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.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Bring in one more into the menu tablet at the karaoke boxes! Got another duet for the older generation, and perhaps for those sunakku squeezed into Shinjuku, more opportunities for a shibui singalong.
But that's for now. The timing was probably not the best when "Tokyo City Serenade" by enka veterans Kiyoshi Maekawa（前川清）and Miyuki Kawanaka（川中美幸）was released in April 2020 when COVID was running roughshod over global society. However, the song and the accompanying music video were probably appreciated for providing what was awaited on the other side of the pandemic. Written by Chihiro Fuyumi（冬弓ちひろ）and composed by Yuhei Hanaoka（花岡優平）, "Tokyo City Serenade" has the emotion-plucking of enka, the bar-friendly rhythms of Mood Kayo and the sophisticated refinement of New Adult Music as the singers delve into the millions of stories that populate Japan's largest city.
At this point, I think I can honestly say that when it comes to fruits as part of Japanese band names, orange wins out easily. On "Kayo Kyoku Plus" at least, we have the Mixture Rock band Orange Range, the jazzy orange pekoe and the aidoru group Orange Sisters, and it's no wonder. There's nothing like orange juice to wake folks up with that citric tang!🟠
I don't do any sort of gaming but I have heard of Beatmania in which a player plies their ability as a DJ. Of course, there are plenty of songs to compete upon, and the 2002 "Beatmania IIDX 8th Style" included this one number called "Love is Orange" which is this fairly peppy James Bond-friendly jazz number sung in French (the genre is given as Hard Chanson). The newest orange addition to KKP was responsible for this distinct tune and they are known as Orange Lounge consisting of Konami game music composer Tomosuke Funaki（舟木智介）and vocalist Shizue Tokui.
A few years in 2005, Funaki released an album titled"Marble" (under one of his noms de guerre, TOMOSUKE) and from it, a slightly more languid version of "Love is Orange" was included. It still has some elements of that Bond jazz in there but I consider it more as a techno 60s French pop ditty. From the lovely French delivery of Tokui, one would think that the song is about a breezy footloose-and-fancy-free walk down Les Champs-Elysees in Paris, but the lyrics actually depict some nasty romantic breakup.
Well, the gloom outside has opened up into rain so we're getting plenty of that now. Mind you, it's been a while since we've gotten some precipitation so this should be a blessing.
Anyways, I have "Silent Rain" by singer-songwriter Chikaco Sawada（沢田知可子）. This was the coupling song to Sawada's hit single "Aitai"（会いたい）from June 1990. Written by Natsumi Watanabe（渡辺なつみ）and composed by the singer herself with arrangement by Masaki Iwamoto（岩本正樹）, hearing those keyboards gave me some instant nostalgia about how Japanese pop music sounded back a few decades ago. Although the subject matter of heartbreak is a bit of a downer, the music is pretty darn chirpy, especially compared to the far more wistful and melancholy nature of "Aitai".
Happy Monday! A bit gray and cool out there so perhaps something a bit more contemplative might be nice to begin the usual work week.
Before the amazing band Off-Course（オフコース）sold out arenas and stadia later in the late 1970s and early 1980s with their blend of pop and soft rock, Kazumasa Oda（小田和正）, Yasuhiro Suzuki（鈴木康博）and the rest of the Kanagawa Prefecture-based group were all about the folk. And considering the background behind their second single, one would think that "Yoake wo Tsuge ni", which is directly translated as "Calling the Dawn" but has been given the official English moniker of "Leaving All Behind", was The Off-Course's（ジ・オフ・コース）debut release (we also have to remember that there had once been a definite article leading the name of the band).
"Yoake wo Tsuge ni" was indeed the sophomore single from October 1971, and it was produced by singer-songwriter Tatsushi Umegaki（梅垣達志）who, according to the liner notes of the band's first studio album"Boku no Okurimono"（僕の贈りもの...My Gift to You） from June 1973, had managed to come across a demo tape from The Off-Course and liked the cut of their jib, so to speak. He believed that there was something more to this folk group. Also at the time, Oda and company were still cutting their teeth as performers in the music industry, so they were more than happy to give the songwriting reins to others if doing so could help them in the end. As a result, not only was Umegaki in their corner, but lyricist Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）and composer Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）along with arranger Nozomu Aoki（青木望）applied their sets of skills. I'm not sure whether "Yoake wo Tsuge ni" made the Oricon chart but not only does it feel like a proto Off-Course tune thanks to the familiar and reassuring vocals of Oda and the calm rhythms, it also reminds me of Woodstock, hippie pop and the folk/pop from California from the late 1960s and early 1970s. Yamakawa's lyrics talk of striding out into the future proudly amid Kato's sleepy melody.
The B-side is "Utsukushii Sekai" which literally translates as "A Beautiful World" but was released under the English title of "If You Really Love Me". This was Oda's first creation (words and music) to be put onto vinyl, so that in itself makes it a significant song for the fans, and like the A-side, there is that hopeful optimism going into the future but Oda also sings about taking those happy past memories and packaging those for another look later. The orchestra was definitely out in force and by the end, I got vibes of Richard Harris' "MacArthur Park" from 1967.
