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.
A couple of years ago, I posted Ray Parker Jr.'s"Ghostbusters" as a Halloween Reminiscings of Youth piece, so I figured that it was time for this one as well. Now I am well aware that Halloween is not a statutory holiday but merely an observed fun tradition but I'm still going to continue our KKP tradition of coming up with something spooky on the 31st or thereabouts.
I've known Michael Jackson's"Thriller" more for the epic video of around 15 minutes in length than for the original single that was released in the United States in January 1984. Never bought the album "Thriller" in my youth so the video was my introduction to the song by Rod Temperton which was produced by Quincy Jones.
The video was released in early December 1983 and the hoopla surrounding it was incredible to say the least. Even now, I don't think music videos that are a quarter of an hour in length are all that plentiful so you can imagine how the excitement was like back forty years ago. After all, this was the King of Pop Michael Jackson doing a horror-based music video with all of the special effects trimmings under the direction of John Landis of "Animal House", "The Blues Brothers" and "An American in Werewolf in London" fame, and yep, some of "Thriller" was inspired by that final movie. Anyways, folks were really excited to see the world premiere of the video on MTV, and we here in Canada were able to view it as well, probably via MuchMusic.
Because of the plot line of the werewolf and MJ taking home Ola Ray being interwoven into the song and dance, I'd say that "Thriller" could have even been called a very specific mini-musical around one tune, and man, that was some choreography. Now if zombies ever dance again anywhere in media, they would have to follow Michael. Of course, I can't ever forget Vincent Price's appropriately ghoulish narration and his gleefully evil laughter at the end.
Once the single came out, I remember that "Thriller" kept getting onto the top of the request charts for weeks upon weeks. Putting aside all of the Halloween sound effects, Price, and even Temperton's lyrics, the song is just one funky disco song released years after disco was supposed to have been exorcised from pop culture. The musicians supporting the song were all top-notch: Jerry Hey, Gary Grant, Larry Williams, and Bill Reichenbach on horns (all who have played on Japanese pop albums, too), along with Temperton and Greg Phillinganes on keyboards.
In Canada, "Thriller" the single made it up to No. 3 while hitting No. 4 in America. The countries where it actually topped the charts were Belgium, France, Portugal and Spain.
Now, what was coming out as singles in December 1983?
Last night, I wrote about P-Model's avant-rock"Zombi" which I found out about due to a commenter steering me to the Japanese Halloween playlist from university radio station WMUC a few days back. I'd like to throw in a couple of more songs.
One is guitarist Tsuyoshi Kon's（今剛）"Monster Mash" which has nothing to do with Bobby Pickett's novelty Halloween hit from 1962. In fact, the song is right from Kon's July 1980 solo album"Studio Cat" which I've already referenced because of my posting of the track "THINK ABOUT THE GOOD TIMES". I would say that the monsters here are probably sporting silvery metal jackets and skinny ties according to Kon's rock-sided AOR.
Meanwhile on the other side of the decade, Chickenshack put out "Godzilla on My Pillow" as a track for "Chickenshack V" from 1989. Created by jazz and R&B guitarist Junshi Yamagishi（山岸潤史）, the big green lizard is strutting through Roppongi on a wave of nuclear-fired funk that reminds me a fair bit of The Dazz Band. Let's Wang Chung tonight!
Well, Happy Halloween everybody! Wherever the holiday is being celebrated, I hope folks have been enjoying or have enjoyed their apple bobbing, trick or treating and whatnot. As I'm typing this, it's still the afternoon of October 31st so the kids going from house to house is yet to happen but I figure that the show will go on although it'll be a little chilly tonight. Of course, when I think of Halloween, there are the movies "Beetlejuice" and "Ghostbusters", but I also remember the old TV shows "The Munsters" and "The Addams Family".
Ah, as for Halloween J-Pop...I automatically think of Kyary Pamyu Pamyu（きゃりーぱみゅぱみゅ）. With all of the outlandish costumes, she's a natural for Halloween and I did post her 2015 "Crazy Party Night ~ Pumpkin no Gyakushuu"（ぱんぷきんの逆襲）a few years ago. Well, I was reading a "Japan Times" article earlier today and the reporter referenced an even earlier Kyary Pamyu Pamyu song that he felt may have helped out in the annual Shibuya Halloween masses (which were supposedly smaller this year due to ward intervention, although watching the YouTube streams haven't convinced me).
I'm talking about KPP's 3rd single, "Fashion Monster", from October 2012. As has been the case all along, Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）took care of words, music and arrangement for a song about being free to express oneself. Translating an excerpt from a 2012 interview shortly before the single's release, the singer and fashion icon talked about the protagonist in the song: "At first, he's seen as a monster feared by everyone, but it's a story about him freely expressing his feelings which leads to him becoming popular".
The music video by Jun Tamukai（田向潤）is a Halloween dream (or nightmare) come true, and it stands out to me for the fact that Kyary was actually cracking a smile back then. Another fun bit of trivia that I got from J-Wiki is that part of the arrangement by Nakata was inspired by Juicy Fruits'"Jenny wa Gokigen Naname"（ジェニーはご機嫌ななめ）from 1980. "Fashion Monster" peaked at No. 5 on Oricon, going Platinum. And in terms of its download rankings on the iTunes Electronica list, it ranked No. 1 in Finland, Hong Kong and Taiwan, No. 2 in Belgium and Thailand, No. 3 in America and Canada, No. 7 in France, and in Japan on the iTunes overall list, it also hit No. 1.
