Hi-Fi Set -- Mabushii Anata（まぶしい貴方）

 

For my fifth and final song for Friday, I'd been thinking of putting up that NHK theme song for the World Cup coverage that's been playing for months during the nightly sports segment, but the closest I could get was a mere TikTok excerpt. So, let's return to City Pop!

And we're going back to February 1977 when vocal trio Hi-Fi Set（ハイ・ファイ・セット）released "Love Connection" which would end up as the No. 1 album of the year. A little less than a month ago, I posted one track "Crystal Night"（クリスタル･ナイト）which had all sorts of elements of rock, disco, country and New Music. Usually, I would wait the entire month before putting in the same singer or group onto the blog.

However, I can break and bend the rules for Hi-Fi Set, especially with a No. 1 album. And with this other track from "Love Connection", it's worth it. "Mabushii Anata" which can be translated into "You Are Dazzling" (although one other YouTube video with the same song has it as "Putting It Down To The Way I Feel About You") isn't nearly as chock-filled with genre influences as its track mate "Crystal Night", but it's a straight-on nighttime breezy City Pop tune of the 1970s that would make for a pleasant drinking companion on a patio in some bar. I especially love those strings and the usual polished Hi-Fi Set harmonies.

Mieko Arima（有馬三恵子）and Kazue Ohashi（大橋一枝）provided the Japanese lyrics for the song which was composed by Ken Gold and Michael Denne with Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）providing the relaxing arrangement. I was curious about the composers...were they truly from America or elsewhere or were the names merely pseudonyms for coy Japanese songwriters? Well, as it turned out, after a bit of investigation, I found out that Gold and Denne were indeed bona fide songwriters who had created a song titled "You to Me Are Everything" for the British soul group The Real Thing in 1976. There's some similarity in the first verse when comparing this one to Hi-Fi Set's "Mabushii Anata" but in the end, they are different songs. Still, have a listen for comparison's sake.

Masayoshi Takanaka -- Breezin'

 

Indeed, it has been breezing here today and this is such a relief after the stifling heat and humidity from yesterday. Just kinda wish that I could get some of those breezes here in my room.

This brings me to my next article for today, Masayoshi Takanaka's（高中正義）cover of "Breezin'" from his November 1978 album "ON Guitar". When I was scrolling up and down Takanaka's J-Wiki file for the album, I couldn't find it in the usual place but then I did find it within his brief list of concept albums. "ON Guitar" was Takanaka's instructional album about how to play the guitar (I can only imagine just from hearing "Breezin'" that this is more for the advanced students). Considering how popular the musician has become recently via X/Twitter, perhaps he should consider re-releasing the concept stuff.

Anyways, as I said above, Takanaka is covering "Breezin'" which was originally created by American singer and musician Bobby Womack and then recorded by Hungarian jazz guitarist Gábor Szabó for the latter's 1971 album "High Contrast". Compared to the original, Takanaka wanted to add a bit more of a festival atmosphere to his version. Definitely good for the beach set.

For the album, Yellow Magic Orchestra's drummer Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）and bassist Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）helped as part of the backup band. Interestingly enough, "ON Guitar" was released on the same day as YMO's debut album.

Toshinobu Kubota -- Dance If You Want It

 

Haven't seen J-funkster Toshinobu Kubota（久保田利伸）for a while. Hope he's doing fine wherever he is. From time to time, I come across an old song and I react "Why hadn't I written about this one before? I've known it for ages!". It seems like the windmills of my mind have had some rips in the vanes recently.

Anyways, with Kubota, I rediscovered "Dance If You Want It". I remember hearing and listening to it all the way back in my university days and then during my stint on the JET Programme in the 1980s going into the 1990s. It's got quite the funky strut but I'm wondering if this would fall under the New Jack Swing category as well (I'll be waiting for opinions). Written by Kubota and Masumi Kawamura（川村真澄） with the former also handling the melody, it was the lead track on his September 1988 3rd album "Such a Funky Thang!" (and he looks terrifyingly happy on the cover) and apparently it was so catchy that a few months later, the song got its own mini-album or maxi-single treatment which hit No. 2.

Spinning Plums -- Monochrome Syndrome

 

Always enjoy new discoveries. Spinning Plums is a new band to me that I discovered only a few weeks ago. They don't seem to have their own website outside of an Instagram account but I managed to find an introduction regarding Teruko, Kishin, Oshu, Daniel and Saishin:

Spinning Plums is a five-member band based in Tokyo. Their music blends the essence of 1990s-2000s indie rock with rich guitar-driven sounds, complemented by the clarity of synthesizers and the harmony of twin vocals. The bass and drums, rooted in funk and soul, create a pop-infused, dynamic ensemble. Each member brings a unique background, harmonizing their individuality to shape their distinctive sound. With a strong focus on live performances, they continue to actively refine their craft. Pushing beyond genre boundaries, they aim to deliver fresh musical experiences and expand their creative reach.

