Yutaka Kimura Speaks: Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）

 

The lead single from his 1983 album "Stargazer" and his first smash hit as a commercial jingle, "Vacance wa Itsumo Rain"（バカンスはいつも雨...It's Always Raining on My Vacation） was an important number and a turning point in Masamichi Sugi's career.

The previous year, Sugi had participated in the collaboration album "Niagara Triangle Vol. 2" with Motoharu Sano（佐野元春）and Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）. Advice that he had received from Ohtaki was the spark behind the creation of "Vacance wa Itsumo Rain" and that advice was to appeal to people by bringing more of himself into his music. From there, he rediscovered himself and developed a catchy chord progression which featured a harmonica intro with a beloved Beatles' rhythm. It was from this that clearly showed his own roots, something that he had never shown before.

And then, with his famous "Stargazer" completed and filled with all of this passion, he successively came out with the fulfilling albums "Mistone" and "Symphony #10", and managed to stake an unshakeable position in the Japanese pop scene.

I can only tip my hat in admiration to his sense as a melody maker which has had him dubbed as Japan's Paul McCartney and his talent in churning out song after song. After all, so many of his trademark songs in any of his albums come across as tunes that grab the listener's heart and don't let go.

By the way, I wonder how many people there are who remember the joint concert "Wonder Full Moon" with Sugi, Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）and Kaoru Sudo（須藤薫）in 1982. I have rarely seen such a dreamy and exciting stage performance since then and I would have loved to have seen a reprise of the three of them getting together again.

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