Kazuhiro Nishimatsu -- Bouekifu Monogatari（貿易風物語） (Follow-up)

When I first wrote up the article on the 2nd magical and mystical album by Kazuhiro Nishimatsu（西松一博）, his 1985 "Bouekifu Monogatari" (Trade Wind Story) back on the 1st of September 2018, I actually jumped the gun. I had yet to buy the album but I was so intrigued and entranced by this melding of 1920s jazz crooning and the spacy backdrop of technopop through the YouTube videos that I just had to put font onto screen (as opposed to pen onto paper). I can picture a cabaret in Berlin but at the same time, I can imagine a relatively more high-class drinking establishment in either Mos Eisley or Mos Espa on Tatooine.

I made a very brief note about the distinctive cover design in the first article. Unfortunately, the liner notes were not too helpful in terms about the actual production of "Bouekifu Monogatari" and that includes the cover, which I'm sure was influenced by the type of music on the album. I could find out that the artist was someone by the name of IKKO. Although the images are now rather hazy, I've probably seen similar paintings on the sides of walls when I was young, and in fact, my local favourite Chinese restaurant in Ichikawa had something of a similar design emblazoned on one side of the building itself, but instead of a beautiful couple as you can see above, it was a picture of Mao Zedong.

In any case, I finally did get "Bouekifu Monogatari"...last Xmas. So, I felt that I ought to do a proper album article on it now although I'm still categorizing it as a Follow-Up.

Matt K., who first cottoned me onto Nishimatsu and this particular album, made reference to "Kibun wa Hollywood" (気分はハリウッド...Hollywood Feeling) up above as being "...flashy and glamourous..." and sounding "...like 70s disco mixed with a Broadway show tune". I'm not sure if I can agree with his other assessment of it being considered a City Pop tune since it still has so much of that old-fashioned cabaret spirit, but I can agree wholeheartedly with his quotes. Indeed, it possesses all of that flash and glam of Hollywood of nearly a century ago and it has that essence of Busby Berkeley. I was even pretending to swing around a walking cane like one of those dancing fellows in their tuxes on the stage as I was listening to this.

While Nishimatsu took care of the fast music and arrangement along with Tadashi Namba（難波正司）, Kazuoki Ohno（大野一興）provided the lyrics of what seems to be a whirlwind date. Interestingly enough, I did find a Facebook account of someone with the same kanji and the other name of Ikko, so I'm wondering if the lyricist was the same fellow behind the cover design.

"Zansho" (残照...Afterglow) sounds like a 'til-we-meet-again sort of ballad done in that "Bouekifu Monogatari" style. Perhaps it's a lullaby or maybe it's a melancholy departure song before one of the lovers heads off for the front (that "Bolero" march-like rat-a-tat-tat of the drum is fairly telling), but even for a track from this album, it stands out since at a couple of points, the arrangement takes on a certain contemporary sensation. This time, Ren Takayanagi（高柳恋）provided the lyrics.

The only other song that I could find was "Shichi-gatsu no Tristesse" (7月のトリィステス...July Sadness), another collaboration between Nishimatsu and lyricist Takayanagi. The one other label that has been placed by other people onto "Bouekifu Monogatari" along with the ones that I've put up in Labels such as jazz, pop and techno has been Art Pop. It's a pity that I couldn't find out who the musicians were behind this track especially, since I would love to shake their hands for what sounds like a really Art Pop track here. Matt K. also mentioned it in his comments underneath this YouTube video, but the bassist and percussionist must have loved the jamming session to go alongside this foxtrot of a waltz, and there's even a hint of Latin spice thrown in to boot. Once again, Nishimatsu's vocals can take listeners right into the stratosphere.

"Bouekifu Monogatari" was definitely a most unusual and appealing island recording in the middle of the ocean of 1980s aidoru, rock bands and City Pop musicians. Considering that Nishimatsu provided his first album, "Good Times" as a member of that last group, I think that it took a certain amount of moxie and dreaming to get a band together and record something this eclectic and beautiful. On that point, maybe I can state that "Bouekifu Monogatari" is the Uma Thurman of Japanese pop albums.😁

I will finish up with a small piece of information from "Japanese City Pop" in which "Bouekifu Monogatari" is included (although I can't personally say that it's a City Pop album). In the reviewer's description of the album, "A Night of Blue Roses", which is the first song following the introductory flourish which I've already written about in the first article, was played on Tatsuro Yamashita's（山下達郎）FM radio show, and the reviewer back then, who had listened to the show and song, ended up not walking but running to the record store the next day to pick up his own copy of the album.