Melodies (album)

Melodies
Melodies
Studio album by Tatsuro Yamashita
Released	June 8, 1983
Studio	Onkio Haus
Genre	J-pop, funk, R&B/soul, pop
Length	39:57
Label	Alfa Moon
Producer	Tatsuro Yamashita
Tatsuro Yamashita chronology
Singles from Melodies
	"Koukiatsu Girl"; Released: April 23, 1983; "Christmas Eve"; Released: December 14, 1983;

Last updated August 31, 2023

Melodies is the eighth studio album recorded by Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita, released in June 1983. It was his first LP issued under the Moon Label which was distributed by Alfa Records at the time.

Unlike his previous albums, where Minako Yoshida wrote most of the lyrics, most of the songs heard on Melodies are penned by Yamashita alone, except for "Blue Midnight" (co-written by Yoshida) and a cover version of "Guess I'm Dumb" (composed by Brian Wilson and Russ Titelman and originally recorded by Glen Campbell in 1966).

Before the album came out, "Koukiatsu Girl" was released as a lead single. It features chorus by Mariya Takeuchi, who married Yamashita in 1982 and then temporarily suspended her recording career. The most well-known song in this album is "Christmas Eve". The song did not receive much attention when it was released on 12-inch single in December 1983, but it was widely recognized through a series of television advertisements by the Central Japan Railway Company aired during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The CD single of "Christmas Eve" reissued in 1986 subsequently became a huge commercial success, topping the chart in December 1989. The song was repeatedly reissued in later years and became a hit throughout the decades, entering the Oricon chart for over 20 consecutive years with sales of more than 1.8 million copies in total.^[1]^[2]

Because of the massive success "Christmas Eve" gained, the album also enjoyed long-term commercial success. Melodies is Yamashita's best selling studio album, retailing over 992,000 copies during its two first chart runs. In 2013 the 30th anniversary reissue sold 28,000 more copies, pushing the album total to 1 million and 20,000 copies.

Track listing

All lyrics are written by Tatsuro Yamashita; all music is composed by Tatsuro Yamashita, except where noted

Side A
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Kanashimi no Jody (She Was Crying) (悲しみのJODY)"			3:50
2.	"Koukiatsu Girl (高気圧ガール, Koukiatsu Gāru)"			4:20
3.	"Nightfly (夜翔)"			4:23
4.	"Guess I'm Dumb"	Russ Titelman	Brian Wilson	3:12
5.	"Hitotoki (ひととき)"			4:00
Total length:				19:45

Side B
No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Merry-Go-Round (メリー・ゴー・ラウンド, Merī Gō Raundo)"			6:18
2.	"Blue Midnight"	Minako Yoshida ^(ja)	Tatsuro Yamashita	4:15
3.	"Ashioto (あしおと)"			3:54
4.	"Mokusou (黙想)"			1:30
5.	"Christmas Eve (クリスマス・イブ, Kurisumasu Ibu)"			4:15
Total length:				20:12

Personnel

Tatsuro Yamashita: Drums, bass guitar, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar, electric sitar, celesta, electric piano, acoustic piano, vibe, Hammond organ, glocken, timpani, percussion, echoes, background vocals
Kohki Itoh – Bass guitar
Tsunehide Matsuki – Electric guitar
Hiroyuki Namba – Electric piano, acoustic piano, Hammond organ
Motoya Hamaguchi – Percussion
Jun Aoyama – Drums
Satoshi Nakamura – Oberheim OBX-a synthesizer
Hidefumi Toki – Alto sax
Susumu Kazuhara – Trumpet
Masahiro Kobayashi – Trumpet
Shigeharu Mukai – Trombone
Tadanori Konakawa – Trombone
Daisuke Inoue: Tenor sax
Takeru Muraoka – Tenor sax
Shunzo Sunahara – Baritone sax
Ohno Group – Strings
Keiko Yamakawa – Harp
Mariya Takeuchi – Chorus (credited to the Kokiatsu-Girls)
Kumi Sano – Chorus (credited to the Kokiatsu-Girls)
Manaho Mori – Chorus (credited to the Kokiatsu-Girls)
Kazuhito Murata – Chorus (credited to a Kokiatsu-Boy)