"Fashion Monster" was used as the commercial song for the Japanese discount casual wear designer GU, as well as a jingle for a Nissin yakisoba ad.
Did you know that Ichiro Fujiyama splurged on fancy cars after being royally paid for his undercover part-time work at Colombia Records? I certainly didn't. But I got to know this and other wild shenanigans Mr. Fujiyama was up to back then at an event called"Utaeba Tengoku" some time ago.
Utaeba Tengoku was a record appreciation event that revolved around ryukoka's leading man Ichiro Fujiyama (藤山一郎) and comedic star Roppa Furukawa (古川ロッパ). Hosted by early Showa enthusiasts Tadaaki Kitakawa (北河忠昭) and Taira Ozawa (小沢たいら), records from their personal collection were played on a 97 year-old gramophone in a little cafe off the streets of Jimbocho. Facilitating the show was veteran emcee Yuichi Hayashida (林田雄一).
Outside of karaoke recitals, I never knew there were public record appreciation and talk events that showcased enka and early Showa kayo until I found that community on Twitter. You can imagine my surprise when I saw the Utaeba Tengoku promos a few months back. Ryukoka being blasted in a public space among ryukoka fans? That's like a dream come true! BUT gone were the days of dive-in-head-first-think-later Noelle and I hesitated. After all, I'd only just begun to appreciate Mr. Fujiyama's works and I barely knew who Roppa was. I also knew next to nothing about the intricacies of SP records and gramophones, had no idea what an event like that would be like, and that's not to mention being daunted by the language barrier. But I figured that it'd be a good step-off point to try immersing myself in the community I knew existed but never knew where to find it. Plus, can't be bad to learn more about Mr. Fujiyama and Roppa, right? And so, with much internal and external convincing, I reserved my spot and headed for Jimbocho on the afternoon of September 17th.
I'd say that, in all, it turned out to be a great experience... Y'know, besides my brain blanking out at first and forgetting to do a self-introduction when the spiffily dressed hosts welcomed me into the cafe (Sorry, guys :')). That aside, the provided pamphlets were already quite something. There was the event's program, listing Fujiyama and Roppa's hits and hidden gems, then there was a reference materials booklet, filled with never-before-seen photos, news articles, and record lyric sheet scans from both artists. I think what floored me the most were the tables showcasing Mr. Fujiyama's record releases down to the minute detail. While I had seen event prep sneak-peeks over on Kitakawa's socials, I could not have imagined that it amounted to the said pamphlets in my hands. The amount of work put in was impressive.
"Utaeba Tengoku"
The main thing that puzzled me since seeing the poster was why this event revolved around Mr. Fujiyama and Roppa. Besides them being the respective favourites of Kitakawa and Ozawa, I couldn't see any connection between the singer and comedian. But, as it turns out, both artists crossed paths on multiple occasions: both were in the same record company (Victor) for a period of time and collaborated on various projects, from songs to films. One such collaboration included a song this very event was named after, "Utaeba Tengoku" (歌えば天国... Singing paradise) a light jazz ditty from 1941 that was sung with Akiko Futaba (二葉あき子) and was the theme song to the movie of the same name.
As for the show itself, the best way I could describe the show is that it was part record show-and-tell, part lecture, part natsumelo TV program "Natsukashi no Utagoe" (なつかしの歌声) or "Osakabe-Takehei Showa no Utagoe" (刑部たけ平昭和の歌声) podcast episode. I reckon other events like Utaeba Tengoku are of a similar style, but it did make for a rather bizzare experience for me in a good way - three things I tune in to separately converging into one. So Mr. Fujiyama's and Roppa's tunes were played in alternating fashion and according to year of release, each preluded by a brief (sort of) introduction and anecdotes the hosts dug up from the various books and resources.
"Oka wo Koete"
Hayashida's emceeing was the icing on top of the cake, his humour melting the ice and encouraging the nervous hosts. Occasionally, he even indulged us by rattling off the classic natsumelo program song intros to a few tunes. One such occasion was right at the beginning as "Oka wo Koete" (丘を越えて... Over the hill) blared from the gramophone and reverberated through the quaint, antique-filled cafe. This classic from 1931 is one of my favourites by Mr. Fujiyama, hearing it first with Hayashida's intro gave me that same feeling of excitement as when a tune you'd been hoping to hear starts playing on a TV program. Plus, it is the song to get the ball rolling for any program with its bright and chirpy melody. Considering this evergreen tune is an ode to the joys of youth, I felt that it aptly encapsulated the vibe of the event: 2 young folks eagerly sharing about the music and artists they love.
"Otoko no Junjo"
Many of the Mr. Fujiyama and Roppa anecdotes relayed were insane, but the most insane of them all (to me) was the former getting into a physical altercation with a taxi driver on the way to a music recording in 1936. When Fujiyama turned up at the studio, his head was covered in blood and he had to get patched up in the infirmary. What song was he to record at that time? "Otoko no Junjou" (男の純情... A man's pure heart/dedication) ... There is a twisted sense of irony in there and I'm here for it. That afternoon, my long-held impression that Mr. Fujiyama was the primmest and most proper singer out there flew out the window like my ability to follow social rules.
"Sensuikan no Daidokoro"
Let's not forget Roppa. This comedy legend, on par with Eno-Ken, was loved for his slap-stick comedy just as much as his witty song parodies and showcased his hearty vocals in many a tune during his career. This event served as my gateway to Roppa's amusing discography that happens to be steeped in social commentary. The Roppa ditty I enjoyed quite a bit was "Sensuikan no Daidokoro" (潜水艦の台所... Submarine Kitchen Song) from 1944. Roppa singing with such gusto made what would likely have been a dank and dreary place with food barely passing as edible sound like a homey shokudo.
