Shiro Sagisu & John J. Stanley -- Let Me Be Myself

 

I'd been seeing composer/arranger/producer Shiro Sagisu's（鷺巣詩郎）name for years before I actually began putting him into the Labels officially, and then noticed that he'd had a huge hand in contributing to some major anison. But there was a further surprise in store on discovering that Sagisu was also in thrall to some of that original City Pop sound at the turn of the decade from the 1970s into the 1980s such as the scintillating "Fly!" from his debut 1979 album "Eyes". And then of course a few years later, there was his time as part of the City Pop group Blend along with music producer and vocalist John J. Stanley, Junko Yagami's（八神純子）husband. As Blend, the group had their one and only album "Intercity Renegade" in 1982.

Now I've found out that even before Blend came about, Sagisu and Stanley had worked together as a duo known logically enough as Sagisu/Stanley with the result being one album, "Sagisu/Stanley". Sagisu's J-Wiki entry states that it was a 1981 release but both YouTuber Marty McFlies v2 and Discogs have placed it as having come out in 1980, so I will go with the latter year. I gotta say that the cover has a rather intense look from Stanley, and from my past remark that the man's delivery is reminiscent of that of Gino Vannelli, I also have to note that he kinda looks like the Canadian singer, too (well, mixed in with a bit of Oscar Isaac). In fact, if I took Stanley's face and put it under Sagisu's hairdo, it could very well be Vannelli himself!

One track is the sharp and cool "Let Me Be Myself" which was written by Stanley and composed by Sagisu. Those are some smart horns bringing us in with the de rigueur boppy bass, and what adds some sophistication to the arrangements is the addition of those sweeping strings. It could also make for a nice theme song to a cop show in Japan circa that time. Considering what Stanley is singing about, the main character of such a show would probably be an especially worn out deep undercover police officer or secret agent getting tired of the game.