For the first time in quite a long while, I put singer-songwriter Akiko Kobayashi's（小林明子）November 1985 debut LP "Fall In Love" on the record player again. Of course, 40 years after buying it at Wah Yueh, it's sounding a bit reedy now but I still enjoy the ol' tracks.
I never did an album article on "Fall In Love", instead once more going along the individual track route, so along with the title track, I have covered "Diary"（ダイアリー）, "Misunderstandings" and "Stardust Memories" for example. And now I come across this song that I had completely forgotten about.
Starting off Side B is "Mou Nido to Himitsu no Koi Nanka Shitakunai" (I Never Want to Have a Secret Romance Again) which has one heck of a long title but the message is about as non-cryptic as one can get. Composed by Kobayashi and arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）with lyrics by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, it's got quite the rollicking tempo and seems to shift between slightly melancholy and then more hopeful parts of the melody. I remember first hearing this and thinking that this wasn't going to be one of my favourite Kobayashi tunes and it still isn't (there are lots of other tunes throughout her discography that will be further in front of the line) but I think I have a better appreciation of "Mou Nido to Himitsu no Koi Nanka Shitakunai" now than back in the 1980s, especially with that bass that almost drags the song into City Pop territory.
This is going to sound really strange but somehow this sound reminds me of Laura Branigan's "self control". It just has those vibes.
ReplyDeleteHello, Brian. Yup, the more minor-key verses have that "Self-Control" feeling to them.
DeleteIt made me think of "Self Control" too!
DeleteI've known about this Akiko for a while but not heard anything by her until now. She has a great voice and this is quite remarkable for being from a debut record. Thanks for posting this... I'll be checking out more from her.
Please do. I covered a lot of her tracks early in the blog's history. She's been seen as a one-hit wonder but she actually has a lot of lovely light pop songs under her belt. And there have been comparisons, vocally speaking, with the late Karen Carpenter.
DeleteLinn LM-1/2
ReplyDelete