Prince – For You
It’s hard to pick a favorite out of the many classic albums by the “king of city pop” Tatsuro Yamashita, but if we absolutely had to, we’d probably pick his second album on RCA, Spacy. Recorded in 1977 shortly after Yamashita completed studio sessions in America with producer/composer Charlie Callelo, Spacy features an incredible who’s who cast of Japanese legends including Haruomi Hosono, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Minako Yoshida, Kenji Ohmura, and Hiroshi Sato. All the typical Yamashita flavors are here – euphoric vocals, creative string arrangements, shimmering keyboards, funky guitar licks – the grooves on this one just hit a little harder. Take a listen to A5 Dancer and B5 Solid Slider, and you’ll hear what we’re talking about… For those looking to dig deeper into the city pop sound, we also recommend checking out Yamashita’s first band Sugarbabe and their highly influential album Songs.
– Phil Cho
Recommended – B5 Solid Slider, A5 Dancer
Tags: City Pop / Drum Break / Mellow / Vocal
Tracklist:
A1 Love Space
A2 翼に乗せて
A3 素敵な午後は
A4 Candy
A5 Dancer
B1 アンブレラ
B2 言えなかった言葉を
B3 朝の様な夕暮れ
B4 きぬずれ
B5 Solid Slider
Credits:
Accordion – Tohru Okada
Acoustic Guitar – Chuei Yoshikawa
Arranged By – Tatsuro Yamashita
Artwork – Kenkichi Sato
Backing Vocals – Minako Yoshida, Tatsuro Yamashita
Bass – Akihiro Tanaka (tracks: A2, B1, B5), Haruomi Hosono
Composed By – Tatsuro Yamashita
Conductor – Kozo Araki
Drums – Schuici Murakami*, Yukari Uehara* (tracks: A2, B5)
Flute – Shozo Nakagawa
Guitar – Kenji Omura, Tatsuro Yamashita, Tsunehide Matsuki
Harmonica – Tatsuro Yamashita
Keyboards – Hiroshi Sato, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Tatsuro Yamashita
Lyrics By – Minako Yoshida (tracks: A1-A4, B1, B2, B4, B5), Tatsuro Yamashita (tracks: A5, B3)
Mastered By – Toru Koetsu*
Percussion – Nov Saito*, Tatsuro Yamashita
Producer – Tatsuro Yamashita
Recorded By – Tamotu Yoshida*
Saxophone – Shunzo Sunahara, Takeru Muraoka, Tomoa Okazaki
Sitar – Tatsuro Yamashita
Strings – Hiroshi Yoshizawa, Tadaaki Ono
Trombone – Shigeharu Mukai, Tadanori Konakawa
Trumpet – Kenji Nakazawa, Koji Hatori, Shin Kazuhara*
Vibraphone – Ryuichi Sakamoto
