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.
"Hoho ni Yoru no Akari" is the quintessential twilight-loving Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）song with its splendid hues and first-rate mellow groove. The horn and string parts had been recorded in New York City and the performance includes David Sanborn's wonderful sax solo, so in a blink of an eye, I'm transported to a flight going over to the Big Apple. To have that lady look at me with those unusually kind eyes while on a street enveloped by the sunset is a truly attractive moment.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
One of my earliest articles on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" was vocal group Circus'（サーカス）"Mr. Summertime"（Mr.サマータイム）, their March 1978 hit 2nd single which was a cover of Michel Fugain's"Une Belle Histoire" from 1972. It's been a song that has stayed with me for so long because it was one of the first Japanese pop songs to adhere to my brain when I got started into enjoying kayo kyoku in the early 1980s. It has swing, class and any adjective I would add to anything that is in the sophisticated pop vein.
Well, a dozen years following that article, I'm finally putting up that B-side from the No. 1-hitting "Mr. Summertime". "Day Dreaming" is an appropriately breezy and classy tune that's pretty much a cousin to the A-side. This time, though, it isn't a cover of a French song but a homegrown tune. Machiko Ryu（竜真知子） was the lyricist while Junko Hirotani（広谷順子）took care of the basic melody with arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）taking care of everything else. Put some of this between your headphones and ears for pure listening pleasure.
Wow! I thought that this recording by YouTube channel City Pop Tokyo was so clean and new that I assumed it was an updated and slightly Vaporwave version of the original song. The video image as the song is playing certainly lends to that assumption.
But much to my delight and surprise, this is the original "Lazy Dance", a track from Yoko Oginome's（荻野目洋子） 4th original album"Raspberry no Kaze"（ラズベリーの風...Raspberry Wind） which first hit the record store shelves in April 1986. The album also shares space with Oginome's most famous hit, an English version of "Dancing Hero".
What can I say about it? Oginome was still seen as the danceable aidoru of the mid-1980s, but with "Lazy Dance" (which isn't lazy at all), I pick up not only on the City Pop, but also some Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）feeling, 70s disco horns, good ol' funk, keyboards that had me thinking Vaporwave in the first place, and even some George Benson on the guitar noodling. It's perhaps Roppongi and Shinjuku of the 1980s all rolled up into one tune. And yet, "Lazy Dance", which is about all of the mind games and insecurity on the dance floor, didn't have Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）anywhere near the song. It was in fact composed by R&B singer Toshinobu Kubota（久保田利伸）with Masumi Kawamura（川村真澄）on lyrics and Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）as the arranger.
As for "Raspberry no Kaze", it peaked at No. 8 on Oricon.
As I type this, there are less than 48 hours before autumn officially arrives at 8:44 am Eastern Daylight Time on September 22nd, so at least, summer worshippers have Saturday to soak up as much sun and heat as possible.
Then why not bring in another summer City Pop tune into the proceedings? For today, we have SPARKLING☆CHERRY's"Summer Time Magic" which was written and composed by vocalist Cherry. It's got that Neo-City Pop air about it with those brassy synthesizers and Cherry's voice is rather reminiscent of some of the other singers who've performed with duo Blue Peppers. Plus, the song is packed with other singers and songwriters of the City Pop umbrella: Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）, the mentor behind SPARKLING☆CHERRY, is helping on backing chorus with Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）from Tohoku Shinkansen（東北新幹線）, and Makoto Matsushita（松下誠） is on guitar. "Summer Time Magic" is the first track on the band's July 2019 album "Roxy".
You can also give their "Mirage" a listen, too. It's the most recent article that I had about them until today.
Welcome once again to Urban Contemporary Friday on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". The above photo is of the Tokyo business district of Kasumigaseki to get us in the mood.
Last year, I introduced singer Hatsue Kato（かとうはつえ）, someone who doesn't have a whole lot of information regarding her life and career, via her B-side"Kurayami ni Sayonara"（暗闇にさよなら）. The A-side is her 1979 single"Youki na Houmonsha" (A Cheerful Visitor), a song that also leads off her lone album from the same year, "Cascade".
I mentioned that the languid "Kurayami ni Sayonara" was interesting but ultimately not the most fulfilling tune. However, "Youki na Houmonsha" is a more stable number with more pep as a City Pop entry. There is also some nice rumba rolling in and out of the arrangement and any bass addicts should like this one, too. For some strange reason, though, Kato's vocal style somehow keeps reminding me of the delivery from Ichiro Nitta（新田一郎）, vocalist of the band Spectrum（スペクトラム）. Akira Inoue（井上鑑）was responsible for the melody while Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）took care of the lyrics.
I never took a ride in a Lamborghini; the closest that I ever got was getting a lift home in my friend's Ferrari. The passenger seat was so low and slung back that the only thing I viewed was the car's black ceiling as I got driven home...which was just as well. My friend had a notorious reputation as being a speed demon who drove on the roads as if the basic rules never really applied to him. I can only say that if I had been able to see my surroundings, I probably would have reacted in the same way as a captive roller coaster rider...not well.
