"SUSPENSE: PINK LADY AGAIN"
Coinciding with Pink Lady's reunion concert on September 2, 1984, Mie and Kei released their first album of completely new material since "Magical Music Tour" in 1979, titled "Suspense: Pink Lady Again", and, in my highly biased opinion, I believe this was their best album ever.
Three years removed from the emotionally charged farewell concert, "Suspense" marked a total sea change from what we had been used to hearing from Mie and Kei, gone were the bubblegum pop, Disco tunes and covers of other artists' songs, what we had here were ten slick, stylish and contemporary songs, mainly soft rock, power pop and a couple of ballads thrown in for good measure. The overall style of the music on the album was symbolic of what music was like in that period of the mid 1980's, and I thought it all worked very well. Starting with “Tonight Is Lonely”, a classic 1980's style uptempo soft rock number with a strong beat that the girls sang very well on, next came “Mysterious Love” which had been the lone single released from the album, a smooth sounding adult contemporary track that sounded like something Kei might've covered on one of her solo albums. Then we do a 180 of sorts with “In Africa” (not to be confused with “Africa”, the chart topper by Toto which also came out in the early 80's), a funky, past paced, pure rock tune that sounded like a song Mie might've recorded on any of her solo albums. “Crime Summer” was a slick, techno/synthesizer style song that made you want to tap your feet to the beat. Things slow down with the next offering, “With”, a positively sweet and charming ballad Mie and Kei sounded wonderful doing, the same held true with “Darling”, which was highlighted by some mellow piano work, soaring strings and was a powerful ballad that gave me chills.
Things ramp back up with the next song, “Elevator Of Glass” which was a jazzy, brassy power pop tune that the girls, in their element, handled well, this was followed by my favorite track, “Modern Girl” (which the girls sang during the reunion show, complete with a dance number in long dresses, a foot tapping, dance club worthy soft rock tune that, for my money, had a boatload of energy. “Suspensory, for some strange reason, harkened me back to the pleasant, whimsy filled b-sides the girls had done during the latter part of their heyday as it was a cute pop tune. The last song on the album, “Sihlouette” brought me back full circle with the sort of 80's style power pop sound that kicked off the album and was a fine way to end Pink Lady’s first album since the breakup. All in all, “Suspense” was a great album as Mie and Kei perfectly captured the slick and stylish sort of soft rock/power pop sound that was prevalent during the early 80's as the girls had clearly evolved from mere pop singers to true songstresses. I've probably mentioned this a time or two, but I've always thought that if the girls had taken a third crack at fame in the U.S. with this album (recorded in English of course), especially with a dynamic single like “Modern Girl”, they might've achieved the sort of success that eluded them five years earlier with their ill timed Disco album or the disastrous TV show a year later. Oh, yeah, as for the significance of Kei not wearing her right shoe on the album cover, well, your guess is as good as mine.
