9.5 Carats

9.5 Carats (9.5カラット, 9.5 Karatto) is the 12th studio album by a Japanese singer-songwriter Yosui Inoue, released in December 1984. It mostly features cover versions of the songs that Inoue wrote for other performers, except "Isso Serenade" which was released as a lead single in October 1984. It is the most commercially successful album for him, its sales are estimated to be 1.1-1.8 million copies.[1][2]

9.5 Carats
Studio album by
Yōsui Inoue
ReleasedDecember 21, 1984
GenreFolk rock, kayokyoku
Length39:49
LabelFor Life
ProducerYōsui Inoue
Yōsui Inoue chronology
Ballerina
(1983)		 9.5 Carats
(1984)		 Myoujou
(1985)

Album overview

Songs information

In addition to "Isso Serenade" which became Inoue's third top-ten hit single as a singer, 9.5 Carats also includes his own rendition of four of his successful compositions around the early 1980s. One of them, "Wine Red no Kokoro" was originally recorded by Inoue's former backing band Anzen Chitai and co-written by the group's frontman Koji Tamaki.[3] A song that Inoue contributed the lyrics was released as a single in 1983, and topped the Japanese Oricon chart in the following year. The band rose to fame owing to the hit of "Wine Red no Kokoro", and the song itself won the 26th Japan Record Award for "Gold Prize".[4] It has been one of the signature songs for both Inoue and Anzen Chitai, and recorded by the multiple artists including Mariko Takahashi, Junko Ohashi, Naoko Ken, Kiyotaka Sugiyama, Mucc, Megumi Ogata, Park Yong-ha, and the song's composer himself (on his 1999 same-titled album). Inoue also wrote the lyrics for some of the group's successful follow-ups to "Wine Red no Kokoro", including "Koi no Yokan" which reached the #2 on the chart in autumn 1984. Also in the same year, he composed the song "Kazari ja Nai no yo Namida wa" for a pop icon Akina Nakamori who was at the pinnacle of popularity at the time. Nakamori's version was issued as a single in November 1984 and topped the chart, becoming one of her biggest hit singles with sales of over 620,000 copies.[5] Nakamori remade the song for several times in later years, and also covered two of other Inoue's compositions on 9.5 Carats album ("Koi no Yokan" and "Dance wa Umaku Odorenai"). Before Inoue married to a singer Seri Ishikawa in 1978, he contributed some songs for her 1977 album Amagumo. One of them "Dance wa Umaku Odorenai" was not successful at the time, but the song was widely recognized because of cover version by an actress Mio Takaki. It was featured on the TV drama Kako no Nai On-na Tachi and became a hit, peaking at #3 on the chart in 1982. Like "Winered no Kokoro", "Dance wa Umaku Odorenai" has been covered by several other singers, including Naoko Ken and Hideaki Tokunaga. [6]

Reception

9.5 Carats gained commercial success immediately upon its release, becoming his first chart-topper since 1976 Shoutaijou no Nai Show and most massively successful LP after his breakthrough album Kōri no Sekai issued in 1973.[7] The album debuted at the summit of the Japanese Oricon chart, and stayed there for 9 weeks consecutively.[8] It sold in excess of 1.1 million copies while the album was entering the chart, and eventually became the 1985's biggest selling album in Japan.[9] In the history of the Japanese music industry, it is also one of the best-selling albums by male solo artist during the 1980s, along with Akira Terao's Reflections (released in 1981 and sold over 1.6 million copies to date), Eiichi Otaki's A Long Vacation (released in 1981 and retailed approximately 1.08 million copies) and Michael Jackson's Thriller (released in 1982 and estimated to be selling between 1.7 and 2.5 million units so far).[1][10] [11] [12][13]

Track listing
Side one
No.TitleWriter(s)Original performerLength
1."Harbour Lights (はーばーらいと, Hābāraito)" (arranged by Katz Hoshi)Yosui Inoue, Takashi MatsumotoYutaka Mizutani4:38
2."Dance wa Umaku Odorenai (ダンスはうまく踊れない)" (arranged by Joe Hisaishi)InoueSeri Ishikawa4:29
3."Transit" (arranged by Katz Hoshi)Inoue, Yumi MatsutoyaAsami Kobayashi4:19
4."A-B-C-D" (arranged by Katz Hoshi)InoueKenji Sawada4:23
5."Koi no Yokan (恋の予感)" (arranged by Mitsuo Hagita)Inoue, Koji TamakiAnzen Chitai4:18
Side two
No.TitleWriter(s)Original performerLength
1."Isso Serenade (いっそ セレナーデ)" (arranged by Katz Hoshi)Inoue(original composition)3:13
2."Kazari ja Nai no yo Namida wa (飾りじゃないのよ 涙は)" (arranged by Joe Hisaishi)InoueAkina Nakamori4:38
3."Karatachi no Hana (からたちの花)" (arranged by Katz Hoshi)Inoue, Inutaroh NagareboshiKanako Higuchi4:28
4."Wine Red no Kokoro (ワインレッドの心, Wain reddo no Kokoro)" (arranged by Mitsuo Hagita)Inoue, TamakiAnzen Chitai5:23

Personnel

The following session musicians were credited in the liner notes for box-set No Selection, released in 1991.

