One Way or The Other by Fifth Avenue Band (1969)

You've probably heard this story before, but back in 1975, a small band called Sugar Babe (シュガー・ベイブ) released their first and only album, SONGS. The record developed a cult following but didn't perform particularly well financially, and the band itself would break up the following year.

Its core members—Tatsuro Yamashita (山下達郎), Taeko Ohnuki (大貫妙子), and Kunio Muramatsu (村松邦男)—would go on to pursue successful solo careers, while SONGS became increasingly influential within the Japanese music scene and was eventually recognized as a classic many years later.

Ironically, much of Sugar Babe's sound owes a debt to another short-lived group from the late 1960s: The 5th Avenue Band.

It turns out that Yamashita and Ohnuki were huge fans of the band's mellow arrangements and vocal harmonies, and you can hear that influence all over Sugar Babe's music, particularly on songs like "Sutekina Melody"(すてきなメロディー) and, of course, "Downtown."

Obviously, Sugar Babe drew inspiration from plenty of other American groups, including The Beach Boys, The Righteous Brothers, and The Lovin' Spoonful. But one listen to The 5th Avenue Band's "One Way or the Other" suddenly puts everything into perspective.\

I understand it now.

Written by Kenny Altman, "One Way or the Other" is a groovy little bubblegum-pop track that honestly wouldn't sound out of place in The 5th Dimension's discography. Its acoustic-driven arrangement gives the song this wonderfully relaxed, weekend-drive kind of vibe—the same sort of breezy atmosphere that would later become such an important part of the City Pop sound.

Listening to the rest of The 5th Avenue Band's album, I wouldn't be surprised if other Japanese musicians like Shigeru Suzuki (鈴木茂) or Sentimental City Romance (センチメンタル・シティ・ロマンス) were influenced by this kind of music as well. There's something about its mixture of folk-rock,  soul, vocal harmony, and laid-back instrumentation that feels remarkably compatible with the direction Japanese pop music would begin taking during the mid-70s.

Thankfully, "One Way or the Other" has continued finding new listeners over the years, helped in no small part by Tatsuro Yamashita, who has frequently played the song on his radio program.

microstar -- Koi wa Isoide（恋は急いで）

 

I haven't written about the longtime duo microstar in quite a while. With the group consisting of composer and arranger Seiki Sato（佐藤清喜）and vocalist and bassist Yuko Iizumi（飯泉裕子）having been around since 1996, I only joined the party quite late. However, it was still a fun time to be had as I listened to their jazzy "Yuugure Girl"（夕暮れガール）and the disco "Tiny Spark" from the 2010s.

So, this is a first. I not only hear one of their earliest songs but I actually get to see a music video which shows Sato and Iizumi in the flesh. "Koi wa Isoide" (Love in a Hurry) comes from microstar's August 1997 2nd mini-album "micro freaks" and it was written by Iizumi and composed by Sato. This particular song is something that is rather deliciously difficult to categorize since there seems to be a few influences coming in here. I get some technopop in the instrumentation along with some jangly indies guitar pop. At the same time, thanks to Iizumi's somewhat breathy and almost adolescent take on the Divine Miss Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴）from Pizzicato Five and the swingy/breezy arrangement, I also feel there is some Shibuya-kei in there, too. With my adjectives of breathy, swingy and breezy, it's no surprise that Iizumi's lyrics describe a woman running away from someone in the big city...perhaps because she has just confessed her love to him and couldn't take the emotions swirling everywhere around and within her.

All in all, "Koi wa Isoide" sounds like the 90s indies pop that it was made out to be. It's also interesting to compare this one with the later microstar entries that I mentioned off the top.

Higurashi -- Odayakana Gogo（おだやかな午後）

 

Ah, it's a Monday once more. Incomplete recovery from the weekend, deadlines to fulfill, another buildup of stress. You wonder when Friday is coming.

Well, sorry, I'm not an in-company counselor or a masseur. However, perhaps I can provide some aural solace through one of folk group Higurashi's（日暮し）songs. The trio has had their City Pop tunes but this is a folksier and very relaxing tune called "Odayakana Gogo" (Peaceful Afternoon), and boy, is there truth in advertising here. Right from Note One, Naomi Sugimura（杉村尚美）immediately lulls you into an existential nap with her vocals while your eyesight becomes less strained by looking into the calm blue sky. The acoustic guitar, the strings and electric piano become additional melodic massage therapists as "Odayakana Gogo" goes at a very leisurely tempo. The background chorus is just barely heard as it acts like a summer breeze.

Written and composed by Higurashi guitarists Seiichi Takeda（武田清一）and Yukiyo Nakamura（中村幸雄）, the track belonged to the band's fourth original album "Arifureta Dekigoto"（ありふれた出来事...Ordinary Events） from 1977. Chamomile tea, coming up!

Toshimi Tagawa -- Onna...HItori Tabi（女...ひとり旅）

 

Ah, yes. The post-relationship trip to someplace unknown...a classic enka lyrical theme. I've come across it a number of times since first posting Sayuri Ishikawa's（石川さゆり）1977 hit "Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyu Geshiki"（津軽海峡・冬景色）all the way back in 2012. I still wonder if there are melancholy folks who flee to that strait up north.