Can't imagine what it must be like to be inside a Lamborghini going at highway speeds...or most likely higher. But perhaps chanteuse Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）knows as she sings "Lamborghini ga Kiete" (The Lamborghini Fades Away), the second track on her October 1977 5th original album"Shishuuki kara....Otoko to Onna"（思秋期から…男と女...From the Autumn of One's Years...Men and Women）. Written by Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composed/arranged by Takashi Taka（たかたかし）, it's a fairly ominous tune that is punctuated by occasional engine roars, and the overall dramatic tone of the tune makes me wonder that all is not a joy ride and perhaps the shutting of that door means the ending of a relationship. Still, the horns are great and of course, Ms. Iwasaki's vocals are splendid as usual.
"Shishuuki kara...Otoko to Onna" managed to peak at No. 3 on Oricon. Perhaps being inside a Toyota Corolla is more secure if boring.
It's hard to believe that we're approaching the 11th anniversary of the untimely passing of singer-songwriter Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）. He really had that timeless voice which struck me as very much of an old-fashioned lonesome cowboy croon. There are so many examples but I can state one here which is "Shiawase na Ketsumatsu"（幸せな結末）, his November 1997 hit and theme song for the Fuji-TV drama "Love Generation".
But Ohtaki also had his sense of humour that up until recently never got noticed. In March 2023, a double-CD album was released, "Ohtaki Eiichi ~ NOVELTY SONG BOOK/NIAGARA ONDO BOOK". Disc 1 was the novelty songbook which features unreleased tracks with Ohtaki behind the mike and tongue firmly planted in cheek for at least some of the tunes. One such number is "Hormone Kouta ~ Genki de Cha-Cha-Cha"(The Hormone Song ~ Happy Cha-Cha-Cha) which had originally been created for singer-actor Akira Kobayashi（小林旭）back in 1976 for an album project but when those plans fell through, the song was shelved for the last few decades, except for one time when Ohtaki played it on Internet radio. In fact, it was so rarely heard that folks wondered if "Hormone Kouta" was nothing more than an urban legend.
Written by Tetsuro Hoshino（星野哲郎）and composed by Ohtaki, "Hormone Kouta" is a song about replenishing one's mojo that sounds like a mix between kayo kyoku and a march from Disneyland. Certainly, it's a different voice from Ohtaki who sounds as if he needs some of those aphrodisiacs listed in the lyrics such as liver, raw eggs and honey (hopefully not together). The tongue-in-cheek aim is to have the song aimed at the middle-aged and elderly to get some of the sexual energy back. It's definitely ironic in that this had originally been meant for Kobayashi since his reputation has been that of a virile and masculine personage.
Welcome to another weekly article of Reminiscings of Youth. A few years ago, I posted up the theme from the first "Casino Royale"(1967), the hot mess of a 007 spoof starring David Niven and Peter Sellers which nonetheless inspired Mike Myers'"Austin Powers" franchise. As I said in that article, I have seen the movie once and then bits and pieces on YouTube. However, what I've appreciated most about the flick is the music and that Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass theme penned by the amazing Burt Bacharach that is so infused with the Swinging 60s of Great Britain. If I were ever to get to London someday on a vacation and somehow got a Savile Row suit, I would love to walk up and down the streets with that song in my ears.
However, there was one scene in "Casino Royale" that also caught my attention because of the music and, well, Ursula Andress. I remember she was hopping all about with a bunch of shocking pink feathers and I guess the above footage only shows the seconds or so before that one scene. At the same time, there was the music which was jazzy and oh-so-sexy with a breathy voice that squeezed out "The Look of Love" as if a woman in Bubble Era Japan were trying to get out of her bodicon dress. I think the scene and the song play off of each other very well because of the languid pacing out of both of them, and considering the lunacy that precedes and follows in "Casino Royale", Sellers and Andress having a little intimate fun makes for a pretty calming oasis.
Dusty Springfield was someone that I had heard of before when I was a kid in the 1970s because of those K-Tel LP compilation commercials on television but the song that featured her (can't remember the title) had her sound a whole lot different than those vocals on "The Look of Love". The bossa nova jazz was woven together by Burt Bacharach with Hal David taking care of the lyrics, and it was even nominated for a Best Song Oscar in 1968.
Jazz pianist and vocalist Diana Krall is one of many artists who have covered "The Look of Love", and it's included as the title track for her September 2011 album. The original version was released in April 1967, so what were three songs from Japan that got their release at around the same time?
Maybe the only thing rarer than a winter coat out in Tokyo today is the old-fashioned telephone booth. By the time I got to Japan to work starting from the late 1980s, seeing those oddly-shaped phones with different colours in various establishments was becoming somewhat scarce but at least, the booths still existed everywhere taking their coins and then later those NTT or KDD telephone cards. But now, it's like searching for the hardest object in a city-wide scavenger hunt.
Interestingly enough, my impression is that the telephone booth was a popular setting within a Japanese pop tune because one-half of a dramatic conversation, often involving love, took place inside those glass or plastic walls. Perhaps that is also the case with Yuki Nakayamate's（なかやまて由希）"Telephone Box", a track on her first album from 1981 "Hold Me Tender". The album also includes another song that I've covered, "Ijiwaru Shiokaze"（いぢわる潮風）
Perhaps the entire album runs the gamut between the genres of AOR and City Pop but when comparing the two tracks, whereas "Ijiwaru Shiokaze" has that Steely Dan and Yumi Arai（荒井由実）mixture, "Telephone Box", written and composed by the singer, seems to be a nostalgic throwback to some of that West Coast soft rock of the 1970s. Couldn't find the lyrics online for this particular song but the somewhat sunnier nature of the melody might mean something more optimistic within the conversation taking place inside that booth.
