Shiro Sagisu with Somethin' Special feat. Keiko Sugai -- Ai no Message（愛のメッセージ）

 

It's the final day of February and since we're not in a leap year, the final day will naturally be the 28th so certainly it'll be a lower output than usual for KKP.

Now, usually, I keep a lot of the City Pop on hand for Urban Contemporary Fridays, but seeing that this is February 28th, I might as well provide something pretty exciting, especially this is also a Saturday. A few years back, I noted that "Evangelion" soundtrack maestro Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）had also been quite the disco City Pop king in the late 1970s. He put out an album with his Somethin' Special band called "Eyes" in 1979.

Well, he and the band also put out a single in that same year called "Ai no Message" (Message of Love), and as was the case on "Eyes", Keiko Sugai（須貝恵子）provided her dynamic vocals and the lyrics on this particular song. It's got a little bit of everything as in Long Island Iced Tea bit of everything. I can hear a boogie rhythm, disco flair and some propulsive funk...just the cocktail to heave Tokyoites to the dance floor in the discos around town.

Shiro Sagisu with Somethin' Special feat. Keiko Sugai -- Hitobito ni Ai wo（人々に愛を）

 

Going into urban contemporary Friday, I just wanted to give a shoutout to City Pop guru Van Paugam who recently guested on a Yacht Rock podcast, "Out of the Main". I've always figured that City Pop and Yacht Rock would have a meeting of the minds somewhere in the cybersphere, so I'm happy that it finally did happen. If you're interested, you can check out this link.

Last weekend, Rocket Brown of "Come Along Radio" was good enough to re-introduce me to an album titled "EYES" which came out in 1979. It was veteran composer/arranger Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）who was responsible for this, his first album under the full name of Shiro Sagisu with Somethin' Special. This is actually just Sagisu's second entry on KKP with him on the title line since he's usually been in the "back office" here, so to speak, providing other artists with his music. Reading some of the comments on YouTube for some of the other examples showing off "EYES", there have been a modicum of shock and awe about this particular album, since he's also been known for his later soundtracks for famous anime such as "Evangelion" and "Megazone 23". However, looking at his works on J-Wiki, he's pretty much done everything outside of enka and Mood Kayo, I wager.

The first track on "EYES" is "Hitobito ni Ai wo" (Love for the Masses) which comes across as a disco anthem. Composed by Sagisu with singer-songwriter Kohei Oikawa（及川恒平）helping out on the lyrics, The vocalist is Keiko Sugai（須貝恵子）pumping out this up-with-people tune that gets me these "Let The Sunshine In" vibes. It probably wouldn't get folks on the dance floor despite the disco arrangement but perhaps out on the pavement to march proudly around Shinjuku in preparations for a musical.

As for another track from the album, have a gander at "Fly!".

Shiro Sagisu with Somethin' Special feat. Keiko Sugai -- Fly!

 

I don't do it all that often, but I was cruising through some of the many YouTube City Pop compilations out there and I may have hit some pay dirt with one video.

(23:56)

For one thing, I discovered this great tune there by composer and arranger Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）called "Fly!". Now, Sagisu is a name that I've heard a fair bit over the years as he's performed his work for singers such as Kohmi Hirose（広瀬香美）and Kanako Wada（和田加奈子）. And speaking of Wada, Sagisu helped out on one of the number of songs that she provided to the 80s anime "Kimagure Orange Road"（きまぐれ・.オレンジ☆ロード）, "Natsu no Mirage" （夏のミラージュ）. Of course later on, he came up with the soundtrack for "Neon Genesis Evangelion".

I had no idea, though, that Sagisu was delving into the City Pop genre but indeed he did with his debut album "Eyes" (1979) under the name of Shiro Sagisu with Somethin' Special, and with "Fly!", I was immediately smitten. Not sure whether this would come under the disco or the post-disco banner (I'd slant toward the latter) but "Fly!" is as smooth as those clarified milk punches that the guy on the "Cocktail Chemistry" channel shakes up. Furthermore, although her name wasn't included underneath the title, Keiko Sugai（須貝恵子）is well worth putting up in my byline above. After all, Sagisu may have composed this banger of a song but Sugai is the singer with the soul punch in her vocals along with Martin K. Bracey on the lyrics.

There is at least one YouTube video with "Fly!" on its own but for whatever reason, it's been severely truncated from its 6 minutes and 7 seconds, so I've gone with the full album above since it has the full version of the song. All of the instruments come together for a great jam including the bass and a saxophone, although the last 30 seconds or so of the song suddenly make a right-angle turn into some furious jazz piano noodling.