I previously thought there was songs that never saw the light of day for whatever reason as Sakai spent copious amounts of time in the studio. Not every song recorded is used was my hypothesis. I think I am wrong and below are some data points as to why.
Daiko Nagato said some time ago that for the Zard 25th Anniversary (I think...) collection that everything he could use for a Zard album he did. The tank was dry. Makes sense as we have not seen anything come after directly from Zard since the posthumous and heavily assembled "Glorious Mind." After that Sakai's writing was used for Sard Underground songs since then, which is an achievement as well but not a song she (that we know of) sang.
Reading an article about her recording process, she was exacting and a perfectionist. She would sing the same song many times to get it right. So the cabinet of masters are not unreleased songs, I think they are a mountain of takes for the songs we have already already heard. Maybe the one case where whatever was in the vault was viable was the remix for the re-release of "Toki no Tsubasa" as I have read was remastered from other sources. Which to me sounds like other potential recordings in the vault or re-recording everything but Sakai's vocals. I have seen it reported both ways, maybe one of you has a solid lead here. Likewise Yueru Omoi on the Zard Blend I album was also from another take.
Lastly as noted above, if there were even slightly viable songs they would have released or completed them like her posthumous singles. Being likes money and doling out singles or to juice a greatest hits I think would have been done beyond her posthumous singles. Would I love to see slightly different takes to show how a song evolved or sounded different, yes I would.
P.S. I wound up cancelling my Tokyo trip for a variety of reasons, so no Puffy show review I am sad to say.
