Kazumi Watanabe, Part 3 (1979 Kylyn, 1979 Kylyn Live, 1980 To Chi Ka, 1981 Dogatana, 1984 Mobo and 1985 Mobo Splash)

 

So far the best of the packages remains, in these albums he moved forward from the sweet fusion to slightly more European, composed, Frippian progressive style composition in many parts though the simple fusion remains here and there.  Notably, (1981) Dogatana's acoustic pieces are very much like a lot of gentler fusion we have heard here from the likes of Toto Blanke or low-key acoustic guitar/synth pieces from Jun Fukamachi.

Consider the track called Island:

On Kylyn Live, I was absolutely floored to hear a ballad vocals version of The River Must Flow, a song by Canadian Gino Vanelli who of course was exhaustively featured here before.  When Gino did the song he made it uptempo and funky, but here it's transformed into a somewhat latin or brazilian ballad and note that on top of that, it's sung by the much beloved Akiko Yano--no mistaking her style of singing.

The Frippian element evident on a track called Synapse, from 1985's Mobo Splash: