Fad
Fad!
Invitation (Japan) 1981
VIH-28044 (LP) w/obi, insert.
sleeve : EX+(very slightly color-faded.)
media : EX/EX-(some slightly noise. side B has one slightly wear that does not affect to sounds.)
Featured in the first edition of the guidebook Obscure Sound. This is the one and only album by Fad, the unit formed by Toru Yamashita (vocals, keyboards) and Susumu Hashimoto (keyboards), both of whom also contributed as composers and performers—alongside Takeo Yamashita—to the original background music for the TV anime Lupin the Third. Released in 1981, the album features guest appearances by Masaki Matsubara on guitar, Michio Nagaoka on bass, and Shuichi “Ponta” Murakami on drums. Among its better-known highlights in the Japanese groove/city pop world are A1, a short but irresistibly danceable cut driven by programmed drum machine rhythms and synthesizer arpeggios, as well as the breezy, synth-laden city pop tunes A2 and B4. That said, our strongest recommendations here are without question A6 and B3—stunningly urban mellow numbers built on spacious, unhurried drum and bass grooves, touched with sentimental synthesizer work and deeply wistful guitar solos. The tasteful support from the three guest musicians is superb throughout, but above all, these tracks reveal the exceptional talent of Yamashita and Hashimoto as composers and arrangers of real distinction. Complete with obi and insert.
A1/A2: Overture/Tunamma Shungo
A6: The Winter Sea
B3: Rufen Sie An
B4: Shining Love