A LONG VACATION

Wall-of-sound production, American pop memory and Ohtaki’s singular melodic sense combine in one of Japan’s most beloved albums.

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FULL TRACKLIST

SIDE A

A1Kimi Ha Tennen Shoku5:02
A2Velvet Motel3:42
A3Kanaria Shotou Nite3:58
A4Pap-Pi-Doo-Bi-Doo-Ba Story3:14
A5Pinball in My Heart4:24

SIDE B

B1Rainy Wednesday4:24
B2Speech Balloon3:55
B3Koi Suru Karen3:21
B4FUN×43:26
B5Farewell Trans-Siberian Railway4:33

RELEASE DETAILS

LABEL: Niagara
COUNTRY: Japan
FORMAT: LP · 33⅓ RPM
CATALOG NO.: 27AH 1234
PRESSING: Japanese original

ABOUT THIS ALBUM

Released in March 1981, A LONG VACATION is one of the defining studio-pop albums of postwar Japan, but its appeal comes from more than immaculate production. Eiichi Ohtaki built the record from American pop vocabulary—Phil Spector-style orchestration, doo-wop, surf music, soft rock, and layered vocal harmony—then reshaped those influences into something unmistakably his own. “Kimi wa Tennenshoku” opens with an enormous, almost cinematic arrangement, while “Velvet Motel,” “Koi Suru Karen,” and “Saraba Siberia Tetsudou” reveal how carefully Ohtaki balanced nostalgia with modern studio technique. Takashi Matsumoto’s lyrics are equally important, giving the album a consistent emotional landscape of distance, memory, and idealized summer. Hiroshi Nagai’s cover artwork completed that world visually, linking the record permanently with resort imagery and Japanese graphic design. The album later became one of the first Japanese titles selected for CD release, reinforcing its technical reputation. More than four decades later, A LONG VACATION still feels less like a period piece than a fully designed pop universe in which sound, language, and image operate together.