Pop 411 Items

Eiichi Otaki's Masterpiece Album to be Released as 40th Anniversary Edition!

Each Time 40th Anniversary Edition" will be released to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the release of "Each Time", a masterpiece album by Eiichi Otaki, a giant in the Japanese pop world! Each Time" was the sixth original album released on March 21, 1984, and the last full studio album before Otaki's death. It was released at a time when Otaki was attracting a great deal of attention as both an artist and a composer, and was a huge hit, ranking No. 1 on the Oricon Album Weekly Ranking, ahead of Michael Jackson's "Thriller". The album is now being brought back to life after 40 years in three different packages!

Each Time 40th Anniversary Edition" will be released as [the ultimate box set]. An analog vinyl set of 12" + 7" records will also be released at the same time. This is a very rare limited edition release that includes the full 12" album of the [1984 Original Mix] and the 7" single "Fjord Girl / Bachelor Girl" released in 1985.

Each Time 40th Anniversary Edition" will be released simultaneously as a luxury box set, an analog record containing the 12" + 7"

SOURCED FROM THE ORIGINAL MASTER TAPES AND LIMITED TO 4,000 NUMBERED COPIES:

MOBILE FIDELITY'S 180G SUPERVINYL LP PRESENTS 1985 BLOCKBUSTER IN AUDIOPHILE SOUND, PLAYS WITH EXCEPTIONAL CLARITY
PCM digital master to analogue console to lathe



Whitney Houston’s self-titled debut album has few parallels. Viewed solely through the lens of sales numbers, Whitney Houston is a watershed statement on par with the most commercially successful and culturally dominant LPs ever released. Having sold more than 14 million copies in the U.S. and upwards of 25 million units worldwide, the 1985 LP became the equivalent of the television show or blockbuster film that everyone collectively experiences and discusses. Nearly four decades later, it’s lost none of its appeal or magnetism — and its artistic significance and historical import have only grown.

Sourced from the original master tapes, pressed at RTI on MoFi SuperVinyl, and strictly limited to 4,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's 180g SuperVinyl LP of Whitney Houston presents the breakthrough in audiophile sound for the first time. The signature traits Houston exhibits on every song — her three-octave range, radiant warmth, personal conviction, impossibly controlled register — come across with exceptional clarity, focus, and presence. Free of artificial ceilings and constricted dynamics, this reissue plays with an openness, airiness, and balance that put the singer’s once-in-a-lifetime instrument and immortal artistry into proper perspective.

It does the same for the songs’ cascading melodies and captivating arrangements. Individually produced by one of four renowned industry veterans — Kashif, Micheal Masser, Jermaine Jackson, and Narada Michael Walden — each composition feels grander, closer, more genuine. A vocal spectacular, Whitney Houston benefits from the high-end characteristics of SuperVinyl, which include a nearly inaudible noise floor, superb groove definition, and dead-quiet surfaces. This is how an album that changed the direction of popular music — opening previously inaccessible doors for Black artists; bringing smooth-singing vocalists back into the mainstream; kickstarting a movement that soon included several “divas” who would command the charts through the early 21st century — should look and sound.

Though Houston’s seemingly effortless performances suggest otherwise, creating the record Rolling Stone ranks as the 257th Greatest Album of All Time wasn’t easy. Nearly 18 months were required to identify songs suitable for a still-unknown singer who did not fit into the conventional frameworks of the mid ‘80s. Confident, powerful, and prodigiously talented, Houston would forge her own parameters with Whitney Houston. In the process, she obliterated the stubborn lines between R&B and pop, Black and white radio. She dared to reimagine who could be a superstar and then went out and defined the role. Recorded for nearly $400,000 and released on Valentine’s Day, the LP exceeded the wildest expectations of those most closely associated with it — save for Houston and her family.

Having made her first public appearance at the age of 11 singing at a Baptist church, Houston understood pressure and knew her way around, inside, and through a song. The invaluable guidance and support she received from her mother, Cissy, an accomplished gospel vocalist who backed Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley, are on display throughout Whitney Houston. They arrive in the types of authoritativeness, discipline, and diction rare for even most seasoned veterans — and unheard-of for a 21-year-old newcomer. Houston brings a soulful elegance, understated glamour, and in-the-moment rapture to every note. Moving up, down, or staying in the middle of the vocal ladder; channelling softness or sweetness; showing restraint or increasing the volume, she is a marvel of emotionalism, a dynamo who can seamlessly transition from one mood to another within a verse.

