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, May 5, 2020
Tomoko Aran -- Ushirometai Yoru（うしろめたい夜）
Nope, this particular song isn't from Tomoko Aran's（亜蘭知子）"More Relax" album.
Actually, "Ushirometai Yoru"(Guilty Night) is from Aran's debut album"Shikisai Kankaku"（色彩感覚...Sense of Colour）which came out in July 1982. Not really sure if this is more of a pop song than a City Pop number but I think that there is enough of a bass-heavy groove in there and considering Aran has been so associated with the genre, I think it deserves at least honorary status.
Written by the singer and composed by Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）, the points that stand out for me is some of that spacy synthesizer floating over the melody, and also the fact that part of it reminds me of Olivia Newton-John's1981 hit song "Physical". Had a friend of mine from high school who was absolutely enamored with Olivia that he brought over the LP and played it over and over again on our family RCA Victor. I like her songs and all, but past the second time, it was starting to get on my nerves. I do have to admit that the video is so 80s!
In any case, any guilty night for me will involve one too many trips to the Pringles canister.
I love Tomoko Aran! I forget if I first heard her because of your blog, or if she just popped up on YouTube, but I've been listening to a ton of her music the last couple months. Songs from "Fuyu Kukan" and "More Relax" tend to pop up on YouTube more than the rest of her albums so I've only heard this once or twice before now.
Yeah, I've also noticed that "Fuyu Kukan" and "More Relax" have been getting the lion's share of exposure on YouTube (not that I'm complaining). But it's nice to get to hear some of the other stuff as well. I just noticed the title track from her debut album "Shinkei Suijaku" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATvcQTZFnXI) so I'll have to take a look that one soon enough. It's very New Wave!
I love Tomoko Aran! I forget if I first heard her because of your blog, or if she just popped up on YouTube, but I've been listening to a ton of her music the last couple months. Songs from "Fuyu Kukan" and "More Relax" tend to pop up on YouTube more than the rest of her albums so I've only heard this once or twice before now.
ReplyDeleteHi, Scott.
DeleteYeah, I've also noticed that "Fuyu Kukan" and "More Relax" have been getting the lion's share of exposure on YouTube (not that I'm complaining). But it's nice to get to hear some of the other stuff as well. I just noticed the title track from her debut album "Shinkei Suijaku" (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ATvcQTZFnXI) so I'll have to take a look that one soon enough. It's very New Wave!