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.
Lining up with masters like Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, needless to say but the songwriting sense of Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）is the biggest thing to listen for when it comes to the iconic "Long Version" which was contributed to Junichi Inagaki's（稲垣潤一）2nd album"Shylights". Additionally, Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）leaves quite an impression with phrases such as "I'd only wanted a single play, but before I knew it, I got the long version", and Akira Inoue（井上鑑）provides a splendid arrangement which really hits the mark.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
The lingering and perhaps slowly fading question among some of us kayo kyoku fans is "What if Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵） had continued her career into the 1980s?". Would she have taken a more rock n' roll route like Ann Lewis（アン・ルイス）or gotten on the trendy City Pop train? I don't think she would have wanted the aidoru tag placed beside her name anymore.
Well, maybe we can live a bit vicariously by listening to aidoru Miyuki Kosaka's（香坂みゆき）12th single from February 1982, "Kawaita Hana"(Dried Flower). Written and composed by the same husband-and-wife duo, composer Ryudo Uzaki and lyricist Yoko Aki（宇崎竜童・阿木燿子）, who were responsible for many of Yamaguchi's late 1970s hits in the latter half of her career, Kosaka doesn't have the same timbre of voice as Yamaguchi but there is a a certain similarity and familiarity with the breathy nonchalant delivery. She relates the story of a J-Don Juan who goes through his women like tissues on a hay fever day.
Under Masaaki Omura's（大村雅朗）arrangement, "Kawaita Hana" doesn't have that rock n' roll feeling...it's more like a smooth City Pop vibe with the synths taking things to nearly early 1980s Manhattan Transfer levels. Kosaka's biggest hit is arguably her later "Nuance Shimasho"（ニュアンスしましょ）and her voice there is much more different.
Nice to have songbird Meiko Nakahara（中原めいこ）back at KKP after some months away. This time around, we have her 11th single from February 1987 to grapple with, and it seems as if the two sides of it (both written and composed by the singer) would make for fine analysis by love detectives.
We are talking about the single "Unbalance Zone" and the A-side here is a bit of a return to her jazzier side a la her earlier hit "Kimi Tachi Kiwi Papaya Mango da ne"（君たちキウイ・パパヤ・マンゴだね。）, perhaps with a side of Matt Bianco in the technology department. A young lady is wondering if her relationship with her current beau is more of an illusionary respite from real life than an actual dive into something permanent which is leading to that titular schism in her psyche. Discuss! Anyways, "Unbalance Zone" was also used as the theme song for the NTV drama "Ore no Musuko wa Genkijirushi"（オレの息子は元気印...My Son is the Sign of Health!）.
The B-side, "Puzzle", is more down-to-earth City Pop balladry lined with some pleasant synthesizer thrumming, a soulful rhythm, and cool piano. This time, the issue is commitment with a woman who is at her wit's end after making a confession to the guy after which he does the disappearing act. She is pulling her hair out in frustration at this puzzle of a boyfriend. The single managed to reach No. 29 on Oricon. By the way, both songs are also available on Nakahara's 7th album"Puzzle" which was released a month after the single.
Looking at the cover of The Square's"Kyakusenbi no Yuuwaku" (Temptation of Shapely Legs) just a half-second gaze, I promise you...I was reminded of some trivia regarding the late actress Mary Tyler Moore, a regular pop culture figure in my old television history. Considering all of the fame that she was able to amass throughout her long career, it is ironic that her first TV role was portraying telephone switchboard operator Sam in the 1957 first season of crime series "Richard Diamond: Private Detective" (later to be titled "Calling Mr. D" in syndication). Her face was only shown in silhouette with her legs and occasionally her hands popping up in full view (although the above video didn't really show all that much of her lower limbs).
But getting back from 1957 to 1982 when "Kyakusenbi no Yuuwaku" was released, the title track is definitely one happily trotting instrumental with Takeshi Ito（伊東たけし）on sax and new keyboardist Hirotaka Izumi（和泉宏隆）having the time of their lives during their solos. Of course, everyone else is also in on the jam during this 4 and 1/2 minute summery tune that can have listeners dream their way out of a long cold winter. You might say that "Kyakusenbi no Yuuwaku" has legs (I'll just see myself out the door, thank you).
West Shinjuku is the area of skyscrapers and hotels (including what is basically Tokyo's City Hall), the taller and more concrete sibling to the grungier and more active East Shinjuku with JR Shinjuku Station acting as the intervening hub, an inspiration for City Pop artists, and it's the source of a JAL poster that had me falling in love with modern Japan. If Joe Friday ever gave one of his "This is the city..." intro speeches for a Japanese version of "Dragnet", he would start here.
