Kyozo Nishioka -- Animal Night

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It's been over two decades since I was last in the Big Apple. Wouldn't mind visiting New York City one more time. I'd like to try the Egg Cream again.

Through the work on this blog, I realized that some Japanese folk artists from the 1970s did make that leap into City Pop of the 1980s. Yet, I was still taken aback when I discovered that had also been the case with folk singer-songwriter Kyozo Nishioka（西岡恭蔵）since the stuff I've had on him up to now was his really folksy discography from the early 1970s. But I guess even he got into the urban contemporary of the times with his 1981 album "New York to Jamaica".

Case in point: one of the tracks is "Animal Night". Composed by Nishioka, written by his wife KURO (I think she's also on background vocals) and arranged by Hirokuni Korekata（是方博邦）, the singer gives his tribute to New York City (she's a funky, sexy and lonely lady) through an intense funk session. Plus, there's some fancy footwork via a piano jazz solo near the end. I wouldn't be surprised if the song and probably the entire album became a tantalizing ad for Japanese tourists to make their way to Manhattan. Of course, as the album title hints, Jamaica can be next on the list.