Chikara Ueda & The Power Station -- Breeze in Memories

 

There's nothing like an old-fashioned Japanese cop program to show how things are probably not done in real-life law enforcement in Tokyo. But dang, it's crazy and cool at the same time. The above program was basically a one-and-done series titled "Keishichō Satsujin-ka"（警視庁殺人課...Metropolitan Police Department Homicide Division） that was broadcast between April and October 1981 on TV Asahi. The big thing about this one is that it starred the late actor Bunta Sugawara（菅原文太）, who had usually been getting cinematic roles as antiheroes and mobsters, before getting this good-guy role as Inspector Taro "Mister" Godai, a blood-and-guts police commander who had spent ten years with the NYPD before returning to Tokyo. Apparently, this was also Sugawara's first foray into television.

Last week, I posted a City Pop/jazzy number for the suspense "Inubue no Tehma"（犬笛のテーマ）by Yuji Ohno（大野雄二）, so I guess it might be becoming a thing for me to put up such tunes from law enforcement-based TV shows on Urban Contemporary Fridays. Chikara Ueda & The Power Station（上田力＆パワーステーション）were partially responsible for the soundtrack for "Keishichō Satsujin-ka" and in 1981, they released the soundtrack for the show simply titled "Mr." after the lead character.

One track is "Breeze in Memories" by the band which fits perfectly with the usual Japanese TV cop show. There is that feeling of the million stories in the big city along with some fervent jazz noodling via saxophone. I assume that "Breeze in Memories" was used as background music whenever Mister and one of his officers hit a nightclub for pleasure or a bust. Of course, I can also imagine the guys with tumblers of scotch in their hands during the same song, too.

Takao Kisugi -- Machibito Kitarazu（待ち人来たらず）

 

With a title like "Machibito Kitarazu" (The Person I'd Been Waiting For Didn't Come [or in today's vernacular perhaps: Ghosted]), and especially with singer-songwriter Takao Kisugi's（来生たかお）penchant for melancholy melodies, I'd been expecting a rather sad ballad.

However, then I realized there was that Japanese music policy of having happy and sad songs on opposite sides of a record single, and "Machibito Kitarazu" just happens to be the B-side of Kisugi's debut single from October 1976, "Asai Yume"（浅い夢）. The A-side is a very tenderhearted ballad and one of his most cherished tunes. So, instead, "Machibito Kitarazu" is actually quite a snazzy and snappy ditty created by him and his elder sister, lyricist Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）. With arrangement by Katsu Hoshi（星勝）, it comes across as a slightly Gallic and jazzy traipse down the Champs-Elysees, and yep, I can even imagine jeune frere Kisugi dandily dancing down the boulevard in a porkpie hat and cane to this one.

One little aside here is that I really like the cover for "Asai Yume" with Kisugi just lounging about in a well-lived room with that hint of sepia in the atmosphere. Yeah, I guess it was New Music.

Junko Yagami -- No!

 

I covered a number of tracks on the article for Junko Yagami's（八神純子）"Full Moon" way back in 2017, but not all of them. Perhaps it's time to take care of some of the remaining ones at least.

Yes to "No!". This was one track that was written and composed by Yagami for the 1983 album and it was arranged by Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）. It's pretty fun listening (especially with the repeated insistence of the title) so I was surprised that I hadn't included it in the writeup for "Full Moon" but still I'm happy to cover it now. I've categorized it as City Pop but it also has some of that synthesizer-and-guitar feel of New Wave. I think it could have also been included in my Author's Picks article for "Driving to City Pop" as Yagami sings about a woman who's enjoying a drive in her potential new steady's car...so much so that she won't entertain any questions about her romantic situation and premonitions from the guy right now. It's all about enjoying the present as much as possible before the inevitable heavy stuff has to be dealt with. I gather that the light and bouncy nature of "No!" is the proof in the pudding.

Yoko Aso/Akira Fuse -- Koi no Survival（恋のサバイバル）

 

Almost a year ago, I added Gloria Gaynor's disco anthem "I Will Survive" onto the Reminiscings of Youth series. Starting from hearing it on those K-Tel disco compilation album commercials, it gradually entered my head in its entirety.

Little did I know at the time that there were Japanese covers done of "I Will Survive", both released in May 1979 under the same title of "Koi no Survival" (Survival of Love). Yoko Aso's（麻生よう子）cover was given Japanese lyrics by Konosuke Fuji（藤公之介）over the original melody by Freddie Perren and Dino Fekaris. The arrangement by Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏之）seems to have mixed in a good dollop of kayo kyoku into the disco so that at points, I was wondering whether "Koi no Survival" was heading into country music territory. Aso certainly gives a lot of brio into her performance which got the single a No. 43 ranking on Oricon. Strangely enough, the B-side has the same song but with different lyrics also provided by Fuji.

Another singer with a lot of oomph in his voice is Akira Fuse（布施明）and he also provided that for his own cover of "I Will Survive" also under the same Japanese title. However, Fuse himself wrote the lyrics for his take with Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）arranging things into something closer to the Gaynor disco original. I also appreciate the sharp horns in there. Fuse's version reached No. 13 on Oricon and ended up as the 63rd-ranked single of the year.

