Kenjiro Sakiya -- Mou Ichido Yoru wo Tomete （もう一度夜を止めて）

I had already referred to this Kenjiro Sakiya's（崎谷健次郎）ballad in an article for another song of his, "ROOMS", last year but admittedly, I merely threw it out so I'm providing something more proper today. And deservedly so, since I think this is a wonderful love song by the singer-songwriter. Sakiya composed it with Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）providing the lyrics.

"Mou Ichido Yoru wo Tomete" (Stop The Night Once More) is Sakiya's 3rd single from October 1987. It's imbued with some so much warmth and soul for a crisp autumn night that I wonder if Sing Like Talking had ever covered it. Actually, according to the J-Wiki article for the song, it was covered by another band, Skoop on Somebody, but it certainly has had its exposure through other avenues. It was not only used for a Citizen watch commercial back then, but it has also been used in a few TV dramas and at least one motion picture, one of which was Fuji-TV's "Tokyo Love Story" (not included on the soundtrack though)! I'm gonna have to check my copy of that, but I am not surprised that it would be included.

The song has been included on his 2nd album, "Realism" from March 1988, and is also on his "KENJIRO SAKIYA COMPLETE BEST Love Ballads" from March 2003. As for the single itself, it went as high as No. 25 on Oricon.

(commercial)

Sakiya was born in Hiroshima Prefecture in 1962. His first name was given by his father as a mixture between the English language-friendly Ken and the name of the famous actor-singer Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）. His father had been studying jazz at the time when Sakiya was little so the singer would also follow in Dad's musical footsteps and would start studying piano when he was 3 years of age. Jazz, country and classical music would all influence him and later on, these would be joined by disco, punk, new wave and techno. In the early 80s, Sakiya would form a band during his days at Nihon University. Called VIZION (sounds just like 'vision'), one of its other members was keyboardist Akihiko Matsumoto（松本晃彦）who would create the famous soundtrack for the popular police comedy-drama "Odoru Dai Sosasen"（踊る大捜査線） over a decade later. There would be a few more years where Sakiya continued as a session keyboardist before he made his debut as a singer in March 1987 with "Omoi Gakenai SITUATION"（思いがけないSITUATION/Unexpected Situation）.

Omotesando