I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
I've been to Hong Kong, Seoul and Taipei and all of them I enjoyed. Unfortunately, I never got the opportunity to visit Shanghai with all of its modern towers. Mind you, I did have Shanghai crab...or Chinese hairy crab...in Hong Kong when it was in season. Marvelous stuff that and I say this as a guy who usually isn't too crazy about eating crustaceans simply because I don't like having to eat my food as if I'm on a mining expedition.
Well, let us segue into Yuko Kawai's（河合夕子）"Shanghai Bojou Exotica" (Shanghai Yearning Exotica) which was a track on her March 1982 sophomore album "Fujiyama Paradise". With Kawai handling words and music and Masao Urino（売野雅勇）also having a go at the lyrics, it's quite the bouncy technopop exotic kayo of touring through the titular city in the People's Republic of China. It sounds like it can describe a fascinating and supremely cheerful exploration of the metropolis, old and new areas all included (although Kawai has apparently thrown in a lot of other cities into the lyrical mix).
A few years later, a cover of "Shanghai Bojou Exotica" was released as Itsumi Osawa's（大沢逸美）7th single in January 1985. Under the late Hiroshi Shinkawa's（新川博）arrangement, this version got a fair share of steroids including some snazzy horns. It's no longer an innocent stroll through Shanghai...it's more of a limousine tour on the main streets with the guests gallivanting from the roof. I can only imagine the ultimate destination is some expensive bar at the top of one of those Shanghai towers.
I may have mentioned this before but singer-songwriter Yuko Kawai（河合夕子）was someone that I discovered because of my work on the blog and the good folks at YouTube. Did not know of her existence in all my years in Japan. My impression of her thus far is that she was one of the more eclectic and fun-loving singers out in the pop field when it came to her showmanship and compositions.
Case in point: her "Persian Rouge", a track from her June 1983 4th and final album to date "Fumin Shoukougun"（不眠症候群）which basically means "Insomnia". She was behind words and music with Masao Urino（売野雅勇）also helping out on the lyrics, and "Persian Rouge" has that playful mix of technopop and exotic kayo as if Kawai was out on the Silk Road somewhere with her synthesizer and a camel.
This is the eighth article for singer-songwriter Shoko Sawada（沢田聖子）on KKP, and when it comes to her music, my memories always drift to the first song I ever heard from her, the warm and folksy "Ochiba no Heya"（落葉の部屋）from 1981, thanks to that listening on "Sounds of Japan" many moons ago.
On the other hand, Sawada's 11th single from April 1984, "Tokaijin"(Woman of the City) is quite different. For one thing, she had nothing to do with its creation; instead, it was written by veteran lyricist Masao Urino（売野雅勇）and composed by Eiji Nishiki（西木栄二）. For another, it's a rumbling pop/rock song about a young lady who gets seduced by the night life of a metropolis despite her friend's increasingly angry and desperate warnings. Although I think Sawada handled the song ably enough, I couldn't help but feel that "Tokaijin" was perhaps not the most perfect fit for her and maybe the powers-that-be above her had wanted to put a bit more boost in her variety of music. Mind you, it's all speculation from me but I also thought that this was something that an aidoru like Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）would have tackled with more energy. The song was also placed as a track on the singer's 6th album"Kaze no Yokan"（風の予感...Presage of the Wind） which was released a month after the single.
It's close to the end of May so in Toronto that means that it's time for the annual Doors Open festival. This is where various establishments ranging from companies to private buildings with some style and history open up for a couple of days for the public to explore. The last time I was at Doors Open was a few years ago and since then, various things happened so that I couldn't attend, and so I was rather determined to go to the 2026 edition despite the warning of heavy rain and high winds.
Well, my friend and I made it to one Heritage building which had also been converted into a food hall filled with various restaurants so I was able to take photos and have a nice hamburger lunch. However, after waiting over an hour to get into The Toronto Star newspaper company while the elements whipped the surprisingly long line silly, we gave up (it was still another hour to go before people could take the elevator to go up) and grabbed a coffee before heading back home. Ugh!
