If one thing could be said about Pink Lady's brief and unsuccessful foray into the American music scene was that they were, in my opinion, the victims of horribly bad timing. A pen pal remarked to me once that Pink Lady was too late for Disco and too early for MTV. A year or two either way and they might've hit it big here. When the Disco themed single, "Kiss In The Dark" debuted on the Billboard charts on June 2, 1979 to mixed reviews, Disco was dying while Punk and New Wave were taking over as the fad of choice. And the lingering resentment music fans had for Disco erupted like a volcano by the end of the 70's.

Case in point: Rod Stewart caught holy hell from his fans who thought he sold out when he cut "D'Ya Think I'm Sexy" in 1979 while The Bee Gees were shunned by the public from overexposure after "Saturday Night Fever". Meanwhile, the darlings of the Disco era were feeling the pinch: The Village People were on the fastrack to nowhere, even the Queen of Disco herself, Donna Summer ran out of steam and had to expand her repertoire to avoid oblivion. Taking all that into consideration, "Kiss In The Dark" had no chance.

If "KITD" came out a year or even six months earlier, it would've fared better since Disco still ruled the music nest in 1978. A lot of one-hit wonders from the mid to late 70's (Gloria Gaynor, Anita Ward and Thelma Houston immediately come to mind) made their killing during the Disco era before returning to the unknown quarters from where they came. Even music icons like Dolly Parton and KISS had a cup of coffee on the Disco bandwagon before it crashed and burned. All that being said, I thought "KITD" was a cool song that could have gone all the way to the top of the charts had the timing for its release been better.

Click on the record sleeve to read the lyrics from "Kiss In The Dark"

I was in the Navy at the time and bought the "KITD" single as soon as it came out. I was even able to listen to it on Casey Kasem's "Top 40" show on the ship's entertainment system before we sailed overseas on a six month deployment in June. I remembered Casey mentioning how Pink Lady was the first recording act from Japan to crack the top 40 since Kyu Sakamoto recorded "Sukiyaki" (in Japanese by the way) in 1963. I was excited, thinking that if, by some miracle, Mie and Kei reached the top spot, they would gain international stardom, or, at best, their alloted fifteen minutes of fame.

Unfortunately, that never happened. After a mere three weeks on the charts, "KITD", having reached as high as 37th, suddenly and completely disappeared. When my ship returned from its deployment in December, the first thing I did was hit every record store in Norfolk, Virginia to look for Pink Lady's American album. I thought of it as a Christmas present to myself. It took some six tries, but I managed to find it on disc (never did find it on cassette and 8-tracks which I never liked were all but dead) and got around to listening to it when I went home on leave for the holidays a few days later.

As for my musical tastes, I for one enjoyed Disco, hell, I had the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack and was even a big fan of ABBA and The Village People. So, after listening to the album in the privacy of my home, I arrived at the conclusion that Pink Lady's North American effort was pretty darn decent----for Disco that is. It had a upbeat tempo and a very nice sound, and several of the songs I liked considerably, espeically "Strangers When We Kiss" and the remake of Left Banke's "Walk Away Renee". Matt Varrato, a fellow Pink Lady fan did a funky review on the album and even has clips of the tracks as WAV files that you can download. His review can be found at Disco-Tack! Enjoy!

From this point as part of the all-new Music page, I'm going to review select Pink Lady albums, CD's and other stuff (in chronological order if possible) that I've manage to get my greedy little hands on. For the dyed-in-the-wool Pink Fanatic, you may already be familiar with Mie and Kei's music, so I'll endeavor to rap to you about stuff you may not have heard before or know about.

"We Are Sexy" from 1979 was, to say the least, rather different. At first, I thought this was a second U.S. album until I heard from Matt Varatto who won it on an eBay auction and told me that it had been cut in Japan. The songs features Japanese versions of Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy", Leif Garrett's "I Was Made For Dancin'", Donna Summer's "Last Dance" and "Kiss in the Dark"; a different version of "Walk Away Renee" along with a medley of popular Disco songs of the day, two of which, "Knock On Wood" and "Boogie Wonderland" the girls sang on Pink Lady & Jeff. The mix of langauges on the album was a tad perplexing at first but it didn't detract from my overall enjoyment of the songs.

