Mariya Takeuchi -- Synchronicity ~ Suteki na Guuzen（シンクロニシティ (素敵な偶然)）

 

Back on June 14th, the weekly Yutaka Kimura Speaks ~ Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100 article was devoted to Sentimental City Romance's（センチメンタル・シティ・ロマンス）"Natsu no Hi no Omoide ~ Dancing Music"（夏の日の想い出 ~ ダンシング・ミュージック）. In it, there was a reference to Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"Synchronicity".

Now, to be perfectly transparent, I hadn't ever heard about "Synchronicity" which was Takeuchi's 32nd single. Actually, I should correct myself. The official title for the single was "Henshin/Synchronicity ~ Suteki na Guuzen"（返信/シンクロニシティ (素敵な偶然)...The Reply/Synchronicity ~ A Splendid Coincidence） that came out in September 2006.

So, one of those A-sides, "Synchronicity" is a song of a couple completely in lockstep with each other, written and composed by Mariya while her husband, Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）, took care of the arrangement. As for why Kimura referred to it in his glowing review for "Natsu no Hi no Omoide", he felt that it was an extension of the good ol' days of Sentimental City Romance back in the 1970s, and that's not surprising. As we can hear and see in the official music video, it looks like the Yamashitas brought back SCR to record the song together. The return of the steel pedal guitar gives it away immediately (of course, Tats is in the circle keeping his usual low profile while strumming away at his guitar).

Yeah, it's a sunny and pleasant country pop tune, and not only do I think it is an extension of the early days of Sentimental City Romance, perhaps it is also an extension of Mariya's debut album "Beginning" from 1978 because the band helped out a lot in the recording there, too. I guess I can consider the "Synchronicity" project a reunion of sorts. 

The single hit No. 8 on Oricon and "Synchronicity" was used as a Meiji Chocolate chocolate-covered almonds commercial song. You can take a look at a very early ad below. I used to devour those like anything.