Down Town (single)

Down Town is the only single by the band Sugar Babe (excluding the 1982 reissue), released in April 1975. This was also the debut single by Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita & Taeko Ohnuki.

"Down Town"
Single by Sugar Babe
from the album Songs
B-side"Itsumo Dōri"
ReleasedApril 25, 1975
Genre
Length7:44 (Side A & B)
LabelNiagara/Elec
Producer(s)Eiichi Ohtaki, Tatsuro Yamashita
Sugar Babe singles chronology
"Down Town"
(1975)		 "Down Town / Paredo"
(1982)
Tatsuro Yamashita singles chronology
"Down Town
(Sugar Babe)"
(1975)		 "Shiawase ni Sayonara"
(1976)
Taeko Ohnuki singles chronology
"Down Town
(Sugar Babe)"
(1975)		 "Ashita kara, Dorama"
(1977)

Overview

This was the first single by Eiichi Ohtaki's label Niagara Records. Both songs "Down Town" and "Itsumo Dōri" were included in their only album "Songs" prior to the band's break up in 1976. The main difference between the album and the single is that this version has a 15 second shorter fade-out at the end. The artwork for the jacket was made by Tatsuya Kaneko.

In 1982, the song would get a reissue as part of the series "Niagara Forever Green". Its coupling song "Paredo" was originally from the album "Niagara Triangle Vol. 1" in 1976. Its jacket features the band performing live at Ikebukuro Theater Green in 1974. Originally, Paredo was written during the Sugar Babe years. The live version of "Down Town" was included in Tatsuro Yamashita's 1989 live album "Joy". In 1994, a 12-centimeter promotional CD was produced with a limited edition of 700 copies. Its coupling song was "Ame Wa Te No Hira Ni Ippai" which was previously included in the "Songs" album. In 2012, the song would been included in his album "Opus (All Time Best 1975-2012)".

The song would get a lot of covers as the years went on, most notably in 1980 by Epo. A cover by Maaya Sakamoto from her album "You Can't Catch Me" was used as the opening theme for the anime Soredemo Machi wa Mawatteiru.

Track listing

1975 release
Side 1
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Down Town"Ginji ItoTatsuro Yamashita4:10
Side 2
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Itsumo Dōri [いつも通り]"Taeko OhnukiTaeko Ohnuki3:34

1982 release
Side 1
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Down Town"Ginji ItoTatsuro Yamashita4:12
Side 2
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Paredo [パレード]"Tatsuro YamashitaTatsuro Yamashita4:11

1994 release (Limited Edition / Promo)
Side 1
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Down Town"Ginji ItoTatsuro Yamashita4:10
Side 2
No.TitleLyricsMusicLength
1."Ame Wa Te No Hira Ni Ippai [雨は手のひらにいっぱい]"Tatsuro YamashitaTatsuro Yamashita3:34

Personnel

Down Town

Itsumo Dōri
  • Yutaka Uehara - Drums & Conga
  • Kikuo Wanikawa - Bass
  • Kunio Muramatsu - Electric Guitar (Left & Center Obbligato)
  • Taeko Ohnuki - Lead Vocals & Acoustic Piano
  • Tatsuro Yamashita - Electric Guitar (Center Cutting), Vibe & Glocken
  • Jiro Inagaki - Tenor Sax Solo
  • Tamano Group - Strings

Paredo

(for 1982 release, from the 1976 studio album "Niagara Triangle Vol. 1")

  • Yutaka Uehara - Drums
  • Jiro Terao - Bass
  • Ryuichi Sakamoto - Keyboard & Vibe
  • Jiro Inagaki - Horn
  • Tatsuro Yamashita & Minako Yoshida - Chorus
  • Tatsuro Yamashita - Guitar, Glocken & Vocal

Ame Wa Te No Hira Ni Ippai

(for 1994 release, from the 1975 studio album "Songs")

  • Yutaka Uehara - Drums
  • Kikuo Wanikawa - Bass
  • Kunio Muramatsu - Electric Guitar & Background Vocal
  • Taeko Ohnuki - Electric Piano & Background Vocal
  • Tatsuro Yamashita - Lead Vocal, Acoustic Piano, Glocken, Castanet & Background Vocal
  • Tamano Group - Strings

Release history
Country Single B-side Date Label Format Catalog number
Japan Down Town Itsumo Dōri April 25, 1975 Niagara/Elec 7" Single NAS-001
Paredo April 21, 1982 Niagara/CBS Sony 07SH 1166
Ame Wa Te No Hira Ni Ippai April 1994 Niagara/EastWest Japan CD MSCD-39
Itsumo Dōri 2015 Niagara/Elec 7" Single LCS-591

References
  1. "SONGS 40TH ANNIVERSARY ULTIMATE EDITION / Niagara Triangle Vol. 1" (in Japanese). Retrieved April 27, 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.