Takuro Yoshida is the only person to have been the host of All Night Nippon from the 1970s to the 1980s, 1990s, 2000, 2010, and 2020. He is also the only person to have been the host of all three of the major late-night shows, All Night Nippon, Pack-in Music, and Say! Young. Takuro Yoshida, who has spent his life with late-night radio broadcasts, will retire from the front line of artist activities in 2022.
However, at the request of Nippon Broadcasting System, which celebrated its 70th anniversary this year, he will be the host of the year-end special “All Night Nippon GOLD” on December 15, 2023. This reminded him that radio was “the place where I felt most comfortable” and that “radio saved my life as an artist.” In order to express his “gratitude to radio,” he decided to create a work with the theme of “radio and youth.” He appeared on the show last night and reported the details of the work to radio listeners.
“Due to the impact of COVID-19, our last tour was in 2019, and our final album was completed basically online, without going to a studio, so it had been a really long time since I was able to record in a studio with musicians like this, and I was really happy. I was happy to be able to make some good memories at the end,” he said with emotion.
He continued, “My youth and radio have been a big theme in my life. One thing I had left to do was to write lyrics and compose a song with the theme of ‘radio and youth’. Looking back, having radio by my side since I was a child helped me develop an interest in music, and it has saved me in many situations since then.
“The emails and postcards I received from listeners through the radio were also helpful when writing the lyrics. This work is a way for me to express my gratitude to the radio and to all the listeners,” he said, explaining his thoughts about this work.
At the end of the program, he said, “Radio, thank you for listening to so many of my selfish requests. Thank you for hiding so many of my sadness. Thank you for giving me a push when I was so angry. Thank you for wiping away so many tears. Thank you for providing answers to so many questions. And to all the listeners who walked with me, stopped, laughed, cried, and were there with me through radio, I hope you live a wonderful life. I have been so happy to have been with radio for so long. Thank you so much, Radio. It was so fun.”
Takuro Yoshida’s one-off comeback concept mini-album “Radio no Yume” will be released on Wednesday, November 20th. It contains five songs,
The first track, “Address Unknown,” is a new song written specifically for this album.
The second track, “May Winds Part II,” is a new song that was composed and recorded by the artist himself, based on the original “May Winds” that was released in 1993 in collaboration with Kazuhiko Kato.
The third song was “Love Me to the Bone,” which aired last night, a cover of the million-seller “Love Me to the Bone,” released by Takuya Shiro in 1966, rearranged with a funk sound and doo-wop chorus.
The fourth track, “Midnight Letter,” is a remake cover of “Vitalis Folk Village Song,” which was aired as the theme song for the Nippon Broadcasting System program “Vitalis Folk Village,” hosted by Takuro Yoshida in the 1970s, with new lyrics added 50 years later.
The fifth and final track, “Shuyaku,” is also a new song written specifically for this album, making it a worthwhile listen as Takuro Yoshida’s final song.
In addition, a documentary program that closely follows the recording of this album and the All Night Nippon GOLD recording site, “Yoshida Takuro’s Dream of Radio: Thank you Radio, I’ll continue to be by your side,” is scheduled to be broadcast on WOWOW on Saturday, November 30th. The official website is also featuring a limited-time blog, “Radio Youth,” in which Yoshida Takuro writes about his memories of radio from his junior high school days.
[Takuro Yoshida Official Site]
https://avex.jp/takuro/
[Takuro Yoshida’s limited time blog “Radio Youth”]
https://avex.jp/takuro/takuroblog/
【INFORMATION】
Takuro Yoshida Concept Mini Album “Radio Dream”
CD release date: Wednesday, November 20, 2024
・Price: ¥2,750 (tax included) ・Product code: AVCD-63663
CD preorders now available
＜LinkFire URL＞
https://avex.lnk.to/20241120_TAKURO
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