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.
This song is due to be a Yutaka Kimura Speaks entry in a few weeks so I decided to jump ahead of it with my own take. Honestly speaking, I hadn't heard of this one by singer-songwriter Hiroshi Takano（高野寛）but it has been included in the Top 100 in "Japanese City Pop", so I had to take a gander, especially with the late Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）handling its arrangement.
"Yume no Naka de Aeru desho"(We Can Meet in Our Dreams) had actually been meant as a Takano contribution to the vocal group The Kingtones（ザ・キング・トーンズ）as one of their singles, but as circumstances permitted, it ended up getting out as a Takano single in October 1994. Sakamoto and Takano have made it an early 1970s soul single and I can also hear why the latter had wanted to offer it to The Kingtones with their doo-wop balladry. The single reached No. 67 on Oricon and has been included as a track on his March 1995 album"Sorrow and Smile" which peaked at No. 49.
The Kingtones' take of the song did come out in April 1995 as their 29th single. Couldn't find an original recorded version but I did find this concert footage of the guys doing their doo-wop best. As heard here, it sounds a bit more lighthearted but the story is the same: a couple greatly enjoying each other's company on Earth and in the stars.
Dealing with "Kayo Kyoku Plus" music? Yayyy! Dealing with technology? Ughhhh. I haven't had much sleep over the past couple of days because folks in my community are looking forward to an upgrade in their Internet technology via new modems. I have never been very good with handling electronic devices and when I got my modem yesterday morning, I spent a good deal of time absorbing the installation instructions. Then, against my better judgement and in the vain hopes that a technician would miraculously beam in to help, I went to work. Not surprisingly, I got hung up with the Internet and television connections. After a couple of tries over twenty minutes, I cried "Uncle!" and reverted back to my current modem. Thankfully, everything is back to normal but later on today, I'm calling up the company and demanding a technician to come in.
Probably a lot of my friends and my brother, who are far more adept at technology than I am, would point an accusatory finger at me and say "Only you, J-Canuck! Only you can plug in an alarm clock and screw that up!". Yeah, guilty as charged. But that's me and my blog is my strength.
Hopefully, singer-songwriter and musician Cameron Lew and his Ginger Root project are faring much better in California. In August of this year, Ginger Root released their latest single "Only You", which is another sunny techno-light funky tune with a hint of 60s sweet pop as a topping. The video has Lew possibly getting yanked back into the Japanese corporatism of the music industry for that good money and fame. Compare that with his current circumstances of his own struggling business as a solo act. Although I'm a music fan and not a musician, I can definitely relate to young Cameron.
"Only You" is also available in Ginger Root's latest album which came out a couple of months ago "Shinbangumi" (New Program). I wish him continued success.
It was over a decade ago when I wrote about folk duo Gamu's（雅夢）"Ai wa Kagero"（愛はかげろう）, the refined and wistful 1980 hit that bordered on Fashion Music, this side of France.
Some very tenderhearted oaken strings and Kazuto Miura's（三浦和人）resonant vocals come out of the woodwork to introduce the B-side of "Ai wa Kagero", "Aki kara..." (Since That Autumn...). Written by Hiroshi Yasusugi（保杉弘）and composed by Miura, once again I had initially wondered whether we were going into the realm of Fashion Music because of those strings, but the song goes into a more poignant if more laidback direction than "Ai wa Kagero". Yasusugi's lyrics talk of a man's bittersweet memories of a romance that went pear-shaped a couple of years previously. Once again, the season of autumn is the basis for romantic downfall and reflection.
I gotta say that when the Japanese music community discovered the way to mesh their combinations of notes with computer technology back in the 1960s and 1970s, they really loved to push some of the older genres through the filter of synthesizers and emulators. Yellow Magic Orchestra played with surf rock via "Cosmic Surfin'" and Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）melded some of that new French pop approach to the technopop in her album "Romantique".
It was also during that time that the synthpop band Ippu-Do spearheaded by singer-songwriter Masami Tsuchiya（土屋昌巳）was making its mark on the stereos and radios. Back in 1980, they came out with their second studio album"Real" and within it, there was the track "Chinese Reggae", written and composed by Tsuchiya, which was indeed as advertised. It was an English-language tongue-in-cheek ditty with a Chinese-sounding melody overlaying a reggae rhythm and Tsuchiya was able to make it work. Then in 1981, their third album"Radio Fantasy" included the Japanese-language version of the song.
The above video provided by YouTuber Contain Yr Brain has both versions with the Japanese-language version before the original English version.
A few months ago, my Reminiscings of Youth post was on Chaka Khan's funky-as-all-get-out "I Feel For You" from 1984 which probably had the folks hitting the dance floor to do their breakdancing. It is one of two songs that I will always associate with her. But the other song of hers that is up there with "I Feel For You" is "Through the Fire", a wholly different animal. It's a romantic ballad from April 1985 that was created by David Foster (and yeah, it sounds so Foster), Tom Keane and Cynthia Weil which will always put me at ease as one of the most heartfelt examples of Quiet Storm that I've heard. She can hit it out of the park with her love songs as well as her party hits. Not surprisingly, this and its video were on heavy rotation on radio and TV.
I was a bit surprised and disappointed that "Through the Fire" didn't hit too high on the charts, reaching No. 60 on the Billboard Hot 100 and then No. 15 on the Billboard Hot Black Singles. I thought it was a Top 10 song for sure. The ballad had already gotten out onto the market some months earlier as a track on Chaka Khan's October 1984"I Feel For You" album.
