Sara Takahashi -- Rhapsody（ラプソディー）

 

The above photo is of Marui Department Store in Shibuya. I rather miss that sparkly function on my old Casio camera; it sets the right note for City Pop Fridays on the blog.

At the end of September, I wrote up the first Sara Takahashi（高橋沙羅）article and it was for her second single "Savanna Kankaku"（サバンナ感覚）from March 1981. This was a heady concoction of City Pop, Mood Kayo, and Latin by composer Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロ）, arranger Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）and lyricist Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）.

Well, I also found the B-side which is "Rhapsody". Suzuki and Nakanishi were behind the creation of this song, too, and although I couldn't find definitive proof of it, I'm assuming that Yuming's（ユーミン）husband was the arranger as well. This time, there's no real hint of Mood Kayo and the Latin beat is a bit more subdued though present, especially at the end. However, "Rhapsody" does feel like a City Pop tune with the added presence of sophisti-pop worthy of a stay at the Tokyo Prince. I do get vibes of Quincy Jones via "The Dude" album from the same year and the Manhattan Transfer when I hear this.