J-Canuck's Choices for 1980s City Pop/J-AOR Albums

Now that 2018 is on its way out, perhaps I can provide one more article under Author's Picks before 2019 comes into being. The above is a couple of issues of "Record Collectors" that my friend and fellow collaborator on the blog, JTM, was kind enough to send me for reading during Xmas, and for those who can read katakana, you can see from the cover that the main article was a history of City Pop split over two issues and two decades. Of course, there are some interviews and a good amount of listings of the various albums of the genre, although not quite as voluminous as the one in the book "Japanese City Pop".

The above is one reason for me to start up this article, and the other reason is that someone had once commented to me some months ago about whether I would put up an article about my favourite City Pop albums. In all honesty, I had balked on the topic at first since: 1) I already wrote an article on my favourite City Pop songs back in August 2016, 2) I found it difficult to come up with a list that I would be satisfied with since I figured that no matter what, I would probably end up leaving something out that I really liked, and 3) I've given the albums their own articles.

But then, I caught a few videos on YouTube not related to Japanese pop music at all. And all of them, including the above video from Cocktail Chemistry starring Nick going into how to stock one's first bar, talked about beginnings. So with some inspiration from them, I decided that perhaps I can at least suggest a few City Pop albums that can be purchased to start off their collection. I figure that with some of these artists, the albums here are simply representative of some of their other similarly themed releases, so that fans who like this stuff can branch out with other albums.

I won't go into any long commentary since I've already provided my insights in the individual articles, and they're not ranked in any sort of order. Won't even mention my favourites here since what you like is what you decide upon when you listen to the tracks.

Takako Mamiya -- Love Trip (1982)

Takako Mamiya's（間宮貴子）"Love Trip" isn't just precious because it was the only album that the singer had ever recorded before completely disappearing from the pop culture radar ("Love Trip" is indeed mentioned in "Record Collectors" and it's still unknown about where she's gone), but also because the tracks and songwriters in there are good and polished. If you've decided to start your City Pop collection and a home bar as Nick talks about, make yourself a good cocktail while you're listening to this one. The title track itself had me searching for my old Gino Vannelli album.

Makoto Matsushita -- First Light (1981)

As I mentioned in that first article on Matsushita's（松下誠）masterful "First Light", if it weren't for the fact that most of the tracks are sung in Japanese, I would have placed the album solely in the American AOR genre. The guitarist and arranger also seems to have enjoyed trying on the bespoke melodic suits of various folks from the genre such as Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers. The only thing I regret here is that I couldn't get a copy of the album with the original cover.

Fujimal Yoshino -- Yoshino Fujimal (1982)

Yes, I love the "Miami Vice" buzz with Yoshino（吉野藤丸）here. Also love the tracks in there along with Yoshino's singing, too. "Yoshino Fujimal" could be your soundtrack on the car stereo even if you're bombing down the highway outside of Tokyo. As such, any time any of the tracks end up on Van Paugam's City Pop radio on YouTube, I stick around and listen as the video travels on the highways and byways of Japan...night or day.

Tohoku Shinkansen -- Thru Traffic (1982)

This was a true revelation as "Thru Traffic" hadn't shown up in "Japanese City Pop", and I only found out about it purely by happenstance on YouTube one day. The pairing of Etsuko Yamakawa and Hiroshi Narumi（山川恵津子・鳴海寛）, two people that I had only known up to that point as behind-the-scenes songwriters and musicians, was just magic on this one-off album. I realize that even those people had to be pretty proficient as singers as well, but I hadn't been aware that Yamakawa and Narumi were that good behind the mike. With the various songs reminding me of works by the aforementioned Vannelli, Steely Dan, Manhattan Transfer, and Quincy Jones for "The Dude", I am hoping that "Thru Traffic" and Tohoku Shinkansen（東北新幹線）have gotten new love by a new cadre of fans.

