I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
A week ago, commenter Night Mirage and I were talking about when Hironobu Kageyama's（影山ヒロノブ）"Into The Night" first came out. It was part of "THE BEST OF HIRONOBU KAGEYAMA", a 1989 compilation of his finest works up to that point, but Night Mirage stated that "Into the Night" sounds as if it came from a time much earlier in his career, and I had to admit that it probably was. However, I haven't been able to track down an origin time for this particular song, so if any Kageyama fans are out there who can help out, we would appreciate it very much.
That did get me to think though about the leather-lunged rocker's early days. A few years ago, mind you, I had written about his old band LAZY's "Baby, I Make A Motion"（ベイビー・アイ・メイク・ア・モーション）from 1979. Yet, I hadn't gone into Kageyama's earliest solo material. Well, this ends now as I show his first single as a lone singer, "Kyou wo Ikiyou" (Let's Live for Today), which was released in October 1981.
That English exhortation of "let's live for today" in the chorus rang some memory bells in my coconut, and as it turns out that Kageyama's debut was a cover for the Grass Roots'1967 hit "Let's Live For Today". My toddler memory distinctly remembers that chorus. The interesting thing about Kageyama's cover is how it's been given that kayo kyoku or City Pop influence as Rumiko Hoshika（星加ルミ子）provided the Japanese lyrics.
As the commercial pitchman says though, "Wait, there's more!". The Grass Roots' song was itself a cover of Italy-based English band The Rokes' 1966 single "Piangi Con Me". Band member David Shapiro came up with the original melody.
When we used to have those biweekly anime-and-food fests on Sunday, this particular song was one of the regulars during the anison hour. I used to hear it all the time without asking about it, mostly because I was dozing off in the chair in the middle of the warm room. The other day, when a whole bunch of us got together for a yakiniku dinner, I had a reunion of anison hour at my buddy's house and I finally asked him from which anime this was from, and he mentioned that it wasn't an anime but an eroge.
Ah, I see...I would have thought more along the lines of a wacka-wacka electric guitar but of course my mind was going back to the 1970s and 1980s.
The adult game in question is the 2004 "Quartett!" which involves four students among many vying to be the best string quartet. From what I've seen so far, I haven't gotten any hint that there's any hentai but the YouTubers must have been very careful in their selection of scenes. Plus, there's some rather exquisite string quartet work that I also heard from the soundtrack.
In any case, the theme song for "Quartett!" is "Lampin'" by Suzuka Nakahara（中原涼）. The Nagano Prefecture-born singer got into music at a young age through piano lessons and chorus work. However, during her student days, her views on music (which had been in the classical vein up to that point) changed when she heard Chage & Aska's"Say Yes", and from then onward, she wanted to sing that type of music. Her career in music began in earnest around 2001 once she graduated from high school and performed at the live house Yotsuya Tenmado（四谷天窓）in Tokyo. Since then, she's been providing her brand of pop music and game music.
Not sure what "Lampin'" means but it's a pleasant and soothing tune with a hint of soul, and sometimes during the song, I get the impression that Nakahara has a bit of Hikaru Utada（宇多田ヒカル）in those vocals. Azuki Sawada（沢田あづき）was responsible for the lyrics while Soushi Hosoi（細井聡司）came up with the melody. By the way and sad to say, but Yotsuya Tenmado closed down for good at the end of November 2020.
Hi there! I represent Bernard Sumner. He'd like his music style back please.
Yeah, that was the remark that I was simmering in my head when I listened to the first track of Salon Music's 1990 album"Psychic Ball". Good golly! I even wrote down New Order in the byline by accident before I realized my mistake.
I knew that Salon Music has had its New Wave stuff and last month, I even posted the duo's "Spike Me Into Space" from 1999 which had that raunchy rock style. Well, apparently, Salon Music also dallied in some British techno dance music stylings around a decade earlier. The first percussion-heavy minute of "Shadow Behind" has that feeling of early 80s Japanese techno pop that doesn't involve Yellow Magic Orchestra but then following that, the New Order influence in sound and vocals is unmistakable. I almost called my old university buddies to see if they wanted to hit the Copa again.
Where would you be at 7:45 am in Tokyo? If it's a weekday, then I know where I wouldn't be...on a rush hour morning subway heading into the megalopolis. During my years living and working in the area, I never dared get onto a train at that time since I valued physics and my life. If I had an early morning lesson, which was the case in the last few years of my time in Japan, I would hop onto the Tozai Line an hour earlier when ribcage-crushing wasn't a common adjective used. Once I got to my destination several minutes to an hour before lesson time, then I would search for a café or a McDonalds to wile away the time. Other than that, I would take any subway after 9:30 am.
Recently, I found this YouTuber by the name of Sakura Beats who is responsible for creating some "...80’s Japanese Lofi jazzy hiphop" to help all of us chill out during our work or study. About a month ago, SB put out an album called "Tokyo 7:45 am" to do just that, and I'm enjoying that first track "Urban Stream" which would describe a typical transportation of millions of commuters into the big city. There are the beats and there is that wonderful snazzy trumpet sounding off. Maybe if you're not one of those commuters on the Tozai who's able to snooze off while standing in a crowded subway, then something like "Urban Stream" can be your tonic while enduring the trip.
There are many things that I greatly miss about my life in Japan's largest city but the rush hour is definitely not one of them.
