[Pop & Tropical]
No.149 "Tokyo Leggy" by Masayoshi Takanaka
Hi. Today's song is "Tokyo Leggy" by "Masayoshi Takanaka".
"Masayoshi Takanaka" is a famous guitarist in rock, fusion instrumental category.
But he also has released a few of vocal songs, sang by himself.
This would be a good driving music for summer.
If you like, please listen to.
Some links to the music shops offering song samples are located on the bottom of this page.
Few contents have been put away in a " ▼Memo " tab in each section, so please click it to read.
If the " ▼Memo " tab does not open, please enable the Java script in your browser.
Thank you.
1.Song data
| Title | Tokyo Leggy |
|---|---|
| Artist | Masayoshi Takanaka |
| Album Title | Seychelles |
| Catalog Number | UPCY-9047 |
| Track No. | 2 |
| Duration | 4:20 |
| Released | 1976 |
| Publisher | Kitty Records |
| Lyricist | Yukihiro Takahashi |
| Composer | Masayoshi Takanaka |
| Arranger | Masayoshi Takanaka |
- About the creators
Yukihiro TakahashiLyricist
"Yukihiro Takahashi" is a singer, songwriter, composer, music producer, fashion designer, essayist, TV character, radio personality, and a drummer of a legendary Electronic (we call it "Techno-pop") band "Yellow Magic Orchestra".
Super musician
"Yukihiro Takahashi" is a renowned musician due to his super play of the drums, brilliant career in music, and enormous amount of contribution to the J-pop.
We have posted slight more details about him on our past post No.135.
So, if you like, please look at the page linked in below.
The article is in "About the artist" section.
Related posts
Masayoshi TakanakaComposer&Arranger
"Masayoshi Takanaka" is a composer, arranger & singer of this song.
Then, we would like to come back to him later in "About the artist" section.
Cover art today
- Sound impressions
Pop & Tropical
This song seems to be a bubbly pop tune with tropical and Latin atmosphere.
Funky & Luxury
The drums, bass, strings, keyboard and electric guitar begin a celebrative happy introduction, and the main melody gets going.
In the main phrase, "Takanaka"'s earthy vocal and his emotive guitar sound appears alternatively.
Funky percussions are adding nice tropical feels. The beautiful strings and chorus [by Tan Tan(Harumi Ōzora) & Yōsui Inoue], adds a luxury atmosphere.
- Reference
- About the artist
Masayoshi TakanakaA Super Guitarist
"Masayoshi Takanaka" is a guitarist, composer, and a music producer, active since 1971.
One of the most prominent guitar player in Rock, and Fusion scene.
"Takanaka" started his career in 1971 as a bassist of a rock band, "Fried Egg".
As a solo artist, he debuted in 1976 with an album "SEYCHELLES". Since then, 35 singles, and 34 original, 9 live, and 31 best albums have been released until now.
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Masayoshi Takanaka)
Early days
According to Wikipedia, "Takanaka" was already playing a guitar at the US base as a semi-professional when he was a high school student.
In 1971, he was invited to a popular progressive rock band, "Fried Egg", which was initially formed by popular musicians "Shigeru Narumo" and "Hiro Tsunoda".
"Takanaka" played the bass in the group, and released 2 albums until the band broke up in 1972.
In the same year, "Takanaka" took part in a newly formed rock band "Sadistic Mika Band" which was lead by a popular musician "Kazuhiko Katō".
"Sadistic Mika Band" performed a brand-new progressive rock, and quickly became a very popular band.
The group was also introduce in the UK, and attracted attention from cultured audience.
In 1975, "Sadistic Mika Band" conducted a tour in the UK as one of the earliest example of such as a Japanese rock band.
The band achieved a remarkable success, but broke up in 1975.
Solo debut
After the split-up of the band, "Takanaka" finally began a solo activity as an independent guitarist.
In 1976, he released his first solo album, "Seychelles", which we are introducing today.
It was basically a Fusion instrumental album with tropical resort atmosphere, featuring the electric guitar.
The album quickly draw attention, and "Takanaka" gained popularity among fans of crossover music.
