Oricon Top 10 Singles for December 24th 1990

 

1.  KAN                                Ai wa Katsu

2.  Tomoyasu Hotei              Deja Vu

3.  Midori Karashima           Silent Eve

4.  Tatsuro Yamashita           Christmas Eve

5.  Princess Princess             Julian

6.  Kome Kome Club           Shake Hip!

7.  Takao Horiuchi                Koiuta Tsuzuri

8.  Mariko Nagai                  ZUTTO

9.  Tama                               Yugure Toki no Sabishisa ni

10.  Dreams Come True       Yuki no Christmas

Juri Hamada -- Anata ni Necchu（あなたに熱中）

 

It's been almost five years since I last put up a posting for 80s aidoru Juri Hamada（浜田朱里）. My last article on her was for the light and mellow "Sincerely" which was on her 3rd album, "Hitomi ~ Sentimental"（瞳・センチメンタル...Eyes - Sentimental） from December 1981. It's about as AOR as she could get as a teenybopper singer.

Well, about a year earlier, Hamada released her 2nd single "Anata ni Necchu" (Crazy About You) in October 1980. In the article for "Sincerely", I mentioned that producers everywhere were looking for the next Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）when the real Momoe Yamaguchi happily decided to call it a career at the tail end of the 1970s, and Hamada had been one of the potential targets as the post-Momoe Momoe. With "Anata ni Necchu", I can see how the powers-that-be could have been pointing her into that direction with the addition of those wailing electric guitars for that rock music edge within the rollicking arrangement...much like how Momoe's music had sounded in the latter part of her career. 

Lyricist Shigesato Itoi（糸井重里）and composer Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）were behind the creation of "Anata ni Necchu" which only broke in at No. 100 on Oricon. Hamada didn't become the next Momoe (no one really did or should have) but those attempts to bring in the Momoe-esque latter 70s sound would shape the music for a number of early 80s aidoru such as Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）.

Mariko Murai -- Amidana no Christmas Cake（網棚のクリスマスケーキ）

 

Not sure if I'm totally accurate here but unlike here in Canada, there seems to be a distinct obligatory style when it comes to Christmas cake. Those guys at Fujiya might have finalized it, but I think it's the golden cake covered in white icing with strawberries on top to represent the colours of the Yuletide. Mind you, there's also the Yule Log which is also pretty popular in Japan.

I only found out about Mariko Murai（村井麻里子）through the J-Xmas compilation album "CHRISTMAS COLLECTION FOR FRIENDS★JAPANESE VOCALISTS SING" which showed up on the Internet Archives back in 2021, although I'm fairly sure that the original album was put up on the shelves some years previously. There's very little about Murai on J-Wiki, only stating that she hails from Tokyo, graduated from Joshibi University of Art and Design Junior College, and had a career as a City Pop singer which lasted only between 1988 and 1993.

Murai released 9 singles and 5 albums during that time with her third album being "Faith" from November 1989. From that album is "Amidana no Christmas Cake" (Christmas Cake on a Wire Rack) which was written by Mitsuko Shiramine（白峰美津子）and composed by Naoto Kine（木根尚登）, one-third of TM Network. Although by this point, I believe that the era of J-Pop had already begun, "Amidana no Christmas Cake" feels a bit like an old kayo kyoku when it comes to the contrast between the music and the lyrics. The music sounds rather triumphant and cheerful and yet Shiramine's lyrics tell of a woman seeing that titular cake sitting on the rack in a show window of a bakery and remembering when she was much happier some time before when she and her now erstwhile beau had shared a similar Christmas cake together at home. Now, she's musing that he's doing the same thing with another woman. Yep, that's a Japanese Christmas song for you.

Etsuko Sai -- Keredo Only You（けれど Only You）

 

I guess today's been the Urban Contemporary Friday with the songs of mixed genres coming in fast and strong. All the better and no complaints here.

