Momoko Kikuchi -- Again

 

I was talking with fellow KKP co-administrator Marcos V. the other day and he informed me about a couple of albums that have come down the pipe recently. One is Perfume's "Plasma" which he will cover in a future article.

The other album is a surprising blast from the past. On July 27th, 1980s aidoru and City Pop chanteuse Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）released a compilation album of a number of her old urban contemporary tunes which have undergone remastering. Called "(The) Shadow (Of Momoko's Smile)", the release also contains a couple of new songs which begin and end the album.

The final song is "Kiseki no Uta"（奇跡のうた...Miracle Song） but the one that is featured here in this article is "Again" which starts off "Shadow". Created by a couple of old masters, lyricist Masao Urino（売野雅勇）and composer/arranger Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, "Again" has a shadow of that City Pop but I think that it's a bit more on the spacey side with those synthesizers so I tend it to hear it also as a technopop tune, but I'm not complaining. It's also nice to hear Momoko's whispery voice once again in 2022.

A couple of reasons that I'm putting up "Again" tonight along with the fact that it is J-Urban Contemporary Friday on KKP is that I'm hoping that Kikuchi is resting up nicely after her recent accident of cracking a bone in her pelvis. In addition, composer Hayashi will be celebrating his 73rd birthday tomorrow. All my best to the both of them!