[Light & brisk]
No.5 "Cruising On" by Bread&Butter
Hi. Today's song is "Cruising On" by "Bread & Butter".
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1. Song data
Title | Cruising On |
---|---|
Artist | Bread & Butter |
Album Title | Monday Morning |
Catalog Number | MHCL-642 |
Track No. | 3 |
Duration | 4:25 |
Released | 1980 |
Publisher | Alfa records |
Lyricist | Michio Yamagami |
Composer | Satsuya Iwasawa |
Arranger | Masaki Matsubara |
- About the creators
Michio Yamagami
Michio Yamagami is a great lyricist in the main stream popular song field active since late '60s.
He has written dozens of very famous hit songs to date, therefore the list of his works almost looks like a carbon copy of hit song list, particularly for the '70s.
* Yoake no Scat
Here is a one of his hit song of the '70s performed by "Saori Yuki".
This song "Yoake no Scat"(A scat singing in the dawn) had recently enjoyed a revival, and the singer Saori Yuki appeared on stage with an American "little orchestra" - Pink Martini.
This video clip is a part of it.
(Ref: Wikipedia, Michio Yamagami)
Satsuya Iwasawa
"Bread & Butter" is a band of "Iwasawa" brothers, and "Satsuya Iwasawa" is an elder.
We would like to come back on him later in the artist section.
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Satsuya Iwasawa)
Masaki Matsubara
"Masaki Matsubara" was a legendary guitarist and arranger in J-pop and Jazz fusion field, active from mid '70s until recently.
He is perhaps the best known as a guitarist of "Parachute", which was one of the top fusion band in the '80s.
But, even after the band was broken up in 1982, he continued energetic and brilliant guitar play until he departed in 2016.
(Ref: Wikipedia, Masaki Matsubara)
* Video clip
Here is a picture of Mr. Masaki Matsubara from an advertising video of Digimart.
Please have a look.
Cover art
Monday Morning
(Digital music, Amazon.co.jp)
Bread and Butter, 1980.
- Sound impressions
Light & brisk
This seems to be a light, brisk and refreshing pop song in the middle speed on 8-beat.
A simple ensemble by the bass, drums, percussion, electric piano and the electric guitars start the introduction together with the vocal.
A beautiful chorus of Bread & Butter appears in the middle part of the song, and attracts us marvelously .
Nice solo play of the trumpet is in the bridge, and making the song pretty cool.
- Reference
- About the artist
Bread & ButterA pioneering pop duo
"Bread & Butter" is a pop duo formed by "Iwasawa" brothers, namely "Satsuya" and "Fuyumu" in 1969.
Their light, stylish and urban feel sound with sunny, seaside feeling is well known, and regarded as one of the pioneers of the category called "city-pop".
Discs
The debut single was "Kizu-darake no Karuizawa"(Heartache Karuizawa, "Karuizawa" is the name of the resort.). Since then, 41 singles, and 21 original, 2 live, and 22 best albums have been released until now.
(Ref: Wikipedia-jp, Bread&Butter)
Organizing a band
Prior to graduation, "Satsuya Iwasawa" went to America on the pretext of "job searching" in the late '60s.
After breathing the air of freedom in the United States, he decided to become self-reliant, and not taking a job.
Simon & Garfunkel
During the travel, he had an opportunity to attend the concert of "Simon & Garfunkel" at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
This gave him inspiration. "Satsuya Iwasawa" started thinking about creating a folk duo formed by brothers.
Inviting Fuyumi and debut
After coming back to Japan, "Satsuya" asked his younger brother "Fuyumi" to join for his plan.
They then challenged for the audition to be a professional singer.
The team luckily past the test, and debuted in 1969.
From the debut to 1976
Since the beginning, the band was achieving moderate success.
But in 1976, they stopped singing, and opened a coffee shop in their home town called "Chigasaki", where is the place often referred to as Mecca of marine sports in Japan.
During a break
While they are enjoying running a coffee shop, a lot of various friends, including "Yumi Matsutōya" or "Monsieur Kamayatsu" visited their shop often, and gave a great stimulus to them.
This generated an energy to resume inside of them. And in 1979, they decided to restart their music activity.
From 1979 to now
It seems they have successfully established their music style during this 3 years break.
After the restart in 1979, they released their 6th album "Late Late Summer".
This was a very good, and epoch making album, since they have finally reached to the true "Bread & Butter" sound for the first time on their history.
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Bread&Butter)
(Ref: Shokutaku On-gaku, 2008-09-26)
(Ref: En-tame station, Bread&Butter,2015-09-25)
For the next time
We would like to stop writing before the article becomes too long.
Please allow us to continue this for the next opportunity.
* Shall we live together?
Finally, here is a recent video clip of "Bread & Butter" for your interest.
- Samples from online music stores
About the samples
Please go to the page below, and just play or click track No.3.
Trial button is on the left side of the song title.
AD : Free listening samples
Amazon JP(en)
recochoku.jp
Apple Music(jp)
3
8. Japanese Letters
Song Title | クルージング・オン (Cruising On) |
---|---|
Artist | ブレッド & バター (Bread & Butter) |
Album Title | Monday Morning |
Comments
Thank you
Thank you
Greetings
Thank you for your comment.
A male pop duo "Bread & Butter" has been active since 1969, and its members are,
"Satsuya Iwasawa" & "Fuyumi Iwasawa".
As you see, they are brothers, and "Satsuya" is the elder one.
We just put on a link to their page on Japanese Wikipedia (via Google Translate), so please have a look.
Bread & Butter - Wikipedia
There are some possibly useful links also on the page, so please check them as well.
Finally, we are not sure who do you mean by "she". Could you clarify if necessary?
Thank you, and come again.
Satsuma