The article for folk rock band GARO's biggest hit "Gakusei Gai no Kissaten" (学生街の喫茶店）was posted up in the very early days of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but it's now been almost a decade since I've put up anything by the group. Time to rectify.
According to the J-Wiki article for the June 1972 3rd single "Gakusei Gai no Kissaten", the original release had the song as the B-side while the A-side was "Utsukushiku Sugite" (Too Beautiful). However, seeing that "Gakusei Gai no Kissaten" was getting the lion's share of accolades, the record company quickly did an about-face on that plan and made any future releases with the more famous song becoming the A-side.
Not to say that the relegated "Utsukushiku Sugite" is a bad song at all. It's a wonderful song and a very different one, to boot. In contrast with the Japanese folky "Gakusei Gai no Kissaten", "Utsukushiku Sugite" is a laidback tune that brings to mind the loveliness of American Sunshine Pop and perhaps even some Motown R&B thanks to Kunihiko Murai's（村井邦彦）melody and Kaoru Iiyoshi's（飯吉馨）arrangement. As with "Gakusei Gai no Kissaten", the lyricist here was also Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）.
I think I missed the first decade of the kayokyoku plus blog, although I am also sure that I heard rumors about it during the first decade from a former blogger named ジョナサン. Anyway, I am glad you revisited Garo and posted this article on Utsukushiku Sugite! This is one of those really chill, laid-back songs from the 1970s!
ReplyDeleteHello, Brian. Yeah, this is a perfect example of when I say "Don't ignore those B-sides!". As for discovering KKP, feel free to dig deep into those first ten years.
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