Ahhh...special guest cameo by the Doobie Bounce!
I will have to listen to Hiromi Iwasaki's（岩崎宏美）"Love Letter" album from November 1982, especially on realizing that she came up with the lyrics for all of the tracks. That includes her "Tokimeki" (The Throbbing of My Heart). For that matter, I will have to see the album more intently as well since that is a very attractive cover of her holding the dango and cola (I've actually never tried that snack combination; on second thought, maybe I shouldn't)😕. I've always been a sucker for her whenever she appeared with that long hair.
Anyways, getting back to the music, J-Wiki has still categorized "Love Letter" as an aidoru production, but I think that Iwasaki had graduated from that line of kayo years back. And with "Tokimeki", it definitely feels more on the level of an AOR love song as a woman quietly falls in love with a fellow from afar. Composer Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）and arranger Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）bring a dreaminess, accentuated by Iwasaki's simmering vocals and bumped up slightly by that aforementioned Doobie Brothers keyboard riff, to the proceedings as if the lass is always in a cotton-candy fog whenever she sees the target of her affections at a place like a morning market. In fact, I think that fetching cover basically describes "Tokimeki" right there and then.
I don't have any other live performances of this song. However, here she is in the same dress, singing Romance in 1983.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvMtATJS-Ko
With Kaho Shimada in 1988, singing Over the Rainbow.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKy0ih249wQ
I've mentioned before how Soba ni Oite had an earlier life, before its eventual appearance on Dal Segna in 1984, as a concert song from 1980 onwards. I really wanted to hear this earlier version, and Kenji France uploaded one from 1983. She seems to tear up around the 27:15 mark.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUO-iENK7O8&t=1490
Another tidbit. Apparently Rina Chinen sends Hiromi a bouquet on Mother's Day, in memory of her stint as Cosette to Hiromi's Fantine. Since Chinen only played Cosette for one year (2005), I'm guessing that the producers pulled in Hiromi at short notice after Minako Honda pulled out from illness.
Hi, Jim. Thanks for the links as usual. Let's knock on wood and thank heavens that YouTube still has their fair share of Iwasaki videos. I've been noticing that there has been another search-and-destroy round of copyright strikes against other singers' works recently.
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