Up and Down. On and Off. North to South. And That's The Idea / Tatsuro Yamashita - Come Along (1980) Album Review

By the time 1980 came around, Tatsuro Yamashita's career finally started to see better days, after six years of a rough path that he had to get through in order to progress with his solo music career. At the time he was already a recognized a respected name within the music community, due to his many contributions and collaborations as a songwriter and producer, working with a range of both big names and flourishing artists in the Japanese pop scene of the late 70s, while also gathering a loyal underground fanbase in Tokyo, mostly present since the Sugar Babe days in 1974. But that wasn't enough to get a solo career going, with projects that used a considerable budget in meeting the requirements of Tatsuro regarding who to use for the sessions and how to produce and mix the final product, barely making up with the poor sales, and relying on the energetic live performances for any sort of considerable income. At the same time, he received harsh criticisms and was almost completely overlooked by the mainstream, which lead to points on his life where he was seriously thinking on abandoning that part of his profession. It was something truly unfair, specially considering the quality content that he had constantly been putting out since his work with Sugar Babe, with albums that were ahead of their time in style and writing (with the artist showing a slow evolution and refinement of the formula with each new project), being overlooked at first, but eventually becoming recognized as masterpieces that panned the way for the new wave of Japanese pop in the 80s. 

Songs introduced a wonderful record that set to normalize the use of occidental influences of pop and soft rock in order to create something that had a lot of personality in the collection of varied, dynamic, and captivating tracks that formed part of the album, practically stablishing itself as the first city pop album, and an important project for the world of modern Japanese music. After a couple of solo works with female artists and a small collaboration with Eiichi Otaki and Ginji Ito in Niagara Triangle, Yamashita challenged himself by traveling to the US to record his solo debut album Circus Town, releasing it in 1976. It was a record with a bunch of excellent highlights, but that showed more potential than anything else, leaving a lot to be desired in the way it was structured. But it would still be an important experience for the artist, mainly because it introduced him to a new style of writing music by partiture, as well as an introduction to jazz, funk, and rock, that he would waste no time in applying to his own music. In 1977, Spacy was released, being an ambitious project that gathered a collection of all star musicians that met the expectations of Yamashita, but also being somewhat more focused on its atmosphere and execution, leading to a track that, despite not being perfect, showed a lot of masterpieces that were written for a live setting (that being proved with the release of the wonderful double live album "It's A Poppin Time" in 1978, a record released in order to recover some of the budget spent on the recording of Spacy, showing the wonderful performances able to be given onstage, as well as portraying the artist and his songs in full glory), but that still held the passion and emotion on their studio form. 

Criticism and almost non-existent mainstream attention were rough on Yamashita, who slowly started to become more pessimistic and bitter about his solo career, thinking of his third studio album as the last one of his career, therefore taking liberties with its recording, ending up in the unfocused and disjointed Go Ahead! in late 1978. It was something varied, presenting Yamashita trying out genres he always wanted to give a formal try at, but being his most inconsistent record up to that point. But still, it was Tatsuro himself, and some of those "experiments" payed off on a great way, specially with him founding his first singles in the form of "Let's Dance Baby", but more importantly, the danceable, funky, and insanely memorable "Bomber". He would finally start getting noticed by audiences outside of his underground fanbase, with dance clubs using the track and spreading his name as a prominent artist, with Tatsuro finding a love on that particular style of funk, deciding to further develop that style on his next album (while also having his first national concert, with him finding out that his music could certainly be a sensation outside of Tokyo). It all culminated on the wonderful Moonglow (released on the independent AIR label, founded by Riuzo Kozugi as a much looser part of RVC/RCA), a record which presented his most focused, well polished, and carefully crafted project up to that point, with a specific atmosphere and tone developed throughout all the songs, expanding on ideas that were somewhat aimless in previous projects. Moonglow delivered some of his best material in general, with masterpieces like Storm, Full Moon, Funky Flushin' and Let's Kiss The Sun taking the spotlight, providing with a range of great singles that would be the start of what the artist would expand in future projects. Each record Yamashita had been involved in as a performer and arranger had something to give to the listeners, and even though not all of them were completely polished or focused, they all had pop masterpieces within their tracklist, something that mainstream audiences would slowly come to discover with Tatsuro slowly breaking into the mainstream.

Due to the slow rise in popularity with multiple singles being put out, with Bomber and rising hits like Let's Kiss The Sun, Funky Flushin' and Full Moon, the label started looking at this as an opportunity to get some income by getting Tatsuro's previous works more well known, but something had to be done in order to promote those efforts. Originally, without Tatsuro being completely aware of it, RVC/RCA started to pair the Let's Kiss The Sun single with other selected songs from all four studio albums that had been put out until that point, on a small compilation under the name of Come Along. This was initially done in order to be presented on record stores in promotion of the artist's work, where it became an unexpected success, gathering attention and interest in Tatsuro's work all over Japan, more specifically having a big break on places like Osaka and Kansai, and leading to new fans soliciting for this work to be properly and widely released. However, Tatsuro refused to this, mainly because he didn't want his music to be taken as simple background music, for quite a long time, only accepting such a project to be released on cassette form. It wouldn't be until 1984, with Tatsuro changing to Alpha Moon records, that it would be properly released on CD and vinyl, along side its second volume, starting to accept that such a work would be a good move for his music to be widely accepted and enjoyed by multiple people. 