The area is also one of my favourites in the megalopolis. I've taught in West Shinjuku, stayed at the Keio Plaza there, shopped and eaten in the area. One of the hotels had a weekly dessert buffet that didn't help my insulin levels, I've been up to the observation levels in one of the Tokyo Metropolitan Government buildings and I've rested in an open-air atrium. The only thing I would gripe about is that in the summers, the amount of concrete reflecting the heat and the light on you would be enough to melt the skin off of me.
It seems as if a 2024 single by First Love is Never Returned, "Black or White?", is all about West Shinjuku based on the lyrics and the music video. I first mentioned the Hokkaido-based FLiNR last month with their "Okachimachi Friday Night", and it looks like they shifted their attention to the relatively newer neighbourhood. Their message of exhorting the masses to hit the dance floor lest the working blues get to them is a nice one and I can imagine that the thousands who inhabit the tall buildings west of Shinjuku Station would be more than happy to oblige.
I think it's safe to say that people of a certain age and over, even those who aren't into jazz, have heard of "Moonlight Serenade" by Glenn Miller. Even if they don't know the title or the man behind it, they can recognize it. And even before I got into jazz wholeheartedly during my years in Japan, I remember hearing this all the time on radio and seeing performances of it on television.
Coincidentally enough, I'm writing this ROY article just a couple of days shy of what would have been Miller's 121st birthday. Much has been made about his death, declared in absentia, after his plane had disappeared over the English Channel in December 1944 during World War II. But let's focus on "Moonlight Serenade" which made its premiere in 1939 with the clarinets in front and the horns backing them up. Considering that Miller purportedly wasn't the warmest person on the planet, one of his masterpieces apparently had listeners getting all lumpy in the throat.
As someone who attended his fair share of school dance parties, there was always a song at the end of those soirees which made for a far better way of saying that it was time to go home than having the janitor crankily switch the lights on and off repeatedly. It would always be a ballad of sorts to get lovers up for that final cheek-to-cheek and then everyone would slowly sashay off the floor and out of the building. I think "Moonlight Serenade" may have been the jazz equivalent of the last song of the party. Mind you, I never heard Miller's magnum opus ever played at the end of my own dance parties, but I could imagine it gently delivering folks up into the night sky under the moon before quietly depositing them out the door.
The Boston Pops is a pop orchestra that has been with me ever since I was a baby. Their contributions are included in that 5-LP set of "50 Years Of Hits In Stereo" by RCA that we got with our huge stereo. Led by Arthur Fiedler in my early years, the Pops always struck me as the coolest orchestra because they could handle not only classical music but also provide their own distinct classy touch to modern hits. Perhaps they are the one unit that managed to merge the jazz that had once been disdained as the devil's music and the more acceptable "beautiful music" of a century ago.
And then, in what would become one example of music's equivalent of bringing Shohei Ohtani and the Los Angeles Dodgers together, maestro John Williams, the king of the blockbuster soundtrack, became the new conductor for the Boston Pops from 1980 to 1993. PBS used to have the summer weekly shows featuring the Pops which I remember watching quite a bit.
I recently discovered that Williams and the Pops had released an album covering some of the jazz classics titled "Unforgettable" back in 1993, and their take on "Moonlight Serenade" was indeed splendiferous. It still hews to the Miller original but the Pops' touches are there such as those shimmering strings. In a way, their take would be the ideal version to finish off a TV series or movie franchise with the main character walking off into the distance after having confessed to his love for "Moonlight Serenade" years or entries earlier. Not a bad way to go.
Well, when it comes to 1939 and 1993, I was obviously alive in only one of those two years, so let's go with what was winningthe Japan Record Awards in the latter year.
It's been a few years since I've posted singer-songwriter Tomoko Aran's（亜蘭知子）name on the byline although she has continued to maintain her presence on the blog through her songwriting. The last time I wrote about her verbatim was through "Noah no Hakobune"（ノアの箱舟）, a New Wave-y track on her 1981 debut album"Shinkei Suijaku"（神経衰弱...Nervous Breakdown）. Every time I look at the album cover though, I wonder whether the photographer was asking Aran to make like Ultraman.
Of course, the singer has been known for her City Pop as well as the New Wave stuff. But the very first track of "Shinkei Suijaku" is actually another genre tangent for all of us. Aran begins with the most cordial soft-shoe jazz ditty "Secret Desire". Written by her and composed by saxophonist Yasuaki Shimizu（清水靖晃）, there may be a bit of New Wave in there after all, after listening to some of those saxes sounding as if they went through some electronic filter. With this song and "Noah no Hakobune", I have to admit that I'm curious about how the rest of "Shinkei Suijaku" sounds. I just hope that the potential multi-genre album approach didn't strike the lass down with the album title.
