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KAMAKURA

Japanese Music / Rock bands, punk & visual kei · 1985

KAMAKURA

Southern All Stars

KAMAKURA · サザンオールスターズ

Why listen

A double album that gives unusual sampled percussion and Yuko Hara’s singing equally distinct places.

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English editorial edition

Album story

Computer Children opens KAMAKURA with a drum sound that asks to be noticed as a texture. The album then makes room for flowing songs, theatrical turns and a change of lead voice. Southern All Stars use the double format to keep several kinds of musical personality in play.

Released on September 14, 1985, the twenty songs divide into two groups of ten. Kamakura Monogatari closes the first; Kao opens the second. That central boundary is worth preserving even when a streaming service presents the whole record as one continuous list. The sequence offers a second entrance, rather than treating every track as another step towards one enormous climax.

An instrument with a particular character

In a later interview, collaborator Takeshi Fujii identified the Fairlight as the source of the opening drums on Computer Children. Sampling here means using recorded sound as material to be played and shaped. The attraction is not simply a more convincing imitation of an acoustic instrument. An unusual timbre can become an expressive decision, changing the listener’s expectations before the song has fully introduced itself.

A different singer at the boundary

Near the end of the first group, Melody and Yoshida Takuro no Uta lead into Yuko Hara’s performance of Kamakura Monogatari. The song was written by Keisuke Kuwata, with string arrangement credited separately to Kow Otani. Its place gives the album a useful contrast: a strong personality can emerge through singing as well as through a conspicuous studio sound. A change of voice also becomes a change of perspective within the programme.

Several routes through twenty songs

The second group accommodates Bye Bye My Love, the extended Please and the later Kaibutsukun no Sora. Its final stretch includes two differently titled songs invoking a merry-go-round, separated by other tracks. Such side routes make the record more inviting than a single monumental gesture. Begin with whichever scene draws attention, then return to the transition between the two groups. The double album’s scale becomes meaningful when its separate approaches are heard as neighbours, each with enough room to establish a character.

The album through its tracks

Move from Computer Children’s processed percussion to Hara’s singing at the close of the first group.

  1. Computer Children

    The opening percussion makes timbre part of the song’s identity before the broader arrangement has settled. Fujii’s direct account identifies the Fairlight behind those drums, while the official credits name him alongside the band as arranger. The linked recording is the 2024 remaster, approximately 6:12. Consider the sound’s angular character in relation to the vocal and surrounding parts, rather than judging only how naturally it imitates a drum kit. This is more than an isolated novelty at the entrance: the opening establishes a particular kind of attention. Carry that impression into the next song and the album’s range becomes easier to appreciate as a change of texture.

    Reference · Rock oN — Takeshi Fujii direct interview, August 2019

  2. 鎌倉物語

    Yuko Hara sings the tenth and final song of the first group. Kuwata wrote it, and Kow Otani receives a separate string-arrangement credit: singer, songwriter and arranger are distinct contributors to the result. This selection is the 2024 remaster, approximately 3:56. Listen to the voice as the scene’s organising presence rather than another decorative layer. Its position after Yoshida Takuro no Uta and before the second group’s Kao matters too. A more intimate performance can close a substantial stretch without requiring an oversized finale. Hearing the neighbouring tracks keeps that structural role in view while leaving the song’s individual melodic appeal intact.

    Reference · Southern All Stars official — Kamakura Monogatari credits

Listen next

Continue to Denki Groove’s A to compare electronics as one resource within a band album with electronics as a central organising language.

A (Ace) ↗
References & editorial note

Written for English readers. Album facts are referenced below; listening suggestions are editorial interpretations. AI-assisted editorial review; not independently human-reviewed.