Leading things off is A1 "Country Living" (sample1), a lovely lovers cover of the Stylistics soul classic extolling the country life. (While fairly faithful to the earlier Mighty Diamonds version, this airy, cute and chilled-out feel is just too good. It was also covered in several variations on the album by Sunliminal Calm, the '90s Japanese-language lovers/ambient unit formed by Seiko Ito and Hiroshi Fujiwara, so its influence must have been considerable.) Nine tracks in all, beautifully bringing together Sandra Cross's cute, fresh and dignified vocals with Mad Professor's light, urban-elegant, mellow and sentimental fusion-tinged lovers reggae arrangements. A record that defines the early ARIWA era, its fresh, dewy charm from the dawn of lovers rock remains evergreen — a perennial favorite. (Original Japanese text by COMPUMA)