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.
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Yoko Oginome -- Kitakaze no Carol （北風のキャロル）
Perhaps not on the same level as her "Dancing Hero" or"Roppongi Junjouha"（六本木純情派）, Yoko Oginome's （荻野目洋子）"Kitakaze no Carol" (Carol of the North Wind) is still a catchy single, her 13th, from October 1987. And it's only the 2nd song I know that has the words "My bonny".
The song kinda comes off sounding like the anthem for a minor superhero with that synthesizer hook in the intro and the soaring melody by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）. Masao Urino （売野雅勇）came up with the words which brings things more down to earth as some young lady pines for a guy while resorting to the radio to keep her company. The arrangement and Oginome's nasal vocals make "Kitakaze no Carol" as much a representative of her 80s danceable (well, relatively speaking) aidoru stuff as the aforementioned hits do.
It peaked at No. 2 on Oricon and was used as a theme song for a TBS drama titled "Aka-chan ni Kanpai!"（赤ちゃんに乾杯！...Salute to The Baby! ）that had Oginome in the starring role.
Yoko Oginome's eurobeat singles are really one of Japanese 80s most characteristic facets. Also, I don't know if you have ever heard her 1988 album "CD RIDER", but it features a string of very strong album tracks that are not inferior by any means when compared to the singles. Songs like "Palmtree Candle", "Jungle Dance", "Persian Rose", "Eye Spy The Night" and "Suteki ni FADE AWAY" are very fun. I highly recommend it!
Actually, "CD RIDER" is one of the first Oginome discs that I bought in Japan at the end of the 80s. I haven't heard it in years so I think your comments have piqued my interest in trying it again. Thanks. :)
Hi, J-Canuck.
ReplyDeleteYoko Oginome's eurobeat singles are really one of Japanese 80s most characteristic facets. Also, I don't know if you have ever heard her 1988 album "CD RIDER", but it features a string of very strong album tracks that are not inferior by any means when compared to the singles. Songs like "Palmtree Candle", "Jungle Dance", "Persian Rose", "Eye Spy The Night" and "Suteki ni FADE AWAY" are very fun. I highly recommend it!
Actually, "CD RIDER" is one of the first Oginome discs that I bought in Japan at the end of the 80s. I haven't heard it in years so I think your comments have piqued my interest in trying it again. Thanks. :)
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