Though the 10-track LP largely concerns itself with the ballad tradition, Houston covers the bases, getting into an R&B groove on the fleet “Thinking About You,” turning up the heat on the duet “Take Good Care of My Heart,” and investing the contagious dance-pop confection “How Will I Know” with all the anxiety, hope, energy, and enthusiasm its lyrics demand. Featuring her mom on background vocals and Houston’s pitch-perfect tone, uncanny precision, and skyscraper highs (no AutoTune here, friends), the synth-based anthem propelled Whitney Houston into the stratosphere, the vocalist into regular MTV rotation, and the term “crossover” into popular parlance. The double-platinum single reached No. 1 on the Hot 100, Hot R&B, and Adult Contemporary charts — a trifecta that foreshadowed accomplishments that would ultimately crown Houston as the most-awarded female artist of all time.

Whitney Houston became the first album by a Black female performer to top the Billboard charts. It remained there for 14 non-consecutive weeks en route to claiming the title of the best-selling LP of 1986. It stands as the first debut and first album by a solo female artist to spawn three No. Hits, as well as the first album by a Black female artist to top the year-end charts in Australia and Canada. These are just a handful of the accolades — along with four Grammy nominations — that surround a set that also contains the unforgettable ballad “Saving All My Love,” string-accompanied “Greatest Love of All,” and sensual “You Give Good Love.”

As TIME observed in an article written two years after the album took the world by storm: “This is infectious, can't-sit-down music, and her performance dares the listener not to smile right back.” We’re still smiling.

SACD

Sourced from the original master tapes and strictly limited to 3,000 numbered copies, Mobile Fidelity's hybrid SACD of Whitney Houston presents the breakthrough in audiophile sound for the first time. The signature traits Houston exhibits on every song — her three-octave range, radiant warmth, personal conviction, impossibly controlled register — come across with exceptional clarity, focus, and presence. Free of artificial ceilings and constricted dynamics, this reissue plays with an openness, airiness, and balance that put the singer’s once-in-a-lifetime instrument and immortal artistry into proper perspective.

Originally released in 1978 Limited edition Pressed on 180g black vinyl Yamashita’s 3rd solo record, Go Ahead!, defined the path he would subsequently follow as it a blossomed writer acclaimed for this versatility. The songs “Let’s Dance Baby”, “Bomber” & “潮騒 (The Whispering Sea)” would’ve be featured in his 1982 greatest hits album “Greatest Hits! of Tatsuro Yamashita”. Meanwhile, the song “This Could Be The Night” would get re-recorded in 1984 as part of his soundtrack album “Big Wave”.

Toko Furuuchi’s two popular albums, “Futsuu no Koto” and “cashmere Music”, which were released during her Pony Canyon era from 2003 to 2007, will be released as analog records for the first time on August 3, 2024.

“cashmere Music” was released as her 14th original album in 2005. The album features four arrangers: Toshiyuki Mori, Shin Kono, Yuta Saito, and Ryuji Yamamoto. It includes a variety of song arrangements, ranging from standard urban AOR numbers and catchy 80's sounds to funky songs, electro, and hip-hop sound approaches. Furuuchi’s unique world of sad poetry adds a new direction for the next album and beyond.

Side D includes a bonus track titled “Somewhere in Tokyo”, which is the first collaboration with Takaki Horigome of Kirinji. Additionally, the album features a new cover of “9ji karano Lily” by Japanese group called “Cappuccino”, written by Yu Aku and Shunichi Tokura in 1981.

Cutting Engineer : Katsutoshi Kitamura (mixer's Lab).

In addition, a high-quality Blu-spec2 CD will be reissued on July 24th, 2024 preceding vinyl records.

“The two albums “Futsuu no Koto” and “cashmere Music”, which are now being reissued on vinyl, were carefully crafted at the time, and I have a lot of fond memories of them. Even now, many of the songs are often sung at my concerts, and I still have an ongoing affinity and love for them. I hope you will enjoy them anew as vinyl records.”

―Toko Furuuchi