After close to three hours (this was with Hayashida speeding things up), the show came to a close. It began with one of thenatsumelo intros, so it wouldn't be right to not end things off on one of thenatsumelo outros: "Aoi Sanmyaku" (青い山脈... Blue Mountain Range).
Oh - SS rare Mr. Fujiyama
"Aoi Sanmyaku"
Similar to our intro, "Aoi Sanmyaku" can be seen as an ode to youth, but it also spoke of forgetting the past and starting anew with everyone together, hand-in-hand. A very uplifting tune for its time and it seemed to have a firm position in the postwar collective consciousness as it was ranked 1st by viewer vote on NHK's "Showa no Uta Kokoro ni Nokoru Best 200 Kyoku" (昭和の歌 心に残るベスト200曲) back in 1989. Another feature of "Aoi Sanmyaku" and its role as the natsumelo program shime (ending) is that all the singers present have to be on stage and sing it chorus style. And so, to keep in tradition, we all sang "Aoi Sanmyaku" with Mr. Fujiyama and Mitsue Nara (奈良光枝). A fitting way to end a ryukoka-filled afternoon.
Overall, I enjoyed my time at Utaeba Tengoku and I think our young presenters and Hayashida put up a good show. I have to take my hat off to them. An event like this, though small in scale, helps to bring the spotlight on to a part of Showa era music that's quickly becoming sidelined in the current public and media discourse on "Showa Kayo" and "Showa Nostalgia." It's also admirable to have folks so passionate about what they love that they'd do extensive research and organize an event like this. I could never - wait a minute...
I also feel like I learned a lot not just about wild Fujiyama and gourmet Roppa, but also about what these record events are like. This has certainly given me more confidence to attend other like events should they pop up on my radar. Learning opportunities in all sense of the word aside, I wouldn't want to miss a chance to "see" some of the artists I enjoy come back to life for just an afternoon either.
I'm not really into zombie horror movies but I remember watching "Shaun of the Dead" at my friend's apartment in Jiyugaoka years ago and enjoying it. I give my thanks to Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.
Continuing from the playlist of the University of Maryland radio station WMUC's Japanese Halloween-themed episode that one commenter cottoned me onto a few days ago which begat my first post of Tulip's（チューリップ）"Koi no Dracula"（恋のドラキュラ）, I'm picking out another song. This time, it's eclectic electronic rock band P-Model's"Zombi" from their March 1982 4th album"Perspective".
Having only relatively recently found out about P-Model as one of the Techno Gosanke（テクノ御三家）, I was fully expecting to hear something synthy with "Zombi". Actually though, aside from the Art of Noise-like pounding drums, the song comes across more as a strutting minimalist rocker than technopop while vocalist and songwriter Susumu Hirasawa（平沢進）sounds like a grown-up version of Milhouse Van Houten from "The Simpsons". As the Wikipedia article on "Perspective" states, the album has been categorized as post-punk, industrial rock and no-wave, and I think "Zombi" fulfills that third genre although I can also agree with J-Wiki's description of the album as an experimental rock project.
Reading the Wikipedia article, I discovered that Hirasawa had recorded all of the drum parts in the recording studio stairwell for that natural reverb. Apparently he had quite the battle with the recording engineer but Hirasawa won in the end. Good for Hirasawa. Incidentally, kinda like yesterday's Yuming's（ユーミン）"Corvett 1954", P-Model opted to go for a mistaken spelling of the title. Whether or not Hirasawa had been aware of the proper spelling of zombie in the first place I'm not sure but I'll just go with what has been officially written down on the album.
The above is a photo of the classy Mito Station Hotel in Mito City. I stayed there for one night during my 2017 trip to Japan since I was returning from a brief anime pilgrimage in Oarai where "Girls und Panzer" was set. Hopefully, the management there didn't look too down upon me for showing any otaku tendencies.
Well, this song did give me some classy hotel vibes from long ago. This is "Koibito-tachi"(The Lovers) which was one of the few original songs on Hiromi Iwasaki's（岩崎宏美）first album of cover tunes from March 1979, itself titled "Koibito-tachi". Leading the album off, the title track is a silky-smooth melancholy song that has had me thinking about not only life in the city but the sophisticated aspects of the upper tax bracket lifestyle. In the song, a lady is pining for the love of her life but he's all the way off on the other side of the Pacific Ocean in Los Angeles. Maybe she's sighing breath prints on the window of an expensive hotel bar while sipping a cocktail in Tokyo. According to J-Wiki, the slogan for the album was "A romantic Europe for you...". OK, well, maybe it can also be a cruise liner in the Mediterranean.
The title track was written by Yoko Aki（阿木燿子）, composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）. Even by this point, Iwasaki was still being listed as an aidoru but dang, this is a pretty mature-sounding song. I had actually first heard "Koibito-tachi" on a 1984 compilation audiotape of her hits so I assumed that it was a more recent song.
In August 2019, Iwasaki released a self-cover album titled "Dear Friends VIII" which was a tribute to the songs of Tsutsumi who would pass away a little more than a year later. "Koibito-tachi" was also given a new contemplative bossa nova arrangement thanks to Hiroshi Uesugi（上杉洋史）.
Happy Halloween Eve! It's overcast and the temperatures are much more seasonal than they were at the beginning of October when it seemed like summer really wanted to stick around. Not complaining too much, although I think the kids will need an extra layer or two when they're out trick or treating tomorrow night.