According to J-Wiki, neither song from the single was put onto an original album, although perhaps they might be on some of their BEST compilations.
Last week, we had been expecting to see the annual NHK "Osaka Melodies" broadcast, but a certain presidential election got in the way of that, so our viewing of it on Jme was summarily cancelled. I'd thought that was it for this year's opportunity, but thankfully, the Japanese streaming service was kind enough to rerun it earlier this afternoon.
As such though, I was a little disappointed that there wasn't as much of the old kayo kyoku although I understand that the times are a-changin'. As well, there was the annoying audio blockage of certain songs due to copyright. I have no idea why the "ParaPara Medley" was shut out with Muzak; there was nothing Disney in there!
However, there was one performance on "Osaka Melodies" that caught my ears, and apparently, this may have become a rival to Creepy Nuts'"Bling-Bang-Bang-Born" for catchiest J-Pop song and dance of 2024. Singer-songwriter and Internet personality Kocchi no Kento（こっちのけんと）came up with "Hai Yorokonde"(I'll Be So Glad To) as his contribution to Japanese society's discussion on the pressures that the average corporate cog has to endure before the inevitable snap occurs. As I said, the song dances and the dance sings, and the icing on the cake is the animated video by Kazuya Kanehisa（かねひさ和哉）which is an obvious love letter to the old manga and anime style from decades back.
Kocchi no Kento even put out an English-language version in July following the original's release in May, so his message is loud and clear to all those outside of Japan. "Hai Yorokonde" hit No. 7 on Oricon and it's attracted over 100 million views on YouTube. Again, what can I say about the dance? Maybe Kento will be on the Kohaku Utagassen list once that is announced in the next several days.
When I had my jazz binge, sometime in the middle of my long odyssey in the Tokyo area, I was absorbing a lot of artists in the genre including pianist Bill Evans and the legendary Miles Davis. Also, I encountered the wonderful partnership between jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt and violinist Stephane Grappelli in Europe and, I also assume, America.
Listening to "Thorn in Your Eyes" by Tokyo Hot Club Band, I got those Reinhardt and Grappelli feelings once more. I don't quite remember how I came across this swing jazz band in the first place since I bookmarked this song several months ago, but I have a feeling that it may have been through Scott's "Holly Jolly X'masu" podcasts. In any case, despite the terror of that title for their 1986 single, "Thorn in Your Eyes" is quite the pleasant number with the violin and the guitar playing off each other in what could be a refined club along the Mediterranean.
Tokyo Hot Club Band got started in November 1985 and consisted initially of producer Muneharu Uragami（浦上宗治）, jazz violinist Sadao Ohya（大矢貞男）and guitarist Kenichi Funayama（船山健一）, There have been a number of changes in the lineup but the band has been able to continue up to at least 2022.
It's now been one year since Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）died at the age of 73 on November 9th 2023. So, as I did with a couple of covers of her hits including Shiori Sasaki's（佐々木詩織）"Simple Love"（シンプルラブ）yesterday during Urban Contemporary Fridays, I would like to continue the tribute to the soul singer with the boomer voice by taking a look at her January 1988 album, "DEF", over two articles, beginning with Side A.
First off, allow me to apologize, since it might look like a couple of ghost hands are trying to strangle the lovely woman above, but thanks to my very unprofessional photography skills, the flash function also included my attempts to take the picture. In any case, "DEF" was Ohashi's first album after moving from Philips, which had been her label ever since she first began her career in the early 1970s, to Epic/Sony Records, and though the release isn't solely a City Pop album as we will hear, she and her fashion team really went down to town to get that "Vogue" look which makes her appear that she's ready to hit the streets of 80s Bubble Era Tokyo for some champagne and caviar...or maybe she's heading to the Kentucky Derby.
According to the liner notes, "DEF" stands for "Dream, Emotion, Fragrance", so I'm already getting that sophisticated night vibe. The first four tracks on Side A actually represent the Hokkaido singer's 22nd and 23rd singles from January and February 1988 which include the bright and Big City feeling of the first track "Nemurenai Diamond" (眠れないダイアモンド）, one of my very favourites by Ohashi. It was because of hearing this Camellia Diamonds commercial song on the "Sounds of Japan" broadcast that had me searching for the source album for a few years. I was able to track down "DEF" probably during my time on the JET Programme.
Strange thing, though. Although I loved "Nemurenai Diamond", the other tracks on "DEF" didn't spark the same emotion initially and so it stayed on the shelf for many years without me taking it out. I gather that I wasn't quite ready. However, I am ready now and have been smacking myself up the back of my head for not being ready early enough. By the way, unless noted, the main lyricist, composer and arranger on "DEF" are Goro Matsui（松井五郎）, Ken Sato（佐藤健）and Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）respectively.
