''Handsome Boy'' is the 14th studio album by a Japanese singer-songwriter

Yōsui Inoue is a Japanese singer, lyricist, composer, guitarist and record producer, who is an important figure in Japanese music. "Hailed as the Bob Dylan of Japan .. He is renowned for his unique tone, eccentric lyrics, and dark sunglasses which he alway ...

, released in 1990. The album contains the songs that were already known through the commercial tie-in with television programs or advertisements. Like "Gallery" which was recorded by

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and released as a single in June 1990, some of the materials were previously interpreted by other performers. Prior to the album, three songs were released as a single; "Yume Ne Mi", "Saigo no News", and "Shounen Jidai" which was co-written by Natsumi Hirai and has been one of his most well-known songs throughout Inoue's longtime career. It was initially featured on the theme song for an award-winning film adaptation of Fujiko Fujio (A)'s manga ''

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'' (based on Hyouzou Kashiwabara's novel ''Nagai Michi''). The song was gradually recognized through the TV ad of Sony Handycam which was aired during the following year. "Shounen Jidai" became his biggest hit single, peaking at No. 4 on the Japanese chart and selling more than 850,000 copies in total. In 1997,

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of the song was certified quadruple platinum by the

Recording Industry Association of Japan The is an industry trade group composed of Japanese corporations involved in the music industry. It was founded in 1942 as the Japan Phonogram Record Cultural Association, and adopted its current name in 1969. The RIAJ's activities include pr ...

, for shipments of over 1 million copies. Led by the success of a single "Shounen Jidai", the album ''Handsome Boy'' itself also gained favorable reaction, peaking at No. 2 on the Japanese Oricon chart and entering top-100 for over 10 months with sales of about 640,000 copies.

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Yōsui Inoue, unless otherwise noted #"Pi Po Pa" – 3:55 #"" – 3:35 #"" (Inoue, Yūji Kawashima) – 3:51 #"" – 3:55 #"" – 5:07 #"" (Inoue, Natsumi Hirai) – 3:21 #"" – 3:21 #"Tokyo" (Inoue, Hirai) – 3:56 #"" – 5:03 #"" (Inoue, Hirai) – 6:07 #"" (Inoue, Kawashima) – 4:22

Personnel

*Yōsui Inoue – Vocals, acoustic guitar *Hiromi Yasuda – Acoustic guitar *Kenji Ōmura – Electric guitar *

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– Electric guitar *Jun Sumida – Electric guitar *Masaki Matsubara – Electric guitar *Masayoshi Furukawa – Gut-string guitar *Hirokazu Ogura – Gut-string guitar *Masami Satou – Gut-string guitar *Tsugutoshi Goto – Bass guitar *Motofumi Hagiwara – Bass guitar *Chiharu Mikuzuki – Bass guitar *Vagabond Suzuki – Bass guitar *

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– Bass guitar, synthesizer, percussion *Tadashi Nanba – Synthesizer *Akira Inoue – Synthesizer *

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– Synthesizer * Akira Senju – Synthesizer *Shinji Kawahara – Piano *

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– Piano *Yasuharu Nakanishi – Piano *Yūji Kawashima – Synthesizer, computer programming *Takeshi Fujii – Computer programming *Hiroaki Sugawara – Computer programming *Nobuo Tsuji – Computer programming *Ma*to – Computer programming *Yasuo Kimoto – Computer programming *Motoya Hamaguchi – Percussion *Eiji Narushima – Percussion *Masato Hashida – Percussion *Makoto Kimura – Percussion *Hinotamao – Percussion *Hideo Yamaki – Drums *Eiji Shimamura – Drums *Yutaka Odawara – Drums *Junichi Kazezaki – Brasswinds *Shin Kazuhara – Brasswinds *Kenichirou Hayashi – Brasswinds *Masahiro Kobayashi – Brasswinds *Kenji Nakazawa – Brasswinds *Kenji Nishiyama – Brasswinds *Taro Kiyooka – Brasswinds *Sumiyo Okada – Brasswinds *Watanabe Katsu – Brasswinds *Teiko Haruna –

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*Mitsuru Souma – Woodwinds *Ryūji Hoshikawa – Woodwinds *Tadashi Togame – Woodwinds *Masakazu Ishibashi – Woodwinds *Toshitsugu Inoue – Woodwinds *Jake H. Conception – Woodwinds *Hirofumi Kinjou – Woodwinds *Masaki Takano – Woodwinds *Hiroyuki Ichihara – Woodwinds *Hidefumi Toki – Woodwinds *Aska Kaneko Strings – Strings *

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Track listing

Personnel

Chart positions

Album

Singles

Release history

References