Anyways to start off this transitional week from October to November, for the first time in over a couple of years, I have brought back the obscure sister act known as Milk with the Miyajima sisters, Ritsuko and Rie（宮島律子・宮島理恵）. The last time I posted anything by them, it was for their "HANASANAI", their 1988 contribution to the anime "Earthian"（アーシアン）. And like it, the B-side to Milk's 1987 EP "For A Week Story", "Manazashi ni I feel so love" (I Feel So Much Love in Your Gaze), has a goodly amount of City Pop in there.
I had to search for the original liner sheet from the EP on Google Images but at least I could confirm that Ritsuko was behind words and music; there is another person who helped out with the composition but I am unable to make out the kanji scratches. "Manazashi ni I feel so love" begins with some bopping percussion and rock guitar before a smooth urban arrangement of keyboards, thumping rhythms and the Miyajimas' echoing chorus of "I feel so love" fills the ears. The guy who flies in here and there is apparently singer-songwriter Hideo Saito（斉藤英夫）.
It wouldn't be too much of an exaggeration to say that Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）has had an influence on a good swath of bands and singers since the late 1960s. Of course, we can and have talked about his direct associations with Happy End（はっぴいえんど）, Tin Pan Alley（ティン・パン・アレー）and Yellow Magic Orchestra. And just recently, I discovered this other group that he was connected with during the mid-1980s called Friends of Earth or FOE.
With my memories not as solid as they once were, I have to say that I'm not sure how I found out about FOE...maybe it was through Scott's "Holly Jolly X'masu" or Rocket Brown's"Come Along Radio" podcasts. Regardless, the group had its start in 1984 centered around Hosono and musician/DJ Eiki Nonaka（野中英紀）of the technopop band Interiors with other members coming in and out such as Miharu Koshi（越美晴）and Sandii.
FOE released three 12" singles, a 7" single cover of James Brown's famous "Sex Machine" and a couple of albums. The first album was the May 1986 release of "Sex, Energy & Star" and I have here one track titled "In My Jungle", written and composed by Nonaka. The band has been categorized as a hip-hop group and I've yet to listen to the rest of the tracks, but I'm not sure whether I could treat "In My Jungle" as a hip-hop song. In fact, I'd say that this might come under the ethnic music stylings that Hosono's old YMO bandmate Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）loved to work with. I get some of that technopop but also those African rumbling rhythms and some doodling jazz on the piano. I know that Nonaka himself has commented underneath the 8-year-old YouTube video with information such as Koshi helping out on the piano and vocals, so if he ever finds out about this KKP article, I'd certainly invite him to give some commentary on this particular song and the rest of "Sex, Energy & Star".
As for FOE, they disbanded in 1987 after apparently Hosono himself had broken his leg in the snow in the tony district of Daikanyama in Tokyo soon after the recording of "Sex, Energy & Star".
One of the most intriguing album covers that I've ever seen from the world of Japanese pop music has been Yumi Matsutoya's（松任谷由実）1978 album"Ryusenkei '80"（流線形'80...Streamline '80）. That old-style automobile flying in the night sky over a seashore was daunting enough that I had to wonder whether it was simply begging for psychoanalysis. Was it reflecting the Japanese desire to travel beyond their nation's shores in the lap of luxury?
Well, that car is most likely the topic of one of the tracks in "Ryusenkei '80", "Corvett 1954". And yep, there are a couple of things about that title that the fans of the iconic Corvette may want to confront Yuming（ユーミン）over. One is of course the spelling of that title but that is how it was officially placed in the album. The other thing is something we have to go spelunking a little deeper into the J-Wiki article for "Ryusenkei '80". Apparently, Yuming had meant it to be titled "Corvett 1953" initially, after the first-generation Corvettes by Chevrolet that year but in the recording studio, the enunciation of that year didn't go smoothly at all so they just went with 1954. I read though that the actual 1954 models didn't do all that well.
All that aside though, "Corvett 1954" is the song that dreams are made of if folks crave of the calm, reassuring and domesticated well-to-do life as sung by both Yuming and singer-songwriter Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）. There is a bit of Bacharach and perhaps some of that 1950s commercial jingle in Masataka Matsutoya's（松任谷正隆）arrangement for this ménage à trois: a man, a woman and the Corvette. Just imagine heading back home leisurely late at night after a wonderful soirée or dinner party at the Andersons on Long Island while the babysitter has already put the kids to bed.
(5:13)
The word "ryusenkei" is included in Yuming's lyrics so perhaps "Corvett 1954" may also be the title track for the album to match the picture of the car on the album cover. In any case, "Ryusenkei '80" peaked at No. 4 on Oricon.
Do enjoy this video on the history of the Corvette from PD Evolution.
Happy final Sunday of October! Usually when we here in Toronto hear the term playmaker, we think of Mitch Marner of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Recently though, it's also referred to the ending theme for the late 2022 episodes of "Meitantei Conan"（名探偵コナン...Case Closed）. Yup, "Playmaker" is a collaboration between the vocal duo all at once and Yuudai Ohno（大野雄大）from the 5-piece song-and-dance group Da-iCE. Written and composed by Ra-U, it's been a pretty cool tune thanks to that thrumming underlying rhythm, and for some reason in my head, there's something nostalgic about the arrangement of the tune. One commenter for the music video below mentioned being reminded somewhat of Earth Wind & Fire.
