Overall Rating: 7/10
Favorite Track: The Theme Of Big Wave / Jody / Magic Ways
1982 marked the beginning of a new era for both the life as well as the professional music career of Tatsuro Yamashita. With the release of some of his most acclaimed studio works in the form of Moonglow, Ride on Time, and For You, as well as with their respective singles, Yamashita cemented himself as a respected and extremely talented figure in the Japanese music world, finally getting the fame and recognition he deserved after rough years of pushing forward with little to no success. For You specially had marked him as a summer figure, with a very upbeat and charming sound that captivated the hearts of many, with the constant touring across the entire country showing the versatility and dynamism of his voice and the performances of his entire band. That same year he married young pop idol/singer Mariya Takeuchi, making 1982 the start of a stable period in Yamashita's life. Of course, this meant that sales for most of his material were on the rise, also aided by the release of various compilation albums that threw light at the songs he had been writing since the mid 70s, but with those successes came some uncertainty over the direction of his career. May have been superstition, or just a very old fashioned custom, but it was not usual for a Japanese artist to turn 30 and somehow manage to push forward with his career, and Tatsuro himself was very close to that number.
But instead of looking at this on a very negative light, both Yamashita as well as his long time manager/producer Ryuzo Kosugi saw this as an opportunity for him to have even more creative freedom with his work, ending his long contract with RCA/RVC and signing in with Kosugi's affiliated Moon Records in late 1982. Of course, a glimpse at this calm and easy going state of creativeness was seen not long after the success of 1980's Ride On Time (both album and single), with Tatsuro somewhat spoiling himself by making the first volume of "On The Street Corner" (a release that showed the artist's love for Doo-Woop acapella music on a very broad way), but with the separation of the main label he had been working with, as well as starting the process of creating his own office, Yamashita didn't have the responsibility to create any big singles in order to sell his material. The plan was work for some years with Moon until cementing himself in the exclusive role of producer and songwriter, releasing a few albums, that were not meant to be a success, in the mean time. It was all going back to the Sugar Babe way of writing music, having enough freedom to try as much genres as it was seen fit, making up for varied and somewhat unfocused records, with the main difference being the budget and the reach of the artist's work.
The first try at this was in 1983's Melodies, a record that surprised audiences for many reasons, mainly due to the fact that it was a return to the mellow atmosphere developed until Ride On Time instead of further embracing the upbeat and cheerful melodies of For You, but also being something without a big focus on its structure and flow, being a more polished, well-spirited, and better produced version of "Go Ahead!" more than anything else. Despite the fact that the record wasn't really consistent all the way through, the wonderful lineup that Tatsuro had formed for both live and studio kept on delivering with some impressive and admirable performances, with an album that was still full of pop masterpieces that only a master like Yamashita could be able to provide. But regardless of the mixed and unexpected reception at first, Melodies would go to become his biggest selling album up to that point, a surprise for everyone involved in the project. It would also put to light another facet of his image as an artist, complementing the summer sound with the help of クリスマス・イブ, the song that would become the biggest single in his career, being an attempt at tackling baroque arrangements and chord progressions, eventually ending up as a Christmas song, as well as one of Yamashita's most personal and significant songs.
The rising fame of Yamashita started to show hope for a sustainable career as a solo artist even with that age, further proving that he could try any sort of concept he pleased in order to keep releasing music the way he wanted. But if one thing truly stayed consistent with him even after years of starting his music career was definitely the big western influences from baroque pop and surf rock artists that had pushed him to start with his career in the first place. In 1984 he started working on his own music publishing offices, properly starting the "Smile Company" (named in honor of The Beach Boys' Smile album sessions, and that would also take the names of Smile Music Publishing for other artists and Wild Honey for delivering the merchandise for Tatsuro's official fan club) along side Ryuzo as the office's president, as well as affiliating with Mariya to stablish the "Tenderberry & Harvest" company, something much more private and small in scope and operation. That same year, Mariya would go back into the music world, having left it due to her marriage as well as her pregnancy, with Variety (the first where both Tatsuro and Mariya worked officially as a full time musical couple, presenting original material from Mariya, gifted as a wedding present in 1982), the album that would end up becoming her most popular work decades later mostly thanks to the massive explosion in popularity of the song Plastic Love (which also turned out to be a composition and arrangement by Tatsuro himself). Along side all of that, the man also kept on working with other artists as either a producer or a guest musician, but as it was custom already, both touring and work on his solo material were a constant deal. The thing was that, by that time, no one really knew what he would deliver with his next release, with everyone practically expecting a christmas album or a mellow record in the same vein as Melodies, just to then be surprised with the release of 1984's single "The Theme From Big Wave".