So, what else was coming out on the Japanese record store shelves in April 1985?
There are a couple of reasons that I'm putting up this song by singer-songwriter Miyako Chaki（茶木みやこ）. One is that the last time I posted about her was back in October 2020 for her atmospheric "Maboroshi no Hito"（幻の人）. The other is that just a few days ago, underneath the article for that song, I had a nice conversation via the comments with a filmmaker and actor by the name of Tony Savo who had just completed a short sci-fi film titled "Shape of Things to Come". He actually used "Maboroshi no Hito" as the ending theme since the song rather fit nicely into what the story was all about. But if you're interested in taking a look, you can just go over to the article via the link and scroll down to the comments for his link to the movie.
Meanwhile, let's take a look at Chaki's "Anata wa Nani wo" (What Are You Doing?) which was the B-side to her March 1978 single"Azami no Gotoku Toge Areba"（あざみの如く棘あれば）. Written by Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composed by the singer, it's a bit of a potpourri of relaxing pop reminiscent of Gilbert O'Sullivan, some Asian influence and a bluesy saxophone. Compared with "Maboroshi no Hito", "Anata wa Nani wo" does feel lighter and more optimistic.
I wasn't around when Elvis Presley had been enjoying his first several years of fame and fortune before he was drafted by Uncle Sam into the army. Can only imagine how many women screamed in despair at their idol becoming a military man, but he didn't do too badly at all. "G.I. Blues" the 1960 movie was one result.
I remember Isao Sasaki（ささきいさお）mostly for his grand contributions to anison for epics such as "Uchuu Senkan Yamato"（宇宙戦艦ヤマト）, so it was with some surprise years later that when the Tokyo native had first started out, he was all about his rockabilly, and as much as I have dubbed the lyricist to "Yamato", the legendary Yu Aku（阿久悠）, as the Irving Berlin of kayo kyoku, Sasaki was once given the nickname of the Japanese Elvis Presley.
Case in point: one of his earliest singles was his cover of "G.I. Blues" which came out in 1961. He doesn't do too badly and he actually does sound like Elvis if he had been fluent in Japanese. Let's try to imagine Elvis singing "Star Blazers". Unfortunately, I couldn't track down who came up with the Japanese lyrics.
It was probably one of the few times that "Uta Con"（うたコン）showed an episode tonight which didn't have a particular theme for the first fifteen minutes or so. However, one highlight was seeing 60s aidoru Yukari Ito（伊東ゆかり）and Mie Nakao（中尾ミエ）appear. Those two and Mari Sono（園まり）had formed one of the earliest kayo kyoku Gosanke（御三家）,the Spark Sannin Musume（スパーク3人娘）, in that decade. And unfortunately, the reason that Sono herself didn't show up with her former comrades is that the singer had passed away on July 26th this year at the age of 80 from heart failure.
The Spark Sannin Musume were scheduled to do a medley of their hits. However, a clumsy scene cut and the one performance of "Aitakute, Aitakute"（逢いたくて逢いたくて）by the remaining members tonight and Sono herself via vintage footage made it pretty clear that Jme had to cut out the rest of the medley in the high likelihood that those songs were Japanese covers of American hit tunes (due to the usual copyright issues). A lot of pop singers back then were doing those as much as they were doing original Japanese kayo.
Well, for my own tribute to Sono, I've decided to feature her January 1964 single"Kiichatta! Utacchata! Naichatta!" (I Heard It! I Sang It! I Cried to It!). It's an original Japanese tune done in a doo-wop rock n' roll style with Hiroshi Miyagawa（宮川泰）handling the music while Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）took care of the lyrics. It's pretty darn slick enough so that perhaps even fans of the old American pop from the 50s and 60s might wonder if it had been a cover of something by Connie Francis.
Sono may have had the A-side but both Nakao and Ito also sang the song as B-sides to their own January 1964 singles, "Onna no Ko damon"（おんなのこだもん...Cause I'm a Girl） for Nakao (above) and "Uta wo Oshiete"（歌をおしえて...Teach Me a Song） for Ito (below), with fairly different arrangements.
My belated condolences to Sono's family, friends and fans...and also to her Gosanke mates, Ito and Nakao.
Just for fun...and for the fact that I have just completed posting the lineup (for now) for the 75th edition of NHK's Kohaku Utagassen, I thought that this particular entry for the AI Gallery can include a few songs from the very first Kohaku that I got to watch as a teenager, the 32nd edition on New Year's Eve 1981. Enjoy!
I figured that since we've passed the midway mark of November, it would be time for the lineup announcement for the Red and White teams for this year's edition of NHK's annual Kohaku Utagassen. And sure enough, just before I went to bed last night, the lineup had come out. By the way, the Kohaku will be televised from 7:20 pm JST on December 31st at NHK Hall in Shibuya, Tokyo.
Red Team
Aiko (15th appearance)
Aimyon (6)
Illit (1)
Sayuri Ishikawa (47)
Iruka (2)
HY (3)
Fuyumi Sakamoto (36)
Sakurazaka 46 (4)
Ringo Shiina (9)
Superfly (8)
Mariko Takahashi (6)
tuki. (1)
Yoshimi Tendo (29)
Twice (5)
Nogizaka 46 (10)
Me:I (1)
Misia (9)
Kaori Mizumori (22)
Ryokuoushoku Shakai (3)
Le Sserafim (3)
White Team
Omoinotake (1)
Creepy Nuts (1)
GLAY (4)
Hiromi Go (37)
Kocchi no Kento (1)
The Alfee (2)
JO1 (3)
Junretsu (7)
Da-iCE (1)
Together x Together (1)
Number_i (1)
Leon Niihama (1)
Be:First (2)
Masaharu Fukuyama (17)
Fujii Kaze (3)
Gen Hoshino (10)
Mrs. Green Apple (2)
Minami Kosetsu (6)
Hiroshi Miyama (10)
Keisuke Yamauchi (10)
Special Guest -- Kiyoshi Hiyama (24)
Your congenial hosts will be comedian Hiroiki Ariyoshi（有吉弘行）, actress Kanna Hashimoto（橋本環奈）, actress Sairi Ito（伊藤沙莉）and NHK announcer Naoko Suzuki（鈴木奈穂子）.
