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.
Showing posts with label Masataka Matsutoya. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Masataka Matsutoya. Show all posts
The late 1980s for me in terms of Japanese pop music meant a lot of things: overt diversification of the genres as we moved from kayo kyoku to J-Pop, a fresher and brasher type of aidoru in the form of Shizuka Kudo（工藤静香）and Miho Nakayama（中山美穂）as examples. And also, the emergence of female pop singer-songwriters coming up with some very mellow and eminently listenable material. Of course, I think of Miki Imai（今井美樹）, Midori Karashima（辛島美登里）and the young lady of note here, Reimy Horikawa（堀川麗美）.
But I have to admit that this final track, "Niji no Asa Kaze no Sora" (Morning Rainbow, Windy Sky), from Reimy's 3rd album, "Pansy", from May 1985 is perhaps one of the earliest examples of this breezy girl pop that I've discovered. With the melody by Reimy herself and then lyrics by Shun Taguchi（田口俊）and arrangement by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）, the singer's oh-so-adorable and comforting vocals are the maraschino cherry on top of this swooning sundae that can actually induce images of morning rainbows and windy skies, and nope, nothing pharmacological is involved. Nice touch with the steel pedal guitar, too!
I've been covering individual tracks from Junko Yagami's（八神純子）February 1982 album"Yume Miru Koro wo Sugite mo"（Even If The Time to Dream Passes） for a number of years now including "I'm a Woman" and "Secret Love"（シークレット・ラブ）. It's no surprise that these songs have had more than enough urban oomph to get them onto the blog on Fridays when I cover that sort of thing.
But the album begins with the title track itself and I'd say that the title track is more of a conventional pop ballad, although I'd been wondering whether I should have placed it during Urban Contemporary Fridays. Ultimately though, I opted to post it during a regular day. Obviously, there's nothing wrong with "Yume Miru Koro wo Sugite mo"; it's one of those Yagami ballads that features her alternating soaring and purring voice, beautiful contemplative piano by her, and those shimmering strings as part of the entire package. In a way, I think the ballad hearkens back to her very early days as a teen balladeer of the 1970s. Yagami and Ryuichi Kawamura（川村龍一）co-wrote the lyrics (under the pen name of Hisashi Kawamura) with the former handling the melody. Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）provided the arrangement.
Ah, yes...Vachon's Half-Moon Cakes...which have nothing to do with the sweets during the Moon Festival in September. Actually, these were a part of my youth during lunchtime. When I got together with the guys for lunch at high school in front of our lockers, my mother would usually put one of these into my brown bag as the dessert segment. They came in lemon and chocolate versions and were (and still are) so sweet that they were responsible for the sugar crashes in the afternoon classes.
The above makes for a Canadian treat segue into this 20th single by Hiromi Ohta（太田裕美）"Koi no Half-Moon"(Half-Moon of Love) which was released back in March 1981. This was also the follow-up to Ohta's "Saraba Siberia Tetsudo"(さらばシベリア鉄道）that had come out in December 1980, and it was basically the same songwriting lineup for that one that was responsible for "Koi no Half-Moon", lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composer/arranger Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）with Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）helping on the arrangement of the strings and horns.
"Koi no Half-Moon" is an interesting one. It didn't impress me on first listen but it has started to grow on me. The notable thing is that it doesn't sound like a typical Ohtaki arrangement with that overall 50s and/or country-western twang that has become a staple of his melody work ("Saraba Siberia Tetsudo" is a classic in that way). In fact, I'd say that with some of the disco feeling in there, it sounds a bit more Electric Light Orchestra without the heavy synths. As for Matsumoto, he wove a story about a couple enjoying a night ride in the convertible and stopping off at their version of Inspiration Point in Japan, and if any of you have watched the old American sitcom "Happy Days", you'll know the significance of Inspiration Point. Hopefully, the only thing looking down at the soon-to-be very happy pair is the half-moon itself.
Although "Saraba Siberia Tetsudo" has become one of Ohta's trademark songs, it only scored a No. 70 ranking initially on Oricon, and looking through her discography on J-Wiki, it was evident that her big days (outside of what her most dedicated fans thought) were receding. "Koi no Half-Moon" peaked at No. 81.
The B-side, "Blue Baby Blue", was also created by Ohtaki and Matsumoto with Yasuo Arakawa（荒川康男）helping the former out on arrangement. Now, this sounds more like an Ohtaki production...yup, Richie and Mary Beth out on the porch swing in the 1950s. However, the lyrics are a whole lot sadder as someone is having some major regrets about breaking up with that special lass. Post-breakup blues never sounded more sweet and nostalgic.
