Sara Hamamoto -- Itsumo Eyes to Me（いつも eyes to me）

 

It's been a couple of years since we last saw model-turned-singer Sara Hamamoto（浜本沙良）, so let's have her back onto the blog. I first started her file on KKP with her "Follow Me" from the July 1994 album "Puff" and immediately enjoyed it for its sophisticated pop feeling.

Well, another track from "Puff" is "Itsumo Eyes to Me" (Eyes to Me Always) which continues that particular vibe. Right from the get-go, there is that feeling of 1960s swinging British soul, something that Swingout Sister was famous for when they premiered back in the mid-1980s. There is some fine sinuous groove in this one and the impression that one doesn't have to move around at the speed of a Bullet Train to enjoy the city life. 

As was the case with "Follow Me", lyricist Seriko Natsuno（夏野芹子）and composer Hitoshi Haba（羽場仁志）were behind "Itsumo Eyes to Me" which was also a coupling song on Hamamoto's debut single "Sayonara wa Tenshi no Hajimari"（さよならは天使のはじまり...Goodbye Means the Start of an Angel）. The late Nobuo Ariga（有賀啓雄）was the arranger here.

Yuji Ohno -- Wavelet（ウエイブリット）

From Amazon.jp

Whenever I think of canine heroes, my memories reveal "Lassie" (Rin Tin Tin was just way before even my time) from the 1960s. I remember watching some of the TV series as a kid and though I can't really remember the theme song, I can make out enough of it that it was an instrumental with a faintly classical arrangement.

In 1976, novelist Jugou Nishimura（西村寿行）wrote "Inubue"（犬笛...Dog Whistle） whose plot entailed a child kidnapping and the father who used his trusty dog via a dog whistle to track down his kid and the dastardly folks behind the crime. Apparently, the novel had quite the legs since it would be made into a movie in 1978 followed by three television adaptations in 1978, 1990 and 2002. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any footage from any of those TV shows or the movie so the poster up at the top is the best I could do.

For the 1978 TV adaptation that was an 8-week summer series on NTV, the recently departed Yuji Ohno（大野雄二）was placed in charge of the music. I'll do the official ending theme by him next month but for today, I'll go with the B-side of the single, the shibui "Wavelet". The first time I heard this, I thought that this was awfully urban and urbane for a thriller that seems to take place in the deep woods, and it's not everyday that an adventure involving a kid and a dog sounds like something from "Lupin III". But hey, it's Ohno and he was the master of the jazzier side of City Pop, so if the kid and the dog wanna hit a Shinjuku hotel top bar for mocktails (I wouldn't dare say cocktails) after filming, I'm not judging. 👍

Seri Ishikawa -- Panorama Heaven

 

Yeah, I was being a little artsy with this shot. It's the front of the Bic Camera store right by JR Mito Station. 

It was about a couple of months ago that I included a track from Seri Ishikawa's（石川セリ）September 1985 album "Rakuen"（楽園...Paradise） titled "Desire". Well, I've got another track from that release titled "Panorama Heaven". Short and sweet, it was written by Moro Fukuzawa（福沢もろ）and composed by Makoto Yano（矢野誠）as an intriguing mélange which begins with a languid City Pop vibe before hitting a chorus containing a reggae/technopop rhythm. Ishikawa sounds especially ethereal thanks to that haunting echo effect. "Panorama Heaven" indeed.

Olivia Newton-John -- Twist of Fate

By Alan Light via Wikimedia Commons

The last time I brought Olivia Newton-John into Reminiscings of Youth was a little over a year ago when I wrote about her early 1970s ballad "I Honestly Love You". When I look back on her career from that time forward a decade, it's amazing how much she changed her style. And yes, I'm well aware that we are approaching the 4th anniversary of her passing.

From a well-scrubbed country lass back in those 1970s to a New Wave diva of the early 1980s (and a disco gamine in between...along with her time in "Grease"). Yep, I'm referring to the above music video for her October 1983 hit "Twist of Fate" which I saw a lot on the video shows. I'm not sure whether a lot of folks actually watched the movie that it was attached to, the 1983 "Two of a Kind", starring Newton-John and her old buddy from "Grease", John Travolta, but the song and the video sure were popular. 

As I mentioned, "Twist of Fate" was a synthpop/New Wave-y concoction produced by David Foster and created by Steve Kipner and Peter Beckett that was catchy and pretty much screamed "I'M OF THE 80'S!" in its arrangement. Maybe it could have gotten folks onto the dance floor as well. But it was the music video that got my attention at least with a glammed-up Olivia strutting into a seemingly futuristic court. I swear that she looked halfway to becoming a live-action version of Memphis Group art. I think even the singer mocked herself in a later interview about how much lipstick she spackled onto her mouth for the video, although I thought she looked dang hot to be honest.😉

In Canada, "Twist of Fate" reached No. 5 on RPM while in the United States, the song peaked at No. 5 as well. So, what was up on the Oricon charts on October 24th 1983, a few days after the release of this OJN hit? Just for fun, let's go with Nos. 18-20.