Some thoughts from me:
1) I kinda figured that either or both Creepy Nuts and Kocchi no Kento（こっちのけんと）would be showing up because of their catchy songs and dances. We might get everyone in NHK Hall participating during their performances. Not sure if the liniment or Salon-Pas will be available, though.
2) I had read a few days ago from the not-most-reliable source in Japan that no act associated with SMILE-UP (formerly Johnny's Entertainment) would be appearing on the Kohaku for the second year in a row, but it has now been confirmed. However, Number_i consists of three former members of King and Prince though this group is now under the TOBE Music label.
3) Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）, Minami Kosetsu（南こうせつ）, The Alfee and Iruka（イルカ）are returning which warms my old kayo kyoku heart. Almost all of them have roots in folk music so will we be getting some of their 1970s material? The Alfee is appearing for just their second time on the Kohaku; the first time they appeared was on the 34th edition back in 1983 which was one of the earliest times that I ever watched the show. Maybe they'll take another swing at "MARIE-ANNE".
4) Of course, there will be the panel of celebrity judges. Will baseball phenom Shohei Ohtani（大谷翔平）be one of them?
What everyone will be singing probably won't be announced until December. And as has often been the case, there will be changes in the lineup through additions most likely. Any announcements on these changes will be posted below over the coming days and weeks leading up to New Year's Eve. You can also take a look at the Wikipedia article on No. 75.
Seeing that my last article's song had some bossa nova interwoven into its tapestry. why not go for a bigger dose of the Brazilian genre today?
Ami Ozaki's（尾崎亜美）2nd original album,"Mind Drops", from June 1977 has given me an impression that it is one of the major releases within that gelatinous region of New Music and City Pop, so perhaps I should give the entire album its own article someday. However, in the meantime, I'll stick with the first track on "Mind Drops", the calm blue ocean of "Taiyo no Hitorigoto" (Soliloquy of the Sun) which was written and composed by the singer.
The arrangement by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）takes us into cocktail-sipping bossa nova territory although the opening scat of "dabba dabba da..." has me thinking of good ol' kayo kyoku as well. But it isn't Yuming's（ユーミン）husband helping out with the duet here. It's actually Sumio Akutagawa（芥川澄夫）behind the mike. At the time, he was a director at Toshiba EMI and had once been a guitarist for the folk group Toi et Moi（トワ・エ・モワ）earlier in the decade.
Speaking of "Mind Drops", you can also take a gander at another track from the album, "Hatsukoi no Toori Ame"（初恋の通り雨）.
It was exactly a couple of months ago that I posted about Towa Tei's"GBI (German Bold Italic)" from 1997 and its fairly outré music video featuring Kylie Minogue. I would say that Tei's earlier creation "Technova" from his October 1994 debut album"Future Listening!" also has its own bizarre elements in the music video as well including a cute self-parody of how Tei has enjoyed putting up that thinking pose.
Generally though, the song itself is pretty chill although assuming that "Technova" is a Tei-created portmanteau of techno and bossa nova, I'd have to disagree with him slightly since I think it's more dance club-friendly Shibuya-kei mixed with the bossa nova. It's just that Shibunova isn't quite as neat and concise-sounding. In any case, "Technova" was released as a single as well later in March 1995 since it was also used in a commercial for the apparel company Onward. Vocal contribution to "Technova" was provided by Bebel Gilberto, the Brazilian pop singer who is also the daughter of the pioneer of bossa nova João Gilberto.
Hachiro Kasuga (春日八郎) recorded a lot of cover songs, ranging from Meiji-Taisho enka to early Showa kayo to 1980s pop enka. It's thanks to these covers that I got to learn a fair amount about a wide array of songs, some of which becoming personal favourites.
But did you know, that the concept of covering pop songs, produced by record companies, wasn't as commonplace as it is now prior to the late 1960s? Feel free to correct me if I'm mistaken, but based on my understanding of sources like Yusuke Wajima's (輪島裕介) "Tsukurareta 'Nihon no Kokoro' Shinwa" (創られた「日本の心」神話) (2010), it was due to the old record company contract system from the late 1920s.
What this system entailed was that a songwriter or singer, bound to a particular record company by contract, could not provide songs for a different company/sing songs made by a different company. There was also this concept of the mochi uta, where a song made for a singer was theirs and theirs only; to cover another's song (officially) was, I quote from venerable lyricist Kikutaro Takahashi (高橋掬太郎), "akin to betrayal", even if they were from the same company. For instance, Akira Matsudaira (松平晃) would not be able to cover Tadaharu Nakano's (中野忠晴)"China Tango" under most circumstances, even though they were both from Columbia Records. Or Columbia's Mr. Nakano would not have been able to cover King Records' Isao Hayashi's (林伊佐緒) "Kiso Bushi Bolero" (木曽節ボレロ). Rather limiting stuff.
