Moonriders + Nanako Sato -- Radio Moon and Roses 1979Hz

 

I've already mentioned the fact in the last few days on Twitter, but as I was scrolling down "The Japan Times" online, I found an article titled "Nanako Sato brings back the groove of a bygone era" dated August 22nd, 2022. In it, the singer-songwriter（佐藤奈々子）that I had first discovered in the pages of "Japanese City Pop" related her surprise reunion with a spate of songs that she had recorded live with the rock band the Moonriders（ムーンライダーズ）in a radio station studio back in 1979 via a long-lost CD that was passed onto her via acquaintances. Those songs have now been placed into an album titled "Radio Moon and Roses 1979Hz" which was earlier in August on CD and Spotify. It consists of songs that both Sato and the Moonriders recorded in their respective earlier works; for Sato, her songs came from her 1977 album "Pillow Talk", while for the Moonriders, their tunes originated from the following albums: their 1976 "Hinotama Boy"（火の玉ボーイ...Fireball Boy）, "Istanbul Mambo" from 1977, and "Nouvelles Vague" from 1978.

By the way, "The Japan Times" allows unsubscribed readers to go through an entire article just once unscathed before they stop you from reading a second time so that you can set up an account with them. So, unless you are interested in getting a subscription with the newspaper, get to the article that one time and do a copy-and-paste if you plan to peruse it more than once.

I'll cover about half the album since I don't want to steal all of your spirit of adventure in exploring this fascinating set of eight tracks, although I may decide to check out some of those other songs in future individual articles. Let's begin with the first song "Swimmer"（スイマー）which was originally on the aforementioned "Nouvelles Vague". Written and composed by vocalist Keiichi Suzuki（鈴木慶一）, it's a hit-the-surf-running tune in this version as it takes on the rock side of New Music, and especially with Moonrider Masahiro Takekawa（武川雅寛）going off on his violin, I thought things were pretty progressive rock or progressive pop. If I've read the lyrics correctly, the song is about comparing getting into the love game with trying to swim through turbulent waters.

Nanako Sato is on the lead here as she purrs her own "Coin Laundry"（コインランドリー）which originated from her "Pillow Talk" LP. Sato took care of words and music along with her boyfriend at the time, Motoharu Sano（佐野元春）, also helping out on the melody. With all of the tracks coming from previous albums, I'm interested in hearing them all on those records, but I'm especially intrigued by "Coin Laundry" which may be the sexiest tune about a clothes-washing establishment ever made. I have to check out the original version, but I'm already sold on the song as-is here on "Radio Moon", thanks to the 1970s City Pop "haze" synthesizer effect, the jazziness of it all, and Sato's breathy bedroom vocals (plus Takekawa's violin) which has me thinking this as a Fashion Music piece. Mind you, instead of her draped on a grand piano, she must be lying on top of a Maytag.

"Black Pepper Jealousy"（ブラックペッパー・ジェラシー）is also from Sato's "Pillow Talk" and has Sato and Sano working on this one as well. It's not only got more of a tropical paradise feeling, but it sounds like a number that Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）and Tin Pan Alley（ティン・パン・アレー）would have shaken up like some cocktail at a Tiki bar. By the way, Sato's thank yous and introductions are very appealingly distracting.

The final track on "Radio Moon and Roses 1979Hz" is "Jub Up Family" (ジャブ・アップ・ファミリー), a song which got its KKP article all the way back in March 2013, thanks to contributor nikala. Armed with a truly Devo-esque music video and a New Wave spirit that predated the genre by a couple of years, this was one bizarrely fun song to first hear. As performed on "Radio Moon", "Jub Up Family" takes on more of a Gypsy Jazz and Hosono tropical feeling once more as even Sato gets involved in this lyrical fight between a married couple.

By no means is my selection here a representation of my favourite tracks. I think that all of the tracks are great and would like to read some of your comments about the above and the ones that I have yet to talk about. "Radio Moon and Roses 1979Hz" is a wonderful discovery by me and a delightful re-discovery for Sato and presumably the Moonriders themselves. It's always nice to unearth some long-lost treasure.