The king of city pop, Tatsuro Yamashita to re-release several of his album on cassette and vinyl in 2023

Somebody, somewhere in the business of making money is finally doing something to acknowledge the king of city pop, and cash in on the current boom of analog media, vinyl sales and the sizeable city pop fanbase which has burgeoned online. Because eight of Tatsuro Yamashita’s albums will be re-released on vinyl and cassette over the course of 2023.

The eBay sellers ‘bout to be real mad. Because some of these albums are on marketplaces going for hundreds, and in some cases thousands of dollars.

For You
May 3, 2023

Ride on Time
June 7, 2023

Moonglow
Go Ahead
July 5, 2023

Spacy
Circus Town
August 2, 2023

It’s a Poppin Time
Greatest Hits! of Tatsuro Yamashita
September 6, 2023

This is not the first time that these albums have been re-released. 2002 saw the first re-release of these albums as package; The RCA / AIR Years 1976-1982. But this did not include Greatest Hits! of Tatsuro Yamashita. So I guess we can expect Sony to keep re-releasing these albums every 20 years or so.

I’m gonna have to text my plug in Japan and get them to send me the cassette and vinyl of Moonglow.

So, why aren’t all of Tatsu’s albums being released? Well, there’s nothing to say that the rest won’t be. But these specific albums were all released when Tatsuro Yamashita was signed to RCA / Air Records. His first three albums Circus Town, Spacy and Go Ahead were all released on RCA Records, with Moonglow, Ride on Time and For You being released on Air Records. Both labels of which are now under Sony. Strangely, Tatsuro’s 1980 cover album On the Street Corner is not getting a re-release, despite also releasing on Air Records.

All of Tatsuro’s albums from 1983’s Melodies onward were released through a label which is now owned by Warner Music. So if Warner Music were smart, they would woo Tatsuro, keep the momentum going, and plan to release their chunk of his catalogue in 2024, starting with a December 2023 vinyl and cassette release of Season’s Greetings.

Tatsuro Yamashita vinyl’s | Face Records, NYC

Unfortunately there is still no word on when Tatsuro Yamashita’s full discography will hit streaming globally. But I can’t see it happening any time soon, as it turns out Tatsuro Yamashita is not a fan of streaming; which seems to stem from him feeling the service devalues music and than corporations benefits from it in ways that the artists and songwriters don’t. And I completely get it. But streaming is a part of the music business now, whether he or anybody else likes it or not. And a question which needs to be asked is ‘Do I deny streaming services my music because ‘FUCK THE CORPORATION’, or do I make my music available on streaming services to allow my music to reach more of the people who struggle to access my music?’. 

I really hope he comes around on this, because it seems such a shame. His discography alone is a massive part of Japanese music history, and it’s on none of the platforms that most now use to listen to music. Hopefully these vinyl re-releases and the responses to them will trigger a change of heart. They probably won’t. Because, Japan. And also old Japanese men. But one can still hope.

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💿 Album Review: Season’s Greetings