Mariko Tone -- The Heat of the City

 

The heat is hitting many Japanese cities including the northern ones such as Sapporo. I definitely feel their pain as someone who's spent seventeen summers in the Tokyo area. It can get plenty hot and humid even here in Toronto but it doesn't come all that close to the "swimming in atmosphere" effect of commuting to work and back in Japan's capital city. It'll probably be another couple of months of this over there.

Nice to have you back, Mariko Tone（刀根麻理子）! Yes, it's been a few years since the singer and actress made an appearance on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", and this time, it's through her 7th single of September 1987, "The Heat of the City". Written by Maxi Anderson and composed by Keiko Matsui, the song might be describing the summer conditions but I think it's also describing the general excitement of the nocturnal life in one of the world's biggest metropolises. Whether it be in the bars, discos and other joints within Shinjuku, Roppongi or Shibuya, there's never a dull night. Tone's sexy vocals, the funky bass and the tight brassy horns help this one which was also a track on her 4th album "Just My Tone" which had been released earlier in May 1987.