Super Takanaka Live
By the end of the '70s, "Takanaka" had become one of the most noticeable guitarist in Fusion music scene.
1979 seems to be a bright year for "Takanaka". In December, he released one of his master piece album, "Jolly Jive", and expanded the number of fans further.
Soon after launching the album, "Takanaka" held a joint concert with a top artist "Yosui Ino-ue" at Japan's biggest concert venue "Nippon Budōkan". (Martial Arts Hall of Japan).
And in March 1980, "Takanaka" released a live album of this concert in the title of "Super Takanaka Live". The album was sold well, and it became a bible like album for guitar boys and girls.
Through this series of impressive events, "Takanaka" completely established his name as a Pop instrumental guitarist.
The rainbow goblins
In 1981, tireless "Takanaka" newly released a unique album titled "Niji-densetsu" (The rainbow goblins), which he was inspired from a picture book titled "The Rainbow Goblins" drawn by an Italian author "Ul de Rico".
"Takanaka" then conducted a huge scale concert tour in all over Japan. Not just creating gorgeous stage installations, but he drew everything in rainbow color, including his guitar and hair. And performed an exciting, and dramatic live stages.
A movie clip of this concert was used in a TV Commercial, and caused a big movement in the music fans.
So, this might be the most famous album of "Takanaka".
Various music
In the late '80s, "Takanaka" sound briefly turned to more bouncy dance music style.
However, in the early '90s, he returned to his original pop instrumental style, but his sound became more gentle and natural by utilizing the acoustic instruments more.
Recent
In the year 2000, "Takanaka" founded his own label "Lagoon Records" and became independent.
Since then, he is releasing an album or DVD almost once a year, but his own pace.
On the other hand, he is holding quite a few of live stages even now.
If you like, please join.
About "Tokyo Leggy"
The English title is not given for this song, so, there is a variation of titles on the internet, like "Reggie", "Leggie" or "reggae".
But this song was written for a '70s popular & beautiful model, "Agnes Lum", when she starred on the special movie of her.
("Takanaka" was a famous fanboy of Agnes, and offered her 2 songs at that time.)
So, we chose "Leggy", but it is just a guess.
(Ref: Wikipedia-en, Masayoshi Takanaka)
(Ref: ishibashi.co.jp,
Masayoshi Takanaka interview, 24-07-2018)🇯🇵
(Ref: barks.jp,
Masayoshi Takanaka interview, 03-09-2014)🇯🇵
(Ref: md.pia.jp,
Masayoshi Takanaka interview, )🇯🇵
(Ref: mryt.com,
Masayoshi Takanaka, Seychelles)🇯🇵
(Ref: takanaka.com,
Masayoshi Takanaka interview, 02-07-2013 )🇯🇵
Video clip
Finally here is a 30sec sneak peak of "Takanaka super live BRASILIAN SKIES 40th in" 2018.
There aren't many usable clips on Youtube. So, please excuse us.
"Takanaka" celebrated the 40 years anniversary of his 4th album "BRASILIAN SKIES" released in 1978, and conducted a concert tour in the major cities.
The guitar that "Takanaka" is playing, is a famous blue Yamaha SG-2000 Takanaka model.
The musicians participated in this live, other than "Takanaka" are,
- Percussion
- Nobu Saitō
- Bass
- Akira Okazawa
- Drums
- Masahiro Miyazaki
- Keyboard
- Yūsuke Miyazaki
- Keyboard
- Kaoru Ino-ue
- Chorus
- AMAZONS (Women in red)
And the song being played in the video is one of "Takanaka"'s big hit song, "Blue lagoon".
If you like, please listen.
* "Takanaka live 2018" by "Masayoshi Takanaka"
- Samples from online music stores
About the samples
Please go to the page below, and just play or click track No.2.
Trial button is on the left side of the song title.
AD :
Free listening samples
Amazon JP(en)
recochoku.jp
Apple Music(jp)
2
8. Japanese Letters
| Song Title | トーキョー レギー (Tokyo Leggy) |
|---|---|
| Artist | 高中正義 (Masayoshi Takanaka) |
| Album Title | Seychelles |
Comments