Junk -- Koijigahama（恋路ヶ浜）

 

Forgive me, J-Wiki, for using the image from your article pertaining to Koijigahama, a one-kilometre span of beach in the city of Tahara, Aichi Prefecture. But I thought that this would be the ideal thumbnail photo to start this article off.

The beach is fine. However, I always have to look askance as to why singers or bands would use the word junk to name themselves. Yes, I know that there is singer-songwriter Junk Fujiyama（ジャンクフジヤマ）and of course, he has a glorious voice and all but I never quite found out why he opted to go with the word junk as part of his stage name. And then, just recently, I was made aware of a short-lived folk duo by the name of Junk. Of course, though it doesn't deserve this treatment, I couldn't help but envisage a huge pile of garbage whenever I hear the name...although I'm aware of its use as well to describe a certain type of boat.

In any case, Junk was composed of Ron Ogawa（小川ロン）and Takahiro Kanaumi（金海たかひろ）who started the band in 1975. According to his own webpage, Ogawa, who was born in Tokyo but raised in Shizuoka Prefecture, has a rather sad origin to his stage name of Ron...apparently, he'd had an aging blind dog by that name and one day when Ron tried to follow his master, he ended up missing forever. In tribute, Ogawa took the name.

Anyways, Junk released four singles during their time together between 1975 and 1977 with their second single "Koijigahama" coming out in 1976. It's a lovely folk song (shimmering strings, gentle guitar) with who I believe is Ron taking the sensitive and resonant lead vocals since he was responsible for both words and music. I'm only judging by this one song thus far, but with this particular voice, it's a pity that Junk didn't last beyond a mere two years.

Itsuko Nakamura -- Yakan Hiko（夜間飛行）

By Kentaro Iemoto at Wikimedia Commons

 

I'll have to see whether there were a whole lot of other kayo kyoku with the title "Yakan Hiko" (Night Flight). The one that I'd known up to now is Junko Yagami's（八神純子）soaring City Pop ballad "Yakan Hiko" from her 1979 album "Sugao no Watashi"（素顔の私）.

Cue ahead a couple of years to 1981 and singer-songwriter Itsuko Nakamura（中村伊都子）comes up with her own "Yakan Hiko" as the B-side to her 2nd single "Rain". And the crazy thing is that it's also a cool and polished City Pop song about romance and air travel. Written by Sonomi Ari（阿里そのみ）and composed by Nakamura herself, this "Yakan Hiko" practically sports a passport, a tumbler of Old Parr and a cigarette while waiting in the airport lounge at Narita one evening. Both Nakamura's and Yagami's "Yakan Hiko" are different but both relate the urbane attraction of air travel (always have a sexy sax solo) at a time when the Japanese were finally on the cusp of affording recreational flights.

Chakra -- Akogare（あこがれ）

 

I began the Chakra（チャクラ）file on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" almost a decade ago when I discovered their "Myun Myun"（ミュンミュン）which was this technopop treat that came from their 1981 second album "Satekoso"（さてこそ...As Expected）. And since any and all articles about them went into their stuff from that year forwards, I carried that impression of them being a New Wave band.

But a few weeks ago, I encountered one of their tracks from their 1980 debut album, "Chakra", for the very first time. I was stunned by "Akogare" (Desire) which was written by (not Chakra) bassist Hirobumi Suzuki（鈴木博文）and composed by Chakra guitarist Bun Itakura（板倉文）which is very much unlike what I'd heard before by the band. Where there has been quirkiness in my mind when I've listened to their later music, "Akogare" has some wonderfully sunset City Pop vibes entering my head and Mishio Ogawa's（小川美潮）dreamy vocals soar into the sky. I'd say that she sounds more like Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）or a particularly intense Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）from her early days as a solo artist. I'll have to look more into their first album now.

H2O -- Furimukeba Broken Heart（振り向けばBroken Heart）

 

Haven't seen the good guys of H2O for a couple of years, so it's time to revisit them. And this time, I'm taking of a B-side of one of their most-remembered hits, "Goodbye Season" （Goodbye シーズン）from October 1983.

Despite the sad title, "Furimukeba Broken Heart" (A Broken Heart Back There) is pretty upbeat and has a nice bouncy rhythm which feels like going on a pleasant ocean side drive, especially when those breezy strings come into the chorus. Written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）, composed by Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）and arranged by Katsu Hoshi（星勝）, the song feels like it does belong to the West Coast AOR set.

Satellite Lovers -- How Much I Love You, Baby

 

There's a comment by Robert B. underneath my first article for a Satellite Lovers song, "Best Friend" (posted in July 2024) which said that the YouTube algorithm was pushing really hard. Yeah, I would agree with that assessment and I'm grateful that we've been able to encounter wonderful new discoveries like this supposedly Shibuya-kei soul unit that went into more hip-hop stuff.

"Best Friend" belonged to a 1996 mini-album by Satellite Lovers, "Sons of 1973". For my sophomore post on the band, here is its track mate, "Home Much I Love You, Baby", and it's another example of what sounds like a number of different genres collaborating like a bunch of Avengers. We've got vocalist Mika Ikeuchi's（池内美加）rap overlaying some City Pop groove and indies pop/rock jangliness. Maybe the Shibuya-kei part involves the horns but that's more into the background. Maybe this is the type of tune that would be great during a stroll somewhere summery...like how the band is doing on the front cover of the album.

Mai Yamane -- Out of the Night

 

Listening to the intro for this track from Mai Yamane's（山根麻以）1981 album "Sorry" (most Canadian-sounding City Pop album title), I got some mighty David Foster vibes. I mean, it starts out rather hazily as if we were coming out of sleep, but when the keyboards start up...

Anyways, I'm posting about "Out of the Night" which is a snazzy mid-tempo City Pop tune that was written by Funky Chick (would this be Yamane herself?) and composed by Minoru Mukaiya（向谷実）from the band Casiopea. (chef's kiss to him). Yes, this is a fine accompaniment to any evening drive into, through and out of the metropolis. Love the guitar solo as well; according to Discogs, it was handled by either Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）or Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）. I'm betting that it's the former. Also on "Sorry", give "In Love" a try as well.

Harry Hosono & Tin Pan Alley -- Firecracker（ファイアークラッカー）

 

This is kinda like following the running KKP narrative of me finding out that a beloved 80s hit wasn't an original but a cover of a less well-known original version. Mind you, I did find out some years ago that Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Firecracker", the first YMO song for me to hear, had originally been made by Martin Denny, a man who loved his exotica music back in the 1950s.

And it was then that I realized that the early years of YMO were about Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）and Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）among others in the band's collective filtering some of the old genres through the filter of synthesizers and other electronic equipment for fresh new takes. Well, some more revelatory stuff has come.

Case in point: it wasn't even the first time for Hosono to tackle "Firecracker". Last month, Hosono released an album "Yours Sincerely" where he supposedly ties up some melodic loose strings. But some months earlier in June, another album associated with him got out in public. Titled "Harry Hosono & Tin Pan Alley In Chinatown", this is a live performance album which was recorded all the way back in 1976 when they did a gig at the famous Tung Fat restaurant in Yokohama's Chinatown. One of the tracks is indeed "Firecracker" which is much closer to the 1959 Denny classic in terms of arrangement, and I have to give my compliments to Hosono's firecracking performance on the marimba. The album includes the covers but there are also some Hosono originals.