Artisan (album)
Encyclopedia
Artisan is the studio album
recorded by a Japanese
singer-songwriter
Tatsuro Yamashita
. It was released in June 1991, led by a string of hit singles he produced.
One of them, "Endless Game" was featured as the theme for a TV drama
Yūwaku aired on TBS
in 1990. It was released as a single in April 1990, and became his third top-5 hit as a performer on the Japanese Oricon
singles chart. Also in the same year, Yamashita contributed a song "Without You
" for Debbie Gibson, which was issued as a Japan-only single and the bonus disc
for Japanese edition of her third album Anything is Possible
. Yamashita rewrote the song and recorded by himself, under the title "Sayonara Natsu no Hi". His rendition of the song was released as the second lead single for Artisan in May 1991. It gained a similar commercial success to its predecessor, though it couldn't reach the top-ten on the chart.
The lead-off track of Artisan is a song dedicated to the late Osamu Tezuka
, a Japanese cartoonist who deceased in 1989 ("Atom" is a protagonist for Astro Boy, one of Tezuka's most prominent works). In 1992, it was released as the fourth single from the album. He also sings of a painting Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway
by J. M. W. Turner
on the third track entitled "Turner's Steamroller" which similarly became a single. Fifth track of the album is a cover version of "New York is a Lonely Town", a song written by Anders/Poncia
and recorded by their group The Trade Winds
. Yamashita interpreted the mid 1960s U.S. top-40 charting hit, slightly changing the part of the lyrics. On the eighth track, Yamashita's spouse Mariya Takeuchi
wrote the lyrics to his composition. Aside from "Mighty Smile", the couple wrote three songs together for Masayuki Suzuki
's second solo album Radio Days in 1988. Among them, Yamashita recorded "Misty Mauve" for Artisan, although it was not released until 2002 on his Rarities
album. The closing track of Artisan is a cover version of The Young Rascals' 1967 U.S. number-one hit. It has been also the ending theme for Sunday Songbook, a weekly radio program that Yamashita has hosted since 1992.
Artisan became his first album that was not released on LP. Like his 1989 live album Joy, illustration for a front cover of Artisan was drawn by Andre Miripolsky, who painted a cover art of Bette Midler
's 1983 No Frills album. It debuted at the #1 on the Oricon, and spent 20 weeks on chart with sales of over 700,000 copies in total. In December 1991, the album won the 33rd Japan Record Awards for "Best Pop/Rock Album" and "Excellent Albums" prizes.
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
recorded by a Japanese
Japanese people
The are an ethnic group originating in the Japanese archipelago and are the predominant ethnic group of Japan. Worldwide, approximately 130 million people are of Japanese descent; of these, approximately 127 million are residents of Japan. People of Japanese ancestry who live in other countries...
singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Tatsuro Yamashita
Tatsuro Yamashita
is a Japanese singer-songwriter, and record producer. He has been known by his musical style deeply influenced from 1960s American pop and rock music....
. It was released in June 1991, led by a string of hit singles he produced.
One of them, "Endless Game" was featured as the theme for a TV drama
Japanese television drama
, also called , are a staple of Japanese television and are broadcast daily. All major TV networks in Japan produce a variety of drama series including murder romance, comedy, detective stories, horror, and many others...
Yūwaku aired on TBS
Tokyo Broadcasting System
, TBS Holdings, Inc. or TBSHD, is a stockholding company in Tokyo, Japan. It is a parent company of a television network named and radio network named ....
in 1990. It was released as a single in April 1990, and became his third top-5 hit as a performer on the Japanese Oricon
Oricon
, established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc...
singles chart. Also in the same year, Yamashita contributed a song "Without You
Without You (Debbie Gibson song)
"Without You" is a song by Debbie Gibson released as a single exclusively in Japan in 1990. Gibson wrote the lyrics herself, with music written by a Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita. Production credits were given to S. Andrew Zulla...
" for Debbie Gibson, which was issued as a Japan-only single and the bonus disc
Bonus track
In terms of recorded music, a bonus track is a piece of music which has been included on specific releases or reissues of an album. This is most often done as a promotional device, either as an incentive to customers to purchase albums they might otherwise not, or to repurchase albums they already...
for Japanese edition of her third album Anything is Possible
Anything Is Possible
Anything Is Possible is the third album by Debbie Gibson, released on November 20, 1990, under the Atlantic Records label...
. Yamashita rewrote the song and recorded by himself, under the title "Sayonara Natsu no Hi". His rendition of the song was released as the second lead single for Artisan in May 1991. It gained a similar commercial success to its predecessor, though it couldn't reach the top-ten on the chart.