Production

Produced and arranged by Tatsuro Yamashita (for Smile Co.)
Mixed and Remixed by Tamotsu Yoshida
Associate producer: Nobumasa Uchida
Assistant engineer: Masato Ohmori
Recorded at CBS/Sony Roppongi Studio A & B
Remixed at CBS/Sony Roppongi Studio B
Mastering studio: CBS/Sony Shinanomachi Mastering Studio
CD Mastering Engineer: Teppei Kasai
Management office: Wild Honey
Assistant management: Kentaro Hattori, Masayuki Matsumoto & Kimmy Satoh
Copyright management: Kenichi Nomura
Masterright Owned by Smile Co.
Executive producer: Ryuzo "Junior" Kosugi
Art direction: Hiroshi Takahara
Design: Hiroshi Takahara, Akira Utsumi, Mayumi Oka
Photographer: Kaoru Iijima
Illustration for inner sleeve: Midori Murakami
Lettering: Tadashi Yokoshi

Chart positions

Weekly charts

Year	Country	Chart	Position	Sales
1983	Japan	Oricon Weekly LP Albums Chart (top 100)	1	367,000^[3]
1992	Japan	Oricon Weekly Albums Chart (top 100)	8	477,000

Year-end charts

Year	Country	Chart	Position	Sales
1983	Japan	Oricon Yearly Albums Chart (top 50)	7	515,000^[4]

Awards

Year	Title	Category	Winner
Japan Record Awards
1983 (25th)	Melodies^[5]	Best 10 Albums	Tatsuro Yamashita

Release history

Country	Date	Label	Format	Catalog number
Japan	June 8, 1983	Alfa/Moon	LP	MOON-28008
	November 28, 1983		CD	38XM1
	December 21, 1986			32XM27
	November 10, 1992	MMG/Moon		AMCM-4150
	June 2, 1999	Warner/Moon		WPCV-10020

Related Research Articles

Mariya Takeuchi is a Japanese singer and songwriter. Regarded as an influential figure in the city pop genre, she is one of the best-selling music artists in Japan, having sold over 16 million records, and has received several accolades. Her husband is Tatsuro Yamashita, a singer-songwriter and record producer.

Tatsurō Yamashita, occasionally credited as Tatsu Yamashita or Tats Yamashita, is a Japanese singer-songwriter and record producer, who is known for pioneering the city pop style of music.

<i>Paradise Cafe</i> 1996 studio album by Miyuki Nakajima

Paradise Cafe" is the 23rd studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Miyuki Nakajima, released in October 1996. The album includes a new recording of her 1995 chart-topping hit "Wanderer's Song", and also features her own interpretation of "Lie to Me Eternally", which was originally written for the Long Time No See album recorded by Takuro Yoshida.

<i>Love or Nothing</i> 1994 studio album by Miyuki Nakajima

Love or Nothing is the 22nd studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Miyuki Nakajima, released in October 1994.

<i>Lullaby Singer</i> 2006 studio album by Miyuki Nakajima

Lullaby Singer is the 34th studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Miyuki Nakajima, released in November 2006.

<i>Seasons Greetings</i> (album) 1993 studio album by Tatsuro Yamashita

Season's Greetings is a cover album by Tatsurō Yamashita, released in November 1993. It is sort of a holiday album, though some of the songs have nothing to do with Christmas or the winter season.

<i>Be Like My Child</i> 1998 studio album by Miyuki Nakajima

Be Like My Child is the 25th studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Miyuki Nakajima. The album came out a month after a single "Another Name for Life", which was featured as a theme song for TV drama Seija no Koushin aired on TBS and became a smash hit on the charts.

<i>Big Wave</i> (Tatsuro Yamashita album) 1984 soundtrack album by Tatsuro Yamashita

Big Wave is the soundtrack album for the motion picture of the same name, produced and recorded by Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita. It was released in June 1984 and peaked at No.2 on the Oricon Albums Chart for a 19-week stay. The album was heavily influenced by the songwriting and production of Brian Wilson. Its first half consists of original songs, with English lyrics by Alan O'Day, while the second is mostly cover versions of Beach Boys songs.

<i>Ride on Time</i> (album) 1980 studio album by Tatsuro Yamashita

Ride on Time is the fifth studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita, released by AIR/RVC on September 19, 1980. It is best known for its title track, which was used in the television commercial for Maxell cassette tapes starring Yamashita, and released as a single in May 1980. The song became his first charting single, peaking at No. 3 on Oricon's weekly singles chart with sales of 417,000 copies. In 2003, the song was featured on the television drama Good Luck!! starring Takuya Kimura, and entered the top 20 on the chart again.

<i>Artisan</i> (album) 1991 studio album by Tatsuro Yamashita

Artisan is the thirteenth studio album recorded by the Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita. It was released in June 1991, led by a string of hit singles he produced. Artisan became his first album that was not released on LP. Like his 1989 live album Joy, illustration for a front cover of Artisan was drawn by Andre Miripolsky, who painted a cover art of Bette Midler's 1983 No Frills album. It debuted at the No. 1 on the Oricon, and spent 20 weeks on chart with sales of over 710,000 copies in total. In December 1991, the album won the 33rd Japan Record Awards for "Best Pop/Rock Album" and "Excellent Albums" prizes.

