I was in contact with a Kei Marimura（真梨邑ケイ）fan, Bree, in the last few days and that person mentioned the song "Shiseikatsu" (Private Life) which was a 1986 single for the jazz-and-City Pop singer who made quite the career turn when she also opted to become a hardcore porn actress. And yes, that also did pop up very briefly in the conversation.😎
"Shiseikatsu" was one of the first songs that I'd heard by Marimura and way back when, I couldn't find it at all on YouTube so it was a case of reluctant relinquishment and forgetfulness that the song left my memory. But Bree's contact got me back to this interestingly arranged song so I'm quite grateful and it's great that "Shiseikatsu" has finally made it onto YouTube. As for Bree, it was a case of falling for the song when first encountering it on J1Gold back in the pandemic days.
There are a couple of City Pop hands behind the creation of "Shiseikatsu". Lyricist Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子） weaves the story of a woman psyching herself up for a possibly sinful night with a fellow in a hotel room while Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）comes up with the melody that starts off with a keyboard sounding akin to a warning alarm (accompanied by some sexy sax) as if the lady is entering some mightily dangerous territory before the song jumps into a more relaxing warm bath of slow groove and sophistication (rose petals and candles optional). Even Marimura has this rather off-kilter bent to her vocals which may be reflecting the lady's trepidation; once she enters that suite, she's not coming back to her normal world.
Thank you again for covering this song! I hope it gets the recognition it well deserves thank to your help!
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure!
DeleteI find “Shiseikatsu” to be melodically a rather soothing song. Kei Marimura’s piercing voice is the star of this show, and even though the music is a bit loud at times, it never quite takes over or overshadows her pitch nor her tempo. At times I felt like there was a bit of emotional ambiguity in her Kei's voice, although her voice conveys warmth and maybe a little sensuality, it also comes across (at least to me) as cool and detached. It makes it feel like she’s observing her own feelings from a distance. AND then my friend, there is that saxophone and those synth textures that give this song a seductive and yet tense feeling at the same time. I like Kei's voice in this song and am curious how her voice sounds in other songs. I think some people have described her voice as being a bit husky, but I do not find it to be so, or maybe I just do not know what other people are talking about.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first heard that two-note atonal intro, I was a little put off so it took a while for me to get accustomed and then enjoy "Shiseikatsu". If I were to use a food analogy, it would be like my lifetime experience with pickles; didn't like hamburgers with it back then, but now I can't imagine not having them.
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