At the end of my thesis defense, I was asked if I still liked Hachiro Kasuga (春日八郎) as much as I did before I embarked on my research journey. It would be natural if I ended up getting sick of him after toiling away on the biggest project I've done thus far with him as my focal point for 2 years. There were times when it felt tedious. I'd often joke that studying my favourite singer meant that there was not a time when I could take a break from him: In work mode, I would be analysing his songs; in rest mode, I would be listening to his songs. But I also felt that because it was Hachi, I was able to continue toiling away at my work. So, as you saw in the introduction, I gave an affirmative to my professor's query.
I came across "Ai no Nokoribi" (Embers of Love) at a Kasuga Enka Denshokai session, sung by one of the members, not long before that examination. Its melody caught my attention immediately and I knew I had to look it up once I got home. I soon found out that even though "Ai no Nokoribi" was recorded in March 1969, it only left the King Records storage almost 30 years later on 24th April 1998 via the album Kasuga Hachiro Zoku Hizo Mihappyo Meikyoku Shu (春日八郎 続・秘蔵未発表名曲集... Precious Unreleased Masterpiece Compilation Part II), a compilation of his unreleased works.
That said, its melody was just as I had remembered from the club: A mellow pop sound with a hint of Mood Kayo that creates a warm, cozy atmosphere reminiscent of a nice spring afternoon. Making this tune was Kenji Yoshidaya (吉田矢健治), the man often cited as the origin of the Kasuga Bushi(春日節... Kasuga's signature type of song). The Yoshidaya-made Kasuga Bushi is generally identifiable by its plaintive mood, i.e. opposite to "Ai no Nokoribi". Yoshidaya was responsible for a large chunk of Hachi's discography and made stuff based on trending music styles, so my initial surprise upon seeing his name attached to this tune quickly dissipated.
And then Hachi's delivery. "Ai no Nokoribi" has the singer tackling the lower range of his vocals, contrary to the clear high tone he was most known for. It was different to hear Hachi sing in such a low register for at least 50% of a song and not hear his high tone, but I think kinda works for this song. From my understanding, Haruki Tango's (丹古晴巳) words tell of a man who is taken aback after discovering that the woman he broke up with is still in love with him. Her dedication seems to stoke the embers of love in his heart, long dormant after all the time that had passed. The protagonist's feelings of disbelief and regret are conveyed in Hachi's soft vocals, and one can feel a faint desire to start anew, particularly when the singer's voice swells then peters out with the strings at the chorus. It’s a song that doesn’t express a particularly extreme emotion and the character is more introspective, yet Hachi’s lower voice still managed to aptly convey what our main character must be feeling.
After the defense, I reflected on my answers to the panel, including that for the last question. In hindsight, I actually don't like Kasuga as I once did 2 years ago. No, after all that, I'd say that I've come to like him even more than I used to. While my research made me doubt and push away his enka-ness, meeting some of his biggest fans during this process allowed me to accept this crucial element of "Hachiro Kasuga". I gained a greater appreciation for the artist who shaped both kayokyoku and enka, and I was finally able to enjoy Hachi as a whole once again.
I began the Yasuko Kuwata（桑田靖子）file pretty early in the history of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", with her 4th single "My Joyful Heart" from 1984 getting onto the blog in the middle of 2013. Surprisingly, I have yet to write about her debut single"Datsu - Platonic"（脱・プラトニック）from early 1983 which seems to have been her most significant hit.
But until that day comes, I'm going to continue the Kuwata file with her 3rd single from October 1983, "Moshikashite Dream" (It Was All a Dream?). Created by the same team which took care of her first two singles including "Datsu - Platonic", lyricist Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composer Hiroaki Serizawa（芹澤廣明）and arranger Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）, it comes off initially as an intrepid and fairly serious theme for a TV detective series in the 1960s until the chorus bursts forth into a major-key happy tune. Maybe that dream has actually turned into a reality? The song managed to peak at No. 71 on Oricon.
If I'm not mistaken, it's Presidents' Day down in the States while up here in Canada, we're celebrating Family Day. Wherever you are, I hope you are having a good day.
Of course, being a holiday today means that we've got a special Reminiscings of Youth article and in keeping with the family theme, I've opted to go with another one of my fondly remembered TV show themes. I'm not sure if I have remembered this correctly but at one point on the ABC Friday night lineup, it was the sitcom trio of "The Partridge Family", "Bewitched" and "The Odd Couple" that kept my eyes on the screen.
Probably out of the three shows, "The Partridge Family"was the one that has filled me with the most nostalgia because the plot did involve a family-based band led by Shirley Partridge (Shirley Jones) and their brand of pop-rock music along with the fashion of those times (bell-bottom pants, flimsy vests and wide lapels). Of course, the theme song, the gently rock-n'-rollin' "Come On Get Happy" by Wes Farrell and Danny Janssen has been the song from "The Partridge Family" to stick with me all these decades.
In fact, "Come On Get Happy" is so iconic in my brain that I was surprised to find out that Early Installment Weirdness (coined as a trope in "TV Tropes") had also settled into "The Partridge Family" starting with the September 1970 pilot episode when "Together (Havin' A Ball)" was used while the clan was actually performing it.
And then for the rest of the first season, "When We're Singin'" was used as the main theme. If it sounds familiar, it is because the Farrell melody would be used for "Come On Get Happy" but the original Diane Hildebrand lyrics would be replaced by Janssen's words. The theme I've always known would be used from the second season forward from September 1971 until the show's cancellation in 1974.
Well, why don't we go with what was on the Oricon chart on September 27th 1971? I've got Nos. 1, 5 and 6.
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