Friday, January 27, 2023

Kantaro Yamamoto -- Silver Sweet Heart(シルバー・スイート・ハート)

 

Kantaro Yamamoto(山本寛太郎)is a singer-songwriter who was active from the late 1970s into the early 1980s, hailing from Shizuoka Prefecture. He already has one entry in "Kayo Kyoku Plus" but only as a composer for THE GOOD-BYE's 1983 hit "Kimagure One-Way Boy"(気まぐれOne Way Boy). 


However, as mentioned above, he also did his share of singing and up to 1982, he released 7 singles and 1 album. Yamamoto's 3rd single was the comfy "Silver Sweet Heart" released in 1979. Written and composed by the singer with Kazuo Shiina(椎名和夫)arranging the song, I had wondered whether this would actually come under the City Pop banner although I certainly labeled it as New Music. It's also got some classy bossa nova, and then I figured if I could do the same thing for similarly Latin-tinged songs such as Junko Yagami's(八神純子)"Omoide no Screen" (思い出のスクリーン)and Keiko Maruyama's(丸山圭子)"Douzo Kono Mama" (どうぞこのまま), well, I can also give the City Pop tag to the caipirinha-friendly "Silver Sweet Heart". By the way, I have to point out that Yamamoto has got quite the handsome visage along the lines of Akira Fuse(布施明). Yamamoto's voice isn't a boomer though...more of a soothing croon.

Yamamoto seemed to be dormant for several years away from the music industry but then started up a band called OPCELL with two other people in 1995. I'll have to talk about that band shortly.

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