Hideki Saijo -- Club Manhattan

 

Twitter friend and Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）fan Silas sent out the reminder earlier that April 13th tomorrow would have been the late great singer's 69th birthday. As such, I'm happy to say that I've had one of his songs on the backlog list ready to go for a while, and it's perfect for Urban Contemporary Friday on "Kayo Kyoku Plus".

And this song certainly sounds urbane and contemporary. "Club Manhattan" is the first track on Saijo's April 1988 album "San-juu-san Sai"（33才...33 Years Old） whose title track is based on Julio Iglesias' own "33 Años" according to the J-Wiki article on the album. 

I'm sure that somewhere in Tokyo's drinking establishment history, there was or is a Club Manhattan somewhere in Roppongi or Shinjuku, and according to what I hear from Hideki, it's one cool and swanky pad high up in the skyscraper. Written by Shinnosuke Uesugi（上杉伸之助）, composed by Kingo Hamada（浜田金吾）and arranged by Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）, the smooth funky strut deserves its own wardrobe of silky suit and hat as it slinks its way to the titular club itself. It's a great collaboration between Hamada who's brought some of that jazz (and possibly the background chorus) as well to Matsushita's funk.

In a way, listening to "Club Manhattan" has brought me some comparisons between the 1988 Saijo and his teenage self from the early 1970s. Whereas teen Hideki was all about the rock-fueled punch-now-ask-questions-later approach to situations, the regular club member Saijo is suave, sophisticated and less prone to throw the fists around. He's in complete control now. He may even own Club Manhattan.