Well, I was gonna just finish it off with my usual Friday four songs tonight, but it's been a while since I put up a Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）, and I figure that since we're in the Xmas season now, I did find something seasonal regarding him.
Now, Saijo's rendition of the classic "The Christmas Song" isn't the first time on the blog that I've featured the Robert Wells and Mel Tormé creation on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）has had her cover version from her 1992 "Quiet Life" album up here since 2012, and her take is somewhat of the more old-school version that was done by folks such as Nat King Cole.
Saijo's cover came out on his "Strangers in the Night" LP from November 1986, and from that title, it is indeed an album of covers of the old Western pop standards, and since I'm a big fan of Frank Sinatra's version of "Strangers in the Night", I'd be interested in hearing the title track as well. But as for "The Christmas Song", it's a modern 80s version that has me reminded of Yutaka Yokokura's（横倉裕）cover of "This Christmas". The arrangement was handled by Yuzo Hayashi（林有三）and may I say that Saijo can also handle the English quite well here, too.
Can't remember if I've posted this before, but more Christmassy stuff from Hideki Saijo, with Hiromi Iwasaki and Goro Noguchi from 1982.
ReplyDeleteRudolf the Red Nosed Reindeer
https://www.bilibili.com/s/video/BV1QJ411C7VJ
Hi, Jim. Thanks for the link. Not sure myself whether you posted this up before but I recall seeing the three of them perform together for some song.
DeleteI looked up "Strangers in the Night" to see if it would be something I'd want to pick up. The first copy of the LP was a lot more than I'd want to spend. Then I saw the CD was even more. I'll have to pass for now.
ReplyDeleteHi, Scott. I kinda figured that anything by Saijo would be pretty steep right now. I wouldn't mind just getting one of his BEST compilations someday, though.
DeleteIt has been announced that all 50 of his major albums will be reissued on CD. The digitally remastered versions, probably in 2022 (or 2023), will cost around US$30.I bought the LP, but even in Japan it is very expensive .
DeleteHello, goldenearrigs! I figure that for someone of the stature of Saijo, even the in-Japan release will probably be pricey. I haven't lived in the country for almost a decade but I think that first-issue discs are usually priced at 3000 JPY at least as some sort of industry rule.
DeleteAllan san,
ReplyDeleteAutumn leaves are passing the peak earlier than usual here in Japan, and it suddenly became cold from this weekend. It's not as cold as Canada, but thank you for picking up Hideki's Christmas song at the right time to feel the arrival of winter.
I also got to know the cover version of Mariya Takeuchi(竹内まりや). It's beautiful. In my living room, three versions, including Sinatra, will be heavy rotated.
Hideki's self-produced album "Strangers in the Night" topped sales for 47 consecutive weeks on the Hong Kong album chart in 1986. It was an unprecedented record.
In Hong Kong, he was accepted as a talented singer, not as an idol for young girls. And the style of listening to Western standard pop songs in English sung by fashionable Asian singers in Tokyo style with an arrangement in the 80's style may have been eagerly awaited in Asian cities at that time.
On the other hand, surprisingly, it didn't seem to sell at all in Japan.
In Hong Kong, Leung Pak-To's agent made the promotion a huge success, but in Japan there was no one like him. Hideki ran his own agency independently in 1983, but his small privately owned office was too powerless for distribution in the Japanese music industry.
Not many Hideki fans have this album. Today, it is still rare and expensive on the second hand market.
There is another interesting thing.
Yuzo Hayashi is the rhythm programming, synth and arrange throughout this album, but Keiichi Goto(後藤慶一) is in charge of the synth programming. There isn't much information about Goto-san on the net, but he is one of Isao Tomita(冨田勲)’s disciples. (The other known disciple of Isao Tomita is Hideki Matsutake(松武秀樹), known as the fourth member of YMO.)
I would like to find out how Hideki decided to ask him.
By the way, I'm glad that you gave us an unexpected evaluation of Hideki's English. In fact, an old American fan said that it's a shame that his singing is perfect but his pronunciation is terrible. Sure, his pronunciation may have been terrible until his early twenties. Hideki probably learned the basics of English grammar from a non-speaking English teacher in a rural junior high school, rarely attended high school, received little decent English education, and was given time to learn after his debut. I wouldn't have.
In an extreme analogy, in the French version of LOLA(1974), he sang French, which he had never spoken before, in just four days of lessons. It must have been similar for his English songs.
And have you seen this?
In 1986, Hideki sings The Shadow of Your Smile (original by Johnny Mandel, 1965) with orchestral accompaniment.
He should have released an album in this standard style, not just modern 80's style arrangements.
>https://youtu.be/-0hBBORQ2ZE
Anyway, I'm also looking forward to reading your column about more works from this album, including the title song.
Hello again and thanks for reading the article. As I type this, Toronto and the surrounding area have just received the first major snowfall of the season so it's definitely looking more like Xmas out there.
ReplyDeleteThat's an interesting point about how Hideki was perceived in the 1980s by different nations. Anzen Chitai at the time was huge in Hong Kong and Japan (and perhaps elsewhere) but it seems as if while Hideki was getting the lion's share of fame and attention in Asia, he was perhaps seen as a faded star of the 1970s in his native Japan. It's too bad since I think at the same time, his "brothers" in the Shin-Gosanke, Hiromi Go and Goro Noguchi, were probably also experiencing the same thing. However on the other hand, all three of them were able to do things artistically that they probably wouldn't have been able to do if they were still tied to the Oricon Top 10.
Yeah, Hideki's English in "The Christmas Song" wasn't too bad at all. Perhaps it was a song that he had heard a number of times growing up. However, I do remember when podcaster Rocket Brown and I did an episode covering his album "Twilight Made...Hideki". His rap English in "Olive Wednesday" wasn't exactly up to par unfortunately.
I have some nice expectations of his version of "The Shadow of Your Smile". For some reason, I think that song is definitely up his alley.