Welcome to the regular Thursday edition of Reminiscings of Youth. And it's always wonderful to come back to the song stylings of Corinne Drewry and Swingout Sister with their touch of sophisticated pop class. In the past, I've covered their introspectively romantic "Now You're Not Here" and their "Let's have a great time!" breakout "Breakout".
Today, I'm looking at their fourth single "Twilight World" which was released in April 1987 in the UK and then months later in December in the USA. For me, it was the second song by Swingout Sister that I took notice of following the smashing "Breakout", and in terms of tone, it's somewhere between "Breakout" and "Now You're Not Here". It's not a ballad but there's a bit more darkness and mystery in "Twilight World" than in the gloriously happy "Breakout" although the music video (which I saw for the first time only ten minutes ago) still has Drewry and company truly feeling that it's better to travel.
Despite the difference in tone, "Twilight World" is still a Swingout Sister-style smash with the sophisti-pop horns and strings returning. Reading the lyrics by the band, the song seems to be one for anti-romance as Drewry warns listeners about the dangers of love and preferring the anonymity and solitude of the crowds. Maybe that's why there is that train station announcement in Japan at the beginning. Nothing more crowded than Tokyo or Shinjuku Station at rush hour. The music also hits me as something appropriate for a 1960s spy thriller along the lines of James Bond or Harry Palmer, so try to imagine "Twilight World" being used in "You Only Live Twice" within the exotic setting of Japan.
Being both a Swingout Sister fan and an admirer of the swinging jazz spy themes of the 1960s, it was a foregone conclusion that I would get the record of "Twilight World" with the original and the remix tracks. In both the UK and the US, the single managed to get up into the low 30s on their respective charts.
So, what was on top of the Oricon charts for December 1987?
1. Hikaru Genji -- Glass no Juu-dai （ガラスの十代）
2. Yukari Morikawa -- SHOW ME
4. Shizuka Kudo -- Again
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