Video – Boku no Shiawase
Hachimitsu Pie is better known these days as the precursor to The Moonriders but their sole studio album pops up on a lot of top album lists in Japan. They started out as a backing band for Morio Agata, named Morio Agata Seishin Byouin (Morio Agata Mental Hospital) and then Morio Agata and Hachimitsu Pie (Japanese for Honey Pie and taken from The Beatles song). In late 1970, they shortened their name to Hachimitsu Pie as Agata got more popular as a solo act. They played often at Tokyo’s BYG club and played at the Japan Folk Jamboree in August 1971 and at the Haru Ichiban Concert in 1972. The band membership changed frequently over their career and the addition of steel guitar, violin and saxophone players made their sound quite unique for a Japanese band.
センチメンタル通り
Sentimental Street was engineered by Eiichi Ohtaki of Happy End and includes Minako Yoshida and Taeko Onuki on background vocals. Morio Agata appears as the drunken cop on the album cover. The album was greatly influenced by The Band, Little Feat and Happy End.
セカンド・アルバム – イン・コンサート (Second Album – In Concert) was released in 1988 and includes unreleased live recordings from 1972 and 1974. Agata and Haruomi Hosono appear as guest vocalists. I haven’t heard it yet so I can’t comment on it.