<i>Treasures</i> (Tatsuro Yamashita album) 1995 greatest hits album by Tatsuro Yamashita

Treasures is the compilation album by Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita, released in November 1995.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Plastic Love</span> 1984 song by Mariya Takeuchi

"Plastic Love" is a song by Japanese singer Mariya Takeuchi from her 1984 album Variety. Written by Takeuchi and arranged by Tatsuro Yamashita, the song was released as the album's third single on March 25, 1985. "Plastic Love" is a city pop song; its upbeat arrangement contrasts with "melancholic" lyrics that describe a woman who embraces a hollow, hedonistic lifestyle after being scorned by a lover. Upon its initial release as a single, the song was a moderate success in Japan, peaking at number 86 on the Oricon Singles Chart and selling around 10,000 copies.

<i>Go Ahead!</i> 1978 studio album by Tatsuro Yamashita

Go Ahead! is the third studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita, released in December 1978.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mirai no Theme / Uta no Kisha</span> Single by Tatsuro Yamashita

Mirai no Theme/Uta no Kisha is the fifty-first single released by Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita, released in July 2018. This work contains two songs by Tatsuro Yamashita for the film "Mirai".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ride on Time (Tatsuro Yamashita song)</span> Single by Tatsuro Yamashita,

Ride on Time is the sixth single by Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita, released in May 1980. This was his first single to enter the Oricon Singles Chart, peaking in at number three. Some sources claim that this was the beginning of the genre called "City pop".

<i>For You</i> (Tatsuro Yamashita album) 1982 studio album by Tatsuro Yamashita

For You is the sixth studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita, released in January 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amaku Kiken na Kaori</span> 1982 song by Tatsuro Yamashita

Amaku Kiken na Kaori is the ninth single by Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita, released in April 1982. This was his last single under the AIR/RVC label.

<i>MISSLIM</i> 1974 studio album by Yumi Arai

MISSLIM, is the second studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Yumi Arai, released in October 1974.

<i>Greatest Hits! of Tatsuro Yamashita</i> 1982 greatest hits album by Tatsuro Yamashita

Greatest Hits! of Tatsuro Yamashita is the first greatest hits album by Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita, released in July 1982.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">My Sugar Babe</span>

My Sugar Babe is the seventh single by Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita, released on October 21, 1980.

References

↑ 山下達郎、「クリスマス・イブ」で大記録樹立！　20年連続TOP100入り！ニュース-ORICON STYLE- "Tatsuro Yamashita's "Christmas Eve" set a record! : entering the top 100 on the chart for 20 consecutive years". oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). Original Confidence . Retrieved June 26, 2009.{{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
↑ List of number-one singles on the Japan's Oricon Weekly Charts (1968–) Archived December 26, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
↑ "Tatsuro Yamashita" (in Japanese). Archived from Yamachan Land (Japan's charts archives) – Albumd Chart Daijiten – the original on November 11, 2007. Retrieved March 19, 2008.{{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)
↑ "年間アルバムヒットチャート 1983年" (in Japanese). Private Life エンタメデータ＆ランキング. Archived from the original on October 23, 2013. Retrieved April 10, 2022.
↑ "History of the Japan Record Awards – List of the 25th Award Winners" (in Japanese). Archived from Japan Composer's Association the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved July 8, 2009.{{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[christmaseve-1] 山下達郎、「クリスマス・イブ」で大記録樹立！　20年連続TOP100入り！ニュース-ORICON STYLE- "Tatsuro Yamashita's "Christmas Eve" set a record! : entering the top 100 on the chart for 20 consecutive years". oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). Original Confidence . Retrieved June 26, 2009.{{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)

[JP1-2] List of number-one singles on the Japan's Oricon Weekly Charts (1968–) Archived December 26, 2008, at the Wayback Machine

[oricon_album-3] "Tatsuro Yamashita" (in Japanese). Archived from Yamachan Land (Japan's charts archives) – Albumd Chart Daijiten – the original on November 11, 2007. Retrieved March 19, 2008.{{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)

[4] "年間アルバムヒットチャート 1983年" (in Japanese). Private Life エンタメデータ＆ランキング. Archived from the original on October 23, 2013. Retrieved April 10, 2022.

[25rt-5] "History of the Japan Record Awards – List of the 25th Award Winners" (in Japanese). Archived from Japan Composer's Association the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved July 8, 2009.{{cite web}}: Check |url= value (help)

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]