Off-Course -- Yoru wa Futari de（夜はふたりで）

 

Kayo Grace is once again in the giving mood because it is Valentine's Day after all. In the past, I've already given my lists for "love" songs and "valentine" tunes, so we'll keep things simple this year and focus on an individual song.

Remembering that one of the songs on the "love" list was Off-Course's（オフコース） "I Love You", I decided to check whether the love extended onto the B-side of this 1981 single. Sure enough, I was right. There is "Yoru wa Futari de" (The Two of Us Tonight), a song that has probably never made it onto any album by the band.

It's certainly a new one to me. Written by Mitsutoshi Ambe（安部光俊）and Yasuhiro Suzuki（鈴木康博）with Suzuki also taking care of the melody, the verses and the chorus seem to take on different moods with the former hinting at some uncertainty in the relationship while the latter reassures that things are perfectly fine since the two in the title are two in the bed. Ahem. The music has that AOR feeling especially with some of that TOTO-esque piano pounding. 

Off-Course/Yasuhiro Suzuki -- Yoru wa Futari de（夜はふたりで）

My impression of an Off-Course（オフコース）ballad was that it frequently dealt with a romantic breakup or the aftermath of one. Beautiful music, to be sure, but not particularly happy circumstances.

But happily, expectations can be turned around once in a while. Case in point: the B-side to the band's 21st single from June 1981, "Yoru wa Futari de" (Night for Two). Not only is it a melodically happy song with a driving-happy chorus put up alongside moments-of-uncertainty verses, the lyrics by Off-Course guitarist Yasuhiro Suzuki（鈴木康博）and Mitsuhiro Ambe（あんべ光俊）depict a happy couple in bed with one reassuring the other that everything is fine and dandy...no problems.

Suzuki also came up with the melody and though "Yoru wa Futari de" had apparently never been included in an original Off-Course album, the guitarist recorded a self-cover for his October 1996 album "BeSide". The above video was from a 2008 live concert.

Mitsutoshi Ambe -- Hoshi no Tabi（星の旅）

Over six years ago, "Kayo Kyoku Plus" writer nikala had written about a song by singer-songwriter Mitsutoshi Ambe（あんべ光俊）called "HEART" from 1983 which moved her a fair bit. It is something that struck me as being a distinct and dreamy pop song, helped along with Ambe's sweeping voice.

Nikala then mentioned about Ambe's folk roots with his band Hikousen（飛行船...Airship）in the early 1970s. Following that band's breakup, he pursued a solo career, and so I managed to find the first song from his second solo album "Hekikuu to Umi no Sukima kara"（碧空と海のすき間から...From Between the Blue Sky and the Sea）released in December 1978.

Titled "Hoshi no Tabi" (Trip Through the Stars), this was also created by Ambe in which he sings about what seems to be a man trying to reassure his distraught significant other while he goes away for a while (or maybe it's something more permanent, although my gut tells me it's the former). It's a mellow and jaunty folk number that has me thinking of other folk/pop singers such as Kozo Murashita（村下孝蔵）and Masashi Sada（さだまさし）. There's a bit more of a lower growl to his vocals when compared to his dreamier delivery of "HEART" some years later. The interesting thing is how "Hoshi no Tabi" slows down so much near the middle that I thought it was ending only for the engine to get revved up again.

Mitsutoshi Ambe -- HEART

Edit: Put this one onto Grooveshark cause the video above seems to be blocked in certain countries.



The singer-songwriter Mitsutoshi Ambe (あんべ光俊) is another unexpected discovery I made in the past year while aimlessly browsing the good ole' Youtube. This song tugged at my heartstrings right from the get-go with those sorrowful synths. Still does. I was also drawn to Ambe's sharp and poignant vocals that just echo through the melody like a voice in the mountains. For someone who enjoys a good number of sentimental ballads, this one did something more profound, which I can't express. It's right up there with Off Course's "Kotoba ni Dekinai", another one of my favorites. Not surprisingly, three members from the band, Jiro Oma (大間ジロー), Kazuhiko Matsuo (松尾一彦), and Hitoshi Shimizu (清水仁), participated in the recording of the song along with the rest of the tracks on Ambe's 4th studio album "Hearts" (released in August 1983). Oma was the one who produced the album. The song certainly resembles the Off Course style from that period with its AOR sound and glowing emotion. Ambe, on the other hand, has collaborated with the band on their own material over the years and produced a few of their songs.

As for Ambe, he was born in 1953 in Iwate prefecture. In 1974 he formed the folk group Hikousen, which broke up in 1978. The following year, he transferred labels to Toshiba EMI and released his first single, "Kaze wa Shitteiru". He put out a steady string of albums and singles until 1995, and then decided to focus on cultural ambassador work in his home prefecture, while recording and performing songs on the side.

At the moment, my vinyl copy of "Hearts" is sitting collecting dust at my home in Toronto. Thankfully, I made a digital copy to listen to anytime.

Source: feedio.net