I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
A Christmas double feature from Reimy(麗美) today as we are three days from the big day. I think the Okinawan singer may have been channeling John Lennon or Paul McCartney in inspiration when she created this song, "Hashiru Soyo Kaze Tachi e" (To The Gentle Breezes) for the titular album in 1990. Through the synthesized brass and drums, the song comes across as a solemn march during a wartime Xmas, finishing with the chorus sung in English, German and Portuguese. One of the more interesting J-Xmas songs I've come across.
There are at least three different YouTube videos for the next song here, but I went for this one here. "Machi ni Kieta Christmas Card" (The Christmas Card that Disappeared in the Town) is a more conventional Xmas piece that Reimy recorded in 1989. It didn't make it onto an original album, but I'm fairly sure that it's on one of her compilations. My copy came on a general J-Xmas compilation...the one you see in the photo below you.
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