Anyways, the inclement weather is continuing tonight so we may be unlucky enough to get hit with a power outage in the middle of me writing so I apologize in advance. We've actually got quite a lot of outages happening throughout Toronto tonight so I shouldn't be surprised if my neighbourhood does get hit with one.
All the more to bring out enka singer Kokoro Umetani's（梅谷心愛）latest single from March 2026, "Hoshizora no Ruby"(Night Sky of Rubies). It has quite the pedigree of songwriters helping out here with lyricist Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composer Kohei Miyuki（幸耕平）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, and there is something about this song which feels rather nostalgic in a 70s or 80s kayo way. Perhaps there is a mixture of enka and kayo in here so the New Adult Music tag may apply. And in fact, it almost feels like an Aming（あみん）or Takako Okamura（岡村孝子）tune. "Hoshizora no Ruby" reached No. 21 on Oricon.
It's been several years since I posted a Yuuto Tatsumi（辰巳ゆうと）song onto KKP and he's done some evolving over the years at least from what I've included in his file on the blog. I started with his 2nd single from March 2019, "Otoko no Junjou"（おとこの純情）which was a straight-up enka and then followed up with his 3rd single, the more Mood Kayo"Sentimental Heart"（センチメンタル・ハート）, a March 2020 release.
Well, six years have whizzed by and the young lad has become a man with a change in hair colour, to boot. Tatsumi appeared recently on NHK's "Hayauta" with his latest from March 2026, his 10th single"Lonely Generation", and to be honest, I'm having the Dickens of a time trying to categorize this one. Kohei Miyuki（幸耕平）, who usually composes Junretsu's（純烈）songs, took care of this one.
As a brief aside, when I was looking through the KKP Miyuki file, I noticed that I had completely forgotten to add the music genre to Junretsu's "Futari dake no Himitsu"（二人だけの秘密）, probably because I couldn't really nail down an ultimate genre; in the end, I put it down to pop (of the kayo kyoku style).
I was having the same slight dilemma with "Lonely Generation" which was arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）and written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）. With those veteran guys behind it, there is something old-fashioned if very jazzy about this one. It's definitely not enka anymore although it may be a mix of some Neo-Mood Kayo and jazz/rock fusion. So, why not give it the New Adult Music tag although I've also thrown in the pop tag here, too, because it can perhaps fulfill the Neo-kayo kyoku feeling.
As the title states, the song is about isolated young folks struggling to make connections while not admitting to the loneliness. I would usually think Shibuya would be the setting for this sort of song, but the music makes me think more Akasaka and Roppongi. Maybe young Yuuto is making like an employee of the month at a host club there.
Several years ago, I posted an article for aidoru Atsumi Kurasawa's（倉沢淳美）April 1987 penultimate single as a soloist, "Genki desu ka"（元気ですか）which was a slightly more 50s/60s-ish tune helmed by the tenderhearted vocals from the former member of Warabe（わらべ）.
Well, let's go back a few years to October 1984 when Kurasawa released her 3rd single "Kiken na Yume" (Dangerous Dreams). A tune with a pretty urgent beat, Ichizo Seo's（瀬尾一三）arrangement of Tsunehiro Izumi's（和泉常寛）melody sounds like something from a decade previously brought over to the 1980s that Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）could have sung in her early days. Masao Urino's（売野雅勇）lyrics talk of a girl having these disturbing yet intriguing dreams of a man she can't identify but simply can't ignore. So, the chase is on! Try to make an "Inception" movie out of that. Not surprisingly, Kurasawa's vocals, when compared to her singing on "Genki desu ka", come off as being more innocent and rawer.
Aichi Prefecture-born Shinobu Horie（堀江しのぶ）had a brief career as an aidoru in the 1980s and unfortunately, a short life which went only as far as her early twenties.
She was also a TV personality and actress but focusing on her singing career, Horie released four singles between 1983 and 1987 with one album in 1985. Her debut single from April 1983 was "Bikini Vacation" which had that upbeat rock-n'-roll rhythm of yesteryear, perhaps along the lines of another bikini-themed song, "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini". This was written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composed by Ryo Matsuda（松田良）and arranged by Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）.
