“Letter from Hiro” (1980) – The Vapors * Written by David Fenton * LP: New Clear Days * Produced by Vic Coppersmith-Heaven * Label: United Artists (UK)/Liberty (US)
England’s Vapors released one of their era’s most satisfying power pop albums with New Clear Days, but the novelty notoriety of “Turning Japanese” overshadowed it and likely shortened the band’s lifespan. That song was too clever—a nuanced self-identity exercise that translated to the masses strictly as cultural mockery. The album ends, though, with a six-plus-minute track called “Letter from Hiro” that handles the Japanese theme with comparative sensitivity. The koto in the outro (playing notes in the ryosen scale) has an emotional effect directly opposed to the brazen oriental riff that opens up “Turning Japanese.” The sequence that closes “Letter to Hiro” probably seeped into Fleetwood Mac’s “Gypsy” during a time when Lindsey Buckingham was scarfing down new wave records. (On the US version of New Clear Days, “Letter from Hiro” ends side one.)