Masami Yoshida -- Orange City no Asa（オレンジ・シティの朝）

 

Almost five years ago, I brought in singer-songwriter Masami Yoshida（吉田政美）, who used to be partnered up with Masashi Sada（さだまさし）as the folk duo Grape（グレープ）, and discovered that, like many other folk artists in Japan, he also had a penchant for City Pop and J-AOR. In fact, my first and thus far only article regarding him was "Natsu no Kioku ni"（夏の記憶に）, a West Coast AOR tune good enough to accompany a drive down the Ventura.

The song was a part of his 1980 "My tune My turn masami" album and another track is "Orange City no Asa" (Morning in Orange City). And away from California we go...to head off down south to Rio in Brazil for some sunny samba samplings by composer and vocalist Yoshida and lyricist Namiko Saki（﨑南海子）. This is good for a stroll alongside Copacabana Beach and despite the release year, the arrangement makes it feel like a 1970s City Pop tune.