Miura, Hachi, Yukiko Nomura From "Shinobu"
Of course, there were multiple exceptions and there were instances of insane loophole gymnastics. And one of these loopholes would change the record industry game for the better. This watershed moment that got rid of this limiting restriction was Shinichi Mori's (森進一) (Victor) cover album of Masao Koga's (古賀政男) (Columbia) works, "Kage wo Shitaite"(影を慕いて), from 1968. Initially seen as inconceivable, composer Kosho Inomata (猪俣公章) who was the album's director managed to do some insane contract red tape gymnastics and dodging Koga Sensei's initial wrath to get it done. This involved picking only the Koga Melody that did not "belong" to Columbia Records, i.e. those that were from the legendary composer's early Victor and Golden Age Teichiku days. The album's resounding success threw out the stigma around covers and cross-company collaborations. So much so that now it's essentially a given in at least the enka world. I'd go so far as to say that some past kayo have become "must covers"/a rite of passage for any modern day enka singer. Oddly enough, one of these enka rites of passages is doing a Koga Melody cover.
In terms of same company covers, assuming the producers at King Records weren't being hyperbolic, the first full-on same company artist collab album was Hachi and his junior Michiya Mihashi's (三橋美智也)"Ougon no Utagoe" (黄金の歌声) from 1970. That was where both artists covered about 14 of each others' mochi uta. I believe it was also in 1970 when Kasuga began recording cover songs in earnest.
Anyways, this brief Japanese record industry history tidbit leads me to what I want to feature for my Hachi Centenary Project article: Hachi's cover songs I enjoy. I've always been picky about original singers, but sometimes covers just hit different, sometimes with better arrangements or better vocals. It's with these factors in mind that I share my picks of Hachi covers. At the same time, perhaps these songs may introduce you to some Taisho and Showa era classics, as they did for me. As a side note, I will also mention some of the albums each song is in.
This song is difficult with some intense peaks and dips, but Hachi maneuvers them so effortlessly and smoothly in this classic nagashi/sasurai mono. Maybe folks are right in saying that Hachi is just good at these sort of enka style kayo.
Albums: Showa no Enka Kasuga Hachiro Fukyu no Meisaku wo Utau (昭和の艶歌 春日八郎不朽の名作を歌う) (1971), Kasuga Hachiro Enka Hyaku Sen (春日八郎 演歌百選) (1973)
Hachi said that jazz doesn't fit him and some have said that he couldn't express that jazz feeling. I have to admit that there are some number where I felt that the jazz feeling was lacking a little. But not with this one. Also, it may be a hot take to fans of early Showa Japanese jazz, but this is the best version of "Dotonbori Koshinkyoku" with the best arrangement. I will die on this hill.
A point to note is that Hachi re-recorded this in his 1975 "Kasuga Hachiro no Osaka Jocho" (春日八郎の大阪情緒), but its arrangement was not as raw and... jazzy. The original cover from the 1962 "Taisho/Showa Hayari-uta" (春日八郎の大正・昭和はやり唄) album is the one I'm for.
Albums: Kasuga Hachiro no Taisho/Showa Hayari-uta, Kasuga Hachiro no Osaka Jocho, Kasuga Hachiro Osaka wo Utau (春日八郎 大阪を歌う) (2011)
I praise the creative decision to have Hachi sing the chorus, "Batten Nagasaki __ no machi, mimase yokatoko yori masse" (But Nagasaki's the city of__, c'mon over and check out this fine place... The line is in the Nagasaki/Kyushu dialect), unlike Higuchi's original. Higuchi's wasn't bad, but it just felt lacking to have just the back-up singers handle that crucial bit.
Albums: Kasuga Hachiro no Nagasaki no Jocho (春日八郎の長崎情緒) (1976), Kasuga Hachiro Showa Kayo wo Utau (春日八郎 昭和歌謡を歌う) (2010)
Karisome no Koi (かりそめの恋) (1949) -- Machiko Sanjo (三条町子)
Fun fact: I believe this was one of the songs Hachi saw/hear Mrs. Kasuga, Keiko Watabe (渡部恵子), sing while she was working as a part-time singer at the same restaurant as him back in the day. On a side note, I feel that Hachi's soft, forlorn-tinged voice fits this sort of blues/Mood Kayo-like songs to a T.
Album: Nihon no Uta Meiji/Taisho/Showa Hayari-uta (日本の歌 明治・大正・昭和はやりうた) (1977)
Onna no Kaikyu (女の階級) (1936) -- Shigeo Kusunoki (楠木繁夫)
Of all the songs on this is one of the rare numbers where I enjoy both the original and the cover in equal measure. Anyways, I've read that Koga Sensei wanted "Onna no Kaikyu" to be of a slower pace, contrary to the brisk pace of Kusunoki's original. I think it's in covers like Hachi's where you can hear the composer's intended vision.
Albums: Kasuga Hachiro Koga Melody wo Utau (春日八郎 古賀メロディーを歌う) (1971/1975/1992), Kasuga Hachiro Koga Masao wo Utau (春日八郎 古賀政男を歌う) (1974), Showa no Enka Kasuga Hachiro Fukyu no Meisaku wo Utau, Kasuga Hachiro Enka Hyaku Sen
Palau Koishiya (パラオ恋しや) (1941) -- Haruo Oka (岡晴夫)
Hachi's smooth delivery makes Okapparu's mochi uta more polished, and I think you can feel it in a relaxed tropical island number like "Palau Koishiya". Interestingly enough, even though Kasuga recorded this cover, it wasn't included in his 1977 Oka cover album, "Kasuga Hachiro Oka Haruo wo Utau" (春日八郎 岡晴夫を歌う). Rather it seems to have only been released decades later in 2010 via "Showa Kayo wo Utau". Perhaps they'd already hit the song limit for the 1977 one, so "Palau Koishiya" got dropped.
