Seri Ishikawa/Yoshitaka Minami -- Midnight Love Call

 

Aw, Jiminy Cricket! Why not break the record? I've still got 35 minutes before we reach October 1st. Welcome to Article No. 101!

I couldn't have asked for a more relaxing way to end September on KKP and a more appropriate way in terms of the title since we are approaching 12:00 am. "Midnight Love Call" is a nice laidback tune made for singer Seri Ishikawa（石川セリ）by lyricist Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）and composer Yoshitaka Minami（南佳孝）who also worked on the lyrics. It is a track on Ishikawa's June 1977 album "Kimagure"（気まぐれ...Whimsy） and as the song title says, it's all about a lady calling the love of her life on the old-fashioned dial phone near the witching hour...or under the circumstances, I ought to say bewitching hour. Very nice percussion and guitar for that bossa nova.

A few years later in 1980, Minami released his album "Montage" in May which included his cover of "Midnight Love Call". The underlying rhythm isn't bossa nova this time, but more of a sunnier reggae beat. Masaaki Omura（大村憲司）took care of the arrangement, and the guys from Yellow Magic Orchestra were helping out although I would hardly say that Minami's cover is a technopop piece. But indeed, it's Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）on keyboards, Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）on bass and Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）on drums. Considering the song's feel here, the setting doesn't involve two bedrooms in different apartments but one end of the call coming from a late-night Tiki bar.

Lucky 13 today and tonight. And I'm finally calling it a night.