FOR YOU

Alongside SPACY, this is a defining Tatsuro album. Yamashita had truly made his own sound: his musicians and artists worked as one to bring his ideas to life. Eizin Suzuki’s jacket illustration makes the music’s brightness visible and raises the album’s profile further.

A1 opens with crisp Telecaster cutting and vividly colored horns, while Jun Aoyama’s singing drum fills are wonderful. Its groove feels as if a door to happiness had opened and a blue sea suddenly spread before us. A2 carries a pleasant southern wind, with Minako Yoshida’s chorus lifting its softly dancing rhythm. The ballad A4 draws out the sorrow of love in countless colors. B1 changes from a light intro into a relaxed summer step, woven from guitar cutting and harp. In B2, Yamashita and his rhythm section seem to open a new pattern of polyrhythm together. Even after ten years of listening, it remains a favorite.