A Taste Of Honey

"Sukiyaki" is no disco record but a slow jam, an okay remake that doesn't touch Kyu Sakamoto's 1963 original but whose story is equally interesting.

This was first a gorgeous Japanese ballad sung in Johnny Mathis' best 50's style, with a ballroom arrangement that was retro by even his standard. The original title has been loosely translated as "Let's Go Out and Take a Walk Under The Stars," or such, but perhaps no description can capture the universal melancholy appeal of the song, which hit #1 on the U.S. pop charts. "Sukiyaki" was Capitol Records' graceless, if commercially astute attempt.

Nearly 20 years later, the label agreed with frontwoman Janice Johnson that an English translation of this song might help rescue A Taste of Honey, whose "Boogie Ooogie Oogie" had sold millions in 1979 but by 1980-81 had toxically identified the group with disco.

I don't know Japanese. But the translation feels like the intent of the famous original. The production of the remake builds deceptively until the end, when a harp releases tension in a final flourish, with a head-slapping surprise. The faux-Asian hokum suddenly transforms a dentist-chair record into camp.

America eventually got the joke. Play on pop and "quiet storm" segments of black radio took nearly a year after the album's release to make a hit of the new "Sukiyaki," but did not stop until the record hit #3 on Billboard's Hot 100 in summer 1981!

Note the act's new Geisha get-up on the album cover, which was good-looking enough to spur rumors among some impressionable fans that "A Taste of Honey" were half-Japanese "war babies!" I remember hearing this drivel!

Not necessarily a great record, but a great gimmick: a novelty remake of a hit that had itself been a novelty for completely different reasons. A Taste of Honey milked it for all it was worth!

Great production!To dance and to listen!