When I threw in the term "German Bold Italic" into the Bing AI art generator just now, the above is what I got. So, does that mean if I'd thrown in "British Bold Italic", I would have gotten Henry Cavill?
YOU WILL LIKE MY SENSE OF STYLE!
Well, uh, yeah. To be honest, I didn't even realize that it was Kylie Minogue in that skimpy bikini swishing around in the bubble bath above, pretending to be the personification of the supposed typeface. I've seen her more in the occasional guest appearances on TV/movies such as "Doctor Who" and that earthquake disaster movie with The Rock, but of course, the first time I heard of her was back in the late 1980s when she was a teen Eurobeat singer with hits such as "I Should Be So Lucky". In fact, I was talking with commenter Spooky under Marcos V'sAlyssa Milano article the other day about Kylie and mentioned that I was planning to write up an article on this particular song in the coming days.
Spooky's no fan of Kylie and I really only know her for "I Should Be So Lucky" so it was with some surprise that I discovered this "City Limits"-worthy music video of her September 1997 collaboration with musician Towa Tei called "GBI (German Bold Italic)". And as Kylie in a kimono does a walkabout on the streets of Tokyo and New York City, she makes her best impression of Marilyn Monroe (as HAL 9000) breathily expressing her advantages as a brand spanking new typeface. To add to her feathery vocals, there is the weightiness of Haruomi Hosono's（細野晴臣）gravelly voice to the all-round swinging and minimalist technopop arrangement. If the Australian singer wanted to break away from Eurobeat, she did it here.
"GBI" is a track on Tei's 2nd studio album"Sound Museum" which also has his take on Hall & Oates' classic "Private Eyes".
On that Wikipedia article for "GBI", I read that the sample used in the intro comes from "The Art of Belly Dancing" (1969). If I'm not mistaken, it was also used for Tei's old trio Deee-Lite's"Groove is in the Heart" from several years back.
I was looking at the calendar in my bedroom last night and noticed that September 17th was given the label of Mid-Autumn Moon Festival for the Chinese. Well, the same event is observed in Japan as well and I've usually been reminded of this through the local McDonalds seasonal sale of tsukimi burgers.
Y'know...I don't think I've ever tried a tsukimi burger. I've never been a big fan of fried egg on top of a beef patty unfortunately. Make mine Big Mac!🍔
Anyways to add onto the impending autumn feeling, I'm bringing over a seasonal-sounding song from long ago. "Ku-gatsu no Melody"(September Melody) was written, composed and recorded by Seiko Tomizawa（富沢聖子）as one track from her 1983 album"Melody Palette", and it shares space with "Oshare Tea Time"（おしゃれTEA TIME）. Like that song, it rather hovers between City Pop and pop with the latter side taking on the feeling of an old-fashioned pop ballad with its gentle lullaby-like lilt and its coda of tenderhearted strings and soft ocean waves silkily finishing things off.
"Uta Con"（うたコン）for this week focused on the theme songs for the past number of NHK morning serial dramas including the currently running "Tora ni Tsubasa"（虎に翼...The Tiger and Her Wings） which will be wrapping up in a couple of weeks. I still remember the preceding asadora which was the jazz-and-kayo-kyoku-filled"Boogie Woogie"（ブギウギ）with actress/singer Shuri（趣里）even singing with Yoshie Nakano（中納良恵）and Yu Sakai（さかいゆう）on the theme song, "Happy Boogie"（ハッピー☆ブギ）.
It's not everyday that the star of an NHK morning serial also ends up singing the theme song but Shuri's performance wasn't an unprecedented event. As I was to find out on "Uta Con" today, the honour of being the first asadora star to sing the theme song of her own show goes to actress/singer Risa Junna（純名里沙）who appeared to sing "Piano", the titular song of her series which came out in 1994.
As it turns out, Junna has plenty of experience behind the microphone and on the stage since she had been a top star at the famous Takarazuka Revue. The troupe even encouraged her to take on the NHK role of Piano Sakurai while taking a break from performing on the stage. Not surprisingly, her vocals are wonderfully sweet with JOE'S PROJECT, aka master composer and arranger Joe Hisaishi（久石譲）, and lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）. A single was released in August 1994 which peaked at No. 48.
After retiring from Takarazuka in 1996, Junna has remained active through television, movies, stage and commercials.
Wow! I guess it's been quite a while since I posted my most recent Every Little Thing article. In fact, that article was for their "Every Best Single +3"BEST compilation all the way back in June 2020.
Additionally, I noted in that article that I would have to cover some of their material going into the 2000s. That's what I am doing today with their 19th single"jump", from October 2001. I remember hearing quite a bit of it back in the day, probably through the music video channels and covers of it on the popular celebrity karaoke program "The Yoru mo Hippare"（The 夜もヒッパレ）. I'd assumed that it was made into a theme song for some J-Drama but actually it was a campaign jingle for a Kanebo cosmetic.
