Description
★CITY POP on VINYL 2025 Entry ★First Press Limited Edition
Yuko Imai is a singer-songwriter at the forefront of Japan's AOR to city pop scene. Her highly acclaimed debut cover album, Reminiscence, is finally available on LP! A selection of tracks that will captivate even the most discerning fans is reborn with her lustrous vocals and superb arrangements!
Yuko Imai, who covered "Mayonaka no Door ~Stay with Me~" (Miki Matsubara) before the recent city pop boom (newly recorded and included on her 2016 best-of album, SWEETEST VOICE), takes on the ambitious Reminiscence, a full-fledged cover album. Against an authentic, top-quality sound carefully crafted primarily with live instruments, her flowing, soothing vocals are allowed to shine. The arrangements also subtly showcase Imai's signature Latin to fusion flair, making them well worth listening to. While avoiding the usual staples, the tracklist strikes a perfect balance between popularity and cult appeal, ensuring that AOR and city pop fans will be thoroughly impressed. Featuring the original song "Eternal Promise," written by Imai herself and showcasing her signature YUKO-SOUND, this is a rich collection that goes far beyond a mere cover album.
"Yuko Imai, a singer-songwriter who has actively taken on masterpieces from Japanese and Western music in the past, has deliberately taken on the challenge of a cover album at a time when easy city pop covers are flooding the market. For this collaboration, skilled arranger Jun Abe, participating for the third consecutive project, crafts her fusion and Latin sides. The unit of long-time Kadomatsu family associates Jun Kajihara and Yoshihiro Tomonari, Kawanari Jun, colors the elegant organic side. The balance between her career-backed vocals and her approach of expressing masterpieces through her own interpretation is exquisite. Her smooth, beautiful voice and ultra-realistic band ensemble will make a big difference compared to ordinary covers." — Toshikazu Kanazawa (Light Mellow)
A1 Eternal Promise (Original New Song)
A2 Morning Glory (Mariya Takeuchi / Tatsuro Yamashita)
A3 SURPRISE OF SUMMER (Anri)
A4 Red and Black (Yoshimi Iwasaki)
A5 I'm Already Feeling Menthol (Asami Kado)
B1 Mizuiro no Ame (Junko Yagami)
B2 Love Boogie Oogie Train (Ann Lewis)
B3 Tasogare My Love (Junko Ohashi)
B4 OH NO, OH YES (Mariya Takeuchi)
