It was back in 2018 when I first wrote on Izumi Kobayashi（小林泉美）& Flying Mimi Band, a group that had been listed within my first edition of "Japanese City Pop" for a number of years before I started exploring on YouTube. There I found their "Naze"（なぜ）which was some fine downtown City Pop funk from 1978.
Well, that was from their October 1978 2nd album "Sea Flight" (considering the slightly daring cover, I thought it was called "Sexy Flight"). I have also found another track from "Sea Flight" which is "Angel Sky", which was composed by saxophonist Yasuaki Shimizu（清水靖晃）and written by Kobayashi herself. It's a nice dusky form of jazzy City Pop disco, and though I was a bit dismissive of her vocals in "Naze", I think Kobayashi has got a better handle of them here. But I think for this one, it's all about the instruments coming to the fore, especially the sax, keyboards and bluesy guitar.
This song is so smooth and relaxing it is almost hypnotic. I can't really imagine anyone dancing to this back in the late 1970 at a discotheque. I could see this being use at High School prom (promenade) for a slow dance.
ReplyDeleteHello, Brian. Yeah, as I mentioned, Izumi isn't the strongest singer but her high floating vocals fit more nicely here.
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