--Tunecore

Spinning Plums, a five-piece band from Tokyo, Japan, craft gentle yet powerful walls of noise infused with indie pop and city pop shimmer, led by intertwined male–female twin vocals. Drawing from post-2000s indie rock and shoegaze influences while grounded in reggae- and funk-rooted rhythms, the band has steadily gained attention in Japan and overseas, including an appearance at the 2024 Ringo Music Festival.

--Gerpfast Records

I'm listening to one of their tracks, "Monochrome Syndrome" from their latest EP this year, "Spinning Hours" (although it's gotten its own single release, too). With lyrics by vocalist Teruko and melody by the entire band, the song is rather esoteric, to say the least, as a girl seems to be wrestling existentially with her past and present now that those two selves are quite different now. For a shoegaze tune, it's quite the upbeat and happy ditty that starts out with what sounds like a toy piano infused with the soul of Tom Waits. No one's really looking down at the floor here; it's more gazing at the shiny metal towers around them.

MANNA -- Horohoro Zoushi（ほろほろ草紙）

 

It's a nice day for a World Cup opener in my hometown. It's sunny, a bit breezy and a whole lot drier and cooler than it was yesterday when we were swimming in atmosphere and being threatened by thunder and lightning. Hope Canada and Bosnia-Herzegovina play a good one in a couple of hours.

Anyways, I hadn't been sure if this track from MANNA's 1979 album "Chabako Trick" was considered to be a City Pop song but after listening to it a couple of times, "Horohoro Zoushi" (Crumbly Ol' Notebook), the arrangement and instruments in use here made me see the light. Plus the title didn't exactly make me think of tall skyscrapers, beautiful people and speeding convertibles. But in the end, the groovy bounciness and the instruments turned me around.

Written by Tetsuya Chiaki（ちあき哲也）and composed by Yu Imai（今井裕）, I'm not sure what the song is about. Perhaps it's all about some fellow's or lady's notebook from high school with all sorts of doodled phrases, pictures and other silliness...and many years later, the adults are taking another look. Embarrassment ensues, possibly. Anyways, "Horohoro Zoushi" shares track space with "Yellow Magic Carnival" which I believe is one of the first of MANNA's songs to be covered on the blog.

ABBA -- SOS

 

Welcome to another Reminiscings of Youth article where I go over some of the songs from America, Canada, the UK and other nations outside of Japan that resonated happily in my ears and brains when I was a little tadpole. 

ABBA already has a small but growing file in KKP. "Dancing Queen" was the big hit of theirs that did become a part of my musical memories because of folks loving to sing it at karaoke both in Toronto and Tokyo. However, their earlier June 1975 single "SOS" was something that I first heard via those K-Tel record compilation commercials when I just kept hearing the chorus. "SOS" became one of those builder-uppers as I started getting more of their parts together. After the chorus, I finally got to hear the beginning with the somewhat contemplative piano and then the mournful lyrics by vocalist Agnetha Fältskog. It took a while but I finally got the entire song into my head. As for the music video above, they really liked their crane shots and reflective mirrors. No need for CG or AI here although those of course wouldn't be around for a few more decades.

On Canada's RPM, "SOS" made it up to No. 17 while in America, it peaked at No. 15. It did hit No. 1 in Australia, Belgium, New Zealand, South Africa, and West Germany.

Not only have I brought "SOS" to KKP just a little after its 51st anniversary but it's being posted about a year after my last ABBA tune, "Super Trouper". So, what was hitting the top of the Oricon charts a day before the release of "SOS"? I have Nos. 1, 2 and 4.

1. Akira Fuse -- Cyclamen no Kaori （シクラメンのかほり）

2. Downtown Boogie-Woogie Band -- Minato no Yoko, Yokohama Yokosuka （港のヨーコ・ヨコハマ・ヨコスカ）

4. Sakura to Ichiro -- Showa Kare Susuki （昭和枯れすゝき）

Guts Ishimatsu -- Ishimatsu Otoko Bushi（石松おとこ節）

 

Well, I wrote too soon when I posted my previous article on Shocking Lemon's "Under Star" in tribute to the recently departed former boxer and TV personality Guts Ishimatsu（ガッツ石松）who had passed away nine days ago at the age of 76. Coming up with a boxing-themed anison in tribute to the man, I hadn't been aware that Ishimatsu did put out his fair share of records from 1974 to 2015.

His debut single came out in September 1974 in the form of "Ishimatsu Otoko Bushi" (Ishimatsu the Man, the Melody). Given an enka arrangement, it's a languid song with that sharp trumpet to cut through like an upper hook. It was written by Masato Fujita（藤田まさと）and composed by Koumei Sone（曽根幸明）for Guts to sing in a rather forlorn way as someone who's been going through the meat grinder of life and has only himself to rely upon. It almost sounds as if he'd endured twelve rounds with the eventual unanimous winner and then ambled over to the nearest watering hole for a few hours of liquid solace before hitting the recording booth.