Keiko Oginome -- Chikyuu wa Lullaby（地球はララバイ）

Wikimedia Commons
via the NASA/Apollo 17 crew

About a week ago, the number of sister acts increased when I posted the first Shinobu Nakayama（中山忍）article to KKP alongside her sister Miho's（中山美穂）many articles. Well, it's increasing by one again today.

This time, it's the Oginomes. Yup, the dancing heroine of the mid-1980s herself Yoko Oginome（荻野目洋子）has an older sister named Keiko Oginome（荻野目慶子）. And just like Shinobu, Keiko has much more of a reputation as a thespian rather than as a singer. But still, she put out two singles in 1983 and 1984.

That second and final single was "Chikyuu wa Lullaby" (Earth is a Lullaby) which was released in June 1984 and it was used as a theme song for a Morinaga-sponsored musical "Lily"（リリー）. Written by Youji Aoi（青井陽治）and composed by Akira Miyagawa（宮川晶）, it's got a very relaxed and melancholy Spanish feeling and Keiko's high and floaty vocals sound very similar to her more music-oriented sister when she first started out as an aidoru (perhaps even more ethereal).

MAKE-UP -- Pegasus Fantasy（ペガサス幻想）

Wikimedia Commons
via Macacaosapao

 

I have some sad news to relay from commenter Kyle Andrew to all those in the tokusatsu, anime and J-Rock communities if you don't already know. Singer-songwriter Nobuo Yamada（山田信夫）, who had been involved in the creation of anison and tokusatsu theme songs, passed away on August 9th from kidney cancer at the age of 61. 

To be honest, I didn't know much of the Osaka-born Yamada's career and discography which began in the early 1980s. However, there is one song that I do recognize very well and it was through his hard rock band MAKE-UP which started up in 1983 for an initial four-year run, and then starting up again in 2010 to go for one more year.

My anime buddy, when we used to have the regular biweekly Sunday anime-and-meal outings, played his usual anison for an hour or so on the stereo, and one of the recurring tunes that I heard was the first opening theme song used for the anime "Saint Seiya"（聖闘士星矢）which started in the fall of 1986 and lasted until spring 1989. I only found out about "Saint Seiya" much later in life...basically when I was already living in Japan, and just from judging from the opening credits and the MAKE-UP song, I probably would have gotten into the show because I was so much into the absorption of Japanese pop culture back then.

"Pegasus Fantasy" was released as MAKE-UP's 4th single in October 1986. Written by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）with Yamada and band guitarist Hiroaki Matsuzawa（松澤浩明）responsible for the melody, it's quite the rousing up-and-at-'em rock number to get all of the Saints off and running toward saving the day. I could imagine anime fans from 8 to 88 punching the air as this was playing. "Pegasus Fantasy" was also first placed onto the band's BEST compilation "GLORY DAYS〜MAKE-UP BEST COLLECTION" which came out in August 1989.

My condolences go out to Yamada's family, friends and many fans.

Akira Terao -- Long Distance Call（長距離電話）

 

I enjoy getting a little surprise in the form of yet another new discovery from a singer that I've always liked. Actor-singer Akira Terao（寺尾聡）has been someone that I've covered since the earliest days of the blog starting with his No. 1 "Reflections" album and his City Pop entries are very much cherished by me.

Well, whaddaya know? I found this one for the first time in his discography. "Long Distance Call" just happened to be Terao's 6th single from December 1982, and the same team who was helping out the singer-songwriter on "Reflections" gave their contributions here, too: lyricist Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）and arranger Akira Inoue（井上鑑）. "Long Distance Call", a song about getting that unexpected midnight ring in the dark metropolis, is quite the rambunctious AOR tune most likely reflecting the tumultuous feelings roiling about the protagonist's mind and soul about this call from far away. The horns coming in near the end are a nice touch, too.

I remember placing my first long-distance calls while abroad in Japan. They weren't nearly as dramatic as Terao's phone calls but I had to figure out things such as collect calls, person-to-person, and station-to-station. Still not too sure about the difference between those last two.

Narumi Yasuda -- Tropical Mystery（トロピカル・ミステリー）

 

Yeah, it's been tropical here for the past several days but we might get a break within the next several hours in the form of a thunderstorm which might bring some much-needed rain. Meanwhile, the air conditioner is going full tilt and I'm hoping that we won't be suffering any more micro outages or even worse due to an overload of the electrical system.

Speaking of tropical, I have a Narumi Yasuda（安田成美）song here for the first time in a couple of years on the blog. "Tropical Mystery" was the actress-singer's 2nd single from April 1984 and it was also included on her debut album "Yasuda Narumi" which was released on the same day as the single. 

