FULL MOON

ABOUT THIS ALBUM

Released in December 1983, FULL MOON catches Junko Yagami at a point where her singer-songwriter roots were being absorbed into a more polished, urban studio sound. The album includes “Tasogare no Bay City,” now one of her most internationally recognizable recordings, whose combination of powerful vocal delivery, fluid bass, keyboards, and late-night atmosphere has found a large second audience online. But the album is broader than that track alone. “Follow Me,” “Naturally,” “No!,” and the title track move between AOR, soft rock, funk-inflected pop, and more dramatic ballad writing, while “Two Notes Samba” closes the record with a lighter rhythmic turn. Yagami’s voice remains the dominant element throughout—technically strong, wide-ranging, and emotionally direct—but the arrangements increasingly use space and groove rather than simply supporting her with traditional singer-songwriter accompaniment. That makes FULL MOON an important transitional album in her catalog. It retains the melodic clarity of her seventies work while pointing toward the more electronic and rhythm-focused production she would embrace on COMMUNICATION two years later.