Ongaku Cafe (The ’70s) – Pink Lady – Pink Lady Best

For those curious of 70’s J-Pop and want to own music from an iconic idol duo from Japan for their personal collection, I highly recommend owning a Pink Lady album.

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GROUP: Pink Lady

ALBUM: Pink Lady Best

LABEL: Victor

CATALOG #: NDS-1010

DURATION: 22:17

RELEASE DATE: n/a

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1. Pepper Keibu
2. S.O.S
3. Carmen ’77
4. Nagisa no Sinbad
5. Wanted
6. UFO
7. South Paw

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Back in the mid or late-70’s, when my father was stationed in Japan, he would purchase a good number of things from Japan and that included a lot of music and bring back home to us.

I remember listening to the Japanese duo Pink Lady and also remember being excited as a kid when they had a variety show in the US (titled “Pink Lady with Jeff” which unfortunately is recognized as the worst television shows in history) and really digging them.

But aside from being in one of the worst US shows in history, at least they also have the positive recognition of being one of the two Japanese performers to have a song in the Billboard Top 40 with their US song “Kiss in the Dark”.

It wasn’t until I was in college that I started having this nack for listening to classic Japanese music from the 50’s through the 80’s, especially with music from the 1970’s.

And I found myself listening to Pink Lady again courtesy of this best album titled “Pink Lady Best”.

So, who is Pink Lady? The duo consists of Nemoto Mitsuyo (Mie) and Masuda Keiko (Kei), a duo who pretty much surprised Japan by not following conventional female singers and looking cute and pure.

These women were part of the disco revolution and donned the beaded tight clothing, short shorts or mini skirts and also demonstrated catchy and eye-catching choreography and in the late 70’s had a string of #1 hits (nine total but of course surpassed by current male idol duo, KinKi Kids who are now recognized by Guinness Book of World Records for their 25 consecutive #1 CD singles).

As the group tore through the charts with number one hits, unfortunately due to bad management decisions (and pursuing their career in the US and leaving Japan) and also a change in the music industry, the duo were unable to capitalize in the early 80’s and disbanded in 1981.

With this album “Pink Lady Best”, unfortunately, the nine #1 songs are not all represented. You do get their songs from 1976 through 1978 which all were #1 with the exception of “Pepper Keibu” which was their first song and debuted at #4.

The songs are listed in chronological order in terms of release but the other #1 songs not featured are “Monster”, “Toumei Ningen” and “Chameleon Amy” but you do get awesome hits like “Wanted”, “UFO” and “Southpaw”.

But one of the primary reasons of purchasing this best album was its price. It was a price of a CD single at around $12. So, to have seven of their 15 hit songs, especially having most of the hits that they are primarily known for, I can’t complain.

The CD insert is a standard bi-fold which feature the lyrics for their songs.

If I was to purchase a Pink Lady album now, I would probably look for a version that had many of their hit songs or an album that featured a lot more songs than this version does.

And because Pink Lady has had some resurgence in the music industry quite a few times since the release of this best album, I wouldn’t be surprised if this album is out of print and there are countless best albums for the duo available.

In fact, from March through present, each of their twelve albums are now being re-released as limited editions with cardboard sleeves.

So, for those really wanting the Pink Lady experience, I highly recommend possibly buying the “Platinum Box” (VIZL-172) celebrating the duo’s 30-year anniversary.  Granted, it was released years ago, so finding it may not be easy or affordable.

But that release was the true ultimate Pink Lady release as it includes all their CD single releases, unreleased music and live appearance songs. This also includes two DVD’s of television appearances and live concert performances plus a photobook. But of course, this goes for nearly $200.

For those not wanting to spend that much, for their 30th Anniversary, Victor released “MEGA HITS!!” (VICL-61884) featuring their hit songs, karaoke hits and a mega-mix which cost around $30 and for those who want things much cheaper, there was also a “Pink Lady” (VAL-29) self-titled album release which features a lot of their hits minus the karaoke and re-mixes for under $20.

But for those curious of 70’s J-Pop and want to own music from an iconic idol duo from Japan for their personal collection, I highly recommend owning a Pink Lady album.

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