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.
One of singer-songwriter Ami Ozaki's（尾崎亜美）greatest songs has been "My Pure Lady", her 1976 single which is some blissfully relaxing bossa nova-inflected New Music. It instantly brings back some major nostalgia even though I wasn't even living in Japan back in the 1970s except for that one-month vacation in 1972.
Well, Ozaki's breakthrough hit obviously has a B-side and it's also a very nice winner. "Sunlight" sounds like a lady's very happy day and it was created by Ozaki under Masataka Matsutoya's（松任谷正隆）arrangement. However, instead of bossa nova, "Sunlight" feels like some soulful upbeat goodness, especially with that brief but lovely sax solo. Just want to coast down a seaside hill on a bicycle on a sunny day while listening to this one.
I couldn't help but get some of that atmosphere from the Righteous Brothers' classic "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'" when I listened to the first few measures of this Kaoru Sudo（須藤薫）song. Released in November 1983 as her final single for CBS/Sony with whom she recorded since the beginning of her career in 1979, "Hadashi no Mama de" (Just Barefoot) sounds like a Hiroshi Nagai（永井博）painting given aural capabilities as Sudo croons softly of a woman at the side of a pool during one summer, thinking about a former flame.
Written by Shun Taguchi（田口俊）, composed by Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）and arranged by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）, I wonder whether those last two songwriters were thinking of the Righteous Brothers and Phil Spector when they designed this rather lush ballad that has the vibes of a breezy 60s love song. Considering that we're not too far from the hot season right now, this could be quite the tonic.
Just staring at the cover for Takao Kisugi's（来生たかお）December 1979 album"Natural Menu", I felt like he should have gotten a gig for a cooking show on NHK. That is one lovely kitchen, and as it turns out according to the J-Wiki article on "Natural Menu", that was no set but his real kitchen after he had just gotten married. The photo itself inspired Kisugi to name the album "Natural Menu"!
Today is a Sunday and in keeping with that relaxed Sunday morning theme along with Takao himself enjoying that Western breakfast of toast, sunny-side egg, orange juice and coffee, I give you one of the tracks "Yuruyaka ni Ai ga..." (Love Slowly...). Composed by the singer, written by his sister Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）and arranged by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）, it comes across as the ultimate Sunday brunch song with that relaxing rhythm, the old-style pop feeling (something Gilbert O'Sullivan-ish) and Takao's crooning vocals. Heck, I've even read that Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）was helping out in the background chorus although I couldn't quite pick him out.
The other day in the Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）forum on Discord, I read that the original drummer for the famed AOR band, Keiichi Hiroishi（廣石恵一）, had passed away on March 16th at the age of 64 due to a cerebral hemorrhage. Giving my condolences to Hiroishi's family, friends and fans, I wanted to start my contributions to KKP today with an Omega Tribe song.
Usually when it comes to the smooth and groovy stylings of Omega Tribe with Carlos Toshiki, I think of composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and lyricist Chinfa Kan（康珍化）. But for the band's 6th single under their incarnation at that time, "Toki wa Kagerou"(Love is an Illusion), it was none other than Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）who provided words and music with Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博） handling the arrangement. Released in June 1990, it's an ethereal musing on love as an amourous couple enjoy each other's company on the sands of some desert (those synth-wood pipes help with the effect). I can imagine that the concept of time must dissipate like a heat haze in such an environment. Reaching No. 38 on Oricon, "Toki wa Kagerou" was also the first track on Omega Tribe's album"natsuko" which came out later in July; the album was a No. 13 hit.
Interestingly enough, the first time that I had even heard of the song was through Yuming's（ユーミン）self-cover of "Toki wa Kagerou" from her November 1990 album"Tengoku no Door"（天国のドア）. It isn't quite as ethereal as the version that Shinkawa had arranged but the drama is still in there under Masataka Matsutoya's（松任谷正隆）handling of it. I'm not sure when I ended up buying Omega Tribe's album, but it wasn't too long after getting "Tengoku no Door" since when I listened to that first track on "natsuko", I was left wondering where I had heard that song before.
