I have to say that when I'm looking at the single cover picture of Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）in the thumbnail above for the November 1984 "Kazarijanainoyo Namida wa" (飾りじゃないのよ涙は）, maybe it's because of the size of the white hat and/or the positioning of the shot, but her shoulders look so wide in that green outfit that she could be a linebacker for the Rams. We Akina fans should be so lucky to see her in an NFL game!😁
Anyways, "Kazarijanainoyo Namida wa" is one of Nakamori's greatest hits and it's a song of fury and defiance set to a rock and funk beat. I recall yesterday when I posted Takao Kisugi's（来生たかお）article on "Machibito Kitarazu"（待ち人来たらず）that there was this yin/yang thing regarding putting songs of differing moods as the A and B sides. Well, I guess this also applies to this Akina single.
I'm happy to say that after so many decades being a fan of Akina-chan, I'm still hearing songs by her for the first time. And the B-side here is one of those songs. "Moonlight Letter" is a pretty gooshy and woozy love ballad about a woman who has just seen off her paramour for the night and is waxing most emotionally about him. Definitely neither fury nor defiance here. Written by Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）, composed by Goto Matsui（松井五郎）and arranged in a gauzy way by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, the song reminds me a bit of "Endless Love" by Lionel Richie and Diana Ross. I also have to remark that vocally speaking, Akina doesn't go into her high tones as she did with those earlier aidoru ballads and her voice seems to be transitioning into those famous lower registers.
Great choice of song... There is a very convenient compilation from 1993 ("もう一人の明菜") that collects all of her Warner-era b-sides.
ReplyDeleteThe style and color of this single artwork of this single looks to me like something from the 90s.
Even though I’m a fan, this is also the first time I heard the B side of Kazarijanainoyo Namida wa. More surprising is that even though this is a B side song, it’s written by Yoshui and its lyrics by Matsui Goro. It just shows how important Akina was treated by her management and record company.
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