Piper -- Dance

 

In the dozen years since I first posted about the City Pop band Piper, there's been more information about this group which started up in 1980 including a J-Wiki article at last. I've learned that vocalist Keisuke Yamamoto （山本圭右）and company did release five singles between 1980 and 1986 and seven albums including a live album that came out in April 2024.

Even since my first posting, I don't consider myself a Piper expert by any means, but I did read that there had been some Early Installment Weirdness in their 1981 debut album "I'm Not In Love" in that there was a whole lot more singing there when compared to their later efforts which had a lot of instrumentals. Still, one of the tracks "Dance" is very pleasant on the ears. Written by George Hikidashi（疋田ジョージ）and composed by the aforementioned Yamamoto, it's about as comfy as a warm woolen blanket on a cold winter's day with that arrangement of City Pop from the late 1970s going into the early 1980s. Yamamoto's vocals sound a little reminiscent of 60s doo-wop and it may be the first time I heard both the Haze effect of the 1970s and the Evian bottled water effect of the 1980s in one tune. A baton being passed?