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.
4. Toshiyuki Nishida Moshi mo Piano ga Hiketara nara
5. Seiko Matsuda Shiroi Parasol
6. Jun Horie Memory Glass
7. George Yamamoto Michinoku Hitori Tabi
8. Hitomi Ishikawa Machibuse
9. Tsukasa Ito Shojo Ningyo
10. Creation Lonely Heart
Well, to be honest, it was a rather cheap way of doing it, but we did make it to 95 articles in August, the highest tally for a monthly total this year. Maybe we can go for 100 again later in the remaining time we have for 2022.
The Ton-Nan-Sha-Pei （THE 東南西北）is certainly one of the more unusually named rock bands that I have ever encountered. Basically translating as The East South West and North, the name came about because all of the original members hailed from every direction around the city of Onomichi, Hiroshima Prefecture. Vocalist/guitarist Yoji Kubota（久保田洋司）, drummer Shigefumi Ohike（大池茂文）, bassist Shingo Shimizu（清水伸吾）and a classmate named Aso formed a Beatles copy band to perform at their high school festival. But Aso left the band, only for another classmate, Yosuke Irifune（入船陽介）, who had been taking pictures of a live performance, to join up because he was armed with a Yamaha DX7 keyboard. Then the group was complete once guitarist Jun Kanou（加納順）came on board through an encounter with the guys at a music store.
1984 was the year that the Ton-Nan-Sha-Pei won the Grand Prize at a CBS-Sony audition and the following year, they made their official major debut with a 12-inch single "Tameiki no Minor Chord"（ため息のマイナーコード...Sighing Minor Chord）. However, the subject of this article is their April 1986 second single,"Naishin, Thank You" (From the Bottom of My Heart, Thank You) that was composed by Kubota and written by master lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）. From what I've read of those lyrics, "Naishin, Thank You" seems to be about a young man who loved a woman from afar but could never muster up the courage to make his feelings known, and now the time has passed forever. All he can do is silently thank her for at least the opportunity to see her. The two elements that got to me in the bittersweet song were the high vocals by Kubota, the Queen-like guitar solo, and some feeling of Pachelbel's "Canon" in the arrangement.
"Naishin, Thank You" was also a part of The Ton-Nan-Sha-Pei's debut album"Hiko Shonen"（飛行少年...Flying Boy） which came out in March 1986. In total, the band released six original albums and eleven singles up to 2018, although they had broken up initially in 1991 before getting back together again in 2012.
Well, a week after putting up my favourite Kahoru Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）songs onto the blog, I realized that I hadn't put up a similar list for singer-songwriter Anri（杏里）...and I'm such a fan of hers, too. But the timing couldn't be better because today happens to be Eiko Kawashima's（川島栄子）birthday, so what a perfect opportunity to celebrate one of the queens of City Pop.
So, allow me to give my own favourites by Anri and once again in no particular order. She's certainly come a long way and through a few genre prisms and songwriting influences since her debut in 1978.
There have been many versions of Anri's debut single but I'm always going to go with the humble original which she recorded as a teenager. It sounds so innocent and poignant as a girl probably around Anri's age at that time is going through some tough times and she goes to an Olivia Newton-John record to help assuage some of that hurt. Considering the recent passing of Newton-John, perhaps "Olivia wo Kikinagara" has now taken on a further poignancy of a time and a music gone by.
As I mentioned in the original article for "Last Picture Show", this stylish City Pop ballad comes from her 1987 "Meditations" which showcases the best of her balladry up to that point in her career, and it struck me as being a crossroads between her early-to-mid-80s City Pop era with Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）and her future R&B-tinged dance-pop days going into the 1990s due to the partnership with Yasuharu Ogura（小倉泰治）and Yumi Yoshimoto（吉本由美）. What I didn't mention was that I first heard "Last Picture Show" at karaoke and fell in love with it immediately. I really dug through the shelves to get my copy of "Meditations".
This wasn't particularly a City Pop tune, but that beefy bass is still intact within "Innocent Time". It did have its ski connections through a TV show, but being a non-skier, I simply enjoy this one for its, yes, innocence and footloose and fancy-free ways. I can listen to it and for a few minutes at least, I can forget about the burdens of the world and just imagine walking through some resort, winter or otherwise.
As was the case with "Last Picture Show" above, it was a case of love at first hear with "Snowflake no Machikado", although for that article, I did mention the fact that it was also a karaoke discovery. I didn't pay too much attention to the title, though, so knowing Anri all that time, I'd assumed that it was another summer-themed tune. Little did I know that it was that other season. Regardless though, that tight battery of horns and the jazzy flute near the end did me in.
Anri and Toshiki Kadomatsu did make some literally beautiful music together in the early 1980s, a lot of them uptempo songs. However, "I Can't Ever Change Your Love For Me" is one of the finest City Pop ballads that Kadomatsu ever created for any singer. It's that feeling of 70s soul, another round of great horns, a wonderful sax solo, and a sensation of sunset urban contemporary that makes this gem one of my favourites by the singer.
Maybe there was no Kadomatsu here and this wasn't actually part of any single, but "Goodbye Future" still remains as one of my favourite Anri songs, period, let alone one of my favourite tracks on her 1988 album"Boogie Woogie Mainland". This time, it was the new triumvirate of Anri, lyricist Yoshimoto and arranger Ogura who came up with these new high-octane R&B songs including "Goodbye Future". It's so upbeat, cheerful, and cool that it never fails to lift my spirits.
Another song that sends thrills up and down my spine, "Shyness Boy" hails from one of those great Kadomatsu/Anri collaborations "Timely!!". The whole song seems to have been created specifically for City Pop fans to blast on their car stereos for a drive through Hawaii or California. My only regret about it is that it's barely over three minutes. Well, that's why we have a repeat function on our audio players.
