A couple of hours ago, I wrote up a Shoko Nakagawa（中川翔子）article so I decided that it was time to also write about her father, the late Katsuhiko Nakagawa（中川勝彦）who was also a singer and a TV personality along with being an actor, a musician and a seiyuu.
I don't know as much about Katsuhiko Nakagawa as I do his daughter but he was born in 1962 in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward and made his debut in 1980 halfway during time as a Keio University student. His J-Wiki biography indicates that he may have been one of the first visual-kei rock pioneers, and I consider Kenji Sawada（沢田研二）to have had some influence on that genre as well.
For Nakagawa's first article on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I found "Ryusenjou de" (On the Streamline) which is a track on his February 1984 debut album "Shitemitai"（してみたい...Wanna Give it a Try）. Written by poet, essayist and lyricist Natsuo Giniro（銀色夏生）and composed by Toshio Kamei（亀井登志夫）, "Ryusenjou de" seems to be about a song of longing for that lost love but when I hear that melody which includes an oboe, I can easily imagine Nakagawa sporting a very New Wave-y foppish outfit and attitude. There just seems to be an air of British pop from that period of time in the arrangement.
I have to admit that listening to Nakagawa's vocals took some getting used to. It is a very affected way of singing that I realize rather fits that somewhat foppish manner, and as such, has me thinking of Sawada during that same time. Dropping into analogy, I would compare it with entering a pretty hot onsen and having to gingerly enter the steaming waters before finally soaking and feeling at ease. Also with the arrangement and again with Nakagawa's singing, I also get some Ippu-Do vibes but without the synthesizers.
As his Wikipedia article states, Nakagawa released 10 singles and 9 albums including a posthumously released album in October 1995. He had passed away at the age of 32 on September 17, 1994 due to leukemia.
nice
ReplyDeleteThanks, I think so too.
Delete