The Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）tribute continues tonight with a singer whose obscurity is pretty much on Takako Mamiya（間宮貴子）levels.
Yup, Yoko Ichikawa's（市川陽子）"Sayonara September" (Goodbye September) is on that compilation album of Hayashi's hits for other singers but other than that, I couldn't root out any other information online. However, several tracks from possibly her one and only 1993 album "All For You" are on YouTube for now along with one music video including "Sayonara September". At least for Mamiya, I was able to find out that she used to be an early member of City Pop trio PAO.
In any case, "Sayonara September" was composed by Hayashi although the lyricist is unknown (and I believe that Hayashi was only a composer and not a lyricist). Heck, none of Ichikawa's material is even listed on the JASRAC database which is rather unusual (searching for her on that 90s City Pop website didn't produce results either). Still, that doesn't negate the fact that the song is a bright-eyed and bushy-tailed City Pop tune of the early 1990s with that feeling of sophisticated pop accompanying the beautiful people through the flashier areas of Tokyo. Also, with the funky beat and the horns, I also get some Kahoru Kohiruimaki vibes（小比類巻かほる）.
Hello J-Canuck!
ReplyDeleteI have this album but I don't think she's still as obscure as some other singers.
Lyrics for this song are from Chinfa Kan (康 珍化) and arrangement from Tatsuya Nishiwaki (西脇 辰弥).
As for JASRAC, the trick is that all her songs are registered under 市川楊子 not 市川陽子, 市川楊子 being on her very last single (1995).
Yep, that's an oddity I sometimes find for some artists/groups. I know for sure some songs of BOW WOW registered under their name VOW WOW while they were out years before the name's change (1980, 4 years before they change name). Maybe when the JASRAC website has been set up, there was some confusion here and there...
Now about the artist herself.
Yoko Ichikawa was born November 4th 1971 in Aichi Prefecture. Blood type A.
She has 3 albums and a few singles:
Epic Sony Records:
- KO NO MA MA JA (CD album, 1990, ESCB-1089)
- Summer Flight (CD single, 1991, ESDB-3221, contains 2 tracks for upcoming 2nd album)
- Danceable Heart (CD album, 1991, ESCB-1168)
At that time, her name romanization is Yohco Ichikawa.
Apollon:
- STAY WITH YOU ~星のように~ (CD single, 1992, BCDA-0016, Gaia Gear opening & ending themes)
- 噴水 (CD single, 1993, APDA-90, B-track is not on upcoming album)
- All for you (CD album, 1993, APCA-97)
- 夜明けのエチュード (CD Single, 1995, APDM-5020, Maramalade Boy 3rd ending theme)
Also, Gaia Gear and Marmalade Boy songs appears on their respective soundtrack albums:
- Gaia Gear Original Soundtrack Vol.1 (1992, BCCM-17)
- Marmalade Boy Vol.6: The étude of dawn (1995, APCM-5063)
On her first Appolon single, her name romanization is Yohko Ichikawa then change to Yoko Ichikawa.
With a Gundam song under her belt, some might have thought she had secured a good position but it was really her commercial peak I think. She did not become big and slowly started fading away.
If you like digging into these obscure yet talented artists, I would advise you to browse GPzの日々 blog (http://gpz-days.cocolog-nifty.com/blog/cat21749976/index.html) and his YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/SugartimeGPz
You'll find plenty of them but beware this can be very dangerous for your wallet! For mine it was but I do not regret anything. GPz review are always spot on and his Youtube channel helps seal the deal :)
Hi, Daemonskald and a belated Happy New Year to you. It's been a while.
DeleteThanks very much for the information and point taken on how obscure or not Ichikawa is. I see that it was merely a "radical" problem on not being able to track down any extra information on her. I wasn't aware of her association with the group Apollon.
I will have to check out GPz and yes, I do realize the temptation involved in parting with my yen to get those albums. However, it helps when I get my monthly credit card bills to tamp down any urges to go on a major binge. :)
Thanks again!