My last song for this birthday tribute to Anri is actually what I had been planning to do as a solo subject for the article before opting for the whole Author's Pick of my favourites for the singer. "Tears In Crystal" was Anri's 41st single released in October 2001, and it was written by Yoshimoto and composed by the singer as a calming pop tune. However, it was used as one of the many ending themes for NTV's "Kayo Suspense Gekijo"（火曜サスペンス劇場...Tuesday Suspense Theatre） with all of its stabbings and strangulations. The single was also a part of her 23rd album"My Music" which came out at the same time as the single.
It's already September 1st in Japan so I hope that Anri was able to have a fine birthday with family and friends in Los Angeles.
I've already gotten a couple of tracks from the late guitarist Masaki Matsubara's（松原正樹）1983"Painted Woman" up on KKP. There is "Silly Crush" featuring Eric Tagg on vocals and then "Tequila Toast". Now for today, I have "Shining Star".
Nope, it has nothing to do with Earth Wind & Fire, but it's still a funky jam thanks to composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and Matsubara's noodling on the guitar. Mike Dunn provided the lyrics which I believe have been interpreted by the vocal sister trio of EVE although I couldn't confirm by any currently present information regarding the album's liner notes. I would also like to find out who was behind the horns. According to Dunn's lyrics, the Shining Star of the song is apparently one snazzy and wealthy guy making the rounds downtown...kinda like Quincy Jones' The Dude.
Wow! That was quite the time with disco. Fashion-wise, folks were running the gamut between bell-bottoms and hot pants in the 1970s. Then, there were the roller skates trundling along at the roller discos. I used to see them on television all the time but I was still too young to get into those places.
Not sure how the disco roller skate boom did in Japan, but I gather that it was enough to spawn at least a few songs about the phenomenon. Par example, there was a briefly known late 1970saidoru by the name of Rie Hiki（比企理恵）with her debut single"Koi no Roller Boots" (Roller Boots Of Love) released in December 1979.
I have to say that those disco strings doing the drop down from heaven made for quite the impressive introduction, and then the jaunty beat came in for Hiki. My impression is that the teenybopper tunes at the end of the decade were fully imbued with the disco rhythms, and that was also the case with "Koi no Roller Boots" which did very modestly on the charts by peaking at No. 199 on Oricon. I thought that the song seemed quite similar in arrangement to Ikue Sakakibara's（榊原郁恵）more successful "Natsu no Ojosan"（夏のお嬢さん）from about 18 months earlier. And as it turns out, both songs were composed by Ben Sasaki（佐々木勉）with Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）providing lyrics for "Koi no Roller Boots".
Hiki, who was born Rieko Nakakoshi（中越理恵子）in Tokyo, only released a total of five singles including "Koi no Roller Boots" and one album for that one year until the end of 1980. Instead, she had a far more prolific career as an actress including a six-year stint as Wendy in "Peter Pan". Ironically, the aforementioned Sakakibara became famous for her long rendition of Peter Pan himself. One of her best friends is 80s aidoru Yoshie Kashiwabara（柏原芳恵）.
Last night, I listened to Scott's latest episode for his podcast "Holly Jolly X'masu" which features the great wealth of Japanese Christmas songs. The 1988 compilation album “The Night Before Christmas” was the target and it's a pretty good one with entries by Masaki Ueda（上田正樹）, Kazuo Zaitsu（財津和夫）and Hitomi "Penny" Toyama（当山ひとみ）among others. Zaitsu provided two Xmas tunes, one of which I will definitely cover in a few months when KKP's annual Xmas season is upon us, but there was another one by a singer that I had never heard of before by the name of Midori Hara（原みどり）, and her Xmas tune was "Very Merry Christmas To You" which is a sad and somewhat bitter ballad about ending up alone during the Yuletide. As I mentioned to Scott, Japanese singers seem to enjoy singing about very blue Christmases to a near-masochistic degree.
Alas, I couldn't find "Very Merry Christmas to You" on YouTube, but hearing Hara's fine vocals, I decided to make another dive into the rabbit hole. Such dives have unearthed an aural treasure of riches in the past, and happily, this one is no different. Incidentally, Hara hails from Utsunomiya City in Tochigi Prefecture, a metropolis that has been known for its plethora of gyoza restaurants and its gyoza statue by the main train station. The singer-songwriter got a kickstart to her career when she won the Grand Prize at a Nippon Columbia audition in 1986.
Man, what a payday she received. Her very first single released in January 1987 had her paired up with the veteran lead singer of Tulip（チューリップ）, the aforementioned Zaitsu, and was written/composed by none other than Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）. Now, just as a brief aside, J-Wiki and even Hara's own website haven't been able to decide definitively whether "Tsugunai no Hibi" (Days of Atonement) came out in 1987 or 1989. But for the sake of argument, let's go with 1987.
Getting back on track, soulful Hara's duet with Zaitsu, "Tsugunai no Hibi", is a most interesting and lovely 80s power ballad. Perhaps it's because the arrangement was by Zaitsu and Seiichi Kyoda（京田誠一）, but it doesn't sound like the usual Yuming（ユーミン）tune. I think it sounds more like something that David Foster had created for the band Chicago when they were in their love song phase back in the early 1980s. Those keyboards were really key there.
Scott goes into detail about Hara's career on the podcast when he plays "Very Merry Christmas to You", but I can also let you know that she joined up with the pop group Spank Happy in the 1990s when it was first formed though she left in 1998. According to her J-Wiki article, she is also a narrator for commercials as well as a vocal trainer. I'll definitely have to talk about Spank Happy in a separate article shortly.
I realize that for fans of "Karakai Jouzu na Takagi-san"（からかい上手の高木さん...Skilled Teaser Takagi-san）, I'm considerably late for the party. For one thing, I'm still wrapping up Season 2 which was broadcast back in 2019, and for another, Season 3 finished its run months ago. But I did see the penultimate episode for Season 2 last week which you can see above when Takagi-san, who almost always has the upper hand over Nishikata-kun, got that seasonal critical hit from him (of course, without him realizing it) when he finally asked her out to the summer festival. Cue punches in air and lots of tears.