"Rainy Day Hello" is a romantic yet somewhat bittersweet rain-themed song that superbly paints a scene of a re-encounter of a couple that had first met and then broken up on a rainy day. Within the many Masamichi Sugi-penned songs（杉真理）, the A-side of the original "Amazing Toys" LP is chock-filled with his famous tunes, but "Namida no Step"（涙のステップ）and this particular track are Kaoru Sudo's（須藤薫）eternal classics. The song, the sound and the mastering are splendid and it represents the hey days of CBS Sony.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
I recall frequent commenter Brian Mitchell mentioning under Al Stewart's article that 1976 was a good year for the hits. I agreed with "Year of the Cat" becoming a classic and a few other songs that made it big then.
On the other side of the Pacific, I'm pretty sure that there were a fair share of hits on the Oricon list during 1976 that left a good feeling in people's hearts and minds and ears. This particular song went no higher than No. 60 on the charts but the melody and arrangement were cheerful enough to leave that good feeling. In fact, I'm talking about "Good Feeling", Midori Kinouchi's（木之内みどり）6th single from July 1976.
The same songwriters who were at work on Kinouchi's previous single "Gakusei Douri"（学生通り） were responsible for "Good Feeling". However, this time around, lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composer Kazuo Zaitsu（財津和夫）and arranger Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）didn't make a solemn and wistful paean to a setting that will slip away due to the inevitability of time and maturity. Instead, the three of them created an appropriately happy-go-lucky and summery ditty about a lass going out on a much-awaited date with her beau...without telling the stern father, of course. Nothing melancholy about this one at all...it's about enjoying the present. And considering that we here in Toronto are about to get hit with 10 centimetres of snow in the next several hours, we need all of the good feeling inoculated into us.
"Good Feeling" became the title track for Kinouchi's fourth album which was released in September that year.
Well, this article is a continuation of the rainy day theme from Kunio Muramatsu's（村松邦男）"Rainy Day" and it only takes one extra word to complete this Kaoru Sudo（須藤薫）ballad"Rainy Day Hello".
Sudo was known as a singer who loved to give her own renditions of happy-go-lucky 50s/60s girl pop back in the day, but with "Rainy Day Hello", which is a track on her April 1982 3rd album, "Amazing Toys", the arrangement by Masamichi Sugi and Masastaka Matsutoya（杉真理・松任谷正隆）is contemporary pop/AOR balladry aside from a familiar vocal chorus behind her. It's probably not a tune that a freshly brokenhearted person would want to hear (or maybe he/she would😕) but it's a beautifully put-together song by Sugi in terms of words and music about a woman remembering how she met that wonderful man one rainy day only for a lie to bring the world crashing down and un-meeting that man on another rainy day. It's been called one of Sudo's best songs and I can believe it.
For some of that 50s/60s girl pop sound, try Sudo's track mate on "Amazing Toys", "Namida no Step"（涙のステップ）. And indeed, this will be another Yutaka Kimura Talks song.
The above is a shot from one of the paths within Waseda University in Tokyo. I took this photo a little over seven years ago when I was with a couple of former work colleagues during the university's annual student festival.
I'm not sure if I'm overgeneralizing things a bit here. However, my impression has been that kayo kyoku dealing with high school have tended to be more rock n' roll raunchy or sentimentally romantic (especially with those 80s aidorutunes). On the other hand, songs based on university experiences have been much more folksy (not all that surprising considering all of the angry folk songs of the 1960s performed at university) or nostalgically tinged with sepia.
It was just last month that I covered aidoru Midori Kinouchi's（木之内みどり）Xmas tune"Hitotsuki Okure no Christmas"（ひと月おくれのクリスマス）, but this time, I'm introducing her 5th single from February 1976,"Gakusei Douri" (Student Avenue). Created by some heavy songwriting hitters in lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composer Kazuo Zaitsu（財津和夫）and arranger Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）, it's a bittersweet song about reminiscing over a past romance at university. What adds to the poignancy is the addition of bells, a French horn, shimmering strings and that keyboard for which I can never remember the name. The aural effects makes it sound as if the university senior is about to graduate and leave campus for good, thus tying off one major period of his life and his connection to his old flame.
This particular song here (along with any other kayo kyoku dealing with the titular place) has taken on a further poignancy considering that between the time of its release in 1975 and the last several years, the big boss airport for the Tokyo area had been Narita all the way out in the wilds of Chiba Prefecture for many many years while Haneda Airport was the faded glory as more of a domestic hub (although flights were there between Japan and Taiwan). However, up to around the mid-1970s, Haneda had been the mighty airport of destiny in many a song and it was my first entry into Japan in 1972.
