Handsome Boy is the 14th studio album by a Japanese singer-songwriter Yōsui Inoue, released in 1990.
The album contains the songs that were already known through the commercial tie-in with television programs or advertisements. Like "Gallery" which was recorded by Yoko Oginome and released as a single in June 1990, some of the materials were previously interpreted by other performers.
Prior to the album, three songs were released as a single; "Yume Ne Mi", "Saigo no News", and "Shounen Jidai" which was co-written by Natsumi Hirai and has been one of his most well-known songs throughout Inoue's longtime career. It was initially featured on the theme song for an award-winning film adaptation of Fujiko Fujio (A)'s manga Childhood Days (based on Hyouzou Kashiwabara's novel Nagai Michi). The song was gradually recognized through the TV ad of Sony Handycam which was aired during the following year. "Shounen Jidai" became his biggest hit single, peaking at No. 4 on the Japanese chart and selling more than 850,000 copies in total. In 1997, 3-inch CD single of the song was certified quadruple platinum by the Recording Industry Association of Japan, for shipments of over 1 million copies.
Led by the success of a single "Shounen Jidai", the album Handsome Boy itself also gained favorable reaction, peaking at No. 2 on the Japanese Oricon chart and entering top-100 for over 10 months with sales of about 640,000 copies.
Track listing All songs written and composed by Yōsui Inoue, unless otherwise noted "Pi Po Pa" – 3:55 "" – 3:35 "" (Inoue, Yūji Kawashima) – 3:51 "" – 3:55 "" – 5:07 "" (Inoue, Natsumi Hirai) – 3:21 "" – 3:21 "Tokyo" (Inoue, Hirai) – 3:56 "" – 5:03 "" (Inoue, Hirai) – 6:07 "" (Inoue, Kawashima) – 4:22
Personnel Yōsui Inoue – Vocals, acoustic guitar Hiromi Yasuda – Acoustic guitar Kenji Ōmura – Electric guitar Tomotaka Imamichi – Electric guitar Jun Sumida – Electric guitar Masaki Matsubara – Electric guitar Masayoshi Furukawa – Gut-string guitar Hirokazu Ogura – Gut-string guitar Masami Satou – Gut-string guitar Tsugutoshi Goto – Bass guitar Motofumi Hagiwara – Bass guitar Chiharu Mikuzuki – Bass guitar Vagabond Suzuki – Bass guitar Haruomi Hosono – Bass guitar, synthesizer, percussion Tadashi Nanba – Synthesizer Akira Inoue – Synthesizer Miharu Koshi – Synthesizer Akira Senju – Synthesizer Shinji Kawahara – Piano Takao Kisugi – Piano Yasuharu Nakanishi – Piano Yūji Kawashima – Synthesizer, computer programming Takeshi Fujii – Computer programming Hiroaki Sugawara – Computer programming Nobuo Tsuji – Computer programming Ma*to – Computer programming Yasuo Kimoto – Computer programming Motoya Hamaguchi – Percussion Eiji Narushima – Percussion Masato Hashida – Percussion Makoto Kimura – Percussion Hinotamao – Percussion Hideo Yamaki – Drums Eiji Shimamura – Drums Yutaka Odawara – Drums Junichi Kazezaki – Brasswinds Shin Kazuhara – Brasswinds Kenichirou Hayashi – Brasswinds Masahiro Kobayashi – Brasswinds Kenji Nakazawa – Brasswinds Kenji Nishiyama – Brasswinds Taro Kiyooka – Brasswinds Sumiyo Okada – Brasswinds Watanabe Katsu – Brasswinds Teiko Haruna – Woodwinds Mitsuru Souma – Woodwinds Ryūji Hoshikawa – Woodwinds Tadashi Togame – Woodwinds Masakazu Ishibashi – Woodwinds Toshitsugu Inoue – Woodwinds Jake H. Conception – Woodwinds Hirofumi Kinjou – Woodwinds Masaki Takano – WoodwindsMinako Yoshida Hiroyuki Ichihara – Woodwinds Hidefumi Toki – Woodwinds Aska Kaneko Strings – Strings Akiko Yano – Chorus Minako Yoshida – Chorus Seri Ishikawa – Chorus
Chart positions Album ChartPositionSalesJapanese Oricon Weekly Albums Chart (top 100)2639,000+
Singles SingleB-SideChartPositionSales"Yume Ne Mi""Beni Suberi"Japanese Oricon Weekly (top 100)3723,000"Saigo no News""Back Side"5716,000"Shounen Jidai""Ara-Washi no Uta"4853,000
Release history Country Date Label Format Catalog number NotesJapanOctober 20, 1990For Life RecordsCDFLCF-30081Audio cassetteFLTF-26021May 30, 2001CDFLCF-3858Original recording digital remasteredMarch 25, 2009For Life Music Entertainment/BMG SHM-CD FLCF-5011
References