At that point, and as it was custom for many Japanese pop artists at the time, Tatsuro had worked in multiple commercials by writing and performing the jingles, some of them being relatively big in popularity, so he did have a reputation in television, but he never really worked for any official big soundtrack. Therefore, the surprise that he was working with American singer Alan O'Day (who had already worked briefly on For You, as well as with Mariya on her solo album Miss M) in order to write material performed entirely in English for an upcoming summer documentary directed by Walter Marconnery came as a big surprise for everyone. It wasn't only bringing back the summer sound and melodies found in For You, but it was also showing Tatsuro's big Beach Boys influence on full splendor (with the soundtrack itself containing full covers done by the Japanese artist, just like he did back in "Add Some Music To Your Day", his first musical project that basically started his career as a whole), making up for something that immediately stood out within the man's discography. Of course, the single was received on a very nice way (with Tatsuro's self taught and somewhat polished English accent being incredibly charming and captivating, going along the wonderful instrumentation and arrangements that were to be expected from any of his works), and fans were curious to see a full project on this same spirit, culminating on the release of 1984's Big Wave.
Big Wave is a very interesting release, for many different reasons. In the first hand, the album is divided into two different parts, the first one being all original compositions, and the second one being covers that are related for the most part to The Beach Boys, with every single track and interlude being performed with English lyrics, written by O'Day and Taeko Onuki, produced by Kosugi, and having a small amount of performers on each track (mostly consisting on Tatsuro himself performing most instruments). Not all of the material is entirely original, presenting some tracks that already appeared on previous albums, with the difference being an updated production and mixing so that they fit better within the flow of the soundtrack, as well as some re-recordings from previous material. As a whole, the album is quite charming, captivating, and full of a summer like atmosphere that makes this a very enjoyable experience, but it is also in a same vein as Melodies, being a record that isn't crafted with much focus, separated from the mindset of creating any sort of masterpiece or extreme consistency whatsoever, but still providing some of Tatsuro's best as well as most popular material (popular in the sense that this particular album would end up gathering a lot of attention in the west with the online boom of city pop, making some of these songs gather attention in a very big way). In other words: the production is great, and so is the songwriting at some points, but as a whole this could have certainly been better.
Of course, this aspect of freedom in consistency is further justified due to the fact that it is music written and used for a very particular context in mind. As for that matter, the documentary itself is very odd and not particularly good (in fact, I dare to say that all the best parts are usually so thanks to Tatsuro's music). For the most part, Marconnery's film is all over the place, at first being sold as a surfing documentary but then derailing to other summer related topics. The movie itself provides the phrase that describes it perfectly:
"As long as there is a summer, there always will be something to do"
Throughout the entire film we are guided by the main narrator, which intonates everything on a very similar and somewhat forced joyful tone, only introducing dialogue for some interviews with some people. At first it starts by showing a surfing tournament on Hawaii's shores to the tune of Yamashita's main theme, we are introduced to different footage accompanied by brief descriptions and comments, and shown some important figures for that sport back then (such as four times world champion and surfer of the year, even if he ended up in third place, Mark Richards). The editing is very amateur, with some rough transitions and easily recognizably dumb Japanese sound effects during surfers falling. Concepts such as barrel rides, tunnel rides, tube rides, going up and down while riding, it is all focused around surfing at first. Suddenly, after the end of the tournament, there is a transition introducing Tatsuro's cover of "Girls on the Beach" while showing a lot of bikini shots, girls getting undressed, a very unnecessary montage of close shots to bottoms and breasts (on bikini of course), before changing abruptly to the first interlude of "I Love You". Close shots of men's bulges, people on roller skates, all of a sudden a shift to the California desert in order to show racing activities, it is all random and without much sense, so the quality of the film itself really isn't the main attraction. Things like roller sailing (a particular mix between roller skating and wind surfing, except that you don't get wet!) are introduced without any sort of justification in mind, only carried forward with the music being used. Falling compilations, a lot of them, with a lot of wacky sound effects. There really isn't much of value to take from the film, but the narrator does take a lot of liberties due to the time context, adding some charm to his narration, with wonderful lines such as: "It's a bird! It's a plane! It's an idiot!"
