NOT Yellow Magic Orchestra -- Pocket ga Niji de Ippai（ポケットが虹でいっぱい）

 

When I bought my copy of Yellow Magic Orchestra's "YMO GO HOME!" years ago, there was plenty that was welcome and familiar to me such as the iconic "Rydeen" and "Behind the Mask".

But there were a few tracks that I hadn't heard before that initially left me a little intrigued. One such track was "Pocket ga Niji de Ippai" (Pocketful of Rainbows). The technopop was still there but there was something rather laidback and twangy tropical about it, too, that had me wondering whether YMO member Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）had regenerated back to his exotica self of the mid-1970s.

As it turns out though, "Pocket ga Niji de Ippai" was something that YMO recorded after getting back together for a bit in the early 1990s. It was released as the band's 10th single in April 1993 although because of the usual red tape and rights issues that probably had Hosono and his bandmates, Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）and Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）, rolling their eyes up to the heavens, they couldn't officially release it under their old name YMO so they decided to be playful about it and say they were now YMO (Not YMO). So, I can say that "Pocket ga Niji de Ippai" was YMO's debut single.

What also intrigued me was that while I scrolling through the information about the single on J-Wiki, I noticed that not only were there songwriters that weren't any of the YMO band members, i.e. Fred Wise & Ben Weisman, the lyrics were translated into Japanese by Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）. 

So, cover song, I surmised. And sure enough, it was a cover song. The original "Pocketful of Rainbows" had been recorded back in 1960 by the one-and-only Elvis Presley for his movie "G.I. Blues". He sang it in the movie with leggy Juliet Prowse who I used to see in a lot of TV variety shows and commercials (usually for panty hose). 

As part of the YMO single, there was also an English version of the song. So, the band did a cover of a song by an American music legend. Well, many years earlier, they also did a cover of a song by a British music legend. Incidentally, "Pocket ga Niji de Ippai" reached No. 13 on Oricon. 

Mizue Takada -- Kikyou（帰郷）

 

The return of NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）last night from summer hiatus was a special one, to be sure. I don't think I've ever seen a special episode of the long-running music show devoted to a single artist; it's usually been a highlight reel of the year's best performances. But last night, concierge Shosuke Tanihara（谷原章介）had former aidoru Mizue Takada（高田みづえ）onto the show along with her friends and fellow singers Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）and Ikue Sakakibara（榊原郁恵）, and Takada was given a tribute in what was advertised as "a one-night-only comeback". 

After the episode, I read an article regarding it on Mixi and it mentioned that in March, her husband, the former sumo wrestler Wakashimazu（若嶋津）, had passed away at the age of 69 from pneumonia, something that I hadn't known about. My belated condolences to Takada, the rest of her family and his fans. I don't really know whether his passing and the aftermath triggered the idea to have this special episode but it was great to see Takada again on stage to perform a couple of her old hits including her 1980 single "Watashi wa Piano"（私はピアノ）which was the very first song that I had heard by her as a teenager and was therefore one of the first kayo that got me into this very long hobby in the first place.

"Watashi wa Piano" is this urban Latin-spiced song that has stayed in my memories for almost a half-century. However, the B-side is a completely different song. "Kikyou" (Homecoming) is a warm, folksy and calming tune about the old hometown and the feelings tied with it. With lyrics by Takashi Taka（たかたかし）, the song was actually composed as an instrumental known as "The Poet and I" from 1974 by Canadian pianist Frank Mills. I don't think there was much change in the arrangement during its transition from "The Poet and I" to "Kikyou" so Mills' original was a fine fit for kayo kyoku.

Akiko Yano -- Watashi-tachi（わたしたち）

 

Once again, I'm doing the piecemeal route of exploring one album. For this one, it happens to be Akiko Yano's（矢野顕子）November 1987 album "Granola", and so far, I've covered a couple of its tracks: "Hana no You ni"（花のように）and "Jitensha de Oide" （自転車でおいで）, a duet with singer-songwriter Motoharu Sano（佐野元春）.

This time around, I'm posting about the first track on "Granola", "Watashi-tachi" (Us), a peppy pop (aside from a chugging electric guitar solo midway) number that was written and composed by Yano. A song of the realizing emergence of love between two people, it's an upbeat and somewhat introspective number at the same time which is what I would probably think the emotional situation would be with the lovebirds. Basically, it's the "Whoa! I'm so happy but what's next for us?" thought. Mind you, if it were up to me, I would enjoy the ride and take it one day at a time.

Maiko Okamoto -- Romance Shitai（ロマンスしたい）

 

I gather that "Kayo Kyoku Plus" representative Kayo Grace Kyoku is getting a little swoony again. Well, at least, she still has several more weeks of that before autumn finally arrives, and of course as anyone who knows kayo kyoku realizes, autumn is the season for romance to wither away like dried leaves.

Not to say that early 80s aidoru songs had bare-bones arrangements (and I'm saying this as someone who loves those early Seiko, Akina and other aidoru tunes from that part of the decade), but I've often found arrangements for similar tunes in the latter half of the 80s to be especially lush and almost downright cinematically fantastical when it comes to how they may affect the imagination of listeners. Not sure what it was, but arrangers seemed to enjoy weaving a lot of strings, choruses and synthesizers into this huge string ball of appealing whimsy and wistfulness that a kitten could adorably play with.

Case in point: I bookmarked this song by aidoru Maiko Okamoto（岡本舞子）. "Romance Shitai" (I Want to Have a Romance) was one of the tracks in Okamoto's debut album from October 1985, "Heart no Tobira"（ハートの扉...The Gateway to Your Heart）, and having a listen to it a few times, I swear that the song itself could sprout a black hair bob, a frilly dress and a supremely cheerful attitude as it skips on the yellow brick road. Written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composed/arranged by Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）, it's late 80s aidoru-dom personified as Okamoto sings about trying to empty her heart of all romantic notions but helplessly getting dragged back into the mushy stuff. Kinda reminds me of a certain scene in "The Godfather, Part III" with Al Pacino (although let's not imagine Don Corleone in a cute dress, shall we?).

Yamakawa may have been one-half of the amazing City Pop and jazzy duo Tohoku Shinkansen（東北新幹線）in 1982, but she also had a great touch with aidoru tunes forty-odd years ago. 

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!