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.
Thursday, May 19, 2016
Shizuka Kudo -- Metamorphose (メタモルフォーゼ)
The only thing I remember about the J-comedy "Nandara Mandara"（なんだらまんだら）starring the late Mitsuko Mori（森光子）and Shizuka Kudo（工藤静香）was the Monty Python-esque opening credits and some of the bloopers that got shown on a variety special almost 25 years ago. Apparently the comedy was another hour of goofy romance involving a securities employee determined to woo a young lady played by Kudo who lives with her mother in an old building that she owns on a back street of Ginza.
Then I came across the ending theme sung by Kudo, "Metamorphose", and I went "Where have you been all my life?" Not that I think it's quite on the same level as some of her past hits from the late 80s but still it's got quite the nice tempo and arrangement. And it sounds quite different from those earlier successes although Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）was the one behind the melody; he was also the composer behind "Mugon Iroppoi"（ＭＵＧＯ・ん 色っぽい）. I would say that the song has that mix of the oomph energy from songs like "Mugon Iroppoi" without the heavy artillery of electric guitars and synths and some more of that urban contemporary feeling that fills a Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）tune.
"Metamorphose" is Kudo's 14th single from October 1991. And along with Goto's melody, another veteran in the form of Goro Matsui（松井五郎）took care of the lyrics. It made it up to No. 2 on the singles charts and quickly became the 50th-ranked single of the year. She also performed the song during her 4th appearance on the 1991 Kohaku Utagassen. "Metamorphose" was first placed in an album on her 4th BEST compilation"intimate" which came out in December that year. It peaked at No. 4.
I was watching Shizuka's 1992 concert tour DVD a couple of weeks ago and "Metamorphose" was one of the show's highlights. I've always liked it, even though I agree with you it's not as great as her 80s stuff. That said, it was a strong single... especially because she was releasing a lot of ballads as singles in 1990 and 1991.
One other interesting thing is how she was maturing as a woman at the time. While in the 80s she was not very attractive (at least not to me), during "Metamorphose's" phase she was a gorgeous young woman. The song's urban and kinda sexy feel also helped a lot too.
Hi, J-Canuck.
ReplyDeleteI was watching Shizuka's 1992 concert tour DVD a couple of weeks ago and "Metamorphose" was one of the show's highlights. I've always liked it, even though I agree with you it's not as great as her 80s stuff. That said, it was a strong single... especially because she was releasing a lot of ballads as singles in 1990 and 1991.
One other interesting thing is how she was maturing as a woman at the time. While in the 80s she was not very attractive (at least not to me), during "Metamorphose's"
phase she was a gorgeous young woman. The song's urban and kinda sexy feel also helped a lot too.