Mariya Takeuchi -- Miss M (1980)

Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"Variety" album from 1984 has the famous "Plastic Love", to be sure, and it has also been listed in both "Japanese City Pop" and the second half of the "Record Collectors" article, but when it comes to one of her releases that truly has that City Pop/AOR beat, I go for the earlier "Miss M". In an earlier article, I had mentioned about my brother remarking about the David Foster-y feeling from some of the 80s Japanese pop music. Well, I introduced him to "Morning Glory" from this release, and told him for that the first half of the album (including this song), the actual Foster along with members of TOTO and Chicago helped in the recording of this album. Even for a singer who basically adored a lot of that American pop in the early years of her career, "Miss M" stands out.

Tatsuro Yamashita -- For You (1982)

For folks discovering City Pop and Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）, this is "For You" (ha, ha). This is chock-filled with some of those hits that have made this fellow a virtual god for the fans of the genre. Love his soaring voice? Love some tight horns? Love that bass? Love that feeling of summer? Yup, you can do with this one on your shelf. Plus, considering the time that I'm writing this, a little bit of the hot season would be nice right now, and after all, "For You" was released in January 1982.

Hiroshi Sato feat. Wendy Matthews -- Awakening (1982)

I have got to get more of Hiroshi Sato's（佐藤博）works since so far it's still just "Awakening" that I own, but dang, it's a good start to his file. More on the mellow AOR side than the oft-hustling City Pop, I kinda feel like I'm listening to this while on the shaded balcony in a luxury seaside apartment rather than on the beach or in the passenger side of a convertible that perhaps Tats' "For You" would position me. And like Yamashita, Sato also has that rather distinctive voice.

EPO -- Goodies (1982)

As with Tatsuro Yamashita, it was difficult to whittle down to a lone recommended EPO album for this list since the singer-songwriter has been so associated and so good with City Pop/AOR for a lot of her early releases in particular. But I've decided to go with "Goodies", and as with Tohoku Shinkansen, this 1982 effort has EPO tripping the light fantastic through a number of musical styles. No matter the track, though, she remains a most vivacious host for this party of an album.

Akira Terao -- Reflections (1981)

I may have already mentioned this in a more recent Akira Terao（寺尾聡）article, but if not, I have to say that now that I have listened to a lot of City Pop/J-AOR over the past several years, I consider his hit album "Reflections" as being perhaps the most Japanese-sounding City Pop album. OK, that sounds rather weird since City Pop is a Japanese music genre, but with some other singers and their works in these two genres, I can hear the influence from Western acts such as the Doobie Brothers and Steely Dan, but overall with "Reflections", my feeling is that I'm most definitely in Tokyo when I listen to it. I think it even straddles the border between Mood Kayo and City Pop, with the setting being in some sort of drinking establishment.

Light Mellow series (mid-2010s)

If there is one album that I can definitely recommend for newbies to the genre, it would be anything from the "Light Mellow" series. Several of these have come out over a couple of years with names such as "Breeze" and "Highway" and "City", but what they all have in common is that they include various singers and songs of the City Pop/J-AOR persuasion from the 1970s into the 2000s. There is an interesting mix of famous and obscure tunes on each disc, and some of them have tracks that are getting their appearance on CD for the very first time.

Well, I've tried to keep things to ten entries here. Obviously, there are many more worthy candidates out there but among the ones that I do have, the above is a good place to start and they have been my go-to albums. Now, the 1980s part is something that I added pretty late to my title since I realized that all of these albums are from that decade. I will see if I can come up with a 1970s version of this later in the new year, but I really ought to be collecting more City Pop albums from that decade before I come up with anything this big.

I may have run off a bit at the mouth with my descriptions but think of this article as a hub linked to the source articles, if you haven't seen them. In any case, if you are indeed coming to City Pop/J-AOR for the first time, I hope that getting at least a few of these albums will give you hours of listening pleasure. And of course, if you have some of your own suggestions, please let me know. I may have them or I may not...and if I don't, I will be sharpening up my credit cards in 2019!😁

P.S. You can also take a gander at this article on City Pop suggestions.