Yutaka Mizutani -- Harbor Light（はーばーらいと）

 

When it comes to thespian Yutaka Mizutani（水谷豊）on TV, there will be his most famous role as the urbane detective Ukyo Sugishita（杉下右京）on the long-running "Aibou"（相棒）series. As a singer, he will probably be recognized for his 5th single "California Connection"（カリフォルニア・コネクション）from 1979.

But let's start off Urban Contemporary Fridays on KKP with something that's not quite in the City Pop vein but it still has some pangs of city life in there. Mizutani began his recording career with a debut single titled "Harbor Light" which was released in July 1977, just before his 25th birthday. Incidentally, this has nothing to do with Boz Scaggs' ballad, "Harbor Lights", from his 1976 "Silk Degrees" album.

Nope, this was made in Japan with Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）as the lyricist, Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）as the composer and Jun Sato（佐藤準）handling the arrangements. And it sounds like a song that should have belonged to a Japanese cop show with the star pensively walking the streets of Tokyo at night. Lyrically, it's all about the most atmospheric breakup situation, and vocally, Mizutani seems to have been channeling quite a bit of Inoue. Not sure if the song actually helped the budding young actor get some of those cop roles.👮