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Look what turned up in the mail
After a lengthy wait from preorder Anri’s Heaven Beach has finally rereleased on vinyl. Timely and Bikini were also released and maybe Coool as well from memory. I got this through Tower Records.
I always thought it was strange that an album called Heaven Beach has a cover of Anri chilling with a bag of groceries on it. I wonder what she bought.
[1984] Airport Lady by Toshiki Kadomatsu
A real shame this album isn’t on Spotify because it’s so good.
[1992] Circuit Wanderer by T-Square
From the F-1 GRAND PRIX WORLD album which presumable was used for Fuji TV's coverage of the Formula 1. You may recognise this from Macross 82-99 and Sarah Bonito's Horsey.
[1982] One Hot Love by Makoto Matsushita
I once heard this played in a burger joint in Brisbane.
What was your intro to city pop?
For me, it was Mariya smiling at me from the thumbnail with the title “Plastic Love” back in 2017. I’m probably not alone with this story but I’d love to read your stories of your intro to city pop.
[1975] Down Town by Sugar Babe
There’s quite a few versions of this song. I prefer both EPOs and Juice=Juice’s but this has grown on me over time.
[2020] Yamazakura by Taeko Onuki
Another newer song though it’s written to sound older. It’s from the movie Words Bubble Up Like Soda Pop which is pretty good.
[1987] Sunset Road by Reiko Takahashi
Reiko Takahashi is so good. I wish she did more.
[1983] Shyness Boy by Anri
Timely!! is one of the greatest albums of the genre. Here’s Shyness Boy.
Anyone catch Anri’s gig in America? I am unfortunately in the wrong hemisphere.
The Anri re-issues on vinyl should be out very soon too if they’re not already.
[1981] Neat na gogo 3 ji by Miki Matsubara
Somehow Stay With Me is one of the most well-known city pop songs yet Miki Matsubara is still so underrated.
[1984] Plastic Love by Mariya Takeuchi
The song that started it all for me. A shame the original YouTube video went down. Luckily there’s a proper music video done recently. It feels so out of place on the Variety album compared to the rest, but I guess that’s the point of Variety!