Going from California to Houston Texas, shown building jumping (an illegal sport portrayed to the clever use of "Guess I'm Dumb", showing the act of parachuting from buildings and then portraying idiots running the fuck away from the police), airplane parachuting to the sound of surf music to finally reintroduce a sea based sport, Catamaran sailing, to no music whatsoever. Something as romantic as "Your Eyes" is put to people sailing and falling, and "This Could Be The Night" to very specific and carefully focused bikini closeups. Very "subtle" product placement for Terra's beer, women playing volleyball, then some very random instructions on how to windsurf all of a sudden. Over the film Yamashita's music is not the only music that comes on, with other cliché and unoriginal stock surf rock music appearing also at different points. But for the most part, the use of Yamashita's music makes up for the best parts of the documentary, with things such as the inclusion of the instrumental reprise of the main theme being a highlight overall. Skateboarding, dogs on skateboards, bike riding, motorcycling up a hill called "The Widowmaker", snowboarding, female windsurfing competition, breakdancing with a peculiar electrical tune that just repeats "breakdance" over a drum machine, and finally bringing back surfing again to close the experience.
Well yes, the Big Wave documentary isn't really anything special, and it is honestly a much better experience to just listen to Tatsuro's soundtrack on its entirety even without watching the film. Because if there is one thing that the artist does incredibly well on this album is capturing the atmosphere of summer, joy, and love on a very pleasant and consistent way. But even then, it is not a completely perfect experience all the way through.
As it was said before, the album is divided on two very distinct parts, with the first half, and the first set of tracks, being the immediate highlight of the entire experience. The Theme of Big Wave opens up the album on a beautiful and perfect way, being a stand out track written by Taeko Ohnuki and composed by Tatsuro himself. Koki Ito's bassline and Jun Aoyama's simple yet powerful drums complement Tatsuro's multi-instrumental upbeat performance, with some excellent guitar grooves and some fantastic background vocals from his part. His English pronunciation is definitely a stand out, something quite charming that makes such a track work on the best way possible, with a catchy and memorable chorus and a wonderful guitar solo complemented by the doo-woop vocals. It is one of Tatsuro's most straight forward and accessible compositions, but the wonderful production and mixing (making everything very surrounding and impactful within the cheerful atmosphere), as well as the joyful and energetic performances, make this work on such a fantastic way. Right after this, the English re-recording of Jody takes the spotlight. It is a much more atmospheric version, specially with the way the vocals are mixed as well as having the background vocals and almost all the instruments being performed by Tatsuro himself, with the exception of the brief yet captivating saxophone solo from Daisuke Inoue. The lyrical performance, the instrumental arrangements, and the great production make this the better version, much more impactful and memorable on most aspects, starting off the album on a fantastic way.
