I don't buy CDs very much anymore. I'm an iTunes kind of guy now that I've loaded (and then sold) 700+ CDs in the last few years. But this CD caught my eye when I was looking for another CD on Amazon.
Nippon Girls: Japanese Pop, Beat & Bossa Nova 1966-1970 is a collection of the female singers who were popular in Japan near the start of the "group sounds" era.
Here's a good review -- with pictures -- of the CD from Mojo magazine.
You can get the CD at Amazon here.
Highlights of the CD are as follows:
Mieko Hirota "Nagisa No Tenshi" (1968) -- with an intro echoing "Cool Jerk" by The Capitols, and arrangements sounding like The Fifth Dimension, this song soars and swings on the strength of a very Supremes-like vocal from Mieko Hirota:
Ryoko Moriyama "Ame Agari No Samba" (1968) -- a haunting and beautiful song that sounds like a summer's night on the beach, this could be my favorite track from the entire CD!
No embedding so play here.
Rumi Koyama "Watashi No Inori" (1968) -- a song that reminds me of Lesley Gore for some reason! -- not sure what film this clip is from.