"Doyoubi no Yoru wa Haneda ni Kuru no" (I'm Coming to Haneda on Saturday Night) is the B-side to vocal group Hi-Fi Set's（ハイ・ファイ・セット）far more famous "Sky Restaurant"(スカイレストラン) that was released in November 1975 as their 4th single. Created by the same team behind the A-side: lyricist Yumi Arai（荒井由実）, composer Kunihiko Murai（村井邦彦）and arranger Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）, "Doyoubi no Yoru wa Haneda ni Kuru no" continues that dreamy urban and urbane atmosphere that began at that rooftop restaurant in downtown Tokyo and takes it Haneda Airport a few kilometres away. A woman goes there to remember an old flame who has long since headed for a place overseas perhaps with a new lady on his arm. I'm not sure if her visit to the airport is a one-off or something she does on a weekly basis; I'm hoping that at least she's taking the subway or monorail there instead of a pricey taxi.
As I stated earlier, there seems to be a musical link between the A and B sides but with "Doyoubi no Yoru wa Haneda ni Kuru no", though the arrangement retains the wistful feeling, there is also a sweeter hope that sort of wins out over any bitterness. The lady in question is perhaps ready to move on with her life. In addition, there is also some fine harmonizing with the soft scatting among the Set.
In the last thirteen years that I've been back in Canada, I've managed to visit my old stomping grounds in Japan in 2014 and 2017, and I've gone through the new-and-improved Haneda Airport which has become a bustling transportation centre once more. Restaurants and shops abound galore.
Listening to this song, I get images of a lonely, perhaps recently heartbroken, woman walking the streets of Tokyo alone and ending up getting a solo cocktail at what was once their favourite watering hole. The bartender is very sage and sympathetic.
I am talking about "Saigo no Yoru ni"(On The Last Night) which was the B-side to singer-songwriter Yuko Ishikawa's（石川優子）7th single"Cinderella Summer"（シンデレラ サマー）from March 1981. In contrast to the summery 50s sound of the A-side, "Saigo no Yoru ni" feels and sounds more mature, wiser and sadder, as if playing around on the beach all throughout that Cinderella summer has had its benefits, costs and consequences and now on that final night, the check has come due. To be honest, although I have categorized it as a City Pop tune, the blues and jazz push through in the melody by Ishikawa and the arrangement by Yasumasa Awano（淡野保昌）and Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）, and it may be just the song that is playing for that heartbroken woman in the bar.
Japanese music has plenty of examples of furigana that is different from the original kanji reading within a song title. This may be one of the more poignant examples. The formal reading of those first two kanji is actually "shuumatsu" rather than the more common and everyday "saigo" that is actually used to read "Saigo no Yoru ni". The kanji refers to the end in a more apocalyptic or terminal sense, giving a deeper meaning to the woman's feelings at the moment.
Seeing that my last article's song had some bossa nova interwoven into its tapestry. why not go for a bigger dose of the Brazilian genre today?
Ami Ozaki's（尾崎亜美）2nd original album,"Mind Drops", from June 1977 has given me an impression that it is one of the major releases within that gelatinous region of New Music and City Pop, so perhaps I should give the entire album its own article someday. However, in the meantime, I'll stick with the first track on "Mind Drops", the calm blue ocean of "Taiyo no Hitorigoto" (Soliloquy of the Sun) which was written and composed by the singer.
The arrangement by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）takes us into cocktail-sipping bossa nova territory although the opening scat of "dabba dabba da..." has me thinking of good ol' kayo kyoku as well. But it isn't Yuming's（ユーミン）husband helping out with the duet here. It's actually Sumio Akutagawa（芥川澄夫）behind the mike. At the time, he was a director at Toshiba EMI and had once been a guitarist for the folk group Toi et Moi（トワ・エ・モワ）earlier in the decade.
Speaking of "Mind Drops", you can also take a gander at another track from the album, "Hatsukoi no Toori Ame"（初恋の通り雨）.
I guess I'll leave Kayo Grace and her boyfriend to their tender moment alone. 💕Anyways, I was listening to Scott's "Holly Jolly X'masu" podcast from several days ago, and he was focusing on the album "Winter Gift Pops" from November 1997. It was compiled by singer-songwriter and producer Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）and it isn't strictly a Xmas album, but then again, the title is able to skirt that accusation since, well, gifts can be given on Valentine's Day and White Day which are still in the winter season.
