''Go Ahead!'' is the third studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter

Tatsuro Yamashita , occasionally referred to as Tatsu Yamashita or Tats Yamashita, is a Japanese singer-songwriter and record producer, who is known for pioneering the city pop style of music. His most well-known song is "Christmas Eve", a best-selling song rel ...

, released in December 1978.

Overview

"A masterpiece third solo album that marked the creativity of Yamashita's brilliant and versatile writing style which determined his subsequent path." In

commercial music Contemporary commercial music or CCM is a term used by some vocal pedagogists in the United States to refer to non-classical music. This term encompasses jazz, pop, blues, soul, country, folk, and rock styles. The emergence of contemporary comme ...

, etc., there was a high demand for Yamashita as a musician who works under anonymity, but Yamashita's evaluation as a contract musician for a

record company "Big Three" music labels A record label or record company is a brand or trademark of music recordings and music videos, or the company that owns it. Sometimes, a record label is also a publishing company that manages such brands and t ...

, was favorable, but he wasn't meeting the sales figures RCA wanted. Yamashita himself felt that the world of rock and

folk Folk or Folks may refer to: Sociology *Nation *People * Folklore ** Folk art ** Folk dance ** Folk hero ** Folk horror ** Folk music *** Folk metal *** Folk punk *** Folk rock ** Folk religion * Folk taxonomy Arts, entertainment, and media * Fo ...

that he had lived in had entered a new stage at that time, and thought that if he went on like this, he would probably have to give up his records and live activities. So he had a pessimistic prediction that this album would probably be the last. The album was criticized by critics and listeners for being disorganized, but it can be said that the writer's principle, which began to suffer, was the sprout of the album production policy that followed.(2002) Tatsuro Yamashita's "Go Ahead!" album booklet notes. RCA/ BMG Funhouse (BVCR-17015) However Tatsuro Yamashita was told that one of his songs in the Go Ahead! album "Bomber" was a hit song in a

disco Disco is a music genre, genre of dance music and a subculture that emerged in the late 1960s from the United States' urban nightclub, nightlife, particularly in African Americans, African-American, Italian-Americans, Italian-American, LGBTQ ...

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

. Therefore, in 1979, a

promotional single A promotional recording, promo, or plug copy is an audio or video recording distributed free, usually in order to promote a recording that is or soon will be commercially available. Promos are normally sent directly to broadcasters, such as mu ...

was released under the title of "Bomber". The songs "Let's Dance Baby", "Bomber" & "潮騒 (The Whispering Sea)" would've be featured in his 1982

greatest hits album A greatest hits album or best-of album is a type of compilation album that collects popular and commercially successful songs by a particular artist or band. While greatest hits albums are typically supported by the artist, they can also be creat ...

Greatest Hits! of Tatsuro Yamashita ''Greatest Hits! of Tatsuro Yamashita'' is the first greatest hits album by Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita, released in July 1982. Overview The album consists of Tatsuro Yamashita, Yamashita's songs mostly included on his previou ...

". Meanwhile, the song " This Could Be The Night" would get

re-recorded A re-recording is a recording produced following a new performance of a work of music. This is most commonly, but not exclusively, by a popular artist or group. It differs from a reissue, which involves a second or subsequent release of a previousl ...

in 1984 as part of his soundtrack album "

Big Wave Big wave surfing is a discipline within surfing in which surfers paddle into, or are towed into, waves that are at least 20 feet (6.2 m) high, on surf boards known as "guns" or towboards. The size of the board needed to successfully surf these w ...

". In 2002, a remastered reissue (BVCR-17015) was released as part of The RCA/AIR Years 1976–1982 series. The reissue would include

remaster A remaster is a change in the sound or image quality of previously created forms of media, whether Mastering (audio), audiophonic, Cinematography, cinematic, or Videography, videographic. The resulting product is said to be remastered. The term ...

ed tracks and three additional tracks that were previously unreleased before. It would enter the

Oricon , established in 1999, is the holding company at the head of a Japanese corporate group that supplies statistics Statistics (from German language, German: ', "description of a State (polity), state, a country") is the discipline that ...

charts, peaking in at number twenty-five.

Track listing

2002 remastered edition

Personnel

Overture

: All Voices 1978 P.M.P.

Love Celebration

Tatsuro Yamashita: Electric Guitar (Left),

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert, first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding #Drawbars, drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, sound was created ...

Vibraphone The vibraphone (also called the vibraharp) is a percussion instrument in the metallophone family. It consists of tuned metal bars and is typically played by using Percussion mallet, mallets to strike the bars. A person who plays the vibraphone ...

Yutaka Uehara: Drums Akihiro Tanaka: Bass Kazuo Shiina: Electric Guitar (Right)

Hiroyuki Namba (occasionally credited as Hiroyuki Nanba) is a Japanese musician. He has composed for and arranged songs from Japanese anime, OVA and video games. Notably, Hiroyuki Namba composed for ''Dallos'', the first anime Original video animation. However, ...

