Let's see...at the beginning of the 1980s, there were at least a few female singers who embraced their technopop, and each with their own styles. I saw Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）taking a New Wave direction and then there was Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）who injected her form of French-ness into the proceedings. Most recently, I found about singer-songwriter Mioko Yamaguchi（山口美央子）who took a somewhat more ethereal and fantastical Japanese approach.
Back in February 2018, I wrote my article on Yamaguchi's November 1980 debut album "Yume Hiko" (Dream Flight) and though I gave my thoughts on a few of the tracks, I neglected to cover the title track itself. Well, I gave myself a Gibbs slap and I'm getting on with redemption.
The title track "Yume Hiko" was actually Yamaguchi's debut single and not "Arabian Rhapsody"（アラビアン・ラプソディー）as I had erroneously written in the original article (another Gibbs slap and since corrected). Writing, composing and arranging it, the technopop is indeed real but as I mentioned above, there is also that feeling of venturing back into the Edo era a few hundred years ago. The first 50 seconds sound like an uncertain walk in a fogbound bamboo wood trying to find a village, and then when the synths roar in, the village is indeed found as a fascinating bustle of merchants and craftsmen going about their everyday business while the visitors stare with a mix of elation and surprise. Yes, I realize...a tad florid in my description.
Now, one of the other reasons that I decided to put up "Yume Hiko" the song today was that I also wanted to feature its self-cover by Yamaguchi in her most recent album "FLOMA" which had been released earlier this summer. Her 5th album consists of cover versions of songs from her first three albums in the 1980s and bonus tracks which are covers of other singers' tunes.
The new version of "Yume Hiko" sounds even more ethereal and ominous but noble as if the original was the main theme song for a movie and the new take was created during a scene of crisis before the ultimate resolution for the heroes. It'll be interesting to try out some of the other tracks on "FLOMA".
Hi J-Canuck, have you ever listened to Mioko's "Tokyo Lover"? It looks like it's from this particular album and for me it's definitely more city poppy in nature than "Yume Hiko" but still in that realm of techno kayo (I heard it in a Van Paugam mix). It's weird, I haven't listened to the whole album and I'm not sure if the entire thing's even on YouTube but for some reason I'm getting "Trade Wind Story" vibes from comparing these two tracks. That album was also a rather ethereal and eclectic blend of genres, and Kazuhiro Nishimatsu's equally as obscure a persona—perhaps more so.
ReplyDeleteMatt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG0lf1vQCyo
Good morning, Matt.
DeleteActually I have "Yume Hiko" the album and have written about it (https://kayokyokuplus.blogspot.com/2018/02/mioko-yamaguchi-yume-hiko.html). The "Tokyo Lover" that I imported into that article seems to be the single version which is closer to City Pop. The album version, whose link you gave me, has that more synthpop feeling to it.
I was actually given the heads-up by Toshi from LOGIC STORE which sells Yamaguchi's albums a few weeks ago that there was a purge of her videos from YouTube. At this point, most of her videos are now on her official YouTube channel.