Chrysty -- Lonely Queen

 

About a year ago, I introduced a very obscure 1980s band called Chrysty which put out their own self-titled album in 1984 and I featured the standout track "Mysterious Night".

Still haven't had a listen to the entire album but I have taken a gander at the first track "Lonely Queen". Written by Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）and composed by Chrysty vocalist Katsumi Takeichi（竹市克己）, I get that Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）vibe while the vocals remind me of H2O, so an interesting combination that. The lyrics for this particular song aren't up online but from the title and from what I've gleaned from City Pop stories, "Lonely Queen" probably centers on a popular lady of the disco who seems to be the life of the party outside while really not so enamored with the luxury life inside.

Yep, as uploader Marty McFlies pointed out in his assessment of "Chrysty", "Lonely Queen" (and perhaps the other tracks) may not measure up to "Mysterious Night" but all in all, it's not a bad song. If Omega Tribe and H2O can be heard to some extent in a fellow City Pop band's creation, then I'm not complaining too much at all.

Chrysty -- Mysterious Night

Mysterious night, mysterious band. Welcome to another obscure music group in City Pop land (oh my golly...that actually rhymes). There's very little information available for Chrysty except for what I could find on Marty McFlies' YouTube channel where he has put up the entire album (which he wasn't too impressed with), and a brief paragraph in the guide "Japanese City Pop".

According to "Japanese City Pop", Chrysty (cute thing with the two Ys, by the way) was a 5-person band led by the two lead vocals of Masao Kageie（景家正雄）and Katsumi Takeichi（竹市克己）. From what I've heard from their one and only October 1984 self-titled album so far, I don't think it's quite as disappointing although I wouldn't classify it as any classic release of the genre either. I'd say that it's solidly within the AOR sphere for the most part with some similarities to the band H2O.

"Mysterious Night" which is Track 3 on "Chrysty" is my favourite song on the album so far since it not only straddles the line between City Pop and AOR, it not only starts off with some pounding West Coast synths but then follows that with some bluesy jazz guitar before the genre stuff pours in. I also like those keyboards as they get nice and mellow in the middle. According to the JASRAC database, co-vocalist Takeichi wrote and composed the song.

Sorry but coming across this band, I can't help but remember the Canadian brand of cookies and biscuits known as Mr. Christie, famous for their slogan, "Mr. Christie, you make good cookies."