Yuko Shibuya -- Sail Away

 

Tokyo Cheapo on YouTube has presented the wonders of Odaiba (Rainbow Town) on Tokyo Bay. I've been to the area many times while I was living in Japan and it's chock-filled with stores, restaurants and places to see. But what makes things rather sobering is what is written on every signboard talking about Odaiba in Odaiba: if there's a huge Shindo 7 earthquake, the ground will tend to liquefy because the area is built on reclaimed land and garbage. Enjoy your visit!

It does make me wonder what that area by Tokyo Bay looked like back at the turn of the decade going from the 1970s to the 1980s. Was it basically like Toronto by Lake Ontario at around the same time when there was nothing but industrial factories and millions of dead fish floating on the water? Well, many years later, the waterfront of my hometown became the tourist spot of Harbourfront and obviously Odaiba popped up for Tokyo also as this very attractive place to live and visit.

At that turn of the decade, singer-songwriter Yuko Shibuya（渋谷裕子）released her 1980 album "Made in Japan", an LP that I've referred to a few times already including for one track "5AM wa Violet Pink de"（5AMはバイオレット・ピンクで）. I also have this track from "Made in Japan" titled "Sail Away" which is this welcoming City Pop song with flying disco strings as Shibuya invites listeners to take off on a pleasant tropical cruise with her. As the strings do a whirlwind effect at the end, there's even a trombone solo to bring some of that old-fashioned romance into the proceedings. Shibuya provided the melody while Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）was the lyricist.

Penthouse -- Koi Suru Kamisama（恋する神様）

 

When I was listening and reading up on this song, my mind made its own associations and my brain materialized that summer pastime in Japan, going to the rooftop beer garden among the skyscrapers. I'm basically a teetotaler but I had been to a few of these with friends and there is something appealing about having a mug and fried chicken under the stars. By the way, the above was provided by Samurai Junjiro Channel.

I guess all this beer garden on the brain is due to me coming across this latest album by the City Soul band Penthouse's latest album "Neon Garden" which was released on July 29th this year. One of the tracks here is the rapid-fire "Koi Suru Kamisama" (God of Love) that was written by vocalists Shintaro Namioka（浪岡真太郎）and Maho Ohshima（大島真帆）and composed by Namioka. It's quite the sangria of genres: technopop, jazz, soul, City Pop and all that as a young lass is going a little crazy about falling for a guy and asking for divine help to get her out of a sticky situation. Unfortunately, the titular deity probably has to deal with tons of other people in similar circumstances.

Just to let folks know, the above is an official music video for "Koi Suru Kamisama" and not a creditless anime opening or closing sequence, although seeing how polished and adorable it is, I wouldn't be surprised if fans are wondering if there shouldn't be an anime created because of it. Apparently, the story played out here has a more self-assured couple than in the lyrics.

Carioca -- Dream Away

 

I've got the fan on in my room, my feet are slightly achy and I'm feeling a bit tired for a fellow in his 60s with his aging bones. One reason for this: I went downtown earlier this morning to see what was up with the annual August Fan Expo which started officially last night and will be continuing until Sunday evening. I hadn't been there in over a decade so it was something to see that the anime section has ballooned over the past ten years and the number of visitors has done the same thing. 

Anyways, I wanted to start with something peaceful and I remember yesterday putting up Early Byrds' "Ocean Song" and then Naomi Sugimura's（杉村尚美）"Tasogare ni Last Scene"（黄昏にラストシーン）with their jazz-fusion and bossa nova respectively. Well, I got a song there that combines the two genres. It's called "Dream Away" and it's available on the November 1978 record "Sunny Place Carnival" by the band Samba Carioca (although the debut album has a misspelling on the cover). "Dream Away" is the aural salve to heal me of my aches and pains...well, some of them anyways.

The band got its start in 1975 when they were backing singer-songwriter Kiyoshi Hasegawa（長谷川きよし）at the Shimo-Kitazawa and Shinjuku branches of the Loft live houses as they played monthly in their Sunday Samba Sessions. In the beginning, there were flutist Nozomu Nakatani（中谷望）, bassist Toru Hirano（平野融）and percussionist Yuuji Yoshikawa（吉川祐二）before drummer Antonio Ishida（アントニオ石田）and guitarist Masami Sato（佐藤正美）joined. In 1977, Hasegawa broke up the band but they almost immediately reintegrated, taking on the name of Samba Carioca（サンバ・カリオカ）, a unit that would focus on samba and bossa nova. They would continue releasing several albums up to 1984 during which they reduced their name to just Carioca.

Naomi Sugimura -- Tasogare ni Last Scene（黄昏にラストシーン）

 

A few days ago, I posted a Higurashi（日暮し）song on the blog for the first time in a while titled "Odayakana Gogo"（おだやかな午後）. Then, I checked vocalist Naomi Sugimura's（杉村尚美）file on KKP and I realized that I hadn't put up anything from her solo career in about six years! 

