Variety is the sixth studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Mariya Takeuchi. It was released on 25 April 1984 through Moon Records. Variety is considered as Takeuchi's "comeback" album after being on hiatus since 1981, and is the first album entirely written by her. The album is produced by Takeuchi's husband, Tatsuro Yamashita.
To international audiences, Variety is known for containing "Plastic Love" which, although only seeing moderate success in Japan when it was released as a single in 1985, saw a resurgence in popularity internationally in 2017 after a remix was uploaded to YouTube.
Production and release
Takeuchi's five albums released before Variety were mostly written by other songwriters which, although they featured industry stars such as Haruomi Hosono and members of Toto, left her feeling "exhausted". She went on hiatus at the end of 1981 due to a sore throat, as well as to marry Yamashita in 1982.
During her break, Yamashita left his record label, RCA Records, for the newly-founded Moon Records. Meanwhile, Takeuchi began writing some of the songs which would be included in Variety. Yamashita originally planned for Takeuchi's comeback album to be written by other songwriters, but changed his mind after listening to some of Takeuchi's work. A promotional single, "Mou Ichido", was released on 10 April 1984, followed by a full release on 25 April. The album topped the Oricon Albums Chart.
A 30th Anniversary edition of the album was released on 19 November 2014. The version included a previously unreleased track, , both club remixes from the single release of "Plastic Love", and karaoke versions of four tracks.
The 30th Anniversary edition of the album became available on music streaming services like Apple Music and Spotify on 3 November 2021, the same date when the 2021 vinyl reissue was released.
Track listing
Personnel
Mou Ichido (ãÂÂãÂÂä¸Â度)
Plastic Love (ãÂÂã©ã¹ãÂÂã£ãÂÂã¯ãÂȋ©ãÂÂ)
- Mariya Takeuchi, Taeko Onuki - Backing Vocals
- Tatsuro Yamashita - Electric Guitar, Acoustic Piano, Synthesizer, Percussion, Emulator, Backing Vocals
- Koki Ito - Bass
- Jun Aoyama - Drums
- Yasuhara Nakanashi - Electric Piano
- Joe Katoh Group - Strings
- Ernie Watts, Takeru Muraoka - Tenor Saxophone
- Tadanori Konakawa, Yoshio Oikawa - Trombone
- Hitoshi Yokoyama, Susumu "Shin" Kazuhara - Trumpet
- Syunzo Sunahara - Baritone Saxophone
Honki De Only You (Let's Get Married) (æ¬æ°Âã§ãªã³ãªã¼ã¦ã¼)
- Tatsuro Yamashita - Acoustic Piano, Electric Sitar, Vibraphone, Drums, Percussion, Backing Vocals, Other (Bowwow!)