Well, not too long ago, I encountered this enka for the first time during an episode of NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）. Titled "Onna---Hitori Tabi" (Woman...A Journey Alone), this was enka singer Toshimi Tagawa's（田川寿美）debut song from April 1992, and the song even faintly hints at Ishikawa's trademark tune melodically speaking. However, instead of Takashi Miki（三木たかし）handling the composition, it was Jun Suzuki（鈴木淳）who created the sad melody. The lyrics of a woman going to this unknown place up north all by her lonesome without her erstwhile paramour as had originally been scheduled were provided by Keiko Yuuki（悠木圭子）, who recently passed away in March of this year at the age of 90.

Reaching No. 45 on Oricon, Tagawa made her debut on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen at the end of 1994 with "Onna...Hitori Tabi". She would make three more appearances thus far on the New Year's Eve special in 1995, 1998 and 2002.

Jazztronik feat. Taeko Ohnuki -- Ameoto（雨音）

Tony Webster via Wikimedia Commons

Happy Sunday to you all! Although we had some dire warnings about heavy rain throughout yesterday, things have settled down in the Toronto area. It's still overcast but it looks like the worst-case scenario luckily hasn't come to pass.

Over the past several weeks, we here at KKP found the collaboration between Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）and STUTS so nice that Rocket Brown and I wrote about it twice. When I was digging a bit more into "Ohayou"（おはよう）, I found a few more collaborations that Ohnuki had done with other artists in the past.

Jazztronik, aka Tokyo DJ/pianist/producer Ryota Nozaki（野崎良太）, is also one for working with other singers such as Miki Imai（今井美樹）. In 2007, when he released his album "Grand Blue", he included his own collaboration with Ohnuki for the track "Ameoto" (The Sound of Rain) which is this exquisitely contemplative song sung by Taeko in this lovely jazz waltz style. This is the type of song that can be heard in a sparsely populated and stylish Tokyo cafe whose windows and walls are holding back the raindrops while a customer is slowly savoring her cuppa. The rhythm does quicken toward the end (caffeine kicking in?) but then it abruptly goes back to its simmering tempo before ending with a sloshing of water.

Nozaki was responsible for the composition while the lyricists were BEBE and Shoko Fujibayashi（藤林聖子）.

Toshiyuki Nishida -- Ii Yume Miro yo（いい夢見ろよ）

By Toshiyuki Imai via Wikimedia Commons

It's been close to about a couple of years since the passing of actor and singer Toshiyuki Nishida（西田敏行）. I will always remember him for his biggest hit "Moshimo Piano ga Hiketanara"（もしもピアノが弾けたなら）from April 1981 , and it'll probably be difficult for his fans to prevent anything flowing from the eyes whenever the telly shows him singing this one.

Well, out of curiosity, I had been wondering what was on the B-side of Nishida's famed single. I've said it only recently but it's often been the case that a quiet A-side would beget a more upbeat B-side and vice versa. As it turns out, "Ii Yume Mire yo" (Sweet Dreams) is just as adorable and perhaps a bit more tenderhearted. Not surprisingly for a song with that title, it has a kayo lullaby-type melody and rhythm as if Nishida himself were singing softly to his own little children back in the day. The same songwriters for the A-side were behind the B-side: lyricist Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composer/arranger Koichi Sakata（坂田晃一）.

Kirinji feat. Tomomi Oda/Chiaki Takahashi & Azumi Asakura -- LEMONADE

From E4024 via Wikimedia Commons

How does that saying go? When life throws lemons at you, make lemonade!

Apparently, that is the premise for this track from Kirinji's（キリンジ）January 2026 album "Town Beat". The appropriately titled "LEMONADE" is the melodic elixir for all that ails you as prepared by Takaki Horigome（堀込高樹）and served by both him and singer-songwriter Tomomi Oda（小田朋美）in a nice tall glass with plenty of ice. The album also has another collaboration between the two, "Room Dancer"（ルームダンサー）, but unlike the Motown vibe of that one, "LEMONADE" has more of a fleet-footed Neo-City Pop/technopop feeling. At the same time, the harmonies and maybe some of the chords also have me thinking some Steely Dan as well.

When I looked at the J-Wiki article for "Town Beat", I also realized that "LEMONADE" was a cover of a song that Horigome had provided the Idolmaster album "THE IDOLM@STER MASTER PRIMAL POPPIN' YELLOW" from December 2017. This was a duet between seiyuu Chiaki Takahashi（たかはし智秋）and Azumi Asakura（浅倉杏美）as their characters of Azusa Miura（三浦あずさ）and Yukiho Hagiwara（萩原雪歩）respectively. The original here goes a bit more for the technopop but also has a funkier groove. If I had heard this one before the Kirinji and Oda cover and then found out who was behind the songwriting, I most likely would have exclaimed "Oh yeah! That's Kirinji to a T!"