Beers -- Hold Me

 

A little over a decade ago, I was rather intrigued by this campaign sparked by a collaboration between Sapporo Beer and Royce' the Japanese chocolate manufacturer to create some limited-edition chocolate beer for Valentine's Day. In fact, I was so curious about it that I actually bought a can of the stuff for consumption in my Ichikawa apartment.

The above is indeed my very busy coffee table and dominating the photo is a goblet filled with the Sapporo and Royce' concoction of chocolate beer. During my 17 years in Japan, I never drank beer at home, although on occasion I made my own Brown Cows, so it was something for me to bring home this particular brew. It didn't sound as crazy as one would think initially because I think something like a pint of Guinness would have those taste notes of chocolate and/or molasses. Well, as it turned out, the chocolate beer really did taste like regular beer but then during the aftertaste, the chocolate did kick in. It wasn't a bad thing at all but it didn't change my rules on beer at home.

(12:16)

Anyways, I make my groan-worthy segue into the City Pop/AOR duo Beers, and I recall that one of the KKP commenters thanked me for introducing Megumi Saito（斉藤恵）and Yoko Takahashi（橋本ヨーコ）to him. You're very welcome, I will say, and also in return, I have another track that I didn't cover from their 1983 album "Mistress". "Hold Me", which was created by Takahashi and Saito (words and music respectively), is a journey into the Japanese equivalent of Margaritaville, thanks to the husky voices and the mellow Fender Rhodes, and it hints at that same feeling that I had after downing the entire goblet of Sapporo/Royce' chocolate beer. Fortunately, I didn't have work the next day.

Beers -- Mistress

I guess I can finally say this:

I'M A CANADIAN AND I'VE GOT BEERS, EH!🍻

Yes, the sound of crickets and crows can be rather deafening, I know...

Now, to be exact, what I do have is the album "Mistress" by the pop duo Beers. It is in fact the only album that was ever released by the tandem of Megumi Saito（斉藤恵）and Yoko Takahashi（橋本ヨーコ）in 1983. And perhaps it is so obscure that even my bible of "Japanese City Pop" hasn't even bothered listing it...at least, in the first edition.

Thanks to YouTube, I was lucky to have come across Beers and was instantly charmed by the first track "Kowareta Wiper"（壊れたワイパー）and one other song to the extent that I decided to pick up "Mistress". And thanks to Tower Records, I was able to do so.

That one other song I mentioned in the previous paragraph is "Random ni"（ランダムに...At Random）which is Track 3 on "Mistress". Written by Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）and composed by Daisuke Inoue（井上大輔）, it's a bit of radio-friendly morning drive disco that would probably have me get this urge to invest in one of those ancient listening boxes by SONY. It was between this and "Kowareta Wiper" as to what I would have first put onto the blog but ultimately I went with the latter. Still, "Random ni" is plenty fine music from the old days, and although I've put in that commuting theme, there's a part of the song that seems to soar softly into the sky. Makes me hope that those experimental flying cars finally become a reality.

But it's not all about the glitter ball here. Saito and Takahashi put their songwriting skills to use to make this soulful ballad "Ai no Kagi"（愛の鍵...Key of Love）that takes things further into the 1980s rather than the late 1970s of "Random ni". At the same time, I could recommend this song as another nice driving tune but for more of a nighttime spin on the highway close to midnight.

Heard of the Marlboro Man and that famous theme of "The Magnificent Seven"? Well, I don't know whether this track ever did help out in the commercials for another brand of cigarettes, but here is "Lucky Strike Man"（ラッキー･ストライク･マン）. Unlike the Western theme for the Marlboro dude, "Lucky Strike Man" has more of a laidback mix of reggae and pop or even New Wave. Inoue took care of the music once more but Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）provided the lyrics here.

This is another fine song as the second track, "Aoi Asa ~ Day Break Rain"（蒼い朝...Blue Morning） with Inoue on music and Rui Serizawa's（芹澤類）words gracing it. I like the AOR-ness of it all especially with the string section. In a way, it's rather timeless...I could really imagine it spanning the 70s and 80s as Saito and Takahashi give "Aoi Asa" more of the softly, softly approach.

I'm not sure how long the relationship lasted but this duo with the unusual name has provided me with some comfortable music. I can have repeated dai jokkii of this.🍺

Beers -- Kowareta Wiper（壊れたワイパー）

Time to finish off tonight's articles with some Friday City Pop. And it's always nice when you discover one of those lovely rarities.

Found this one by accident and although there is nothing listed about this City Pop duo called Beers on J-Wiki, I did find a very small article about them at Tower Records.

Consisting of Megumi Saito（斉藤恵）on the left in that yuppie outfit and Yoko Hashimoto（橋本ヨーコ）on the right, Beers released just the one album, "Mistress" in 1983, but it looks like the two made it count if the opening track "Kowareta Wiper" (Broken Wiper) is any indication. All of the tropes of the genre are in there to make this a very enjoyable ride on the highway, including a sax solo by the late Jake H. Concepcion. It's time to party like it's 1983!

"Kowareta Wiper" was written by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composed by Daisuke Inoue（井上大輔）. It looks like "Mistress" was remastered and made into a CD for the first time back in early 2016 at Tower, so there is a chance that all City Pop fans including myself can try and get a copy. I've certainly been charmed by the first song, and despite the title, I think the car ought to be in fine fettle.