As I mentioned in the previous article featuring Kiyoshi Hikawa's（氷川きよし）"Koushuuji"（甲州路）, it was quite the emotional roller coaster last night on NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）. It was Hikawa's final time on the program (at least for some time to come) which probably had his fans all misty-eyed. Meanwhile, some minutes later, veteran pop band Stardust Revue（スターダストレビュー）appeared for the very first time on the show, and they gave quite the crowd-pleasing performance which made me wonder why they couldn't get an invitation onto the Kohaku Utagassen.
The performance they gave was "Sugar wa O-Toshigoro" which I think would translate as "It's Time to Marry Sugar" after reading the lyrics of someone head-over-heels in love. This is actually Stardust Revue's debut single from May 1981 and although the original recorded version didn't have the brassy jazz section that last night's performance came with, the rolling boogie jazz influences were still in there along with some rock n' roll, to boot. Some nice harmonies as well.
Written and composed by Stardust Revue vocalist Kaname Nemoto（根本要）with Akira Teshima（手島昭）also helping out on the lyrics, I thought it was an interesting song for a band to debut on considering all of the 50s rock n' roll, City Pop and technopop that was zipping around at the time. However, as I just stated a few lines above, some of that 50s feeling was in "Sugar wa O-Toshigoro" as well.
Hearing the debut single last night, it just kinda cemented my image of Stardust Revue as a band that never stayed within the lines as far as genre was concerned. Nemoto and his group were more than happy to explore any style that provided the good stuff.
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