Above is Track 2 and Side B to the "Nemurenai Diamond" single, "Aru Yoru no Wonder"（ある夜のWonder...A Wonder One Night）. Beginning with a sumptuous lone trumpet that would make the folks at Swing Out Sister swoon, the uptempo song keeps the good times of Side A rolling in Tokyo as a young lady contemplates the new love and life in the megalopolis. It's too bad that the album never came out with a list of the musicians but I wouldn't be surprised if the trumpet player was Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）.
Track 3 and Ohashi's 23rd single is "Futatoori no Kokuhaku"（ふたとおりの告白）is pure soul balladry...absolutely her wheelhouse. Not sure whether the translation would be either "Two Confessions" or "Two-Way Confession", but perhaps it really doesn't matter in the end, since both participants in a couple are slowly getting the gumption to make their feelings known to each other. I like how the pre-chorus melody shifts into minor-key doubt mode to reflect the kids' uncertainty about their love before the ship is back on an even keel. Nice solo with the urban guitar and the keyboards, too.
The next track and Side B to "Futatoori no Kokuhaku" is "Sayonara to Onaji Rain"（さよならと同じRain...Rain Like Goodbye）, a rhythmically propulsive song of lost love as Matsui's lyric of "an August rain" hints at the change of the seasons meaning the potential end of romance. There is a bit of Latin and disco strings, and we get to hear that amazing Ohashi boomer voice that I was surprised by when I finally got to hear her 1970s material.
The final track for Side A of "DEF" stands out since it's more of a pop/rock piece titled "Sasayaki ni Utaretai"（ささやきに撃たれたい...I Want to be Shot by a Whisper） with Hideya Nakazaki（中崎英也） handling the melody this time while Sato takes care of the chorus arrangement. Although I couldn't quite understand the lyrics here in their entirety, I did get an impression of another complicated time with love.
I realize that Ohashi had always kept her hair pretty short although obviously she never looked like a Marine recruit, but when I noticed that she grew it out a little for the album's back shot, I think she looked pretty darn hot there. Anyways, Side A is done. I'll have Side B up and running either next Friday or Saturday.
"Mizuiro no Wagon" (Light Blue Wagon) shows a guy coming across a car with a local number plate and then taking a short trip led by his heart to a nostalgic street corner via an expressway running through the city. The group, which was with CBS/Sony at the time, has a song strongly reminiscent of "Sunao ni Naritai"（素直になりたい）which was created by Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）, but it's also a number that feels like it was truly penned by the Hi-Fi Set（ハイファイセット）members. The gorgeous harmonies are there as usual, and Hiroshi Shinkawa's（新川博）arrangement which hits the key points is also splendid.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
Nothing like a postcard of love to and from the capital city of Japan. I still miss many things about Tokyo including the nightscapes and the many convenient aspects.
Looks like Ryusenkei（流線形）and the singer Sincere echo the same sentiments with their "Super Generation", the first track on the former's new album "Illusions" from July of this year. Written and composed by the chief representative from Ryusenkei, Cunimondo Takiguchi（クニモンド瀧口）, I noticed that the track doesn't have Sincere on the byline. Well, she's getting one here since she is singing the tune, for heaven's sake!
The video is indeed a visual love letter to Tokyo and the music has some of the disco from the 1970s along with some of the Japanese R&B feeling from the early 2000s (it has some Mondo Grosso vibes) while Sincere is sweetly singing away. As for Sincere, her management company has stated that she's a singer-songwriter who's into soul and was inspired by acts such as Prince and Arrested Development.
I introduced jazz singer Keiko Saijo（西城慶子）at the end of August and was instantly smitten by her refined and classy "Twilight Silence"（トゥワイライト・サイレンス）, the title track from her 1981 album when she was also exploring some of that City Pop. There is something quite Michael Franks about that one.
Well, from the same album, I give you "Otoko to Onna no Story" (The Story of a Man and a Woman) which has a bit more urgency and action. In fact, the intro is rather reminiscent of Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）"Grand Prix" on her "Aventure" album from the same year. Written by Mimi Yokosuka（よこすか未美）and composed by Hiromasa Suzuki（鈴木宏昌）, there's also a goodly amount of disco and funk powering this one as Saijo's vocals fly effortlessly through the air. I also gotta give my respects to the keyboard solo.
Continuing on from Akiko Matsumoto's（松本明子）cover version of "Tasogare My Love", I would like to also feature yet another loving tribute to the works of Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）. "Tasogare My Love" in its original form may have been more of a straight pop or kayo kyoku, but this next one is most definitely in the good-time City Pop mode.
In early 2023, music journalist Toshikazu Kanazawa（金澤寿和）launched the direction of an album compilation of City Pop covers called "City Pop Avenue ~ Paper Moon Project" featuring female singers who have taken the baton for the urban contemporary in recent decades. I'm pretty confident that the name of "Paper Moon" was taken from Ohashi's 1976 album of the same title and it's one of her covers that starts the album off.