Only With You comes right after, showing a more melancholic yet emotionally charged track, very romantic and mellow, but still falling within the consistent summer atmosphere. This time around, Tatsuro takes charge of all the elements used in the song, an impressive thing that is pulled of on a fantastic way, making up for one of his sweetest and most captivating compositions up to that point, regardless of the apparent simplicity and straight forwardness of the track (it became so iconic within his catalog in fact, that it was used as the aperture song for Sunday Songbook, even to this very day). After this point, Magic Ways (the track from the album that is probably the most popular song nowadays, gathering millions of views on YouTube) takes the spotlight, shining bright due to its fantastic performance and arrangements. As it could have been inferred, this turned out to be an outtake from the For You sessions, having a very similar guitar chord progression to the one on Sparkle, performed on Tatsuro's iconic guitar. Aoyama and Ito come back on their respective roles, with a very groovy bass and some rhythmic drums and percussion, being complemented by Hiroyuki Namba's mesmerizing keyboard playing, as well as Yamashita's talented background harmonies. The popularity the track received is very much justified, being one of Tatsuro's best songs post-RCA, offering a memorable and catchy tune that doesn't go for too long, using its straight forward structure and elements in order to deliver a fantastic highlight. After this, a shorter version of "Your Eyes" comes in, having a slightly different mix in order to suit with the consistency of the first half, but still being the charming closer from For You. Finally, to close the first half of the record, "I Love You Part 2", one of the B-sides of the main single as well as one of the interludes on the soundtrack, takes the spotlight, being one of the many variations of the I Love You theme, having lovely lyrics, a captivating atmosphere, and fantastic performances from both Tatsuro and Satoshi Nakamura, making up for a very suiting closer.
The second half takes over, showing a very noticeable step back in quality, perhaps due to the fact that these are all mainly Beach Boys covers, with the main difference being some things on the instrumentation and the fact that all the backing vocal harmonies are done by Tatsuro himself. Girls On The Beach has little to no difference with the original version, also being a track recorded before the Big Wave sessions (perhaps on the same For You sessions), being a very charming and simple track that ends up being engaging due to the vocals and the bridges. Please Let Me Wonder was used as a B-Side for Sprinkler, and it has once again little to no difference compared to the original (with a very subtle and quiet "I Love You" sang right at the end). Darlin' finally made its way to a studio album, being a live track that was performed since the Sugar Babe days, and definitely the stand out from all these cover tracks, having a very upbeat and energetic performance full of charisma and personality due to Tatsuro's vocal harmonies and the catchy drums and wind arrangements taking over the entire song (it would become and even more usual part of his setlists, making itself very recognizable within his live shows at the time, and for very good reasons, being a proof that his covers could clearly become something charming and very unique, arguably better than the original version, instead of just staying very close to the original cuts). Guess I'm Dumb, written by Brian Wilson but not performed by The Beach Boys, has no difference whatsoever to the version found on Melodies, with no changes even on the mixing or length. A re-recording of Go Ahead's "This Could Be The Night" (a song written by Harry Nilsson and apparently one of Brian Wilson's favorite songs), with better production and mixing, better vocal performances, and the shift from guitar solo to a sax solo for the interlude, but still staying as something rather underwhelming in the long run, mainly due to the fact that it is a song written for orchestra instead of a simple approach, as well as the big difference between the use of the keyboard. Finally, the original version of I Love You, that contained no lyrics whatsoever, just using "I Love You" and doo-woop backing vocals to carry the entire track due to the fact that it was supposed to be a jingle written for TV, being the superior version due to the appreciation of the instrumental arrangements and the vocal harmonies. It ends up being much more effective and memorable in the long run (becoming a very significant track for Yamashita, appearing on various compilations afterwards, as well as a definitive highlight of the experience), primarily due to its simplicity and straightforwardness, closing up the album on a great way.