The lead-off track of Artisan is a song dedicated to the late Osamu Tezuka
Osamu Tezuka
was a Japanese cartoonist, manga artist, animator, producer, activist and medical doctor, although he never practiced medicine. Born in Osaka Prefecture, he is best known as the creator of Astro Boy, Kimba the White Lion and Black Jack...
, a Japanese cartoonist who deceased in 1989 ("Atom" is a protagonist for Astro Boy, one of Tezuka's most prominent works). In 1992, it was released as the fourth single from the album. He also sings of a painting Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway
Rain, Steam and Speed - The Great Western Railway
Rain, Steam, and Speed – The Great Western Railway is an oil painting by the 19th century British painter J. M. W. Turner.This painting was first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1844, though it may have been painted earlier....
by J. M. W. Turner
J. M. W. Turner
Joseph Mallord William Turner RA was an English Romantic landscape painter, watercolourist and printmaker. Turner was considered a controversial figure in his day, but is now regarded as the artist who elevated landscape painting to an eminence rivalling history painting...
on the third track entitled "Turner's Steamroller" which similarly became a single. Fifth track of the album is a cover version of "New York is a Lonely Town", a song written by Anders/Poncia
Vini Poncia
Vini Poncia is an American musician, songwriter and record producer.In the 1960s, Poncia formed a songwriting team with Peter Anders. An album of songs co-written by these childhood friends The Anders & Poncia Album, was produced by Richard Perry and released in 1969...
and recorded by their group The Trade Winds
The Trade Winds
The Trade Winds was an American pop group formed in Providence, Rhode Island. The group's members were Peter Andreoli and Vincent Poncia, Jr., and had previously had a hit single together under the name The Videls with a song called "Mr. Lonely", which hit #73 on the U.S...
. Yamashita interpreted the mid 1960s U.S. top-40 charting hit, slightly changing the part of the lyrics. On the eighth track, Yamashita's spouse Mariya Takeuchi
Mariya Takeuchi
is a Japanese singer-songwriter.Takeuchi was born in Taisha city in the Hikawa district of Shimane Prefecture. She spent a year studying in the United States while she was at high school. Her musical career started in 1978 while she was studying at Keio University, with the single "Modotte-Oide,...
wrote the lyrics to his composition. Aside from "Mighty Smile", the couple wrote three songs together for Masayuki Suzuki
Masayuki Suzuki
Masayuki Suzuki is a Japanese singer best known as a former member of Rats & Star...
's second solo album Radio Days in 1988. Among them, Yamashita recorded "Misty Mauve" for Artisan, although it was not released until 2002 on his Rarities
Rarities (Tatsuro Yamashita album)
Rarities is the compilation album by a Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita, released in October 2002. The album is mainly composed of the songs which were initially appeared on B-Sides of his previous singles and not included on any albums....
album. The closing track of Artisan is a cover version of The Young Rascals' 1967 U.S. number-one hit. It has been also the ending theme for Sunday Songbook, a weekly radio program that Yamashita has hosted since 1992.
Artisan became his first album that was not released on LP. Like his 1989 live album Joy, illustration for a front cover of Artisan was drawn by Andre Miripolsky, who painted a cover art of Bette Midler
Bette Midler
Bette Midler is an American singer, actress, and comedian, also known by her informal stage name, The Divine Miss M. She became famous as a cabaret and concert headliner, and went on to star in successful and acclaimed films such as The Rose, Ruthless People, Beaches, and For The Boys...
's 1983 No Frills album. It debuted at the #1 on the Oricon, and spent 20 weeks on chart with sales of over 700,000 copies in total. In December 1991, the album won the 33rd Japan Record Awards for "Best Pop/Rock Album" and "Excellent Albums" prizes.
Track listing
All songs written and composed by Tatsuro Yamashita, except where indicated- "" - 4:26
- "" - 4:36
- " -Turner's Steamroller-" - 4:34
- "" - 4:39
- "Tokyo's a Lonely Town" (Vincent Poncia Jr.Vini PonciaVini Poncia is an American musician, songwriter and record producer.In the 1960s, Poncia formed a songwriting team with Peter Anders. An album of songs co-written by these childhood friends The Anders & Poncia Album, was produced by Richard Perry and released in 1969...
, Pete Andreoli, lyrics adaptations by Yamashita) - 2:41 - "" - 1:48
- "Splender" - 5:25
- "Mighty Smile " (Yamashita, Mariya TakeuchiMariya Takeuchiis a Japanese singer-songwriter.Takeuchi was born in Taisha city in the Hikawa district of Shimane Prefecture. She spent a year studying in the United States while she was at high school. Her musical career started in 1978 while she was studying at Keio University, with the single "Modotte-Oide,...
