Tetsuo Sakurai -- Refresh!

 

Happy Hot Monday! Well, it's evident that summer is not done with us yet because we may be seeing the old Humidex reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit any minute now. Can really do with something refreshing like the above can of Max Coffee that I bought in Shin-Okubo, Tokyo back in October 2017. Mind you, the sugar would knock me back to last week.

So, this would be the ideal time and place to show off "Refresh!" by Casiopea（カシオペア）bassist Tetsuro Sakurai（櫻井哲夫）via his debut solo album "Dewdrops" from 1986. Earlier this year, I introduced the final track "Prophet Voyager" and was surprised that it was indeed the final track since it was simply a big fun jam session. I was then intrigued about what the rest of "Dewdrops" sounded like.

Perhaps then it's with some logic that I tackle "Refresh!" since it's the track that launches everything. Instead of the instrumental of "Prophet Voyager", Track No. 1 has lyrics by Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）joining Sakurai's composition of hot and peppery Brazilian that can get any couch potato off their keester. The percussion is just out of this world...thank you, Motoya Hamaguchi（浜口茂外也）! Sakurai is joined on vocals by Kazuo Horiguchi（堀口和男）, Marvin Baker and the late Cindy. The bassist and Yuji Toriyama（鳥山雄司）helped arrange everything. Definitely a nice way to start off an album...and a week.