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.
Credits
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.
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Aru Takamura -- I'm In Love
Another discovery on YouTube the other night, I had never heard of Aru Takamura（高村亜留）but I really like this track, "I'm In Love" from her debut album"Aru First" which was released in May 1985. I guess she belonged to the underwater nine-tenths of the iceberg. It's short but sweet (although with that very abrupt ending, I wonder if there was actually more to the song), and it has that funk n' horns which I always enjoyed in a good R&B tune of the day although sometimes they threatened to cover up her slightly whispery voice. The lyrics were written by Yuuho Iwasato（岩里祐穂）and the strutting music was by Masao Nakajima（中島正雄）.
The late Takamura was born in 1961 and when she was 16 years old, she declared to her mother that she would become a singer and soon entered a rock band. They covered all of the Aerosmith and KISS hits but then started exploring soul music. Finally, Takamura would come out with her first album in 1985 followed by her second, and last, album a year later. Unfortunately in August 2014, she passed away from cervical cancer.
I was gonna say, Aru's voice on the 2nd album is deeper than the grand canyons, nothing whimpery about it. Though the 2nd album basically levels up the first to make a hard 80s City R&B Funk or whatever you wanna call it.
You can listen to Ta Ta Ya My Love *Aru 2nd* on the youtubes thankfully. Interesting how she is in fact so underground, don't know if the label has any care about the full album being on the internet. Whereas I see Meiko getting pulled off youtube daily
Thanks for the comments, and I see that J-Pop Fantasia2 put up the album a couple of days ago. I have taken a listen to that muscular cover of Tomoko Aran's "I'm In Love" and the title track and am definitely interested.
As for songs getting pulled down, it seems like anything by current Johnny's boy groups get taken down like lightning while other more obscure tunes have been on YouTube for about a decade. I'm just surprised that video of Mariya Takeuchi's "Plastic Love" hasn't been taken down since I think her albums are still quite popular.
I was trawling Youtube again and another “recommendation” came up. The below remix of an old Aru Takamura song called “Dance, Dance”
https://youtu.be/XDaQSXsF8No
It’s been a major ear worm since I discovered it late last year. But, I didn’t look for the original song until recently.
I found the original song and was kind of let down. Usually I prefer the original due to nostalgia and the bias that first song is best song. However, Moe Shop (with Android52) absolutely killed it. That being said, I decided to come over here to see if you have anything on the original artist and…well here we are!
You do have two articles on this artist but will you do a review specifically on this song?
Good to hear from you. I had been thinking about checking out more of Ms. Takamura once more so glad that you let me know.
I listened to the Moe Shop version and the original, "Koi no Yaritori", and I have to admit that I actually like the original version because it's more mid-tempo and I'm such a sucker for a good horn section.
Hopefully, by the time you read this, I will already have the article up and running.:)
Please, make a review of her second album 'Ta Ta My Love~ARU 2nd~'!!!
ReplyDeleteHi there.
DeleteI wish I could but I don't have any of her albums and I'm not sure if any of her songs from "Ta Ta My Love" are on YouTube.
I was gonna say, Aru's voice on the 2nd album is deeper than the grand canyons, nothing whimpery about it. Though the 2nd album basically levels up the first to make a hard 80s City R&B Funk or whatever you wanna call it.
ReplyDeleteYou can listen to Ta Ta Ya My Love *Aru 2nd* on the youtubes thankfully. Interesting how she is in fact so underground, don't know if the label has any care about the full album being on the internet. Whereas I see Meiko getting pulled off youtube daily
Hi, RideZeLitenin.
DeleteThanks for the comments, and I see that J-Pop Fantasia2 put up the album a couple of days ago. I have taken a listen to that muscular cover of Tomoko Aran's "I'm In Love" and the title track and am definitely interested.
As for songs getting pulled down, it seems like anything by current Johnny's boy groups get taken down like lightning while other more obscure tunes have been on YouTube for about a decade. I'm just surprised that video of Mariya Takeuchi's "Plastic Love" hasn't been taken down since I think her albums are still quite popular.
Hello J-Canuck,
ReplyDeleteI was trawling Youtube again and another “recommendation” came up. The below remix of an old Aru Takamura song called “Dance, Dance”
https://youtu.be/XDaQSXsF8No
It’s been a major ear worm since I discovered it late last year. But, I didn’t look for the original song until recently.
I found the original song and was kind of let down. Usually I prefer the original due to nostalgia and the bias that first song is best song. However, Moe Shop (with Android52) absolutely killed it. That being said, I decided to come over here to see if you have anything on the original artist and…well here we are!
You do have two articles on this artist but will you do a review specifically on this song?
Inquiring minds want to know…
Thanks!
Hi, Chasing Showa!
DeleteGood to hear from you. I had been thinking about checking out more of Ms. Takamura once more so glad that you let me know.
I listened to the Moe Shop version and the original, "Koi no Yaritori", and I have to admit that I actually like the original version because it's more mid-tempo and I'm such a sucker for a good horn section.
Hopefully, by the time you read this, I will already have the article up and running.:)