Piper -- Photograph

 

This was a photograph that I took during our cruise vacation several years ago. It was on the Mexican shore and that water sure looks inviting. Kinda makes one want to intone "Calm blue ocean" over and over.

I gather that this is the point of "Photograph" by the City Pop/AOR band Piper. It's been a few years since I've had the good folks from this group up on the blog and this particular song is up for review by Yutaka Kimura in a couple of weeks, so it is time. 

Sharing track space with "Starlight Ballet" on their 1985 album "Lovers Logic" (which was the most recent posting for Piper back at the end of 2020), "Photograph" differs from the early evening atmosphere of "Starlight Ballet" in that the feeling is pure afternoon basking in the sun, preferably in a hammock with cocktails galore. It definitely sounds like all of the members are sharing time behind the mike and even the guitar solo sounds like it has a pair of sunglasses and arms wrapped around the back of its head. With vocalist Keisuke Yamamoto（山本圭右）behind the relaxing music, the lyrics have been supplied by Hiroshi Akitsugu（有次裕）, although I couldn't find any verification behind the proper pronunciation of that first name since there are so many ways to say it according to Jisho.org. Feel free to inform me if it's indeed Hiroshi or something else. But by all means, also feel free to follow the advice of Piper and chill out for a spell.