Big Wave (Tatsuro Yamashita album)

Big Wave
Soundtrack album by Tatsuro Yamashita
Released	June 20, 1984
Genre	City pop
Length	40:07
Label	Alfa/Moon
Producer	Tatsuro Yamashita
Tatsuro Yamashita chronology
Melodies (1983) Big Wave (1984) Pocket Music (1986)

Big Wave is the soundtrack album for the same-tiled motion picture, produced and recorded by a Japanese singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita. It was released in June 1984.

A-Side of Big Wave are composed of the songs he wrote, and rest of the album mostly consists of cover versions of The Beach Boys' frontman Brian Wilson compositions. A song "The Theme from Big Wave" was first aired on the NHK-FM radio program hosted by Yamashita in January 1983. It features his former bandmate Taeko Onuki on lead vocals, and its lyrics was written in Japanese language by her. As the title indicated, he remade the song as the theme for the film. Alternative lyrics was written by Alan O'Day, who worked with him for the first time on Mariya Takeuchi's Miss.M album released in 1980. O'Day also contributed the lyrics for all the Yamashita-penned songs which appeared on the Big Wave, including "Your Eyes" which was already appeared on 1982 album For You. "Jody" is a newly recorded version of the lead-off track for his album Melodies released in 1983, which was originally sung in Japanese lyrics. "I Love You" was featured on Suntory's TV advertising aired from 1983 for about three years. Except instrumental version of "I Love You" and "Girls on the Beach", most songs included on the B-Side of the soundtrack were previously issued on his albums or flip side for singles, although some of them remixed or additionally recorded.

Big Wave peaked at #2 on the Japanese Oricon and sold over 450,000 copies while it was staying on the chart, becoming one of the commercially successful soundtrack albums in Japan at the time.

Track listing

Side one

All songs written by Tats Yamashita and Alan O'Day

1. "The Theme from Big Wave" - 3:39
2. "Jody" - 3:51
3. "Only with You" - 3:43
4. "Magic Ways" - 4:48
5. "Your Eyes" - 3:14
6. "I Love You... Part II" - 2:07

Side two

1. "Girls on the Beach" (Brian Wilson) - 2:45
2. "Please Let Me Wonder" (Wilson, Mike Love) - 3:10
3. "Darlin' (Wilson, Love) - 3:29
4. "Guess I'm Dumb" (Wilson, Russ Titelman) - 3:14
5. "This Could Be the Night" (Harry Nilsson) -　4:03
6. "I Love You... (Part I)" (Yamashita) - 2:04

Chart positions

References