Yujiro Ishihara -- Ashiato（足あと）

 

One of the earliest Mood Kayo-based articles that I ever put up on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" was Yujiro Ishihara's（石原裕次郎）1977 "Brandy Glass"（ブランデーグラス）which was about as dramatic as one could get with that cigarette-and-whiskey-soaked voice along with the background chorus and trumpet. It didn't open the door wide for my jump into the bar-and-tryst-filled Japanese music genre at the time that I first heard it in the early 1980s, but it did stick to me for many years until I finally admitted my liking for Mood Kayo.

Of course, with "Brandy Glass" being the typical 45" single, there was a B-side to be heard as well. So, I finally listened to "Ashiato" (Footsteps) which was the flip side to the original single when it was released in April 1977. Somewhat more lighthearted than the A-side, it was also a different genre: more old-style club jazz standard that would attract someone like Nat King Cole to do an English version of it. It was the same songwriters behind "Brandy Glass" who tackled "Ashiato": lyricist Yoko Yamaguchi（山口洋子）and composer Mitsuru Kotani（小谷充）with the song being about Ishihara musing about a wistfully lost opportunity: seeing the lady she loved getting married to someone else without him being able to express his opinions to her. All he can do now is to wish her well. The song would be perfect for a 50s or 60s nightclub aside from a weirdly inserted twee synthesizer or something like that.

"Ashiato" was the original B-side to "Brandy Glass". However, in a later reissue of the single in 1979, the B-side ended up being "Koi no Machi Sapporo"（恋の街札幌）which was a 1972 single by the Tough Guy.

Yoshiaki Masuo -- Deanna（ディアナ）

 

As a sad sign of the times, another establishment close to my friends and myself is going into liquidation proceedings right now. My anime buddy who's also a big guitar enthusiast often went down to Steve's Music Store in the Queen West area of downtown Toronto to check out the guitars and any other equipment. Well, if he wants to pick up any final things there, he's gonna have to put a rush on.

It's a bit of a melancholy way to start off an article about a very reassuring tune, but I had to go with something. Regardless, here is "Deanna" by Tokyoite jazz/fusion guitarist Yoshiaki Masuo（増尾好秋）. Although he never got any formal training in the instrument, according to his website's biography section, he was the son of a jazz band leader and then he took up the guitar by himself when he was 15. Obviously the talent and affinity for music was passed down to him. While he was playing away at the Waseda University jazz club, he was discovered by the Sadao Watanabe（渡辺貞夫）, saxophonist extraordinaire, and recruited into his own band in 1967. Masuo's first album would come out a couple of years later titled "Barcelona no Kaze"（バルセロナの風...The Winds of Barcelona）. 

In 1980, his album "The Song is You and Me" was released, and it had at least a couple of notable guests helping out: Yutaka Yokokura（横倉裕）, and the jazz fusion duo The Brecker Brothers. One of the tracks is the soothing "Deanna", penned by drummer Tony Cintron Jr., which sounds readymade for some sipping cocktails at sunset. If you've had a bad day, this should take some of the edge off. As for the mime tuxedo that Masuo is wearing on the album cover, I'm not too sure about that. However, he's being kind to the canary on his finger, so I'll give him that.

punipunidenki -- Kimi wa Queen（君はQueen）

 

Some bright lights from the neighbourhood of Ameyoko in Tokyo just to let readers know that I'm starting the Urban Contemporary Friday for at least a couple of songs early on a Thursday because I will be busy tomorrow for a good chunk of the day doing other things. I occasionally have a life outside of KKP.

I was going to post up an article regarding punipunidenki's（ぷにぷに電機） "Zurukunai?"（ずるくない？）from 2021, only to find out that I had already jumped the gun on that one a couple of years ago. I was slightly deflated there but I was then able to find this one by the Neo-City Pop songstress which goes even earlier into her discography. June 2019, to be exact. 