Yeah, it's been another relaxing slice-of-life romantic comedy season with "Takagi-san" as the relationship between Takagi and Nishikata continues to develop while the extended cast grows slightly in that countryside town or small city. But of course, singer-songwriter Yuiko Ohara（大原ゆい子）is back for the opening theme song. Compared to her contribution for the opening theme of the first season, "Zero Centimetre" is a bit more wistful although the tempo peps up a bit more as we get further into the song.
Written and composed by Ohara, it sounds as if the song is being told from Takagi's point of view without all of the teasing on her future husband; she just wants Nishikata to acknowledge the feelings between them are there. As for the meaning of the title, she no longer wants to have any gap between them in their journey together. However, she's obviously a most patient young lady and the time will come. "Zero Centimetre" reached No. 55 on Oricon.
Well, after a hiatus of about three weeks, NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）will be coming back to television, and for me, it's the prime source of any enka that I can get on TV Japan.
Enka singer Natsuko Godai（伍代夏子）won't be on this episode according to the NHK schedule, but I think it would be nice to have her come back here at least. It's been a while. Here is her 3rd single"Shinobu Ame" (Enduring Rain) from May 1990. A story of enjoying some sake while the precipitation is coming down hard outside. I'm unsure whether "Shinobu Ame" had been used in a sake commercial, but perhaps it should have been. It certainly feels as comforting as sipping from an ochoko of the stuff. Eiji Takino（たきのえいじ）was the man behind the lyrics while the reassuring melody was provided by Shosuke Ichikawa（市川昭介）.
"Shinobu Ame" hit No. 12 on Oricon and spent a whole year on the Top 100, selling over 420,000 copies. It became Godai's biggest hit which had her invited to the 1990 edition of NHK's Kohaku Utagassen for the first time, and then Godai returned once more in 2009 to perform the song once more. In total, she has come onto the network's New Year Eve special a total of 22 times with her 2015 appearance being her last one to date. For the yearly Oricon rankings, the song came in at No. 68 and then in 1991, it even went up several ranks to No. 56.
When I was checking Twitter before noon today, I saw that City Pop maestro Van Paugam had posted up a letter from Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）to her fans. You can see that letter above this paragraph, and I will now attempt to translate it.
To all of the fans who have always supported me:
I'm terribly sorry for making you worry all this time. Although it's been baby steps, I've been recovering, so at this time, I'd like to write this letter.
This year, 2022, is my 40th anniversary since my debut, and in commemoration of that, I've been looking at doing something while facing my own health, but I can't say that I'm at the peak of health just yet.
I think that it's going to take time, but I would like to take those steps forward, so I hope that you can somehow look out for me.
Additionally, in preparations to start again, I'd like to announce that I have established a new private office. Any new information will come from this new website: akinanakamoriofficial.com.
I apologize for this arbitrary notice and I hope that I can somehow ask for your support.
August 30, 2022
Akina Nakamori
Several weeks ago, fellow KKP co-administrator and fellow Akina fan Larry Chan were discussing on her health and her whereabouts. At this point, it seems that no one, even her family, may know where she is. But at least Larry and I and Van hope that wherever she is residing, she is indeed getting better and she will be leading a happier life going forward.
Also, I'd like to thank Larry once more for providing the annual Akina article this time around back on her birthday on July 13th. I figured that perhaps a new fresh outlook was good when it came to any more insight regarding the singer and actress.
I didn't want to finish the article without leaving an Akina song and initially, I had been thinking about writing on the B-side for her very first single in May 1982"Slow Motion"（スローモーション）,"Jouken Hansha"（条件反射）. Alas, I had already written about it.
Well for Take 2, I opted for the B-side for her second single from July of that year, the rock-filled "Shojo A"（少女A）. That B-side is "Yume Handan" (Dream Decision) and it was created by lyricist Tsuzuru Nakasato（中里綴）and composer Noboru Mimuro（三室のぼる）, the same duo behind "Jouken Hansha". Not surprisingly then, "Yume Handan" has that jangly and jagged arrangement (provided by Mitsuo Hagita/萩田光雄) that was provided to "Jouken Hansha" and that characterized some of Akina's early songs as rebellious teen aidoru rock.
My earliest information on Nakamori regarded the then 16 or 17-year-old blooming aidoru as the second coming of Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）from the 1970s. At the time, I was still new to the whole kayo kyoku thing so I wasn't quite sure what the insight was, but after years of listening to both singers in their prime decades and reading about their lives and careers, I finally realized that Nakamori, like Yamaguchi, was being seen as the misunderstood teen girl with an attitude who widened eyes and raised eyebrows by singing some fairly raunchy lyrics for a lass in a sailor-suit uniform. "Yume Handan" struck me that way as Nakazato's words describe a pretty hot-and-heavy tryst the night before that may have happened in reality or in a dream. The protagonist is still too woozy to decide for sure. We'll see if the aroma of brewing coffee is the trigger.
Yup, "Yume Handan" is another one of those rock n' roll tunes that I knew Akina for in her early years, but that jangly yet smooth electric guitar really stands out next to the singer's ardent vocals.
Over the past few years, I have had many opportunities to feature enka in my school projects and papers. Previously in an "alright" paper (in my opinion), I had given a little nod to Hachiro Kasuga. This time, I brought the spotlight on Bin Uehara (上原敏).
Bin-san was the star of an analytical paper I did for a senior-level course on pop culture and media theories this Spring semester. Why Bin-san? You may ask. For one, he's recently managed to join the ranks as one of my... *ahem* husbandos..., together with Hachi and Haru-san... With how much I had been writing about him in my more "recent" articles, you may have seen it coming from a mile away. BUT, this frivolous point aside, the main reason for picking him instead of the other two was his songs and the era they were released in. It's fairly obvious to note that many of Bin-san's songs, all from the mid-1930s to the mid-1940s, were essentially wartime propaganda. So, I decided to do a study on that in the context of the chaotic prewar and wartime Japanese society through analyses of a few songs and the theory known as "Cruel optimism".