Compared to Yellow Magic Orchestra and PSY-S, I don't know nearly as much about the technopop group P-Model and up to now, though I've known Susumu Hirasawa（平沢進）and band for their 1980s material, they have gone above and beyond. The latest single from their discography that I've covered is the quirky and infectious "2D or not 2D" from 1992.
Well, recently I've found a P-Model song titled "Ronri Kuugun"(Logic Airforce) which begins their 12th studio album, "Ongaku Sangyō Haikibutsu〜P-MODEL OR DIE"（音楽産業廃棄物...Music Industrial Wastes: P-Model or Die）, released in September 1999. Hirasawa was behind the words and music for this ominously-sounding technopop tribute anthem to a World War II movie soundtrack, complete with a cool CG video. According to Hirasawa himself, the planes that are "piloted" by the band members are German Stukas, and supposedly they are on their way to bomb a record company (not sure if P-Model was having some issues with their management at the time).
As the planes go off to war, from what has been shown in English on "Lyrics Translate", "Ronri Kuugun" is as much about what's going on in the mind as it is in battle. What I especially like is Hirasawa's delivery of those lyrics as if he's saluting the boys going off in their fighters and bombers. I can imagine the rain and wind being flung into the singer's face as he's singing. As a PS, the song was notable enough to get its own meme status.
Well, no, it's not exactly a candy bar, but this photo of a slice of cherry cheesecake is the only thing that I could come up with as a thumbnail at short notice.
And the reason for me to track down something sweet as a photo is this May 1985 5th single by singer-songwriter Mami Ayukawa（鮎川麻弥）, "Candy Game" which has the subtitle of "Candy Bar" (certainly know what the latter is but not sure on the former). Ayukawa's previous entries here on KKP have been of the City Pop variety but "Candy Game" is nowhere close to the 80s urban contemporary genre of Japan. I'd probably say it's closer to a New Wave take on upbeat 1950s or 1960s pop. I definitely get hints of "The Loco-Motion" by Little Eva. Words and music were provided by BIDDU.
It's Wednesday...therefore, it's Hump Day and therefore, some or a lot of us might be feeling that last weekend was so long ago and this upcoming weekend is still too far away. Yep, I'm having some of those mid-week blues, so let's see if we can try something nice to begin today's edition of "Kayo Kyoku Plus".
Happily enough, I found this gorgeously-designed video for the song "Sunday, Monday" by artist magicHour. I've always been drawn to any images of futuristic cities. And there's quite a vibe from this January 2025 7th single"Sunday, Monday" (he debuted a year ago) with its feeling of technopop and funky soul. According to magicHour's site, the song is a heartwarming anthem that celebrates the power of love to make the everyday special. I'll just be grateful for this song to enliven my Wednesday after a heavy lunch of chicken salad sandwich and milk.
As for magicHour, his identity hasn't been revealed but he's apparently a young man in his early 20s which should narrow him down to a few million ("The Japan News" reports that as of January 1st 2023, there were only 1.17 million 20-year-old men in Japan). He's a multi-genre singer-songwriter and producer who grew up listening to 80s disco, funk and rock. Plus, he respects artists such as Michael Jackson, Queen, Louis Armstrong, lrving Berlin, and Quincy Jones. Dang, he's right up my alley!
Yes, I agree that we are still several months away from those festive events of a Japanese summer. But it's gosh darn balmy here in Toronto at a mind-blowing 6 degrees Celsius, so you can forgive me at the torrid heights this day in late February.
Another nice thing is that NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新・BS日本のうた）is back on the Jme schedule after a few weeks away. At one point, I'd feared that it wasn't coming back to our streaming service due to lack of popularity, but happily it was back on Sunday evening.
Anyways, the first song up on the episode was "Tebyoushi Ondo"(The Clapping Song) which took me a while to track down the source year, but apparently it was 1964. The singer was no problem, though, since it was the beatific Haruo Minami（三波春夫）. Written by Hachiro Kadoi（門井八郎）and composed by Kazuo Harukawa（春川一夫）, it is as it is defined: an enjoyable festival song to be danced and clapped. For you folks in snowy climes ranging from Niigata Prefecture to Toronto, Ontario, just close your eyes and pretend that you are rhythmically marching in a circle and clapping your hands in the heat and humidity of a typical August natsu.
