MIDNIGHT IN TOKYO VOL. 3 (2LP)

Sales Info: midnight in tokyo is a compilation series that aims to be the perfect companion to nights in tokyo, collecting tracks by japanese artists that sound best at night. while vol.2 focused more on ™80s jazz fusion, the latest installment, vol.3, picks up where vol.1 left off, bringing together forgotten soul, disco, and new wave gems. the compilation opens with japanese rare groove classic šmore sexy,› a provocative song by šthe queen of sexy songs,› yoko hatanaka. škimi no yume,› from the album yume no yonbai by the wandering poet masumi hara, is one of the best balearic acid folk song to come out of japan. šsilhouette call› is an electric bossa nova trackžin the vein of antenažtaken from a rare album called octopussy by yuki nakayamate, a singer songwriter who also worked as a backing vocalist for motoharu sano. štheme of high school student› is a dubby cut featured on the soundtrack to the japanese ™80s film kougen ni ressha ga hashitta, written by atsuo fujimoto of colored musicžone of the key artists in the recent wave of global interest in japanese music. šget to paradise› is a stone cold funk jam by mari kaneko, who was known as the janis joplin of shimokitazawa in her heyday, and is now known as the mother of the drummer and the bassist of popular rock band rize. following that is one of japan™s greatest new wave disco track, šhannya,› taken from tomoko aran™s popular third album fuyu-kukanžproduced by masatoshi nishimura who was part of the friends of earth project with haruomi hosono. masako miyazakižwhose rendition of seawind™s šhe loves you› is a fan favoritežputs her own spin on the earth, wind & fire classic, šfantasy,› singing in her accent-heavy english which gives the song an undeniable character. šwatashi no koukoku› is a certified disco boogie classic by popular singer junko sakurada. the brazilian-esque jazz fusion, šsunshine bright on me› is by a fusion group called kangaroo, who were often billed as šthe japanese shakatak.› šstranger™s night› is a synth-pop number by pop idol maiko okamoto, which bears a suspicious resemblance to rah band™s šthe shadow of your love.› electro-pop disco šsinging lady›žoff the sole album released by the one-off project the fadžsounds like something giorgio moroder could™ve cooked up. šmagic eyes› is a disco anthem recorded by songwriter tetsuji hayashi™s disco project, the eastern gang. following that is japanese soul gem šcrazy baby,› found on a rare 7 inch entitled minato no soul by rinda yamamotožalso composed and arranged by tetsuji hayashi. and last but not least, closing out this collection of 14 japanese rare groove goodies is ši™m in love›, a bittersweet mellow dance number by tomoko aran. Tracklisting: 1/a1 yoko hatanaka/more sexy 2/a2 masumi hara/kimi no yume 3/a3 yuki nakayamate/silhouette call 4/a4 atsuo fujimoto/theme of high school student 5/b1 mari kaneko/get to paradise 6/b2 tomoko aran/hannya 7/b3 masako miyazaki/fantasy 8/c1 junko sakurada/watashi no koukoku 9/c2 kangaroo/sunshine bright on me 10/c3 maiko okamoto/stranger™s night 11/c4 the fad/singing lady 12/d1 the eastern gang/magic eyes 13/d2 rinda yamamoto/crazy baby 14/d3 tomoko aran/i™m in love