"Waku Waku Sasete" is another creation by the partnership of Takashi Matsumoto and Kyohei Tsutsumi（松本隆・筒美京平）, and hearing its Eurobeat arrangement, I think this 8th single by Miho Nakayama（中山美穂）is representative of what some of the late 80s aidoru were sounding like (Yoko Oginome, BaBe, Wink, etc.). Again, this was a song I'd heard more at the karaoke bar than by the actual singer herself, and it was indeed a popular choice by the women.
The title can be translated in any number of ways....it can be "Excite Me" or "Get My Motor Runnin'" or "Make My Heart Beat". Whatever the title was meant to be, it did get a lot of fans' hearts running after its November 1986 release....it was the Oricon No. 1 song for December of that year, and eventually ended up as the 17th-ranked song for 1987. It was also a track on Miporin's 4th album, "EXOTIQUE" released in December. It reached its peak at No. 6 on the album charts and was the 45th-ranked album overall for 1987.
The long tradition of music and TV tie-ups also applied to "Waku Waku Sasete", as it was also the theme song for a Miho Nakayama trendy drama, "Na/Ma/I/Ki Zakari"(な・ま・い・き 盛.... Cheeky Peak) on Fuji-TV.
I've not been listening to a lot of Miho Nakayama lately, but after watching a live rendition of "You're my only shinin' star" by Toshiki Kadomatsu, the composer himself, I started looking for my favourite Nakayama songs. And your blog is, of course, the perfect place to come and share opinions and feelings about Kayo Kyoku.
ReplyDeleteAnd as a matter of curiosity, I'm watching (mostly listening) "Chisato Moritaka 1991 Kokon Tozai Concert" at the same time I write this comment.
About Miho Nakayama, one of my favourites songs of her is "Waku Waku Sasete". This song is just so much fun, and the disco/eurobeat style is very well executed. When it was played live in TV shows like "Yoru no Hit Studio" and "The Best Ten", we could hear a very strong bass. Indeed, it remembered me some Western disco classics of the late 70s.
As a side note, her 80s albums are, in general, really good. And we can hear a nice touch of city Pop in albums like "SUMMER BREEZE", "EXOTIQUE", "ONE AND ONLY", "CATCH THE NITE", "Mind Game", "angel hearts" and "Hide'n' Seek".
Other singles I enjoy as much as "Waku Waku Sasete" are "JINGI Aishite Moraimasu", "Mermaid" and the ballad "ROSÉCOLOR".
Hey, bode.
ReplyDeleteI've just completed an entry on her Xmas song, "Toi Machi no Dokoka de". Have a look at that and give me your thoughts.
Toshiki Kadomatsu has definitely been gold for a number of singers such as Nakayama and Anri for whom he helped produce three of her albums in the mid-80s. I just read an interview of him in that "Japanese City Pop" book I've got. "Catch The Nite" is one of the 500 albums that's listed in there.
I found that as Nakayama entered the 90s, she could really do some fine ballads. And she even did a wonderful rendition of Ruiko Kurahashi's "Last Scene ni Ai wo Komete" for her 1993 album, "Blanket Privacy".