Handsome Boy (album) explained
Handsome Boy is the 14th studio album by a Japanese singer-songwriter Yōsui Inoue, released in 1990.
The album contains the songs that were already known through the commercial tie-in with television programs or advertisements. Like "Gallery" which was recorded by Yoko Oginome and released as a single in June 1990, some of the materials were previously interpreted by other performers.[1]
Prior to the album, three songs were released as a single; "Yume Ne Mi", "Saigo no News", and "Shounen Jidai" which was co-written by Natsumi Hirai and has been one of his most well-known songs throughout Inoue's longtime career. It was initially featured on the theme song for an award-winning film adaptation of Fujiko Fujio (A)'s manga Childhood Days (based on Hyouzou Kashiwabara's novel Nagai Michi).[2] The song was gradually recognized through the TV ad of Sony Handycam which was aired during the following year. "Shounen Jidai" became his biggest hit single, peaking at No. 4 on the Japanese chart and selling more than 850,000 copies in total. In 1997, 3-inch CD single of the song was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan, for shipments of over 1 million copies.[3]
Led by the success of a single "Shounen Jidai", the album Handsome Boy itself also gained favorable reaction, peaking at No. 2 on the Japanese Oricon chart and entering top-100 for over 10 months with sales of about 640,000 copies.
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Yōsui Inoue, unless otherwise noted
- "Pi Po Pa" – 3:55
- "" – 3:35
- "" (Inoue, Yūji Kawashima) – 3:51
- "" – 3:55
- "" – 5:07
- "" (Inoue, Natsumi Hirai) – 3:21
- "" – 3:21
- "Tokyo" (Inoue, Hirai) – 3:56
- "" – 5:03
- "" (Inoue, Hirai) – 6:07
- "" (Inoue, Kawashima) – 4:22
Personnel
- Yōsui Inoue – Vocals, acoustic guitar
- Hiromi Yasuda – Acoustic guitar
- Kenji Ōmura – Electric guitar
- Tomotaka Imamichi – Electric guitar
- Jun Sumida – Electric guitar
- Masaki Matsubara – Electric guitar
- Masayoshi Furukawa – Gut-string guitar
- Hirokazu Ogura – Gut-string guitar
- Masami Satou – Gut-string guitar
- Tsugutoshi Goto – Bass guitar
- Motofumi Hagiwara – Bass guitar
- Chiharu Mikuzuki – Bass guitar
- Vagabond Suzuki – Bass guitar
- Haruomi Hosono – Bass guitar, synthesizer, percussion
- Tadashi Nanba – Synthesizer
- Akira Inoue – Synthesizer
- Miharu Koshi – Synthesizer
- Akira Senju – Synthesizer
- Shinji Kawahara – Piano
- Takao Kisugi – Piano
- Yasuharu Nakanishi – Piano
- Yūji Kawashima – Synthesizer, computer programming
- Takeshi Fujii – Computer programming
- Hiroaki Sugawara – Computer programming
- Nobuo Tsuji – Computer programming
- Ma*to – Computer programming
- Yasuo Kimoto – Computer programming
- Motoya Hamaguchi – Percussion
- Eiji Narushima – Percussion
- Masato Hashida – Percussion
- Makoto Kimura – Percussion
- Hinotamao – Percussion
- Hideo Yamaki – Drums
- Eiji Shimamura – Drums
- Yutaka Odawara – Drums
- Junichi Kazezaki – Brasswinds
- Shin Kazuhara – Brasswinds
- Kenichirou Hayashi – Brasswinds
- Masahiro Kobayashi – Brasswinds
- Kenji Nakazawa – Brasswinds
- Kenji Nishiyama – Brasswinds
- Taro Kiyooka – Brasswinds
- Sumiyo Okada – Brasswinds
- Watanabe Katsu – Brasswinds
- Teiko Haruna – Woodwinds
- Mitsuru Souma – Woodwinds
- Ryūji Hoshikawa – Woodwinds
- Tadashi Togame – Woodwinds
- Masakazu Ishibashi – Woodwinds
- Toshitsugu Inoue – Woodwinds
- Jake H. Conception – Woodwinds
- Hirofumi Kinjou – Woodwinds
- Masaki Takano – Woodwinds
- Hiroyuki Ichihara – Woodwinds
- Hidefumi Toki – Woodwinds
- Aska Kaneko Strings – Strings
- Akiko Yano – Chorus
- Minako Yoshida – Chorus
- Seri Ishikawa – Chorus
Chart positions
Singles
| Single | B-Side | Chart | Position | Sales |
|---|
| "Yume Ne Mi" | "Beni Suberi" | Japanese Oricon Weekly (top 100)[5] | 37 | 23,000 |
| "Saigo no News" | "Back Side" | 57 | 16,000 |
| "Shounen Jidai" | "Ara-Washi no Uta" | 4 | 853,000 |
|
Release history
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog number | Notes |
|---|
| Japan | October 20, 1990 | For Life Records | CD | FLCF-30081 | |
| Audio cassette | FLTF-26021 | |
| May 30, 2001 | CD | FLCF-3858 | Original recording digital remastered |
| March 25, 2009 | For Life Music Entertainment/BMG | SHM-CD | FLCF-5011 | |
Notes and References
- Web site: 荻野目洋子 Official Website single / discography. oginome.com. Japanese. June 15, 2009.
- Web site: 映画 少年時代 – allcinema (Movie & DVD Database) – the motion picture Childhood Days . Japanese. May 11, 2009.
- Web site: RIAJ Certified Million Seller Singles List of the singles certified "Million" by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (1989–2009). Japanese. June 15, 2009. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20090415180609/http://www18.ocn.ne.jp/~hbr/jp1msl.htm. April 15, 2009.
- Web site: Yamachan Land (Archives of the Japanese record charts) – Albums Chart Daijiten – Yosui Inoue. Japanese. April 24, 2009. dead. https://archive.today/20070619175006/http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~yamag/album/al_yousui.html. June 19, 2007.
- Web site: Yamachan Land (Archives of the Japanese record charts) – Singles Chart Daijiten – Yosui Inoue. Japanese. April 24, 2009. https://archive.today/20071016164300/http://www7a.biglobe.ne.jp/~yamag/single/yousui.html. October 16, 2007. dead.
