Kojiro Shimizu -- Stormy Love

 

Several months ago, I wrote about actor/singer Kojiro Shimizu's（清水宏次朗）"Merry Go Round", a track from his December 1991 album "Mind Breeze". It was quite the snazzy City Pop tune with all of the tight horns and the like and I got all sorts of Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）and Anri（杏里）vibes from it. 

Now, let's go all the way back to his October 1984 debut album, "Abandon", under that name of Kojiro Shimizu which is actually his real name (he'd recorded two albums previously in 1981 under the name Koji Take). One of the tracks there is "Stormy Love", a somewhat more laidback and groovier City Pop tune. I think hearing his vocals here has me comparing them to those of a male aidoru, and a talented one, to boot. "Stormy Love" also comes armed with some big songwriters: lyricist and R&B queen Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）and composer Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロ）.

In a way, I've heard two examples from opposite ends of his music spectrum, so it would be interesting to hear his progression in this area. Quite a few albums to explore between 1984 and 1991.