The paper was most definitely a passion project, so I'm glad my professor gave me full credit for it. I also submitted it for a peer review contest held by my school's student association because I simply wanted more feedback, which would come from its board members and faculty. Basically, I willingly put my Bin-san piece on the grill to have it be burnt to a crisp by the critics for the experience and as a potential boost for graduate school applications. There was the perk of being one of the three winning entries to be featured in the association's first-ever newsletter, but I wasn't gunning for that because, c'mon, look at those odds.
Maybe there were only three entrants including me, maybe fewer, because I couldn't believe it when I got notified that Bin-san not only got through the roasts in good shape but also made it into the final round!There are still some revisions that have to be eyeballed, BUT, if all goes well and the board approves, I think my piece on Bin-san will become a featured work on campus. I'm still a little unsure if that will actually happen, but I would like to commemorate being one of the chosen entrants at least with Uehara's "Otoko Hare Sugata", whether it does or not. The term Hare sugata, from what I could glean from the Weblio dictionary, can mean to be in one's Sunday best or to appear with honour in a formal and reputable setting. So, I reckon both iterations aptly depict the bespectacled singer on this occasion :). Yay,Bin-san, you got current generation recognition!
More on the song itself, "Otoko Hare Sugata" seems to be your quintessential ronin-based song as Choji Yajima's (矢島寵児) words follow our protagonist who had left his hometown (most likely the Shizuoka area) and embarked on a journey to Edo to sharpen his skills as a warrior. Perhaps he had completed his training and is on his way home, now a better and more respectable man. Taking into account the Weblio definitions, however, I wonder if, rather than a detested ronin/yakuza, the protagonist is actually a proper and noble samurai. Either way, while Bin-san's gentle vocals do convey the longing the warrior has for his home, there sounds to be an element of pride in him as he makes his way around. Adding to this sense of pride is the melody brought to us by Itsuro Hattori (服部逸郎) that is bright and triumphant-sounding.
"Otoko Hare Sugata" was one of Bin-san's later releases from March 1941, when the political situation in the Asia-Pacific region was getting harrier and just a year before he got drafted into the military. This wasn't one of the songs I had analysed in my paper, but if I did I think I would have made an association between the aforementioned warrior to the drafted soldier heading off to the frontlines.
P.S. If you're wondering why I label Hachi and the like "husbando" now, it's because it's easier for me to explain how I view and treat them to friends and acquaintances my age. It's like "waifu" but the male version. Mine aren't pop idols or animated characters, though.
This was kinda of a sudden decision for tonight but I just listened to the video a few minutes ago and I also realized that this year is the 25th anniversary of the debut of Fuji-TV's long-running cop franchise "Odoru Dai Sosasen"（踊る大捜査線）. It was a pretty landmark series when it debuted in January 1997 since previous Japanese dramas regarding policemen had tended to have plenty of hard-bitten detectives shooting off their guns all over the place when in reality, if one patrolling policeman even fired off one shot that missed, it would most likely make the top of the news cycle for at least a couple of days.
If I'm not mistaken, I read that the producers behind "Odoru Dai Sosasen" wanted to make a cop comedy-drama that wasn't about blasting away with weaponry. In fact, gunshots were exceedingly rare to non-existent all throughout the series, specials and motion pictures. Nope, the guys at the Bayside Precinct tended to deal with territorial issues and political obstacles in the way of good honest policing.
(31:56)
Back in the early days of the blog, I did write about the soundtrack of "Odoru Dai Sosasen". As I've pointed out in the past, a good soundtrack and composer are like the 10th man on a baseball team when it comes to any drama on TV or movie. The music enhances but doesn't overpower the scenes or the characters. Plus, the tracks are memorable in their own right. I think that Akihiko Matsumoto（松本晃彦）, the man behind the score for the original 1997 series created and gathered together quite the eclectic pieces of music for this particular soundtrack which is why I bought it and two other soundtracks.
One track that I hadn't included was "CX". In the 2013 article for the soundtrack, I included the techno version of "CX" since that was the one on the CD, and that was fun in itself. However, I'd never mentioned about the original and grand orchestral version that also popped up frequently during the various parts of the franchise. It is the main theme for the Tokyo police and is done like a march to commemorate the daily lives of those who have opted to serve and protect the populace. Not sure, but I believe if anyone ever tried to hum "CX", most folks would happily blurt out "Odoru Dai Sosasen" as often they would if they heard the opening theme of "Rhythm and Police".
I was tickled pink with nostalgia when I discovered that "CX" and "Rhythm and Police" have been used as the station chimes for Tokyo Teleport Station near Fuji-TV headquarters in Odaiba where "Odoru Dai Sosasen" was filmed. I just want to march off the subway and up the stairs outside.😁
Although this has been a slight point of contention even among the artists themselves, the City Pop of Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）, Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）and Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）has had its 21st-century analogue in the form of Neo-City Pop with folks like Kirinji（キリンジ）, Ryusenkei（流線形）and Hitomitoi（一十三十一）. Perhaps by the same token, the Mood Kayo of Frank Nagai（フランク永井）, Los Indios and The Cool Five has their new version with acts like Junretsu（純烈）and this young fellow.
I wrote about Chiba Prefecture-bornenka and kayo singer Leon Niihama（新浜レオン）a couple of years ago with his "Kimi wo Motomete"（君を求めて）due to the fact that I saw him perform the song on an episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）. It felt like an enka/Mood Kayo mix with some octane-filled pizzazz via a dynamic arrangement including horns. Some weeks ago, Niihama appeared on the NHK show again to perform a May 2021 single "Dame Dame..." (No, No Way).