Last Friday night, as we usually do, we watched the latest episode of NHK information variety show "Chiko-chan", and found out that a franchise's original manga, the anime, the live-action movie and its theme song managed to revive a traditional form of clothing for graduating women.
Now, for some years, I'd known that the hakama was a popular but not mandatory special clothing that's worn by women during graduation ceremonies in Japan. But according to the "Chiko-chan" segment, it had been once worn as a regular school uniform a century ago during both the Meiji and Taisho eras but once World War II passed, the hakama disappeared from view for several decades.
But then, a manga titled "Haikara-san ga Tooru" (Haikara-San: Here Comes Miss Modern) by Waki Yamato（大和和紀）made its debut in 1975 followed by an anime in 1978. It detailed the romantic (and otherwise) adventures of high-flying, hakama-wearing Benio during the Taisho era.
In 1987, the live-action version starring aidoru Yoko Minamino（南野陽子）premiered at the end of the year, and during the "Chiko-san" segment, it was related that the rerun of the anime and then the popularity of the movie brought back the hakama to graduation ceremonies everywhere. It may have also changed Nanno's image as she had been one of the "Sukeban Deka" girls with her contemporary sailor suit high school uniform and deadly yo-yo.
Of course, the live-action movie had the aidoru also sing the theme song which had the same title of "Haikara-san ga Tooru". Sounding very late Showa era contemporary, its synth perkiness probably reflected Benio's personality herself. Written by Megumi Ogura（小倉めぐみ）, composed by Wataru Kuniyasu（国安わたる）and arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, Nanno's 10th single was released in December 1987 and was another No. 1 hit for her, finishing 1988 as the 19th-ranked single and selling 270,000 records. Along with its single status, "Haikara-san ga Tooru" was also included in the soundtrack for the movie. Not surprisingly, she appeared in that hakama on any music show performances which probably further boosted its comeback.
KKP contributor Joana Bernardo was the first to bring aidoru group ClariS to the blog with their cover of Wink's "Sabishii Nettaigyo"（淋しい熱帯魚）, and on that same special 2023 EP of the same name, the unit recorded their version of Nanno's hit. Cute video tribute to all of those music shows of the 1980s, too.
Soulful singer-songwriter Roberta Flack has had representation on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" via Reminiscings of Youth with two songs, her iconic "Killing Me Softly with His Song" and her 1983 duet with Peabo Bryson, "Born to Love". Unfortunately, her third article on KKP in a special ROY today is being posted on the day that she died at the age of 88.
As I mentioned in the ROY article for "Killing Me Softly with His Song", Flack and her ballad were something that I heard as a boy while being driven home from family friends' houses. Her relaxing vocals and the arrangement stuck with me as I was nodding off to sleep in the backseat of the car while watching the street lamps go by.
Her June 10th 1974 single "Feel Like Makin' Love" is another classic that I used to hear all the time on radio in the car and in the apartment. It's become so ubiquitous through cover versions and the like that I had to do some hunting before I found out that it was Flack who had originally recorded it with Eugene McDaniels taking care of the songwriting. Rather than getting images of late-night dark skies, "Feel Like Makin' Love" (without realizing what the title meant at the time) had me thinking of Sunday afternoon strolls in the park because it was such a relaxing and friendly number.
As one commenter put it, Flack's vocals were like warm butter. I'll raise that person's bet and say that they were like warm butter sliding down a stack of fluffy pancakes. "Feel Like Makin' Love" hit No. 1 on both the American and Canadian charts. My condolences go to her family, friends and fans.
Singer-songwriter Miki Imai（今井美樹）covered the Flack classic in her December 1988 album of covers "Fiesta". I remember placing the CD into the Onkyo stereo and although I knew it was a release of her singing other people's major hits, it was still a shock to hear her covering this particular one. Maybe it was because the song went all the way back to my early childhood.
Anyways, what were hitting the Top 3 on the Oricon chart back on June 10th 1974?
Last Sunday, I put up an article titled "Japanese Pop Songs: Female Names", celebrating the fact that kayo kyoku and J-Pop shared a tendency with Western pop music in coming up with songs named after women. Well, men's names have been used on both sides of the Pacific to title certain ditties over the decades, too. Although I couldn't find a whole bunch of male names for songs, I did find some more female names fronting those tunes so here is my additional list of female and male names.
In 2010, I heard that the world's only museum devoted to John Lennon, located in Saitama Super Arena, was going to close down very soon after a decade. Not being a particularly huge fan of the former Beatle, I was still motivated to head over to the museum simply because I was curious about what I could find there and for the fact that I hadn't been to Saitama Prefecture all that much in the many years I was living in the Kanto area.
