KEDGE -- Complete Samples (Follow-Up)

 

Happy Saturday! Another cold start to the weekend and a few more centimetres of snow on the ground, but at least it's sunny out there. Still, I'm happy to be here inside working on the blog as usual.

From Discogs

Almost four years ago, I was surprised to encounter this album titled "Complete Samples" which got its release in 1988. First off, the tracks that I was exposed to were darn catchy in the synthpop sense, and secondly, the duo behind the music, KEDGE, had a very young Tomita Lab（冨田ラボ）, aka Keiichi Tomita（冨田恵一）, as one of the two members while lyricist-singer Naoko Sugimoto（杉本直子）was the other one. It was most definitely quite the revelation since I'd been accustomed to the smooth groove and soul of Tomita Lab's subsequent works many years later as compared to the techno perkiness of the KEDGE tracks on "Complete Samples".

I just had to include the photo of the younger Tomita and Sugimoto via Fondsound since I'd never seen KEDGE in the flesh before. Of course, as a disclaimer, if Fondsound comes across this article and doesn't appreciate the inclusion of the photo, they can let me know so that I can take it down.

(4:40)

Now with that first article on "Complete Samples" which, I assume, had all of its tracks composed by Tomita and written by Sugimoto, I put up only three of the tracks so it was actually an incomplete sample of "Complete Samples". So for today, I hope to take care of the remaining six tracks on this most distinct album. We can start off with Track 2, "Merry-Go-Round"（メリーゴーランド）, a very Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）French song of elegance with the synthesizers and piano that mellows things right down after the supremely poppy opener of "Chime". I thought at one point that "Merry-Go-Round" could have made for a nice contemplative ballad in a musical.

(refer to 8:30 in the above video)

I recall the Art of Noise making a similar song with this propulsive dance beat and the callout chorus. This is Track 3 "It's So Easy". Mind you, I'm not sure whether Tomita had meant it to be a dance tune, and there are some rather fascinating tangents coming off the melody with perhaps some influences as varied as Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）and Howard Jones, both of whom I've compared to each other in the similarities of their voices. The other fascinating thing about "It's So Easy" comes from the credits on Discogs since one of the backup singers was identified as Sachiko Suzuki（鈴木早智子）, and when I pressed on her link, it led me to the Sachiko Suzuki of Wink.

Judging from the thumbnail above, I gather that "Rolling Like A Heaven" was released as a KEDGE single with the lovely "Sosutenuto"（ソステヌート）as the B-side. It's a somewhat more pensive technopop tune approaching the YMO home world with that shimmering synthesizer aural wall sounding like it could have been concocted by The Professor himself. At one point, Sugimoto even goes into a Blondie-like rap although I'm fairly sure that she isn't talking about eating cars.

"Rondo"（ロンド）has listeners join KEDGE on a strange and slightly trippy waltz. Not being a classical music expert, I discovered that the most famous example of a rondo is Beethoven's "Fur Elise". "Rondo" by KEDGE though feels slightly like going through Dr. Strange's first trip through the multiverse thanks to The Ancient One in a playful and somewhat mean-spirited mood. However, the pace is considerably more genteel and reminiscent of PSY-S.

"Fushigi na Shinnyusha"（不思議な侵入者...Mysterious Intruder） is one of the more upbeat tunes and the closest to straight summertime pop on "Complete Samples". Not sure what the connection is between that ominous title and what is a very bubbly happy-go-lucky song, but the remarkable thing about Sugimoto here as she sings this one is how her vocals alternate between the aforementioned Ohnuki and any 80s aidoru. Another interesting point is how Tomita ends "Fushigi na Shinnyusha" with repeated phrasings of the refrain as if it were the end of an old American variety program or game show. I can hear the announcer saying "Thanks for joining us tonight! We'll see you again next week!".

The final track, "Gate to the Mood", is neither a ballad nor an uplifting song but is a mid-tempo instrumental being set in a techno tropical paradise. Again, I'm drawn to Tomita's arrangement because of the key shifts as if he's trying to bring in some story of intrigue along the lines of a Hollywood adventure of the 1940s or 1950s. But yes, I'm trying to keep aware that this is a synthpop finale to a fascinating and rare (and probably very expensive) album.

I mentioned Fondsound earlier and the site has its own article on "Complete Samples" which you should also take a gander at.