Singer-songwriter Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）never showed any long hair on any of her albums or singles. In fact, I would say that the thumbnail that I've provided up above, courtesy of her 1988 album, "Junai"（純愛...Pure Love）, is maybe the longest that I've ever seen of her hair up to that point. So, it was with a lot of jaw-dropping that I saw this February 1991 album that I managed to purchase while I was still on the JET Programme titled "Out on a Limb". The barber really went down to town on her coif...I'd say 90% of the full Sinead O'Connor.
The first track was indeed the title track. And I got another surprise. In the last article for Kurahashi, her 1981 "Self-Disgust", I made a joking reference that I could never see her going full rock, and yet a decade later, she does go rock...at least for "Out on a Limb". Well, maybe it's better to say pop and rock but it's still a big change for her style considering that she is seen as one of the sirens of the laconic Fashion Music with "Last Scene ni Ai wo Komete"（ラストシーンに愛をこめて）being her trademark tune.
Kurahashi wrote the lyrics for the song while pianist Wong Wing Tsan came up with the melody. It's quite the moody and chugging number for the singer and she could wail like a rocker. "Out on a Limb" the album has never been a heavy-rotation disc for me but as I recall, I believe most of the remaining tracks have Ruiko-chan going back to her more relaxing style. However, that first track did leave quite an impression.
Maybe, Ruiko Kurahashi knew no one would every expect her to go full rock so she did it for the fun of shock value. Or, her past self read your future blog and said "I will show you KKP!, hear me roar!"
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