Fujimaru Band -- Don't Ever Say Good-bye to The Sun

 

It's been a while since I last posted up anything by 1970s City Pop group Fujimaru Band（藤丸バンド）led by Yoshino Fujimal（芳野藤丸）. And it looks like this is quite the whopper from their 1977 album "BGM". And unlike what that album title intimates, this middle song on Side B of the original LP is anything but mundane.

"Don't Ever Say Good-bye to The Sun" is a glorious soul-filled love song written and composed by Fujimal himself. Armed with those disco strings, I couldn't help but be reminded by The Love Unlimited Orchestra's iconic "Love's Theme", although of course, "Love's Theme" is significantly louder and brassier. That's not to take anything away from "Don't Ever Say Good-bye to The Sun" whose orchestra is a bit more muted if present but also has plenty of warmth glowing from inside. It's quite reassuring and I thought it would have made for a great final track on "BGM".

Fujimaru Band -- Highway（ハイウェイ）

 

Well, it's the first day of spring! And as would befit such an auspicious day, it's been looking gorgeous out there with a ton of sun and some relatively balmy temperatures. Couldn't have asked for anything better.

A little less than a couple of years ago, I wrote about musician-songwriter Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）and his old backup band for Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）, Fujimaru Band（藤丸バンド）via their 1977 album "BGM". "I Know It’s Gonna Last" is one mighty number with some boss horns.

Well, the opening track on "BGM" is "Highway", a bossa nova-inflected song with some of that 70s City Pop keyboard haze that has that touch of sophistication of a high-class night in Tokyo back then. Plus, I find that the way Yoshino sings "Highway" is rather predictive of how Akira Terao（寺尾聰）will croon his tracks out on the future "Reflections" in 1981. With the music by Yoshino and lyrics by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）, the ballad is a cool number to be enjoyed while bombing down the Shuto Expressway in Tokyo.

"Highway" was also the B-side to Fujimaru Band's 1977 single "Kanashimi no Hodou"（哀しみの舗道...Melancholy Paved Road）, a song that is also included on "BGM".

Fujimaru Band -- I Know It’s Gonna Last

Come Along Radio and I were talking one time and he was recommending some more of the output of singer-musician Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）through his past band work such as SHOGUN. When I looked up his bio on J-Wiki, I found out that Yoshino really liked getting a group of professionals together to do those gigs.

There is his early 80s collaboration with Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）and others in AB'S and way back in the 1970s, Yoshino started up his first band, Fujimaru Band（藤丸BAND）in 1973. The revelation for me here was that Fujimaru Band was created as the support band behind the late Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）! I don't know how many singles or albums Fujimaru Band released but there is the one 1977 album that got recorded by them titled "BGM".

And one of the tracks on "BGM" is "I Know It's Gonna Last", a sunny song totally sung in English by Yoshino. He does a splendid job performing as the rest of Fujimaru Band provides some really nice medium funk, especially with those tight horns and keyboards. I've already put up my fair share of 1970s City Pop, but if someone were to ask me about what would be a representative of Japanese urban contemporary from that decade, I can easily mention "I Know It's Gonna Last".

To give credit where credit is due, Yoshino was on vocals and guitar, Masao Nakajima（中島正雄）was on keyboards, the bass was handled by Kazuyoshi Watanabe（渡辺和義）, and Junichi Kanazawa（金沢順一）handled the drums. Considering the cover above with the guys enjoying a meal together, I guess I can't be surprised that Yoshino liked to get his bands together.