Kazumasa Oda--Oh!Yeah! |
Then, this commercial of a dapper Kazumasa Oda taking a sip of his favourite coffee for Nescafe appeared with this really dramatic song of his was playing in the background (did have the commercial imported over here until the powers-that-be took it down). Released in October 1989, "Little Tokyo" was Oda's first official single as a solo artist without any help from his old band. Although the title may hint at perhaps one of the Japanese-American communities on the West Coast, the lyrics amounted to the protagonist's one-sided love for a woman in the big city. It peaked at No. 3 on the Oricon. I liked it enough that I did get the CD single.
And from that little revelation in my school, my relationship with Kazumasa Oda as solo artist and not as the leader of Off Course began. So, from here, I will introduce his very first BEST album as one of my best albums, "Oh! Yeah!"
1. 空が高すぎる Sora ga Taka Sugiru
2. 1985
3. 夜の行方 Yoru no Yukue
4. I Miss You
5. ためらわない、迷わない Tamerawanai, Mayowanai
6. good times & bad times
7. Little Tokyo
8. 春風に乱れて Harukaze ni Midarete
9.恋は大騒ぎ Koi wa O-Sawagi
10. FAR EAST CLUB BAND SONG
11. ラブ・ストーリーは突然に Love Story wa Totsuzen ni
12. Oh! Yeah!
Now, I rather held off from doing this album for a long time because I had been hoping that some of his originals would be able to make it onto YouTube, but it looks like the powers-that-be are especially sensitive about having any of his stuff online, so I'm going with some of his fans who wanted to give their own tributes to the man and his work. And besides, this is a blog about fans who want to talk about Japanese popular music, so why not have these folks sing it out? Below is one fan's take on "Little Tokyo".
The first 3 tracks come from his first album, "K.Oda", which was released in December 1986. Tracks 4 and 5 are from "Between the Word & The Heart", released in March 1988, while Tracks 7-9 come from "Far East Cafe" from May 1990.
Of course (no pun intended), I couldn't complete a profile of "Oh! Yeah!" without including the piece de resistance, "Love Story wa Totsuzen ni" (Suddenly A Love Story), the biggest single of 1991. (Not the real singer above, by the way, but a good rendition.) Perhaps its standing in Japanese pop music history has waned a bit over the past 20 years, but it's still a wonderful song for me. Couldn't ask for a cooler theme song for the megalopolis of Tokyo than this masterpiece. As I may have mentioned in the individual article for this song, Chikuzen Sato(佐藤竹善) from Sing Like Talking is a backing vocal. Although pretty much all of the instrumentation involved is provided by Oda's synths, it just has that urban contemporary vibe which I would usually connect with a saxophone or a Fender Rhodes or a fluegelhorn. But the entire album, with its concentration of his best hits, has Oda pretty much yelling, "This ain't an Off Course album!" The band itself had also been heading into a more City Pop direction from the early 80s away from its folk roots, but Oda seemed to blast his way out from any Off Course influence as he went solo via his new arrangements. Just as one last aside here, it's a pity that I couldn't find "Yoru no Yukue" (Direction of the Night) for you to listen to here; it's a more conventional but no less great urban contemporary song.
The single "Oh!Yeah!" was released as the other half of the "Love Story wa Totsuzen ni" single in February of that year. It's a slow, funky and cool ballad as Oda sings the equivalent of a sexy slow dance with the help of Chikuzen Sato and Masayuki Suzuki(鈴木雅之), two other cool funky dudes. Below is the karaoke version done by another pretty good soundalike.
March 15 2014: A P.S. over here, but I made a follow-up to this article featuring the original songs from the album.
Hi J-Canuck,
ReplyDeleteGreat writeup on Oda's monumental best-of "Oh! Yeah!". I have to agree with that student on the matter of favorite singers. One of the most emotionally moving voices I've heard. Great songwriter as well. It's no wonder he's so respected to this day. So many of his songs, including the classic "Love Story wa Totsuzen ni", have that "bigger than life" sound.
Though I got his "Jiko Best" compilation already, I'm kind of tempted to get this one. Very solid selection of songs. There's one track I especially love that you didn't cover: "1985". Always sends chills down my spine whenever I hear it.
Interesting observation on Oda's solo sound in contrast to Off Course. In relation to your "Ryu-pop" comment in the Miki Nakatani post, I feel like Oda also has a distinctive sound of his own. At first I only associated it with his voice, but after hearing the song "Wasurenai wa" that he composed for Hi-Fi Set in 1990, I realized there was something more. The funny thing is that I had no idea that it was his song until I played it. Couldn't mistake that style for anyone else's.
"Wasurenai wa": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hhyirXB52I
Thanks, nikala.
ReplyDeleteI think in terms of respect, he's probably like the Mick Jagger of Japan....pretty darn old now but still comes off as one of the coolest guys in music.
Yes, "Oh! Yeah!" is a solid collection and a good CD to listen to for that one hour before sleep. I'm glad that it has a mix of dramatic songs ("Love Story"), ballads ("Sora wa") and even fun ditties like "Koi wa O-Sawagi".
Good point on Oda-pop. During that time of the late-80s and the early-90s, he seemed to have carved his own niche within City Pop with that combination of the usual instruments of the genre along with his horns-influenced synth. I heard "Wasurenai wa" and now that I know who was behind it, I can hear the Oda-pop flowing through it. You should take a listen to Masayuki Suzuki's "Wakare Machi" which was also an Oda creation.
Just listened to Suzuki's "Wakare no Machi" to refresh my memory. Can hear Oda-pop here too. Great song, too. :)
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