile, Arai has been involved in anison and City Pop. I can't really speak for that first category here, but his "Fuyu no Photograph" (Winter Photograph) has got some of that urban flavour through the brassy rhythms of the saxophone and then the electric guitar. This is a track on his debut solo album "MASAHITO ARAI" released in October 1987 with the singer behind the music and Akira Kogure（木暮陽）handling the lyrics. Just from the general arrangement and Arai's vocals, I also get some Shogo Hamada（浜田省吾）and perhaps even Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）vibes.

Initially, I'd thought that "Fuyu no Photograph" would be good enough to bring in as a musical harbinger of winter which is just a few days away, but then with the faint jingle bells in the background and Arai's constant reminder of "Holy night", I guess this could also be indeed a Christmas tune. By the way, I really like the design of the album cover for "MASAHITO ARAI", and I've noticed that Arai retained him for some of his other albums. The design does look familiar so if anyone recognizes who the designer is, let us know.