In the last number of months since I found and put up the shortened version of Takako Mamiya's（間宮貴子）"Mayonaka no Joke" （真夜中のジョーク....Midnight Joke）, a few people have actually put up videos of some of the other tracks from her exceedingly rare "Love Trip" album from 1982.
Listening to "What a Broken Heart Can Do" (sounds like a Doobie Bros. title), I sometimes wonder if arranger/producer Jay Graydon (Al Jarreau, The Manhattan Transfer) didn't have something to do with it. In "Japanese City Pop", that book of the selected 500 albums of the genre, it mentions that this song has plenty of "ennui"....which probably refers to the languid relaxed sound. I think it rather fits a nice Sunday morning like today.
"What a Broken Heart Can Do" is actually the English version of the title track, "Love Trip". Unfortunately, the powers-that-be took down the former song so I've put up the Japanese original version. Prolific lyricist Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）provided the words while the Perrier-friendly music was composed by Kazuo Shiina（椎名和夫）.
Just to let you know that the album has been re issued as a limited edition cd in Japan. The label is Indies Japan, plus there are copies on Amazon.com available from a market place seller.
ReplyDeleteThanks kindly, gcarter.
ReplyDeleteI'll take a look for it. It'll be nice if the same could be done for Makoto Matsushita and for some of the other rarities.
I know this post is old, but is "Love Trip" her only album published? I can't find much about her, let alone her songs.
ReplyDeleteHi, Cerulean.
DeleteThe post might be old but I'm a pretty faithful custodian for the articles. :)
As for your question, I don't definitive proof but according to what I could find in "Japanese City Pop" and in some other Japanese-language music blogs, it sounds like "Love Trip" was the only album that Mamiya released. And the comments certainly describe her as being very mysterious.
Wow, thanks for replying! I see, that's kind of a let down. I guess the mystery adds to the appeal though. Great blog, by the way. :)
DeleteHi again, Cerulean.
DeleteYeah, it's a bit of a bummer to hear that Mamiya probably didn't do any more albums or any other music for that matter. Perhaps she felt that was all she could contribute.
Thanks for the compliment, by the way. What other Japanese singers are you into, if you don't mind me asking? I haven't been to Vancouver in about a couple of decades, but I've got some distant relatives in Steveston.
Ah, yes, maybe she had the artists' curse and she felt that she wasn't good enough? Hopefully not.
DeleteToki Asako is definitely my favourite artist regardless of genre or language. Found her through her old pop-rock band "Cymbals" and I've fallen in love with her (voice) ever since. She probably doesn't count as a true 80's/90's jpop artist, but she has done a lot of covers for her to qualify I guess?
Anri's probably my fave retro j-pop artist at the moment, really love her unique and not too overbearing voice. My favourite album from her would probably be Timely!! and my favourit song would have to go to "good Bye Boogie Dance" from Bi-Ki-Ni.
Other artists I'm really fond of are Miki Matsubara, Kaoru Akimoto, Minako Yoshida, Mariya Takeuchi, and Mari Iijima. A small selection so far since I've only started delving into this about a year ago (through vaporwave, sadly haha). Haven't met many people interested in this type of music, besides a friend I met on Tumblr, so it's kinda fun talking about this, thanks!
Also, Steveston is a nice place! Been there a few times, the seaside area is quite nice and the restaurants there are amazing. Way more exciting than Vancouver haha
DeleteConcerning Mamiya, that could certainly be the case. Too bad, though...I would've wanted to hear some more of her.
DeleteToki may not have become one of these huge superstars but I think she's brought some appealing freshness to some of those covers of 80s songs. She's someone who I would love to listen to in one of those small trendy cafes in Tokyo.
I was going to recommend "Timely!!" for an Anri album but it looks like you may already know about her fine collaborations with Toshiki Kadomatsu....it was a nice age for her in the early 80s. One of my favourites by her at that time was the ballad "Last Picture Show".
From what you mentioned in your last paragraph, it looks like you might be on my wavelength in terms of Japanese music. I've been a good fan of City Pop, something that vaporwave is partially inspired by. I only came across the term just several months ago, but I think the genre ought to be paying royalties to the aforementioned Kadomatsu. :)
I'm also a fan of those folks you listed but I have yet to hear Kaoru Akimoto although I've seen her name listed on YouTube. In the past few months, I've discovered a little-known singer by the name of Keiko Kimura from the 80s who may just be up your alley. I've got a couple of songs by her in the Labels section on the right and I ended up getting her 1987 album, "Style".
One reason that I started the blog in the first place was that I wanted to seek out folks who were interested in the older stuff and would be interested in talking about this type of music, so welcome aboard! :) It's been a fun 3.5 years so far.
Yes! Seeing Toki perform live is on my bucket list, even if it is just a small performance in a jazz cafe. I've developed quite the celeb crush on her, haha.
DeleteRegarding Keiko, I've looked into "Style" and I'm loving it so far! I found her music very similar to Anri's (with a hint of Mariya Takeuchi). Getting this album after my next paycheck, no doubt.
Also, if I may ask, did you grow up with this music or did you just fall in love with it recently? It seems like you know a lot about the music and the culture behind it, which is really fascinating. Hopefully I'll get to your level someday, haha.
I find Toki to have that mix of glamourous and down-to-earth in terms of her looks. I can imagine that she has attracted a number of suitors over the years.
Delete"Style" by Keiko Kimura was something that I was glad to get. I believe it's still in stock at CD Japan. It's labeled as an On-Demand CD so it may not be that difficult to get since the company probably has access to the original masters.
To answer your final question, yes, I did grow up with the music since my parents used to play kayo kyoku all the time on the ol' RCA Victor but I didn't start getting actively into it until high school around 1981. Even after close to 35 years of appreciating the stuff, I'm still learning and discovering songs and singers. For example, it's just been within the last decade or so that I've really gotten to know the folks in City Pop.