"Dame, Dame..." is another energetic blast, best illustrated by the music video with Niihama and a couple of women getting into dance moves and gestures while lasers are flying away harder than at the Empire/Rebellion battle of the Death Star. Written by Aoi Yamazaki（山崎あおい）, the lyrics are an open challenge to the usual broken romance tropes of staying stoic and admitting that the affair was another case of two ships passing in the night. As Niihama sings out "Is is really being a man to wish for one's happiness when saying goodbye to a woman forever?". Hmmm...things that make you go Hmmm.
Perhaps it's the Latin infused into Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）and Toshiya Kamada's（鎌田俊哉）melody and Motoki Funayama's（船山基紀）arrangement, but I think that this can be a form of Neo-Mood Kayo. Nope, it may not have the same feel as the sultry and oft-mournful Mood Kayo of the past since songs like "Dame, Dame..." has a much peppier tempo and there are those contemporary synthesizers thrown into the mix. However, I can't help but feel that there is something very old-fashioned kayo about it. On that note, maybe it does straddle the line between Mood Kayo and pop. In any case, "Dame, Dame..." managed to peak at No. 12 on Oricon.
One more thing about the new Mood Kayo: I guess suits and backup choruses are now optional.
Happy Hot Monday! Well, it's evident that summer is not done with us yet because we may be seeing the old Humidex reaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit any minute now. Can really do with something refreshing like the above can of Max Coffee that I bought in Shin-Okubo, Tokyo back in October 2017. Mind you, the sugar would knock me back to last week.
So, this would be the ideal time and place to show off "Refresh!" by Casiopea（カシオペア）bassist Tetsuro Sakurai（櫻井哲夫）via his debut solo album"Dewdrops" from 1986. Earlier this year, I introduced the final track "Prophet Voyager" and was surprised that it was indeed the final track since it was simply a big fun jam session. I was then intrigued about what the rest of "Dewdrops" sounded like.
Perhaps then it's with some logic that I tackle "Refresh!" since it's the track that launches everything. Instead of the instrumental of "Prophet Voyager", Track No. 1 has lyrics by Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）joining Sakurai's composition of hot and peppery Brazilian that can get any couch potato off their keester. The percussion is just out of this world...thank you, Motoya Hamaguchi（浜口茂外也）! Sakurai is joined on vocals by Kazuo Horiguchi（堀口和男）, Marvin Baker and the late Cindy. The bassist and Yuji Toriyama（鳥山雄司）helped arrange everything. Definitely a nice way to start off an album...and a week.
I remember from my youth and also from doing the blog that there have been a lot of old kayo that delved into one half of a former couple forlornly seeing off a ship from the pier with the assumption that their former lover was now on said ship since for whatever reason, they simply had to go. Certainly it was quite the shibui setting and kayo shows like "Enka no Hanamichi"（演歌の花道）loved to have those sets built.
Well, Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）did record a contemporary pop version of that situation via "Last Cruise". This was the B-side to her 43rd single"Kaze no Juvenile"（風の童話集...Juvenile of the Wind） released in November 1987. Beginning like a song by Chika Ueda（上田知華）+ Karyobin, almost forty seconds into "Last Cruise", Iwasaki comes in with her beautiful voice and a classy pop melody swoops in hinting that the players involved were probably part of the well-to-do set, and the sweet sorrow of parting wasn't too bitter. They may meet again in the future at another soiree.
Singer-songwriter Haruhi Aiso（相曾晴日）, who's been represented here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" with her own music, wrote and composed "Last Cruise" which peaked at No. 89 on Oricon. Both A and B sides would be placed on the 2007 remaster of Iwasaki's 1987 album"Yokubari"（よくばり...Greed）. Almost forgot to mention that Keiichi Oku（奥慶一）arranged everything.
Harumi Yoneda（米田晴美）is another one of those obscure singers about whom I've had to pull information from a couple of sites. From one blog, I found out that she had probably started her career as an early 1970s aidoru only to make another beginning as an enka singer from 1977 while still a teenager. But then, Yoneda changed course again to follow a more New Music path, something apparently that had been quite unprecedented back in the day, although in recent years, enka singers such as Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）have done just that.
Then from a March 2018tweet, I found out that the topic of this article, "Uwasa no Naka de" (Among The Rumours), was Yoneda's 5th single released in August 1980. Written and composed by singer-songwriter Hiroko Taniyama（谷山浩子）, "Uwasa no Naka de" is a minor-key Fashion Music tune regarding a woman who loves a man and refuses to let him go despite her not-particularly-favourable status within the community. She wouldn't mind leaving the area but the hint is that her paramour isn't as willing.
Yoneda's delivery is tenderhearted and has enough emotion on her sleeve for me to think of Miyuki Nakajima（中島みゆき）, but the melody also has me getting nostalgic for the balladry of Ami Ozaki（尾崎亜美）.
Pleasant final Sunday for August 2022, so perhaps we can start off with some light pop today.
We have here Akiko Yano's（矢野顕子）10th single from 1985, "Ai ga Tarinai" (Not Enough Love). The title may sound sad but this Yano-penned song is a pleasant stroll through the park and it's perky enough to make me wonder whether this had been used as a jingle for some commercial. The synths are in there but I don't think they are to the extent to make this a technopop tune when compared to some of those that she had made back in the early 1980s.
Still, it's a totally dreamy and relaxing song by Yano. Plus, I do like that cover for the single in the thumbnail for the video. Not sure if that is a Mineko Ueda（上田三根子）illustration but I recall seeing some of her works on various examples of Japanese pop culture back in the day.
The above is a photo from the Tokyo Anime Fair that I attended back in 2009. When I got to Tokyo Big Sight that morning, there was an anaconda-like line waiting to get in, and I thought that there was no way that I was going to enter the place, but when it did open, the snake got sucked in rapidly so within 15 minutes, I could waltz on in. It does remind me that there is the Toronto Fan Expo happening right now downtown so I'm wondering how that's doing.