Horie had been pretty obsessed about losing weight and as she did so, she developed anorexia which led to other complications. Tragically, in September 1988, she would succumb to a form of stomach cancer at the age of 23.
One personal observation I have is that another TV personality born in the same year as Horie who I'd known about when I was living in Japan, Natsuki Okamoto（岡本夏生）, has a startling resemblance to her.
I realize that I should have done this yesterday when the Lunar New Year began but it was getting late into the night and I was just too tired. Anyways, perhaps it's just as well that I'm doing this today on Hump Day when I need to get some energy expended especially on a dreary stormy day. So, allow me to give my Happy Lunar New Year greetings to everyone who's celebrating it this week and they include some of my friends and some of my brother's in-laws. Hopefully, you have eaten very well so far.
To be frank, I'm kinda surprised that I hadn't done an Author's Picks based on the Lunar New Year before but that simply means that I get to do it today when folks are celebrating the Year of the Horse. My picks here don't have any significantly deep meaning aside from the fact that they include song titles connected to areas whose populations would celebrate the holiday. Among the five I'm listing here, three of them already have their own articles on KKP, while the last two are newbies, so I guess this article is a hybridization of an Author's Picks and a regular posting.
The entries above and below are the newbies as I mentioned at the top and they're being included now since I had been looking for these songs on YouTube for years (and giving up) before they finally popped up. I actually borrowed Naoko Kawai's （河合奈保子）March 1985 11th studio album"Stardust Garden ~ Sennen Teien"（STARDUST GARDEN -千・年・庭・園-...Millennium Garden） from a friend back in my university days but never got my own copy, and the one song that I remember from it is "Chinatown Rhapsody" which also has the English subtitle of "Missin' Girl" which hints at some sort of neighbourhood intrigue. Written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, the song goes at a good clip with a certain mysterious aura imbued throughout. I do like that twanging instrument in the intro.
(1987) Koji Tamaki -- Hong Kong
Honestly speaking, I hadn't gotten a great impression of Koji Tamaki's（玉木浩二) "Hong Kong" in the intro which sounded like a combination of a soundtrack from an episode of "Doctor Who" deep into the 1980s when the show was frankly going downhill and a little smidgen of a Pet Shop Boys tune. Now that I've gotten to hear it for the first time in many years, "Hong Kong" still won't enter my Top 5 Tamaki songs but it's a pretty tight and sexy song thanks to his considerable vocals and the simmering arrangement by Chris Cameron. Tamaki was responsible for melody while Goro Matsui（松井五郎）provided the lyrics.
I'd never seen the music video for "Hong Kong" before and it appears that the director was going for a Neo-Noir look in the titular city with Tamaki cutting quite the figure as someone reminiscent of the late actor Yusaku Matsuda（松田優作）. Tamaki's naturally saturnine looks can have viewers wondering about which side he's working for. "Hong Kong" is a part of his debut solo album"All I Do" which was released in August 1987 and peaked at No. 2 on Oricon.
I've said it before and I'll say it again. If my first encounter of 1980s aidoru Minako Honda（本田美奈子）hadn't been that horribly off-tune rendition of one of her hits on one of the 80s music shows, I would have been far more entranced by the late singer.
For example, listening to her third single from August 1985, "Aoi Shuumatsu"(Blue Weekend), I just thought that Honda had a wonderfully clear and upbeat delivery surrounded by Kyohei Tsutsumi's（筒美京平） melody and arranged in a happy-go-lucky synth-heavy style by Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）. On the other hand, Masao Urino's（売野雅勇）lyrics relate a tale of a couple who didn't have the happiest trip to the beach that day. But hey, it's a Japanese pop song so happy music paired with sad words isn't any surprise. For me, this is pure aidoru Honda without the dance club or rock trappings that I would often hear from her music during that decade. The song reached No. 23 on Oricon.
It was a dozen years ago when I posted my first article on footloose-and-fancy-free singer-songwriter Yuko Kawai（河合夕子）with her "Tokyo-tique Girl"（東京チーク・ガール）from 1981. It was quite the summery and nostalgic pop tune from way back when in my kayo kyoku memories.