"Simple Love" was Ohashi's 5th single from 1977 that seemed to highlight all that was cool and good about the night life in Tokyo. The disco times are back again (including the wacka-wacka guitar) for the cover version by Shiori Sasaki（佐々木詩織）, who has been on KKP before as a featured performer with the urban contemporary duo of Blue Peppers, and she sounds as smooth as butter. The arrangement isn't quite as brassy as that for the original but it does reflect how the urban sounds sound these days. Ohashi's husband, Ken Sato（佐藤健）, took care of the melody while Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）was behind the lyrics.
As well, back in 2022, I posted my own favourites by Ohashi so you can have a gander at those, too.
This is something that I've been planning for since earlier this year, but it's been almost a year since the Japanese music world had lost singer Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）on November 9th 2023 at the age of 73. I will be tackling her "DEF" album from the late 1980s tomorrow on the anniversary of her passing but since today is the day for the Urban Contemporary on KKP, I decided that I would also write about a couple of cover versions of her famous hits that I found in the past few months as a tribute.
The first one comes from an unlikely source. Although Akiko Matsumoto（松本明子）started out as one of the cheekier aidoru in the 1980s, I and probably most people have seen her more as a monomane artist and all-rounder tarento on television. But here she is, singing Ohashi's 1978"Tasogare My Love"(Sunset My Love) on her one and only album "Kutouten"（くとうてん...Punctuation Marks） from 2013 to celebrate at that time her 30th anniversary in show business..
For a lady who's known for her vocal and physical wackiness on the tube (although I got to see a much more down-to-earth side to her when I met Ms. Matsumoto in person years ago), her take on "Tasogare My Love" was surprisingly heartfelt and assured. The original song has been given a bit more of a bossa nova ballad arrangement here and Matsumoto's delivery is suitably relaxed. Overall, though, I shouldn't be too surprised at a comedian covering one of the old kayo kyoku since last year, I covered another comedian doing the same with a City Pop tune. As was the case with the original, Yu Aku and Kyohei Tsutsumi（阿久悠・筒美京平）were responsible for words and music respectively.
As an aside, "Telephone Number" by Ohashi was covered by Junk Fujiyama earlier this year in his album "Shoukei Toshi ~ City Pop Covers"（憧憬都市）, so take a listen to that one, too.
Well, let's see...Ann-Margret started off the article for "Begin the Beguine" when I posted it a couple of days ago, and now she's launching this article for "Bye Bye Birdie". I guess out of courtesy then, her name is gonna have to be entered into Labels, especially when I'm planning to have her spearhead a ROY article sometime in the foreseeable future. Welcome aboard, Ann!
In any case, I remember this movie showing up one lazy Sunday afternoon on one of the Buffalo affiliates and it starts off with Ann-Margret's Kim MacAfee singing her heart out for the titular theme of the 1963 comedy "Bye Bye Birdie". Couldn't get more lovelorn bobbysoxer teen than Kim as she vocally pines for her idol, Conrad Birdie. Didn't see the movie end-to-end so I didn't know that a slightly more grown-up Kim sings the theme again to end things.
Back in the 50s and 60s, the earliest aidoru, whether men or women, were usually covering Japanese-language versions of the American and British pop hits. As such, "Bye Bye Birdie" got its cover out in October 1963 and it was recorded by a teenaged Mie Nakao（中尾ミエ）as she also belts it out of the stands. Unfortunately, I couldn't find out who had taken care of the Japanese lyrics.
To emphasize how much time has flown by since Nakao provided hits such as "Bye Bye Birdie" and "Kawaii Baby"（可愛いベイビー）, she's now 78 years old (and still plenty feisty). I actually saw her last night on an NHK edutainment show focusing on senior citizens with the theme being on shared houses. Somehow, I'm not sure if I can really imagine her sharing a house with anyone, though.
Admittedly, I'm beginning the KKP Xmas season a tad early but it's just for this song and I won't be officially getting into Christmas season until November 25th.
About a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned Scott's podcast,"Holly Jolly X'masu", regarding Masamichi Sugi's（杉真理）1997 compilation"Winter Gift Pops" from which I posted one of the tracks, Miwako Saito's（さいとうみわこ）cover of "Anata dake I Love You"（あなただけ I LOVE YOU）. The album itself may have that feeling of enjoying the wintry life but it isn't specifically Xmas-based for all of the tracks, according to Scott.
Case in point, we have another track which shows up at about 26:57 on the podcast titled "First Flight", a bubbly duet with Caoli Cano（かの香織）and Hiroshi Takano（高野寛）. One reason that I got impatient enough to put this one up is that neither Cano nor Takano have popped up all that much on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", so I wanted to further add to their files on the blog. Written by the two singers, composed by the aforementioned Sugi and Kiyonori Matsuo（松尾清憲）and arranged by Yasuharu Ogura（小倉泰治）, "First Flight" dances on the line whether it's a Xmas tune or a general winter tale of cool and breezy romance punctuated by the appearance of an aurora. Regardless of that short argument however, it's the story of two friends meeting up for the first time in a while and having the time of their lives with the potential promise of a more permanent relationship.
