That's a great 80s sense of design on the cover, and the album's got a nice sort of 80s vibe too – a bit more drum machine beats, basslines, and keyboards than work by some of the jazzier city pop artists of the time – a mode that really seems to bring out the best in the vocals of Tomoko Aran! The tunes are sometimes upbeat, but the best ones have a great midtempo groove – nicely soulful, with Tomoko's vocals gliding along the top in a very catchy style – so much so that you might forget that unless you understand Japanese, you won't understand the lyrics of the tunes. Don't let that stop you, though – as the album's a gem from this golden age of Japanese pop – with titles that include "Body To Body", "I'm In Love", "Lonely Night", "Hannya", "Yesterday", "Midnight Pretenders", and "Baby Don't You Cry Anymore". LP, Vinyl record album

A sweetly soulful soundtrack from Cagnet – music for the extremely popular Long Vacation series in the 90s, done in that Japanese style from the time that was very heavy on influences from American soul! There's English language lyrics on most tracks – sung by Natalie and Anna, with a bit of work from male singer David too – and the music has that groove from this key moment in Japanese club, when it seemed as if productions like this could easily cross the boundaries of cultures, as ears in both the US and UK scenes were really opening up to the groove. Titles include "Here We Are Again", "Long Vacation", "Into You", "Under The Moonlight", "What Will I Do", "Deeper & Deeper", and "Our Romance". LP, Vinyl record album