You'd be amazed at the stuff I find on eBay. The bulk of the Pink Lady collectibles you've seen here on the website since 2000, including albums and the sheet music to "Kiss in the Dark" were purchased through auctions held on eBay, the premier online auction website. A couple of months ago, I found that someone was selling an album by The Spotnicks called "Pink Lady Super Hits". Immediately curious about what this album was, I bid on it, but lost out on it to someone else. But, a short time later, a Sanae Hutson who also had a copy of the album emailed me and offered it for sale, and was even kind enough to burn it onto CD. Many thanks, Sanae! Here it is below:

A little history: The Spotnicks were a Swedish pop instrumental band that formed way back in 1959, and in the early days of their career did live shows wearing spacesuits as a gimmick. ALong with being popular in Europe, the band also had a following in Japan, and, in 1979, they cut an instrumental album of PL's greatest hits (except for "Chameleon Army", they must've been in the studio before it came out) along with three B-sides. The best way to describe the music here would be a peppy and kicky pop sound with liberal amounts of guitars and keyboards. It may not be everyone's cup of tea, but I rather enjoyed it. Another example of the influence Mie and Kei had on the public!

In 1984, three years after the break-up of Pink Lady, Mie and Kei got back together (the first of several such reunions that would sporadically occur over the next sixteen years) and came out with a brand new album called "Suspense: Pink Lady Again". I wasn't aware that album existed until only a couple of years ago and was curious about what sort of songs Mie and Kei sang on it long after their salad days had come and gone, but I had no luck finding it. Fortunately, fellow PL fan Michael Michaud steered to a company in Japan that dealt in rare CD's and videos and I finally got a copy in mid March 2002. After playing the disc, I thoroughly enjoyed what I heard. This might well be their best studio album evver.

LEFT: The cover to the original vinyl version of "Suspense" when it first came out in 1984
RIGHT: The cover to the 1995 CD release.
I could never figure out the significance of Kei not wearing her right shoe in those pics

The ten tracks on "Suspense" represented a refreshingly new, vibrant and stylish brand of music that was worlds apart from the bubblegum pop and Disco tunes that made Mie and Kei so incredibly popular in their heyday. A nice mix of foot tapping uptempo songs, soft rock tunes and charming ballads made this album a joy to listen to as the Ladies, both 27 at the time of the album's release were in fine form, having fully evolved from fresh faced idol singers to elegant and sophisticated songstresses. I viewed "Suspense" as a validation that there was much more to Pink Lady than "Pepper Keibu", "UFO", "Southpaw" and all the rest of their kiddie-flavored pop songs from the late 70's.

Now this is strictly wishful thinking on my part, but if "Suspense" had been recorded in English, I truly believe that might have been the breakthrough album that could've gained Mie and Kei success in America instead of the regrettably ill-timed Disco release back in 1979. The songs on it were that good! The album had that slick, cool, ultra-modern sound that was so prevalent in music from the mid-80's. In retrospect, it's a shame Mie and Kei hadn't recorded more albums like "Suspense". It would've been interesting to have heard the Ladies handle formats like R & B, soul, jazz, rock, or return to their pop roots as they were talented enough to sing just about anything!

In 1989, Kei came out with a very interesting solo album titled "Voice Cologne". Why was this interesting? Of the 10 tracks on this CD, Kei sang four of them in English and the rest----believe it or not----in French. That's right, kids, IN FRENCH!! Imagine my surprise when I listened to it for the very first time! The thing is, with her low, throaty voice, I thought Kei sounded downright sultry on the songs she did in French which, even to my untrained ear was practically flawless. More proof of just how talented the Ladies, either separately or together truly were! Many thanks to Josh Nimura from Japan for providing me with this neat CD.

Ted Park, a fellow PL fan who's helped me with English translations of Pink Lady songs presented a great many fascinating insights as he was in Japan during the Ladies' heyday and beyond. For instance, regarding "Voice Cologne", it was released in France under the title "Simple Confidences" the CD's lead track. Back in Japan, a popular female TV psychic of the day told Kei that if she wore black high heels, the album would do well. Whether or not Kei followed her advice is unknown, however, I'm guessing she had as the album was well received as people in France said her voice was fragrant like cologne. Cool, huh?

As you've probably read in Matt Varatto's Pink Lady page, the girls cut an album of remakes of their most popular hits from their heyday, called "Remixes". Matt was kind enough to make a tape of the CD which I eventually bought from CDNOW. Because it's an import, it's not available in local record stores, and, as I've mentioned on the Contents Page, the lag time between placing your order and actually getting it is usually around two months. When I listened to "Remixes", I was nothing short of amazed. And I don't amaze easily.

