Etsuko Sai（彩恵津子）has done her share of City Pop and J-AOR during her career, but this one favors an arrangement that was also pretty popular in the 1980s.
From her 1984 album "Reach Out", I give you "Heart wo Knock Shite" (Knock on My Heart). Composed by soul singer Hiro Tsunoda（つのだ☆ひろ）and written by Kazuko Kobayashi（小林和子）, the song has that certain languid 1950s pop vibe...kinda like Richie and Mary Beth sitting on that porch swing at night while the grown-ups are watching Uncle Miltie on TV. According to the comments underneath this particular video, it's the late great Jake H. Concepcion on the saxophone and at points, I was thinking that this was on the verge of going City Pop but then pulled back itself to its old spot a few decades earlier.
That saxophone at the end of the song is cool! I guess even for 1984, this song probably sounded a little retrospective.
ReplyDeleteYep, singers did love their 50s during the 80s.
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