Cross My Palm

Cross My Palm is the eleventh studio album by Japanese singer Akina Nakamori. It was released on 25 August 1987, under the Warner Pioneer label. The album includes English cover of single Blonde, written by same writer. It was Nakamori's first album to be released in the English.

Cross My Palm
Studio album by Akina Nakamori
Released	25 August 1987
Recorded	April 1987 (New York)
Genre	Adult Contemporary, Pop Rock, Pop, Synth-pop
Length	46:46
Language	English
Label	Warner Pioneer
Akina Nakamori chronology
CD'87 (1987) Cross My Palm (1987) Stock (1988)

Background

Cross My Palm is the second studio album to be recorded in the United States, for first time in 5 years after her debut album Prologue and the first studio album to be produced by western musicians and writers as David Batteau, Tony Humecke, Roger Daltrey, Julia Downes and Sandy Stewart.[1][2]

Nakamori come up with the inspiration of this album from the movies as Top Gun and Footloose.[3]

Modern Woman is the cover song of Femmes d'aujourd'hui by French singer Jeanne Mas and leading track Cross My Palm is cover of same title by British writer Chris Morris.

Nakamori self-cover her single Blonde by the same writer, Sela under the title The Look That Kills. The single was released two months before this album release. While the melody line resembles to the original, she performs it in the higher key tune than original, arrangement is slightly renewed and is sixteen seconds shorter.[4]

Promotion

Pioneer Corporation's television commercial

Album track Modern Woman served as a television commercial for corporation Pioneer Corporation's mini component stereo system Private CD770D.

Music Home Video

On 21 December 1987, four months after the release of album was released music home video with the same title, Cross My Palm. The music video release is divided into mix leaps of storyline about heroine, starred by Nakamori herself who aims to be pro musician in the following audition with the music videoclips of eight songs based on the studio album. The movie was recorded in the New York and filming was realised between 13 and 24 April 1987. The image of the New York location conscious of the movie 9½ Weeks.[5] No More includes new remixed intro which wasn't recorded in the studio album.[6] It had received an award at the AVA Digital Content Grand Prix in 1987.

Photobook

On 24 December, was released photo-book Nakamori Akina Shashinshuu Visual Book Cross My Palm.[7]

Stage performances

In Fuji TV music television program Yoru no Hit Studio, Nakamori performed Soft Touch broadcast in Paris in 1989. In TV Asahi music television program Music Station, Nakamori performed The Look That Kills in 1987.[8]

Some tracks were performed in her live venue as well: in live tour A Hundred Days in 1987 she performed Soft Touch, Political Moves and The Look That Kills;[9] in special live "Yume" in 1991, she performed Cross My Palm, My Position, Soft Touch, The Look That Kills and No More.[10]

Chart performance

The album reached at number 1 on the Oricon Album Weekly Chart and totally sold 347,700 copies. The album remained at number 19 on the Oricon Album Yearly Chart in 1987.[11]

The album was released in the United States in 1989 under recording label Atlantic Records, however the album didn't reach the success, debuted at number 90 on chart.[12]

Track listing

No.	Title	Lyrics	Music	Length
1.	"Cross My Palm"	Barrie Corbett, John De Plesses	Chris Morris	3:42
2.	"Political Moves"	Julia Downes, Roger Bruno, Ellen Schwartz	Downer, Bruno, Schwartz	4:27
3.	"Slave for Love"	David Batteau, Don Freeman	Batteau, Freeman	3:54
4.	"Easy Rider"	Batteau, Danny Sembello, Gardner Cole	Batteau, Sembello, Cole	4:13
5.	"Modern Woman"	Jeanne Mas	Romano Musumarra, Roberto Zaneli	4:12
6.	"The Look that kills"	Biddu, Winston Sela	Biddu, Sela	3:38
7.	"Soft Touch"	Steve Skaith, Steve Jeffries	Skaith, Jeffries	3:34
8.	"My Position"	Humecke, Batteau, Robin Lane	Humecke, Batteau, Lane	3:37
9.	"The Touch of Heartache"	Jill Colucci, Bruno, Schwartz	Golucci, Bruno, Schwartz	4:13
10.	"House of Love"	Sandy Steward	Steward	4:51
11.	"No More"	Skaith, Jeffries	Skaith, Jeffries	3:10
12.	"He's just in love with the beat"	Roy Freeland, Bruno, Schwartz	Freeland, Bruno, Schwartz	3:15

Notes:

• All tracks are stylised in all uppercase.
• "Modern Woman" is titled as "Modern Woman (Femme d'aujourd'hui)" in the album liner notes.

References

1. "CRUISE (中森明菜 ) ワーナーミュージック・ジャパン - Warner Music Japan". wmg.jp. Archived from the original on 30 April 2009.
2. "中森明菜 Cross My Palm". cdjournal.com.
3. Tooru Fujii (24 August 1987). "Oricon Weekly 3rd August Week 1987". Oricon Weekly. 411 (33): 11.
4. 堤昌司 (10 June 2009). Complete Single Collection: First Ten years (Akina Nakamori) (Media notes). Warner Music Japan. p. 24. WPCL-10681/84.
5. "中森明菜 Cross My Palm DVD". cdjournal.com.
6. while the original version has length 3:15, the video-music edition has length 4:00
7. 柴田, 敬三 (1987). 中森明菜写真集 VISUAL BOOK Cross My Palm. New York: Hontoki. ISBN 4-938568-03-9.
8. "Artist Line-up 1987.12.25. Nakamori Akina. The Look That Kills". MusicStation　Official Website.
9. "中森明菜/ライヴ・イン'87～ア・ハンドレッド・デイズ". cdjournal.com.
10. "中森明菜/～夢～'91・アキナ・ナカモリ・スペシャル・ライヴ". cdjournal.com.
11. Oricon Album Chart Book Complete Edition 1970-2005. オリコン・マーケティング・プロモーション. 25 April 2006. pp. 3, 455–457, 883. ISBN 4871310779.
12. Record Certification Council (31 May 2007). "Akina Nakamori". Music CD official official guidebook（下） - Chapter CD Journal. Ongaku Shubbansha. p. 135. ISBN 978-4861710308. Retrieved 15 March 2012.