In my collection, I have a number of Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）singles and BEST compilations, but I've been a little neglectful when it comes to her now-long discography of albums, especially the early ones. So I've been missing out on some great non-single entries.
"Tsumetai Milk" (Cold Milk) is one and it's a track from her July 1989 5th studio album, "Flower Bed". Written by Watanabe, composed by Yasuyuki Okamura（岡村靖幸）and arranged by Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）, one would think from the title that this was something that the Japanese Dairy Association had assigned the singer (and indeed, milk does a body good...unless you have lactose intolerance). However, although the glass of cold cow juice is something that the protagonist swigs down in the story provided in the lyrics, the tale is far more about a guy living the usual urban life in New York City but still remembering an old flame back in Japan.
The work by Okamura and Shimizu seems to start off with a tribute to the Doobie Brothers' 1976 "Takin' It to the Streets" but as the song progresses, the feeling is that things are a bit more subdued as if the action begins in the early hours of a New York weekday when the guy wakes up and gets ready for another day of work in Manhattan. Things start rolling in the chorus with the feeling of hitting the subway or the streets filled with commuters, but even then, Watanabe herself is holding in her boomer voice relatively speaking in a kinda reverse lullaby way. But of course, you gotta have that bluesy sax solo for a Big Apple tune, and overall, "Tsumetai Milk" comes across as a 70s or 80s AOR track.
"Flower Bed" also has the mysterious "Moonlight Dance"（ムーンライト・ダンス）that you can give a listen to.
J-Canuck’s today’s post about Misato Watanabe’s “Tsumetai Milk” is incredibly descriptive and accurate! I almost didn’t even need to listen to the track.
ReplyDeleteOh, you gotta give the track a listen! :)
DeleteDon't worry I listened to it a few times to try to get a feel for it.
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