Fun fact: Okapparu, known for that strident and nasally delivery with large lung capacity, was said to have developed these attributes during his days as an enka shi/nagashi (street musician). Because of the cigarette smog in bars, he learned to sing in this manner to reduce the need for inhaling the smoke and damaging his vocals.
Albums: Kasuga Hachiro Showa Kayo wo Utau
Hoshi no Nagare ni(星の流れに) (1947) -- Akiko Kikuchi (菊池章子)
The hardship of immediate postwar Japan can be felt in this song about the realities of many women who had to turn to working the night to survive. Perhaps it would be more appropriate sung by a woman, but Hachi's voice is more filled with a pained longing than heavy melancholy, which fits the emotions expressed in this song.
Albums: Enka to wa Nandarou Kasuga Hachiro Show (演歌とは何だろう〈春日八郎ショー〉)(1973), Kasuga Hachiro Enka Hyaku Sen, Kasuga Hachiro Showa Kayo wo Utau
Epilogue
Something I noticed when studying the covers Hachi recorded was that he never covered any (Ryoichi) Hattori (服部良一) Melody save for one: Mieko Takamine's (高峰三枝子) "Kohan no Yado" (湖畔の宿) - correct me if I'm wrong. I wonder if it's because R. Hatter was known for jazz and "pop", and thus not fitting with the enka rhetoric in the 70s and 80s.
On a different note, among the other fellas I love, Hachi has covered Akira-san's, Bin Uehara's (上原敏), and Yoshio Tabata's (田端義夫) stuff. As I've said, I can be very picky with covers. As much as I love Hachi, originals win here, especially for Bin-san and Batayan. I'm more forgiving with the Akira-san covers, though. This is because Hachi and Akira-san vaguely share a similar vocal quality in that they are great at conveying forlornness - the difference is that Hachi sounds empathetic while Akira-san sounds needy (purely subjective). So, I thought the former's covers of the latter's hits, "Isoge Horo Basha" (急げ幌馬車) and "Circus no Uta" (サーカスの唄), were pretty good, but the arrangements just fell short.
"Isoge Horo Basha"
But, y'know, a dream Hachi cover of mine is "China Tango". I know I'll regret it because, while I know it'll be good, Hachi has nowhere near the same level of sex appeal as Mr. Nakano to pull it off. But I just want to hear it. Not because it'll be hot, but because I think it'll be kinda funny.
Among the ritzy districts of Ginza, Aoyama and Akasaka, I'd have to say that Akasaka was the one that I frequented the least. Not that I was a regular in any of those areas at all, but I don't remember going to Akasaka all that much...simply because the subway lines I used the most didn't really cross over to that particular neighbourhood. I guess I was more of a Ginza Line guy (although one station there is Akasaka-Mitsuke). However, in the relatively few times that I did stop by, my friends and I had some spicy Chinese ma bo do fu which knocked me out for a couple of days, another group of friends and I visited a few of the Korean restaurants there, and one student took me to his favourite izakaya. It was a given that I had never darkened the doors of any of the nightclubs and hostess clubs there.
Of course, in the area of music, Akasaka was also a frequent destination of sorts with the Mood Kayo vocal groups such as Los Indios' venerable "Como Esta Akasaka?"（コモエスタ赤坂）. Considering the number of watering holes in the area, it was pretty much a done deal that Mood Kayo would love this place.
Toshi Ito and Happy & Blue（敏いとうとハッピー&ブルー）has been around since the 1970s and they are well known for their 1977 muscular hit "Hoshi Furu Machikado" (星降る街角） which has been a popular one for karaoke fans of a certain generation. I think even I've sung it in one of the boxes. Well, the group has undergone a lot of personnel changes over the past fifty years with arguably the biggest one being the death of Ito himself only a couple of months ago in September at the age of 84.
In 2021, there was a change to the name of the group. Known as Shinsei Toshi Ito to Happy & Blue（新✩敏いとうとハッピー&ブルー）, they released one single, and then earlier this spring, the name was shrunk slightly to Shinsei Happy & Blue with the leader and lead vocal being Masaru Rokudo（宍戸マサル）who had joined the group in 2006. The group marked the occasion with a new single showing their tribute to Akasaka titled "Akasaka Monogatari"(Akasaka Story) which covers the well-worn genre lyrical plot of locking eyes with a beautiful lady in one of those fancy bars. Written and composed by Rokudo, the Mood Kayo tune has gotten a bit more of a rock guitar snarl and the members have even received some pretty snazzy contemporary threads. Here's hoping that even in the 21st century, this bar-friendly genre still has some kick to keep going for a few more decades at least.
It's a slightly atypical Saturday night here in Toronto. For one thing, in addition to the usual Maple Leafs game at the Scotiabank Arena, Taylor Swift is finishing up her third concert of six during her run here of the Eras Tour. Should be even crazier on the streets and the TTC tonight. For me, I've just been watching the Leafs game from my overly comfy armchair, and as would be the case for someone my age, I've been mostly dozing off. I needed to get off my duff and write something.