And even though that 1984 reissue would be the one to be more properly spread between fans, although the second volume would be something much more concise and hard hitting, the 1980 original version compilation certainly was an important release for Yamashita's career. This is mainly due to the fact that even if it was used as background music for record stores, its presentation and selection of tracks proved to be very captivating for many listeners who would start getting invested in the four albums that were already available for anyone to buy. And the way it was presented is truly important as to why it is a very charming, immersive, and just enjoyable record to listen to. All the various tracks make up for a sort of concept album, with the tracks being presented in Hawaii's Radio K.I.K.I. by a very charismatic and charming DJ that simply wants to put his favorite tracks from Tatsuro Yamashita's studio catalog (as the DJ himself states, it simply is a "Collection Of Great TATsuro yaMAshta Masterpieces", that will "work in our body first, and your mind later", also being a fantastic way to describe his music to a new public). And as a very specific collection, and even exclusive version, of tracks, it really is a fantatstic way to get introduced to some of Tatsuro's best work.

As a whole, the way the album flows between tracks with the whole radio setup is simply superb, but what about the songs themselves? Well, the selection of tracks is very nice, starting out with Bomber, Tatsuro's most important and popular song at the time, being the clear opener. The tone changes on a very sweet way with Let's Dance Baby, the classic couples romantic song from the same album, as well as it being the original A side of that single. A very curious abridged version of Solid Slider, that despite not having the effect and charm of the original version (with some odd transitions between sections, particularly from the main lyrics to the guitar solo) still gets the job done, keeping the original spirit and atmosphere that made it so memorable. Lets Kiss The Sun is the only song of Moonglow found here, which is understandable, because the album was built to support it, and it certainly feels like the main centerpiece of the album, being as fantastic as always. After that, it simply is a matter of selecting songs from the artist's first three album, arranged on a very sweet way, with small acapella transitions from Yamashita covering songs like Dream A Little Dream of Me, and even putting a snippet of This Could Be The Night. So, in a very broad spectrum, here is what can be found:

Circus Town: Last Step, Circus Town, Windy Lady

Spacy: Solid Slider (what seems to be a single version), Love Space, 素敵な午後は

Go Ahead!: Bomber, Let's Dance Baby, Follow Me Along, Paper Doll, 潮騒

Moonglow: Let's Kiss The Sun

Come Along is not a perfect record. This is mainly because this isn't really a "greatest hits" compilation, it wasn't made with that idea in mind, but it is something that flows surprisingly well, with some very charming and captivating interludes that mimic the radio setup perfectly, even with minor transitions from side a to side b that work wonders to get immersed in the atmosphere. Katsuya Kobayashi (an actual Japanese radio DJ that simply has a superb and delightful English accent) does a fantastic job at introducing and adding small descriptions to most tracks, and there are curious things that appear here that any Tatsuro fan will surely appreciate as a whole. On the second side, Mariya Takeuchi is introduced as part of the whole DJ radio show gimmick (courtesy of being a new artist on the RVC label), playing as a 17 year old high school student, who calls to confirm that all her classmates are crazy about none other than Tatsuro Yamashita himself. But outside of that there is the exclusive and charming radio K.I.K.I. jingle, the reporter who can't communicate in the beach, the sound of waves crashing placed between tracks, and even some exclusive Tatsuro acapella renditions that work wonders as transition pieces; just small bits and details that make for a more joyful and enjoyable listen.

As for the tracks selected, the material from Go Ahead! is the main focus here, mainly because most of the first singles came out from that album, but there is a good selection from the rest of Tatsuro studio projects, with Moonglow being the only one to not receive the same treatment (although this being compensated on the second volume). Overall the selection of tracks helps anyone who is new to the artist to get an idea of the changes in style, production, and approach to songwriting that happened from 1976 to 1979, and it is all simply delightful in the way it flows. A little piece of Tatsuro's history that came out at the right time, when the artist was just getting out from some rough times, representing a brighter and more warm future for him, promising a lot more great music that he would end up delivering. But those first records are still as essential as what came next, and Come Along certainly celebrates that on a very sweet way, full of personality and energy. It turned out to be an important project for Tatsuro because it captured the interest from new audiences, just as it was intended to do. And in that same spirit, this is simply a great entry point to the artist's discography, very nice in spirit and presentation, and certainly a taste of what a full album from him could truly be like. 

Simply something beautiful and highly enjoyable to listen to, regardless if you are new to the artist or not.

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

Favorite Track: 愛を描いて −Let's Kiss The Sun− / Love Space