: Electric Piano Shin Kazuhara: Trumpet Yoshikazu Kishi: Trumpet

Shigeharu Mukai is a Japanese jazz trombonist. Mukai attended Doshisha University but left before obtaining his degree to become a professional musician. Early in his career he worked with Yoshio Otomo, Ryo Kawasaki, and Hiroshi Fukumura, then led his own ens ...

Let's Dance Baby

Tatsuro Yamashita: Electric Guitar (Left), Percussion, Bang! & Background Vocals Yutaka Uehara: Drums & Percussion Akihiro Tanaka: Bass & Percussion Kazuo Shiina: Electric Guitar (Right) & Percussion Hiroyuki Namba: Keyboards & Percussion Tomoo Okazaki: Alto Sax Solo Minako Yoshida: Background Vocals Ryuzo Kosugi: Background Vocals © 1978 J&K MUSIC PUB.

Monday Blue

ついておいで (Follow Me Along)

Tatsuro Yamashita: Electric Guitar (Left) & Background Vocals Yutaka Uehara: Drums Akihiro Tanaka: Bass Kazuo Shiina: Electric Guitar (Right) Hiroyuki Namba: Electric Piano Motoya Hamaguchi: Percussion Shigeharu Mukai: Trombone Solo Minako Yoshida: Background Vocals © 1978 P.M.P.

Bomber

Tatsuro Yamashita: Electric Guitar & Background Vocals Yutaka Uehara: Drums Akihiro Tanaka: Bass Kazuo Shiina: Electric Guitar Solo Hiroyuki Namba: Keyboards Minako Yoshida: Background Vocals © 1978 P.M.P.

潮騒 (The Whispering Sea)

''(Same personnel for the English version)'' Tatsuro Yamashita: Electric Guitar, Arp Odyssey Synthesizer (Bass), Percussion & Background Vocals Yutaka Uehara: Drums Akihiro Tanaka: Bass Hiroyuki Namba: Acoustic Piano Chuei Yoshikawa: Acoustic Guitar

Ryuichi Sakamoto was a Music of Japan, Japanese musician, composer, keyboardist, record producer, singer and actor. He pursued a diverse range of styles as a solo artist and as a member of the Synthesizer, synth-based band Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO). With his ...

Paper Doll

This Could Be The Night

Tatsuro Yamashita: Drums, Bass, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Piano, Glockenspiel, Percussion, & Background Vocals Chuei Yoshikawa: Acoustic Guitar Ryuichi Sakamoto: Poly Moog Synthesizer Motoya Hamaguchi: Percussion © ROCK MUSIC

2000トンの雨 (2000t Of Rain)

Tatsuro Yamashita: Electric Guitar, Percussion & Background Vocals Yutaka Uehara: Drums Akihiro Tanaka: Bass Ryuichi Sakamoto: Acoustic Piano Tomoo Okazaki: Alto Sax Solo Ryuzo Kosugi: Percussion Minako Yoshida: Background Vocals Tadaaki Ohno: Strings Concert Master © 1978 P.M.P.

Credits

''"From the inner sleeve

notes Note, notes, or NOTE may refer to: Music and entertainment * Musical note, a pitched sound (or a symbol for a sound) in music * ''Notes'' (album), a 1987 album by Paul Bley and Paul Motian * ''Notes'', a common (yet unofficial) shortened versi ...

of the album (RVL-8037)."'' ''PRODUCED BY TATSURO YAMASHITA FOR P.M.P. INC'' ''ALL SONGS ARRANGED BY TATSURO YAMASHITA'' Directed by Ryuzo "Junior" Kosugi (RCA) Engineered by Tamotsu Yoshida Session Co-odinater – Ryuzo Kosugi Disk Mastering Engineer – Tohru Kotetsu Assistant Engineer – Toshihiro Itoh (

Onkio Haus Onkio Haus Inc., also called Onkyo House (; Kabushiki-gaisha Onkyō Hausu), is a company that operates sound recording, mixing and mastering studios in Ginza, Tokyo, owned by Magazine House, Ltd. and others. It also provides video editing and post ...

) Mastering Studio: Nihon Victor Yokohama Mastering Studio Art Direction – Kenkichi Satoh Cover Design – Kenkichi Satoh, Akira Sugiyama Special thanks to Akira Ikuta, Kunio Muramatsu for their assistance ''ALL SONGS PUBLISHED BY 1978 P.M.P., 1977 P.M.P., EXCEPT; "LOVE CELEBRATION" BY 1977 ALFA MUSIC LTD.,'' ''"LET'S DANCE BABY" BY 1978 J&K MUSIC PUB., "THIS COULD BE THE NIGHT" BY ROCK MUSIC, THE RIGHTS FOR JAPAN ASSIGNED TO TOSHIBA MUSIC PUB.''

Chart positions

Release history

References

{{Authority control 1978 albums Tatsuro Yamashita albums