Big Wave is a very special album, but it is so more for Tatsuro himself than for any of his fans. Of course, considering the fact that this was a soundtrack written for specific contexts in mind, something consistent or extremely well made was difficult to expect, with the album ending up as something that doesn't really build up towards any sort of payoff or deliver an enlightening or extremely polished experience (on the contrary, staying in line with Tatsuro's desire to be as free as possible in the creative aspects, bringing back songs from previous albums and giving them a spin for the most part).But regardless of the fact that it was something written for an audiovisual project, this turned out to be quite the personal work for the artist, with Tatsuro himself taking the role of multi-instrumentalist and only backing vocalist on all the songs. Of course, the joyful and energetic summer-like sound from For You was brought back on full splendor, with the entirety of Big Wave being a definitive love letter to the music that inspired Yamashita to start his own music career to begin with, more in particular being a clear love letter to the music of Brian Wilson. If something is really consistent here it is not the quality of the performances or the songwriting, but the wonderful and highly enjoyable atmosphere that is built from front to back.
The two distinct sides that make up the album show a clear difference between the approaches that Tatsuro was able to take with his music. It is very obvious that the first half, the one full of his original compositions, is the one that has much more to offer, being the side that has the biggest highlights from the entire experience, with masterpieces such as the fantastic Theme From Big Wave, the wonderful and impactful English version of Jody, and the groovy and energetic Magic Ways being reason enough to check this entire album. However, the second side definitely lacks in comparison, being a bunch of covers in the same spirit as the ones seen on "Add Some Music To Your Day", having almost little to no difference for the most part with their original counterparts (with the main differences being Tatsuro's vocal performances). But still, there really are no bad songs to be found within this record, and even the second side has worthwhile and remarkable things, such as the wonderful cover of Darlin' and the original jingle version of the memorable and engaging "I Love You". But as a whole, this really doesn't stand among the best material that the Japanese master has to offer.
But that last statement is not to say that the record itself is terrible or that it is not worth a listen, but it does mean that it is definitely far from perfect in a lot of aspects. Big Wave sure is full of elements that make it enjoyable and charming front to back, with a fantastic production and mixing that make up for a captivating and consistent atmosphere as well as some undeniable masterpieces that serve as further proof of the talent and versatility of the artist (with tracks like Magic Ways blowing up in popularity decades later for very good reasons). However, Big Wave is not a consistent experience regarding songwriting. It certainly is something that drops in quality considerably during the second half, and even though none of the tracks are bad or mediocre, they do feel like a very underwhelming step back considering the charm and consistency found on the first half of the record. Sure, fans of The Beach Boys might find a lot of value in this, it was made as a love letter to that particular band after all, but this album wasn't made to be a fully focused project even with that particular mindset, but more of an opportunity for Yamashita to be as free as possible with a soundtrack that allowed him to approach the style of music that made him fall in love with the medium in the first place, taking everything on a much more simple, straight forward, and personal, approach.
One just has to look to the film itself (which can most certainly be done due to it being up on its entirety on YouTube) to further confirm these aspects. Marconnery's documentary is honestly laughable, random, with a lot of unnecessary transitions and scenes, as well as lacking any sort of focus whatsoever; but in the end it is not meant to be taken seriously as a complete masterpiece of cinema, but a similar thing can be said about Yamashita's soundtrack work for this film (of course, this being of a higher quality than the documentary itself). It was more about having fun and a lot of passion for something like this, also considering the fact that we can hear more of the artist's work for the soundtrack within the documentary itself, with a lot of cliché and simple instrumental work themed around surf rock, as well as some odd and very particular deep cuts such as the "Breakdance" theme. But still, Tatsuro's work is honestly the main reason why some scenes work the way they do, and it is very understandable why it captivated the heart of audiences back then, and why it continues to do so now. It was a really personal and lovely project for him (with the movie itself putting "This Music Is Dedicated To Dennis Wilson" on a very proud way), and even if it is not really one of his best releases regarding consistency or quality, it did make up for something charming, memorable at points, and very enjoyable as a full experience, as well as being something that presents a bunch of tracks that hold a lot of significance for Yamashita himself.
It is something that invites the listener to relax and get lost in the wonderful, upbeat, joyful, and captivating soundscapes that summer has to offer. Because as long as there is summer, there will always be something to do, and Yamashita sure knows that very well.
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