Yumi Matsutoya -- Tears and Reasons

 

From Tower.jp

Scrolling down the Labels on the right side of the page, I do believe that out of all of the singer-songwriters, Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）has the largest amount of entries at 142. Well, today will also include her 143rd article that is about her 24th album from November 1992, "Tears and Reasons". I've bought her later albums and have enjoyed her hit singles past the above date, but personally "Tears and Reasons" has been the final studio album in her discography timeline that I've enjoyed heavy rotation play, so it's been her first 20 years that have been the most precious to me.

The first track is "Mugen no Naka no Ichido"（無限の中の一度 -Once In an Eternity-）. I recall in an interview with Yuming's（ユーミン）husband and keyboardist, Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）, that he said that he now kinda regrets going a little heavy on the synthesizers in the late 80s and early 90s with her albums, and perhaps that might be true. However, I was impressed with this one since it actually has a little House in the rhythm (and I know that Yuming has been more than happy to sample some of the musical trends of the times) to spice things up. Plus in the recorded version, I believe that Jerry Hey and his horns did come to supply some of their organic brass. Of course, the singer took care of words and music for this one and for all of the tracks, with "Mugen no Naka no Ichido" giving some pop-filled hope of two lonely people not being lonely anymore after having that fateful meeting. The song was also used for a Kirin Lager beer ad.

(cover version)

The second track is "Sapphire no Ku-gatsu no Yuugata"（サファイアの9月の夕方 -Sapphire Blue September Evening Sky-）which took a little longer for it to rub off on me but it's alright by me now. It is a very upbeat pop-rock tune featuring Tim Pierce on electric guitar and what I hadn't known was that the song was inspired by the picturesque night sky overhanging the famous observatory at Los Angeles' Griffith Park.

One song that did hit it off with me immediately was "Hitomi wa Doshaburi"（瞳はどしゃ降り -Teardrops In the Rain-）that rather takes the music back to yesteryear during the original City Pop (maybe even Airplay) era. Although in the concert footage, it's the synthesizers doing the work, back on the album the song is supported by the Hey horns which makes it even lovelier. There's also some jazziness that almost demands an old hoofer to do some softshoe on the stage.

(cover version)

"Misty China Town" is another favourite track on "Tears and Reasons" for the fact that it sounds like the whimsical music for a travelogue for a naïve but good-hearted fellow walking through the Chinatown of Yokohama, Kobe or Nagasaki. Although the concert performance above has a piano and another keyboard doing the brief instrumental bridge, the original version has Kenji Nishiyama（西山健治）providing a wonderful trombone solo. I can imagine the fellow doing the tour after a mighty rain has fallen in the area and a fog has enveloped everything.

One major reason that I decided to do the "Tears and Reasons" article is that yesterday I covered Reimy's（麗美）"R" album from 1984, and it was from that album that I discovered that Yuming's song "Koi no Ichiji-kan wa Kodoku no Sen-nen"（恋の一時間は孤独の千年...An Hour of Love Means a Thousand Years of Loneliness） had originally been created for Reimy. For me though, this samba-infused song first hit my ears through Yuming's cover on this album, and as I mentioned in the Reimy article, I prefer the cover. According to the J-Wiki article on "Tears and Reasons", Yuming had first actually sung this one at a Zushi concert back in 1987.

I was able to track down the music video for the final track "Carry On" from Yuming's own YouTube channel. As would be the case for a final album track, the song is a ballad about having faith in someone always marching and fighting and carrying on. Considering the lyrical theme, it's no surprise then that "Carry On" was used as the ending theme for the NHK sports news broadcasts in 1992. To be honest, though, I was never all that keen on Yuming looking like an extra from a "Mad Max" movie in the video or on the cover.

One song from "Tears and Reasons" that I have already covered is "Fuyu no Owari"（冬の終わり）. Oh dear, though. I did mention in that 2013 article that I would cover this album in short order. Well, it's almost 9 years later, but my excuse is that most of the tracks weren't even up on YouTube back then. In any case, "Tears and Reasons" was another chart-topping hit for Yuming and it became the 5th-ranked album for 1993 breaking the million barrier.