Pacific Breeze: Japanese City Pop, AOR & Boogie 1976-1986

by N/A

Overview

It would have been impractical in the '70s and '80s to lump and neologize a multitude of Western music developments ranging from slick jazz-funk to R&B-leaning soft rock to egghead new wave, but "city pop" has rather cleverly classified Japan's responses to the forms. Nobody seems to know the origin of the term, but its usage among record nerds has spread during the 2010s with help from sources including the instructive Brazilian musician and collector Ed Motta, the Light Mellow compilation and album reissue series in Japan -- where the compact disc still thrives -- and the Cultures of Soul label's Tokyo Nights: Female J-Pop Boogie Funk, 1981-1988. Going by the similarly lengthy title of this compilation, Light in the Attic is uncertain itself about the stylistic boundaries, yet the label is intrepid enough to take a dive and also sail the margins, licensing a wide variety of material from commercial imprints and subsidiaries such as Alfa, Panam, and Blow Up, plus RCA and Columbia proper. There's some forgettable fluff, but a bunch of selections are more than lifestyle music curiosities. At the high-polish R&B end, there's Taeko Ohnuki's delightfully wispy "Kusuri Wo Takusan," falling somewhere between Earth, Wind & Fire and Seawind. Minako Yoshida's "Midnight Driver" rivals any deep cut from Kool & the Gang's synchronous pop-crossover work with Eumir Deodato. On "Exotic Yokogao," Hitomi Tohyama and company seem indecisive about whether to rewrite Ray Parker, Jr. and Cheryl Lynn's "In the Night" or make a megamix out of the Brothers Johnson's 1980-1981 output. Above all is Hiroshi Sato's "Say Goodbye," a simultaneously peppy and forlorn tune informed most by the technological aspects of 1978-1983 Herbie Hancock sessions such as Sunlight, Lite Me Up, and Future Shock. (The most unfortunately excluded artist associated with city pop is jazz singer Kimiko Kasai, who coincidentally recorded in the States with Hancock and other inspirations like Richard Rudolph, but didn't have her recordings distributed in the West.) The members of the innovative Yellow Magic Orchestra rightfully figure prominently in the standouts that are both more pop-oriented and categorically evasive. These include F.O.E.'s trance-state roller "In My Jungle" -- slightly reminiscent of the "Stretch Mix" of Hugh Masekela's "Don't Go Lose It Baby" -- and Yukihiro Takahashi's Roxy-tronic "Drip Dry Eyes," off the perfectly titled Neuromantic. This being a Light in the Attic release, Pacific Breeze is affectionately assembled with liner notes providing an overview and track-by-track details that instigate deeper exploration. ~ Andy Kellman

Product Details

Release Date:	05/03/2019
Label:	Light In The Attic Records
UPC:	0826853016315

Tracks

Disc 1

1. I Say Who  - Tomoko Soryo
2. Kusuri Wo Takusan  - Taeko Ohnuki
3. Midnight Driver  - Minako Yoshida
4. Subterranean Futari Bocci  - Nanako Sato
5. Sports Men  - Haruomi Hosono
6. Coffee Rumba  - Izumi Kobayashi
7. In My Jungle  -  F.O.E
8. Sun Bathing  - Akira Inoue  - Masataka Matsutoya  - Hiroshi Sato

Disc 2

9. Say Goodbye  - Hiroshi Sato
10. Drip Dry Eyes  - Yukihiro Takahashi
11. Bamboo Vender  - Masayoshi Takanaka
12. Lady Pink Panther  - Shigeru Suzuki
13. Mykonos No Hanayome  - Haruomi Hosono  - Takahiko Ishikawa  - Masataka Matsutoya
14. L.A. Night  - Yasuko Agawa
15. Exotic Yokogao  - Hitomi "Penny" Tohyama
16. Machibouke  - Tazumi Toyoshima

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Nanako Sato   Primary Artist
Masayoshi Takanaka   Primary Artist
Hitomi "Penny" Tohyama   Primary Artist
Akira Inoue   Primary Artist
Hiroshi Sato   Primary Artist
Minako Yoshida   Primary Artist
Satoh Nanako   Primary Artist
Izumi Kobayashi   Primary Artist
Haruomi Hosono   Primary Artist
F.O.E   Primary Artist
Hiroshi Satoh   Primary Artist
F.O.E.   Primary Artist
Masataka Matsutoya   Primary Artist
Shigeru Suzuki   Primary Artist
Takahiko Ishikawa   Primary Artist
Taeko Ohnuki   Primary Artist
Yasuko Agawa   Primary Artist
Yukihiro Takahashi   Primary Artist
Tomoko Soryo   Primary Artist
Tazumi Toyoshima   Primary Artist
Mark McNeill   Compiled
Andy Cabic   Compiled
Matt Sullivan   Compiled
Yosuke Kitazawa   Compiled
Zach Cowie   Compiled

Technical Credits

Eiki Nonaka   Composer
Augie Johnson   Composer
Lorraine Feather   Composer
Satoh Nanako   Composer
Jose Manzo Perroni   Composer
Josh Wright   Executive Producer
Masayoshi Takanaka   Composer
Yukihiro Takahashi   Composer
Mark McNeill   Producer,Liner Notes
Dave Cooley   Remastering
Miki Howard   Composer
Motoharu Sano   Composer
Haruomi Hosono   Composer
Minako Yoshida   Composer
Takashi Matsumoto   Composer
Hiro Tsunoda   Composer
Giles Duke   Composer
Andy Cabic   Producer
Patrick McCarthy   Project Manager
Tomoko Soryo   Composer
Hiroshi Satoh   Composer
Chinfa Kan   Composer
Yoshihiro Yonekura   Composer
Elysian Masters   Remastering
Lydia Hyslop   Proof Reading
Hiroshi Nagai   Cover Art
Matt Sullivan   Executive Producer,Producer
Chris Mosdell   Composer
Yosuke Kitazawa   Biographical Notes,Producer
Shigeru Suzuki   Composer
Taeko Ohnuki   Composer
Zach Cowie   Producer