You can take a gander at my first article for Cano for her song "Gensou Game"（幻想ゲーム）. Cano also contributed another track to "Winter Gift Pops" but unfortunately it hasn't shown up on YouTube, so I'm glad that at least "First Flight" is available. As for Takano, he's also done another winter-themed duet which got out several years earlier with Takao Tajima（田島貴男）, "Winter's Tale ~ Fuyu Monogatari"（冬物語）.
Welcome to the regular weekly Reminiscings of Youth. Back in May, I wrote one ROY on Seals and Crofts'"Summer Breeze", an early 1970s soft rock hit that was suddenly used in a drink commercial earlier this year. And of course, me being all about the nostalgic music, I was quite happy that an oldie could be dusted off to a new generation even if for a TV ad.
Cue ahead a few months, and lightning has struck twice. Recently, the household goods store in my nation, Canadian Tire, has dusted off its own oldie-but-goodie that I used to hear on AM radio all the time, Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now" from July 1976. The ad has a good dollop of bittersweet humour as Canadian Tire staff wipe a tear but smile in happiness as their favourite products get bought up and taken to their forever home while songwriter Peter Cetera croons away.
When I was hearing this on radio as a kid, I first noticed the French horns and strings, and I categorized it with my limited musical knowledge of the time as "fancy music". There were quite a few of these French horn-laden songs popping up in the 1970s. Nowadays, something like "If You Leave Me Now" would be considered to be 70s soft rock. Ironically, considering how beloved it seems to be now because of the Canadian Tire commercial, I remember the intro for this song popping up on a hard rock radio station ad and being treated as something like the Antichrist.
"If You Leave Me Now" didn't leave the radio-listening public for quite a while as it hit No. 1 in both the United States and Canada along with nations including Australia. It also won a couple of Grammys and by the middle of 1978, it had sold 1.4 million copies just in America alone. This might be Chicago's first ROY article but the band has popped up before on KKP due to "Street Player", the band's disco dance tune.
Well, couldn't find enough kayo kyoku from July 1976 so let's go with June 1976 in terms of what was being released at around the time of "Ai aru Wakare"（愛ある別れ）which is the Japanese translation for "If You Leave Me Now" when the single was being released over there.
Usually when it comes to Osaka, my image will go to loud and boisterous people with plenty of tasty food in many restaurants. But then when it comes to music, especially the kayo kyoku stuff, it often but not always brings out the tenderhearted feelings in folks.
Case in point is "OSAKA ~ Yuugurete" (Osaka at Dusk), the coupling song to the November 2021 single by singer KANA, "Dare yori Itoshii Hito"（誰より愛しいひと...Someone I Love More Than Anyone Else）. KANA is a singer that I first mentioned back in 2019 with a February single from that year, "Shiokaze no Machi"（潮風の街）which is more along the lines of a contemporary Mood Kayo.
"OSAKA ~ Yuugurete" has a sweeping arrangement to Hirokazu Kobayashi's（小林宏和）original melody accompanying Chihiro Fuyumi's（冬弓ちひろ）lyrics. It pretty much demands that a recently heartbroken lady strides over to the nearest river in Osaka and cries under the moon. I probably would have preferred real strings instead of the synthesized version heard here, though.
One thing that I didn't mention about Kobayashi, who had also composed the aforementioned "Shiokaze no Machi", in the first article is that he is actually KANA's older brother. Back in their high school days, she used to sing over Kobayashi's music on his demo tapes which finally got her noticed, leading to her debut in the late 1990s.
Welcome to another Hump Day on KKP. Readers might be feeling a tad worn out by this point, so perhaps one of the tunes put up today may apply some aural salve to your ears.
Generally speaking for me, covers of songs have been fine but they rarely outdo the originals. I think that would also apply to Miki Nakatani's（中谷美紀）version of "Natsu ni Koi Suru Onna Tachi"（The Women Who Love In Summer), a cover of singer-songwriter Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）original from her October 1983 album"Signifie". As I mentioned in the article for the album many years ago, there was a grand Gallic flair with this summery pop song as if these women in the title were having the time of their lives in the south of France.
Nakatani's version can be found in her 1999 album"Shiseikatsu"（私生活...Private Life） with original arranger Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, fellow technopop composer Kazuhiko Maeda（前田和彦）and Hidekazu Hoshino（星野英和）helping out on this new arrangement. This new take on "Natsu ni Koi Suru Onna Tachi" goes slightly further into the technopop with enhanced loopiness and a faster tempo. Maybe the protagonists here are female holograms.
Interestingly enough, I only found out by scrolling through the J-Wikiarticle for "Natsu ni Koi Suru Onna Tachi" earlier today that there was another cover done much later by Tomoyo Harada（原田知世）for her May 2016 album of covers, "Ren'ai Shosetsu 2 -- Wakaba no Koro"（恋愛小説2 -若葉のころ...Novels of Love 2 -- During Our Salad Days）. And this time, the cover version goes into the other direction...that is, without any synthesizers or other overtly blippy electronic equipment involved and brings in the tenderhearted strings for a much slower and contemplative Fashion Music take. Guitarist and music producer Goro Ito（伊藤ゴロー）arranged things here.
