Anri -- COOOL

 

Last night, I decided to pull up an Anri（杏里）disc and listen to that for the first time in a while. It was her 7th original album "COOOL" from June 1984. As I was going through the tracks for this last of three Anri-Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）collaborative efforts in the 1980s (the previous two being "Bi-Ki-Ni" and "Timely!!"), I wondered whether I had actually devoted time and space on the blog to "COOOL" as an album article. 

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Well, scrollling down the Anri file, I discovered to my chagrin that I hadn't touched it at all. Mind you, I did cover one track, the lovely "I Can't Ever Change Your Love For Me" that I actually first heard on one of her BEST compilations, "The Anri", years before I finally got my copy of "COOOL". But that's no excuse! I'd covered the incredible "Timely!!" all the way back in 2016 but didn't bother with the succceeeding album! Not coool and goood, J-Canuck!😡

I must rectify this situation as quickly as possible, and by the way, I will limit the runnning gag of triple letters just to the above paragraph (alas, allow me just one more above). Let's begin with the first two songs, "Bring Me To The Dancenight" and "Gone With The Sadness" with producer/arranger Kadomatsu creating the former while Anri handled the latter. Judging the smooth transfer between songs, I gather that the two were produced to form Siamese twin tracks.

And what do you know? I did write about "Bring Me To The Dancenight" back in 2017 after all, but I had assumed that it was all of that song without considering "Gone With The Sadness". But I digress. "Bring Me To The Dancenight" is all about painting the town red at the Tokyo disco downtown while "Gone With The Sadness" has a bit more of that feeling of a dramatic drive on the Kan-Etsu, perhaps after tripping the light fantastic.

If I'm not mistaken, JTM gave his two cents on the album through his article on "The Anri" and the third track "Ki Mama ni Reflection"（気ままにREFLECTION...Carefree Reflection） which also served as Anri's 15th single from the same month of release for "COOOL". However, putting in my own comments here, "Ki Mama ni Reflection" is a slice of straight pop about two lovers enjoying themselves although they already have other dancing partners, if you know what I mean. There is that hint of danger and drama in the melody and arrangement provided by Daisuke Inoue and Jun Sato（井上大輔・佐藤準） plus Yoshiko Miura's（三浦徳子）lyrics. 

I would have thought that the song was the ideal theme for a J-Drama about all sorts of sordidness in the entertainment districts of Tokyo, but it actually was a commercial jingle for yakisoba. "Ki Mama ni Reflection" hit No. 7 on Oricon and finished the year as the 78th-ranked single for 1984.

"Silly City Girl" is a nice summery boogie shuffle by Kadomatsu with some of that beefy bass and a battery of synthesizers. It's barely three minutes of a story of a young metropolitan lass hiding behind cosmetics and attitude finding fun and love everywhere but perhaps needing something more substantial. For some reason, I keep thinking of actress Reese Witherspoon in her role of Elle Woods in "Legally Blonde" if she had actually decided to work in Japan as an English teacher when this song pops up. Go figure.

Light, breezy, and yes, morning-like adorns "Morning Highway", written and composed by singer-songwriter Yuuho Iwasato（岩里祐穂）. With a hint of bossa nova mixed in with that 80s City Pop/J-AOR, "Morning Highway" does sound like a contemporized version of a 1970s kayo that takes things out of the nightclub and puts them into the driver's seat of a convertible racing out to the beaches in the wee hours.

The driving City Pop continues with "Surprise of Summer", once again by Kadomatsu, and I think that guitar lick in the middle is a truly Kadomatsu thing. The car ride is definitely in the 1980s again right on the Bayside Highway. Anri's voice is in especially fine fettle here, and it wouldn't be a summer City Pop tune without some brass including a warm honeyed sax solo.

Another Kadomatsu trope? That funky bass, of course! And there's plenty of it in "Flashin' Night", a track of fun and suspense as it sounds like a young callow woman has hit the dance floor and may have even discovered love.

"Mercury Lamp ~ Suigin Tou"（水銀燈...which indeed means a mercury lamp） is a laidback breakup song written by Susumu Kishi（岸進）and composed by Kimikazu Uetake（植竹公和）. Uetake has been a music composer but according to his J-Wiki file, he has been mostly a broadcast writer for various game shows and variety programs on a number of stations such as TBS and Fuji-TV. "Mercury Lamp" is listed as one of his more notable compositions, and it's got that sunset City Pop ballad vibe, so my compliments to him. For that matter, Anri's voice is a bit different here...slightly huskier and whispery.

"He's My Music" was written and composed by Anri, and it's also an enjoyably mellow tune about a woman head-over-heels with a guy and just enjoying every moment with the lucky fellow. Heck, he even loves sipping Brown Cows, my favourite cocktail!  There's something about the keyboard work in this one that has me thinking of Al Jarreau and Quincy Jones from the early 1980s.

The original final track is "Maui", also created by Anri, which continues the romance in the titular setting. Once again, her vocals take on a lower and more velvety tone. The rhythm section reminds me of some 70s light funk.

The remastered version of "COOOL" finished up with a bonus track which had been originally the B-side to the single "Ki Mama ni Reflection". Once again, written and composed by the singer, "Share ~ Ai wo Futari de"（S・H・A・R・E〜愛をふたりで〜...Two For Love）, the song is more proof that folks ought to never ignore those B-sides; it's a marvelous song of romance. Wistful, summery and filled with hints of David Foster feeling, "Share" is enhanced by those strings and a piercing trumpet solo. And I have got to say that is one splendid cover photo of the single for "Ki Mama ni Reflection".

"COOOL" was released just on the cusp of summer, perfect timing as far as this album was concerned. And it did pretty well by peaking at No. 5 on Oricon.