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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, December 10, 2015

Junko Yagami -- Tasogare no Bay City （黄昏のBAY CITY）


I gotta say that the above picture of Junko Yagami（八神純子）is probably the best one of her that I've seen on an album cover (sorry about the flash). And it's just one of the reasons that I got her 7th album "Full Moon" from December 1983. I noticed from her J-Wiki record that she was quite the busy singer that year since she released two earlier albums in the same year, "Lonely Girl" in February and "I Wanna Make A Hit Witchoo" in July.


As I said, that is one fine picture of her on the cover (indeed...bow ties are cool). But another reason I got "Full Moon" was for her 18th single which also became a track here, "Tasogare no Bay City" (Sunset Bay City). The single came out in November just before the album and was written and composed by Yagami with arrangement by Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）. It's about as City Pop as you can get, and considering that I covered her early Latin and later R&B sides of her for the last couple of Yagami articles, it was time to get back to her 80s Japanese urban contemporary facet.

"Tasogare no Bay City" doesn't specify a particular Japanese city but I always think of Yokohama when this song comes on. It's got some of that funky Japanese bass and sparkly keyboard work while the lovely singer paints this strutting image of a young lady who probably got loved and left by the usual love 'em-and-leave 'em cad in the big city. But is she in any particular pain? Not by the way Yagami sings it. It's more of a happy shrug by the heroine and back to the boyhunt. I also got that image of a hundred stories in the city with "Tasogare no Bay City", and perhaps the heroine is thinking she's in one of those tales.


The above link is an extended remix version.

July 16 2021: The Mainichi Japan has an article interviewing Yagami on her thoughts on the City Pop revival.
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7 comments:

  1. genNovember 16, 2016 at 9:56 AM

    Been enjoying this track a lot. The bass player is on fire. Do you know who that musician is?

    I love the extended version too.

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    Replies
    1. J-CanuckNovember 16, 2016 at 11:07 AM

      Hi, gen.

      Yes, I'm sure a lot of those Future Funk fans have been discovering the power of Junko recently! :) According to the participating musicians for the originating album for "Tasogare no Bay City" (https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/FULL_MOON), I found two bassists who were taking part: Yasuo Tomikura (富倉安生) and Chiharu Mikuzuki (美久月千晴).

      Those bassists of the 80s really liked to thump it up!

      Delete
    2. genNovember 18, 2016 at 3:53 AM

      Thanks! I know now to check ja wikipedia.

      I'm still a little unclear on the Future Funk stuff but that's non-Japanese sampling 80s JPop for a new generation?

      Delete
  2. Gen KanaiNovember 18, 2016 at 6:45 AM

    Indeed...

    https://yungbaebae.bandcamp.com/track/bae-city-rollaz-w-v

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    Replies
    1. J-CanuckNovember 18, 2016 at 7:21 PM

      Yeah, it seems that a younger group of folks is discovering the wonders of City Pop. Apparently, guys such as Artzie Music on YouTube are splicing and looping excerpts of these old songs into new entities.

      Delete
  3. UnknownNovember 21, 2021 at 5:27 PM

    Always the first song I show to my friends when I want to introduce them to my favorite artist, and actually my gateway drug to city pop as a whole. That one part beginning with "SORA WA UMI WO DAKUMITAI NI" still gives me chills!

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    Replies
    1. J-CanuckNovember 22, 2021 at 1:05 PM

      Yeah, I figure that "Tasogare no Bay City" would be one of the go-to songs in City Pop to introduce to new listeners.

      Delete

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