The Seven Wonders -- Ai no Apron（愛のエプロン）

 

I tried to find out some information regarding this band called The Seven Wonders（ザ７ワンダース）. During my search, I made a wrong turn into the J-Wiki article for The Wonders（ザ・ワンダース）which was actually a vocal group-turned-1960s Group Sounds band which included the late great Kiyohiko Ozaki（尾崎紀世彦）. The Seven Wonders was a different entity entirely and apparently belonged in the 1970s although the long hair and the fashion on their cover in the thumbnail above were obvious sartorial signs.

The YouTube uploader that has introduced me to The Seven Wonders, SHOWA KAYO THE ☆ NOW, put up this song by them only within the last five weeks and even this uploader couldn't find all that much information. I also tried but the Yahoo Japan search engine kept giving me red herrings. Just to reiterate what Showa Kayo had written underneath the video:

"The Seven Wonders" is a group shrouded in mystery, with almost no detailed information available about them. While two singles and one album have been confirmed to date, there is also a theory that a third single exists. The cover photo for this track—presumably their debut—depicts a seven-member lineup that includes one woman, yet subsequent photos show only the remaining six members after her departure. "Ai no Apron" features lyrics and music in a somewhat understated folk-rock kayō style typical of the mid-1970s. In contrast, their follow-up release, "Nikui Aitsu" (SN-1464), took a sharp turn toward a relatively hard-edged pop-rock sound.

Just to give my own take on "Ai no Apron" (Apron of Love), the single was produced and released in 1975. Fumiko Okada（岡田冨美子）was the lyricist here while Kunihiko Kase（加瀬邦彦）and Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）were the composer and arranger respectively. The song soberly tells the story of a man taking stock of a romantic relationship which is now in the past as he remembers his old flame working in the kitchen and waiting for him at home while wearing that lovely apron. There is a fairly jaunty if melancholy and serious vibe in the arrangement as if Hagita had meant to erase any risks of wistfulness getting into the listeners' minds; the now-single-again man is currently in the lamenting phase, post-relationship. The strings and a Santana-friendly guitar lend a certain gravitas to the situation. One commenter mentioned that the song is reminiscent of what Steely Dan had been doing at the time, although I think there is more Al Stewart in there thanks to that lovely piano and maybe even the lead vocalist's delivery.

Megumi Asaoka -- Mebae（芽生え）

Wikimedia Commons

Hope you are enjoying your weekend whether they be long (as in Canada and Japan) or regular. Heck of a time to be introducing a song titled "Mebae" (Young Buds) when we in the Northern Hemisphere are now fully into autumn, but at least folks south of the Equator are going through spring.

"Mebae" was the debut single of aidoru and actress Megumi Asaoka（麻丘めぐみ）, released in June 1972. Considering that Asaoka has been mostly known for her hit the following year, "Watashi no Kare wa Hidarikiki"（わたしの彼は左きき）, I thought it would be nice to hear how she started out in her music career. Plus, most of her KKP entries involve either Reminiscings of Youth or Author's Picks, so I should at least punch in a few more of her songs with her name on the byline.

Anyways, "Mebae", a love song of gratitude about a young lady who was lucky enough to have met her Mr. Right, was written by Kazuya Senke（千家和也）and composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）as this very sweet aidoru tune of the 1970s amidst a background of glorious strings and a helpful harmonica. The cover for the single was apparently shot inside Tokyo's famous Inokashira Park and I have a feeling that the music video as seen above was also filmed there, too.

The J-Wiki article for "Mebae" also gave some information on the production of the single which encountered some growing pains...not surprising for a budding young aidoru star. The director for the recording of the single was frustrated that Asaoka's voice didn't sound cute at all. Asaoka, who had a bit of a complex regarding her naturally lower speaking voice, was so upset at the criticism that she went home crying, thinking that her singing career would end up stillborn. Well, here comes composer Tsutsumi to the rescue. At a later session, he advised her that when she hit the higher notes, her voice took on a more tearful quality so she should take advantage and go full forward into the higher registers. She took his advice and everyone was satisfied. As a result, "Mebae" would not only reach No. 3 on the Oricon weeklies and end up as the No. 17 single of the year but it would also earn Asaoka a Brand New Artist prize at the Japan Record Awards.

Tomoko Saito -- Watashi wa, Ima...（私は、今...）

 

It was a little over five years ago that I started the Tomoko Saito（斎藤とも子）file on KKP thanks to an inquiry by commenter Misha. That led to me covering the actress and (briefly) singer's 1979 debut single "Kaze no You ni"（風のように）which was a breezy urban-esque tune along the lines of AOR.

Saito only released three singles and a couple of albums throughout 1979 and 1980. And that third and final single to date is "Watashi wa, Ima..." (Now, I am...) which came out in October 1980. Written by Kaoru Asagi（麻木かおる）and composed/arranged by Kensuke Kyou（京建輔）, this last single has a far more kayo kyoku feeling, almost bordering on enka. The interesting thing about this particular tune is the tempo. The verses go at a pretty languid pace but then the chorus suddenly steps on the gas and "Watashi wa, Ima..." goes from 0 to 100 with some rapidly slicing strings as if the song opted to become a tokusatsu theme instead. The one constant though is Saito's vocals which basically maintain their pace and breathiness.

