Richard Strauss -- Also sprach Zarathustra

 

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The first time I heard this song and recognized it for its epic-ness, it was actually on one of the segments for "The Electric Company", the 1970s children's program to help in reading and grammar. Various characters encounter a monolith in space which crumbles down to reveal a phonic. Meanwhile, the song emphasizes the absolute importance of the discovery.

I would eventually see the motion picture that starts out with that very song...or should I say, tone poem by Richard Strauss, "Also sprach Zarathustra" that was composed in 1896 (technically, it's the initial "Sonnenaufgang" section). Regardless, it and the 1968 film (or hallucinogenic experience) "2001: A Space Odyssey" are totally connected at the hip, and I would compare it to John Williams' "Jaws" in terms of a small series of notes that can command the most attention from everybody. But though Williams' classic two-note realm of terror is about a carnivorous sea creature, Strauss' incredible five-note beginning can span the cosmos; one YouTube commenter even said that it could be the anthem for the entire solar system. With those horns and the timpani pounding out boulders, I can believe it.

Of course, the final ten-minute sequence at the end of the movie with all of those effects and the haunting chorus probably should or shouldn't be seen under the influence of some major pharmaceuticals. People like Dr. Braino would understand. Go easy on the red beauty jackets, though!

Apart from its time in "The Electric Company", "Also sprach Zarathustra" has been getting its due in commercials and various other television shows and movies where it once again and again has gargantuanly commanded attention to products and characters. I can only hope that if a manned NASA mission ever heads out to Jupiter or even Mars in my lifetime, Strauss' spirit would get a kick from his magnum opus being played.

April 3rd 1968 was the date that "2001" was released in the United States. Well, what was hitting the top spots on the brand spanking new Oricon on April Fools' Day 1968? We have Nos. 2-4.

2. Yukari Ito -- Koi no Shizuku （恋のしずく）

3. Tomoko Ogawa -- Yuube no Himitsu　（ゆうべの秘密）

4. The Tempters -- Kamisama Onegai （神様お願い）

Salon Music -- Hunting on Paris

 

I began the New Wave duo Salon Music file almost a couple of years ago with their July 1983 single "Duet ni Muchuu"（デュエットに夢中）and found it to be a nice slice of the genre this side of Sparks. Quirky and refreshing, it is.

Tonight, I give you the follow-up single to "Duet ni Muchuu", "Hunting on Paris" which was released in October of that year. Vocalist and bassist Jin Yoshida（吉田仁）and vocalist and keyboardist Hitomi Takenaka（竹中仁見）retain the New Wave but go a bit more into the rock zone and the author of the article on Fond Sound hit the nail on the head when the reference was made to The B-52s regarding this song. Sung totally in English, this really is a hunt on the City of Lights since Yoshida and Takenaka are making like a couple of hardcore Francophiles who love everything about the French. The author of the Fond Sound article also states that "Hunting on Paris" was the breakthrough song for the pair, getting them that deal with Pony Canyon.

Oricon Top 10 Singles for October 15th 1984

 

1.  Kyoko Koizumi    Yamato Nadeshiko Shichi Henge

2.  Shibugakitai          Beranme! Dandy

3.  Checkers               Hoshikuzu no Stage

4.  Masahiko Kondo   Eien no Himitsusa

5.  Tomoe Kimura       Naniwa Bushi da yo Jinsei wa

6.  Takashi Hosokawa  Naniwa Bushi da yo Jinsei wa

7.  SALLY                    Virgin Blue

8.  Koji Kikkawa          La Vie En Rose

9.  Yu Hayami               Aishuu Jouku

10.  Yukiko Okada        Koi Hajimemashite

Mako Midori -- Onna wa Kanashii（女はかなしい）

 

I don't know that much about actor Renji Ishibashi（石橋蓮司）aside from the fact that he's been often cast as tough guys and high official types. At 178 cm tall, he may not seem all that tall in America but he has likely cast a very long and intimidating shadow in Japan since his career began in the middle of the 1950s.

One thing I definitely didn't know about Ishibashi was that he's been married to an actress by the name of Mako Midori（緑魔子）. Born in Taiwan as Yoshiko or Ryoko Kojima（小島良子）in 1944, Midori started her time in show business in the mid-1960s in front of the camera, but she also had her time behind the recording microphone beginning in 1967. In fact, here is her second single from September of that year, "Onna wa Kanashii" (Women are a Miserable Lot). A particularly smoky Mood Kayo written by Haruki Tango（丹古晴己）and composed by Minoru Yoshikawa（吉川　実）, it is also a cynical song about one woman's opinions on her lot and perhaps a lot of other women's lot in life in the big city...nothing but one-night stands and goodbyes, and maybe those are the high points. Midori puts so much ennui and disdain in her vocals that they make Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）in the last half of her career a decade later sound like the most cheerful girl skipping in the meadow.

