Miho Yonemitsu & Yuko Anai (from Tokyo Performance Doll) -- Akiiro Concerto（秋色協奏曲）

 

Happy Labour Day to all involved countries, and no, I realize that we're still almost two months away from Halloween, but I couldn't find any other picture on short notice to depict the autumn season. And this song does signify the season in its title.

Actually "Akiiro Concerto" (Fall Colour Concerto) as performed by two members of the aidoru group Tokyo Performance Doll（東京パフォーマンスドール）, Miho Yonemitsu & Yuko Anai（米光美保・穴井夕子）, was ably covered several years ago by my friend and co-administrator of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", Marcos V. in 2016. I usually don't do follow-ups of fellow contributors' articles since they have always spoken for themselves without the need for added insights from me. However, I was so charmed by Yonemitsu & Anai's work here that I wanted to write something.

For one thing, I'm always going to be a sucker for some swinging Burt Bacharach-esque horn arrangements since that ties in with the whole Shibuya-kei thing in the 1990s. Indeed, I know that it's the synthesizer providing the horns (kinda PSY-S-like) and there's a part of me that would have preferred the real horns for "Akiiro Concerto", but I'm just whining a tad here. Still, the song created by lyricist Nonoko Jin（神野々子）and composer Kazuhito Fujiki（藤木和人）has got a good beat and the ladies behind the mike give some fine harmonies.

As Marcos mentioned in his article for the song, "Akiiro Concerto" first saw the light of day on the group’s third album, “Cha-Dance Party Vol. 3", in November 1991. I've already provided a few articles regarding Yonemitsu's solo career following her TPD days including her cover of the City Pop classic "Koi wa Ryuusei" (恋は流星）, originally by Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）.

Miho Yonemitsu & Yuko Anai -- Akiiro Concerto (秋色協奏曲)

It’s been a while since I listened to a gorgeous melody, and I’d never guess a group like Tokyo Performance Doll (東京パフォーマンスドール), famous for their professional dance routines in the early 90s, was going to grace me with one these days.

“Akiiro Concerto” is a song recorded by two TPD members, Miho Yonemitsu (米光美保) and Yuko Anai (穴井夕子), which was first included in the group’s third album, “Cha-Dance Party Vol. 3, in november 1991. However, I only discovered it in Yuko Anai’s solo album, “Yuko from Tokyo Performance Doll”, released in January 1993.

About the song, the only thing I know is that every time they start singing the melodic “aki iro concerto” line, I just melt. And it gets even better when it interpolates with the orchestral synths in the arrangement near the ending. Noteworthy, everything here, from the second voice in the aforementioned “aki iro concerto” line to the lively arrangement, is well executed. In all honesty, I could never think something like that could come from TPD’s factory.

Recently, the song has been performed by Fumi Oto (大藤史), also from TPD, in a piano ballad version. The focus of this version is the strong melody, but also Oto’s beautiful vocals. I’d love a studio version of this one as well.

Now, this last thing has nothing to do with the proper article, but I’ve been listening to this song a lot in the past few days. It’s a Latin/Brazilian-styled Italo Disco from Italian singer/composer/producer/keyboardist Stefano Pulga (from Italo Disco band Kano) called “Welcome To Brasilia” (Brasilia is actually Brazil’s capital, even though Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo are the most known major cities). I’ve been in love with all the synths and the song’s groovy nature, so that’s why I’m sharing it here... without any purpose.

(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)

Back to “Akiiro Concerto”, lyrics were written by Nonoko Jin (神野々子), while music was composed by Kazuhito Fujiki (藤木和人). As for the arrangement, Thousand sketcheS was the responsible.