The last article that I had put up was her final single from June 1982, "Kaze no Naka no Melody"（風の中のメロディー）. A couple of months later, she released her third and final original album which had the same title. From there, I give you "Tasogare ni Last Scene" (Last Scene at Sunset). Written by Akira Ohtsu（大津あきら）and composed by Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）, it's one of the more fleet-footed bossa nova tunes that I've ever heard. Sugimura also gives her usual lovely light touch in her vocals.

Early Byrds feat. Kyoko Kimura -- Ocean Song

 

It was a couple of months ago that I introduced the jazz-fusion band Early Byrds and their special guest Kyoko Kimura（木村恭子）through their 1981 album, "Up and Coming". I focused on the opening track "Galaxy Special" which was an instrumental punctuated by Kimura's scatting.

(16:00)

Well, this time I'm going with the last song on Side A of the original album, "Ocean Song". Starting out with the calm blue ocean sloshing against the shore, we get to hear Kimura voicing some soothing quotes such as "You're just an ocean away". Along with the aural massage, Early Byrds provide that laidback cocktail-sipping melody which will have you aching to head out to some beach somewhere or at least leave you living the tropical dream vicariously.

Chisato Moritaka -- Bohtto Shite Miyou（ボーッとしてみよう）

With all of the craziness on the planet right now and even with the usual day-to-day sturm und drang of a regular work week, singer-songwriter Chisato Moritaka（森高千里）may have a solution: "Bohtto Shite Miyou" (Let's Try Zoning Out). Yup, this was a track that was written and composed by the Kumamoto native for her July 1996 album "TAIYO" as this relaxing yesteryear-ish pop-rock number encouraging listeners to stop and smell the coffee, roses or other soothing thing. Moritaka was on the drums for this recording.

I first heard the song though when it was included as a coupling song to Moritaka's single "Let's GO!" from February 1997. The arrangement is a little different under its title of "Sweet Baby Version"...even more laidback and bluesy. In both versions, the singer encourages folks to zone out until they get bored. Maybe it'll be a good long while before that happens.

Tim Curry -- Time Warp

by Alan Light via Wikimedia Commons

This may go down as one of the tougher and more intense years in terms of famous people passing away. We lost Dolly Parton a couple of days ago and just in the last few hours, I've been hearing of other celebrities leaving this mortal coil. Alongside the news of Parton passing away, the news scroll here on television also mentioned that actor and singer Tim Curry had also died.

For recent generations, Curry may have been known for his roles as hapless and/or somewhat clueless characters on movies like "Home Alone 2". I also remember him as Chief Medical Officer Petrov on the Red October in "The Hunt for Red October" back in 1990,

But my memories go even further back when Curry played the terrifying but charismatic Dr Frank-N-Furter in the original 1973 London and 1975 Broadway productions of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" and then the 1975 cinematic version with a very young Susan Sarandon and Barry Bostwick. Now, I wasn't even a pre-pubescent kid when "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" came out so I missed out on all of the bread tossing and other audience participation stuff. The bits of media that I got about this bizarre show in the pre-Internet age frankly scared the heck out of me, and I think the good doctor was most likely the first instance of me ever seeing a guy dressed up and made up like a girl

Dr. Frank-N-Furter got his own song: "Sweet Transvestite". However, I don't know that one although I did hear that Curry (along with the rest of the cast) was able to sing the one song that I do know from the show, the rock-n-roll "Time Warp". Yet, it wasn't through either the movie or the play that I first found out about it. 

Like a lot of high schools, my junior high school had regular after-school dance parties in the cafeteria. My crippling shyness, uncoolness and dancing ability (which could be compared to a hobbled T-Rex stuck in a tar pit) meant that I very rarely attended those gigs. However, against my better judgment and due to peer pressure, I ended up at one of those dances, and strangely enough, at the persuasion of one young lady who took pity upon me, she dragged me onto the floor to do "Time Warp". I should've listened more intently to the lyrics by Richard O'Brien (music by both him and Richard Hartley) since they basically instruct listeners how the dance is done, but then again, I was never much of a lyrics guy anyways. It would be years before I realized that "Time Warp" was a part of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show". 

"The Rocky Horror Picture Show" made its very first appearance in London on June 19th 1973. I was able to find the Top 3 of Oricon for the day before.

1. Kenji Sawada -- Kiken na Futari （危険なふたり）

2. Miyoko Asada -- Akai Fuusen（赤い風船）

3. GARO -- Kimi no Tanjoubi （君の誕生日）

As I said above, it's been a tough year already for famous people leaving Earth. Within the last 12 hours, I've also heard about the passings of the following people that I also got to know. For these folks and for Curry, my condolences to their families, friends and many fans.

voice actor Peter Cullen (August 26)

artist Yayoi Kusama (August 14)

singer/TV personality Jaye P. Morgan (August 24)