MELODIES by 山下達郎

Melodies is the eighth studio album recorded by Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita, released in June 1983. It was his first LP issued under the Moon Label which was distributed by the Alfa Records at the time. Unlike his previous albums that Minako Yoshida mostly wrote lyrics, majority of the songs heard on Melodies are penned by Yamashita alone, except for "Blue Midnight" (co-written by Yoshida) and a cover version of "Guess I'm Dumb" (composed by Brian Wilson and Russ Titelman and originally recorded by Glen Campbell in 1966). Before the album came out, "Koukiatsu Girl" was released as a lead single. It features chorus by Mariya Takeuchi, who married Yamashita in 1982 and then temporarily suspended her recording career. The most well-known song in this album is "Christmas Eve". The song did not receive much attention when it was released on 12-inch single in December 1983, but it was widely recognized through a television advertisement by the Central Japan Railway Company aired during the late 1980s. CD single of "Christmas Eve" reissued in 1986 gained huge commercial success, topping the chart in December 1989. The song was repeatedly reissued in later years and became a hit throughout the decades, entering the Oricon chart for over 20 consecutive years with sales of more than 1.8 million copies in total.Because of the massive success "Christmas Eve" gained, the album also enjoyed the long-term commercial success. Melodies has been the second best-selling studio album for Yamashita, retailing over 840,000 copies during its two chart runs.