Music / Saravah!

Saravah! is the debut album of Japanese artist Yukihiro Takahashi. Released in 1978 through Seven Seas Records, it is named after the French record label owned by Pierre Barouh, a future collaborator of Takahashi.

After playing drums for the rock band Sadistic Mika Band throughout the seventies, Takahashi decided to start his solo career and shift towards pop music, particularly the one from France and Italy. This is why this album contains covers of French and Italian songs ("C'est Si Bon" and "Volare") as well as songs showcasing Takahashi's English. Genres vary between City Pop and bossa nova, although this album would stand compared to Takahashi's next albums who are more synthpop-heavy.

Notable session players on the album are Haruomi Hosono and Ryuichi Sakamoto who, along with Takahashi, would go on to form Yellow Magic Orchestra, as well as Chris Mosdell, a frequent songwriter of YMO who wrote one song on this album.

The album was rerecorded under the title SARAVAH! SARAVAH! in 2018, celebrating the album's 40th anniversary; it was Takahashi's final studio album before his death from pneumonia in 2023.

Tracklist

1. "Volare (Nel Blu Dipinto Di Blue)"
2. "Saravah!"
3. "C'est Si Bon"
4. "La Rosa"
5. "Mood Indigo"
6. "Elastic Dummy"
7. "Sunset"
8. "Black Street Midnight Queen"
9. "Present"

This album provides examples of:

• Color-Coded Emotions: Blue as a representation of sadness/loneliness on "Mood Indigo"
  I'm so lonely I could cry
  'Cause there's nobody who cares about me
  I'm just a soul who's bluer than blue can be
• Cover Version: "Volare" was originally performed by Domenico Modugno, "C'est Si Bon" was originally by André Hornez/Henri Betti, and "Mood Indigo" was originally by Duke Ellington/Irving Mills.

• Face on the Cover: The album cover depicts Takahashi in front of a fountain at night.

• Instrumentals: "Elastic Dummy" has no lyrics.
• One-Word Title: "Volare", "Saravah!", "Sunset" and "Present" are all songs whose titles are exactly one word long each.
• Remix Album: The album was remixed by YMO engineer Yoshifumi Iio in 1994
• Special Guest:
  • Haruomi Hosono (playing bass) and Ryuichi Sakamoto (playing various keyboards) who would turn out to be Takahashi's bandmates under the Yellow Magic Orchestra helm. Frequent YMO songwriter Chris Mosdell co-wrote "Black Street Midnight Queen".
  • Shigeru Suzuki, former member of Happy End and musical partner of Hosono plays guitar on the album.
  • City Pop legend Tatsuro Yamashita provided backing vocals.
• Title Track: The second track on the album shares its name with the album itself.

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