Blend -- Lady I Love You So / Soft Scat

 

When I first heard about the 1980s band Blend, I was surprised not just from the music but from the individuals who made up the group: there was Toru Yazawa（矢沢透）who had been part of the folk group Alice（アリス）, songwriting master Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）, and then vocalist J.J. Stanley who would get married to Junko Yagami（八神純子）a few years down the line. But there they were, creating their own blend of City Pop and J-AOR.

Thus far, the songs that I've written about regarding Blend, such as "Montego Nights", have come from their one and only album "Intercity Renegade" from 1982. However, I recently came across their 1981 single, thanks to YouTuber Marty McFlies v2. Titled "Lady I Love You So", this was quite the revelation for me as well since this song by lyricist Stanley and composer Sagisu seems to be a hybrid of a stage musical piece just before intermission and a laidback City Pop ditty, and that description can apply right down to the choice of instruments.

As for the B-side of "Soft Scat" at 3:31, I first kinda wondered "How did you come up with 'Soft Scat'?". Of course, my shimoneta mind snarked back at me, "I laid off the fibre for a day". But seriously folks, "Soft Scat" goes right for the City Pop jugular thanks to Yazawa's melody with Stanley coming up with the words once more. The lyrics tell a story about a guy who's not in a happy place since his lover seems to take and take but not give. Meanwhile, the music in the main chorus kinda has that Manhattan Transfer feeling with the soft scat referring to the "doo, doo, doo" by Stanley and the backup group. Some nice sax in there, too.

Blend -- Montego Nights

 

Well, this isn't exactly a night shot but it is a photo of Jamaica from our 2017 cruise, and the title is "Montego Nights", probably in tribute to Montego Bay over there.

Our game of association continues since the previous article was for Junko Yagami's（八神純子）"Manhattan ni Miserarete"（マンハッタンに魅せられて）. Now, we're getting her husband, John J. Stanley, into the mix today with his band Blend. 

Yup, a couple of years back, I introduced Blend which consisted of vocalist Stanley, songwriter Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）, and drummer Tohru Yazawa（矢沢透）. I also remarked on how similar Stanley sounded to the amazing Gino Vannelli which is quite the boon to the band's brand of music. With "Woman That I Love" on the blog, I now turn to another track "Montego Nights" from their lone 1982 album "Intercity Renegade". Written by Stanley and composed by Yazawa, the song is really a blend (no pun intended) of Vannelli, the sultry rhythms of Hall & Oates' "I Can't Go for That (No Can Do)", Boz Scaggs and maybe even some softer Stevie Wonder. I'm not sure what walking through Montego Bay in the evenings is like but I can only hope that it's as cool as this tune.

Blend -- Woman That I Love

I've heard of John J. Stanley for the fact that he has been married to splendid chanteuse Junko Yagami（八神純子）for years, and for the fact that he's also helped produce her albums. If I'm not mistaken, I think that Stanley has even participated as backup vocals for his wife as well.

However, little did I know until recently that Stanley had even been active with his own band in the early 1980s. Purely by accident, I encountered the YouTube videos for Blend which consisted of Stanley, songwriter Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）, and drummer Tohru Yazawa（矢沢透）from the folk band Alice.

I think Blend only had the one 1982 album "Intercity Renegade" which is about as City Pop a title that one can get, and the full version is on YouTube. However, I wanted to work on just the first track for now, "Woman That I Love" which was written and composed by Stanley. Yup, I gotta say that this sizzler is brimming with gleaming City Pop goodness, and Stanley himself comports himself musically as if he were Gino Vannelli. That distance between Tokyo and Los Angeles got a whole lot shorter.