  • Yosui Inoue - vocals
  • Yutaka Uehara - drums
  • Takayuki Hijikata - guitar
  • Ken Yajima - guitar
  • Yutaka Takezawa - guitar
  • Fujimal Yoshino - guitar
  • Yūji Nakamura - bass guitar
  • Kenji Takamizu - bass guitar
  • Yasuharu Nakanishi - keyboards
  • Jun Satou - keyboards
  • Joe Hisaishi - synthesizer
  • Hidefumi Toki - synthesizer
  • Yūji Kawashima - synthesizer
  • Masatsugu Shinozaki - violin
  • Ohno Group - strings
  • Katou Strings - strings

Charts

Release history
Country Date Label Format Catalog number Notes
Japan December 21, 1984 For Life Records LP 28K81
Audio cassette 28C62
CD 35KD4
February 21, 1990 FLCF-29035
May 30, 2001 FLCF-3855 Original recording digitally remastered
March 25, 2009 For Life Music Entertainment/BMG SHM-CD FLCF-5008 2001 Digital remaster
gollark: THEY SHOULD BE ONE BYTE
gollark: Also general overabundance of weird features and inconsistency and the GIL.
gollark: BOOLS ARE 28-BYTE OR SOMETHING BIGINTS APPARENTLY
gollark: Wow, Python is extremely stupid.
gollark: `int`

References
  1. "歴代アルバムランキング - List of million-selling albums on the Japanese Oricon chart (January 1970-August 2009)" (in Japanese). 2009-08-10. Archived from the original on 2012-01-03. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
  2. "井上陽水、バラードベストアルバムを年末にリリース！ Yosui Inoue's ballad best album will be released in late 2008". Retrieved 2009-05-09.
  3. "- Yahoo!Music". music.yahoo.co.jp (in Japanese). Yahoo! Japan. Archived from the original on 2007-03-17. Retrieved 2008-08-26.
  4. "History of the Japan Record Awards - List of the 26th Award Winners". Japan Composer's Association (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2008-06-11. Retrieved 2009-08-25.
  5. "- Yahoo!Music". music.yahoo.co.jp (in Japanese). Yahoo! Japan. Archived from the original on 2009-03-03. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
  6. "- Hideaki Tokunaga's cover album Vocalist will be released on September 14". oops-music.com (in Japanese). 徳永英明　9/14 カヴァーアルバム「VOCALIST」発売. 2005-09-05. Archived from the original on 2010-02-06. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
  7. "Yamachan Land (Archives of the Japanese record charts) - Albums Chart Daijiten - Yosui Inoue" (in Japanese). 2007-12-30. Archived from the original on 2007-06-19. Retrieved 2009-04-24.
  8. "List of the number-one hit albums on the Japanese Oricon chart during the 1980s". DataStation オリコンNo.1アルバム1980-1989 (in Japanese). Archived from the original on 2009-05-04. Retrieved 2009-06-15.
  9. "Yamachan Land (Archives of the Japanese record charts) - Albums Chart Daijiten - 1985 Oricon Year-end LP (vinyl release) charts". 1985 年間ヒットチャート (in Japanese). Retrieved 2009-05-11.
  10. "Akira Terao remake his album Reflections". www.yomiuri.co.jp (in Japanese). Yomiuri Shimbun. 2007-01-13. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
  11. "Biography of Eiichi Otaki". www.tsutaya.co.jp (in Japanese). Tsutaya Online. 2007-01-13. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
  12. ""King of Pop" Michael Jackson dies in Los Angeles". "キング・オブ・ポップ"マイケル・ジャクソンさんがロスで死去 - (in Japanese). Oricon Style. 2009-06-26. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
  13. "Michael Jackson Remains A Global Phenomenon". Billboard magazine. 2009-07-02. Retrieved 2009-08-26.
  14. "徳永英明、カバーアルバム3週連続首位は陽水以来25年ぶり" [Hideaki Tokunaga's cover album spends 3 consecutive weeks atop the chart: for the first time in 25 years since Yosui]. oricon.co.jp (in Japanese). Oricon Style. Retrieved December 30, 2010.
  15. Oricon Album Chart Book: Complete Edition 1970-2005. Roppongi, Tokyo: Oricon Entertainment. 2006. ISBN 4-87131-077-9.
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