It doesn't happen all that much anymore on the blog now that thirteen years have passed, but it's always nice when I come across an old song that I hadn't heard in years once more come into memory.
The last time I wrote about The Alfee was back in 2021 when I posted their 30th single from March 1988, "Weekend Shuffle ~ Hanayaka na Shuumatsu"（華やかな週末）. It was a song that I had in one of my compilations, and strangely enough, so was this one here, "Ichi-gatsu no Ame wo Wasurenai" (Won't Forget the January Rain). Unfortunately, that tape has gone missing so it's been literally a few decades since I heard this one written and composed by flamboyant Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦）.
Actually, "Ichi-gatsu no Ame wo Wasurenai" was released in January 1988 as The Alfee's 29th single and is sung by Masaru Sakurai（桜井賢）, the slick gangster-ish member of the band with the surprisingly heavenly voice. It starts off sounding like the prelude to an action movie but then settles into an introspective but fairly jaunty melody with some Spanish guitar playing away along with the usual rock one. Autumn is usually the season for the death of love and romance in kayo kyoku so this one set in January in the dead of winter really hits home regarding that one guy who is majorly suffering from heartbreak as the freezing rain shifts into snow.
The single hit No. 4 on Oricon and was actually part of the album "U.K. Breakfast" which was released by The Alfee back in December 1987 to a No. 2 ranking.
This is a great song and actually it might have been good on the sound of Kowloon Generic Romance!
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