"jump", which was written and composed by vocalist Kaori Mochida（持田香織）, always sounded a little different from their earlier hits, and perhaps that was true for their 21st-century material. The 90s part of their discography was more synthpop but listening to "jump", I realized that the song goes a bit more into rock and even Mochida's vocals get a little more growly here. The song was another Top 10 hit for Every Little Thing, by peaking at No. 7, going Gold. It also appeared on ELT's "Many Pieces" album released in March 2003 which hit No. 1 and became the 19th-ranked album for the year.
It's another national holiday in Japan today. If it's September, that means Respect-for-the-Aged Day（敬老の日）and I found out just last weekend that the holiday had been first formed in the immediate postwar era in Hyogo Prefecture.
As such, I was thinking of putting up a list of favourite karaoke tunes among the more elderly. Admittedly though, sexagenarians don't strike me as being quite that old but at least their choices were easy to track down on the blog, and of course, I'm not too far from that group of people, age-wise. So, I'll be divvying things up between the Top 3 karaoke songs for both men and women in their 60s according to the Nagoya-based Takeshi Vocal Studio, a karaoke training school.
The Toronto International Film Festival is wrapping up today after about ten days of movies and glitz downtown. It's run its course like any other festival lasting some days here; a lot of giddy excitement in the beginning with all of the stars coming out to do their meet-and-greets with fans but the ending has gotten a lot quieter and slowly fading into the rest of the news in the city. Mind you, this year's TIFF is a bit more special since for all intents and purposes, this has been the first year since before the pandemic that the festival has returned to its old semblance of movies, fans and thespians happily getting together since before that, we all had to deal with COVID lockdowns and then the Hollywood strikes last year.
TIFF has gotten me to write about this ballad by crooner-songwriter Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）. His August 1984 10th album"Romantic Cinematic" was created with the air of the old movies in mind, and so I bring you this track "Itsuka Tsukiyo de" (Sometime on a Moonlit Night). Written by his sister Etsuko（来生えつこ）with Takao handling the melody, Kazuo Shiina（椎名和夫）arranged "Itsuka Tsukiyo de" as this straight pop love song about an ideal time to fall head-over-heels, with the singer describing over how he first saw his beloved one moony evening.
I can certainly imagine a scene out of old Hollywood whether it involved Spencer and Kate, Humphrey and Lauren or Fred and Ginger. As for the album, it managed to hit No. 18 on Oricon. And I really like that stylized image of what could look like a typical Beverly Hills mansion as the cover for "Romantic Cinematic".
It's a warm and sunny Sunday out there so perhaps something folksy and relaxing would be nice. I found this folk song by singer-songwriter Masamitsu Tayama（田山雅充）. His third single from October 1976, "Ai Suru Koto kara Hajimetemimasen ka" (Why Not Start by Being in Love?) is quite the warm-hearted tune with the strings and a psychedelic rock guitar that was used as the theme for the TBS drama "Shiroi Himitsu"（白い秘密...White Secret）, broadcast that same year. Tayama was the composer while Tsuzuru Nakasato（中里綴）and Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）were the lyricist and arranger respectively.
The Tokyo-born Tayama had his first taste of show business when he had a role in the cast for the monster movie "Mothra" back in 1961 as a child. During high school, Tayama got into music as a vocalist and a drummer in a rock band. Some years later, he started writing songs, even a few enka ones, as an employee of lyricist Kazuya Senke's（千家和也）company.
As a singer, he joined up with the vocal group Akai Hana（赤い花）in 1974 as its main vocalist and then formed a duo known as Tayama to Yuuko（たやまと夕子）from which a single and an album were released. His solo debut began in 1976 with three singles coming out including this article's song. He would release a total of eight singles up to 1982 with three albums hitting the record store shelves in 1976 and 1977. Almost all of his singles were created from that triumvirate of Tayama, Nakasato and Funayama.
In 2015, Tayama moved out to a small area in Tokushima Prefecture, and recruiting some local amateur musicians, he began a series of live street performances on Sundays at the local historical site.
If I'm not mistaken, that 2017 cruise began on a Friday afternoon so Saturday was our first lunch on the Harmony of the Seas. And the above was it. I guess I had to construct my own hamburger.
OK...deep breath to explain this next singer. There is a singer already on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" who goes by the mononym of Miyuki and started her recording career sometime in the 1980s. Her kanji is 「美雪」which will help in distinguishing her from this singer here who is showing up on the blog for the first time and who also goes professionally by the same mononym but just in romaji with a small "m" to begin her name. miyuki was actually born Miyuki Nakajima（中島美由紀）but she is not to be confused with the far more famous singer-songwriter Miyuki Nakajima（中島みゆき）who hails from Hokkaido while miyuki herself is from Chiba Prefecture. As you can also see, miyuki and Miyuki Nakajima have different writings for their given names, professionally speaking. However, to add to the craziness factor, far more famous Miyuki Nakajima has the same kanji given name from her birth（中島美雪）as the first singer that I mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph.😳 If you would like to get a cool compress for your head...