"Begin the Beguine" is the old standard that was concocted by the legendary songwriter Cole Porter back in 1935, and its various iterations have been with me since I was literally a baby. For one thing, the sultry nightclub-friendly Ann-Margret cover with a touch of bossa nova in its jazz (although a beguine is a form of slow rhumba) was on that RCA Victor "50 Years Of Hits In Stereo" set that my parents had gotten along with the stereo.
Since then, I've also gotten familiar with Julio Iglesias'1981 take on "Begin the Beguine" which was arranged in the disco fashion although disco was pretty much dead (or hibernating) by that point, I gather. The song even made its way onto NHK's 1983 edition of the Kohaku Utagassen when both Red and White teams got together for their usual kick-out-the-doors musical tribute. Porter would have loved it. Too bad that it hasn't gotten onto YouTube.
Entertainer Akira Nishikino（錦野旦）, who I've known primarily for his 1971 hit "Sora ni Taiyo ga Aru Kagiri"（空に太陽がある限り）, followed Iglesias' Latin disco style and recorded his own Japanese-language take on "Begin the Beguine". This was Nishikino's 27th single from June 1982 with Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）providing the Japanese lyrics and the great Katsuhisa Hattori（服部克久） arranging everything pretty closely to the Iglesias version.
With all of the talk on the song-and-dance group Atarashii Gakko no Leaders (I'm wondering if they will be invited to the Kohaku Utagassen again in a couple of weeks), KKP friend and writer JTM and I were thinking that main vocalist Suzuka with her Wild Child ways would be the one to break out solo first. I can easily imagine her to be the Reiwa era version of Jun Togawa（戸川純）tackling the musical and grand theatrical in one fell swoop.
It's been a long while since I posted anything by Togawa incidentally, so I figure it is time to get this wild child of the 1980s back up. Up to now, I've covered some of her material under her own name but from 1987, she became identified with her new band YAPOOS, and in December of that year, they released their debut album"YAPOOS Keikaku"（ヤプーズ計画...The YAPOOS Plan）. And from that album, the first track was "Barbara Sexeroid", a jangly and jazzy technopop tune with hints of 80s New Wave and 60s secret agent soundtrack. The title character sounds almost like a heroic character with her own show as she boasts her android programming in multiple techniques and a broad way of pleasuring (and yes, I know I'm paraphrasing Lieutenant Commander Data whose TV show premiered only a few months before the release of this album).
Togawa came up with the lyrics while Yoichiro Yoshikawa（吉川洋一郎）came up with the melody. The website "Jun Togawa Forever" did come up with its own brief description of "Barbara Sexeroid", and apparently the song was created to convey the image of what YAPOOS was all about.
Ladies and gentlemen, it's been a most interesting November Monday on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" as I've posted a couple of ROY articles to Jack Jones and Quincy Jones due to their recent departures, and now for the first time since June this year, we have a new All-Points Bulletin for a rash of songs. Of course, we have the official image up for an APB: the apple pie.
Jeff Song contacted me yesterday to see if I could identify the original singers for the above Chinese covers of Japanese tunes via an old compilation tape that he had come across. He was able to identify the singers for some of them except for six tunes. One of the six samples that I received was actually a cover of the Asami Kado（門あさ美）song "Season" but unfortunately the other five are unknown to me although they seem to cover the City Pop/pop range. So, I'm now passing on the task to you viewers to see if you may be able to identify these mystery songs.
On that note, I have to congratulate the successful conclusion of a long quest to identify what was known as The Most Mysterious Song On The Internet which is now known as "Subways of Your Mind" by FEX. Perhaps this might give Jeff and everyone some inspiration.
November 9th 2024 Update: Jeff was able to find out the original songs for the above covers through Netease, so allow me to share them with you.
A2 is a cover of 恋のエピローグ by 下成佐登子 (Satoko Shimonari)
A3 is a cover of 涙のソリティア by 石川優子 (Yuko Ishikawa)
A6 is a cover of Fly Away by 八神 純子 (Junko Yagami)
B1 is a cover of 恋舟 by 永尾美代子 (Miyoko Nagao)
B5 is a cover of 渚でFu-wa Fu-wa 下成佐登子 (Satoko Shimonari)
Glad to hear that another mystery has been solved.
Quincy Jones (1933-2024) from the LA Times via Wikimedia Commons
Now that I've put up a rare Monday Reminiscings of Youth article just now and I'm going to do the same here, people must be wondering why I've gone all ROY on KKP. Well, one excuse is that it is a national holiday in Japan known as Culture Day. I don't usually include Japanese national holidays when I do the special holiday version of ROY, but for today I'm making an exception due to the passing of a couple of music figures in my life.
I've already posted one on singer Jack Jones and now we have here a tribute to Quincy Jones, one of the most prolific and successful songwriters and music producers the world has ever known. His file on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" is already fairly large thanks to entries such as his phenomenal 1981 album"The Dude" and his collaborations with Michael Jackson, including the album "Thriller".
