Chu Kosaka -- Yuugata Love（ゆうがたラブ）

 

There was an announcement on YouTuber Purplesound's channel just before I retired for bed (and many thanks for that) last night, and unfortunately, adding onto the surprise news of singer-songwriter Chika Ueda's（上田知華）death several months prior last September, I now have to state that rock singer-songwriter Chu Kosaka（小坂忠）passed away on April 29th at the age of 73 due to cancer. An article from "The Mainichi" gives a brief account.

Although Kosaka's much-lauded solo album "Horo"（ほうろう）from January 1975 was one of the entries listed in my copy of "Japanese City Pop" that I had bought over a decade ago, it was KKP contributor nikala who provided the first article on Kosaka through one of the tracks from "Horo", "Shirakechimauze" (しらけちまうぜ) back in May 2015. She gave a pretty comprehensive history of the singer and his associations with a number of bands such as Apryl Fool（エイプリル・フール）, and I will be talking about that band later today.

That Mainichi article noted that "Horo" is seen as one of the masterpieces of soul music in Japan, so I don't think that my comments here will quite do any justice to this track from the album, "Yuugata Love" (Sunset Love), but I still wanted to pay my tribute and respects to Kosaka today. Written by Eika Koh（高叡華）and composed by Kosaka with arrangement by good buddy Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, "Yuugata Love" sounds like a day-in-the-life of a fellow in Tokyo accompanied by gobs of funk, rock and blues in their honky-tonk goodness. The lyrics by Koh seem to be a premonition of the NEET phenomenon in the nation as the guy saves Sunday for his gal, but for half the week, it's hanging out at the cinema while the other half is taken up by his part-time job in a perpetual cycle.

Still, just judging from the strut and shuffle of the melody, it doesn't look like the guy is too troubled by his life. Although it's a bit of a reach, I'd almost say that "Yuugata Love" would be the ideal theme for Snoopy's Joe Cool character if he were living in Japan's capital. Hey, things are Tokyo copacetic with him! In another reach, I'm not sure whether Kosaka had meant it to sound as such, but "Yuugata Love" also sounds like "You Gotta Love".

I can understand the love given for "Horo". Reading through the list of players for the album, that is one impressive group of people behind Kosaka. Hosono (along with Kosaka) not only produced "Horo" but he gave a hand on bass, Tatsuo Hayashi（林立夫）provided percussion, Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）was on guitar, the keyboards were manned by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）and Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）, and the background vocals consisted of Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）, Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）and Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）.

My condolences to Kosaka's family, friends and fans.