''Melodies'' is the eighth studio album recorded by Japanese singer-songwriter

Tatsuro Yamashita , occasionally credited as Tatsu Yamashita or Tats Yamashita, is a Japanese singer-songwriter and record producer, who is known for pioneering the style of Japanese adult-oriented rock/soft rock music. His most well-known song is "Christmas E ...

, released in June 1983. It was his first LP issued under the Moon Label which was distributed by

Alfa Records , originally a publisher known as Alfa Music Ltd. and later succeeded by record company Alfa Music Inc., was established in 1969 by composer and record producer Kunihiko Murai. It was formed into an independent record label known as Alfa Records ...

at the time. Unlike his previous albums, where Minako Yoshida wrote most of the lyrics, most of the songs heard on ''Melodies'' are penned by Yamashita alone, except for "Blue Midnight" (co-written by Yoshida) and a cover version of "

Guess I'm Dumb "Guess I'm Dumb" is a song recorded by American singer Glen Campbell that was released as his seventh single on Capitol Records on June 7, 1965. Written by Brian Wilson and Russ Titelman, it is a love song that describes a man who regrets ending ...

" (composed by

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and

Russ Titelman Russ Titelman (born August 16, 1944, Los Angeles, California) is an American record producer and songwriter. He has to date won three Grammy Awards. He earned his first producing the Steve Winwood song " Higher Love", and his second and third f ...

and originally recorded by

Glen Campbell Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, actor and television host. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodt ...

in 1966). Before the album came out, "Koukiatsu Girl" was released as a lead single. It features chorus by

Mariya Takeuchi is a Japanese singer and songwriter. Regarded as an influential figure in the city pop genre, she is one of the best-selling music artists in Japan, having sold over 16 million records, and has received several accolades. Her husband is Tatsu ...

, who married Yamashita in 1982 and then temporarily suspended her recording career. The most well-known song in this album is "Christmas Eve". The song did not receive much attention when it was released on 12-inch single in December 1983, but it was widely recognized through a series of television advertisements by the

Central Japan Railway Company is the main railway company operating in the Chūbu (Nagoya) region of central Japan. It is officially abbreviated in English as JR Central and in Japanese as JR Tōkai ( ja, JR東海, links=no). ''Tōkai'' is a reference to the geographical ...

aired during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The CD single of "Christmas Eve" reissued in 1986 subsequently became a huge commercial success, topping the chart in December 1989. The song was repeatedly reissued in later years and became a hit throughout the decades, entering the Oricon chart for over 20 consecutive years with sales of more than 1.8 million copies in total.List of number-one singles on the Japan's Oricon Weekly Charts (1968–)
Because of the massive success "Christmas Eve" gained, the album also enjoyed long-term commercial success. ''Melodies'' is Yamashita's best selling studio album, retailing over 992,000 copies during its two first chart runs. In 2013 the 30th anniversary reissue sold 28,000 more copies, pushing the album total to 1 million and 20,000 copies.

Track listing

Personnel

*Tatsuro Yamashita: Drums, bass guitar, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, 12-string guitar, electric sitar, celesta, electric piano, acoustic piano, vibe, Hammond organ, glocken, timpani, percussion, echoes, background vocals *Kohki Itoh – Bass guitar *Tsunehide Matsuki – Electric guitar *Hiroyuki Namba – Electric piano, acoustic piano, Hammond organ *Motoya Hamaguchi – Percussion *Jun Aoyama – Drums *Satoshi Nakamura – Oberheim OBX-a synthesizer *Hidefumi Toki – Alto sax *Susumu Kazuhara – Trumpet *Masahiro Kobayashi – Trumpet *Shigeharu Mukai – Trombone *Tadanori Konakawa – Trombone *Daisuke Inoue: Tenor sax *Takeru Muraoka – Tenor sax *Shunzo Sunahara – Baritone sax *Ohno Group – Strings *Keiko Yamakawa – Harp *Mariya Takeuchi – Chorus (credited to the Kokiatsu-Girls) *Kumi Sano – Chorus (credited to the Kokiatsu-Girls) *Manaho Mori – Chorus (credited to the Kokiatsu-Girls) *Kazuhito Murata – Chorus (credited to a Kokiatsu-Boy)

Production

*Produced and arranged by Tatsuro Yamashita (for Smile Co.) *Mixed and Remixed by Tamotsu Yoshida *Associate producer: Nobumasa Uchida *Assistant engineer: Masato Ohmori *Recorded at CBS/Sony Roppongi Studio A & B *Remixed at CBS/Sony Roppongi Studio B *Mastering studio: CBS/Sony Shinanomachi Mastering Studio *CD Mastering Engineer: Teppei Kasai *Management office: Wild Honey *Assistant management: Kentaro Hattori, Masayuki Matsumoto & Kimmy Satoh *Copyright management: Kenichi Nomura *Masterright Owned by Smile Co. *Executive producer: Ryuzo "Junior" Kosugi *Art direction: Hiroshi Takahara *Design: Hiroshi Takahara, Akira Utsumi, Mayumi Oka *Photographer: Kaoru Iijima *Illustration for inner sleeve: Midori Murakami *Lettering: Tadashi Yokoshi

Chart positions

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Awards

Release history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Melodies (Tatsuro Yamashita Album) Tatsuro Yamashita albums 1983 albums