Jones had already been in the music business for several years since the 1950s when he released his first single in 1962, "Soul Bossa Nova". Sound familiar?
If it does, you are probably one of the many folks who caught any of the "Austin Powers" movies with Mike Myers. One couldn't have asked for a more Swinging 1960s tune to accompany the British spy and his fellow dancers. The give-and-take between the flutes and the horns is truly groovy, baby!
Probably, though, for a lot of us Canadians, hearing "Soul Bossa Nova" as part of an "Austin Powers" movie was nostalgically surprising than revelatory. That's probably because we had heard it before...as the theme for the Canadian game show "Definition" with Jim Perry throughout the 70s and 80s. I certainly had no idea about what the title was and what its pedigree was...just knew it as the theme from "Definition" and it was probably the biggest thing that I can remember about the show.
According to Wikipedia, "Soul Bossa Nova" was also a track on Jones' 1962"Big Band Bossa Nova" album and apparently it took no more than twenty minutes for the composer to whip up. I had no idea that Lalo Schifrin, the master behind the themes for "Mission: Impossible" and "Mannix", was the piano player on "Soul Bossa Nova".
I know that Jones left this world a very elderly man at 91, but it's still a big void that he's left in music and we can be grateful at least that he's left this huge legacy of music from movies, television and the recording booth. My condolences to his family, friends and millions of fans.
"Soul Bossa Nova" was released in December 1962. Therefore, why not have the last three performers on the White team from NHK's Kohaku Utagassen that year show up?
In last week's ROY article, I gave tribute to Teri Garr, the offbeat comic actress who had been in movies such as "Young Frankenstein" and "Tootsie". I'd also been aware that a singer passed away back on October 23rd and this morning, I discovered that one of America's greatest record producers and composers had left this mortal coil yesterday. The coincidence here is that both men had the same last name.
A few decades before our own family would partake in a few cruises ourselves, we used to watch ABC's "The Love Boat", an hour-long comedy-drama involving the cast and passengers aboard the Pacific Princess and any romantic hijinks which ensued. Every week, we would see a fairly long lineup of entertainers from old and new Hollywood make their way onto the Lido Deck.
There had been the first couple of made-for-TV movies before the series began its nine-season run from September 1977. Of course, when it became a regular weekly series, a theme song was needed and so Charles Fox and Paul Williams came up with this frothy, adventurous and optimistic song called "Love Boat", to be sung by pop and jazz singer Jack Jones whose career started in the late 1950s.
Jones will always be tied to the "Love Boat" theme for most people. Although the show started in the fall of 1977, the single version of the song wasn't released until 1979. If anything, this single version goes even more disco with that wacka-wacka guitar (I can see Isaac the bartender hitting the floor hard now). There have apparently been many covers of the song over the years, but for me, it'll always be Jones inviting listeners to come aboard. He may have even performed the song on a real cruise liner.
As I mentioned above, a lot of stars passed through the Pacific Princess, including one very young Tom Hanks. The other man in the scene, purser Gopher Smith was played by Fred Grandy who would gain further stature by becoming a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa. My condolences to Jones' family, friends and fans.
So, when "Love Boat" hit TV screens in September 1977, what was hitting the Top 3 on September 26th that year?
Had the above photo of Kayo Grace and Mr. Calico picking apples for another article but forgot the opportunity to put it up, so I've decided to just post it up here. I figure that even in November, there are still some more apples to be harvested.
Ironically enough, this is a summer tune. Yes, although we officially went back to Eastern Standard Time from Daylight Savings Time overnight, thereby deepening the stamp that we are definitely in autumn and the days are getting shorter, I'm still doing a summer tune. But, mind you, summer has been unusually stubborn in 2024. We're still getting days of temperature in the low 20s Celsius so the season is being dragged away by its fingernails.
Anyways, I offer you "Sunburn" by the rap duo chelmico, the first track on their September 2024 EP"ati natu ep". Written and composed by chelmico's Rachel and Mamiko with Yazzy Beats also helping out on the melody, the ladies are still spitting those words out at a goodly amount of speed but it's a little more chill and resort-like rather than downtown alley. Certainly, the music video looks like Rachel and Mamiko were taking the kids out on a luxury field trip.
I heard about this New Wave duo called Salon Music some weeks ago via a "Holly Jolly X'masu" podcast and I've already bookmarked one of their Christmas contributions, so I'll cover that probably in December once KKP gets into its Xmas mode once more.
But for today, I thought that I would introduce Salon Music and one of their conventional tunes first. Consisting of vocalist and bassist Jin Yoshida（吉田仁）and vocalist and keyboardist Hitomi Takenaka（竹中仁見）, Salon Music formed during the rising days of New Wave in 1980. They've never broken up officially and up to 2011, they have released 17 albums and an unknown number of singles according to their J-Wiki profile.
