Eddy Yamamoto -- Let Me In Your Life

 

As I described for the song in my previous article, I'm not quite sure whether this would come across as a City Pop song per se, and generally Fridays are the days when I like to put up the urban contemporary numbers, but it is a pretty tasty tune.

My very first Eddy Yamamoto（エディ山本）song was "Making Love" which definitely has those Doobie Brothers influences, but its track mate which launches the singer-songwriter's 1984 album "Dream Hunter", "Let Me In Your Life", doesn't quite fit that pattern. It is quite the intriguing strut, though, and it's alternately dreamy and plenty active. Along with the bouncy percussion and the synthesizers, I also like those distinct Eddy vocals which remind slightly remind me of Gino Vannelli and even Masayuki Iwata（岩田雅之）of the band Pazz. "Let Me In Your Life" even lets in some jazziness through the piano near the end.

It's always nice to encounter the unusual standouts in the blog, and I think Eddy Yamamoto would be one of those fellows.

Eddy Yamamoto -- Ai wo Kokoro ni（愛を心に）

Earlier in the spring, I wrote about this perhaps little-known singer-songwriter named Eddy Yamamoto（エディ山本）and this catchy and funky City Pop, "Making Love" from his 1984 "Dream Hunter" album.

Well, cue back some 4 years and here is his debut single "Ai wo Kokoro ni" (Love In Your Heart) from 1980. Compared to that somewhat daring cover for "Making Love" where Yamamoto in his short cut is munching on a tomato after popping out of the shower, the cover for "Ai wo Kokoro ni" has the lad looking like a Japanese Rick Springfield posing for a high school photo.

The difference doesn't end there. Compared to "Making Love" the song itself, "Ai wo Kokoro ni" is much more of a wistful kayo and Yamamoto, who wrote and composed the ballad, performs it with a delivery that is more reminiscent of large-lunged singers of the 1970s such as Akira Fuse（布施明）and Kiyohiko Ozaki（尾崎紀世彦）than Gino Vannelli. With the piano and strings in there, it's the type of song that would adorn some sort of cigarette commercial with the fellow puffing away while staring at the sunset after a long day at work. Since I have never smoked a day in my life, I'll probably go with my image of being on an airplane at the same time of day while either arriving or departing Haneda Airport.

My images aside, Yamamoto did win the grand prize at the 20th annual Yamaha Popular Song Contest and then another prize at the 11th World Popular Song Festival that year for "Ai wo Kokoro ni".

Eddy Yamamoto -- Making Love

I'd never heard of this fellow before but during my explorations through YouTube last night, I just happened to find the following video.

Usually the first thing that I grab after I take a shower is my tube of Voltaren muscle pain cream, but this guy? I see that he may be a man of culture taking a bite out of that tomato following his shower.

This is singer-songwriter Eddy Yamamoto（エディ山本）and I haven't been able to get much information on him. However, I was able to glean from this Ameba blog that he probably debuted in December 1980 with his single "Ai wo Kokoro ni"（愛を心に...Love In Your Heart）, after winning the grand prize at the 20th annual Yamaha Popular Song Contest in October that year and then another prize at the 11th World Popular Song Festival a month later. He has since released two albums: "Dream Hunter" in 1984 and "This Guy" in 1986.

From "Dream Hunter" comes this song represented here in this article, "Making Love" which I think was written and composed by Yamamoto. It's fresh 1980s City Pop right from the intro with that sweet sax and horns. Then on hearing the lad sing, I soon realized that he's got quite the voice, faintly reminiscent of Gino Vannelli. "Making Love" has got that Doobie Bros. riff and could have probably had me boogieing around my bedroom in my towel after a shower in earlier years...provided that I took showers in the morning. It sounds like one of those wake-up types of City Pop tunes. As I hinted at the first paragraph underneath the video, I don't quite have the energy or flexibility anymore to bust a move even after a relaxing shower.

Aside from the information that I was able to find out so far, I don't know where Yamamoto hails from or what he's done since his 80s albums, although I believe that he has a Twitter account. In any good case, I'm glad to have found him at last.