Hiroki Miyano -- Let's Make Merry

 

For both Japan and Canada, long holiday weekends are occurring right now with the former celebrating Sports Day on Monday and the latter doing Thanksgiving Day on the same day. Perhaps folks from both nations are making migrations outside of the big cities to hometowns to spend time with family and friends, although I can see PTAs and schools in Japan setting up Sports Day activities as well.

Maybe some months before and some months later, people will be hitting the tropics for their holiday vacation travel as shown through Vyacheslav Argenberg's photo of a beach of the Andaman Islands at the very top. It also makes for a nice visual vista for the song of note here, "Let's Make Merry" by guitarist Hiroki Miyano（宮野弘紀）. It's the launching song for his debut album "Manhattan Skyline" from 1981 which was actually produced in the Big Apple. But instead of New York City, Miyano takes us to warmer climes with lots of palm trees, sandy beaches and huge cocktails with this very amiable tropical tune.

Miyano was born in Shibuya, Tokyo but raised in Sapporo, Hokkaido. He began strumming the guitar in his teens when he first listened to the works of John McLaughlin and Djano Reinhardt after which he decided that he would become a professional guitarist. Collaborating with jazz bassist Eiji Nakayama（中山英二）, Miyano played gigs at jazz cafes throughout Hokkaido and the Tohoku region. His first time on record came when he appeared on Nakayama's 1979 LP "My Present Song"（マイプレゼントソング）through an Iwate Prefecture local independent record label Johnny's Disk. Soon after, Miyano and Nakayama headed to Tokyo.

Kei Marimura -- Final Flight

 

We come to the end of another KKP Urban Contemporary Friday. Hope you've had a good time and to finish off, let's see if I can come up with something nice and nocturnal and soothing.

Looks like we've been scouring through Kei Marimura's（真梨邑ケイ）1985 "Tiempo de Amor" album over the past few years, so why not coax out another track? This one pops up just before my favourite song on the original LP, "Etranger Break"（エトランゼ・ブレイク）. There are also "Shiseikatsu"（私生活）and "Watashi dake no Le Mans"（私だけのル・マン）.

"Final Flight" sounds like it's a final track for the album but it may actually begin Side B instead. No matter. It's still a dreamy nighttime tonic for all that fatigues the listener with its laidback tempo, that Fender Rhodes, the lone trumpet, and Marimura's cooing vocals. We can give thanks to lyricist Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）and composer Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）. "Final Flight" could be referring to that final flight out of Haneda for the night, but I like to envisage a taxi ride away from the airport into Tokyo toward that lonely hotel room. Good night to you all!💤

Penthouse -- Doukeshi（道化師）

 

Although I never watched an episode of "Takeshi's Castle", the infamous TBS game show where folks had to go through a lot of arduous, painful and hilarious obstacle courses for fame and glory, I've seen enough variety shows in Japan where similar things would happen although the contestants consisted of the huge numbers of tarento that were part and parcel of Japanese entertainment on TV. One American tarento, Thane Camus, once noted in an interview that if one wasn't willing to make an entire fool out of oneself on camera, then Japanese television wasn't the place for that person. Yup, I can believe that.

This song, the latest rambunctious single by the City Soul band Penthouse from last month, "Doukeshi" (Play the Fool) struck me as being the perfect music description for the whole thing of risking body and soul on a Japanese game show. And what a cool song to accompany a tarento on his/her journey through a crazy career. Band bassist Takuma Ohara（大原拓真）and vocalist Shintaro Namioka（浪岡真太郎）took care of the lyrics while the latter composed "Doukeshi", a tour de force of swing jazz and funk that trumpets the entertainers that take all the pies and bottles thrown at them and yet refuse to crumple and skitter away. They keep coming back for more. 

PANTA -- Laser Shock（レーザー・ショック）

 

To be honest, I'd never heard of this rock singer and songwriter by the stage name of PANTA before. Hailing from Tokorozawa City, Saitama Prefecture, his early career in the late 1960s included a stint in the Group Sounds band Peanut Butter（ピーナツバター）and then in the 1970s, he helped found the folk-rock band Zunou Keisatsu（頭脳警察...Brain Police）, a group that became notorious for their antics on stage, including mastering one's own domain (that's a "Seinfeld" reference, by the way). In the latter half of the decade, after a time of going solo, PANTA became one half of a duo known as PANTA & HAL. 

Once PANTA & HAL broke up in 1981, PANTA resumed his solo career and released an album in 1982 titled "Kuchibiru ni Spark"（唇にスパーク...Spark on Your Lips）. One track there is "Laser Shock" which was written and composed by the singer under his real name, Haruo Nakamura（中村治雄）. Considering what I've read of his past, "Laser Shock" sounds remarkably comfortable and subdued as a conventional New Wave rock tune. As well, PANTA's vocals emerge rather precisely and languidly. "Laser Shock" was also released the same year as a 7" EP.

Aside from the EP, PANTA supposedly only put out albums rather than singles up to 2007. In July 2023, the singer passed away from respiratory failure at the age of 73.