East Lord -- Ai no Game（愛のゲーム）/On the Road（オン・ザ・ロード）

 

There was a 1982 movie starring Lisa Akikawa（秋川リサ）and the late Hiroyuki Watanabe（渡辺裕之）titled "On the Road", directed by Seiji Izumi（和泉聖治）with the plot involving a very remorseful motorcycle cop. After having caused an accident which ruined the career of a fashion model and not apologizing immediately due to political machinations within the police, Watanabe's Officer Tomishima goes on a cross-country pursuit of the model who's now heading back to Okinawa in her older sister's sports car. Of course, stuff happens.

But for me, it wasn't so much the movie but the opening and ending themes which first grabbed my attention. "Ai no Game" (Love Game) was the single that was released from the movie and it was performed by a band or an individual called East Lord（イースト・ロード）. I tried but I couldn't track down who the vocalist was. Perhaps it was composer Masao Nakajima（中島正雄）, a musician and producer who had been a member of the blues group West Road Blues Band in the late 1970s.

"Ai no Game" was actually the ending theme for the movie. With director Izumi's lyrics coupled with Nakajima's melody, the song sounds like a very gallant country rock ballad that could have accompanied the cop's quest throughout Japan. My compliments to East Lord who reminds me a bit of a less raspy Eikichi Yazawa（矢沢永吉）from Carol（キャロル）.

Izumi and Nakajima were also responsible for the opening theme which ended up as Side B of the single. "On the Road" is not surprisingly a lot more boisterous, probably to set the tone for the movie. I'm kinda wondering whether both songs wouldn't have been even more appropriate for a rebellious bike gang leader running the roads of Honshu.