MASH -- LOVE

 

The first time that I heard about this group, I couldn't help but be reminded of the old CBS sitcom-turned-dramedy "M*A*S*H" based on the movie which had in turn been based on the 1968 novel by Richard Hooker. I watched the show in its later years when it was far into providing more drama than loony comedy so I had to rely on the nightly reruns on Canadian TV to catch up on the early years.

Browsing through YouTube, I did discover this group MASH and its funky City Pop tune "LOVE". Couldn't have asked for a more genre-specific song for Urban Contemporary Fridays on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" than this one; it's quite the enjoyable romp through the megalopolis. I just had to find out who these guys were.

Well, it wasn't that difficult to find out at least some information about this MASH which had just that one sole album "MASH" from June 1981. According to his profile on J-Wiki, the group was jazz/fusion keyboardist Naoya Matsuoka's（松岡直也）brief project which didn't last too long since the costumes and the sound level were apparently a little too loud for comfort when his group did appear on stage. That was too bad though since it was quite the lineup in MASH with Yumi Murata（村田有美）on vocals, "Ponta" Murakami（村上秀一）on drums, and Matsuoka himself and Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）on keyboards among other famous studio musicians. On the blog "The Listener of Music Media", I also found out that it was Matsuoka behind the melody and Konosuke Fuji（藤公之介）on the lyrics.

I've seen some sites selling the presumably rare "MASH" for somewhere between 5000 and 6000 yen, but Tower Records has some copies at the saner price of 1,430 yen.