Ken Shima -- Yakko Ressha（夜行列車）

 

What was one of the famous quotations from "Casablanca", my favourite old Hollywood movie? 

"Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." by Rick Blaine (Humphrey Bogart).

Perhaps replacing that "Louis" with "Minako" may sum up the guy's feelings in this vignette "Yakko Ressha" (Night Train) from the 1986-1988 anime adaptation of "Heart Cocktail"（ハートカクテル）, the ultimate City Pop manga by Seizo Watase（わたせせいぞう）. I couldn't help but get those "Casablanca" vibes and for that matter, vibes from a lot of those old romances. Now I know how a bottle of Suntory, cheese, crackers and almonds can be made adorably lovey-dovey. Nice touch with the old-timey fashion, too.

Jazz pianist and arranger Ken Shima（島健）was responsible for the dreamy urban music for "Yakko Ressha" which could have earned a place on any live-action drama. According to from what I could figure out from the J-Wiki article for "Heart Cocktail", the vignette probably came out in 1987 and the track was a part of Shima's contributions to the show under "Heart Cocktail Vol. 4". Shima took several years to work in the United States with folks like drummer Tony Williams and saxophonist Joe Henderson and returning to Japan in 1986, he's collaborated with Southern All Stars（サザンオールスターズ）, Mika Nakashima（中島美嘉） and Ryoko Moriyama（森山良子）among others.

So far, this is the third entry in the "Heart Cocktail" file on KKP to join Mio Honda（本田美緒）and Tony's Show.

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