Anyways, "little m" miyuki, as I mentioned, hails from Chiba, and she's a singer, pianist and composer who was active in singing mostly during the 1990s. In the early part of that decade, she released a couple of mini-albums and a single before putting out her first major debut single"Kawaii Kiss wo Ageru"（かわいいKISSをあげる...I'll Give You a Cute Kiss） in 1994. She ended up releasing 6 singles and 3 albums (including one album that got out in 2006).
From her April 1997 album"babyface", I offer you her track "Doyou no Lunch"(Saturday Lunch) which is a light pop concoction with faint feelings of rock and Shibuya-kei. miyuki's vocals and arrangement remind me somewhat of Chisato Moritaka（森高千里）a few years earlier when she herself was getting out of her techno aidoru phase of the early 1990s. Since the singer is listed as a composer only, I'm not sure whether she actually provided the lyrics and if someone else did write the words, I haven't been able to find out who it is.
A few months ago, I introduced a singer to the pages of KKP by the name of Michiru Yuasa（ゆあさみちる）after I'd seen her on an episode of "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新・BS日本のうた）. She performed something that was a little different from the usual enka and Mood Kayo via her "Osozaki no Hero"（遅咲きのHERO）which was more along the lines of 80s rocker Ayumi Nakamura（中村あゆみ）.
Well, when she made her official debut back in April 2020, her first single was "Watashi no Hana"(My Flower) which was written by Reiko Kaminaka（紙中礼子）and composed by Yuhei Hanaoka（花岡優平）. After listening to it, I realized that this particular song was the type of kayo that I would usually hear on "Shin BS Nihon no Uta", but I wouldn't classify it as either enka or Mood Kayo. For me, this is in that genre middle ground known as New Adult Music sprinkled with Latin. And in the music video above, Yuasa even pulls off some tango moves.
There are so many well-known songs born from the collaboration between Hi-Fi Set（ハイ・ファイ・セット）and Yumi Arai（荒井由実）, beginning with "Sotsugyo Shashin"（卒業写真）and "Chuo Freeway"（中央フリーウェイ）, but it's been difficult to put a definitive finger on a City Pop song by them. "Hoshi no Stranger" is a song that has the triple punch of a solid melody, a performance reminiscent of Tin Pan Alley and those characteristic Hi-Fi Set harmonies, and so when it comes to their discography, this song has more of Tin Pan Alley coming to the fore here.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
Not sure where Kayo Grace and Mr. Calico are boogeying it up, but I hope that they are getting some air conditioning in the dance club. It's still plenty steamy in Tokyo these days and I've been hearing a lot of people there via NHK that they are begging for the autumn to come sooner rather than later.
As has been the case with Takao Tajima（田島貴男）and Original Love, vocalist and songwriter Kai Takahashi（高橋海）has also become a solo project when it comes to his Lucky Tapes since last year. Hope he is doing well. But let's go back when Lucky Tapes was a three-piece band. In September 2017, the group released their 2nd EP, "Virtual Gravity", and one track was "Boogie Nights". Written and composed by Takahashi, it has a fair bit of that wacka-wacka 70s R&B and even some of that rock and disco in there. Love the bass and the horns.
Although I think JTM is the expert on Japanese police dramas from the 1970s and 1980s, my impression about them has been that their opening credits for each of those shows liked to have the majority of the detectives running at full speed around the city while the older and more seasoned veterans could afford to just look serious and do something more peaceful such as talk into the walkie-talkie.
This was no different from the TV Asahi cop show "Dai Tokai Ni-Juu-Go-ji"（大都会25時...Big City 25:00）; the cast of characters was running about as if Hannibal Lecter had been set loose onto Tokyo. However, one major difference was that it had a very short run of only 5 months between April and September 1987. Another point that set it apart was that "Dai Tokai Ni-Juu-Go-ji" focused on two squads within one division: one was a by-the-book and competent group while the other team consisted of a bunch of misfits (probably a mix of comical and rebellious types). Not sure what the format was; did each episode focus on one squad per week or was there some sort of gritted-teeth cooperation between the two squads? It was a new way of treating the typical cop show.
From the cop shows that I've seen, this is the first time that I've ever heard of one band taking care of both the opening and ending themes, and for "Dai Tokai Ni-Juu-Go-ji", the producers picked the rock band SHOW-YA."Mizu no Naka no Toubousha"(Fugitive in the Water) was the band's 5th single from May 1987 and it's a pretty cool and melodic rock theme with those wailing electric guitars and sparkling synths that had me thinking about Santana and Bonnie Tyler. I think it does make for that energy pickup for the cops running all over the place in the opening credits. After all, there is never a boring moment in Japan's largest city.
Then, the B-side is the ending theme "Fermata" which is more of a cool-down City Pop tune and it's played against the backdrop of a typical Tokyo intersection through a day, perhaps signifying while the two squads are fighting the good fight, the rest of the populace can go about their business in safety. Maybe the cops can actually stroll to a fashionable bar near the station while listening to this one. For both songs, the big guns were called in: lyricist Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）, composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arranger Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）. "Mizu no Naka no Toubousha" was also included in SHOW-YA's 5th album from November 1987, "Immigration" which hit No. 12 on Oricon.
