Ongaku Cafe (The ’90s): TOKIO – Ashita no Kimi wo Mamoritai ~YAMATO 2520~(December 1994)

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1. 明日の君を守りたい ～YAMATO 2520～
2. 永遠の星座
3. 明日の君を守りたい ～YAMATO 2520～ (original karaoke)

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Originally reviewed back in December 1994

Johnny’s Jimusho band TOKIO is back with a new single.

The band which consists of leader/guitarist Joshima Shigeru, bass player Yamaguchi Tatsuya, vocalist Nagase Tomoya, drummer Matsuoka Masahiro and keyboardist Kokubun Taichi have been doing a lot of appearances on magazines and television this year.

And this time around, their second single titled “Ashita no Kimi wo Mamoritai ~YAMATO 2520~” (which translates to “I want to protect you tomorrow”) is an image song for the anime OVA “YAMATO 2520”.

This single is primarily sung by Nagase Tomoya, Kokubun Taichi and Joshima Shigeru while the chorus is Nagase and Yamaguchi Tatsuya. For the most part, it’s a very catch song written by Kudo Tetsuo and composition by Toshimi Takashi and arrangement by Shirai Yoshiaki.  I really like the arrangement for this song and the inspirational lyrics.

The single comes with the c/w track is “Eien no Seiza” (which translates to “Eternal Constellation”) is a rock ballad sung by Nagase Tomoya and Kokubun Taichi and is a song written by Yamada Hiroshi and composition by Sumiyoshinaka and arrangement by Shigemi Toru.

And the third track is the karaoke version of “Ashita no Kimi wo Mamoritai ~YAMATO 2520~”.

The single debuted at #7 on the Oricon Weekly Singles Charts but that’s pretty good considering the competition for the week.  But overall, a very good single that I have been listening to a lot these last two weeks.

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