Yumi Matsutoya -- Yuming Banzai!（ユーミン万歳!） (Disc 1)

 

First off, my thanks to my good friend and drummer extraordinaire Hiro Sato for being kind enough to send this over to me. For a Yumi Arai/Matsutoya（荒井由実・松任谷由実）fan of many years and a blogger of Japanese pop music, I just had to acquire her 50th anniversary 3-disc BEST compilation "Yuming Banzai!" (All Hail Yuming!) which came out in October 2022. The Queen of New Music has certainly not been forgotten with this one as it hit No. 1 for two weeks and ended up as the 8th-ranked album of the year on both the CD and digital download fronts with 381,399 albums sold and 18,995 downloads respectively.

Divided into 3 discs, Yuming（ユーミン）decided to jump all over her discography timeline so we get to distinguish how she sounded over that half-century from the 1970s all the way to now. Without further ado, Disc 1 will be our topic for today and to further ramp up the auspiciousness of the occasion, this article will be Number 9500 for "Kayo Kyoku Plus".😀

1. Manatsu no Yo no Yume 真夏の夜の夢 (05:03)

2. Chuo Freeway 中央フリーウェイ (03:40)

3. Dandelion ~ Osozaki no Tanpopo ダンデライオン〜遅咲きのたんぽぽ (04:23)

4. Hikoki Gumo ひこうき雲 (03:25)

5. Midori no Machi ni Mai Orite 緑の町に舞い降りて (4:39)

6. Seishun no Regret 青春のリグレット (3:56)

7. DOWNTOWN BOY (4:01)

8. Hitomi wo Tojite 瞳を閉じて (03:12)

9. Sotsugyo Shashin 卒業写真 (04:14)

10. Saigo no Haru Yasumi 最後の春休み (04:42)

11. Refrain ga Sakanderu リフレインが叫んでる (04:20)

12. Yosoyuki Gao de よそゆき顔で (04:27)

13. Rondo 輪舞曲 (04:38)

14. Surf Tengoku, Ski Tengoku サーフ天国、スキー天国 (04:50)

15. Umi wo Miteita Gogo 海を見ていた午後 (04:06)

16. Jounetsu ni Todokanai 情熱に届かない〜Don't Let Me Go (04:40)

17. Kanna Hachi-go Sen カンナ8号線 (04:49)

Yup, I think that I'm going to pull off the Mother of All Links for this one. Anyways, the links will take you to the songs that have already been covered. I'm quite happy that there are a few that I will have an opportunity to take a look at.

"Midori no Machi ni Mai Orite", which is directly translated into "Descending into a Green Town" but given the official English title of "Ode of Morioka", is an interesting mix of Yuming, Elton John and a country tune thanks to that steel pedal guitar. Originally a track on her December 1979 album "Kanashii Hodo O-Tenki"（悲しいほどお天気...The Gallery in My Heart）, it's a sunny and pleasant song about that short trip to the city of Morioka in Iwate Prefecture and whenever the singer performs there, it's an absolute entry on her playlist.

Just looking at the above thumbnail, I had gotten the impression that Yuming didn't smile a lot in her early years on the album covers, so it was always a definite pleasure seeing her beam those pearly whites. Anyways, the video features her singing "Saigo no Haru Yasumi" which comes from her 7th July 1979 album "Olive". Actually, the song already has representation on KKP since I've already written about the album, and the vocal group Hi-Fi Set（ハイファイセット）has done their cover of the song although at the time.

"Umi wo Miteita Gogo" translates as "The Afternoon I Saw the Sea" but is officially known as "One Afternoon By the Sea". I did hear the Hi-Fi Set cover of the ballad years ago on tape but I've only gotten to know the original by Yumi Arai only recently. A bittersweet and wistful song about love lost, the singer-songwriter references a restaurant known as Dolphin which actually exists in Yokohama and has been patronized by many of Yuming's fans. The song was a track in her 2nd album "Misslim" from October 1974. I'll have to cover the cover someday soon.

"Dawn Purple" was Yuming's 23rd album from November 1991 and it was one sign to me at that time that perhaps my interest in the singer was starting to wane. The songs then didn't really hit me in the usual dependable way with this one but I may have to try and give "Dawn Purple" another chance after so much time has passed. Anyways, the second track there is "Jounetsu ni Todokanai ~ Don't Let Me Go" (Doesn't Reach the Passion) which reflects the sound that Yuming was showing back in the late 80s and early 90s with the banks of synthesizers. I remember that this was one of the songs that I actually did like right off the bat.

Anyways with Disc 1 done, I'll have Disc 2 up next Saturday.