Sunshower by Taeko Ohnuki -1977

Taeko Ohnuki (大貫 妙子),  born November 28, 1953, is a female Japanese pop singer, lyricist, and composer. She got her official start in the music industry as part of the pioneering band Sugar Babe in 1975, alongside fellow singer-songwriters, Tatsuro Yamashita (山下達郎), and Kunio Muramatsu(村松邦男). After the failure of their first and only album, the band broke up and the trio went their own separate ways to find their individual musical identities. Yamashita's journey would take him to New York, to produce his debut album Circus Town, establishing him as Japan's next soul-brother. Muramatsu wouldn't get his next solo album until 1983's Green Water, where he went the pop-rock route. However, Taeko Ohnuki would find her musical voice in her second album released in 1977, Sunshower. 

THE HISTORY

After the breakup of Sugar Babe in 1976, Ohnuki had moved on to Crown Records, under the Panam label,  specialized in releasing folk and New Music (precursor to city pop) records. She released Grey Skies that same year, however, it was mostly an extension of the sound produced by Sugar Babe, as it features many of their unused songs. For her next album, Ohnuki wanted to focus on creating a jazz-fusion sound, which was starting to gain traction in Japan during that time. 

 In order to accomplish this, the album features some major players in the genre. Then up-and-coming session musician, Ryuichi Sakamoto (坂本 龍一), was chosen as the arranger for the album. On bass, the album features Harry Hosono (細野晴臣) and Tsugutoshi Gotō (後藤 次利). On guitar, there's Shigeru Suzuki (鈴木茂), Koichi Hara (原浩一), Kenji Omura (大村憲司), and Kazumi Watanabe (渡辺 香津美). On drums, they got Tatsuo Hayashi (林立夫) as well as American musician Christopher Parker, from the band Stuff, who they met after watching their performance at the Rolling Coconut Review in Tokyo. Even Ohnuki's old band member, Tatsuro Yamashita, provides backing vocals for the album.

Apparently, the record company did not have much faith in Ohnuki's project or new direction. But, with the help and support of Sakamoto, she persisted to go all out on this album, drawing influences from artists like Stevie Wonder and Todd Rundgren, combining it with her personal life experiences growing up in the Suginami Ward of Tokyo, to create catchy but introspective songs. Sunshower was released on July 25th, 1977, and compared to her first album, sales were lackluster. However, that didn't stop the album from being recognized as a J-Pop classic in the coming decades.

THE MUSIC

Side A

• Summer Connection: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Sunshine Pop in its purest form. A jazzy, uplifting track with cheerful horns, groovy bass, and an uplifting string arrangement, celebrating the season of the sun. The single cut of this song has a faster tempo and more lively drums.

• Kusuri wo Takusan (くすりをたくさん)| A Lot of Medicine: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
•  A song that criticized the over-prescription of medicine, which is surprising when you consider how upbeat and cheerful it is, with its joyful flute playing against a mellow samba beat. 

• Nani mo Iranai (何もいらない) | I don't need anything: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
•  The song begins with some ominous violins, followed by a deep bass drop to set the tone of this soulful tune about rejecting the environment around you and wanting to escape. The highlight of this song is again the groovy bassline and the classy smooth jazz guitar solo.

• Tokai (都会) | City: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
•  A breezy melancholy track about feeling trapped in the mundane cycle of city living. Another mellow smooth jazz arrangement featuring highlights like the stellar synthesizer solo, smooth saxophone, and the ethereal, occasionally eerie backing vocals.

• Karappo no Isu (からっぽの椅子) | Empty Chair: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
•   A sad & bluesy jazz ballad about being overcome with loneliness. This song was originally part of Sugar Babe's repertoire and was sung at their final concert in 1976.  

Side B

• Law Of Nature: ⭐⭐⭐
• A soft rock composition inspired by Todd Rundgren's Utopia that explores Man's relationship with mother nature.

• Dare no Tameni (誰のために) | For Whom: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• Another Latin influenced track about vulnerability and marginalization through lack of prestige. 

• Silent Screamer: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
•  This song is about the desire to escape, too and it's strong that an image of driving a car at a breakneck speed. According to Ohnuki, back then, the energy was quite full and at least in the music, she wanted to run wild.

• Sargasso Sea: ⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The unique space age-ambient theme of the mystical Sargasso Sea. The creative use of synthesizers and short piano melodies, help create a futuristic, yet nautical atmosphere of wanderlust.

• Furiko no Yagi (振子の山羊) | Pendulum of Capricorn: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
• The finale composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto begins with a symphonic intro, that leads into a progressive jazz-rock ballad where Ohnuki's ghostly vocals describe the end of days for humankind and its eventual reincarnation. The song ends on a funky piano breakdown, accompanied by an epic, bluesy guitar solo as the song fades out until the final thing heard is Ohnuki stating "山羊は その枝を食べた /The goat ate the branch". 

THE VERDICT

Production: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Vocals:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Arrangement:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Aesthetic:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Memorability: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Composition:⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Wow...just wow. After not hearing the full album in years, this blew me away. Taeko Ohnuki did a superb job of establishing her music identity. Sunshower perfectly balances progressive-pop, art rock, and jazz fusion. Each song is extremely unique and memorable and is arranged in a way that explores different sounds without going too far out of the easy listening territory. The most deviating song in the album is the Sargasso Sea since it's more of a psychedelic ambiance techno piece than anything, but it's still soothing enough to put you ina meditative state. My favorite track being Tokai, with its mellow and somber melody, combine with its anti-metropolitan lyrics, provides a listening experience that's not unlike Marvin Gaye's Innercity Blues, but retains its own identity. 

This brings up an astonishing realization; this is the most anti-city city pop album I've ever heard! Most of the songs are cover the societal problems that come with living in the streets in Tokyo, from over-medication to depression, to obligatory social status, to more heavy topics like man's relationship with nature and existential dread. Yet it's all wrapped in soothing melodies with jazzy pianos, melodic guitar solos, mesmerizing backing vocals, and psychedelic synthesizers. On top of that, Ohnuki's soft, innocent, and ethereal voice really makes you forget that she's singing about the end of all existence by the end of the record. It all starts to make sense when you learn about Taeko Ohnuki's upbringing in Tokyo, and how the post-war economic boom shaped her struggles surviving in the constantly evolving metropolis. I'm pretty confident that Summer Connection is the only happy song on the album, which isn't a bad thing since, despite the lyrical tone shift, the album retains the same breezy and whimsical vibe established by the opening number.

I'm a firm believer that Taeko Ohnuki's Sunshower is one of the rare perfect albums. While I personally think her next album, Mignone, is more approachable, I can't deny that this record is where Ohnuki's creativity was at its peak. Some songs might not be for everyone, but production is solid enough where you leave each song with something worthwhile to talk about, be it the unique and jazzy arrangements or the topical lyrics. Whether you're a fan of City Pop, Jazz, Prog, or Art Rock, Sunshower is a must-have in everyone's record collection.