Litz Co. -- Aoi Natsu ni Mi wo Makase（青い夏に身をまかせ）

 

Well, let's see...the unofficial start to summer is here represented by our Victoria Day weekend. It's pretty hot and humid which is perfect weather for storms to form. Guess what? We just got walloped by a major line of boomers that earned us a one-hour power outage. But everything is hunky-dory for now.

On that note then, maybe something appropriately summery can begin today's broadcasting day on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Ritsuko Tanaka（田中律子）already has a previous article on KKP through her 8th single "Fried Frustration"（フライドフラストレーション）from November 1990. Today, we have her 11th and final single to date from August 1993 under the name Litz Co., "Aoi Natsu ni Mi wo Makase" (Surrender to the Blue Summer). 

With lyrics by Tanaka herself, the melody was woven by UNI, who is really Michiya Haruhata（春畑道哉）, one of the members from that really summery band TUBE. Indeed, there is something quite TUBE-like with this samba song which was arranged by Takeshi Hayama（葉山たけし）, a fellow who has had plenty of experience with another summery singer Maki Ohguro（大黒摩季）along with a plethora of Being artists including ZARD, WANDS and REV. Come to think of it, "Aoi Natsu ni Mi wo Makase" also sounds somewhat like an Ohguro tune, too. Actually, a number of those artists helped out in the recording with Hayama on guitar, synthesizer and whistle, and Seiichiro Kuribayashi（栗林誠一郎）and Fusanosuke Kondo（近藤房之助）on chorus.

The song was also the ending theme for a TV Asahi drama "Shonan Joshi Ryou Monogatari"（湘南女子寮物語...The Story of Shonan Girls' Dormitory） which had Tanaka in the cast along with the star Yutaka Mizutani（水谷豊）, years from his most recognized role as the wise and urbane detective on the long-running "Aibou"（相棒...Partners）. Ironically, Tanaka's final single was her first single to chart within the Top 100 at No. 93.

I also have the opening theme: "Shonan Memory"（湘南メモリー）by LEON.