Music Review: 4 P.M. "Sukiyaki"

4 P.M.
Sukiyaki

Album: Now’s The Time

Year: 1995

          Roberto Pena, Jr. is heartbroken after a breakup in their despondent cover of  “Sukiyaki.”

         Finger snaps and an astute harmony opens the single, setting a musing tone. He turns his head away from one poster on his wall and looks to the other side, staring into the paint. He makes lopsided circles with his finger on his bedspread. He has no desire to go outside. He imagines her calling him up and asking him to talk. She’ll say she was wrong to end the relationship. He thinks of the times at the baseball games, cheering on their hometown and talking about what was going on in their lives. He would like to return to those early days. (“It's all because of you, I'm feeling sad and blue/You went away, now my life is just a rainy day/And I love you so, how much you'll never know/You've gone away and left me lonely/Untouchable memories, seem to keep haunting me/Of a love so true/That it once turned all my gray skies blue/But you disappeared/Now my eyes are filled with tears/And I'm wishing you were here with me.”)

          In the bridge, he says he has no purpose. One day he had a future filled with love and the next is was gone. (“Soaked with love are my thoughts of you/Now that you're gone, I just don't know what to do.”)

             The mousy synth arrangement makes its cameo appearance.

             She knew how to care of him. Whenever he would be upset, she lean into his chest and hold him. Every so often, she would look up into his eyes and kiss him. However, that’s not going to happen ever again. (“If only you were here/You'd wash away my tears/The sun would shine and once again/You'd be mine all mine/But in reality, you and I will never be/'Cause you took your love away from me.”)

      Pena, Jr. says in the spoken bridge that he isn’t sure what happened. He can’t function without her. A void now exists where it didn’t before. Somehow, she’s the only one who can fill it. (“Girl, I don't know what I did/To make you leave me but what I do know/Is that since you've been gone/There's such an emptiness inside/I'm wishing you'd come back to me.”)

           The second verse is repeated again. (“If only you were here..'cause you took your love away from me.”)

        The mousy synth arrangement, despite numerous attempts, blends right back into the background.

      At the end, he adds “oh baby, you take your love away from me.”

        4 P.M.’s solid vocals wallow and replay every memory, trying to find a signal that it was missed. The acapella allows them to truly connect without any splashy production.

There are several changes made to A Taste of Honey’s English version of the single. First, there’s hardly an instrumentation. It’s also shortened by nearly a minute, clocking in at 2:43. It also adds a spoken section that gives it more of a story. All the changes are logical and solve the problems in the 1981 version.  Distant vocals and excessive strings? Go acapella. Repetitive verses? Break it up with an interlude.

   The efficient “Sukyaki” is full of good ideas, executing them well.