It's been a good long while since I put up an article on the one-and-only Hikaru Genji（光GENJI）, one of the premier Johnny's Entertainment groups of the late 1980s. Hadn't realized that they lasted all the way to 1995 since I always saw them as a group for the previous decade. But indeed, there was their October 1991 7th album"Victory".
After listening to the track "GIRL!GIRL!GIRL!" a few times now, I am a little surprised that this actually hadn't been released as a single or even used as a theme song for a comedy-drama. Written by Mayumi Hara（原真弓）and composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, this is Hikaru Genji in old-time show tune form. The guys are gushing about all of the different types of women out there and it all plays as if the group were trying to emulate the Takarazuka Revue in their level of panache.
"Victory" was another victory for Hikaru Genji since it hit No. 3 on the charts. There were also some pretty big names on instruments such as Jake H. Concepcion on sax, Jun Aoyama（青山純）on drums, and Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）on trumpet.
Hope you're all having a good weekend. It hasn't been too bad here at all. Pretty sunny and the temperatures aren't too blazing.
Listening to this song "Neon Light no Yoru" (Neon Light Nights), I did get some reminders of Bananarama's big hit from 1987 "I Heard A Rumour". However, this isn't a Eurobeat tune but more of a representative of electronica by DJ, songwriter and keyboardist (among other hats) DÉ DÉ MOUSE. With the help of Glasgow producer TANUKI and Neo-City Pop singer Hitomitoi（一十三十一）, "Neon Light no Yoru" could make for a nice accompaniment in one of the club-laden neighbourhoods of Tokyo or other Japanese metropolis on a Saturday night. It was released as his third single from July 2021.
DÉ DÉ MOUSE is a solo project fronted by Daisuke Endo（遠藤大介）who hails from Gunma Prefecture and began his career in 2005. According to J-Wiki, he combines refined pop melodies and ethnic music and extrudes them through electronica (although I think "Neon Light no Yoru" seems to be straight dance-friendly technopop). Up to 2022, he has released eight albums, eleven mini-albums, four singles, and several digital download singles. As for his name, he got the DE from the initials for his name while the MOUSE came about from the fact that he's a fairly small individual at 160.5 cm or just under 5'3". Endo is also a big fan of the band Kirinji（キリンジ）.
Back on Monday, I wrote about singer-songwriter Kyosuke Kusunoki's（楠木恭介）old band Camel Land（キャメル・ランド）and their single "Koi no Café Terrace"（恋のカフェテラス）when I said that I would have to finish off the remainder of Kusunoki's June 1985 album"Just Tonight". Well, tonight's the night, and it's a good thing, too. I've already written on over half the tracks individually: "Come To Me Again", "Sugar Dance", "For Our Love", "Nagisa ni te ~ Close To You"（渚にて）and "Get Down".
(14:42)
I've just got four more tracks to go before completing the album, so without further adieu, we start with the title track itself. "Just Tonight" begins with an entrance reminiscent of ol' 1970s soul, and Kusunoki does take on a bit of Bobby Caldwell in his delivery. It sounds like the type of smooth balladry that would be played at the end of a dance party when it's just the tired romantic couples on the floor before the janitor finally begins clicking the lights on and off to shoo away the stragglers. Gotta have the bluesy sax to finish things off. Kusunoki was responsible for the melody, Jessie Rein took care of the English lyrics and the late Hiroshi Narumi（鳴海寛）arranged this one and the next two tracks.
(24:59 in the above video.)
The uptempo "Love Devotion" mixes in some Dazz Band and maybe some George Benson guitar canoodling. Plus, Kusunoki does some soaring vocals here along the lines of Gino Vannelli.Rein once again provided the lyrics while Yoichiro Kakizaki（柿崎洋一郎）composed the funkiness. Methinks that I would have loved to have seen a performance video of Kusunoki and this one. It's "Love Devotion" that convinced me that Kusunoki chose wisely when he decided to switch genres from folk to urban contemporary.
Oooh...some dreamy 80s Quiet Storm with "Yoru wo Wasurete"（夜を忘れて...Forget The Night）. Kusunoki composed this urban contemporary lullaby with Kyoko Utsumi's（内海鏡子）lyrics as the singer almost whispers these sweet nothings into our ears. Past the midnight hour is probably the optimal time to hear this in one's dreams.
The final track doesn't have its own video so I've brought in the entire album here where it's situated at 37:58 above. Titled "Chizu Naki Mirai (Yukute)"（地図なき未来(ゆくて)...Future Without A Map ~ One's Path）, this is actually the Japanese-language version as well as the B-side to the singer's lone single under his stage name of Kyosuke Kusunoki, the English-language "High Time" which was released in February 1985, just a few months before the release of "Just Tonight". Probably the only track on the album that doesn't have that overtly R&B sound, it kinda hovers over that Eagles' AOR area. Makoto Mitsui（三井誠）composed and arranged the song as Kathleen Dares wrote the English lyrics while Junpei Matsunaga（松永順平）took care of the Japanese lyrics. The video below is of "High Time".
(Sorry but the "High Time" song has been taken down.)
If "High Time" and "Chizu Naki Mirai" sound particularly life-affirming and inspirational, you can be well assured that the former was used in a commercial for Citizen's Club La Mer watch. And on that note, I close the file on "Just Tonight". For anyone who has the album, you have my envy.
Just as a preface, "Ginga Tokkyu"(Galaxy Special Express) has nothing to do with "The Galaxy Express 999"(銀河鉄道９９９）, though both did come out at around the same time in the late 1970s.
Actually, "Ginga Tokkyu" was Shigeru Matsuzaki's（松崎しげる）16th single from April 1978 and I heard the veteran singer perform this one on a recent episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）some weeks ago. It's quite refreshing because whenever Matsuzaki appears on any music show, it's usually de rigueur for him to sing his one-and-only "Ai no Memory"（愛のメモリー）. Unless he made the request himself, I'm sure that he was in shock on being asked to perform anything other than his magnum opus.