I've only been hearing "Playmaker" in the past few weeks because the TV Japan broadcasts of the anime are about a year behind what's been showing over in Japan itself. Well, as the saying goes, better late than never. The duo all at once already has representation on KKP through their song "Macaron"（マカロン）.
Earlier this afternoon, Come Along Radio's Rocket Brown and I were taping the latest podcast based on my article on the arranger Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）. Once editing is done, it'll go up but you can check out some of the other podcasts that are already up on Mixcloud.
During the podcast, the trendy bohemian Tokyo neighbourhood of Shimo-Kitazawa（下北沢）came up in conversation. Just a bit west of Shibuya, it's kinda like the place for university students and those cool folks in their twenties. Although I was neither cool nor in my twenties, I've been in the area a few times and noticed the restaurants, live houses, bars and eclectic fashion shops. Strangely enough, it was also where I got to each Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki for the first time (you'll believe that a huge head of cabbage can be compressed down into an okonomiyaki).
Anyways in late August, I posted an article on a band called bridge which had its time between 1989 and 1995, and noted that it was the ideal group for Shimo-Kitazawa. Through their 1994 album"Preppy Kicks", they were able to cover pop, City Pop and Shibuya-kei. On their J-Wiki profile, they've also been categorized as a Neo-Acoustic band, and I gather that perhaps this particular song "He, She & I" would fit this label.
I would probably treat "He, She & I" as an indies pop tune although that intro had me thinking The Beatles' "Day Tripper". The song was actually a track on a December 1990 compilation album under the Polystar label titled "Fab Gear". It also included Fancy Face Groovy Name's"Love Is Yé-Yé (Looking For My Idol)" which I've considered to be a mix of pop and Shibuya-kei. However, "He, She & I" is a bopping and sunny pop tune which could accompany a couple on a Sunday stroll in good ol' Shimo. The song was written by vocalist Mami Otomo（大友真美）and composed by bassist Hideki Kaji（加地秀基）.
To wrap up, you can enjoy this video on Shimo-Kitazawa by Rosery Apparel.
Indeed, the annual bewitching hour is almost upon us. My community is supposed to be holding a brief Halloween party for the kiddies later this afternoon. Additionally, I gather that will be devoting some of the posts this coming Tuesday to Halloween-themed songs. Last night, I received a comment from a student at the University of Maryland last night that a radio station associated with his alma mater, WMUC, had devoted an episode to Japanese Halloween-themed music which was surprising and wonderful. My many thanks to that commenter for that playlist.
One of the songs that was on the WMUC playlist was Tulip's（チューリップ）"Koi no Dracula"(Dracula of Love). The B-side to the folk group's 15th single "Yakusoku"（約束...Promises） from October 1978, it's about as playful a pop song that I have ever heard from Kazuo Zaitsu's（財津和夫）wholesome band, and the whole Dracula thing is more analogous than literal. Therefore, there is no master vampire making blood withdrawals; the only stake being thrust anywhere is Cupid's arrow into some poor sap's chest on seeing a fetching young lady. Zaitsu was responsible for words and music. Good choice in starting KKP's annual Halloween thing with Tulip since it's been about a year since I posted about them.
Considering what I've just posted above, I couldn't help but be reminded of Frank Langella's more romantic take on "Dracula" from 1979. More familiar with his older and crustier character roles in recent movies, I've had to be reminded that Langella cut quite the dashing young figure in that movie.
"Gosenshi"（Music Paper） is a song that came out exactly 10 years after Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）had expressed the world of the "windy city" through Happy End（はっぴいえんど）. I feel that he brought together the complete transformation of the cityscape through his lyrics of "The ten years have been the same/Even the shadows of the city are coloured in dreams", and at the same time, that boy from his novel "Binetsu Shonen"（微熱少年...The Slightly Feverish Boy）* has all grown up. The sumptuous melody by Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）as well as the light swing arrangement has led to a marvelous work befitting the 10th anniversary of City Pop.
*Matsumoto's novel is a coming-of-age story that was first published in the mid-1970s and then made into a film in 1987.
Hi, J-Canuck here! Try out the scintillating cover by Abe himself.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
Well, being a Friday and all, I gather that a lot of folks are heavily thinking of hitting the nearest bar or hole-in-the-wall to celebrate the end of the work week with plenty of drink and hearty food. For some reason, I also muse about plenty of Latin jazz.
Guitarist and producer Masayoshi Takanaka（高中正義）has been serving his fair share of tonic since the 1970s. Within his 5th studio album"Jolly Jive" (December 1979), I have "Bamboo Vender" which has songwriter Takanaka also helping out not only on the guitar but also the steel drums while Izumi Kobayashi（小林泉）is on the keyboards. I don't really think of anyone selling bamboo poles while getting into "Bamboo Vender", but it's very pleasant hearing that rumbling Cuban jazz rhythm (if I'm wrong with my geography here, please let me know). My image is more of beach chairs, white sands and sipping cocktails.
With that December 1979 release date, I can only figure that those who had bought the original LP of "Jolly Jive" had some mighty big ideas about flying out of the cold and over to more tropical climes. I can certainly sympathize although as I'm typing this out, it's been unusually warm here in Toronto with the heat index in the low 20s Celsius.
The first time I heard "Daite (GET A CLUE)" (Hold Me), I figured that it must have been something from the late 1980s thanks to that specific type of funk done in a New Jack Swing style. Well, I was slightly off there; the song was a part of Wotako's（詩子）second of three albums"Yes" from June 1991.