So, one morning when I had the day off, I took the appropriate subways over to Saitama City and took a look inside John Lennon Museum. What I found was basically a personal shrine to the singer-songwriter on a huge scale including the above collage of photos. It was all done with great respect and affection and there was nothing cheesy such as a John Lennon restaurant featuring something like Lennonburgers or Ono shakes. I was left wondering how Yoko Ono decided to have the museum established in Saitama since the Lennon family did have a love for the resort area of Karuizawa in Nagano Prefecture, but I guess logistics were a major factor.
While I didn't exactly smack my head in frustration over the discovery that I had missed out on ten years of John Lennon memorabilia, I was still glad that I finally got to see what a Beatles' fan would enjoy in their room.
The band NSP had created their own tribute to Lennon within their May 1983 14th album"Shun"（瞬...A Moment） via the track "Bubble J ni Sasagu"(A Tribute to Bubble J). Written by band members Shigeru Amano（天野滋）and Taisuke Sawachika（澤近泰輔）, it doesn't sound anything like something that Lennon would have composed himself; it's a very personal and elegiac ballad toward Lennon, and the band has noted about their hero's desire for peace and freedom in the lyrics while also mentioning in passing the events of December 8th 1980 in front of the Dakota apartments. As for the bubble in the title, I can only guess that it could be referring to Lennon's spirit rising off into the distance like a soap bubble.
As a slight PS, I've given Sawachika's name out before since he was also the composer for Riho Makise's（牧瀬里穂）"Kokoro ga Nemuru Umi"（心が眠る海 ～Heart in blue～）which I wrote about last week.
I've already done my two articles for today but I just had to do one more because it is an Author's Pick that I'd been letting stew in my brain for a little while. Approximately a decade ago, I posted a similar article titled "Happy Songs for Me (for International Happiness Day)" on occasion of the annual March 20th tribute to all things happy. I realized that there were a number of songs already posted on the blog that simply made me happy each and every time I listened to them and so all those endorphins were flowing around like cars in the Indianapolis 500.
At the same time, I also recognized that there were other songs that not only provided an emotional high to me but also got me moving in my chair...not particularly easy considering a man of my mass and for that matter, a man of my often stoic temperament. But indeed, those tunes actually got me to dance...after a fashion. As such, I opted to put up my own list of tunes that have gotten me to shimmy. When I did a bit of research for this article, I found that there is such a day as International Dance Day but that's all the way ahead on April 29th. I'm not quite willing to wait that long.
So, without further ado, here is my list of up-and-at-'em tunes. As with the "Happy Songs" article, I've left out the years from Labels since that part of the article would have exceeded the limit of twenty and anyways, the years can be included easily enough beside the singer and the title.
I believe I've given my opinions on each of the songs but allow me to add some more for each song. Knowing that there was basically no way that "TOWN" would be played at the Tokyo Olympics (especially since the song was actually more about New York City), but if it had been devoted to Japan's capital city, the music video would have had the buildings and the populace get into one massive dance party. It can almost...not quite, but almost...get me to play air guitar near the end.
Dancing?! I don't need to dance to the well-titled "Sugar Time" to have a great time. All I need to do is jump all over the place. Whenever I listen to this fun fest, I always envisage Bobby Van's amazing sequence from the movie "Small Town Girl" released in 1953. Play "Sugar Time" and the Van dance while muting the latter. You'll lose a kilogram!
I do my best air drums when I hear Carl Smoky Ishii and company blast this one out the headphone speakers. And then if I'm really in a mood, I even try to emulate the K2C dancers on stage (I make sure no one's home).
I usually just repeatedly shift my weight to this technopop tune but my overactive mind envisions this being a battle and a dance simultaneously on the level and magnificence of the fights in the very first "Matrix" movie which was a mere two years after the source album "cure" had been released. It could be the background music for a fighting manga brought to life. And when the composer is the legendary Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）...well, quality guaranteed.
When you link back to the original article, you'll notice that I only supplied one paragraph to this song, something that I haven't done in years. However, it really is the song that can give the oomph compared to anything that I could put down in prose. Some great samba beats by Mondo Grosso and some lovely vocals by Bird to get me doing my own line dance. I'm sure any concert performances of "Life" would have the audience frenetically dancing to theirs.
Once you get past the technopop intro, it's all wonderfully soulful brass and bass and disco strings and the Sawayama sisters. Yep, this is another one to get the blood pumping and the shoulders shimmying all over the place. Of course, I encourage you to be more ambitious in the movements.
