Moonglow

Moonglow is a fantastic album. It presents Tatsuro Yamashita on a new era of looking to accomplish any of his musical ideas in a much more focused and polished way, where all his ambitions and influences culminated on something of his own, pushing through with iconic songs that formed part of wonderfully crafted albums. Contrary to most of his previous solo work, this would be a much more consistent, coherent, and fleshed out project, with a particular tone and approach in mind, represented beautifully by the title of the album. Without a doubt, it is a drastic jump from something as unfocused and inconsistent as Go Ahead!, and it presents an artist that wants to achieve something much bigger, ending up in some of Tatsuro's most unique and incredibly captivating masterpieces. Somewhat mellow, emotional, and calm in atmosphere but still glowing on a lively way with the help of some upbeat, carefully crafted, and engaging instrumentals; it all makes up for a varied, dynamic, and absolutely engaging album.
A collection of ten tracks that were structured on a way where the flow just feels natural, with every one of them being polished in their own individual aspects making up for an experience that just engages the listener from beginning to end, providing Tatsuro's most consistent solo work up to that point. Without a doubt, Moonglow has some of Tatsuro's best material up to that point, and some of his masterpieces in general, while also setting up the tone and approach that would be taken for much bigger efforts in the future. It is the proper start of his golden era, one of his best achievements in composition, songwriting, arrangements and overall performances; all tied together with a beautiful and balanced production and mixing that is as dynamic as it is suiting depending on the tone. A mix of funk, disco, soul, and rock spread throughout all its tracks, with every song having its own personality and way of being executed, while still holding a coherence with one another.