With only a week left before summer officially leaves us for another year, I thought that this might be an appropriate song to post here. Actually, the article was spurred on by a fellow named Gregory who had contacted me a few days ago to ask about a group named BLUEW. And just to calm the nerves of the stricter linguists out there, it is pronounced "BLUE" so no need to worry about distorting the lips or any jaw muscles unduly.
Interestingly enough, I had read of BLUEW before (there really isn't any way that I could forget a band name like that) and perhaps one of the members such as vocalist Keiji Katayama（片山圭司）has popped up in another article as a songwriter but for the life of me, I can't quite remember. But first, let's take a gander at the first track from the band's June 1987 2nd album "Surfbreak", "Natsu, Kimi ni my Love" (Summer, My Love to You). I gather that just from this song alone, other summery surf-ready bands of the 1980s such as TUBE and Omega Tribe can move a little more to the side to allow BLUEW on board. Written by Tomoko Aran（亜蘭知子）, who also wrote for TUBE in their early years, and composed by Katayama, what stands out are Katayama's slightly gravelly vocals, that saxophone which sounds as if it migrated from a Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）summer tune, and the background harmonies that bring to mind the works of the band Spectrum and TUBE. Summer is definitely here to stay if this song has any say in it.
BLUEW first formed in 1986 with four singles and four albums coming out in 1987 and 1988, and although the band would break up in 1989, the members have continued to correspond with each other. In addition to Katayama, there was also Kazutomo Wakashima（鮫島一友）, the drummer who played on the first self-titled album before leaving the group, second drummer Michiaki Ishiwatari（石渡道明）, guitarist Takashi Masuzaki（増崎孝司）, bassist Kaoru Ohhori（大堀薫）and keyboardist Takanobu Masuda（増田隆宣）.