Wotako reminds me of a couple of other female R&B singers from around the same time, GWINKO and Cindy. I gather that all three of them were embracing their Janet Jackson. Regardless, "Daite" is a snazzy affair with the beat and the sharp horns blasting away. It's too bad that I couldn't nail down who was behind the songwriting. The J-Wiki article for Wotako only lists in "Yes" that several big names were involved in the words and music such as Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）, Shun Taguchi（田口俊）and Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）.
From her mid-teens, Wotako, whose real name is supposedly Utako Kida（木田詩子）according to Mojim, began to learn jazz dancing and then set up an amateur girls' band before debuting with her solo single "Runner" in 1988. In addition to those three albums, she released a total of eight singles up to 1992.
I was just posting about Fujimal Yoshino's（芳野藤丸）50th anniversary in the music business with his "50/50 Fifty-Fifty" this past weekend, and now I'm additionally happy to hear about an earlier milestone.
One of Yoshino's old bands, AB'S, with Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）and Yoshihiko Ando（安藤芳彦）, brought out their 7th album, logically titled "AB'S-7", in September 2020. Listening to one of the tracks, "Stay in the Night", it sounds as if they had never left the 1980s. Written by Ando and composed by Yoshino, the song is an elegant form of City Pop as the video shows those sky-high evening shots above the metropolis. The vocals come across a bit more gruffly and gravelly but I think that adds more character although maybe the gang probably needed some Sucrets after recording.
Maiko Kawakami（川上麻衣子）is an actress who I've heard about over the years but didn't know that she had been born in Stockholm, Sweden to a couple of interior designers (no IKEA jokes, please). However, her family moved back to Japan when she was around a year old.
Another thing that I hadn't known was that she did have her time behind the recording mike. Kawakami released four singles between 1981 and 1983 along with three albums between 1982 and 1984. Her second album from June 1983 was titled "ÄLSKLING"; the title is Swedish for "darling". The video uploaded by mingumangu has the second and ninth tracks.
Track 2 is "Zanshou" (残照...Afterglow) which is some dreamy City Pop concocted by lyricist Kaoru Asaki（麻木かおる）and composer Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロ）with some smoky if not all that strong vocals by Kawakami. Track 9 at 4:27 is "Tsumetai Bed"（冷たいベッド...A Cold Bed） which picks up the pace a bit into a more mid-tempo tune with a hint of New Wave. Asaki also provides the lyrics here but this time, the composer is Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）.
One more song from "ÄLSKLING" is the first track"Kanshou"（感傷...Sentimentality） which also was Kawakami's 3rd single from July 1983. Just kinda wished that there was a recorded version of the song that had been written and composed by Ami Ozaki（尾崎亜美）and arranged by Jun Sato（佐藤準）.
This song is even more poignant when I consider that both Yuki Katsuragi（葛城ユキ）and Daisuke Inoue（井上大輔）are no longer around with us. "Gray no Asa ni"(On a Gray Morning) is a fitting power ballad as a B-side to growly Katsuragi's arguably most famous rock song "Bohemian"（ボヘミアン）from May 1983.
Written by Ryo Shoji（東海林良）and composed by the late Inoue as a duet involving Katsuragi and Inoue, "Gray no Asa ni" seems to be a elegy to a relationship and perhaps the beginnings of new hope in the future. Although there is still some rock in there, I think the melodic inspiration for the ballad also comes from some Motown soul. I like the song but at this point anyways, the sudden crescendo into an epic horn fanfare kinda goes a little too high into the stratosphere. However, if there were ever a joint tribute to Katsuragi and Inoue, this would be the ballad to send them off with.
I think when it came to the kayo kyoku of the 1970s, I can finally envisage at least two of the popular arrangements. One was perhaps derived from the Group Sounds wave of the 1960s: beefy bass, rollicking percussion and horns. The other one was less assertive and perhaps suited for ballads: what sounded like a harpsichord or celesta accompanied by those wistful strings and maybe a harp.
"Kayo Kyoku Plus" has shown plenty of examples of both over the years and I believe that this particular song is an example of the latter. "Hakurankai no E"(Paintings at an Exhibition) was performed by Rumi Asada（麻田ルミ）from Osaka Prefecture. Released as her 6th single in October 1974, the song is quite the quintessential 70s kayo kyoku by a female singer and it's delivered delicately well by Asada. Haruo Hayashi（林春生）was the lyricist with Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）composing the melody.
Asada has been categorized as an actress on her J-Wiki profile but not as a singer despite the fact that she released a total of nine singles between 1970 and 1979. Well, I guess putting out what basically amounted to simply a couple of songs per year doesn't quite a singer make. Born as Atsuko Asada（麻田淳子）in 1955, she first studied ballet as a child before getting a role in a TV drama in 1970. She then had a steady stream of work in television through shows such as "Mito Komon"（水戸黄門）and "G Men 75" before most likely leaving show business after 1979.
Writing the blog over the past couple of weeks, we've lost a few stars on either side of the Pacific. Stateside, Suzanne Somers passed away last week which I noted in the previous ROY article, and a couple of days ago, actor Richard Roundtree died at the age of 81. Roundtree played a lot of roles since 1970 in films and TV shows, but he will always be known as John Shaft, the private detective who was "...hotter than Bond, cooler than Bullitt". Roundtree and that movie were tied to each other at the hip, and I remember Eddie Murphy forever referencing him in his comedy routines on "Saturday Night Live" back in the 1980s.
