The Works of Tsugutoshi Goto, Part 2（後藤次利）

 

Took a little break to refresh myself after tackling Part 1 of Tsugutoshi Goto's Creator article, and now I'll go for Part 2.

With all of Goto's bass work and provision of cool tunes for folks like Shinji Harada（原田真二）and Kenji Sawada（沢田研二）, the musician and songwriter has also given lots of music to various aidoru over the decades and that includes the first mighty aidoru supergroup, Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）, and its individual members. For example, one such song was "O-saki ni Shitsurei"（お先に失礼...Sorry In Advance）, which was composed by Goto alongside Yasushi Akimoto's（秋元康）lyrics. At one point, the two of them were known as a golden combination for songwriting, and "O-saki ni Shitsurei" was the Club's July 1986 5th single and a No. 1 hit for the group, thanks to the cute lead vocals by Harumi Tomikawa（富川春美）, Yukiko Iwai（岩井由紀子）, Tomoko Fukawa（布川智子）and Marina Watanabe（渡辺満里奈）, and that rockabilly arrangement by Goto. It ended up as the 69th-ranked single of the year.

Cue ahead twenty years and that golden combination was still working for another aidoru supergroup, AKB48. According to J-Wiki, there was a set list for Team A's 2nd Stage performance "Aitakatta"（会いたかった...Wanted to See You） in 2006 with one of the songs being "Rio no Kakumei"（リオの革命...Rio's Revolution）, a catchy dance-club type of tune. 

As I mentioned above, Goto also provided songs for the individual members of Onyanko Club including Sonoko Kawai（河合その子）. In fact, a number of her tunes were composed by Goto and some of them are represented on this blog along with her "Jessy no Higeki"（ジェシーの悲劇）. Over here, we have her second single "Ochiba no Crescendo"（落葉のクレッシェンド...Fallen Leaves Crescendo） released in November 1985. Once again, the golden combination of Akimoto and Goto were at work to provide Kawai with a surprisingly summery-sounding tune despite the title's hint of autumn. The song peaked at No. 2 and became the 54th-ranked single of 1985.

One interesting point that I discovered about Goto on his J-Wiki profile was that he had been known as The Aidoru Killer. The reason for such a fearful nickname was that he had "dared" to break the cardinal rule and actually have romantic relationships with the female teenyboppers. In fact, he first married Tae Tamai（玉井タエ）of the folk duo Simons (シモンズ). Then later on, he was wed to 70s aidoru Midori Kinouchi（木之内みどり）for a while before finally getting married in 1994 to the aforementioned Kawai.

But it wasn't just only the female aidoru for whom Goto created songs. He also composed and arranged for the male aidoru including popular 80s Johnny's group Shibugakitai（シブがき隊）. For them, he came up with "Sushi Kui ne!"（スシ食いねェ！）and over here, we have his "Samurai Nippon"（サムライ・ニッポン）, another rousing rockabilly-like number for the boys. Masao Urino（売野雅勇）came up with the lyrics for this hit which got as high as No. 3.

Goto delved a bit into enka as well here and there. He composed and arranged "Natsu Koi Bayashi"（夏恋囃子...Summer Love Band） for Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）with bit of extra guitar-led brio in 1998. The song was used for a Kincho mosquito coil commercial which does fit since those spiral insect repellants are as much a sign of summer as any local festival. Masao Urino（売野雅勇）came up with the lyrics.

My final song for the works of Tsugutoshi Goto, although it's obvious that I've only scratched the surface of his creations, is Mariko Takahashi's（高橋真梨子）"Apple City"（アップルシティ）. This was a track on Takahashi's 2nd album "Sunny Afternoon", and it was composed/arranged by the bassist alongside the singer's own lyrics. So, along with his ability with the enka idiom, Goto was also able to come up with some of that exotic kayo flavour for the late 1970s going into the new decade. I never got the impression that this was another tribute to New York City, especially with what sounds like a bouzouki in the arrangement. As such, I thought that this was a vacation through Greece.

To get a better idea of the breadth and depth of Goto's works, you can browse through the Tsugutoshi Goto file here or go through the deeper list for his songs on J-Wiki. I'm just going to go take a catnap before dinner.