Masayuki Suzuki's History at the Kohaku Utagassen

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Along with Anri（杏里）, another veteran that NHK has managed to lure from New Year's Eve comfort into NHK Shibuya Hall for December 31st is the God of Love Songs himself, Masayuki "Martin" Suzuki（鈴木雅之）. He's got a slightly longer history at the Kohaku Utagassen. Note that some of his performances at the Kohaku were his covers of old Rats & Star tunes.

(1986)  Glass Goshi ni Kieta Natsu （ガラス越しに消えた夏）(performed on the Kohaku in 1991)

(1992) Mou Namida wa Iranai （もう涙はいらない）(performed in 1992)

(1996) Yume de Aetara （夢で逢えたら）(performed in 2020)

(1983) Me Gumi no Hito （め組のひと）(performed in 2021 and 2023)

(1994) Chigau, Sou Janai （違う、そうじゃない）(performed in 2022)

What Martin will most likely sing: Me Gumi no Hito or Yume de Aetara 

What I would love to hear him sing: Mou Namida wa Iranai or Love Dramatic（ラブ・ドラマティック）

Songs That I Heard for the First Time via Audio Cassette

 

A couple of days ago, I was watching NHK when they did a report on the revival of past music media in Japan: records, CDs and audio cassettes. And yep, just like the young lass above in the video, the current youth have shown interest and fascination and also a fair amount of fear in how to handle these tangible things once needed to play music. I believe one of the Japanese girls in the NHK report even admitted her surprise at how "labour-intensive" playing music used to be. If she thought throwing in a cassette into a player was exhausting, I could have introduced her to a Victrola with the telltale crank!

Inspired by what I'd seen and remembering my tribute to Lou Ottens, the inventor of the cassette tape, I've decided to give a short list of which Japanese songs I'd heard for the first time via the snap, crackle and pop of a typical tape. They came from official compilation tapes from Japan or some of those bootlegs I encountered at my old haunt of Wah Yueh forty years ago.

(1985) Anzen Chitai -- Yume no Tsuzuki（夢のつづき）

(1986) Checkers -- Song for U.S.A.

(1981) Takao Kisugi -- Goodbye Day

(1983) EPO -- U, Fu, Fu, Fu, (う、ふ、ふ、ふ）

(1985) Yoshie Kashiwabara -- Machikutabirete Yokohama (待ちくたびれてヨコハマ）

Kingo Hamada -- Uramado（裏窓）

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I've seen my fair share of Humphrey Bogart movies such as "Casablanca" and "The Maltese Falcon", but alas, I've yet to see anything with him and Lauren Bacall in its entirety. So, I'm still waiting my chance to catch "The Big Sleep" among others with the legendary duo of Bogie and Bacall.

I specifically referred to them over a decade ago when I wrote about Mariko Takahashi's（高橋真梨子） "Uramado" (Rear Window), a track from her 1980 3rd album, "Monologue"（モノローグ）. You couldn't get more film noir-ish torch song than this solemn jazz ballad.

Well, "Uramado" was composed by singer-songwriter Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）and written by Akira Ito（伊東アキラ）. Hamada covered his own creation in his 1981 album "Gentle Travelin'". His take on the ballad is more refined nighttime soulful and Fender Rhodes-fueled City Pop up in those luxurious penthouse floors overlooking the metropolis and any bay that might be in the vicinity. Maybe the couple du nuit when this song first saw the light of day could have been Harrison Ford and Kathleen Turner.

Anri's History at the Kohaku Utagassen

 

With the announcement of veteran singer-songwriter Anri（杏里）returning to NHK Hall to perform at this year's Kohaku Utagassen on New Year's Eve, I just thought it might be interesting to put up her short history of her performances at the annual event.