One such single is their July 1983 release "Duet ni Muchuu"(Wrapped Up in Duet). Written and composed by Takenaka, right from the get-go, I can hear and feel the New Waviness and perhaps even see her and Yoshida doing an appropriate dance on the floor. In fact, the dance I'm thinking about is the one that Jane Wiedlin and Ron Mael from the band Sparks did in that music video "Cool Places", also from the same year (coincidentally, Salon Music opened up for Sparks in 2001). "Duet ni Muchuu" is definitely short and sweet at a shade over 2 1/2 minutes.
Not sure whether Takenaka did any solo work outside of Salon Music but Yoshida has gone onto producing the works of other acts including Flipper's Guitar（フリッパーズ・ギター）from 1990.
I've been to the city of Kobe three times in my life and one of my regrets is that out of those three times, I don't think I've ever taken any great pictures of the Kansai metropolis outside of some shots of the Portopia Hotel and Port Island. It is a picturesque city, though, with areas such as Sannomiya Station, Chinatown, Kitano Ijinkan and Kobe Port Tower.
It was only a little more than a month ago that I posted the late singer-songwriter Yoshiaki Ohuchi's（大内義昭）1990"Zero de Hajimaru Number"（ゼロではじまるナンバー）, a City Pop/rock song. Well, he also put out something a little different around five years later in 1995 titled "City Kobe". According to his J-Wiki article, the song had already been ready to release on January 18th that year as this refined love song to the city, but then the preceding day, the Great Hanshin Earthquake wreaked havoc in Kobe and the surrounding area. That day was a day off for me from work and when I turned on the television, every station was focused on the devastation. At first, the grogginess from waking up had me wondering for several seconds about what the heck happened before it finally dawned on me that a major disaster had occurred a few hours earlier. It was such that I called up my relatives in Osaka to see if they were fine.
Getting back to "City Kobe",Ohuchi's song took on a more important meaning and outside of the first batch of singles, any future issues of the CD included some catchphrasing encouraging support for Kobe. "City Kobe" was written by Yoshiro Yashima（八島義郎）and composed/arranged by Ohuchi. For the most part, I would call it a refined New Adult Music creation with some underlying enka feeling and sophisticated pop strings but Ohuchi also decided to throw in some old-fashioned exotic kayomeasures for good measure, perhaps to reflect the international nature of the port.
As I mentioned in my very first article featuring Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）, she was one of the first Japanese pop singers or aidoru that led me into the wonderful world of kayo kyoku during and following my trip to Japan in 1981. The reason for this was her huge hit "Machibuse"（まちぶせ）which was reaching all of the radios, record stores and music programs that year.
Well, as I always say, let's not forget those B-sides. Yes, incredibly enough, "Machibuse" still had a B-side and though it probably didn't have much reach beyond the big Ishikawa fans, it's still a pretty nice number. "Natsukashiki Refrain" (Nostalgic Refrain) isn't the pure pop of "Machibuse" as created by Yumi Arai（荒井由実）years previously. It's more along the lines of the 50s or 60s style of girl pop that was also pretty popular at that time. Written by Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）and composed by Kingo Hamada（浜田金吾）, the story is of a young lady reminiscing of a past romance after she sees the decrepit remains of a poster from a concert that she and her now ex-beau had attended a long time ago.
The lyrics by Yamagami are definitely nostalgic but now that we're looking more than forty years back, Hamada's music has also added to the sepia-toned nostalgia. Kinda wonder how Ishikawa herself is thinking about her time as one of the most popular singers back in 1981.
"Manhattan Bridge ni Tatazunde" is not simply a stoic rock tune; it also shows Motoharu（佐野元春）at his most charming whenever he sings this sort of romantic love song. The combination of his tough voice and the Spector-like pop sound is also marvelous. Along with his remarkable abilities as a melody maker, there is a lively sense of reality within the "city" that occasionally displays a cynical view that is difficult to express as a professional lyricist.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
Midnight in Japan for me was illustrated by a tired old English teacher finally reaching his apartment past 12 am after a long commute from the other side of Tokyo back to Chiba Prefecture. My neighbourhood in Ichikawa City was relatively dark although there were street lights, but it was quiet and completely safe. Plus, my two wonderful vending machines just a few metres away from the steps to my home always greeted and plied me with cold drinks.
I would also think that a song and a final album track titled "Midnight" would offer the same sort of deal in the form of a ballad. However, on singer-songwriter Machiko Watanabe's（渡辺真知子）album "Fog Lamp"（フォグ・ランプ）from November 1978, that wasn't the case at all. It is actually quite the spirited finish to Watanabe's 2nd original album with its disco and City Pop showing off some type of action-thriller aural piece. There's probably a car chase squeezed somewhere among the notes woven together by Watanabe herself.
Just a few minutes ago, I had finished off the latest Yuko Asano（浅野ゆう子）1970s disco tune "Potsuri Potsuri"（ぽつりぽつり）. Lyricist Akira Ito（伊藤アキラ）and arranger Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）had their hands in that one, and so they did with this one, too. "Midnight" also shares track space with Watanabe's "Blue" on the album.
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