Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Momoko Kikuchi - Seishun no Ijiwaru (青春のいじわる)


Time to get back to those 80s aidoru....and it's been a while since I've put up anything by Momoko Kikuchi(菊池桃子), so I'm going with her debut single, "Seishun no Ijiwaru" (Youthful Teasing). I went to the J-Wiki article for the song first and when I saw that the composer was Tetsuji Hayashi(林哲司), I figured that the melody would be properly mellow and urban contemporary. And sure enough, it was. However, those first few bars made me wonder if it was gonna end up a techno kayo but as soon as I heard those soft keyboards come in, I was reassured that it was a Hayashi concoction. I could even hear a bit of Omega Tribe in there.

The lyrics were provided by Yasushi Akimoto(秋元康)and Kikuchi's delivery didn't sound anything drastically different from her later hits. Her whispery vocals marched in step with the music quite nicely. "Seishun no Ijiwaru" was released in April 1984 and peaked at No. 13 on Oricon. It had some good staying power as it ended 1985 (!) as the 95th-ranked song. It also was a track on her debut album, "Ocean Side" which came out in September 1984. I remember it for the cover photograph of Momoko just floating on the sea in some blue-and-white striped bathing suit. I saw that album quite often whenever I entered Wah Yueh but never took the bait. Kinda regret that now.


2 comments:

  1. Hi, J-Canuck.

    I always remember Momoko Kikuchi as the almost whispery aidoru
    who sang mostly City Pop songs. Maybe that's because I listened
    more to her albums than to her pure aidoru-pop singles.

    Although "OCEAN SIDE" is a great listen, I usually play "ADVENTURE"
    a little more. As for "Seishun no Ijiwaru", I agree with you about the Omega Tribe vibe. It's something I expect to hear from them.

    The song is not among my highlights in "OCEAN SIDE" (the bubbly "Evening Break" comes to my mind right now, but there are others, of course), but I hear a little bit of melancholy in it, which quite draws me into the whole vibe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hi, Marcos.

      Yeah, I'm still exploring the deeper stuff of Kikuchi beyond the singles hits she had. In fact, I've just purchased "Ocean Side" from Michael over on Facebook, so hopefully within a few weeks I can find out more about the album, including "Evening Break".

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