) - 3:14 - " "Queen of Hype" Blues" - 5:15
- "Endless Game" - 4:10
- "Groovin'Groovin'"Groovin" is a single released in 1967 by The Young Rascals that became a number-one hit and one of the group's signature songs.Written by group members Felix Cavaliere and Eddie Brigati and with a lead vocal from Cavaliere, it is indeed a slow, relaxed groove, based on Cavaliere's newfound...
" (Felix CavaliereFelix CavaliereFelix Cavaliere is an American songwriter, singer, music producer, and musician.Although he was a member of Joey Dee and His Starlighters best known for their hit "Peppermint Twist", he is best known for his association with The Young Rascals during the 1960s. The other members of The Rascals...
, Eddie BrigatiEddie BrigatiEddie Brigati is an American singer and songwriter.Most memorably, Brigati shared vocals, and played tambourine, in the pop group The Young Rascals from 1965 to 1970...
) - 3:20
Personnel
- Tatsuro Yamashita - Lead and backing vocals, electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
, acoustic guitarAcoustic guitarAn acoustic guitar is a guitar that uses only an acoustic sound board. The air in this cavity resonates with the vibrational modes of the string and at low frequencies, which depend on the size of the box, the chamber acts like a Helmholtz resonator, increasing or decreasing the volume of the sound...
, acoustic piano, electric sitarElectric sitarAn electric sitar is a kind of electric guitar designed to mimic the sound of the traditional Indian instrument, the sitar. Depending on the manufacturer and model, these instruments bear varying degrees of resemblance to the traditional sitar...
, synthesizerSynthesizerA synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
, hammond organHammond organThe Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond in 1934 and manufactured by the Hammond Organ Company. While the Hammond organ was originally sold to churches as a lower-cost alternative to the wind-driven pipe organ, in the 1960s and 1970s it became a standard keyboard...
, glocken, percussion, hand bells, drum programming, computer programming, effect - Kouki Itou - Electric bass
- Hiroyuki Nanba - Acoustic piano
- Masato Matsuda - Acoustic piano
- Tōru Shigemi - Synthesizer
- Jun Aoyama - DrumsDrum kitA drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....
- Motoya Hamaguchi - Percussion
- Shin Kazuhara - TrumpetTrumpetThe trumpet is the musical instrument with the highest register in the brass family. Trumpets are among the oldest musical instruments, dating back to at least 1500 BCE. They are played by blowing air through closed lips, producing a "buzzing" sound which starts a standing wave vibration in the air...
- Yasuo Hirauchi - TromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
- Jake H Conception Tenor sax
- Satoru Hirahara - Baritone sax
- Tadanori Kogawa - TromboneTromboneThe trombone is a musical instrument in the brass family. Like all brass instruments, sound is produced when the player’s vibrating lips cause the air column inside the instrument to vibrate...
- Mariya Takeuchi - Background vocals
- Kazuhito Murata - Background vocals
- Masamichi Sugi - Background vocals
Awards
| Japan Record Awards | |||
| Year | Title | Category | Winner |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 (33rd) | Artisan | Best Pop/Rock Album | Tatsuro Yamashita |
| Excellent Albums | |||
Album
| Year | Album | Chart | Position | Weeks | Sales | RIAJ Certification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1991 | Artisan | Japanese Oricon Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics and information on music and the music industry in Japan. It started as , which was founded by Sōkō Koike in November 1967 and became known for its music charts. Oricon Inc... Weekly Albums Chart (top 100) |
1 | 20 | 710,000+ | 3× Platinum |
Singles
| Year | Single | B-Side (or Double A-Side) | Chart | Position | Weeks | Sales | RIAJ Certification |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1990 | "Endless Game" | "The Theme from Big Wave" [Live version] | Japanese Oricon Weekly (top 100) | 5 | 17 | 180,000 | Platinum |
| 1991 | "Sayonara Natsu no Hi" | "Morning Shine" | 12 | 20 | 185,000 | Platinum | |
| "Turner's Steamroller" | "Only with You" [Live version] | 30 | 7 | 38,000 | — | ||
| 1992 | "Atom no Ko" | "Blow" | 18 | 11 | 95,000 | Gold | |
| 1998 | "Blow" [Remix] | 88 | 1 | 2,000 | — | ||
Release history
| Country | Date | Label | Format | Catalog number |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Japan | June 18, 1991 | MMG/Moon East West Records East West Records is an American record label, owned by Warner Music Group, and operates under WMG's Independent Label Group.-History:... |
CD | AMCM-4100 |
| June 2, 1999 | Warner/Moon | WPCV-10026 | ||