- Koki Ito - Bass
- Joe Katoh Group - Strings
- Ryuichi Sakamoto - Synthesizer (Pipe Organ)
- Ernie Watts - Tenor Saxophone
One Night Stand
- Mariya Takeuchi - Acoustic Piano
- Tatsuro Yamashita - Electric Guitar
- Chuei Yoshikawa - Acoustic Guitar
- Tokuo Nakano, Yutaka Hosoi - Backing Vocals
- Koki Ito - Bass
- Akihiro Noguchi - Drums, Backing Vocals
- Nobutaka Tsugei - Pedal Steel Guitar, Backing Vocals
Broken Heart
- Tatsuro Yamashita - Electric Guitar, Synthesizer, Percussion
- Jim Haas, John Joyce, Stan Farber - Backing Vocals
- Koki Ito - Bass
- Jun Aoyama - Drums
- Tsunehide Matsuki - Electric Guitar
- Hiroshi Sato - Acoustic Piano, Electric Piano
- Masami Nakagawa - Flute
- Keiko Yamakawa - Harp
- Motoya Hamaguchi - Percussion
- Ernie Watts, Takeru Muraoka - Tenor Saxophone
- Tadanori Konakawa, Yoshio Oikawa - Trombone
- Hitoshi Yokoyama, Susumu "Shin" Kazuhara - Trumpet
- Syunzo Sunahara - Baritone Saxophone
Night At The Amphitheater (ã¢ã³ãÂÂã£ã·ã¢ã¿ã¼ã®å¤Â)
- Tatsuro Yamashita - Electric Guitar, Hammond Organ, Backing Vocals
- Jim Haas, John Joyce, Kazuhito Murata, Kazuo Shiina, Stan Farber - Backing Vocals
- Koki Ito - Bass
- Jun Aoyama - Drums
- Yoshihiro Matsuuma - Electric Guitar
- Motoya Hamaguchi - Percussion
- Yasuhara Nakanishi - Acoustic Piano
- Shigeo Fuchino - Tenor Saxophone
- Tadanori Konakawa, Shigeharu Mukai - Trombone
- Toshio Araki, Susumu "Shin" Kazuhara - Trumpet
- Syunzo Sunahara - Baritone Saxophone
Todokanu Omoi (ã¨ã©ãÂÂã¾³ãÂÂ)
- Tatsuro Yamashita - Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Piano, Electric Piano, Hammond Organ, Percussion
- Jim Haas, John Joyce, Stan Farber - Backing Vocals
- Koki Ito - Bass
- Jun Aoyama - Drums
- Chuck Findley - Flugelhorn
- Motoya Hamaguchi - Percussion
Mersey Beat De Utawasete (ãÂÂã¼ã¸ã¼ãÂÂã¼ãÂÂã§åÂÂãÂÂãÂÂã¦)
- Mariya Takeuchi - Organ Solo
- Tatsuro Yamashita - Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, 12-String Electric Guitar, Percussion
- Ginji Ito, Kazuhito Murata, Masamichi Sugi - Backing Vocals
- Koki Ito - Bass
- Yutaka Uehara - Drums
- Hiroyuki Namba - Organ
Mizu To Anata To Taiyo To (æ°´ã¨ãÂÂãªãÂÂã¨太é½ã¨)
- Tatsuro Yamashita - Vibraphone
- Koki Ito - Bass
- Yutaka Uehara - Drums
- Masami Nakagawa - Flute
- Motoya Hamaguchi - Percussion
- Hiroyuki Namba - Acoustic Piano
- Unknown (possibly Tatsuro Yamashita or Chuei Yoshikawa) - Acoustic Guitar
Going Steady (ãµãÂÂãÂÂã¯ã¹ãÂÂãÂÂã£)
- Tatsuro Yamashita - Acoustic Piano, Electric Piano, Acoustic Guitar, Electric Guitar, Hammond Organ, Synthesizer, Harpsichord, Percussion, Backing Vocals
- Koki Ito - Bass
- Jun Aoyama - Drums
- Motoya Hamaguchi - Percussion
- Ryuichi Sakamoto - Synthesizer
- Hiroshi Yaginuma - Alto Saxophone
- Shigeo Fuchino, Takeru Muraoka - Tenor Saxophone
- Ernie Watts - Tenor Saxophone Solo
- Syunzo Sunahara - Baritone Saxophone
Shetland Ni Hoho O Uzumete (ã·ã§ãÂÂãÂÂã©ã³ãÂÂã«頬ãÂÂãÂÂãÂÂãÂÂã¦)
- Tatsuro Yamashita - Electric Guitar, Synthesizer
- Chuei Yoshikawa - Acoustic Guitar
- Koki Ito - Bass
- Jun Aoyama - Drums
- Keiko Yamakawa - Harp
- Motoya Hamaguchi - Percussion
- Yasuhara Nakanishi - Acoustic Piano, Electric Piano
- Ohno Group - Strings
- Shigeharu Mukai - Trombone
Charts
Weekly charts
Year-end charts
See also
References