I've only seen a few scenes of the original 1971 movie but I've only needed to see the first five minutes to find out what Shaft the detective was like. He walked through one of the most dangerous cities in America as if he intimidated it rather than vice versa. And that was one weaponized theme song for him by the late Isaac Hayes. Interestingly enough, the first time that I heard the funk-and-disco classic wasn't through the movie but when I was watching some kind of TV program where a bunch of scantily-clad female dancers were strutting their stuff to it. It worked for me but it didn't work for my parents who promptly yelled at me to get to bed immediately.
Perhaps to one generation, Hayes will always be famous for his role as Chef on "South Park", but for me, he's the guy who made and sung "Shaft" with his backup singers. The velvety tones of Hayes, the wacka-wacka guitar riff and then the rapid-fire bullets of horns near the end are what has made the song for me. It was released as a single in September 1971 and hit No. 1 in both the United States and Canada. It also won Hayes an Oscar for Best Original Song and a couple of Grammys.
This time around, I could only find one song that was released in the same month as the theme from "Shaft". My condolences to Roundtree's family, friends and fans.
Always amused by the Japlish that I've encountered and used over the decades. Take for example, the term "roadshow". Even when I was a kid, I didn't hear it all that much in conversation and my impression was that it was used to describe a band or an acting troupe performing out on the road with the destinations being the various municipalities, big and small. But in Japan, it wasn't a band or an acting troupe but actual movies. Basically it has the same meaning as "theatrical release". There was even a Japanese-language movie magazine that I bought occasionally with that very title.
Well, "Roadshow" also did find itself as a title for the debut single of the folk duo Furudokei（古時計）. I wrote about Hirokazu Ohba（大場弘一）and Masahiro "James" Nishida（西田昌弘）back in early September as my introduction of them on the blog. The calm and slice-of-life "Roadshow" was released in March 1976 with Kei/Megumi Itami（伊丹恵）as the lyricist and Tatsuo Yamamoto（山本達夫）as the composer, and it deals with a man admiring a young lady from afar at the local cinema one day.
I already let the cat out of the bag in the posting on their second single"Kisetsu Hazure no Soumatou"（季節はずれの走馬燈）, but "Roadshow" was Furudokei's big hit by selling 600,000 records and earning a few awards. The song also ranked in at No. 16 on Oricon.
As has been the case for the past few years, I'm betting that R&B/pop singer Misia will be finishing up the Red Team's contributions to the annual Kohaku Utagassen in a couple of months' time. We should be hearing the announcement on the lineup in a few weeks.
When I first came across this song by her last night, looking at the thumbnail, I'd assumed that Misia contributed her song to the NHK children's song vignette program "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）. I failed to look at "the fine print" a little more closely as I now know that the name there is "Minna no Sada"（みんなのさだ...Everyone's Sada）. In other words, I was looking at the cover of singer-songwriter Masashi Sada's（さだまさし） tribute album to commemorate his 50th anniversary in the music industry. The album came out today. I wouldn't be surprised if "Niji ~ Hero"（虹～Hero...Rainbow ~ Hero） were the song that she will perform on December 31st on NHK since it's the type of soulful showstopper that she's done in past editions of the New Year's Eve special and it's been written and composed by Sada himself, someone who's made his presence known on the Kohaku as well.
It's happened often enough before and I'm glad that it has, but this particular song has taken me down the rabbit hole because it has a pretty long history. So, allow me to go back. Misia's "Niji ~ Hero" was originally known as "Niji ~ Singer"(Rainbow ~ Singer) and a recorded orchestral version of the song performed by Sada himself was placed onto his June 2013 BEST compilation "Appare ~ All-Time Best"（天晴〜オールタイム・ベスト〜...Clear Sky）. Not surprisingly, his version is the type that can wrench tears out of a slab of granite. From what I've read on J-Wiki though is that an earlier version of Sada's performance first appeared on his multi-disc April 1994 live album"Nochi no Omoi ni"（のちのおもひに...For Later Memories）.
However, Sada had created "Niji ~ Singer" for veteran singer-actress Izumi Yukimura（雪村いづみ）to commemorate her 40th anniversary in show business back in 1994. With a similarly epic orchestra backing her up, it was the title track for her own April album "I'm a Singer". The arrangement is probably reminiscent of those appearances of pop singers back in Yukimura's early days as a teen on the televised music-variety shows such as "Yume de Aimashou"（夢で逢いましょう...Let's Meet In Our Dreams）, musicals back then, or even the early editions of the Kohaku Utagassen on which she appeared ten times up to 1989.
It's darn rare for me to put up a quartet of articles on a Tuesday and it's pretty darn unusual for me to post an article on a particular episode of any show, let alone NHK's "Uta Con". However, after having last week's broadcast of the kayo kyoku program cancelled on Japan TV because of all of the copyright concerns regarding Western musical tunes being covered in that one, we (and notably I) were given a memorable episode this week since a lot of the songs featured were ones that got me into this crazy musical world (and blog) in the first place. I just had to mention this episode and well, this is a blog after all. I can use it as a diary.
As I mentioned only some minutes ago in the previous article, there was the somber announcement that Yoshinori Monta（もんたよしのり）of Monta and Brothers had passed away on October 18th. However before and after that, I was able to catch a lot of the Japanese songs of my youth that got me interested in kayo kyoku, enka and all that jazz. A lot of it was powered by a tribute to singer-songwriter Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）with the appearance of the man himself along with guests EPO, Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）, Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）, Masaki Ueda（上田正樹）and Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）. In a way, it was like getting a sneak preview of that Hayashi tribute concert that will be happening in Tokyo on November 5th.
