marks an important milestone in Ohtaki's career, it was this record where he perfected his signature "Wall of Sound" production formula inspired by American producer Phil Spector. The album was produced to sound like a live concert, to compliment the 60's Baroque pop style arrangements.Because of the more orchestral feel, the album has a huge, noteworthy cast of musicians. First and foremost, all of Ohtaki's former Happy End band-mates have reunited for the first time on a record since their breakup in 1973; Takashi Matsumoto wrote the lyrics for every song except one, Shigeru Suzuki on guitar, and Haruomi Hosono played bass guitar. Other collaborators include Makoto Matsushita (松下誠) & ex-Sugar Babe Kunio Muramatsu (村松 邦男) on guitar, Akira Inoue (井上 鑑) on keyboards, Tin Pan Alley members Masataka Matsutoya (松任谷 正隆) & Tatsuo Hayashi ( 林 立夫), and Jake H Concepcion on flute as opposed to his trademark saxophone. Many other artists are featured as backup singers, such as Singer-songwriter Hiroaki Igarashi (五十嵐浩晃), vocal group The Channels, and female idols Hiromi Ōta (太田 裕美), Raije (ラジ), and The Singers Three.

Cover Art for single cut of You Are Natural Color

角松 敏生

須藤薫

山下 達郎)

Eiichi Ohtaki at the Beach





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What can I say except that Eiichi Ohtaki hit the nail on the head. He managed to create incredibly catchy and fun melodies that encapsulate the best elements of the Wall of Sound chamber pop of the 60s and merge it with 1980's nuances. There's also a lot of clever storytelling woven in a lot of these songs that make them both humorous and engaging, like when the boy in Pinball in My Heart starts fantasizing about caressing his crush's luxurious hair only to realize that he forgot to wash his, or how the backing chorus vocally reenacts the sound effects in different verses ofMy absolute favorite tune however is easily Rainy Wednesday. Even though it's the most contemporary, it's the ultimate combination of yacht rock and baroque pop with a little bit of Dionne Warwick's Walk On By thrown in the mix. Add Ohtaki's dream like a riverbed voice, and you've got the perfect song for an evening drive or even staying in on a rainy day. The only songs I didn't care for were, where the synth, while creative, kinda got on my nerves, and Speech Ballon, while not a bad song at all, just seemed too vanilla compared to the rest of the arrangements on the album.Overall though I can hear where all the hype is coming from. If Brian Wilson and Phil Spector ever came together and made a sequel toit would sound likeIt rightfully earned its place as one of the most important Japanese albums ever, especially since a lot of the production techniques use in this album, especially the vocal reverb, became staples in City Pop. Just listen to acts like, and evenand they all have drawn inspiration from Eiichi Ohtaki in one way or another. Even though he has passed away in 2013,is proof that Eiichi Ohtaki left behind one hell of a legacy that will be remembered for years to come. And to that, I hope he enjoyslong vacation.