Click on the CD jacket to read the English lyrics from "Wanted"

The CD which came out in late 1990 only had six songs on it, and one of those was a medley of something like a dozen of their most famous hits, yet, "Remixes" was remarkable. And, above all, thoroughly enjoyable. If you're familiar Pink Lady's songs as I am, this will surprise you just as it did me. The lead track, "Southpaw" knocked my socks off as it was retooled into a power packed hard rock number, complete with screaming guitar riffs that would've made Eddie Van Halen proud. "UFO" was redone with a slick, urban, hip-hop flavor. You could almost envision a video of this song being shown on MTV.

"Nagisa No Sinbad" was given a bouncy, early 80's Techno Pop feel a la The Cars while "Kiss In The Dark" from the duo's 1979 American album was transformed from its original Disco roots into a funky, modern day dance club scorcher that I like even better than the original. Last, but not least was "Wanted", my all-time favorite Pink Lady song. Of all the tracks on the "Remixes" CD, this blew my mind for one simple reason: Mie and Kei sang it IN ENGLISH!!! The very first time I heard the new version, it put a big, goofy smile on my face you couldn't have pried loose with a crowbar.

Fellow PL fan Morito Suzuki from Japan turned me on to this utterly enjoyable CD from Vastine Pettis, a gent who's part of the music scene in Hong Kong. In 1991, he came out with "Inspector Pepper" where he covered 10 of Pink Lady's top hits, including such time honored classics as "Wanted", "Southpaw", "Monster", "UFO", "Nagisa No Sinbad", "Chameleon Army" and, of course "Pepper Keibu"---- but IN ENGLISH!!! The first time I listed to this CD, I was downright floored! Vastine did an absolutely terrfic job in presenting a wildly fascinating slant to the Ladies' most popular tunes!

After getting in touch with Vastine, or 'Wink' as he likes to be called, he graciously told me all about the CD in which he and a Japanese friend translated the lyrics into English while faithfully keeping to the subject matter of the songs. The end result was a kalideoscope of entertaining interpretations: from the funky, hard driving beat of "Wanted", the Jimmy Buffett feel of "Zipangu" (actual title, "Miracle Island Zipang") to the straight out disco beat of "Monday Mona Lisa Club". All in all, "Inspector Pepper" was great fun to listen to as it gave me a brand new appreciation for the songs that made Pink Lady famous.

Fellow Pink Lady fan Todd Pillard turned me on to a 21 song greatest hits collection called "Pink Lady: Best Selection" which he found at Kinokuniya. This CD featured 21 songs, among them, Mie and Kei's chart toppers from 1976 to 1978, 3 tracks from the American album (yes, "Kiss In The Dark" is one of them!), "Pink Typhoon" (their "In The Navy" remake) and "Pink Eyed Soul" a song the girls wrote and cut in 1996 and is too cool for words! Also, as you can see from the photo below, the Ladies aged like the finest wine! WOW!!!

Mie and Kei, circa late 1996 from the "Best Selection" CD dust jacket, which brings us to the following:

Yes, boys and girls, the honest to God video for "Pink Eyed Soul", released shortly after the single. This 30 minute tape I purchased from Kinokuniya in late September 1999 contained not only the video which was sensational, but a documentary of sorts on how the video was made. To see just how amazing the video was, just go to Pink Comeback to see video stills I made from both the video itself and the documentary. While Mie and Kei looked cute and perky in their early 20's, they were flat out saucy and sexy in their late 30's when this video was shot. Yet, they were still every bit as charming as ever!

And, if that wasn't enough, the video also included concert footage from a show the Ladies did in December of 1978. In the footage, Mie and Kei performed several of their chart toppers: "Pepper Keibu", "SOS", "Nagisa No Sinbad", "Wanted", "Southpaw" and "UFO". It was absolutely awesome! Even after all these years, I'm still amazed at how the girls could do all their wild and crazy dance gyrations and still manage to sing as well! Proof positive of how incredibly talented Mie and Kei truly were! And still are! You simply have to see it to believe it!

(Aside: When I ordered the video from Kinokuniya, I got it in only three weeks! Practically overnight compared to the abysmally long wait times for CD's!)

"Twin Best" is a two CD set that came out in late 1998, containing 41 tracks, a whopping two and a half hours worth of music. As with "Best Selection", all of Mie and Kei's chart toppers are here, but in chronological order of their original release dates along with B-sides, "Kiss in the Dark", plus Japanese language versions of "Strangers When We Kiss" and the theme from "Fame". In addition to those tracks were "Pink Typhoon" and "Nami Nori Pirates" which I mentioned on the Pink History page and "Monday Mona Lisa Club", a dynamic, powerful, snap your fingers Disco rocker with a Bee Gees like flavor.

