Yutaka Kimura Speaks ~ Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100: Kaoru Sudo -- Namida no Step（涙のステップ）

 

Number: 063

Lyricist: Masako Arikawa

Composer: Masamichi Sugi and Kazuo Horiguchi

Arranger: Masataka Matsutoya

From Sudo's 1982 album: "Amazing Toys"

"Namida no Step" （Tearful Dance Steps） is the best pop song by Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）with a multi-layer chorus that I'm really into. With a bittersweet aspect and a romantic taste that brings to mind 1960s girl pop, this brilliant revival of the genre in the 1980s probably only has one other comparable example which is Eiichi Ohtaki's（大滝詠一）"Long Vacation". This song, which has the premise of being dumped at a dance party, is the female version of "Koi suru Karen"（恋するカレン...In Love With Karen）, one of the tracks in "Long Vacation".

The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).