Logic System -- Be Yourself

Last week, I performed a ritual that will become an annual thing...and that is to clean the shelves holding my compact discs and insert in the albums that I had been collecting over the past year in their proper order. It's not an easy job and I learned that pulling this off in an afternoon is practically impossible now. Instead, I did this over three days.

Once again, we've come to another Hump Day so perhaps energies and moods are at low tide right now, especially during February. Therefore, maybe the blog and I can help out a bit with a melodic enhancer of sorts. I present "Be Yourself", a track from Logic System's（ロジック・システム）"Venus" album from 1981.

I was a little surprised on hearing this one since my impression of Hideki Matsutake's（松武秀樹）project was that he was also following the technopop path set by his associates in Yellow Magic Orchestra. Certainly, listening to most of the other tracks on "Venus", I received that vibe of synthesizer music ranging from Isao Tomita（冨田勲）to 1980s YMO (including a synth cover of Off-Course's "I Love You"), but "Be Yourself" stands out like a beacon for being this radio-friendly tune of soul and fusion. The synths weren't dominating here; it was more of the pop piano and saxophone.

"Be Yourself" was also the B-side to Logic System's 2nd single "Aishuu no Orient Express"（哀愁のオリエント急行）that came out in 1982. However, the original "Be Yourself" was recorded in 1981 by singer-actress Debra Laws in her debut album "Very Special" with Lisa Peters and William Jefry, according to the explanation under the YouTube video.

Mondo Grosso -- Family

Earlier this afternoon, I was writing about Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）weaving his City Pop magic for Anri（杏里）and her 1983 album "Timely!!", but the day before, I had come across this song on YouTube which took me back to my good old days of R&B back in the late 70s and early 80s. And it was produced by another artist who also wove some fine magic for various other artists.

This was "Family" by 90s musician-producer Mondo Grosso (aka Shinichi Ozawa/大沢伸一). Released in 1995 as a single, it also came out as a track in his album "Born Free" which came out in the same year. Listening to it, I couldn't help but shimmy a bit since the arrangement had me thinking about Stevie Wonder. Great horns and funky/mellow keyboards. It's just so nice and cool. It's no wonder that there were some wonderful tunes later on by songbirds such as Bird and BoA.

"Family" is a cover of the 1980 original by jazz flutist/saxophonist Hubert Laws with his sister Debra Laws providing those happy and velvety vocals. Now I'd be interested in hearing some more from the Laws' family. But I have to ask who the vocalist was in the Mondo Grosso cover. Was it Debra again or someone new? Inquiring minds want to know.