Group Sounds, Village Singers Set of two 17cm singles "Koi no Naka no Ame" (Love in the Rain) Tsutomu Sasaki / Lyrics & Composition, Takeyoshi Noguchi / Arrangement B-side: "Saraba Koibito" (Farewell Lover) Rei Nakanishi / Lyrics, Kunihiko Murai / Composition & Arrangement "X'mas Nanka Kite Hoshikunai" (I Don't Want Christmas to Come) Akira Imaizumi / Lyrics, Goro Go / Composition, Teddy Iketani / Arrangement B-side: "Kuchibeni to Lemon to 10 Yen" (Lipstick, Lemon, and 10 Yen) Goro Go / Lyrics & Composition, Teddy Iketani / Arrangement The Village Singers debuted in October 1966 with "Kurai Sunahama" (Dark Beach) from CBS Columbia. They released "Kimi o Motomete" (Seeking You), but two of the four members left. Hisashi Komatsu (lead guitar) and Yutaka Hayashi (drums) added Michio Shimizu (vocals, side guitar), Kazuo Sasai (bass guitar), and Tetsuo Koike (electone). They released "Barairo no Kumo" (Rose-Colored Clouds), which became a big hit. While groups like the Tigers, Tempters, and Spiders aimed for rock bands like the Beatles and Rolling Stones, the Village Singers were in the folk-rock flow, like Bob Dylan, who brought electric guitars to acoustic modern folk. As a "princely mood group sounds," they had consecutive hits with songs like "Suki Dakara" (Because I Like You), "Amai-iro no Kami no Otome" (Flaxen-Haired Maiden), and "Niji no Naka no Lemon" (Lemon in the Rainbow). They moved to the newly established CBS Sony Records in 1968. "Koi no Naka no Ame" was released in March 1969, when the boom was fading, and it was a fairy-tale-like song. "X'mas Nanka Kite Hoshikunai," released after the bass guitar changed from Kazuo Sasai to Eiji Tsunoda in the summer of 1969, was released in November 1969, when the boom was almost over, and it can be called a folk kayo (popular song). In 1970, they featured Michio Shimizu's vocals as a mood chorus group, but they disbanded in June 1971. Michio Shimizu worked as a solo singer and then as a director at Columbia, handling artists like Takashi Hosokawa. Kazuo Sasai worked as a director at Victor, handling artists like Megumi Asaoka. Yutaka Hayashi, after acting, became a businessman and successfully managed the oldies live house "Kentos." "X'mas Nanka Kite Hoshikunai" has repairs with cellophane tape on the jacket and bag. For Group Sounds fans, Village Singers fans, How about it?