18. Tomio Umezawa -- Yume Shibai （夢芝居）

19. Yuki Katsuragi -- Bohemian （ボヘミアン）

20. H2O -- Omoide ga Ippai （思い出がいっぱい）

Hitomi Kaga -- Fukanasake（ふかなさけ）

 

As soon as I heard the boozy saxophone from the intro, I knew that we were in heavy Mood Kayo territory. I could already see the cigarette smoke and hear the clinking glasses of whiskey on the rocks.

The interesting thing is that the singer behind this B-side to her 1984 single "Gion Bojou"（祇園慕情...Longing for Gion）, "Fukanasake" is a bit of a mystery. There's not much information about Hitomi Kaga（加賀ひとみ）although there is an entry on someone else named Hitomi Kaga (same kanji and hiragana, too) on J-Wiki. But looking deep into that article and her file on Discogs plainly shows that we are talking about two different women. The J-Wiki article is of an opera singer who was still in high school in the 1980s while the Kaga here and on Discogs started her career as a singer in the 1960s.

And to be honest, I'd never heard of the word fukanasake before. I found out that it means "hollow kindness" and so I'm guessing that, considering the genre involved here, it's about some lady who was betrayed by a love 'em-&-leave 'em cad in the big city somewhere. Maybe she's drinking her sorrows away in some dingy hole-in-the-wall. Anyways, the song was written and composed by someone whose name in kanji form is one of the rare instances that has absolutely stymied me. Wild speculation with some help from Jisho.org is that it could be pronounced Hiizu Aika（愛佳禾）. It might even be an especially muscular pseudonym for an otherwise famous songwriter but if anyone can give me some insight, that would be great. But for right now, I look as pensive as Ms. Kaga does on the single cover.🤔

80kidz & AAAMYYY -- Magic

Looks like we've got the electro trio helping out here. The most recent of these acts that I've talked about was tofubeats when I posted his "Angels on the Dance Floor" at the end of May this year. 80kidz and AAAMYYY were last visited back in 2023.

Back in February 2021, the electro duo 80kidz came up with their 6th album, "ANGLE", from which we have their "Magic" today. A lovelorn collaboration with singer-songwriter and former potential Air Canada flight attendant AAAMYYY, I'd been expecting something fairly wild and dance floor-friendly, but, and I'm not complaining here, "Magic" is actually quite the chill tune and I should have known this considering AAAMYYY's whispery voice. I'd say that it qualifies for more introspective and sip-worthy contemplation between frantic dance moves.

A couple of months later, a tofubeats remix of "Magic" was released as an 80kidz' single. It's fortified with a bit more blip.

Nagoya Singers

Nagoya Castle
by Base64 via Wikimedia Commons

Last week, I posted up "Sagamihara Singers" in tribute to the fact that my hometown of Toronto and the city of Sagamihara had a sister-city relationship. Tonight, I'm talking about "Nagoya Singers" but my inspiration isn't connected to any similar bond between Nagoya and a Canadian city. In fact, I don't think Nagoya has any sister-city relationships with any urban zones in my nation although it does have them with Los Angeles, Mexico City and Sydney.

Nope, the impetus for writing about singers or bands who come from Japan's 4th-largest city is today's edition of NHK's "Asaichi"（あさイチ）morning information show. It just so happens that the focus was on Nagoya and all of those scrumptious dishes that originate there and elsewhere in its Aichi Prefecture. When I saw that wonderful dish of grilled eel called hitsumabushi（ひつまぶし）on my screen earlier, I just went "OK...got my second article for Hump Day!". But have a look at hitsumabushi and some of the other famous local treats in the video above from Mui's Diary.

Anyways, I've got four acts here from Nagoya. Please enjoy!

(1983) Junko Yagami -- Jealous

(1984) Yukiko Okada -- Dreaming Girl

(1993) Yoshiko Goshima -- Shiroi Iro wa Koibito no Iro （白い色は恋人の色）

(2011) Sentimental City Romance -- Sun Sunny Friend

Anyways, Nagoya has been in the news for being one of the hottest places in Japan right now, so I'm hoping that folks there are trying to keep cool and safe. As a PS, you can also take a look at another Nagoya specialty, ten-musu（天むす）, from YouTuber Just One Cookbook.