Go Ahead! is the third studio album by Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita, released in December 1978.
Contents
Overview
"A masterpiece third solo album that marked the creativity of Yamashita's brilliant and versatile writing style which determined his subsequent path."
In commercial music, etc., there was a high demand for Yamashita as a musician who works under anonymity, but Yamashita's evaluation as a contract musician for a record company, was favorable, but he wasn't meeting the sales figures RCA wanted. Yamashita himself felt that the world of rock and folk that he had lived in had entered a new stage at that time, and thought that if he went on like this, he would probably have to give up his records and live activities. So he had a pessimistic prediction that this album would probably be the last. The album was criticized by critics and listeners for being disorganized, but it can be said that the writer's principle, which began to suffer, was the sprout of the album production policy that followed. However Tatsuro Yamashita was told that one of his songs in the Go Ahead! album "Bomber" was a hit song in a disco in Osaka. Therefore, in 1979, a promotional single was released under the title of "Bomber".
The songs "Let's Dance Baby", "Bomber" & "潮騒 (The Whispering Sea)" would've be featured in his 1982 greatest hits album "Greatest Hits! of Tatsuro Yamashita". Meanwhile, the song "This Could Be The Night" would get re-recorded in 1984 as part of his soundtrack album "Big Wave".
In 2002, a remastered reissue (BVCR-17015) was released as part of The RCA/AIR Years 1976–1982 series. The reissue would include remastered tracks and three additional tracks that were previously unreleased before. It would enter the Oricon charts, peaking in at number twenty-five.
Track listing
Personnel
Overture
Tatsuro Yamashita: All Voices
Love Celebration
Tatsuro Yamashita: Electric Guitar (Left), Hammond organ & Vibraphone
Yutaka Uehara: Drums
Akihiro Tanaka: Bass
Kazuo Shiina: Electric Guitar (Right)
Hiroyuki Namba: Electric Piano
Shin Kazuhara: Trumpet
Yoshikazu Kishi: Trumpet
Shigeharu Mukai: Trombone
Tadanori Konakawa: Trombone
Motoo Okazaki: Alto Sax Solo
Takeru Muraoka: Tenor Sax
Shunzo Sunahara: Baritone Sax
Tadaaki Ohno: Strings Concert Master
Let's Dance Baby
Tatsuro Yamashita: Electric Guitar (Left), Percussion, Bang! & Background Vocals
Yutaka Uehara: Drums & Percussion
Akihiro Tanaka: Bass & Percussion
Kazuo Shiina: Electric Guitar (Right) & Percussion
Hiroyuki Namba: Keyboards & Percussion
Motoo Okazaki: Alto Sax Solo
Minako Yoshida: Background Vocals
Ryuzo Kosugi: Background Vocals
Monday Blue
Shuichi "Ponta" Murakami: Drums
Akira Okazawa: Bass
Tsunehide Matsuki: Electric Guitar
Hiroshi Sato: Keyboards
Keiko Yamakawa: Harp
Tadaaki Ohno: Strings Concert Master
ついておいで (Follow Me Along)
Tatsuro Yamashita: Electric Guitar (Left) & Background Vocals
Yutaka Uehara: Drums
Akihiro Tanaka: Bass
Kazuo Shiina: Electric Guitar (Right)
Hiroyuki Namba: Electric Piano
Motoya Hamaguchi: Percussion
Shigeharu Mukai: Trombone Solo
Minako Yoshida: Background Vocals
Bomber
Tatsuro Yamashita: Electric Guitar & Background Vocals
Yutaka Uehara: Drums
Akihiro Tanaka: Bass
Kazuo Shiina: Electric Guitar Solo
Hiroyuki Namba: Keyboards
Minako Yoshida: Background Vocals
潮騒 (The Whispering Sea)
(Same personnel for the English version)
Tatsuro Yamashita: Electric Guitar, Arp Odyssey Synthesizer (Bass), Percussion & Background Vocals
Yutaka Uehara: Drums
Akihiro Tanaka: Bass
Hiroyuki Namba: Acoustic Piano
Chuei Yoshikawa: Acoustic Guitar
Ryuichi Sakamoto: KORG PS-3100 Synthesizer
Motoya Hamaguchi: Percussion
Minako Yoshida: Background Vocals
Paper Doll
Tatsuro Yamashita: Electric Guitar, Percussion & Background Vocals
Yutaka Uehara: Drums
Akihiro Tanaka: Bass
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Keyboards
Minako Yoshida: Background Vocals
This Could Be the Night
Tatsuro Yamashita: Drums, Bass, Electric Guitar, Acoustic Piano, Glockenspiel, Percussion, & Background Vocals
Chuei Yoshikawa: Acoustic Guitar
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Poly Moog Synthesizer
Motoya Hamaguchi: Percussion
2000トンの雨 (2000t Of Rain)
Tatsuro Yamashita: Electric Guitar, Percussion & Background Vocals
Yutaka Uehara: Drums
Akihiro Tanaka: Bass
Ryuichi Sakamoto: Acoustic Piano
Motoo Okazaki: Alto Sax Solo
Ryuzo Kosugi: Percussion
Minako Yoshida: Background Vocals
Tadaaki Ohno: Strings Concert Master
Credits
From the inner sleeve notes of the album (RVL-8037).
Produced by Tatsuro Yamashita
All songs arranged by Tatsuro Yamashita
Directed by Ryuzo "Junior" Kosugi
Engineered by Tamotsu Yoshida
Session co-ordinator – Ryuzo Kosugi
Disk mastering engineer – Tohru Kotetsu
Assistant engineer – Toshihiro Itoh (Onkio Haus)
Art direction – Kenkichi Satoh
Cover design – Kenkichi Satoh, Akira Sugiyama
Recording studios: Onkio Haus 1st, 2nd, & 3rd; Media 2nd, RCA 1st
Mastering studio: Nihon Victor Yokohama Mastering Studio