Bright cityscapes, seaside resorts, youthful summers and endless possibilities. These ideas are often associated with ¡°city pop,¡± a particularly bubbly take on funk, disco and dance pop that emerged out of Japan¡¯s economic heyday in the 1980s. One artist who played a big part in shaping how that period of optimism and luxury is remembered in song is Kiyotaka Sugiyama, the frontman for the group Omega Tribe.
¡°We recorded our debut album in 1983, and everything was kind of going toward the bubble era. People were looking forward to the brighter future about to arrive,¡± the 62-year-old singer/songwriter says about his early years in the music industry. ¡°There was very little worry or fear about what was coming. Pastel colors were everywhere.¡±
Decades later, Sugiyama¡¯s work, both as vocalist for Omega Tribe (which also features Keiichi Hiroshi, Toshitsugu Nishihara, Takao Oshima, Shinji Takashima and Kenji Yoshida) and as a solo act, continues to offer bright-hued escapes. Ahead of Omega Tribe¡¯s 40th anniversary in 2023, music label VAP is releasing remastered versions of the band¡¯s albums, starting with what the label has called a ¡°remix¡± of their 1983 debut album ¡°Aqua City¡± this past September. The group¡¯s original producer Tetsuji Hayashi stepped up to oversee the project.
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