The above is my copy of Junko Hirotani's（広谷順子）2nd album"Blendy" from 1981 and though I've enjoyed it quite a lot, it doesn't contain a couple of other pleasant songs by the late singer-songwriter who passed away in 2020.
Both songs make up her 4th single from August 1980. I've already covered the A-side, "Koi Moyou"（恋模様）, which is a Resort Pop song that brings to mind a very nice vacation along the Riviera. The B-side,"Anata no Iru Keshiki"(The Scenery Where You Are) is another similarly-themed song of fine life that's slightly peppier in tempo. Maybe the site this song invokes is more local, let's say somewhere in Hakone, Japan. Wherever the scenery is though, the couple is having a lovely and sophisticated time over brunch. Hirotani came up with the melody while Yumi Morita（森田由美）was the lyricist and Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）was responsible for the relaxing arrangement.
Hello and welcome to another Urban Contemporary Friday on KKP. Hopefully, everyone is having a good end to their work week.
I've seen this 1979 album with the blurry cover of a woman sitting somewhere in blue jeans and open-toed shoes before. Titled "Sky Rocketting" (sic), it is a compilation of the award winners from the inaugural Toshiba Express Singer-Songwriter Contest. I never took a dip into the album myself but then providence provided an opportunity.
One of the tracks is "My Honey" by singer-songwriter Yumiko Ohsugi（大杉弓子）who apparently had entered the 8th Yamaha Popular Song Contest back in 1974 and also came up with a song for Sandii from Sandii & The Sunsetz, but that's the only information that I have for her thus far. But getting back to "My Honey", it is a pleasantly breezy City Pop/AOR tune that was written and composed by the singer which brings to mind highway drives with the top down. Would certainly like to try hearing some of the other tracks on "Sky Rocketting".
Last week, I posted an article on the Anzen Chitai（安全地帯） release that should have been their debut album instead of their official one as a major act, "Remember to Remember"(1983). "Anzen Chitai ZERO" consists of tracks that were probably made in the late 1970s when they had changed their name from Invader to Anzen Chitai as an amateur group. From what I could glean from a few Ameba blogs, the tracks were produced and performed during their concerts with tapes containing the songs being sold there only. For some reason, Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）and company perhaps decided that they were no longer worth the time and effort to bring them aboard for their major debut and jettisoned them to find that new sound that would come in the early 1980s; it might explain why Tamaki and/or the powers-that-be haven't really made any effort to take down the YouTube video showing these fascinating early works. However, listening to the first five tracks in Part 1 of the article, I have found them eminently listenable and worthy of the band name.
Anyways, let's start up "Anzen Chitai ZERO" again with Track 6 at 17:02, "Oki Tegami"（置き手紙...The Letter Left Behind）. Beginning with what sounds like a circus accordion, Tamaki tenderly tickles our ears with a lovely ballad that also utilizes a lot of strings, so I think the band was already showing some ambition in their arrangements and choice in musicians. Having the ability to draw tears from a piece of granite has always been Tamaki's stock-in-trade and "Oki Tegami" is one tablet to show his vocal ability.
At 21:24 is "Moegiiro no Snap"（萠黄色のスナップ）which was Anzen Chitai's debut single from 1982, and I actually wrote about it all the way back in 2019. Back then, I noted that this was the song that didn't get onto "Remember to Remember", but it is here on "ZERO" so its history does go back to at least 1980 perhaps.
Track 8 is "ROMENAPONCHI" at 26:35. Try as I might, I couldn't find any rhyme or reason behind the meaning of the title; maybe it's Tamaki's version of Phil Collins' "Sussudio". In any case, it seems to have something to do with baseball with perhaps Tamaki himself playing the play-by-play announcer. The song begins with a saucy guitar solo and a stubborn bass beat before Tamaki has a bit of fun with his voice...perhaps in a New Wave sort of way? As the song continues, the arrangement decides to have that fun as well. I was even tapping my heel as I was listening.
At 31:09 is "Dakishimete mo"（抱きしめても...Even Holding You）, I got some cool Electric Light Orchestra vibes for this pop/rock track. There's a nice guitar solo and along with "ROMENAPONCHI", I thought that "Dakishimete mo" was an example of Anzen Chitai stretching out their wings a bit more from the typical Anzen Chitai sound, although admittedly, the members themselves may not have known what their sound was back at the time. Maybe it was more along their old Invader ways.
The final song at 34:49 is "Tsubuyaki"（つぶやき）and nope it has nothing to do with Japanese tweets as in the former Twitter (we're talking about decades ago, after all). Back then, the word meant "murmurs", and the short song here is an apt track to finish the album off as a calming guitar ballad backed by those shimmering strings and some wonderful harmonies.
So, what do I think of "ZERO" overall? Well, it's no zero by any means, and if I had a chance to talk with Tamaki, I would probably say that he had been a bit harsh in ditching these nice early works, if that is indeed what did happen to them. It doesn't have quite that nocturnal moody sound that the band became famous for within their second, third and fourth albums, but it does contain what I would later hear in the epic multi-LP "V" on certain tracks in terms of their rocking-out tunes and ballads, so I have a different take on these songs that I'd assumed were them spreading their wings but now believe were them going back to their original stylings. Not surprisingly, they were also a bit experimental back then trying to search for their identity so just on that alone, it would be worth a purchase if "ZERO" ever gets an official release on streaming or even old-fashioned CD or vinyl.
