If you're a fan of aging rockers (quickly scanning my CD and MP3 collections, it appears that the minimum age of the typical front man is well past fifty), look no further than Kouji Tamaki and Anzenchitai ("Safety Zone"). A good collection to start with is Anzenchitai Complete Best.

I got interested in them after seeing a reunion special last year on NHK, though the comeback tour has reportedly been frustrated on occasion by Tamaki channeling Jeff Bridges in Crazy Heart. In any case, as illustrated below, his younger, energetic self has been preserved for all time.

They started out doing fusiony rock and drifted into wall-of-sound pop. If you're hip, this is called "selling out." But I'm not hip. (Aside from "Hell, Yeah," I prefer older Neil Diamond covering middle-aged Neil Diamond and not the recent stuff when critics decided he was "hip" again.)

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Labels: aging rockers, japan, music, personal favs, pop culture