Honestly speaking, I had to include both of these songs which come from Kirinji's heavy rotation 2018 album"Ai wo aru dake, Subete"（愛をあるだけ、すべて）. I mean, I probably would have included a few more tracks but I didn't want to go overboard. Of course, "Jikan ga nai" is the finest example of SALARYWAVE that I've seen especially with that section chief tripping the light fantastic on the disco floor in the music video. And then with "Hi Zero Wa Game", I never thought that I could dance to a Doobie Brothers-like arrangement but here we are. The concert performance videos are splendid but I wonder what a conceptual music video would have looked like.
I've enjoyed these and even burned some calories to them. How about you? Any danceable kayo kyoku out there?
As I mentioned in that Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）article yesterday, I was kindly treated to some Salvadoran fare for lunch and it was my first time (on the cusp of 60, no less) to have pupusas, which are these flatbreads stuffed with meat, vegetables and other ingredients. Very tasty and filling, and I couldn't finish the whole thing since there were other items ordered as well. My friend's wife is a big fan of pupusas as well, so she probably was very grateful to get the remainder that I couldn't finish as a doggie bag.
Not sure if Salvadoran cuisine has made it over to Japan but wouldn't it be quite the thing if I were able to get a decent pupusa at a Lawson's or am/pm past midnight? In any case, this has made for a somewhat nice segue into the mellow music of Tokyo Mokuyo Gakudan（東京木曜楽団...Tokyo Thursday Band）. I wrote their first and only article on them (that is, until today) back almost exactly three years ago when I posted their "Mayonaka no Service Area"（真夜中サービスエリア）. Having a pupusa from one of those highway service areas and then noshing on it in the passenger seat of a car driving through the Kanto during the midnight hours may be a nice experience.
As I wrote on "Mayonaka no Service Area",Tokyo Mokuyo Gakudan doesn't have a lot written about them, although I hope that they still get together every Thursday night for their sessions. But I was able to find another short-and-sweet song by them titled "Oyasumi" (Good Night) that is also from 2019 and retains that groovy mellowness in the arrangement. This time though, it starts with some Xmas jingling bells, so I am wondering whether it is Yuletide-themed, but I don't get the impression that the vocalist is relating anything about any impending Christmas. I think it is a well-titled song since after having that loaded pupusa while listening to "Mayonaka no Service Area", I really might go "Oyasumi" for the next several hours.
Ahhh...the wonders of Supermarionation on LSD! You may be confused or terrified from watching the above video, but there's no doubt about the music fronting it. It's been over three years since I've posted anything by Fantastic Plastic Machine (the last one being for "Take Me To The Disco" in September 2021), but it's time to bring the illustrious Tomoyuki Tanaka（田中知之）back to KKP with his "Please, Stop!".
Another track from his debut 1997 album"The Fantastic Plastic Machine", "Please, Stop!" joins "Dear Mr. Salesman", "Steppin' Out"and"Bachelor Pad" as fellow tracks covered on this blog. However, it's the only one that doesn't have anything written about it in either the J-Wiki or Wikipedia articles on the album. And to be honest, it's basically the same hip-swiveling sample repeated over and over again although listeners will also get that urge to shake up some martinis. It's telling me just to lay back on the lounge sofa in my leisure suit and wait for an especially dry one to come my way.
Recently, a comment that I received under Toshiki Kadomatsu's（角松敏生）"1975" mentioned singer-songwriter Ryo Kagawa（加川良）. This is a name that I had heard before and the commenter also noted that Kagawa had been involved in some City Pop. With my interest piqued, I started looking him up.
Well, I read that Kagawa was more of a folk singer-songwriter who was born in Shiga Prefecture in the Kansai region, and part of his claim to fame was his debut single"Kyokun I"(Lesson One) from July 1971. It's a gently delivered country folk tune created by the singer along with lyricist Ryo Ueno（上野瞭）. However, it has also been described as one of the more highly critical anti-war songs with Kagawa singing that he would prefer to be one of the surviving idiots rather than the honoured dead. His file at Wikipedia gives more of his political stance which includes references to "Kyokun I".
Kagawa was influenced by singers such as Nobuyasu Okabayashi（岡林信康）and was an influence himself on singers like Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi（長渕剛）. The singer passed away in April 2017 at the age of 69 due to acute myelomonocytic leukemia.
Kinda feeling sleepy this final Saturday of February 2025 after being kindly treated to an enormous Salvadoran lunch earlier today. Plenty of protein and carbs for this ever-growing boy.😁
Anyways, although I couldn't track down the commenter, I remember having a recent conversation with them about singer Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）and her 20th single titled "Amore" that she released back in July 1984. When it comes to her, I will always remember her hit "Machibuse"（まちぶせ）from 1981 and her impression as that quintessentially early 80s aidoru(although she'd been around since 1978).