When it comes to the oeuvre of singer Akemi Ishii（石井明美）, I've always pictured her as being someone resolutely linked with the mid to late 1980s. For that matter, her music usually had me thinking Eurobeat or something with some Latin pizazz. "Cha-Cha-Cha" and "L'Amant"（ラマン）come to mind.
"Celebration" is a song that I first heard on a BEST compilation by Ishii so I had initially not known about where it originally came from. It is a coupling song from her 11th single from October 1993, "Anatarashiku Ite"（あなたらしくいて...Stay As You Are） so that is one personal trope broken about her. The other trope broken is that I'd often associate her works with cover versions of Eurobeat songs and "Celebration" sounds as if this would be another one although the arrangement doesn't show off the Eurobeat all that strongly.
However, "Celebration" is a homegrown product with Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and Kazuo Otani（大谷和夫）handling the melody and arrangement respectively while Ikki Matsumoto（松本一起）is the lyricist. But, as one commenter on YouTube has pointed out, "Celebration" does have some similarity with Cutting Crew's big 1986 hit "(I Just) Died in Your Arms".
Yesterday, I posted an article on singer and seiyuu Emi Shinohara's（篠原恵美）"Wasureru tame ni Koi wo Shinai de"（忘れるために恋をしないで）on hearing of her untimely passing a few days ago. This was on top of the news that actor James Earl Jones had also died on September 8th at the age of 93. He had been in so many different movies such as "Dr. Strangelove", "Field of Dreams" and "The Hunt for Red October", but of course, I'm always going to know him as the voice of one of the greatest movie villains, Darth Vader from "Star Wars".
As a kid, I'd always wondered who that was inside the armour to be able to voice Vader in that iconic way. That breathing, the basso profundo, and the elegant but threatening delivery (and a talent for asphyxiation) that struck awe and fear in not only mouthy Imperial commanders but millions of theatregoers. We would later find out that it was a tandem operation with David Prowse as the Dark Lord of the Sith in body while the voice was provided by Jones.
The two of them worked together to create this master bad guy who received as many cheers as did Luke, Yoda and Obi-Wan. When "Star Wars" became this huge phenomenon in 1977, the characters including Vader showed up everywhere including the ABC music-variety show "Donny & Marie". I remember seeing that specific episode with the kitschy spoof involving Donny Osmond, sister Marie and actor Kris Kristofferson along with C-3PO and R2-D2. Darth Vader even showed up (though he was voiced by someone else) in sketches to literally rip apart settings such as a gym locker room through his Sith ways.
I remember when "The Empire Strikes Back" premiered in 1980 at the University Theatre in downtown Toronto. It was absolute joyous mayhem as the lines snaked around the cinema like a naruto. It took two tries over as many days, but my brother and I finally got into the theatre to see the sequel and the cheering and clapping were incredible. All of us especially wanted to hear Jones speak out those words as Vader and we got them, accompanied by the new epic "Imperial March" theme. It was always a moment to hear him speak, and for me, some of my favourite quotes were: "I find your lack of faith disturbing", "The Force is strong with this one", "You have failed me for the last time", and of course, "I am your father". All of my condolences go to Jones' family, friends and fans...may the Force be with him.
As a tribute to him, my weekly Reminiscings of Youth article will be on this song connected with the franchise. Interestingly enough, as much as I have raved about John Williams' theme for "Star Wars" in its own article from 2022, I have to confess that the original Williams Main Title isn't the first version that I ever heard. That award has to go to Meco's"Star Wars/Cantina Band" which was part of his album "Star Wars and Other Galactic Funk", released in the summer of 1977, only a few months after the movie had gotten into theatres.
Rona Barrett's"Good Morning America" feature on the original movie which included the famous TIE fighter vs. Millennium Falcon scene was the first that I'd ever seen of "Star Wars", but a few months later, I heard this snazzy disco epic or Meco-ized version of the Main Title, the Cantina Band jazz and even a bit of the Jedi theme on K-Tel commercials or even ads about the movie itself. For some reason, I didn't hear it too much on the local radio, though. I'd assumed that the mononymed Meco was some flamboyant artiste from European discos but he actually hails from Pennsylvania.
Yeah, I know disco is all about the dancing but I'd never seen people dance to Meco's "Star Wars" until today. Just listening to it was good enough for me; such was the genius of John Williams. By October 1977, it hit No. 1 for a couple of weeks in the United States and in Canada, it was also a chart-topper. Eventually, I would hear the original Main Title and then in 1979, my father finally took me to see the movie itself, two years after its premiere. The Fairview had been showing "Star Wars" every day for those two years and yet there were still lines snaking all over the place and people were still exploding in delight when the Death Star blew up.
During my years living in the Tokyo area, my friends and I had walked through the famous or infamous Kabukicho district in Shinjuku in the day and at night. Once, I even walked through the shuttered streets of the area all by myself in the early afternoon since those establishments had more nocturnal business. I remember getting stared at by a few unsavory types and thinking "This will be the last time I stroll on this particular laneway!".