This one is no exception either. Straight from Etsuko Sai's（彩恵津子）2nd original album from March 1985, "All I Need", I give you "Keredo Only You" (But Only You). Short and sweet at just a shade over three minutes, it still manages to contribute some upbeat music with some of that Motown magic mixed in with the regular City Pop. Bobbysoxers can slip and slide in their socks to this one. Shun Taguchi（田口俊）was responsible for the lyrics while Masakazu Togo（東郷昌和）from the 70s duo Buzz took care of the music.

Mayumi Asaka -- Hold On Me

 

Just for the curious, the above is a shot of Mito Station at night. I stayed at the hotel right by the station after heading out of Oarai, the anime pilgrimage town for all things "Girls und Panzer".

One of the strange things about my two postings regarding actress-singer Mayumi Asaka（朝加真由美）is assuming that I first wrote them years and years ago. But crazily enough, the two of them that I've written about her so far only date back as far as 2023. In fact, my more recent article up to now was her "Sasowarete..."（誘われて...）from this May. Well, the mind does go a bit hinky after a certain age, but the excuse I'll use in my defense is that the music of Asaka is simply so nostalgic that my memories played a trick on me.

In any case, we have the country-blues of "Sasowarete..." and the City Pop of "My Endless Scene", both from Asaka's one-and-only album "Yasashii Kankei ~ Mayumi I"（優しい関係...A Gentle Relationship）, from October 1981. "Hold On Me" is also from that album but it was also the B-side of the singer's seventh and final single from January 1981, "Yasashii Kankei". "Hold On Me", not to be confused with one of Kahoru Kohiruimaki's（小比類巻かほる）classics, is an intrepid nocturnal City Pop entry with a boffo bass bopping away to Kazushi Inamura's（稲村一志）melody (and I'm assuming that it is him who is providing the background vocals) along with some spicy electric guitar. Asaka herself wrote the lyrics.

unvivid -- Break Free

 

I don't have a lot of information on this group unvivid except for these facts: 1) they have been around since at least 2022, 2) their vocalist is Shino Honma（ほんましの）and 3) they were once known as Mini Mikke before the name change.

Their single from just a couple of months ago, "Break Free", sounds mighty nice. In addition to that soulful groove, I can pick up on some blues and jazz. If unvivid had been a band back in the 1950s or 1960s playing this, they would have gotten their fair share of appreciative finger snaps in the beatnik clubs. The music video has a slightly tongue-in-cheek cooler-than-thou atmosphere which plays up the song. Mind you, Honma and company look like they could be advertising for a mixture of MUJI and Eddie Bauer for most of the video until they go all United Colors of Benetton at the end.

Atsuko Hiyajo -- Mobius（メビウス）

Saharasav via Wikimedia Commons

I've seen a Mobius strip before on paper and now in solid 3D form as depicted in the above photo. It's a rather endless story so I shall let it be before I lose my fragile little mind.

Luckily, singer-songwriter Atsuko Hiyajo's（比屋定篤子）"Mobius" is a lot more soothing and acceptable to the senses. Coming out as her November 1998 5th single, this was written by Hiyajo and composed by Jiro Kobayashi（小林治郎）, this is another fascinating song that can't be easily categorized since I get bits of a number of genres here and there. There is soul, funk, City Pop and maybe some Shibuya-kei, and the craziest thing is that right from Note One, I think "Mobius" could have been inspired by the 70s works of Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）. At the very least, the Ohnuki of that decade could have covered this song and it would have fit her perfectly. It goes on for over seven minutes, but the last couple of them are devoted to a generous jam by the instruments backing Hiyajo up.

"Mobius" made itself known once more through the 2009 album "Natural Woman", a result of a collaboration between Hiyajo and Ryusenkei（流線形）. The leader of the latter band, Cunimondo Takiguchi（クニモンド瀧口）, took care of the arrangement which gives this somewhat shorter "Mobius" that quintessentially effervescent Ryusenkei urban contemporary touch.