Dang, Japanese funk indeed. I think the concert version above is even better than the original recording with those disco flutes added in there. I'm talking about "After 5 Crash", the semi-title track from Toshiki Kadomatsu's（角松敏生）4th album, "After 5 Clash" from April 1984 (I'm sure the conscientious students of English/Kadomatsu fans tried to improve their pronunciation of their r's and l's). I have always been drawn to the album because of that cool record cover that I first saw in "Japanese City Pop": a red woman's pump with the "bright lights, big city" background. Should include that in my next purchase of CDs. No wonder Anri（杏里）wanted to work with him.
Kadomatsu took care of music and lyrics of all of the tracks, but I've only gotten a taste of "After 5 Crash", a bass-thumpy tune with some fine instrumental solos about getting into the metropolitan night action once the sun sets, and it sets pretty quickly in Tokyo...no Daylight Savings Time in the country. And according to the brief J-Wiki article on "After 5 Clash", the album's theme was on "night and the city". Tokyo must have been some swinging city back in the 80s. I was still impressed getting there after the Bubble burst.
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| Shibuya...definitely after 5. |
Hi. Can you tell me which City Pop acts sold more albums apart from Yamashita and Ohtaki? It seems to me that excepting these two, City Pop was not so successful as it seems, am I wrong?
ReplyDeleteHello there.
DeleteYep, I would have to agree that City Pop was probably not a huge cash cow. It was quite the huge hidden niche for me, though, since when I bought the guide "Japanese City Pop", I came across all these singers that I had never heard of before...and at that point, I was a Japanese pop music fan for a little under 30 years. I was quite glad to find some new territory to explore.
Off the top of my head, I think the most successful City Pop album was "Reflections" by Akira Terao from 1981. (http://kayokyokuplus.blogspot.ca/2012/03/akira-terao-reflections.html)
Yes I know "Reflections", I like it.
ReplyDeleteCan you recommendo other successful albums in the City Pop style? A little list maybe?
(I'm not talking about quality, I'm just trying to understand which albums were popular)
Well, none of these albums cracked the Top 10 for their years but I've seen them listed in "Japanese City Pop" and they did range from No. 14 to No. 38 on the annual charts so they did pretty well.
DeleteMachiko Watanabe "Umi ni Tsurettete" 1978 No. 14
Hi-Fi Set "Hi-Fi Blend" 1978 No. 23
Junko Yagami "Sugao no Watashi" 1979 No. 17
Mariya Takeuchi "University Street" 1979 No. 32
Takao Kisugi "Best Collection" 1982 No. 35
Motoharu Sano "Someday" 1982 No. 38
Junichi Inagaki "J.I." 1982 No. 19
EPO "Vitamin EPO" 1982 No. 34
One album that didn't get up into the rankings but IS one album that Kadomatsu wholeheartedly recommended as one of the quintessential City Pop albums is Hiroshi Sato's "Awakening" from 1982.
By chance, are you just getting into the genre yourself or have you already collected a few City Pop albums?
Made an error with that first album on the list concerning Watanabe. I mistook it for a Hiromi Ohta album that was more in the J-AOR/City Pop range but didn't place in the annual rankings.
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