DEADLY DRIVE

A1 was made with Boz Scaggs's breakthrough 'Lowdown' in mind. It is like the thrill of opening every window and racing through the city at 62 kilometers an hour. When Taeko Ohnuki's Sunday voice joins Ito's youthful singing, the mood slips quickly out into the wind. Its jazzy saxophone brings a slightly turbulent current. At the same time, the mellow ballad A4 was part of Sugar Babe's repertoire. EPO, Nobuyuki Shimizu and Masako Takasaki covered this signature Ginji song on Loft Sessions. Tatsuro co-wrote the original lyrics, and here Ito includes a new take with his own rewritten words. The mist-like strings, raindrop-like Fender Rhodes tones and lyrical piano solo are all Ryuichi Sakamoto's work.

Meanwhile, Coconut Bank and Sugar Babe were breaking up one after another. Ito, who had stood out as the musician to inherit the aftermath, was involved in many of the records that followed. This first solo album makes the extent of that work plain. Afterward he built a career across blues, funk and Latin music with the drifting beat-pop of the 1960s, and succeeded as an arranger and producer. Its variety and freedom to cross over may simply be his natural manner. Yet the worry such a talent brings to a listener is whether such unusual fine songs can keep appearing.