There is no better way to tell the story of this gorgeous and lovingly remastered release by Akiko Yano than to let our dear friends at Wewantsounds to explain it for themselves:

“Wewantsounds is proud to continue its Akiko Yano reissue series with the release of the singer’s third studio album ‘To Ki Me Ki’, recorded in New York and originally issued in 1978 in Japan. It follows her cult “Iroha Ni Konpeitou” LP and retains a similar blend of Japanese pop and New York funk. “To Ki Me Ki” features such musicians as Rick Marotta, Will Lee and David Spinozza and also programmer Hideki Matsutake who would soon join the YMO with Akiko for their international 1979/1980 tour before she recorded her next studio album “Tadaima” that year, featuring the YMO musicians. “To Ki Me Ki” is reissued outside of Japan for the first time, remastered in Tokyo by revered engineer Mitsuo Koike and featuring original artwork by Tsutomu Murakami with 4 page colour insert and new liner notes by Paul Bowler.

1978 was a key year for Japanese Music. Yellow Magic Orchestra was about to release their ground-breaking debut album. All musicians involved had also released key solo albums that year (Sakamoto with “Thousand Knives“, Takahashi with “Saravah” and Hosono with “Paraiso“). Akiko Yano  (who would soon join the YMO on tour for their first international tour) was no exception, releasing the brilliant “To Ki Me Ki”. Having started her career with a bang recording “Japanese Girl” in 1976 with Little Feat, Akiko had quickly established herself as a leading force on the Japanese music scene.”

Read the rest of the promo material here. This is rightly seen as a timeless record.