Unfortunately, I don't remember much from the series itself aside from Hamada yelling a lot and Miporin trying to rein him in. However, I do remember the theme song, "Tada Nakitakunaruno" (I Just Wanna Cry, That's All), sung and partly written by Nakayama herself. It stood out to me since it had this wonderfully romantic aura to it that hit me as being faintly European for some reason. And for me, it stands as one of my favourite songs by her. Masaki Iwamoto(岩本正樹) took care of the melody, and although I'm not sure if it was ever his intention, the music seems to also have this quality of an everyday schlub attempting to gain the affections of the prettiest girl in class. Iwamoto, by the way, is also the man behind a number of Megumi Hayashibara's(林原恵) songs such as "Forever Dreamer".
"Tada Nakitakunaruno" certainly did hit a lot of hearts. Nakayama's 28th single was released in February 1994, and would hit No. 1 on Oricon about a month later. It would later become the 17th-ranked song for the year and break through the million-sales barrier. In fact, in the history of Japanese music singles, the song became the 100th single release to do so. Unsurprisingly, the Kohaku Utagassen came beckoning, and she would answer the call for the final time. Even more sobering is that the song is Nakayama's final release to hit the top spot on the charts....unless she decides to get back into the music-making business.
Kokubu gives her own cover of the Nakayama hit through her 1995 album, "Akogare"(憧憬...Longing [although the kanji is actually pronounced "doukei" or "shoukei"), which I did buy on the strength of "Tada Nakitakunaruno". Although the arrangement is not all that much different from the original, her vocals have a slightly more ethereal and uplifting quality. Now that I've re-discovered this version, I'm interested in checking out some of her earlier work.
Hi J-Canuck.
ReplyDeleteAlthough I have "Tada Nakitakunaruno" on CD, I'd never given it a try. This song is placed in the Disc 2 of the "Perfect Best" compilation I own. While Disc 1 is comprised of her 80s aidoru tunes, Disc 2 is made of her 90s work. As I'm a fan of her 80s aidoru days, I tend to ignore the mature and balladry Miho Nakayama of the 90s, but I'm regreating this attitude because I really enjoyed "Tada Nakitakunaruno". We can really tell she got better in the vocal department with time (her falsettos were very beautiful in this one).
As for Masaki Iwamoto, I checked J-Wiki and discovered he worked on some nice Hayashibara songs. I'll probably review a couple of the songs he arranged in the future.
And thanks to your article I'll pay attention to Nakayama's 90s songs a bit more.
Hi, Marcos.
DeleteYeah, I think as she went further into the 90s, she was getting more into the ballads. There are a couple of other 90s CDs that I myself have neglected over the years that I'm gonna to take another listen to since they also have a number of those slow love songs.