Hikaru Utada -- PAPPAPARADISE

        

Although I never saw either of them during their original airtime, I had heard of James Corden's "Carpool Karaoke" and the game show "Cash Cab". 

In either case, it's quite the elevation in being driven home. Sing your favourite songs or win some good hard money although I believe the former situation only invites celebrities. 

That's the image I got on watching the music video for Hikaru Utada's（宇多田ヒカル）latest single, "PAPPAPARADISE". They have got to be the most cheerful taxi driver on Earth and I'm not sure which area is being represented here: Tokyo or her native New York City. I only see Hikaru taking care of Japanese fares and yet the singer-songwriter is wearing street clothes behind the wheel which is verboten in Japan's taxis. But that's not the point. The amazing thing is that Hikaru is greatly enjoying life and entertaining the customers through their song which was released on May 6th. It's an upbeat tune with a bit of 1950s music, doo-wop and even some Steely Dan horns in there. 

And it was after viewing the music video that I found out that "PAPPARADISE" is being used as the latest ending theme for the long-running anime "Chibi Maruko-chan"（ちびまる子ちゃん）. So, Utada joins folks such as B.B. Queens, Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）and Kahimi Karie（カヒミカリィ） on that august list.

Yasuha -- Morning Date（モーニング・デート）

 

Talk about a song that has had nine lives like a cat. Yasuha's（泰葉）1981 "Fly-Day Chinatown" (フライディ・チャイナタウン) has once again popped up like a rubber duckie in the pop culture bathtub after getting its exposure at the end of Episode 5 of the currently running anime  "Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!!"（ガンバレ!中村くん!!...Go for It, Nakamura!）. And hey, a good song is a good song no matter how often it arises out of the ether.

As such, I wanted to see what the B-side for "Fly-Day Chinatown" was. It is "Morning Date" which was also the creation of lyricist Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）, composer Yasuha and arranger Akira Inoue（井上鑑）after their primo work on the A-side.

"Morning Date" is the opposite of "Fly-Day Chinatown". For one thing, as the title shows prominently, it is an upbeat morning tune compared to the nocturnal swings of "Fly-Day Chinatown". Moreover, instead of some rumbling City Pop through a famous part of Yokohama, this is basically some happy West Coast AOR in an apartment featuring a couple of newlyweds as a wife wakes up all fresh and freshly showered just so that she can greet her husband in the breakfast nook. I don't think I've ever experienced a married couple that blissful at breakfast; must be really early in the relationship. Still, I can hear some City Pop chord progressions blipping through along with a rock n' roll coda.

Hi-Fi Set -- Crystal Night（クリスタル･ナイト）

 

I've got to admit...I wasn't quite sure what to make of this B-side to Hi-Fi Set's（ハイ・ファイ・セット）8th single from April 1977, "Kaze no Machi"（風の街）. The A-side is the straightforward City Pop driving song that's got the breeze going through the hair and love filtering through the heart.

"Crystal Night", not to be confused with Junko Ohashi's（大橋純子）classic "Crystal City" which came out the same year, is a B-side that had me popping question marks around my head initially. Right from the intro, my ears were hit by a mixture of disco strings and country-loving steel pedal guitar before things settled down into this 1970s peppy City Pop song. And then, the roots rock guitar came crashing in like Superman through a wall. Still, "Crystal Night" overall feels like another hot evening on the town much like its companion "Kaze no Machi". Two of the members of Hi-Fi Set, Shigeru Okawa（大川茂）and Toshihiko Yamamoto（山本俊彦）were responsible for words and music respectively with Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）taking care of the arrangement. The song was also a track on the group's 3rd album from February 1977, "Love Collection"（ラブ・コレクション）which not only hit No. 1 on Oricon but it was also the No. 1 album of the year.

Iruka -- NYC wa Toosugite（NYCは遠すぎて）

 

I'm probably going to have to come up with an Author's Picks regarding New York-based kayo kyoku sometime soon. I've been encountering them during the past fourteen plus years that "Kayo Kyoku Plus" has been in business and perhaps it's enough that the bunch of these Manhattan music tributes in Japanese can make up a subgenre of sorts within City Pop.

Anyways, I have another one here by singer-songwriter Iruka（イルカ）who was in her 1980s City Pop phase at the time. I don't have my own copy of her April 1985 12th album "Heart Land" but I have covered at least one song on the list, "Ame no Distance"（雨のディスタンス）, which also qualifies as a City Pop tune. This one here is "NYC wa Toosugite" (New York City is Too Far Away) which was actually written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composed/arranged by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, so Iruka was just behind the microphone. 

This is quite the romantic strolling tune to be enjoyed at sunset, and of course, Iruka's velvety vocals help with the overall listening pleasure. I can imagine that Japanese tourists must have been swooning for the Big Apple at the time, especially when that saxophone comes into play halfway through. Well, it helps that the Bubble Era started around the time that "Heart Land" was released.

Keiko Utsumi -- Futari dake no Kyuujitsu（二人だけの休日）

 

Finally, we have a proper spring day out there with seasonal temperatures and bright sunshine. And just in time for the Victoria Day long weekend, too. Plus, the other wonderful thing is that we've got another Urban Contemporary Friday on "Kayo Kyoku Plus".

Today, we start off with singer-songwriter Keiko Utsumi's（宇都美慶子）"Futari dake no Kyuujitsu" (Only Our Holiday) from her September 1992 4th album "Ren'ai Shosetsu"（恋愛小説...A Love Romance） as introduced by a radio DJ who apparently is only a sporadic student at Berlitz. Written by Utsumi and composed by Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）, the song strikes me as the prototypical 90s City Pop tune with those certain synths at play, and as soon as I learned that Yamakawa was behind the melody, I immediately pressed "play". Lots of good groove and soul in this one and I always appreciate a good sax solo (although for some reason, they had brought in a rather twee synth sax earlier in the song). As for Utsumi's lyrics, they don't completely describe a blissful relationship (the fact that her recipe for vegetable juice sounds more like a recipe for vegetable stew doesn't help) as the arguments start flying near the end with things finishing up on an uncertain note. Hey, love and life downtown!

Nash Music Library -- Astro Swingin' Sisters

Wikimedia Commons

We're kinda getting close to the end of the work week once more so perhaps a little zip in the music here might help in the anticipation toward the weekend. Over here, there is even more significance since we have a long weekend coming up with Victoria Day happening on Monday.

Nice to have the good folks at Nash Music Library helping out again. This time, the music maker has come up with a synthesized version of swing jazz via The Andrews Sisters. Titled "Astro Swingin' Sisters", I think it's well named although there is no singing here by any sisters but the feeling is there, and I can imagine a sorority trio in spacesuits harmonizing out there while this is playing. The song comes from the August 2019 album "Sparkling Brass".

Ayaka -- OK! GO!

 

Mother's Day was the theme for the most recent episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）a couple of days ago, and singer-songwriter Ayaka（絢香）was on stage to provide an old favourite as her contribution to the holiday for mothers. 

During the talk segment, she also had her turn on the microphone. She's been taking care of a couple of daughters as a mother herself which includes having the entire family learn how to downhill ski. Then, she introduced her most recent single which got out on May 6th titled "OK! GO!". Sounding quite upbeat and inspirational, it has an arrangement which reminds me of some Motown soul from the 1970s; maybe there's even a bit of gospel soul beating in there as well. Cute video, to boot; it looks like unmalicious Monty Python.