"Kimi wa Queen" (You are a Queen), which was written and composed by punipunidenki and given additional songwriting credits by composers Mikeneko Homeless and Shin Sakiura, is pretty much as advertised. It's a bouncy urban tune about someone liking and then lusting over a lady in Tokyo. Not surprisingly, the singer herself is taking a walk throughout the bright lights and big city of one of the world's largest metropolises while her singing is happily tripping the light fantastic on those streets. 

Kaori Moritani -- Chiffon no Tsubasa（シフォンの翼）

 

He passed away only relatively recently in 2023 at the age of 85, but Bill Saluga was a comedian who was part of the improv troupe The Ace Trucking Company. He'd been performing since the 1960s but the one character that certain generations will always remember him for was the nattily-attired Raymond J. Johnson Jr. His schtick was that whenever anyone called him Mr. Johnson, he would take umbrage and rattle off all of the different permutations of his name that he preferred to be addressed by. I did see him on the old variety shows on television and commercials doing that bit. Typically, it goes like this (and this is from his Wikipedia profile):

"NOOO!!! You don't have to call me Johnson! My name is Raymond J. Johnson Jr. Now you can call me Ray, or you can call me J, or you can call me Johnny, or you can call me Sonny, or you can call me Junie, or you can call me Ray J, or you can call me RJ, or you can call me RJJ, or you can call me RJJ Jr. . . but you doesn't hasta call me Johnson!"

And that is who I was reminded about when I first heard about 80s aidoru Kaori Moritani（守谷香）. Now, a number of celebrities in Japan have gone through multiple name changes in their careers, including enka legend Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）, and so on that note, the Aichi Prefecture-born Moritani isn't any different but for some reason, Moritani just sparked my image of Raymond J. Johnson although the lass is far prettier. Along with the above name, she's also gone by a different reading of that family name which is Kaori Moriya in different configurations of kanji and hiragana（守谷佳央理、もりや かおり）. She's also gone by Kaori Morizumi（守純かほり）and even, briefly, WANKU.

Her first six singles, in fact, were recorded under her name of Kaori Moritani, and for the purposes of this article, here is the  B-side for her May 1987 debut single "Yokokuhen"（予告編...Trailers）, "Chiffon no Tsubasa" (Chiffon Wings). It is indeed a cutesy aidoru tune but with some of that Doobie Bros. bounce thrown in to help launch things. You can thank composer Takashi Ike（池毅）and arranger Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）for that along with lyricist Rui Serizawa（芹沢類）. It managed to reach No. 12 on Oricon.

One other notable piece of trivia regarding Ms. Moritani is that she had once been married to TOSHI, one of the members of X Japan, for several years. She even left show business to help run her husband's entertainment agency. As of right now, she is going by the name of Kaori Moriya.

Rumiko Tanaka -- Furui Miyako no Onna no You ni（古い都の女のように）

 

When it comes to anyone named Rumiko on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", we have a few of them but usually my mind goes straight to singer/actress Rumiko Koyanagi（小柳ルミ子）.

But then some months ago, I discovered this song by singer-songwriter Rumiko Tanaka（田中ルミ子）and I just went "Why have I not ever heard of this lady before?!". She's got one of those ethereal clear-as-a-bell beauty voices and the song here has one of my favourite instrumental combinations of strings and piano. "Furui Miyako no Onna no You ni" (Like a Woman from the Old City) is a track on her 1979 album "Up and Fly" and it's got a wonderfully lush intro that leads into a song that makes one want to stop and smell the flowers. Plus, it's got a brief electric guitar solo that reminds me why I got into Japanese pop music in the first place. The melody was provided by her while the lyrics were written by Masatoshi Hayashi（林まさとし）. 

I was able to find some information on Tanaka on her website. She was born in Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture and first showed her musical prowess publicly by providing a song for a 1977 NHK  documentary. Her official debut came in 1979 so I assume that "Up and Fly" was her first album. Since then, she has been teaching vocals and composition at a music school.

