Keisuke Kuwata featuring Motoharu Sano, Masanori Sera, Char & Goro Noguchi -- Jidai Okure no Rock 'n' Roll Band（時代遅れのRock'n'Roll Band）

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I heard about this big collaboration among these older singing veterans last year and then of course, they showed up on the Kohaku Utagassen to perform their song. At first, I thought this special group was called the "Jidai Okure no Rock 'n' Roll Band" (An Old-Fashioned Rock 'n' Roll Band) but it was actually their one-and-only single that got the name. For all of us, the group is the quintet of Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）, Motoharu Sano（佐野元春）, Masanori Sera（世良公則）, Char and Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）.

According to J-Wiki, Southern All Stars'（サザンオールスターズ）Kuwata had been looking at the state of the world last year with COVID-19, the Russian invasion of Ukraine and natural disasters inflicting themselves in various countries. He decided to give his old buddy, rock singer Sera, a call and they decided to make a song that would be released as a digital single for charity. They then gathered three other singer-musicians around their age of 66: 70s aidoru Noguchi, singer-songwriter Sano and guitarist Char, and once Kuwata got everything written out, they recorded "Jidai Okure no Rock 'n' Roll Band" for release in May 2022.

To give the proceedings that ol' nostalgic reunion effect, the music video was filmed at a Kanto region high school. Furthermore, joining the five in the video were SAS keyboardist Yuko Hara（原由子）, HOUND DOG's Kohei Otomo（大友康平）on drums, and bassist Hama Okamoto（ハマ・オカモト）. In the actual recording, Makoto Saito（斎藤誠）was helping out on electric guitar and Junichi Soga（曽我淳一）was on electric organ. As for the song itself, it's a gallant and summery rock-and-pop tune which is as comfortable as that once-retired leather jacket being taken out of the deepest corner of the closet as the five sing about getting off one's duff and doing something about the world.

"Jidai Okure no Rock 'n' Roll Band" managed to hit No. 1 on the digital charts with 21,000 downloads in its first week. The single is also available on Kuwata's 4th BEST compilation "Itsumo Dokoka de"（いつも何処かで...Always Somewhere） which was released later in November, also hitting the top of the charts and going Gold. Even before listening to the full version and hearing the hoopla about the song, I definitely got that Traveling Wilburys vibe.