"Ginga Tokkyu" was written by Takashi Taka（たかたかし）and composed/arranged by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）as a happy musical journey for a couple of lovebirds around the Earth. As the tag for the video puts it, it's a slice of Japanese soul strutting with a touch of disco and a splendid background chorus. There's nothing like a love train of the 1970s to get everyone in a dancing mood.
Regrettably, I couldn't find much information on the singer-songwriter Aki Koike（小池映）outside of what she has released for her discography which might be as many as 7 singles and 4 albums between 1995 and 2000.
KKP contributor HRLE92, i.e. YouTube's Island Fantasia, placed one of Koike's albums onto his channel last year. "Pure Touch of White" is her 1997 album and that first track "Ichi Byo" (One Second) is already burrowing its way into my head due to its slow groove. Written and composed by Koike with Satoshi Kadokura（門倉聡）also helping out on the melody, it's a nice and casual night walk through the city. Considering that I had thought of Misia and Hikaru Utada（宇多田ヒカル）as the vanguard of the new J-R&B at the end of the 20th century, hearing Koike for the first time, I think that I may have to adjust my thinking somewhat. At the same time, I am also reminded of chanteuse Harumi Tsuyuzaki（露崎春女）as well.
Perhaps I could have done this one about three weeks later when autumn has officially arrived. However, it's already starting to feel like summer is making its way to the finish line although the leaves have quite turned yet.
But I digress. "After Summertime" by the late Yoko Maeno（前野曜子）is a refreshing pitcher of sangria. From her final original album"Twilight" in 1982, the song is a laidback tune on changes of all types with a bit of Latin thrown in there. It's wistful but not maudlin and has that feeling of "Tomorrow's another day". Lyrics were provided by Chikara Ueda（上田力）and the music was by Kayoko Fuyumori（冬杜花代子）.
There's another track from "Twilight" that I contributed an article about back in 2019: "Winelight".
One of my regrets when it comes to providing thumbnail photos in KKP articles is that I don't really have very many beach shots. At the time when I was living in Japan, I obviously had no idea that I would be doing a music blog that would be going for ten years and running, but I also have to confess that I was never a seashore-loving sun worshipper like so many other people.
I did have my walk along Shonan during my 2014 visit to Japan but never quite got to Chigasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture which is why I'm providing this YouTube video from Japan Life Channel. Of course, the city is the birthplace of Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）, leader of the legendary band Southern All Stars（サザンオールスターズ）which has been the pop cultural symbol of the summer life.
However, today's first article on Urban Contemporary Friday on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" doesn't involve SAS though it is all about the wonders of Chigasaki. Actually on the mike here is Mitsuko Horie（堀江美都子）, a singer that I've usually associated with anison such as the theme songs for "Candy Candy"（キャンディ♡キャンディ）and "Don Don Domeru to Ron"(どんどんドメルとロン), but on the first day of summer 1982, she released her third studio album"Ready MADONNA" and sometime in that June, she also put out her 5th single which is on that LP, "Chigasaki Memory".
"Ready MADONNA" was produced by Ichiro Nitta（新田一郎）, musician, songwriter and Spectre No. 1 of the dynamic band Spectrum（スペクトラム）, and he arranged all of the tracks along with composing most of them including "Chigasaki Memory". It's nice that it was Horie on vocals since she hails from Yamato City which is only about 32 kilometres away from Chigasaki or a short drive away. Yashuhito Miyashita（宮下康仁）wrote the lyrics of pining for the titular city and the summery spell that it casts on folks.
"Chigasaki Memory" really is one upbeat disco-powered pop tune and Horie sounds as if it were indeed Nitta channeling through her, and I think that it is Nitta on the trumpet in the refrain. In fact, I think the song is so up with the area that I swear that the Chigasaki Chamber of Commerce could have requested Nitta to come up with the tune.
March 23 2023: Today, I was informed through the Comments that the song that I had thought was "Energy" wasn't right, so I've made the appropriate corrections with amended commentary. "Energy" is the second one below here while the happier-go-lucky song has been put down at the bottom.
I'm not sure whether the JCCC as you can see in the photo above is still holding the Toronto Anime Matsuri, but as of today, the Autumn version of Fan Expo is back in town. So, our local CP24 reporter, Steve Ryan, a former cop in Homicide Division, was rather bemusedly interviewing cosplayers having no clue which anime or sci-fi property they were representing. I did attend the pop culture convention a few times a decade ago when I began this blog but the high prices and crowds were starting to get me down. However, I'd like to give it another go although I'm probably going to wait another year before taking the leap.
Going back into my anime-viewing career, I remember back in the 1980s when I first met my anime buddy. Sometimes a few of us would visit his old place downtown near Little Italy to see his collection of video tapes and laser discs for anime features. Oh, the technology back then...😊
In getting information about the song for this article, I found out that the laser disc did have a rival format of sorts known as the VHD (Video High Density) that was mostly produced in Japan by JVC. According to Wikipedia, it only lasted four years between 1983 and 1987 before it joined the ash heap of technology history. It was on the VHD format that a video magazine known as "Anime Vision"（アニメビジョン）had its twenty volumes sold between 1986 and 1989.
From what I've gleaned from the J-Wiki article for "Anime Vision" and the opening for Volume 1 above, the magazine seems to come off as an "Entertainment Tonight" for anime of that time, filled with segments such as some original anime, interviews with seiyuu, and general information on existing or upcoming projects.
However, all of that jazz about "Anime Vision" didn't come about because I discovered the actual show. It was through one of the two theme songs (below) for it as edited by YouTuber Marty McFlies v2. What attracted me to the song was the joy of the arrangement (a mix of spritely City Pop and bright jangly technopop) thanks to the work by composer Kenji Kawai（川井憲次）and the delivery by a lady who sounds like she sings jazz for a living. It's short and very sweet.
Marty gives his thoughts on "Anime Vision" and the song so you can switch over to the YouTube screen to read about it. At the time, he uploaded it in February this year, he wasn't quite sure about who the golden voice belonged to (Miki Matsubara（松原みき）?) or what the official title of the theme was. We both agree that it's a pity that it wasn't ever sold on a single or a CD.
