[Pop-ballad]
No.78 "Cheer Girl" by EPO
Hi. Today's song is "Cheer Girl" by "EPO".
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Index
1. Song data
| Title | Cheer Girl |
|---|---|
| Artist | EPO |
| Album Title | Goodies |
| Catalog Number | MHC7-30024 |
| Track No. | 5 |
| Duration | 3:46 |
| Released | 1980 |
| Publisher | RCA |
| Lyricist | EPO |
| Composer | EPO |
| Arranger | Harold Wheeler |
- About the creators
EPO
The artist name "EPO" pronounces simply [épo], not [iːpiːoː]. It comes from a nickname of her childhood according to wikipedia.
She is a talented song creator, and has written a number of hit songs not only for her but for the other artists as well.
We would like to talk some more later in About the artist section.
Harold Wheeler
Harold Wheeler is an American orchestrator, composer, whose works has won various music awards, including the 2003 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Orchestrations for a Broadway musical "Hairspray".
(Wikipedia, Harold Wheeler)
It seems he has released only 2 as his personal albums, and "Black cream - The Harold Wheeler consort" (1975) might be the most well known one.
If you are curious, please try.
Cover art
- Sound impressions
Light pop-ballad
This is a moderated light & mellow pop music, but has some ballad feeling.
The drums, bass, and all acoustic piano, guitar and strings start a grand introduction. And brass and chorus quickly join and add the richness.
Jazzy brass and persistent struck on the crash cymbals are making sound more sportive.
EPO's voice seems it was not perfect at the time of recording, but still remarkably pure and lively.
Joy of modulation
In this melody, modulations are frequently applied, and give us a nice refreshing feel. EPO is very good at making such harmonic progression, and that is also a reason love her music.
Natural face
Her earlier songs tended to be more cheerful and dynamic, so the touch moist song like this was a bit exceptional.
However, her later works has deepened this trend, so it may be closer to the natural face of her in a sense.
- About the artist
A flower of the '80s J-pop
EPO debuted in 1980 with single "DOWN TOWN". Since then, 42 singles, and 25 original, live, and 12 best albums has been released until now.
(Wikipedia, EPO)
Blooming flower of the '80s
EPO is a known singer and pop music creator representing the '80s Japanese pop music.
For the Japanese popular music, the '80s was like a spring cherry blossom season which millions of flowers are blooming.
In the music society, hundreds of musicians were newly debuted, and tens of thousands of songs were released.
(This thriving situation seemed to brought about by an attentive incubation works in the '70s. We would like to write about this in a different opportunity.)
Smart pop music
Among them, EPO's pop music were remarkable. It was fresh, sunny but has slight lyrical taste in the music.
Her earlier music style was somewhat like '70s American TV commercials, or BGM for '60s sitcoms, for example "The Lucy show" or "Bewitched". Happy, optimistic, but fairly decent.
Theme song
Soon after debut, her debut single "Down town" was adopted for a theme music of a very popular TV variety.
Down town
Break
Thanks to this TV program, she got a lot of visibility.
Since then, quite a few of her songs became smash hits, and she has been recognized as a talented pop music creator.
Gap between ideal and reality
Although she became a super pop star, the music she was creating was not exactly she was wishing to create.
So, around 1990, she started to change her music style.
(reference: Shokutaku Ongaku, 2011-12-16)
We would like to stop this before it becomes too long, and continue in the next occasion. Thank you.
- Samples from online music stores
About the samples
Please go to the page below, and just play or click track No.5.
Trial button is on the left side of the song title.
AD : Free listening samples
Amazon JP(en)
recochoku.jp
Apple Music(jp)
5
8. Japanese Letters
| Song Title | Cheer Girl |
|---|---|
| Artist | EPO |
| Album Title | Goodies |
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