Well, with "Amore", I think that aidoru tag was most definitely left behind in her room as she sings about a torrid affair between two lovers. Even her voice deepens here, compared to her high twinkly vocals from "Machibuse". There's more Latin and rock woven into her pop and the overall arrangement reminds me somewhat of the one for a big hit from that same year of 1984, Mariko Takahashi's（高橋真梨子）"Momo Iro Toiki"（桃色吐息）. Strangely enough, the composer, Takashi Sato（佐藤隆）, created both "Amore" and Takahashi's classic. Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）was responsible for the lyrics.
Hiroshi Sato's（佐藤博）"Rainbow Sea Line" is a cover of a song that he provided Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）, but compared to the Yoshida version, it's even mellower and more effervescent. His solo debut album "Super Market" was recorded in Los Angeles through an abrupt decision, but even so, the sense of perfection here is such that I am keenly reminded of how much of a truly talented musician he was, no matter the decade. As the title suggests, it's a number that makes me want to listen to it during a drive while feeling that sea breeze.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
Hi, J-Canuck here. I do remember posting an article regarding "Rainbow Sea Line" more than a decade ago on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but despite me putting both Yoshida's and Sato's names on the byline, I actually wrote only about the former's version and threw in the Sato version from "Super Market" as an "emergency measure" because at the time, the only Yoshida version that was on YouTube had gotten taken down by the powers-that-be for the longest time. I didn't really bother writing anything about Sato's indeed truly mellower take which I hadn't thought was possible after first hearing the original take for Yoshida. But Kimura is right; his "Rainbow Sea Line" is ideal as a driving song with the top down on the convertible, and it's a tune that reflects the romanticism of 1970s City Pop regarding the possibilities of finally living the good life for a lot of Japanese.
I'd like to also remind readers of Yutaka Kimura Speaks that some 97 weeks ago, Sato was entry 001 for this series and I'm about to finish the final two entries in as many weeks.
It was often the time when I went to diners like Lick's here in Toronto to partake in the food and drink including the all-favourite strawberry milkshake in those tall tin cups. Always had mine with a topping of whipped cream.
So I can't be surprised that there was a Japanese aidoru tune titled "Strawberry Shake" since all things aidoru are sweet and frothy by design. This was the opening track on Hidemi Ishikawa's（石川秀美）July 1984 4th album"Summer Breeze"（サマー・ブリーズ）, and yeah, the titular drink must have been very refreshing during the usual torrid Japanese hot season. The lyrics by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）though seem to talk about a young lady's deep ardor for that special guy.
Prolific composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）was behind the music for "Strawberry Shake". Especially in those 1980s, it was often the time that Japanese composers borrowed hooks from other songs in Japan and elsewhere. I've heard and seen that in other tunes, but this is perhaps one of the few times that Hayashi may have been influenced by two different songs. The jazzy intro and opening verses by Hidemi come right from Elbow Bones and the Racketeers' hit "A Night in New York" from late 1983 (and yeah, a much later tune had its influence from that one), but then when we get into the chorus, it sounds just like Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"September" from 1979, a song that both Hayashi and Matsumoto worked on.
For fusion bands, new fans to the Japanese variety have often thought about Casiopea and The Square, and they're both from the Kanto region including the Greater Tokyo Area.
Well, the Kansai area wasn't going to be left out in the cold when it came to fusion (I think there's a metaphorical joke in there somewhere). Naniwa Express（ナニワエキスプレス）was formed in 1977 and the lineup includes Shimane Prefecture bassist Kou Shimizu（清水興）, guitarist Kazuhiko Iwami（岩見和彦）from Wakayama Prefecture, Kyoto keyboardist Kenji Nakamura（中村建治）, Kagawa's Rikiya Higashihara（東原力哉）as the drummer, and Makoto Aoyagi（青柳誠）, also from Kyoto on piano and saxophone.
Their first album, "No Fuse", came out in May 1982 and the lead track is "Believin'". Quite the percolating funk piece, Iwami shows off some sparkling moves on the guitar while Shimizu leads with some boppy bass. Of course, Aoyagi comes in with his beefy saxophone chops for some added summery spice.
And here I thought that I had cornered the market on all of those Japanese words meaning "twilight" as I wrote about those twilight songs last year. However, I've found another term: hakumei. And for that I have to thank the good folks at Kirinji（キリンジ）along with Maika Loubté, a half-French half-Japanese singer-songwriter, producer and DJ whose first album came out in 2014.