So, how about some Saturday night jazz? Singer Fumi Mizubayashi（水林史）from Toyama Prefecture gained her love of jazz and the music of the first few decades of the 20th century from her grandparents, and from about the beginning of the 21st century, she debuted her singing of the jazz classics under the name of Kurofune Lady（黒船レディ...Black Ship Lady）. For several years from 2002, Mizubayashi got together with pianist Yuri Hirota（廣田ゆり）and guitarist Toshihiko Shiokawa（塩川俊彦）to form the trio Kurofune Lady to Ginsei Gakudan（黒船レディと銀星楽団...The Silver Star Orchestra）.
In 2006, in an attempt to support the bookstore area in Jimbocho, Tokyo (one of my favourite neighbourhoods and the location of the used CD shop Tacto), Kurofune Lady to Ginsei Gakudan released an album titled "Furubon'ya no Waltz"（古本屋のワルツ...The Old Bookstore Waltz）. From that album, I offer you "Ichiban Hoshii Mono" （What I Want The Most） which was written and composed by Mizubayashi with co-composing credits also going to Hirota. A nice, light and swinging jazz number that is very nostalgic right down to the final "taking it home" segment, it had me swinging out of my slumber mode and it could be one of those songs that accompanies a flapper girl and her beau out to cut up a rug in one of them dance halls. It's also nice to have some more of those jazz instruments backing the main unit up and those sweet vocals by the Lady. There's even part of the song that reminds me of the theme from "Bewitched".
The Ginsei Gakudan called it a day in 2009 but since then, the Kurofune Lady has kept the collaborative spirit going by working in a couple of more groups from 2018. One is the jazz unit Mizu no Miyako Gakudan（水の都楽団...The Water City Orchestra） and the other is Baikamo（梅花藻...Plum Blossom Algae）, a duo with Mizubayashi and Irish harpist Akiko Ichimori（ 一守明子）. In 2024, a vinyl LP titled "Sweet Swingin' Suite" was released which contains selected songs from Kurofune Lady to Ginsei Gakudan including "Ichiban Hoshii Mono".
Last week, I provided an article covering Side A of the late Junko Ohashi's（大橋純子）1988 album"DEF" and so today, I'm following up with my thoughts on Side B. So far, it's got a good mixture of the various urban contemporary genres in there. Also, just to let you know, I've realized that my copy of the album, which I had purchased literally decades ago, is different from the track arrangement in future releases, so my copy is going with the track list showing for "DEF" on Amazon Japan while probably your copies have the arrangement shown on Discogs. In addition, as noted last week, the trio of lyricist, composer and arranger handling the album mostly involves Goro Matsui（松井五郎）, Ken Sato（佐藤健）and Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）for the most part. Any other songwriters will be noted for each track below.
Side B of my own copy begins with "Madoi no Wicked Woman"（惑いのWicked Woman...The Wicked Woman of My Illusions） which has been described as a nice slice of urban funk but I can also hear some of that sophisticated pop as well. This time, the lyricist is a fellow by the name of Tsurezuregusa（徒然草）which is obviously a pen name but it's also the title of an ancient collection of essays by the monk Kenko. Nothing about nature or humourous incidents in this song though which is all about that fateful encounter with a mystery lady on the dance floor. Basically, I gather that this is the urban Japanese version of two ships passing each other in the night.
Track B2 is the soulful ballad"Tooi Hohoemi"（遠いほゝえみ...Distant Smile） which has the main three songwriters listed above but with Junko's husband, Sato, handling chorus duties this time, while singer-songwriter Masayuki Kishi（岸正之）is taking care of the melody. Meanwhile, the overall arrangement was by Keiichi Oku（奥恵一）for a tune of wistful reminiscing over a past romance. Another lovely performance by Ohashi and the piano in there has had me remembering many an 80s love song from America.
If somehow, the anime "Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai ~ Tensai-tachi no Ren'ai Zunousen"（かぐや様は告らせたい〜天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦〜）had been willing to include insert songs not sung by the God of Love Songs, Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）, himself, this particular track by Ohashi, "Burlesque ga Oniai"（バーレスクがお似合い...Fit for a Burlesque）, could have been a candidate since it involves a lot of the love and games that was going on in the first season of the series. As it is though, it's a cool blend of City Pop and funk, thanks to composer Hideya Nakazaki（中崎英也）with Hiroshi Yamada（山田ひろし）behind the lyrics.
"Mayonaka no Distance"（真夜中の距離...Midnight Distance） is a smoky and haunting funk tune with some thumping percussion (which then gets passed onto the keyboards) about a mysterious and dangerous tryst at the bewitching hour. As noted in Yukinojo Mori's（森雪之丞）lyrics, there is a Don Juan making his rounds which most likely means that there will be some major heartbreak at the end. Again, Nakazaki took care of the melody.
The final track, "Yume no Tobira"（夢の扉...The Doors to a Dream）, is unsurprisingly a quieter song (at least initially) to finish off "DEF" with. This time, Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）is on board to provide the gently undulating music surrounding the aftermath of a couple's eventful night in bed. The aforementioned Oku took care of the string arrangements for some added dramatic bossa nova oomph to the climax (no pun intended). If there had been a longer coda, it would have been for the afterglow cigarettes.
Gotta say that I largely underestimated "DEF" all these years. One Gibbs slap to the back of my head. I gather that I wasn't quite ready yet but I am now. Hopefully, Ohashi's fans have been celebrating her life and career and music at the one-year anniversary of her departure.
