From HOT BABY
Written by Amii Ozaki
Japanese singer Amii Ozaki has been on the music scene in her country for thirty-plus years with continued success. Between 1981 and 1982, Ozaki released two albums, “Hot Baby” and “Air Kiss,” completely supervised by David Foster.
The Canadian music maker put his musical prints all over these records and “Fosterized” them with great results. “Hot Baby” included eight compositions written by the singer with the inventive and fresh arrangements bringing them into the most elegant music zones. There are echoes of Earth Wind & Fire in the smooth ballad “Karada Ni Nokoru Wine” while the up-tempo “Wanderer in Love” reminds the listener of Boz Scaggs’ or Toto’s classiest stuff. The opener, “Love Is Easy,” was the single off the album and a definite winner. The background is reminiscent of Al Jarreau with Jeff Porcar’s impeccable drumming, Foster’s liquid keyboards and Tom Scott’s smoking sax leading the show. The weakest link of the whole affair is Ozaki’s vocals that frankly aren’t up to the stellar music charts. We can’t help but wonder how sublime these songs would have sounded with a gifted singer like Richard Page or Bill Champlin. “Hot Baby” makes a great listen for those nostalgic of the vintage, high tech sounds of the early ’80s.
Listen
[audio:https://www.fozfan.com/archives/clips/love_is_easy.mp3|titles=Love is easy|artists=Amii Ozaki]
Lead Vocal: Amii Ozaki
Drums: Jeff Porcaro
Bass: Neil Stubenhaus
Guitars: Jay Graydon & Steve Lukather
Keyboards: David Foster
Sax: Tom Scott
Background Vocals: Denise Maynelli, Marti McCall, Petsye Powell & Amii Ozaki
Arranged by David Foster
Background Vocals Arranged by Nick De Caro
Produced by Yuzo Watanabe & Amii Ozaki
Lyrics
No Lyrics