Also included in the collection was "Do Your Best" which, according to a clipping I have in my scrapbook, was Japan's theme song for their 1980 Olympic team. Then there's another three or four tracks Mie and Kei cut near the end of their historic five year run which were straightforward soft rock songs as the girls abandoned their bubblegum pop roots for a more comtemporary sound, including the slightly bizarre "Last Pretender". However, from what I've read, none of those records sold very well. The last track on disc two ran a whopping seventeen minutes long and was a collection of all the tunes Mie and Kei had done for the products they had pushed in their heyday.

In December of 2000, a new Pink Lady CD of their greatest hits came out, but it was unlike anything I had heard before. "Pink Lady: Euro Tracks" consisted of fast paced, pulse pounding dance club versions of their ten most famous songs along with instrumental and extended versions of "UFO" and "SOS" and a 'mega mix' of all ten songs. The thing about this CD was that Mie and Kei didn't do the vocals, rather that was handled by another female group called Trasperenza. Admittedly, when I listened to the CD for the first time, I was sorely disappointed not to have heard the familiar voices of the Ladies, but in time, I came to enjoy the CD which was funky and powerful.

LEFT: The "Euro Tracks" CD
RIGHT: The "Euro Tracks" video

At the same time the Euro Tracks CD was a released, a companion video, "Euro Tracks: Para Para Remix" also came out. As was the case with the CD, Mie and Kei were nowhere to be seen on this video as uptempo dance routines to the new versions of the PL hits were performed by five groups of pretty young ladies (none of whom looked to be out of their teens) in short skirts and outrageously high heeled platform boots. Again, I was disappointed that I didn't see THE Ladies, but the at the end of the video, there was a scene where kids at a dance club were jamming to the Euro versions of those old PL songs which clearly have stood the test of time with honor.

In June of 2002, Mie came out with a CD called "Mie: Golden Best" which featured most of her post Pink Lady solo tunes, including the theme song from her infamous 1982 star turn in "Call Girl", plus a sassy rendition of "It's Raining Men" by 1990's one-hit wonders, The Weather Girls. I heard or read somewhere that this song was on the Japanese langauage soundtrack of "Bridget Jones' Diary", but I'm not sure if that's true. If someone out there has any info, please drop me a line and let me know. Having never heard any of of Mie's solo songs save for "Call Girl", I found them to have been quite a treat as "Golden Best" presented a nice mix of hard rock, soft rock, pop tunes and ballads.

Now, what you see above is the actual, untouched cover to Mie's CD. No name, no title, no record company logo or serial number, no nothing! I thought that was cool beyond words! After all, when you're one of THE most recognizable, and gorgeous entertainers in the history of Japanese pop culture (and is famous enough to go by only her first name), what else do you need to display? A really clever bit of marketing strategy if I do say so myself! If you're interested in getting your own copy of "Golden Best", just hop on over to CD Japan and they'll hook you up! Trust me, if you wanna hear Mie-chan belt out her exciting brand of music, it's more than worth the money!

Of course, all the news of late has surround the reunion of Pink Lady and the monster Japan tour that launches in June of 2003. And it all began with a brand new single Mie and Kei made, their first since "Pink Eyed Soul" in 1997. "Tereba Ga Kita Hi", written by and composed by Aku Yu and Tokura Shunichi, the famous pair that wrote and composed most of Pink Lady's songs during their mid-70's heyday is a delightful, bouncy, pure pop tune that reminds me of "Pepper Keibu" or "SOS", a pure bubblegum song that's sweet to the ears with the added dimension of children singing in the background. Even after 27 years, Mie and Kei STILL sound unbelivably great together, like they never lost a step since 1976.

However, it was the B-side of "Tereba" that really caught my attention. "Monster Wave" (Don't ask me to explain these titles!) is----and I'm not making this up----a Country tune! Yes, you read right, boys and girls, A COUNTRY TUNE! What I mean is, this song has the same sort of modern day Country sounding kick, complete with picking guitars like you'd hear from The Dixie Chicks! I've always said Mie and Kei can sing practically anything! I can't wait to hear them tackle Opera, or better yet, Hip-Hop! Oh, wait, I forgot! The Ladies already did that with their funky remake of "UFO" from Remixes! Looking at the picture above, it's hard to believe Mie and Kei are 45 years old! And looking better than ever!

If you wanna get your hands on this single, let your cyber fingers do the walking over to CD Japan and they'll take good care of you!

