Cobalt Hour
Cobalt Hour (コバルト・アワー, Kobaruto Awaa), stylized as COBALT HOUR, is Yumi Arai's third studio album, released on June 20, 1975 by Toshiba EMI/Express (now part of EMI Music Japan). The album was also distributed by Alfa Records for a period of time, as Alfa also held ancillary rights to this and the other LPs Arai released during the time Alfa was still a publishing company; those rights later reverted to EMI Japan in 1994-thereabouts, when EMI regained distribution of Alfa's catalogue except for the artists who were published by Alfa and were distributed by other labels (and later retained most of it, including Arai's first 4 LPs [whose rights she had managed to buy before Alfa was sold to Sony], while the rest, the catalogue from when Alfa was a recording label and the bulk of the catalogue from when it was a publishing company, went with Sony Music Entertainment, including session player Haruomi Hosono's future work both as a solo musician and as part of Yellow Magic Orchestra). On April 26, 2000, the recording was digitally remastered for re-release on CD by Bernie Grundman. Internet sales of the album began March 10, 2005.
COBALT HOUR | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | June 20, 1975 | |||
Recorded | March 1 – April 25, 1975 | |||
Genre | J-pop | |||
Length | 36:26 | |||
Label | EXPRESS (EMI Music Japan) | |||
Producer | Kunihiko Murai, Shōrō Kawazoe | |||
Yumi Arai chronology | ||||
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Singles from COBALT HOUR | ||||
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The album cover was illustrated by Pater Sato. Though Arai's nickname "Yuming" is written on the cover, it is clear that the "g" was added later.
Track list
No. | Title | Title translation | Length |
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1. | "COBALT HOUR" | 3:33 | |
2. | "Sotsugyō Shashin (卒業写真)" | Graduation Photograph | 4:11 |
3. | "Hana Kikō (花紀行)" | Flower Travelogue | 2:48 |
4. | "Nani mo Kikanaide" | Don't Ask Me Anything | 3:11 |
5. | "Rūju no Dengon (ルージュの伝言)" | Message in Rouge | 3:03 |
No. | Title | Title translation | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "Kōkai Nisshi (航海日誌)" | Ship's Log | 4:48 |
2. | "CHINESE SOUP" | 3:22 | |
3. | "Sukoshi dake Kataomoi (少しだけ片想い)" | Just a Little Unrequited Love | 3:17 |
4. | "Ame no Suteishon (雨のステイション)" | Rain Station | 5:14 |
5. | "Afurika e Ikitai (アフリカへ行きたい)" | I Want To Go To Africa | 3:10 |
- Lyrics and arrangement by Yumi Arai, edited by Masataka Matsutoya.
Performers
- Haruomi Hosono: electric bass
- Shigeru Suzuki: electric and acoustic guitar
- Tatsuo Hayashi: drums
- Masataka Matsutoya: piano, Fender guitar, Rhodes piano, clavinet, Moog synthesizer, Hammond organ
- Nobuo Saito: percussion
- Koichi Matsuda: harmonica
- Aisuke Matsutoya: fiddle
- Tadayuki Harada: baritone saxophone
- Teruyoshi Fukushima and Kunitoshi Shinohara: trumpet
- Eiji Arai and his fellows: trombone
- Yoshihisa Tamano and his fellows: strings
- Yasuhiro Yamada, Junji Hayakashi, Soma Mitsuru: flute
- Mikiko Imamichi: harp
- Hi-Fi Set, Minako Yoshida, Taeko Onuki, Tatsuro Yamashita, Kayoko Ishu: backing vocals
Chart Performance
Chart | Peak Position |
---|---|
Oricon Weekly Album Charts | 2 |
Oricon Yearly Album Charts, 1976[1] | 5 |
References
- "年間アルバムヒットチャート 1976年". Private Life エンタメデータ&ランキング. Archived from the original on October 11, 2012. Retrieved December 18, 2013.