Miyuki Sugiura/Akiko Yano -- Hana no You ni（花のように）

 

It was a little over a year ago that I finally began the 80s aidoru Miyuki Sugiura（杉浦幸）file with her debut single from 1986, "Kanashii na"（悲しいな）. I noted for that song that the lass from Tokyo possessed some very aidoru-ish vocals surrounded by some pretty lush notes and arrangement by composer Masayuki Kishi（岸正之）and arranger Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）.

Well, her 6th single from June 1987, "Hana no You ni" (Like a Flower) is another catchy number but it's a techno-perky tune thanks to the work of singer-songwriter Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）with Wakakusa helping out on arrangement once more. I'm not surprised that Yano whipped this one up because of her technopop past but I'm impressed by the fact that she was able to create this melody that would fit Sugiura's style to a T.

"Hana no You ni" was used for a Glico coffee jelly commercial, but the version used here sounds quite different from the original version. The song hit No. 14 on Oricon and was included on Sugiura's first BEST compilation "Miyuki STORY"（幸STORY）from December 1987.

When I read that Yano herself had made a cover version of "Hana no You ni", I just had to hear it. As it turns out, she included it on her November 1987 album "Granola", and though it's still quite a breezy tune, it feels a bit more grounded with some of that musical reminder of those early 1980s technopop days.