"Music Book" is a really invigorating number just like how the lyrics feel (Melody's rain...pouring down on you). With "Sparkle" before it and "Morning Glory" after it on "For You", this is the killer trio. And aren't there many of the delusional among those who have thoroughly listened to the record who keep hearing an acapella chorus even after the end of the song? This is a tribute to the time when Tatsuro's（山下達郎）sound was truly gleaming.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
Well, I was just writing about vocal group Hi-Fi Set（ハイ・ファイ・セット）last week in the regular Yutaka Kimura Speaks series. Mind you, that was a song from their 1980s period but we're back in the 1970s for them, the decade that I've known them best for. And man, this 12th single from August 1978 is quite the banger.
Listening to the first few measures of "America Monogatari"(The Story of America), I have to admit that I was wondering whether we were going to get a refrain from Barry Gray's theme from "Space: 1999", knowing how prog rock and disco that song was. Instead though, I got a huge aural advertisement by Junko Yamamoto（山本潤子）and company to visit the good ol' US of A. More likely, it was a big invitation to take a bite out of the Big Apple.
Written by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）and composed/arranged by Yuji Ohno（大野雄二）, "America Monogatari" was indeed created for a 1978 Japan Air Lines commercial campaign getting folks to come and visit the United States (though I can't find the ad on YouTube). Ohno really stuffed the song with jazz and disco which were probably the music genres that a lot of Japanese equated America with at the time. Of course, Hi-Fi Set's optimistic and upbeat delivery sure made it inviting for folks to make their reservations.
When I knew that I was going to do this article, I couldn't help but going to Bing once more to see if I could concoct up something that would be reminiscent of Cloud City on Bespin or that other city in the clouds from the "Star Trek" episode "The Cloud Minders". Well, it's not too, too bad.
It's been six months since I last posted something on bassist Tetsuo Sakurai（櫻井哲夫）, and up to now, his music has all been from his 1986 solo debut album"Dewdrops?". Not that "Dewdrops?" is a bad thing by any means, but I had been wondering about some other aspects of his discography. Fortunately, I was able to find his 2001 album"Gentle Hearts", and yep, it is indeed quite the temporal leap ahead.
One track on the album is "Wonderland in the Sky" which is one mighty dance across the atmosphere, powered by the electric guitar of Greg Howe and the drums of Dennis Chambers. The 7 1/2 minutes don't let up for a moment and it really feels like one is getting the tour of a lifetime on Bespin via one of those skypods. You might say that the skypod is fusion-powered...ha ha.
Back in 2022, I posted an article for the first time regarding singer-songwriter Yume Suzuki（鈴木結女）because I liked the cut of her jib when it came to her song "NITE FLITE", a track from her April 1994 4th album"Conversation". The synth-horns of that time which also imbue that particular song by Suzuki were quite the symbol of champagne-and-caviar City Pop going well into the 1990s, although by that point, with the Bubble having collapsed, it was perhaps more sparkling wine-and-salmon roe.
Still, even if the economy hasn't been what it used to be in the high-flying latter half of the 1980s, the urban contemporary music in the final decade of the 20th century in Japan apparently hadn't gotten the memo yet. The Suzuki-penned "Kimi wa Boku janai" (You Ain't Me) has a title that is just as brassy as those synths. Yup, the swinging City Pop is in there and on further listening, I can also pick up a little New Jack Swing kicking in there. The number by the way is a track on her May 1995 first BEST compilation, "Singles & More", and since I couldn't find "Kimi wa Boku janai" in any of her previous albums, I guess it was part of the "More" as a new tune.
I don't quite remember the circumstances when I got the above image from an earlier AI art generator (not Bing), but I think I just threw in the phrase "City Pop Tokyo". It's unique, I'll give you that. And I don't think there is a pagoda anywhere on Earth that has that many floors.
Anyways, let's begin Urban Contemporary Fridays on KKP with another tune from Neo-City Pop singer-songwriter Rie Aono（青野りえ）. Back in October 2021, she released the digital single "Never Can Say Goodbye", a peppy yet simultaneously relaxing tune that was written by her and composed by Tohru Horasawa（洞澤徹）of the bands mana mana and The Bookmarcs. As Aono herself shows you, the song is an ideal one for spending a lazy afternoon either on the seashore or in a stylish café. "Never Can Say Goodbye" can also be found on her November 2023 3rd album"Tokyo Magic".
The title of "Juu-Ichi-ji no Samba"(Samba at 11 o'clock) doesn't particularly specify whether it is AM or PM, but I can't really see a samba being danced about in the late morning or late night. And to be honest, despite the title along with the Latin whoops and percussion, I don't really get the feeling that the song follows a samba path.
Regardless, Tomoko Soryo's（惣領智子）first track on the B-side of her 1976 debut album"Yasashiku Aishite"（やさしく愛して...Love Me Gently） is a playful New Music tune which is light and airy, and it does reflect how the singer is looking on the cover of the album. It was written and composed by her with her then-husband Yasunori Soryo（惣領泰則）taking care of the arrangement.
From writing about the recent B'z single "Illumination"（イルミネーション）, the theme song for the currently running NHK morning serial drama "Omusubi"（おむすび）, I was wondering a little about the gyaru（ギャル）culture that's been depicted on the show.
I was in Japan at the time when the gyaru culture was blossoming on the streets of Tokyo and elsewhere, notably Shibuya. Mind you, I don't recall having any gyaru as students although one kid was wearing her marshmallow-y loose socks below her uniform. Nope, my experience with such young people was purely observational as I saw the ladies decked in all sorts of dyed hairdos and bizarre makeup.