Happy Lunar New Year!/Naoko Kawai -- Chinatown Rhapsody（チャイナタウン・ラプソディ）/Koji Tamaki -- Hong Kong

                                                               From Alexandra Sigrit2323

via Wikimedia Commons

 

I realize that I should have done this yesterday when the Lunar New Year began but it was getting late into the night and I was just too tired. Anyways, perhaps it's just as well that I'm doing this today on Hump Day when I need to get some energy expended especially on a dreary stormy day. So, allow me to give my Happy Lunar New Year greetings to everyone who's celebrating it this week and they include some of my friends and some of my brother's in-laws. Hopefully, you have eaten very well so far. 

To be frank, I'm kinda surprised that I hadn't done an Author's Picks based on the Lunar New Year before but that simply means that I get to do it today when folks are celebrating the Year of the Horse. My picks here don't have any significantly deep meaning aside from the fact that they include song titles connected to areas whose populations would celebrate the holiday. Among the five I'm listing here, three of them already have their own articles on KKP, while the last two are newbies, so I guess this article is a hybridization of an Author's Picks and a regular posting.

(1977) Masataka Matsutoya -- Hong Kong Night Sight

(1980) Takashi Sato -- Peking de Choshoku wo （北京で朝食を）

(1981) Yasuha -- Fly-Day Chinatown (フライディ・チャイナタウン)

(1985) Naoko Kawai -- Chinatown Rhapsody 

The entries above and below are the newbies as I mentioned at the top and they're being included now since I had been looking for these songs on YouTube for years (and giving up) before they finally popped up. I actually borrowed Naoko Kawai's （河合奈保子）March 1985 11th studio album "Stardust Garden ~ Sennen Teien"（STARDUST GARDEN -千・年・庭・園-...Millennium Garden） from a friend back in my university days but never got my own copy, and the one song that I remember from it is "Chinatown Rhapsody" which also has the English subtitle of "Missin' Girl" which hints at some sort of neighbourhood intrigue. Written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, the song goes at a good clip with a certain mysterious aura imbued throughout. I do like that twanging instrument in the intro.

(1987) Koji Tamaki -- Hong Kong

Honestly speaking, I hadn't gotten a great impression of Koji Tamaki's（玉木浩二) "Hong Kong" in the intro which sounded like a combination of a soundtrack from an episode of "Doctor Who" deep into the 1980s when the show was frankly going downhill and a little smidgen of a Pet Shop Boys tune. Now that I've gotten to hear it for the first time in many years, "Hong Kong" still won't enter my Top 5 Tamaki songs but it's a pretty tight and sexy song thanks to his considerable vocals and the simmering arrangement by Chris Cameron. Tamaki was responsible for melody while Goro Matsui（松井五郎）provided the lyrics. 

I'd never seen the music video for "Hong Kong" before and it appears that the director was going for a Neo-Noir look in the titular city with Tamaki cutting quite the figure as someone reminiscent of the late actor Yusaku Matsuda（松田優作）. Tamaki's naturally saturnine looks can have viewers wondering about which side he's working for. "Hong Kong" is a part of his debut solo album "All I Do" which was released in August 1987 and peaked at No. 2 on Oricon.

Minako Honda -- Aoi Shuumatsu（青い週末）

 

I've said it before and I'll say it again. If my first encounter of 1980s aidoru Minako Honda（本田美奈子）hadn't been that horribly off-tune rendition of one of her hits on one of the 80s music shows, I would have been far more entranced by the late singer.

For example, listening to her third single from August 1985, "Aoi Shuumatsu" (Blue Weekend), I just thought that Honda had a wonderfully clear and upbeat delivery surrounded by Kyohei Tsutsumi's（筒美京平） melody and arranged in a happy-go-lucky synth-heavy style by Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）. On the other hand, Masao Urino's（売野雅勇）lyrics relate a tale of a couple who didn't have the happiest trip to the beach that day. But hey, it's a Japanese pop song so happy music paired with sad words isn't any surprise. For me, this is pure aidoru Honda without the dance club or rock trappings that I would often hear from her music during that decade. The song reached No. 23 on Oricon.