The first time that I heard this one, I swore that the song had been created by singer-songwriter Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）just because of that bouncy whimsical arrangement that weaves between Fashion Music and regular pop. Ironically, Ohnuki's first time as an album producer was for Yasuda's 2nd album "Ginger"（ジィンジャー）in 1988. Another reason for the assumption is that "Tropical Mystery" sounds rather similar to Ohnuki's "Natsu ni Koi Suru Onna Tachi"（夏に恋する女たち....The Women Who Love In Summer) which came out the previous year.

However, the melody was actually composed by Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）and arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）with Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）supplying the lyrics. Yasuda isn't the steadiest of singers but it seems as if her vocals match the whimsy and fantastical romantic feeling emanating from "Tropical Mystery" perhaps even more here than was the case with her most famous song "Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa" (風の谷のナウシカ), which is also available on "Yasuda Narumi".

Oricon Single Rankings for August 12th 1985

 

Ordinarily I wouldn't be putting up a simple Top 10 ranking list today, but for all this time that I was a bit worried about dwindling water supplies over what has been an unusually hot summer here, the bigger issue that hit my household today was micro-power outages. It looks like everybody and their dog have been activating their air conditioners along with their usual electronics to perhaps burden the electricity grid.

We got zapped a couple of times during the noon hour so I was frantically resetting the clocks and making sure that our television and Internet were back online. They are indeed back online but at this point, I won't be putting too much stress on the system by having both my Internet and TV on at the same time and I won't be playing any videos to help me write the KKP articles, so I'll just take it easy for the rest of the day and perhaps things will be better by tonight. Anyways, here is a list of what was up on the Top 10 Singles for August 12th 1985.

1.  Anzen Chitai                  Kanashimi ni Sayonara

2.  Checkers                        Ore-tachi no Rockabilly Night

3.  Kyoko Koizumi             Akujo

4.  Hiroko Yakushimaru    Anata wo Motto Shiritakute

5.  Toshi & Naoko               Natsu Zakari Honoji Gumi

6.  Onyanko Club               Sailor Fuku wo Nugasanaide

7.  Ayumi Nakamura         Tsubasa no Oreta Angel

8.  Akina Nakamori           Sand Beige

9.  Southern All Stars        Bye Bye My Love

10.  Yu Hayami                  Passion

Akemi Ishii -- Celebration

Amazon.jp

 

Welcome to the continued dog days of summer, and yep, it's still plenty torrid here even in Toronto. I can't even imagine what it's like now in Japan although I hear that the southern regions have been getting pounded by torrential rains.

Akemi Ishii（石井明美）is someone that I haven't heard from in a while so allow me to rectify that. In addition, she has her own big kanreki birthday (as do a few of us this year) coming up in a few weeks, so we should wish her a happy one. 

"Celebration" is a non-single track from her 2nd album "Joy" (August 1987) that I have heard before but just haven't covered as of yet. Not sure whether composer/arranger Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and lyricist Ikki Matsumoto（松本 一起）were aiming for Eurobeat or some mix between it or pop, but there is something in there that reminds me of Cutting Crew's big hit "(I Died) In Your Arms Tonight" from 1986. Matsumoto's lyrics are filled with paradoxes with the basic one being whether someone's happy with that other person or without. Quite the celebration.

Anri -- Umibe kara（海辺から）

 

Anri（杏里）has got another birthday coming up at the end of this month so I would like to wish her Happy Birthday in advance.

I've always believed that Anri was very photogenic right from the get-go in those late 1970s but just around the turn of the decade, those photographers really knew how to get the right shots for those covers of albums and singles. Anyways, I'll try and stop panting (but it is really hot inside and out today, y'know) and provide another B-side from her early singles.

Anri's third single "Namida wo Umi ni Kaeshitai"（涙を海に返したい）was an elegant but pretty powerful heartbreak tune that was released in April 1979. The B-side is no slouch either. "Umibe kara" (From the Seashore) is another song about the aftermath of a lost relationship but it's more laidback and grounded with an arrangement by Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）of Anri's own melody and Yoshiko Miura's（三浦徳子）lyrics that is reminiscent of some of those love songs by artists such as Carole King and Carly Simon. But with Anri's vocals, "Umibe kara" has some more innocence imbued. Of course, she was still seventeen when she recorded the single.

"Namida wo Umi ni Kaeshitai" was one song that never got placed onto an original album by Anri although it eventually did get put onto her "MY FAVORITE SONGS" compilation in 1988. "Umibe kara" finally got onto an album which was the 1986 CD version of "Feelin'", the singer's 2nd album from June 1979.