That was quite the wallop. I was watching "Uta Con"（うたコン）an hour ago and right after the opening act of Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）, the hosts solemnly reported that vocalist and songwriter Yoshinori Monta（もんたよしのり）of Monta and Brothers（もんた&ブラザーズ）had passed away a few days ago on the 18th. He succumbed to an aortic dissection at the age of 72. The stunning thing was that he had appeared on "Uta Con" less than a month ago for what I believe was the first time. I'm also posting this only some hours after writing on the tragic loss of vocalist Atsushi Sakurai（櫻井敦司）of the band BUCK-TICK.
For most people, Monta will be known for his band having the No. 1 hit of 1980, "Dancing All Night". However, what I have here tonight is his 4th single"Desire" which was released in October 1981. A City Pop tune with a bit of rock in there, it was written by Kazunori Sonobe（園部和範）who also goes by the name Rio Rinozuka（里乃塚玲央）. Monta came up with the urgent melody for the song about being thrown into the maelstrom of that titular emotion as it applies to that crazy thing called love. Of course, it wouldn't be a Monta and Brothers song without that distinctive raspy voice by Monta himself.
"Desire" peaked at No. 7 on Oricon. I have seen a lot of tributes from YouTube commenters toward Monta. My condolences go to his family, friends and fans. It's been a pretty poignant couple of weeks.
Although I realize that Sachiko Nishida（西田佐知子）had been singing (she's now retired) since the mid-1950s, I kinda pegged when this particular single of hers was released just from hearing the arrangement without knowing anything else about it.
"Namida no Kawaku made" (Until the Tears Run Dry) possesses that big downtown brassy sound with the beefy sax and rumbling percussion, so I figured that it must have come out in the late 1960s or early 1970s. Sure enough, it was released in December 1967 with the legendary Hiroshi Miyagawa（宮川泰）behind the melody. Shigeru Tsukada（塚田茂）provided the lyrics of a woman who's beside herself with desperate grief and hate over the impending death of her relationship with a paramour.
The song earned Nishida her 7th appearance on the Kohaku Utagassen at the end of 1967 and it ranked in at No. 27 on the yearly chart for the newborn Oricon in 1968.
There were a number of singers who covered "Namida no Kawaku made" including Mood Kayo specialist Keiko Fuji（藤圭子）. Fuji's version came out in 1973 and has more of a psychedelic rock buzz.
Last week, there was the news on the death of singer-songwriter Shinji Tanimura（谷村新司）, and now I have to unfortunately report on another departure from this mortal coil of another figure in the Japanese music industry. The announcement was made today on October 24th that the vocalist of the rock band BUCK-TICK, Atsushi Sakurai（櫻井敦司）, had passed away on the 19th from a brainstem hemorrhage during a concert that night. He was 57 years old.
Almost three years ago, I posted an article on BUCK-TICK's first major single"Just One More Kiss" which had been released in October 1988. It would be a little more than a year before their follow-up single "Aku no Hana" (Flowers of Evil) was released in January 1990. Based on "Les Fleurs du mal" by French poet Charles Baudelaire who was apparently a favourite of Sakurai's, the song seems to be the perfect theme for any isolated and angry goth shut-in or a rocking vampire.
Written by Sakurai and composed by guitarist Hisashi Imai（今井寿）, "Aku no Hana" became BUCK-TICK's first and only No. 1 hit although many of their other songs would get into the Top 10, especially in the early to mid 1990s. Selling around 300,000 copies, it would go Platinum and end up as the 52nd-ranked single of 1990. An album also titled "Aku no Hana" was released in February that year which hit No. 1 and became the 20th-ranked album, going Double Platinum.
My condolences go to Sakurai's family, friends and fans. Among the family that he has left behind is his son, Akutagawa Prize-winning author Haruka Tono（遠野遥）.
Noelle Tham has been our resident expert on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" on the older Showa era music for close to a decade now, so it was quite revelatory when I found out from her that the genre of enka only became known officially as enka in the early 1970s. The songs that I had known as enka from before that time had once been scattered among different genres before the great amalgamation took place, and then when everything was put under the enka umbrella, all those tunes were retrofitted as enka songs.
One such genre in kayo kyoku was madros kayo（マドロス歌謡）or "sailor pop" and sure enough, such songs were often about seamen shoving off to the great blue, leaving their loves behind. The Japanese predilection for gairaigo（外来語...foreign loan words） continued here as "madros" came from the Dutch or Flemish word for "sailor", "matroos". Some of the more famous singers sang madros kayo such as Takeo Fujishima（藤島桓夫）and his "Kaeri no Minato" (かえりの港) with the singer often putting on that old-fashioned sailor uniform.
I was watching another grand old episode of "Yoru no Hit Studio"（夜のヒットスタジオ）the other night when I came across enka singer Mineko Nishikawa（西川峰子）who I first wrote about back in 2016 with her 1974 hit "Anata ni Ageru" (あなたにあげる). She performed her own tribute to the sailors with "Mineko no Madros-san" (Mineko's Sailor) which was her 9th single from July 1976. A very happy-go-lucky enka song that fulfills the requisite of what an old madros kayo was, it's all about a sailor blowing a kiss to his girlfriend before heading out to sea. It was written by Yoko Yamaguchi（山口洋子）and composed by Kosho Inomata（猪俣公章）; there's nothing melancholy about this at all, and it seems as if the young lady is good with her boyfriend enjoying the marine life.
I'm not sure how well "Mineko no Madros-san" did on the charts but she did get her second invitation to NHK's Kohaku Utagassen to sing the song at the end of 1976.
