TATSURO YAMASHITA Vinilo y CD

Review: Tatsuro Yamashita's It's a Poppin' Time is one of the many albums of his that are being reissued right now as part of a campaign focussing don his work for RCA. It arrives on nice heavy 180g vinyl and is the first of two live albums he put out. This one came in 1978 and an expanded remaster came in 2002. At the time he was an already established Japanese singer-songwriter and record producer who had very much helped to define the early city-pop sound that has endured to this day. He dropped a wealth of studio albums from the seventies onwards and as this one shows had more than enough skill to carry that magic over to the live arena.

Review: Acclaimed Japanese producer, singer and songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita is the man credited with laying the early foundations for the city-pop sound. He put out a great run of albums, live albums and compilations and many of them are now being reissued. This one is a great hits collection on heavyweight vinyl that came in 1982 and rounds up the many standout works of his early period. All the tracks have had a fresh mastering job for this release and so classics like 'Sweet & Dangerous Scent', 'Draw Ai Let's Kiss The Sun' and 'The Door Into Summer' all sound as good as ever.

Review: AOR soft rock titan Tatsuro Yamashita is often referred to as the king of city pop for good reason. Both as a solo artist and writing and producing for his wife Mariya Takeuchi, he contributed greatly to Japan's music culture in the 1980s, earning him number six in HMV Japan's Top 100 Japanese Artists rundown. Softly is his fourteenth studio album, marking 11 years since Yamashita's last outing. Alongside new tracks 'Hikari to Kimi e no Requiem' and 'Cheer Up! The Summer' there are pieces which were previously used in advertising such as 'Lehua, My Love' and 'Shining From The Inside'. Japanese city pop aficionados (of which we know there are many) take note!