Received some words from commenter Ryan Miller the other day concerning Miyuki Kosaka's（香坂みゆき）"Nuance Shimasho"（ニュアンスしましょ）in which he mentioned about a compilation album under the title of "Yellow Magic Kayo Kyoku"（イエロー・マジック・歌謡曲）. The album is chock-filled with popular and obscure techno kayo from the 70s and 80s so I think I might be getting that sometime. But in my little search for that disc, I also stumbled across another similar compilation titled "Techno Kayo - Ultimate Collection 1" at the Tower Records site.
When I took a gander at the playlist inside, I came across a track whose title I was already familiar with. But the singer wasn't. Chika Takami（高見知佳）was an aidoru who debuted back in 1978 but didn't really make much of a dent on the charts until several years into her career (she also did a lot of acting on TV) when she came out with her 15th single, "Kuchibiru Nude" (Lips Nude) in February 1984.
Written and composed by EPO, the song became Takami's most successful single, getting as high as No. 16 on the charts. It's got that hook-happy beat that EPO can concoct in her sleep with the cute technopop, some Chinese flavouring and even some naughty French phrasing that I think came out in some disco song a few years earlier. The main reason that it got made was for a Shiseido lipstick commercial, so of course it's gotta be catchy.
Actually, the first time I heard the song was when I bought EPO-chan's "The Best Station JOEPO 1980-1984", and she did her own cover. The arrangement is basically the same but with that vocal brassiness that I've always known about the singer. Her cover originally came out as a track on her 6th album from February 1984 "Hi-Touch, Hi-Tech".
I'm flattered my comment sent you on a little journey to find more great music! I love these kinds of collection discs because you can discover many talents from the same era. I had heard this track before but did not know it was a cover. Both renditions are great!
ReplyDeleteHey, Ryan.
DeleteI appreciate any lead that can find me some interesting music from kayo kyoku/J-Pop. And from folks like you and the other collaborators, I've been able to find and purchase some former hidden treasures.
In fact, since CD Japan has been getting on my back to use 600 points before they expire on June 13th, I'll probably use them to get the techno kayo album and one more disc.
The French Phrasing is similar to Labelle's Disco song, Lady Marmalade. It goes "voulez-vous coucher avec moi".
ReplyDeleteYup, it's a phrase that I used to hear back in the 80s a fair bit because of those songs.
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