Akira Terao -- The Stolen Memories

 

Another warm one today. But anyways, good to have you all for a bit of urban contemporary this Friday on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Hope you can stay a while.

If anyone asks me about actor and singer-songwriter Akira Terao（寺尾聰）, I'll always think of his laconic down-home form of City Pop from the early 1980s such as "Shukkou Sasurai" (舟航～SASURAI) among other metropolitan music that he's come up with. So, it's with some fascination when I hear the material from his February 1987 4th album "Standard", especially that opening track, "The Stolen Memories".

Tamami Shaku（釈珠実）came up with the English lyrics for Terao to quickly croon. The words almost seem to describe a story from a sci-fi film noir along the lines of "Blade Runner" as a man tries to remember a woman (and fails) who's left a deep impression but what that impression is escapes him. If a movie had ever been made of this, I think Terao would have been the star for sure.

Composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and guitarist-arranger Tsuyoshi Kon（今剛）were behind the nighttime strutting and plucky melody that feels like a late 1980s City Pop although there is a reminder of where Terao came from, musically speaking, with that wailing electric guitar. For anyone like me who's wondered how the actor/singer would handle another form of City Pop, I can happily lead them to "The Stolen Memories".