I'll be honest...when I first saw the thumbnail of the above YouTube video and that name of Miki Nakayama(中山美紀), I wondered if this was some sort of AI construct. But as it turns out, the young lady here is a real flesh-n'-blood aidoru from the 1980s. And most likely, she is one of the rarest of the rare in that she only put out one single in March 1983 before her record label, Climax Records, collapsed apparently, according to YouTuber nothingmuch;). As did her singing career.
"Just Now" is a rollicking song that does have that 80s vibe of swinging synthesizers and a beat that reminds me of a lot of the more upbeat American pop songs that were coming out back at the same time. The melody was provided by veteran Katsuo Ono(大野克夫)but the interesting here is that the lyrics were written by none other than Leiji Matsumoto(松本零士), the man behind the original manga of "Uchuusenkan Yamato"(宇宙戦艦ヤマト)and other classics. I had never heard of the legend ever writing song lyrics and so I'm now wondering if he worked with other singers.
I think Leiji Matsumoto (松本零士) also worked on Galaxy Express 999 (銀河鉄道999) and Space Pirate Captain Harlock (宇宙海賊キャプテンハーロック). This makes it even more interesting that Miki Nakayama vanished, but then again, I guess this phenomenon is not that uncommon. As for Leiji he worked with Akira Kamiya (神谷明) on 天駆ける夢 (Amakakeru Yume) in 1978, Isao Sasaki (ささきいさお) on 枯木霊歌 (Kareki Reika) in 1970s, and Columbia Men's Chorus on さすらいの舟唄 (Sasurai no Funauta) in1978.
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