Platinum 900 -- 246

 

One of the most luxurious neighbourhoods in Tokyo is Shirokanedai（白金台）in Minato Ward. I was actually there once in my last few years there since a couple of students and I had lunch at a French restaurant in the area, and yep, I had to pull out the dark suit for that one. I can't remember the name of the place anymore but it was pretty chic and tasty. The waiter explained the nature and origins of each dish during our four-hour gastronomic odyssey. I don't ever recall being in any dining establishment for that length of time outside of wedding receptions.

Now, the reason I bring this up is that I had always wondered about the origin of the band name Platinum 900. HRLE92 posted the first article on the band back in 2020 when he posited that it was the most overlooked City Pop group. He did state that vocalist Naoko Sakata (坂田直子), guitarist and bassist Kazuhiko Nishimura (西村一彦), and keyboardist Hiroshi Iihoshi (飯星裕史) had started Platinum 900 in Tokyo (in 1994), and although I don't think that there was a J-Wiki article on them up at the time, there is one now. But as for that name, Nishimura finally gave an explanation on how they came to be called Platinum 900:

I want to aim for the kind of music a wealthy woman in her fifties—living in a detached house in Shirokanedai—might listen to on her Mark Levinson system in the living room... A "Chic Wealthy Lady" concept! From there, I’ll add "Platinum" to the name, and throw in "900" for good measure...

I have to admit that Nishimura had quite the ambitious thoughts stirring about in his head. So, according to him, the rich ladies had a thing for some sunny side music that did a toe dance between the genres of 90s City Pop and Shibuya-kei. OK, I can go for that. Now to further break down what he'd said, the word "shirokane"（白金）in Shirokanedai can mean "platinum" (although according to Jisho.org, the kanji is usually read as "hakkin"), so there is the first part of the band name right there, and as he said, he decided on the number 900 for some reason.

Then what I have here from Platinum 900's first maxi-single "missing star" from July 1998 can be considered to be the prototypical Platinum 900 song. "246", which was created by all of the band members, has got all of the elements: sunny side, Shibuya-kei and City Pop. And although I couldn't get all of the lyrics, I'm gathering that the title stands for Highway 246 which runs through several wards in Tokyo including the aforementioned Minato Ward before heading out through Kanagawa and Shizuoka Prefectures. I can imagine that a drive there would be quite pleasant.

I also have to remark how Sakata's vocals remind me of the singing of Chisato Moritaka（森高千里）from those velvet tones and also because of the type of song "246" is which sounds similar to the type of music that the latter lady was tackling at around the same time.

Hiroko Kasahara -- You & Me

 

Taking my mother out to her doctor's appointment earlier this afternoon, I noticed that it was rather warm today with a goodly amount of humidity. I guess this will probably be the last gasp of summer for 2026 before fall and more seasonal temperatures arrive next week...unless Indian Summer flies in sometime in October or November. I also have to remind myself that next week, Japan celebrates another long holiday season.

I've got a pretty upbeat song to finish off Thursday on KKP. This is Hiroko Kasahara's（笠原弘子）"You & Me" from her November 1991 album "Ren'aisei Riron Part 1"（恋愛性理論〜Part 1〜...The Theory of Romantic Nature）. Written by Mayumi Sudo（須藤まゆみ）and composed by Yasuhiko Warita（割田康彦）, that intro reminds me a bit of "Easy Lover" by Phil Collins & Philip Bailey, but then the melody goes into a wholly different direction. With those particular synthesizers in play, it does feel like a typical early 90s pop tune, and I also like Kasahara's high plaintive vocals.

Patrick Hernandez -- Born to be Alive

 

Ah, yes, YouTube...finder of lost memories of music. Perhaps I should say that it is a corrector of wrong memories of music. To explain, I had thought for the longest time that the disco hit "Born to be Alive" was a song by Canadian singer Gino Vannelli but it was actually by French singer Patrick Hernandez. And look, the names and origin nations may be vastly different (aside from the fact that both Canada and France have French as official languages), but both singers have huge mops of hair, boomer voices and plenty of charisma. I remember who I thought was Vannelli singing "Born to be Alive" as he popped up on a TV commercial for one of those K-Tel record compilations. It was no wonder that for some bizarre reason, I couldn't find the song on my own Vannelli BEST compilation.

What made it worse was that I hadn't even known the name of the real person behind "Born to be Alive". However, one day not too long ago, YouTube burst forth with some video shorts playing that very song for some ambitious dancing folks, and I finally had my singer. Interestingly enough, I remember this song being played at one of our junior high school presentations when a few of the girls decided to have a dance to this Hernandez hit. I gotta admit that hearing the song again after so long, I can imagine this still bringing the masses onto the dance floor to hoof it up with abandon. And back in the day after its release in November 1978, it struck No. 1 in a number of countries including Canada, America, Italy and Mexico.

And that begs the question, what Japanese singles were coming out in November 1978?

Anri -- Olivia wo Kikinagara （オリビアを聴きながら）

Hiroshi Madoka -- Musoubana （夢想花）

Momoe Yamaguchi -- Ii Hi Tabidachi (いい日旅立ち)