"Hakumei" happens to be a track on Kirinji's December 2021 15th album"crepuscular", and it's another wonderful example how Takaki Horigome（堀込高樹）can weave together synthpop and City Pop together into a dreamy soundscape of possibility. Loubté also co-wrote the lyrics about a mesmerizing walk/drive around Yokohama at the titular time. I've done that exact thing myself when I was staying in the international port city for one night although the experience wasn't quite as atmospheric; I was rather hungry for dinner in Chinatown.
Wow! Isn't that something? Twenty-four hours after finding out that I may now have an upper limit to my Labels, I've got a new one to add from my potentially remaining batch of several hundred.
And this one is for Kaede, who happens to be a member of the veteran aidoru group Negicco. Although she's still performing with the Niigata Prefecture-based group that's been around since 2003, Kaede also went solo as of 2019, and thus far, she's released six singles, a couple of mini-albums, and two full albums.
One of those mini-albums is "Aki no Wakusei, Heart wa Night Blue"（秋の惑星、ハートはナイトブルー。...Autumn Planet, My Heart is Night Blue [although the official English title could be "Stardust in Blue"]）which came out in September 2020 and one of the tracks there is "Morning Call". A collaboration between Kaede and the multi-genre band Lamp, this is a sweet tune that incorporates some of that 1970s City Pop sound into its arrangement thanks to lyricist and Lamp vocalist Kaori Sakakibara（榊原香保里）and composer and her fellow bandmate Taiyo Someya（染谷大陽）. The lyrics seem to take us listeners back to the late 80s or early 90s when phone booths and telephone cards were the thing in the pre-smartphone age. The lass in the song makes it a habit to give that good morning call to her beau to make sure he's ready to greet the world and also to hear his lovely voice.
I started the Peter Gabriel file in the weekly Reminiscings of Youth series on KKP with the New Wave"Shock the Monkey" because it was the first time that I had heard of the English musician (and happy 75th birthday to him...happened a week ago). I learned that he had been the leader of the progressive rock band Genesis back in the 1970s and that back then it was quite the theatrically daring group during concerts. So, on seeing Gabriel providing his distinctive voice and a terrifying music video, I just had to go "Ahh, naruhodo".😕
Move ahead a few more years to April 1986. I hadn't heard all that much from Gabriel in the intervening years aside from a couple of other songs by him that I'd heard about in retrospect. But then, he released this rather interesting single titled "Sledgehammer" and once again, I was struck by the song and the music video for different reasons. For one thing, the nudge-nudge-wink-wink "Sledgehammer" didn't sound anything like New Wave or techno at all; it was more of a catchy epic pop tune with a battery of 1970s R&B horns...and a shakuhachi starting it all off. Of course, the amazing Gabriel vocals were still front and centre.
And then of course, there was the music video which earned a number of awards and probably had viewers' jaws dropping like yo-yos at the pure ambition, hard work and effects put into it. Yes, I did hear about Gabriel's back issues from his participation in the video along with the olfactory suffering inflicted upon the crew due to the two turkeys or chickens under the hot lights. That's definitely suffering for one's art. Almost forty years later, "Sledgehammer" still amazes.
It hit like a sledgehammer at No. 1 in both Canada and the United States. The song and the video will remain one of my biggest memories of the 1980s. So, what were some of the releases coming out in Japan in April 1986?
Well, with all of us contributing to "Kayo Kyoku Plus" in one way or another for a long thirteen years and change, I have always wondered whether we would hit limits. I'm talking about running out of space for articles for example. Thankfully, that hasn't come to pass thus far. However, it may be a different story when it comes to the Labels section on the right side of the blog.
The screenshot above is too small to see without squinting really hard (and you don't want to do that to your eyes) but when I was scrolling down earlier today, I discovered that Labels now only goes as far as Michie Tomizawa before it abruptly stops showing. It means that folks and genres and numbers of articles beyond "Mi" cannot be seen, perhaps because I finally hit my limit there...and yep, your wrist might get a nice workout going down all that far.
I've sent an email over to the good folks at Blogger Administration and I hope that I can get an answer on whether anything can be done to fix this. In the meantime, all I can advise is that you can plummet down further into the bottom burgundy zone past "Plus Past" and insert your favourite singer or song title into "Search This Blog". I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that a resolution can be found. Maybe it's just my computer doing this...it's not exactly a spring chicken anymore.
February 21st 2025: Well, it looks like at around 9:30 pm last night, Blogger Administration restored all of my Labels, so my thanks to them. And also to commenter Robert who was kind enough to monitor the situation as you can see through our conversation below. If indeed Blogger allows a maximum of 5,000 items for Labels, then I've got a little over 500 left.