Stardust Revue -- Thank You

As an old fan of those Warner Bros. cartoons, I remember one such cartoon titled "What's Up, Doc?" which was basically the biography of one Bugs Bunny. There is one segment in there which shows Bugs first cutting his teeth in show business as a member of the welcoming chorus boys for each and every Broadway musical.

I get the same vibe from the band Stardust Revue's (スターダストレビュー) "Thank You" which is the title track from their March 1985 3rd album. Not that I'm slamming the band here; Kaname Nemoto（根本要）and his guys are marvelous and I make this comparison because they seem to have this wonderfully old-fashioned style of welcoming and thanking listeners and audiences with their upbeat pop and vocal harmonizing.

Keyboardist Yasuhiro Mitani（三谷泰弘）took care of both words and music here for this contemporary version of the welcoming chorus boys in "What's Up, Doc?". I was actually recommended this by fellow KKP contributor and podcaster Rocket Brown after he'd taken a gander at the "Thank You Songs for Thanksgiving" article I posted back on Monday; there's always room for another thank you song here and I thank him for the recommendation. As well, regular commenter Brian Mitchell reminded me of pop band Ikimonogakari's（いきものがかり）"Arigato" (ありがとう).

Chiharu Matsuyama/Ayako Fuji -- Gin no Ame（銀の雨）

 

Early this morning, I went off to the nearby clinic to get some blood work done. The weather was and is unusually warm for this time of year with the temperature currently at 25 degrees Celsius; we should be talking about Wind Chill Index right now but for today, we're back to the Humidex which feels like 32 degrees! Glad that we haven't uninstalled the air conditioner quite yet and the fan in my room is back on full speed. We even had some thunderstorms earlier as I left the clinic; saw some trifurcated lightning bolts crack along the sky.

It was raining but it wasn't too hard though the drops were steady for about a half-hour or so. We're back into sunny weather again. Speaking of rain, here is a Chiharu Matsuyama（松山千春）song titled "Gin no Ame" (Silver Rain). A B-side to the folk singer's sophomore single "Kazaguruma"（かざぐるま...Pinwheels） from June 1977, this has absolutely nothing to do with Noriko Miyamoto's（宮本典子） "Silver Rain", her City Pop song from 1981. Just so you know.

To wit, Matsuyama's "Gin no Ame" is a melancholy folk ballad about a man who finally realizes that the lady of his dreams simply doesn't reciprocate his feelings and so he has pulled himself away. Of course, the meteorological setting for all this is a lot of silver rain. I'm gonna have to ask about what silver rain means in significance regarding sad situations. Maybe the precipitation (and feeling of sadness) is so heavy that it's taken on that shiny gray colour? 

In any case, along with the guitar, I enjoy those sweeping strings that swoop in during the chorus. Matsuyama took care of words and music while Tadashige Matsui（松井忠重）arranged everything. "Gin no Ame" also ended up on Matsuyama's debut album that was released in the same month as "Kazaguruma", "Kimi no Tame ni Tsukutta Uta"（君のために作った歌...The Songs I Made For You）. It broke into the Oricon album chart at No. 8 and became the No. 29 album for 1978 and even went up ten ranks to No. 19 for 1979.

Enka singer Ayako Fuji（藤あや子）provided a much different cover version of "Gin no Ame" when she released her June 2017 album "GENTLEMAN ~ Watashi no Naka no Otoko-tachi"（私の中の男たち...The Men Around Me）. Her version speaks of smoky jazz in a nightclub environment.

Shion Tsuji -- Take Me Home

 

The fascinating thing about looking at singer-songwriter Shion Tsuji's（辻詩音）album cover of her May 2010 debut album "Catch!" is how much the lady from Yokohama resembles 1990s pop sensation hitomi. But Tsuji herself was born in 1990, so we're talking about a generation's difference between the two. However, I have to admit that Tsuji's full name has almost every romaji letter to spell out hitomi. Things that make one go Hmmmm, eh?

Anyways, let's sidle away from conspiracy theories here and settle on the fact that I've enjoyed listening to Tsuji's track from "Catch!", "Take Me Home". Originally a coupling song on her 2008 debut single "Candy Kicks", I'm assuming the above is the album version of "Take Me Home". It's a soothing indies-sounding pop/rock with the jangly guitar and the laidback tempo. Tsuji could have busked this on some street in Shibuya and would have drawn an admiring crowd. As for "Catch!", it made it No. 31 on Oricon.