"Tokyo-tique Girl" was also a track in Kawai's May 1981 debut album"Little Tokyo"（リトル・トウキョウ）and also from there, I give you another song "1959 Omoide no Dance Hall" (The 1959 Dance Hall of My Memories). Written and composed by the singer with Masao Urino（売野雅勇）helping out with the lyrics, it's quite the interesting mix of reggae and Dixieland jazz within a matrix of New Music that had me thinking of Tin Pan Alley from the 1970s. Maybe it can also be considered to be an exotic kayoas well due to the mention of Singapore in there.
I heard this on a recent episode of NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）, and I found it quite lovely and old-fashioned. Teenage enka singer Kokoro Umetani（梅谷心愛）is making her way up the ladder in the music world and she released "Himitsu no Hana"(Secret Flowers) as her 2nd single from April 2025 earlier this year.
Remembering her from her debut single"Ban'etsu Sai Sen Hitori"（磐越西線ひとり）a couple of years back, Umetani was rocking an appearance that was a hybrid of traditional enka singer and 1920s flapper girl. So it's pretty refreshing to see her in the video looking like a typical young lady who's just celebrated her Adulthood Day ceremony (although she's still 17 as of this writing) and as someone in regular garb taking a walk along the beach. Speaking of mixing, what got my ears with "Himitsu no Hana" is not just the enka part but also the arrangement which comes across as being quite kayo kyoku, as if it were Mizue Takada（高田みづえ）singing back in the late 1970s. Maybe it has something to do with the songwriters. Kohei Miyuki（幸耕平）was the composer and he's done plenty of contemporary enka but the arrangement was handled by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）who I've frequently associated with pop songs going back decades. Masao Urino（売野雅勇）was behind the lyrics for this one which managed to reach No. 13 on Oricon.
We're having a heat wave, a tropical heat wave! Just like the old standard says, the Greater Toronto Area will be undergoing its first major slamdown of torrid weather for the first time in a couple of years. Until early Wednesday, we'll be getting our 35+ Celsius temperatures. Although I'm not so much of a heat demon myself (and I went through 17 years of melting Tokyo summers), there are a lot of Torontonians who've been aching for some real summer stuff since most of our year is either cold or cool.
Well, let's further emphasize the fact that the Northern Hemisphere is in summer mode with an appropriately summer number. It's been about half a year since we've brought City Pop crooner Tatsuhiko Yamamoto（山本達彦）onto the pages of KKP, so here is his May 1985 single"Natsu no Aijin"(Summer Lovers).
Written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）and composed by Yamamoto, arranger Jun Sato（佐藤準）created a nice and mildly spicy Latin-tinged tune with a sprinkling of sophisticated pop and jazz thrown in for good measure. Not surprising considering the geography, "Natsu no Aijin" was used for a coffee commercial which reminds me that I do miss my iced coffee in Japan. The song peaked at No. 29 on Oricon, selling a little over 70,000 records.
In the first second or so of this song by Naomi Kawashima（川島なお美）, I was getting some vibes from WHAM!'s"Last Christmas", but the interesting thing is that "Thrill Me" had become known to Japanese audiences in February 1984, some ten months before "Last Christmas" made its premiere.
My aural delusions aside, "Thrill Me", which was the B-side to Kawashima's 7th single"Namida ~ Copacabana"（涙・コパカバーナ）, quickly shows off that familiar City Pop descending chord progression before things go into a hazy pop/Resort Pop atmosphere. With a title like "Thrill Me", I'd been expecting something like that samba-infused A-side, but it's actually all very relaxing. Masao Urino（売野雅勇）was the lyricist while Katsuo Ono（大野克夫）took care of the melody. Also, from what I've read of the lineup of musicians in the recording booth according to the writeup on YouTube under the video, it was quite the star-studded affair with Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）on keyboards, Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）on guitar and backup vocals, and even Hiroshi Narumi（鳴海寛）helping on backup vocals as well (among other big names). So, Tohoku Shinkansen（東北新幹線）was in the house!
