[1980] Kenichi Shono (庄野賢一) – Kenichi (private press Disco/Funk) [Full Album]

Before forming the band Unisonair (and composing    • Trinity - In The Nude  , one of my fave J-R&B), 21-year old composer and arranger Kenichi Shono recorded and mixed his own material in the summer of 1980, resulting in this self-titled indie LP on Galaxy Records. Uplifting disco (the opener "Sunset People") and funky steppers with familiar basslines ("Every Time Keep on Dancing", "With Me") compose the majority of the album, with some turns into cosmic disco (aptly titled "Cosmic Space"), relaxed guitar + drum machine ("Week End"), and the rather eyebrow-raising "Oh... Share Funk". Recorded and mastered rather rudimentarily, the album nonetheless showcased his chops of writing dancefloor bangers. 00:00 Sunset People 04:05 Every Time Keep On Dancing 08:35 High Way 13:12 Cosmic Space 18:24 Week End 20:29 With Me 25:35 Happy Feeling 29:47 Oh… Share Funk 33:35 Smile (audio has been normalized and rebalanced to the best of my ability while keeping dynamics untouched) More uploads:    / @yaoiboi92   Producer, Composer, Arranger, Guitar, Keyboards, Synthesizers, Vocals – Kenichi Shono Bass – Chi Chio Fukushima Drums – Tarao Miyawaki Percussion, DJ – Toropical Morita Alto Sax, Tenor Sax – Shujiro Takeuchi Trumpet – Hana Matso Background Vocals – T. Kitachi, Nao Yamamoto, Tomoko Takahashi, Keiko Morimoto Synthesizer Programming – Kuni Watanabe Computer Programming – Mr. X. Masatoshi Kita Chief Designer and Illustrator – Hideki Kobayashi Art Direction – Shinijiro Morita Photography – Hiroaki Hosomi Stylist – Makoto-chan Label/Cat#: Galaxy Records – HLR-8032 Country: #Japan Year: 1980 Genre: #Funk, Soul, Pop Style: Funk, #Disco, Ballad Format: Vinyl, LP