Oda Kazumasa's old school love songs will still melt your heart.
The single Oh! Yeah! / Love Story wa totsuzen ni was released by Oda Kazumasa on February 6, 1991, just a week before Valentine's day. The two track, romance packed single rocked the music charts, selling 2,580,000 copies to become the eighth best selling CD in Japan.
The title track, Oh! Yeah!, is a slow paced song with very gentle instrumentals, and Kazumasa's heavily echoed voice has an almost heavenly air as he sings. The music is very 90's with the old style pop vibe and soft cries of "oh yeah!" dispersed throughout the song by both Kazumasa and his back-up singers. While the song lacks any form of a real chorus, the piano melody through the song makes up for the crawling pace the song maintains.
Love Story wa totsuzen ni is what really makes this single amazing and could easily stand on its own without the preceding track. Used as the theme for "Tokyo Love Story," a drama in the 90's, the song soared in popularity from its catchy pop sound to its endearing lyrics. Kazumasa's vocals are deep as he sings to a lover about how thankful he is they met and how deeply in love he is, promising to be the wind that will always surround and protect them. The chorus is equally enchanting, as Kazumasa belts out the lyrics, pouring all of his emotions into the jazzy love song.
While Oda Kazumasa may sound like the Japanese version of the oldies music many of us grew up with, you shouldn't be fooled by his old school tactics and folk style sound. Kazumasa's music is rife with talent and emotion that doesn't grow old, even as the years pass. Despite being a single that is nearly twenty years old, Oh! Yeah! / Love Story wa totsuzen ni is a timeless classic that shouldn't be missed.
