Under the Sun (Yosui Inoue album)

Under the Sun
Studio album by
Yosui Inoue
ReleasedSeptember 15, 1993
RecordedParadise Studio Komazawa, Studio Jive, Adagio Atelier, Hitokuchizaka, Burnish Stone (Tokyo, Japan)
Little Mountain, Warehouse (Vancouver, Canada)
GenreJ-pop (Folk rock, adult contemporary)
Length52:21
LabelFor Life
Yosui Inoue chronology
The Night Without a Guide
(1992) 		Under the Sun
(1993) 		Eien no Shuru
(1994)
Singles from Under the Sun
  1. "Gogatsu no Wakare"/"Be-Pop Juggler"
    Released: March 19, 1993
  2. "Make-Up Shadow"
    Released: July 21, 1993
  3. "Canadian Accordion"
    Released: November 3, 1993

Under the Sun is the 16th studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Yōsui Inoue, released in September 1993.

Two songs "Gogatsu no Wakare" and "Make-Up Shadow" were released as a single prior to the album, and the latter became a massive hit.

"Make-Up Shadow" was featured as the theme song for Subarashikikana Jinsei, a television drama aired on Fuji TV. The music was composed by Jun Sato (who used the pseudonym Utsuru Ayame), and Inoue wrote the lyrics. The song became the highest-charting single for Inoue, reaching number-two on the Japanese Oricon Weekly Singles charts, selling in excess of 800,000 copies. Sato also arranged the song, and his arrangement won him a prize at the 35th Japan Record Awards.[1]

The album debuted at the number-one on the Japanese Oricon, and became his fifth chart-topping non-compilation album since 9.5 Carats released in 1984.[2]

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Yosui Inoue (except where indicated)

  1. "Be-Pop Juggler" - 3:10
  2. "Eleven" - 4:43
  3. "Mizugameza no Yoru (水瓶座の夜)" - 4:37
  4. "Power Down" - 4:42
  5. "Make-up Shadow" (Utsuru Ayame/Inoue) - 4:07
  6. "Canadian Accordion (カナディアン アコーデオン, Kanadian Akōdeon)" (Kyouhei Tsutsumi/Inoue) - 5:34
  7. "Kagi no Kazu (鍵の数)" (Inoue/Natsumi Hirai) - 4:28
  8. "Stoic (ストイック, Sutoikku)" (Inoue/Jun Satō/Yasushi Akimoto) - 5:50
  9. "Go-gatsu no Wakare (5月の別れ)" - 5:06
  10. "Under the Sun" - 5:41
  11. "Nagai Hanashi (長い話)" (Inoue/Banana-UG-Kawashima) - 4:06

Personnel

  • Yosui Inoue - Lead and background vocals, acoustic guitar
  • Jun Sato - Piano, electric piano, keyboards, synthesizer, acoustic guitar, percussion, background vocals
  • Banana-UG-Kawashima - Synthesizer, piano
  • Yoshinobu Kojima - Organ, piano
  • Yasuharu Nakanishi - Piano
  • Yasuhiro Kobayashi - Accordion
  • Tsuyoshi Kon - Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bass guitar
  • Susumu Osada - Electric guitar
  • Haruo Kubota - Electric guitar
  • Koki Ito - Bass guitar
  • Chiharu Mikuzuki - Bass guitar
  • Hiroshi Igarashi - Auto harp, banjo, steel drums
  • Motoya Hamaguchi - Percussion, kalimba
  • Nobu Saito - Percussion
  • Hideo Yamaki - Drums
  • Jun Aoyama - Drums
  • Shin Kazuhara - Trumpet
  • Jake H. Conception - Saxophone
  • Taro Kiyooka - Trombone
  • Hidefumi Toki - Clarinet
  • Aska Strings (conducted by Aska Kaneko) - Strings
  • Ma*To - Computer programming
  • Keishi Urata - Computer programming
  • Hideki Matsutake - Computer programming
  • Naoki "Taro" Suzuki - Drums programming
  • Seri - Background vocals
  • Nisa - Background vocals
  • Anna - Background vocals
  • Eve - Background vocals

Production

  • Arranger: Yosui Inoue (#1,4), Jun Sato (#5,6,8,9), Tsuyoshi Kon (#2), Banana-UG-Kawashima (#3,11), Yasuharu Nakanishi (#7), Haruo Kubota (#10)
  • Composer: Yosui Inoue (All tracks except #5,6), Utsuru Ayame (#5), Kyohei Tsutsumi (#6), Natsumi Hirai (#7), Jun Sato (#8), Banana-UG-Kawashima (#11)
  • Lyricist: Yosui Inoue (All tracks except #9), Yasushi Akimoto (#9)
  • Mixing Engineer: Tamotsu Yoshida, Jun Tendo, Takayoshi Yamanouchi, Yuta Kagema
  • Recording Engineer: Jun Tendo, Junichi YAmazaki, Takayoshi Yamanouchi, Yuji Kuraishi, Kazuya Yoshida, Kazuya Miyazaki
  • Session Support Engineer: Kenji Igarashi, Yutaka Uematsu, Motoyoshi Komine, Junichi Hohrin, Yuko Suzuki, Hajime Nagai, Kenji Matsunaga, Kaoru Matsuyama
  • Mastering Engineer: Toru Kotetsu, Masayoshi Nakajo
  • Art/Styling: Sachico Ito
  • Photographer: Kenji Miura
  • Artwork producer: Noriko Shimoyama
  • Artwork designer:Shuzo Hayashi
  • Artwork supervisor: Tomio Watanabe
  • Artwork: Hiroshi Shoji
  • Promotion Staff: Mitsuo Sakauchi, Yasuhide Sasa
  • Production Coordinator: Sei Sato, Takashi Yokoo, Yasuko Makino, Chiharu Senoma
  • Production Manager: Nao Funatsu
  • Production Assistant: Hidenori Muto, Rie Nishioka, Satoko Ishizaki

Chart positions

Album

Year Chart Position Sales RIAJ Certification
1993 Japanese Oricon Weekly Albums Chart (Top 100) 1 370,000 Platinum

Singles

Year Single B-Side Chart Position Sales RIAJ Certification
1992 "Gogatsu no Wakare" "Be-Pop Juggler" Japanese Oricon Weekly (top 100) 27 89,000 Gold
"Make-Up Shadow" "Present" 2 817,000 3× Platinum
"Canadian Accordion" "Hikiage Mono no Uta" 35 24,000 —

Release history

Country Date Label Format Catalog number
Japan September 15, 1993 For Life Records CD FLCF-30220
Audio cassette FLTF-28040
March 25, 2009 For Life Music Entertainment/BMG SHM-CD FLCF-5013

References

  1. ^ "History of the Japan Record Awards - List of the 35th Award Winners" (in Japanese). Japan Composer's Association. Archived from the original on 2008-06-15. Retrieved 2008-12-28.
  2. ^ "Yamachan Land (Archives of the Japanese record charts) - Albums Chart Daijiten - Yosui Inoue" (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2007-06-19. Retrieved 2009-04-12.