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.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Sing Like Talking -- Juu-Ichi Gatsu no Kioku ～Raining Blues （１１月の記憶）
(cover version)
One of my very favourite J-Pop ballads, I think this is the song that El DeBarge didn't get to sing. Those creamy keyboards and Chikuzen Sato's（佐藤竹善）voice get me every time. "Juu-Ichi Gatsu no Kioku"(November Memories) just reminds me of some of the best US R&B love songs from the 1980s such as DeBarge's "All This Love" and anything by James Ingram. Plus, Jake Concepion's saxophone is the cherry on top.
Sing Like Talking would hit their heights during the 90s, but this song actually first came out on the band's very first album, "Try and Try Again", released in November 1988. Written by keyboardist Chiaki Fujita（藤田千章）and composed by Sato himself, although the album didn't get into the Oricon rankings by any means, "Raining Blues" has been able to break through into some of their BEST compilations. I did eventually get "Try and Try Again" but I had first heard the ballad through one of those BEST albums, "Round About", released in 2001. And hearing it again as I was writing this post, I could imagine the promise that SLT had right from that tune.
Thanks J-Canuck for this great post on シングライクトーキング/Sing Like Talking's 「１１月の記憶 - Raining Blues」. Very nice mellow song with some great sax accompaniment. Very different sound from Sing Like Talking whom I only know from some of their more upbeat songs like 「心のEvergreen」, 「離れずに暖めて」, 「RISE」 and 「On The Crazy Street」 etc.
Thanks J-Canuck for this great post on シングライクトーキング/Sing Like Talking's 「１１月の記憶 - Raining Blues」. Very nice mellow song with some great sax accompaniment. Very different sound from Sing Like Talking whom I only know from some of their more upbeat songs like 「心のEvergreen」, 「離れずに暖めて」, 「RISE」 and 「On The Crazy Street」 etc.
ReplyDeleteI think SLT has done very well in both the uptempo and ballad categories. In the ballad area, among my favourites are "Friend" and "Natsu no Yukue".
Delete