Yuka Noda -- City Girl

 

This is going to age me even more considerably but when I read or see the phrase "City Girl", I think of Marlo Thomas in "That Girl" or Audrey Hepburn in "Breakfast at Tiffany's", although both ladies have their differences in looks and personality.

It was back in 2024 when I noted keyboardist Yuka Noda（野田ユカ）through a couple of tracks on her 1989 album "Carib no Yume"（カリブの夢）. I covered the title track, which was some fine Caribbean fusion, and the funk-and-jazz "Manhattan Blue". Well, from this album, we now have "City Girl" which was composed by Eriko Tsukayama（塚山エリコ）who had also created the title track and continues with the funk and jazz from "Manhattan Blue". "City Girl" sounds like the perfect theme song for Barney Miller's wife as she's shopping around The Big Apple while her husband is out fighting crime.

Yuka Noda -- Manhattan Blue

 

I've mentioned this before, but whenever New York is featured in some sort of Japanese TV documentary or variety show segment, the accompanying BGM is invariably something jazzy or funky. Perhaps viewers are expecting New Yorkers to be perpetually doing the Charleston or breakdance.

Just a couple of months ago, I noticed keyboardist Yuka Noda（野田ユカ）for the first time via her 1989 album "Carib no Yume"（カリブの夢）and the Latin-tinged title track. It seemed perfect for cocktail-sipping or window shopping through a Jamaican port. This time around, we have another track here titled "Manhattan Blue" by Noda and it's got the jazz and funk fused together (great bass solo, by the way). It's no surprise that the under title for the album is "Light Fusion Fantasy"; it truly is light fusion for shopping in the Big Apple and I also think it would be ideal as soundtrack music for the trendy dramas that were populating Japanese TV at the time.

Yuka Noda -- Carib no Yume（カリブの夢）

 

Back in August, I'd gone on a bit of an odyssey covering Dr. Dragon and Oriental Express'（Dr.ドラゴン&オリエンタル・エクスプレス）original "Carib no Yume" (Caribbean Dream) from 1976. Dr. Dragon was one of the stage names that the legendary composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）used to embrace his inner funkiness, and he came up with this disco express, and after I'd written about that tune, I discovered that there were at least two covers of the song by vocal group Duke Aces（デューク・エイセス）and the band Pedro & Capricious（ペドロ&カプリシャス）.

But then I noticed this other song on YouTube titled "Carib no Yume". Naturally assuming that it was another cover of the Dr. Dragon tune, I played it and got something totally different. Performed by keyboardist Yuka Noda（野田ユカ）for her 1989 album of the same name, the composer was Eriko Tsukayama（塚山エリコ）and it's also an instrumental, albeit one of atmospheric and sunny Caribbean exploration via the fusion genre. It's more open-air touring than strobe-light disco.

There isn't a whole lot of information on Noda except that her career may have begun with participation in the All-Japan Electone Competition in 1981, after which she appeared on a number of programs to perform. She enjoys the genres of pop, jazz and Latin.