It didn't happen all that much since I was quite careful about how much I imbibed on a certain play night, but on rare occasions, I did get smacked with a hangover that left me either wincing with a headache or running to the nearest washroom to pray to the porcelain god. Tylenol or something stronger would usually get me out of the jam, though (long after I stopped drinking).
Perhaps 80s aidoru Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）and any of her short-term band RAMU had their hangover problems in the past. However for their "Late Night Headache" on the band's one and only September 1988 album"Thanks Giving", it sure sounds like the fun was still filling the dance floor despite the title. Written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composed by Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, "Late Night Headache" sounds like a Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）project for Omega Tribe with that certain crystalline keyboard and the languid nocturnal rhythms. And maybe it is the influence of the arrangement but when I hear Kikuchi sing, it reminds me of Carlos Toshiki!
The overall feeling is of young beautiful people driving out of Tokyo to a seaside resort at night to party it up during the Bubble Era as the music wavers between City Pop and straight pop. Near the end, there's even some Eurobeat riffing.
I began the Yasuko Kuwata（桑田靖子）file pretty early in the history of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", with her 4th single "My Joyful Heart" from 1984 getting onto the blog in the middle of 2013. Surprisingly, I have yet to write about her debut single"Datsu - Platonic"（脱・プラトニック）from early 1983 which seems to have been her most significant hit.
But until that day comes, I'm going to continue the Kuwata file with her 3rd single from October 1983, "Moshikashite Dream" (It Was All a Dream?). Created by the same team which took care of her first two singles including "Datsu - Platonic", lyricist Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composer Hiroaki Serizawa（芹澤廣明）and arranger Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）, it comes off initially as an intrepid and fairly serious theme for a TV detective series in the 1960s until the chorus bursts forth into a major-key happy tune. Maybe that dream has actually turned into a reality? The song managed to peak at No. 71 on Oricon.
Let's see...this morning, I woke up to 2 degrees Celsius with a -3-degree wind chill outside. Yeah, I'd say that summer has been erased from our environs (although perhaps Indian Summer might visit us next month).
Still, I have a few summer songs in the backlog to bring onto the blog including this one by singer-songwriter Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）. Believe it or not, the February 1989"Monochrome no Natsu"(Monochrome Summer) was only his own 6th single from a long career that began in the early 1970s, but I gather that he was too busy providing other singers with his compositions or he was never too much into cutting singles. Anyways, with Masao Urino（売野雅勇）providing the lyrics, Hayashi composed and sang "Monochrome no Natsu" which begins sounding like either an AOR tune or something by the Matsutoyas, but it becomes a surprisingly punchy rather than groovy pop song thanks to those synths.
Well, I just popped the turkey into the oven because we are celebrating Canadian Thanksgiving on this long weekend. Meanwhile, Japan is having its own long weekend due to Sports Day on Monday. Rather ironic since while the Japanese will be taking part in all sorts of athletic activities, we Canadians will be engorging ourselves on pumpkin pie, mashed potatoes and the celebratory bird.
Of course, Canadian Thanksgiving means that the weather is quite a bit cooler now here which may have some of the summer worshippers in a bit of a funk. However, maybe for those of those folks who are reading "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I can provide some solace through this Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）song. And yeah, that's quite a look for him on the cover of his 51st single"Yakshini"（ヤクシニー）which hit the record store shelves in June 1984.
But it's not "Yakshini" I'm looking at today, but the B-side"Hachi-gatsu no Etranger" (August Stranger). Though the title might sound ominous, the melody and arrangement by Daisuke Inoue（井上大輔） more than makes up for that with a disco/samba celebration underlying Go's familiar nasal vocals. Masao Urino（売野雅勇）provided the lyrics for this dance number that scored a No. 21 ranking on Oricon.
Ahhh....the Mood Kayo Avengers. Always nice to have at any drinking establishment on a Sunday night before we all have to put our noses to the grindstone once more the next day.