Track 5 on "Winter Gift Pops" which starts at around 19:00 of the podcast is "Anata dake I Love You"(I Love Only You) by Miwako Saito（さいとうみわこ）. It sounds just like a song that either Sugi or the late great Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）would create, and guess what? It is indeed Ohtaki who wrote and composed this one while Yasuharu Ogura（小倉泰治）took care of the arrangement which adds a few more interesting bells and whistles to what is a 50s or 60s girl pop song.
Scott goes into Saito's history but I'll also come in here to say that the Tokyo-born singer began her career in 1978 as the vocalist for the girls' band Neko Musume（猫娘...Catgirl） before starting up another similar band Tango Europe（タンゴ・ヨーロッパ）in 1980 while attending Nihon University College of Art. The band broke up in 1984 after which Saito went on a solo singing career with four singles and seven full albums and mini-albums.
Since listening to Saito's take on "Anata dake I Love You", it didn't take long before YouTube steered me in the direction toward the original singer behind the song, Kaoru Sudo（須藤薫）. This was Sudo's 7th single from November 1981 with Ohtaki and Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）handling the arrangement which really brings back those girl pop vibes from sixty to seventy years ago, and Sudo was one of the masters of the genre. "Anata dake I Love You" was also found even earlier on her debut album"Chef's Special" which had been released in June 1980.
From Masataka Matsutoya's 1977 album: "Yoru no Tabibito"
"Hong Kong Night Sight" stands out as one of the best night groove songs in this rare solo album by a young Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）. Along with the sound accompanying the dazzling bright lights of the city, the mild vocals are also a highlight, but for the last half of the song, I think it's endearing that the song ends up tumbling a bit when it gets louder. Yuming's（ユーミン）version can be found in her 1981 "Mizu no Naka no Asia"（水の中のASIAへ）.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
There are so many well-known songs born from the collaboration between Hi-Fi Set（ハイ・ファイ・セット）and Yumi Arai（荒井由実）, beginning with "Sotsugyo Shashin"（卒業写真）and "Chuo Freeway"（中央フリーウェイ）, but it's been difficult to put a definitive finger on a City Pop song by them. "Hoshi no Stranger" is a song that has the triple punch of a solid melody, a performance reminiscent of Tin Pan Alley and those characteristic Hi-Fi Set harmonies, and so when it comes to their discography, this song has more of Tin Pan Alley coming to the fore here.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
The above is my copy of Junko Hirotani's（広谷順子）2nd album"Blendy" from 1981 and though I've enjoyed it quite a lot, it doesn't contain a couple of other pleasant songs by the late singer-songwriter who passed away in 2020.
Both songs make up her 4th single from August 1980. I've already covered the A-side, "Koi Moyou"（恋模様）, which is a Resort Pop song that brings to mind a very nice vacation along the Riviera. The B-side,"Anata no Iru Keshiki"(The Scenery Where You Are) is another similarly-themed song of fine life that's slightly peppier in tempo. Maybe the site this song invokes is more local, let's say somewhere in Hakone, Japan. Wherever the scenery is though, the couple is having a lovely and sophisticated time over brunch. Hirotani came up with the melody while Yumi Morita（森田由美）was the lyricist and Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）was responsible for the relaxing arrangement.
Just continuing the City Pop into today from Friday but only because this particular song is up for the Yutaka Kimura Speaks treatment next week.
"Hoshi no Stranger" (Stranger from a Star) is the first track on vocal group Hi-Fi Set's（ハイファイセット）June 1976 2nd album, "Fashionable Lover" (and I've already spoken on the title track). Written by Yumi "Yuming" Arai（荒井由実）and composed/arranged by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）, I'm not too sure on whether there is a real alien girl involved here or it's more of a figurative way to describe an odd but appealing young lady that a man has fallen head over heels with, but the arrows have pierced the lad's heart hard.
Usually when I think of Yuming, she takes care of both words and music, but this time, it's her future husband, Masataka, who is taking care of the melody here which has that 1970s sunny swinging City Pop line. But as we get further into the song, the line almost sounds as if it's about to derail...the arrangement gets a little frenetic and the vocalization is something that I hadn't heard from Hi-Fi Set before. So, I'll have to let it cook in my mind a bit more, and yeah, I would gather that an alien-human relationship needs to have a lot of time to smoothen things out anyways. Plus, I'd like to read what Kimura says about this one.
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