Eikichi Yazawa -- Aegean Sea（エイシャン・シー）

 

So I now take it that Judy Ongg no longer has complete control of the Aegean Sea because of her "Miserarete"（魅せられて）? She's gotta share now.

My jocularity stems from the fact that up to now, Ongg was the only kayo kyoku singer that I knew who referred to the Aegean in her famous 1979 hit. But that's over now. Why? Well, rocker Eikichi Yazawa（矢沢永吉）has a song that has the sea as its very title in his July 1986 album "Tokyo Night"（東京ナイト）.

But Yazawa's "Aegean Sea" doesn't have the exotic feeling of romance and adventure that "Miserarete" has. It's a contemplative musical musing on a romance that ended perhaps abruptly at the titular site, and hopefully nothing truly tragic occurred there. Despite the setting, there's something about the song that kinda straddles the line between pop and City Pop in terms of the arrangement and instrumentation, thanks to Yazawa himself. Kyozo Nishioka（西岡恭蔵）came up with the rain-soaked lyrics; I only wrote about him last Friday though his "Animal Night". The one thing that I like to know is who does that haunting female backing voice belong to.

"Tokyo Night" has been categorized as a rock album and considering who's behind it, I wouldn't blame the person who made that decision, but I think that "Aegean Sea" has more of the urban contemporary vibe to it. On the track list, "Aegean Sea" is followed by the rambunctious and more famous "Tomaranai HA~HA" (止まらないHA～HA), so I gather that after some commiseration by the rail of the cruise ship, Yazawa returned to the Lido Deck for some partying. I didn't mention it on that article but "Tokyo Night" was a Top 10 hit by peaking at No. 5. It was also co-produced by Yazawa and Andrew Gold.