Although over the years, I've heard students telling me that they try not to go through the area beyond a certain prime-time hour, I've actually walked through Kabukicho at around midnight and it wasn't too bad. There are probably neighborhoods in Toronto and other major cities around the world that are far more dangerous, but obviously one has to keep one's wits about them such as not following the tuxedoed tout into the mystery bar unless one has a major desire to lose a lot of stuff such as money.
Fuji-TV has been showing a comedy-drama established in Kabukicho over the past few months. In fact, according to J-Wiki, it's supposed to be wrapping up tonight. "Shinjuku Yasen Byouin"(新宿野戦病院...Shinjuku Field Hospital) is all about the hijinks and drama of operating a medical facility within one of Japan's wildest neighborhoods, and considering that I first translated the title as "Shinjuku MASH", I was wondering whether there would be the droll humour of the the legendary movie and TV series in America. Probably not.
For something like "Shinjuku Yasen Byouin", the theme song and the band behind it would have to be things that would fit the unfurled chaos and fascination of not only the show but also of Kabukicho. Of course, it would be Southern All Stars（サザンオールスターズ）and their 7th digital single"Koi no Boogie Woogie Night" (Boogie Woogie Night of Love) which was released in June 2024. It's been categorized with the genres of rock, disco and EDM, but for me, I think it's more with funk and pop along with the synths.
Watching the music video, it's pure SAS...Keisuke Kuwata's（桑田佳祐）sultry coolness as the MC of the proceedings along with plenty of sex appeal. He could be the King of Kabukicho himself and the video reflects the area from all angles: traditional, modern, gaudy, straitlaced, sexy. The two stars of "Shinjuku Yasen Byouin" even show up to dance a bit.
"Koi no Boogie Woogie Night" peaked at No. 3 on Oricon's digital single chart. Although I don't think Kabukicho has ever needed any help in gathering a lot of tourism, I kinda wonder whether the drama has gotten more tourists to see what all the fuss is about.
For this week, I had been expecting to give a tribute to a recently departed star in pop culture tomorrow during the regular Reminiscings of Youth article. However, last night I discovered that regrettably I have to give another one right now. Seiyuu and singer Emi Shinohara（篠原恵美）passed away on September 8th at the age of 61. Of course, she's been known for many roles in anime but the one that I will always associate her with is Makoto Kino（木野まこと）, aka Sailor Jupiter, within the original "Sailor Moon" anime series of the early 1990s.
Mako-chan was a most interesting character within the five main Sailors since her character fused a couple of typical personality types together: the tall, tough and just girl who could wipe the pavement of many a thug and a lass who loved to cook, admire cute things and happily fall in love with any guy. Initially striking me as being the most serious warrior, she also got her chance to partake in the goofy world of Usagi Tsukino（月野うさぎ）, aka Sailor Moon.
All of the seiyuu in "Sailor Moon" were also involved in singing and in 1994, during the second season of the original series known as "Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon R"（美少女戦士セーラームーンR キャラクターソング）, there was a CD single series known as "Bishojo Senshi Sailor Moon R Character Songs" in which each of the seiyuu put out their own songs under their characters' names. Shinohara's own CD came out in March of that year with the final track being "Wasureru tame ni Koi wo Shinai de" (Don't Fall in Love Just to Forget).
Sung softly by Shinohara and as the character of Makoto Kino, the song fits her and her circumstances to a T as Mitsuko Shiramine's（白峰美津子） lyrics describe Mako-chan, having broken up with a boy recently, makes her slow recovery though she still has feelings for the lad. The synthpop arrangement is very plucky in a nearly Shibuya-kei way and more importantly, it sounds hopeful for the future. The melody was created by Toshiaki Matsumoto（松本俊明）who came up with a lot of pop songs for other artists including a couple of Xmas outings for Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）in 1990 and then Misia in 2000.
My condolences to Shinohara's family, friends and fans.
Living in the Tokyo area in the 2000s, I was accustomed to regularly seeing R&B conglomerate m-flo on TV with his various buddies hip-hopping, rapping and grooving. My question is where did they all go, although as for the core, I'm happy to say that they are still around. In fact, they released something just last month.
However, let's go back those two decades to October 2003 when m-flo's 15th single was released. "miss you" with the singers for this one being Ryohei Yamamoto（山本領平）and Japanese-American singer Melody Ishikawa, stylized back then as melody. (not to be confused with the aidoru group Melody). Ryohei would also collaborate with Verbal and gang a few years later on "Summer Time Love".
I remember "miss you" because of its music video which is a conveyor belt of MC Verbal, DJ ☆Taku, Ryohei and melody. having fun and acting out a romantic relationship working out some issues inside what looks like an IKEA storeroom masquerading as a movie script read-through session venue. Between Verbal's pointed hip-hop banter and the two main singers cooing at each other, I'm also enjoying melody.'s soft grooving voice. The song managed to hit No. 8 on Oricon and it's also included on m-flo's May 2004 3rd album"Astromantic" which peaked at No. 2 and ended up as the 42nd-ranked album of the year, going Double Platinum.
One piece of trivia I found out regarding melody. is that she's married to musician Miyavi.
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