(1983) Cat's Eye (performed in 1983)

(1989) Groove-a-Go-Go (performed in 1989)

(1978) Olivia wo Kikinagara （オリビアを聴きながら）(performed in 1996)

What Anri will most likely sing: Cat's Eye and/or Olivia wo Kikinagara

What I would love to hear her sing: Shyness Boy

Kaori Kuno -- Time is Up

 

"Takeshi no Koko dake no Hanashi"（たけしのここだけの話...Takeshi's "Just Between You and Me" Talks） was a relatively short-lived Fuji-TV evening talk show that lasted between 1988 and 1990 on Sundays, so I guess it must have preceded the music show "Music Fair". I never saw it myself but I gather that compared to some of comedian and cinematic auteur Beat Takeshi's（ビートたけし）other chaotic programs, "Takeshi no Koko dake no Hanashi" was slightly more civilized.

Takeshi's co-host was TV broadcaster and tarento Mie Yamaguchi（山口美江）, a refined and vivacious lady that I used to see a lot on the the telly in various capacities. She was very popular as someone who could handle the wilder male celebrities with a silk-and-steel approach if need be and I knew that she was also quite fluent in English. Her premature death at 51 in 2012 was a true shock to everyone.

Yamaguchi also provided the lyrics to a song that was composed by singer/saxophonist Kaori Kuno（久野かおり）for the latter's 2nd album "Sincere" from 1989. "Time is Up" also happened to be the second ending theme song for "Takeshi no Koko dake no Hanashi", and true to Kuno's discography, it's another light and classy number with bright piano and shimmering strings that could have its place in the more expensive and stylish areas of Tokyo. But I think rather than City Pop, I would put it in AOR or sophisticated pop. You can also check out another track from "Sincere", "Just Only Tonight".

Ryuichi Sakamoto -- A Day in the Park

 

I'm still in thrall to Ryuichi Sakamoto's（坂本龍一）supermarket jingle "Daiei" and his racing "G.T.", and now I've got to expand my memories to include this winner.

This one comes some years following the first two, so allow me to introduce you to "A Day in the Park", the final track on The Professor's October 1995 11th studio album "Smoochy". I'd heard of "Smoochy" before and I felt that the title made it sound a little too artsy so I never bought it. I may be regretting that decision but I'm sure a Xmas wish and a credit card will resolve that issue.

Anyways, compared to the high-octane "Daiei" and "G.T.", "A Day in the Park" is about as laid back and comfy as a real walk in the park. There are even recorded sounds of that traipse among all the greenery which makes it all the more enticing to track down your nearest patch of grass and trees. New York's jazz and R&B artist Vivian Sessoms provides the smoky vocals and the lyrics while Sakamoto comes up with the dreamy and soulful goods. There are a couple of more stars involved here: guitarist Yoshiyuki Sahashi（佐橋佳幸）and singer-songwriter Hiroshi Takano（高野寛）who's manning the electric sitar. I can easily imagine this being played at some jazz festival right in the middle of Central Park on a sunny Sunday.

Rie Nakahara -- Hero wa Anata（ヒーローはあなた）

 

Yup in about five weeks, The Avengers, The X-Men and The Fantastic Four along with other individual superheroes will meet for the first time and perhaps even the last time in "Avengers: Doomsday". Nope, I don't have an advance ticket but I'll catch it for sure somehow. 

So, of course, I've gotta come up with something with that feeling in mind and yet it's Urban Contemporary Friday on KKP. Fortunately, I did find something. "Hero wa Anata" (You're My Hero) is a Rie Nakahara（中原理恵）track (the final one) from her February 1978 debut album,  "Touch Me". The album also contains "Asa made Issho ni"（朝まで一緒に）and "Togire Togirete"（とぎれ とぎれて）.

"Hero wa Anata" has an intriguing galumphing rhythm (the best way I can describe it) that might steer it toward reggae but not quite. I would have to ask the trio of amazing songwriters for their opinion about what they were making here: lyricist Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）, composer Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）and arranger Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）. I bet you that it was The Professor who was on the piano in the latter half of "Hero wa Anata". But with those three involved, I was pretty assured that I would get a quality product and this is a really interesting slice of disco City Pop fusion.