Here is a most interesting release, or rather, a re-release of the 1980 Pink Lady box set on CD which I recently purchased through the good folks over at CD Japan. For anyone unfamilar with it, this came out shortly after Mie and Kei announced that they were breaking up. This was a three record set that contained all 22 singles from "Pepper Keibu" to "OH!", 8 B-sides, including "Amenic", the flip side to "Last Pretender" which was equally as weird, and 11 more tracks (two of them solos) that, as God is my witness, I had never heard before I sat down and listened to the entire set one Sunday afternoon. The package also included a booklet with pictures of the girls (most of which are part of galleries 20 and 21that John Vawter put together) plus a sticker.

ABOVE: The actual box of the box set. Because of its mirrored surface, I took a picture instead of scanning it

The 11 mystery tracks as I came to call them intrigued me most. I can only guess they had been recorded throughout the time Mie and Kei had been together, but for whatever reason, were never released. One of those solo tracks, "California Blue", sung by Kei was a melancholy tune that hooked me instantly with its sweetly mellow strains, and how Kei put a lot of feeling into the song. Of all the extra tracks, "Blue" became my favorite. It's also a favorite of John who's openly fond of Kei-chan and theorized to me that "Blue" might have been a chronicle about Kei's experience in Los Angeles taping Pink Lady & Jeff with Mie, and how emotional it must have been for the girls who were separated from their boyfriends back home in Japan.

Anyway, it's a shame those 11 tracks were never released before 1980 as they were a nice mix of pop, soft rock, even adult contemporary, clear evidence that Mie and Kei had expanded their horizons beyond the bubblegum songs that made them famous. Perhaps it was a prelude to "Suspense" (for my money, Pink Lady's best studio album ever) which came out four years later. All in all, an excellent collection displaying Mie and Kei at their very best. For the money, this collection is well worth investing in, just for the mystery tracks alone!

Just when you thought you couldn't hear enough versions of Pink Lady's 10 top songs from 1976 to 1978, along came "Blood New" which, I believe came out in 1987. I had heard of the album after seeing it posted on ebay auctions, but never heard it, and had never bothered trying to get my hands on it since I thought it was yet another of the seemingly endless best hit collections pumped out during the Ladies' storied career. But, when I found out, quite by accident that Blood New featured an ENGLISH version of "Pepper Keibu", that got my interest big time, so I sought to win the album when it was auctioned again.

Click on the album pic to read the lyrics from "Sargeant Pepper", the English version of "Pepper Keibu"

Unfortunately, someone else was after that same album, out on CD, and I wound up losing the auction. However, the person who won "Blood New", Alan Newman from the great state of Texas was both a big fan of Pink Lady, AND had heard of me and my website. Alan wrote and graciously offered me a copy of the CD. Much obliged, Alan! As for the album itself, it was indeed different from anything I had heard as, with the exception of "Pepper Keibu" and a slightly different English version of "Wanted" (Perhaps a precursor of the version from "Remixes" ), the songs were essentially Mie and Kei's original vocals matched with newer, uptempo, mid-80's style, percussion heavy musical accompanaments, just like on "Remixes".

But, it was the English version of "Pepper Keibu" that intrigued me most about this album. I thought the lyrics were pretty darn funky as Mie and Kei sang about an irresistible woman called Sargeant Pepper who had the looks and brains to snare any man she set her sights on. When you read the lyrics by clicking on the picture above, you'll see what I mean!

There's lots more interesting PL music out there! So stay tuned for future updates to this page!

Fellow PL fan Trulawn McCray chimed in with his opinion on Mie and Kei's first song, the song that launched their legend, "Pepper Keibu"

At the beginning of this year (2009), Pink Lady was brought back to my attention by another "J-Pop music fan" who also happens to live in Chicago like me. His name is Joshua Parris (YouTube screen names: eam12 & JoshuaParris83). The first Pink Lady song I heard all the way was "Pink Typhoon". Joshua told me all about it and I was instantly smitten - as I had first seen Pink Lady on TV in 1980 (I was only 6 going on 7 that year). At that time, I was just mesmerized by their beauty, and paid no attention to Jeff Altman. After seeing and hearing "Pink Typhoon," I instantly looked for other Pink Lady songs on YouTube. The next song I came across was "Pepper Keibu." I was smiling non-stop when listening to that and other classics like "UFO", "Sindbad at the Beach (Nagisa No Sindbad)", "Chameleon Army", and "SOS." But out of all the songs that Pink Lady have brought to the world, my absolute favorite is "Pepper Keibu."