LOVE TRIP

ABOUT THIS ALBUM

Takako Mamiya’s LOVE TRIP, released in 1982, is unusual partly because it became her only album. Yet there is nothing tentative about the music. With Kazuo Shiina at the center of much of the production and a studio lineup that includes Hiroyuki Namba, Yoshihiro Naruse, and Akira Inoue, the record moves confidently through mellow AOR, restrained funk, and polished urban pop. Mamiya’s vocal style is crucial to the album’s character: cool, controlled, and almost detached, it sits inside the arrangements rather than dominating them. That restraint gives the record a surprisingly modern feel. The title track, “Mayonaka no Joke,” and “WHAT A BROKEN HEART CAN DO” are among the songs that later helped the album build a cult reputation, but the appeal is unusually consistent across the whole LP. LOVE TRIP attracted little attention at the time of release, then gradually became one of the symbolic records of the international city-pop revival. Its unique one-album discography and remarkably timeless production have both contributed to that status.