The song above though, the other theme, is called "Energy". Kawai indeed composed and arranged the song with Miho Matsuba（松葉美保）providing the lyrics. It has more of that urgent 80s West Coast dance club arrangement that people probably did aerobics to back then. The interesting thing is that halfway through, "Energy" literally changes gears to show off a faster reprise of the theme that I'd thought was "Energy".
"Energy" was sung by Naomi Masuda（増田直美）who has sung plenty of anison including the theme for the 1982 mecha anime"Ginga Reppū Bakushingā"（銀河烈風バクシンガー...Galactic Gale Baxingar）. Unfortunately, she doesn't have a J-Wiki or a Wikipedia entry, but composer Kawai does and he has been making music for many television shows, movies, video games and anime.
I gotta say that being an old viewer of the 1960s sitcoms, I was tickled pink on seeing this YouTube video compilation by Retro TV Central from 2012 since it had all of those familiar characters from my childhood cutting up several rugs to "Keep On Dancing" by the American rock n' roll band The Gentrys in 1965. According to the Wikipedia article for the song created by Allen A. Jones, Andrew Love and Richard Shann,"Keep On Dancing" had been originally recorded by the R&B group The Avantis in 1963, but apparently, The Gentrys were the guys to popularize it.
Regardless, although I knew about Barbara Feldon's and Elizabeth Montgomery's prowess on their gams, it was nice to see good folks like The Addams Family, Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore and Lucille Ball go loose on the floor. Of course, Batman couldn't be left out doing his Batusi!
Now the reason that I've unearthed the tremendously happy-happy-joy-joy "Keep On Dancing" is that I found a Japanese-language cover version of the song done by Pink Lady（ピンク・レディー）, "Asa made Odorou" (Dance Til Morning) which was included on the iconic duo's first studio album"Pepper Keibu"（ペッパー警部）released in January 1977. With Japanese lyrics by Fumiko Okada（岡田富美子）, it's still plenty of fun to hear with Mie and Kei behind the microphone.
I see that the original also got its release in Japan!
Got together for a ramen lunch with an old friend whom I hadn't seen in a few years in person and made a new friend today. It was good to have the Meat Lover's Ramen at Touhenboku; good soup and plenty of protein. Unfortunately, I may have overdone it with the Fuwa Fuwa pancake dessert and then the usual dinner at home a few hours later, but my gastrointestinal tract (or what's left of it) was gradually able to process everything.
Anyways, as I told Gary over pancakes this afternoon, I said that I would be doing DeBarge tonight for the weekly Reminiscings of Youth article. I've already written up on a couple of articles on this family of talented singers and songwriters from the 1980s. "All This Love" and "Love Me In A Special Way" are some of the most wonderful love tunes this side of Quiet Storm that I had ever heard from this Michigan-based group, but this time, I wanted to re-check their more upbeat and party-hearty work as well as get a vicarious workout from today's large ingestion of food.
It's too bad that the original music video for "You Wear It Well" is not up on YouTube but that's OK. The song on its own is just smashing to listen to. It's cool, it's 80s, it's downtown and it's darn funky. Created by El and Chico DeBarge as an October 1985 single, it just pops like a pan of Jiffy-Pop popcorn and it seems to be the perfect song for a slow-motion montage during a scene of paint-the-town-red luxury.
According to the Wikipedia article for "You Wear It Well", El and the stylish song made their appearances on a few shows such as the stylish "Miami Vice", and though I couldn't find a video, I swear that it also got used in a montage scene of "Moonlighting". And yep, it was a pretty luxurious scene, too.
Of course, being the 1980s, "You Wear It Well" did get a few dance remix versions including the M&M Club Mix. The song hit No. 46 on the US Billboard Top 100, but it did hit the top spot on its Hot Club Dance Play chart. It was also included on DeBarge's "Rhythm of the Night" album released in March 1985.
So, how was Oricon doing in the month of October 1985? Here are No. 1, 2 and 4.
The Mood Kayo band Toshi Ito and Happy & Blue（敏いとうとハッピー&ブルー）formed up in the early 1970s and later came up with their enduring hit "Hoshi Furu Machikado" (星降る街角）in 1977. However, they actually had a predecessor group going back a few years. The name was only slightly different in that the group was known as Toshi Ito and The Playsmen（トシ伊藤とザ・プレイズメン）. As for that final word which doesn't exist in English, I couldn't find any romaji form so I have put it in as "playsmen" under the wild assumption that it was inspired by "playboy".
Even so, according to one Japanese blog, Toshi Ito and The Playsmen may have also originated from an earlier band known as Takami Shoji to Novelty Hawaiians（高見昌児とノベルディ・ハワイアンズ...Shoji Takami and The Novelty Hawaiians） in the early 1960s. Regardless of where they ultimately came from, The Playsmen made their debut in 1967 with what seems to have been a double A-side known as "Kitaguni no Hito/Kimi wa Doko e"（北国の人・君はどこへ...The Man From The North Country/Where Have You Gone?）.
Listening to "Kimi wa Doko e", this Minoru Endo-penned（遠藤実）song sounds like a mix between Mood Kayo and a wistful and mournful ballad about a man wondering about the whereabouts of a lost love. From what I've read in the comments below the YouTube video, the main vocalist was Yuji Mori（森雄二）, who would later create another Mood Kayo band, Mori Yuji to Southern Cross（森雄二とサザンクロス）.
Looking through Yahoo Images, The Playsmen put out at least one more 45" titled "Niigata Blues"（新潟ブルース）. According to J-Wiki, which had virtually nothing about this group aside from the fact that it existed before Happy & Blue came into being in the 1970s, it did take on an intermediate name of Toshi Ito & Blue Candle（敏いとう＆ブルー・キャンドル）before finally settling on its most famous incarnation.
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