Shinji Harada/Feel Happy (1978)

A singer-songwriter born in Hiroshima Pref. in 1958, Shinji Harada's debut album (#1 on the Japanese pop album charts). Released when he was 19 years old. Pop and melodic sound featuring piano, brass and strings, influenced by Western pop music, like Paul McCartney and Elton John. He composed and sung all the songs, played piano, keyboards, guitar and other instruments, arranged almost all the songs and produced the album with Takuro Yoshida. Includes the first two singles, "Teen's Blues" and "Candy". The guest musicians are Tatsuo Hayashi (drums), Shigeru Suzuki (guitar), Tsugutoshi Goto (bass) and others. The lyrics written by Takashi Matsumoto. The 2007 digitally-remastered reissue CD includes the third/fourth singles, "Shadow Boxer" and "Time Travel". His first three singles ranked top 20 in Japanese pop chart simultaneously. Ryuichi Sakamoto plays keyboards in "Shadow Boxer".