Anyways, as I was watching one scene of "Omusubi" which took place at a karaoke box, one gyaru took the microphone and sang an old Ayumi Hamasaki（浜崎あゆみ）hit. And that got me thinking about what were the favourite J-Pop tunes among the gyaru elite way back then. Well, it's a bit biased, but there is the Avex Portal which has put up its own five favourites for the 1990s.
I don't know whether there are any former or current gyaru reading this, but considering the source website, the choices are indeed slanted rather heavily toward Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）, so if there are any other non-TK songs that can be recommended as gyaru favourites, please let me know.
Well, after about a year of waiting and occasional updates, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and her Eras Tour along with a ton of Swifties have descended upon Toronto like an army of Valkyries. She's here for six concerts over the next couple of weeks and Performance No. 1 is tonight. It should be interesting to see how things go with the downtown core pretty much sealed tight for her and security.
I'm not particularly a Swift fan myself although "Shake It Off" and "You Need to Calm Down" are catchy and fun. However, I've read that one of Swift's inspirations has been Sir Paul McCartney. Of course, since the Beatles broke up, Sir Paul hasn't exactly retired from the music business, going full bore with his own band Wings and then his solo work.
As you all know, my full dive into pop music on either side of the Pacific began around the late 1970s and early 1980s, coincidentally when music videos became this fresh new thing to express songs. One of the first videos that caught my eyes and ears was McCartney's"Coming Up" which was released as a single in April 1980. The funk is there and the affected delivery by the man himself has always had me thinking New Wave. It's all very uptempo and amiably quirky but it was the music video that really grabbed me.
I'd assumed that Wings and a few other studio musicians were behind the former Beatle but as it turned out, it was mostly different versions of him playing and dancing about (his late wife Linda was playing the two backup singers) including a Buddy Holly version, a Sparks' Ron Mael version and even his 1963 persona. I had even thought that his wild drummer version was a riff off of The Muppets' Animal, but actually it was John Bonham of Led Zeppelin. It was quite the stunning presentation. There was a part of me that believed that Swift's video for "Shake It Off" was a spiritual cousin for the "Coming Up" video but Wikipedia let me know that the inspirations for that one were actually Audrey Hepburn, Daft Punk andToni Basil.
"Coming Up" made it to the top spot on both the Canadian and American charts while it hit No. 2 in McCartney's native UK. Now, what was hitting the top of the Oricon charts at around the same time of the song's release?
Well, another NHK morning drama serial has arrived. "Omusubi"（おむすび）started broadcasting in October and unlike in the previous two serials, "Boogie Woogie"（ブギウギ）and "Tora ni Tsubasa"（虎に翼）, the main star isn't a fictionalized version of a famous person but a young teenage girl who has aspirations of becoming a nutritionist while going through a gyaru phase. Not surprisingly then, "Omusubi" also stands out for being set in relatively recent times with its earliest temporal setting being 1995. Yui Yoneda is most definitely a Heisei heroine.
The pop/rock duo B'z has had a long successful story all on their own but they also made their way into anison history by providing a number of tunes for the mystery show "Meitantei Conan"（名探偵コナン）. Now, they've even entered the morning serial drama zone of Japanese pop culture for the first time by providing one of their songs as the opening theme for "Omusubi". "Illumination" was released as the duo's October digital download single and I've been hearing it plenty of times since I've been catching the show often enough.
Written and composed by B'z, the title represents the light that awaits people after going through all of the usual peaks and valleys of life, according to a few media reports listed on the J-Wiki article for "Illumination". The song reached No. 1 on Oricon's Digital Download chart.
Apparently, the above contains a couple of rearranged versions of "Illumination" by YouTuber KNZ". Unfortunately, I haven't been able to find a full original version as of yet, although the official music video is due to come out on YouTube on November 16th.
A couple of years ago, I posted an article regarding the first of two singles that the obscure Mayuko Miyahara（宮原巻由子）had recorded in February 1983, "Hana Akari"（花明り）. It was a very pleasant number and down below, there was a comment by someone regarding their enjoyment of Miyahara's second and remaining single. My apologies for not responding but sometimes comments tend to fly under the radar with me not noticing.
That second single is "Tori no Uta" (Bird Song) which was released in August 1983. Sounding either like a heartwarming enka or a children's folk song from the 1970s, there is even a kids' chorus backing her up in the latter half. Written by Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composed by Koichi Sakata（坂田晃一）, I even get some shades of early Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）; the ocarina definitely helps.
The thing is, though, Miyahara was actually covering "Tori no Uta". The original version can be claimed by actress/singer Kaoru Sugita（杉田かおる）. I had thought that I already posted something by Sugita, who I only knew as one of the more tart-tongued tarento on Japanese television, but as it is, this is her first entry on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Welcome aboard, Ms. Sugita...please don't kill me. The original doesn't sound particularly different from the Miyahara cover, but it was released as her 10th single in June 1981 and was even utilized as an insert song in the second season of an NTV drama "Ikenaka Genta Hachi-juu Kilo"（池中玄太80キロ...Eighty Kilograms of Genta Ikenaka） which included Sugita as the stepdaughter of the late Toshiyuki Nishida（西田敏行）who was playing avian photographer Genta Ikenaka. Sugita's version reached No. 10 on Oricon and ended up as the 56th-ranked single for 1981.
But returning to the Miyahara single, I also wanted to bring you folks to the B-side of her "Tori no Uta". "Dancing dancing" is a much more different animal, sounding more like a West Coast AOR including a wailing electric guitar. Nothing wistful here...just images of running happily along the beach. Kaoru Ito（伊藤薫）was responsible for both words and music.
