Early Byrds feat. Kyoko Kimura -- Ocean Song

 

It was a couple of months ago that I introduced the jazz-fusion band Early Byrds and their special guest Kyoko Kimura（木村恭子）through their 1981 album, "Up and Coming". I focused on the opening track "Galaxy Special" which was an instrumental punctuated by Kimura's scatting.

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Well, this time I'm going with the last song on Side A of the original album, "Ocean Song". Starting out with the calm blue ocean sloshing against the shore, we get to hear Kimura voicing some soothing quotes such as "You're just an ocean away". Along with the aural massage, Early Byrds provide that laidback cocktail-sipping melody which will have you aching to head out to some beach somewhere or at least leave you living the tropical dream vicariously.

Early Byrds -- Step Emotion

 

It was a few weeks ago when I was quietly thrilling over the fact that both Canada and Japan had made it out of the group stage of the World Cup and heading into the knockout rounds. Well, as it stands now, both nations did eventually get knocked out and in a few days, we get to watch Argentina and Spain duke it out in the final match.

I noted this when I was writing about the fusion band Early Byrds for the first time in late June. Had never heard of these guys before and there's not a lot of information on them aside from their relative time of duty and the number of albums released. But "Galaxy Special" with  Kyoko Kimura's（木村恭子）vocal assistance was indeed something quite special and vacation-friendly which got my attention. 

Speaking of their albums, there is their July 1982 work "Morning Reflexion" which comes across as quite clever in the naming. On it is the track "Step Emotion" (not sure what that title even means) which was created by Early Byrds member Hiroshi Nakanishi. No Kimura on this tropical fusion cocktail of a tune, but there's still plenty of scatting from male and female voices and it's still worthy of a margarita or two while listening to it. 

Early Byrds feat. Kyoko Kimura -- Galaxy Special

 

Well, summer is officially here and the World Cup is well under way with both Canada and Japan heading into the knockout rounds. And of course, next week, both my nation and the United States will be celebrating their respective birthdays, so a holiday mood is most likely pervading all throughout the land.

On that vacation-minded note, let's have a listen to "Galaxy Special", the first track from fusion band Early Byrds and Kyoko Kimura's（木村恭子）1981 album "Up and Coming". It's a most upbeat and summery groovy instrumental punctuated by Kimura's vocal scatting. You can shake those cocktails on the Lido Deck while listening to this one.

There isn't a whole lot of information on Early Byrds aside from the lineup within the band. They are Hiroshi Nakanishi, Hiroyuki Fukue, Kunihiro Tsuji, Shingo Kanno, and Tsutomu Wajima (sorry, I couldn't find their kanji or what instruments they played). According to Discogs, they released two more albums in 1982 and 1986. As for Kimura, she has a J-Wiki profile which shows that she was active from the early 1970s in at least a few groups and that she was also getting into the Yamaha music contests a fair bit. Until her untimely passing at the age of 61 in 2013, she had also composed, narrated and recorded a vast number of commercial jingles to the extent that she had been called the Beethoven of Naniwa, to reference her home region in the Kansai area of Japan.