Happy Friday, and for my fellow Torontonians and folks in Peel Region, let's all welcome ourselves to Stage 3 of recovery, although I think that we will all need to straddle that tightrope between enjoying our return of lost freedoms and keeping safe from COVID-19. On the other hand, I'm hoping that somehow Tokyo and the rest of Japan get a handle on another wave of the pandemic that has been washing ashore for the past several days.
On a happier note, I've encountered another YouTube video, this time by Kimi no Station: The Home of City Pop, on which a Japanese talk-variety show covers the international appeal of City Pop that has been grabbing the attention of Japanese media over the past several months. Seeing these fellows voraciously browsing and buying up genre albums and CDs in areas like Shibuya has me reminiscing about the old days when I engaged in my pastime of frequently hitting Tower Records, Tacto, Yamano Music and RecoFAN for any of the good ol' stuff. I probably won't be able to head back to Tokyo any time soon but hopefully, when I do hit my old home, I will be flipping through the discs and LPs once more.
The amusing thing about the above report is how while one of the City Pop browsers holding the Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）LP actually sounds quite calm and collected about his potential purchase, the fellow providing the Japanese voiceover translation comes across as if he were about to experience his first orgasm.😤
In any case, it is a Friday so let's provide the first City Pop song of the day. It's actually been over a couple of years since Nanako Sato（佐藤奈々子）has made her last appearance as a performer on the pages of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", so I'm more than happy to bring her back. This time around, we have "Koi no Ryuusei" from her 3rd album "Pillow Talk" released in October 1978.
Written and composed by Sato and with co-composing help by Motoharu Sano（佐野元春）, "Koi no Ryuusei" (Meteor of Love) is a smoothly-running song of the genre, perfect for that sunset or early evening drive on the main thoroughfares of Tokyo. Sato's kittenish vocals are very enticing over the driving rhythms and the snappy percussion. It's almost as if the singer is beckoning us listeners by curling her fingers inward through her voice. Of course, there has got to be the sax solo.
Now, the title "Koi no Ryuusei" is very similar to the title of another City Pop classic "Koi wa Ryuusei" (恋は流星...Shooting Star of Love） by Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）who had introduced it the year before, so if you're searching for either, keep an eye out for those Japanese grammatical particles.
Hello J-Canuck,
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing about this one. I remember your previous article on this artist and liked what I heard. However, unlike the last time you wrote about Nanako Sato (over 2 years ago) most of her albums are now on Youtube. Needless, to say the album that features this song is a delight unto itself. This is smooth, sunny, late afternoon music. It feels and sounds like a forgotten summers day somewhere back in the 1970s.
The upside is now that her first album (Funny Walking) is also fully available on YT, I am now finally able to hear it in its entirety.
Thanks!
Hi, Chasing Showa.
DeleteSo, most of her albums are up on YouTube, eh? I kinda wonder if this is a mellowing by JASRAC when it comes to the old stuff (I hope, I hope). I've noticed a lot of other artists having their albums put up in their entirety on the site as well. Let's hope that they stay up for a good long while.
Hello J-Canuck,
ReplyDeleteWell, at least the ones I wanted to hear are up there. I am currently listening to her Kissing Fish LP. I am hearing more of the gentle goodness that is Nanako. The jazz tinged music along with the whispered whimsy of her voice has got me right now.
As far as the JASRAC not cracking down on the recent upsurge of the old songs to Youtube, I really can't say. Maybe it would take another "Plastic Love" Event to get them to pull everything down again. Or maybe they aren't concerned about it right now?
The one thing I did notice is that I'm seeing some concert footage of Minako Yoshida returning to YT as well. I remember in the late twenty aughts and early 2010s her stuff was all over the site until the crackdown. It's slowly coming back. I'm seeing these clips with watermarks from various other sites like Youkou etc. I guess people moved the footage to other platforms until the coast was clear.
Thanks.
Hey, Chasing Showa.
DeleteYep, it seems as if JASRAC likes to work in intriguing ways. But perhaps I'm putting too much onus on that organization. Maybe it's the artists themselves that allow some leash and then when it's time, they jerk back on it suddenly.
Seeing concert footage of Yoshida on YouTube is a surprise. I've been reading that the singer has been merciless when it comes to stamping out any sign of her works ending up on the site.
The observation I've had regarding YouTube and kayo recordings is that some artists have taken a "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em" attitude. They've simply created their own YouTube channels and put their songs there. Kahoru Kohiruimaki is one example.