Seiko Matsuda -- Sukoshi Zutsu Haru（少しずつ春）

 

Happy Monday! Well, it's more of a Happy-and-still-slightly-sleepy Monday for me, so I'm starting this week of KKP with a nice idol glass of orange juice. To wit, as a fan of the 80s aidoru scene, I've always cherished the discography of Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）up to the point that she got married in the mid-1980s although there are still a few songs afterwards that I still like. 

However, I have a special place in my ears and heart for the very early Seiko, circa 1980 and 1981. At that point, she still didn't have that light and breezy voice that all of her fans have known. Back then, the aidoru possessed a slightly lower, raspier and for the lack of a better word, rawer, voice which I still appreciate. 

I heard that especially in "True Love", the B side of her July 1980 2nd single, "Aoi Sangoshou"（青い珊瑚礁）and I also hear that in "Sukoshi Zutsu Haru" (A Little Bit of Spring) which was the B-side for her 4th single, "Cherry Blossom"（チェリー・ブラッサム）that was released in January 1981. As with "Aoi Sangoshou", the sprightly "Sukoshi Zutsu Haru" was created by lyricist Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）, composer Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）and arranger Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）.

Another thing that I also liked about the very early Seiko singles was how gallopingly summery they sound, so I have to be in existential shape to keep up with the melody. "Sukoshi Zutsu Haru" is definitely no different with that chugging West Coast AOR rhythm. Now, I'm posting about this song in late spring, but with the January 1981 release, Matsuda sings about hoping for the arrival of an early spring and an arms-wide-open beau while things are still wintry around her.

As was mentioned in the "Cherry Blossom" article, the single hit No. 1 on the Oricon weeklies and would earn the No. 9 ranking in the annual chart. The A-side would get onto a studio album, "Silhouette" which was released in May 1981 to a No. 2 ranking. However, "Sukoshi Zutsu Haru" wouldn't get onto an album until it was placed onto her November 1985 7th compilation of BEST songs, "Seiko Box", which earned a No. 7 ranking.