Ryusenkei -- San-go Sen（3号線）

 

I gather that Yumi Arai's（荒井由実）classic "Chuo Freeway"（中央フリーウェイ）has had a buddy route in terms of music for the past couple of decades in the form of "San-go Sen" (Route No. 3 Shibuya). By the way, this is a real part of an expressway in Tokyo, so for all of your City Pop driving tour needs, try Route No. 3 as offered by YouTuber wataken777 Part 2.

Continuing on, it's nice to hear from Ryusenkei's（流線形）"City Music" debut album from 2003 again. It's been a while. I recall posting an article about "Tokyo Coaster" from that release back in 2017 and well, I've got another one which is indeed titled "San-go Sen" that was written and composed by the leader Cunimondo Takiguchi（クニモンド瀧口）and has the sweet vocals of Tomomi Sano（サノトモミ） waxing romantically about the drive. And just like "Chuo Freeway", there is that feeling of 70s City Pop or New Music filtering through my brain.

Then in 2022, Ryusenkei decided to release a small album in August 2022 called "Incomplete" with former Kirinji（キリンジ）member Yasuyuki Horigome（堀込泰行）helping out. The band and Horigome worked on a cover version of "San-go Sen" as the first track with the latter taking over for Sano on vocals. The mellow funk of the original has been given a facelift into something jazzier and more refined. It's as if a young couple just driving in their sports car simply for the heck of it are now in a more expensive Toyota Cressida heading to that hard-to-reserve Italian restaurant in Aoyama. But they're still using Route No. 3.