Glad to see some of the kayo kyoku veterans still around to make some really nostalgic yesteryear tunes. For example, it was only in the last week or so that I heard about "Koi wa Suteki na Showtime" (Love is a Splendid Showtime), a Mood Kayo released earlier this year with venerable Masao Urino（売野雅勇）on the lyrics about an alcohol-boosted ode to the bittersweet experience of love. Just-as-venerable Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）was behind music and arrangement for this fun and jaunty karaoke-friendly tune with a good dollop of Latin stirred in.
But that's not all, as they say on those old commercials. "Koi wa Suteki na Showtime" reminds me of another Mood Kayo duet titled "Otoko to Onna no Love Game"(男と女のラブ・ゲーム）from 1986; the karaoke classic happens to have been composed by Makaino as well. Not only that, the male half of that duet is back to help out on this one: Shiro Aoi（葵司朗）. This time though, his partner is enka singer Minami Hazuki（葉月みなみ）from Niigata Prefecture. Hazuki, who has been in showbiz since 2009, not only lends her vocal cords to the proceedings but also her ability as a flutist (she can also play the accordion according to her J-Wiki profile). The song is officially her 5th digital single released in February 2024.
In my last post, I mentioned that recently I've been hooked onto listening to some old 90s Cantonese pops. This is another Japanese song covered by Hong Kong singer Leon Lai 黎明 in 1992. I forgot how I came to know that it's a covered song, but I probably discovered it shortly after I began studying Japanese back in 2010. Hiroshi Madoka is such an odd name that I did not remember until I decided to write this post a few days ago.
It's so interesting when I read Hiroshi Madoka's Wikipedia page. It is said that as a singer, Hiroshi is considered by many Japanese to be a one hit wonder! That one hit, Musoubana 夢想花, was covered by J-Canuck in this post. It's nostalgic because that post was written in 2012, the year this blog started.
Speaking about one hit wonders, as much as I love Midori Karashima 辛島美登里, she's also kind of a one hit wonder. Coincidentally, both Midori and Hiroshi began their career by winning the Yamaha Pop Song Contest. Hiroshi did it in 1978 whereas Midori won in 1983.
Released in 1990, Yuki no Furu Hito was Hiroshi's 14th single. Music was written by Kisaburo Suzuki 鈴木キサブロー while lyrics was written by Masao Urino 売野雅勇. The English translation of the title would be "Man of Falling Snow." It's about a couple who separated. The man was watching an airplane taking off, whose light is disappearing amid falling snow. The plane was carrying his ex-lover to the next chapter in her life. He remembered how they first met at age 20, when he was carrying her across a bridge on his back that summer. Now, there's only "falling snow" everywhere.
Frankly, I like Leon Lai's singing better. I agree with J-Canuck that Hiroshi Madoka's voice sounds like Takao Kisugi 来生たかお. To me, that's like a drunken old man singing in a karaoke!
I'll let you guys decide. This is the covered version in Cantonese by Leon Lai. The title of the song is called "Wish We'd Be More Than Friends 但願不只是朋友."
I've often called crooning drummer and singer Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）one of the princes of City Pop all these years, and he definitely has the flair for the urban contemporary.
However, I've also realized that Inagaki, through listening to his music, also has a love for the pop inspired from the 1950s and 1960s. I think one example is his "Memory Flickers", the penultimate track from his April 1989 album"Heart & Soul". The No. 1-ranking release has been labeled a City Pop album but "Memory Flickers" feels more like an homage to those earlier decades although the music seems to have been filtered as well through contemporary arrangements and synths.
Written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, those opening notes of "Memory Flickers" resemble the notes in the intro of Anri's（杏里）classic "Kanashimi ga Tomaranai" (悲しみがとまらない）, and perhaps this shouldn't be surprising since both songs were composed by the one-and-only Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）. Beyond those introductory bars though, Hayashi's arrangements take us through a mix of thrumming keyboards and what sounds like some Motown spice. Urino's lyrics talk about a man reminiscing about a love triangle years or decades ago in which he was one of the corners competing against one male corner for the hand of a female corner. Not sure who won but I get the feeling that the main man is feeling rather bittersweet about the experience. In any case, "Heart & Soul" ended 1989 as the 47th-ranked album.
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