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.
KKP contributor Jari Lehtinen was the first one to get the Nami Shimada（島田奈美）file rolling when he wrote about the late 1980saidoru's "Onegai Kiss Me Again"（お願いキス・ミー・アゲイン）all the way back in 2013. And feel free to read his writeup since he goes into much of her history in the geinokai.
It's always interesting to delve into the slightly less-than-famous aidoru of that decade since I've found that at least some of their material is quite pleasant to listen to. And with Shimada, who I didn't really find out about until the existence of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", there is her 2nd single from August 1986, "Makenaide...Kataomoi" (Don't Give Up...One-Sided Love). It's got one of the nicest intros before some intriguing synths come crashing in and then the arrangement maintains a nice and fairly groovy rhythm throughout. The title pretty much says it all...I'm assuming that Yukinojo Mori's（森雪之丞）lyrics are about holding that torch for that guy in high school. Not surprised that the melody and arrangement are by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）respectively. "Makenaide...Kataomoi" made it No. 15 on Oricon and it was used for a Clearasil commercial.
Although she had never been on KKP until today, the name Emiri Kanou（加納エミリ）has rung a bell for me for some reason that I can't really fathom. She's an aidoru from Hokkaido who has done everything by herself including the creation of her own songs and choreography. According to her J-Wiki profile, when she was in elementary school, she admired the works of Hikaru Utada（宇多田ヒカル）and wanted to become like her as a singer but realized that wasn't really her style and instead worked on her own way. Later on, she got into electronic music as a high school student, and now considers electropop, New Wave, City Pop and indies rock to be her genres.
In February 2019, she produced and released her very first 7" single titled "Gomen ne"(Sorry). Those 500 singles sold out nationwide. I first came upon it when I was browsing YouTube and saw the music video for "Gomen ne" which included the comment of it being "New Order kayo"! Well, that was quite the statement to a guy who considers the band New Order one of his favourites from his dancing days at the disco, so I was more than interested in giving it a whirl.
"Gomen ne" doesn't go quite as hard as the typical New Order song although I can hear elements in there. And after all, she's an aidoru so there's gotta be the cute and bright twinkles through the synthesizers to reflect that. To be honest, I hear some more of that Stock-Aitken-Waterman Eurobeat in there and the general 80s atmosphere which also permeates the video itself. In fact, watching Kanou perform, I was reminded of a young Chisato Moritaka（森高千里）in her early performances, physically if not vocally.
Speaking of the video, I was wondering who the older fellow was. Well, it's possible that it is her father, Shigeo Mihara（三原重夫）, who used to be the first drummer for the 1980s rock band Rosa Luxemburg. To further pile on the celebrity news, she only got married a few months ago to actor Kuu Ijima（伊島空）.
Kanou's first official single"Friday Night" came out a month after "Gomen ne" in March 2019.
It is a Sunday after all and some of my family attend church, so I thought it would be fitting to show one of the latest by song-and-dance group Atarashii Gakko no Leaders（新しい学校のリーダーズ）. After all, as one commenter for the music video of "One Heart" put it, there is something very upbeat gospel about the song to get the parishioners out of their pews to dance.
"One Heart" was only released on March 13th this year as a digital single and as yonkey's words and music express, AGL just wants to take everyone higher. It feels inspirational and as the Billboard Japanwebsite puts it, the good ladies within the group desire to bring hope and support to everyone of all ages and backgrounds and ambitions. That sounds mighty powerful for a commercial selling fettucine-shaped gummies.
One piece of trivia from the J-Wiki article for the song is that during the big scene at the end of the music video, three hundred members of the official AGL fan club were selected by lottery to participate. Now, that's ambitious, boys and girls!
It wasn't too long ago that I mentioned that I would probably end up doing an Author's Picks on hotel-based kayo kyoku because there were so many of them out there. In fact, I had included Jackey Yoshikawa and His Blue Comets' classic Group Sounds 1967"Blue Chateau"（ブルー・シャトウ）but I got the warning from Blogger that I couldn't exceed the total of 200 characters per article in the Labels section, so I'm providing the link to the article above.
However, getting back on track, here is a small sampling of those hotel songs. It's interesting that airport-based kayo kyoku exist as a setting for bittersweet romantic partings whereas the hotel is the base for something quite the opposite (nudge, nudge, wink, wink).😍 The songs aren't presented in any sort of order.
I came across singer-songwriter Azumi Takahashi's（高橋あず美）YouTube channel purely by accident several days ago. Takahashi is a singer-songwriter who hails from Nagano Prefecture, and according to a brief bio on the website "Sayegusa & Experience", she gained a lot of her vocal power from her participation in chorus groups, snowboarding and cross-country skiing. After graduating from high school, she attended a Tokyo music school to develop her singing abilities and after graduating there in 2008, she was able to join Dreams Come True on tour as a backup singer. Takahashi also released some songs over the next several years but in 2018, she decided to head to New York City to refresh herself. In the Big Apple, she took the opportunity for some busking in the subways where she stunned commuters with her amazing singing. A year later, she even became the Champion of the Year at the Apollo Theatre's Amateur Night competition, being the first Japanese citizen to ever take the top prize.
Before all those accolades came pouring in for her, Takahashi released an album in 2017 titled "Hitorigoto" (ひとり言...Monologue) from which here is one track "Tokyo Kakurenbo" (Tokyo Hide n' Seek). A cool and groovy blues-and-soul song possibly about avoiding commitment in the big city, the singer shows her sexy and growly chops although I think I'm going to have to see some of that subway busking footage to get an idea of her at full vocal power.
One of the first things that I learned about Japan as a high school student was that the nation was very resource-poor. A lot of the raw materials needed for manufacturing had to be imported. But I gradually came to realize that the Japanese still had a mining industry for various minerals within their own nation for centuries which included coal. I didn't have to look up anything (although I did read some of the "Mining in Japan" article on Wikipedia) to know though that coal mining was difficult, dirty and dangerous just from what I knew about the industry in North America.
As has been the case with other industries in Japan such as woodcutting and fishing, mining has also had its kayo kyoku representation. I've already posted on one min'yo titled "Tanko Bushi"(Coal Mine Melody) via Minyo Crusaders and the famous Michiya Mihashi（三橋美智也）. And just recently, from watching an episode of NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本のうた）, I found out about another Mihashi tribute to coal mining, "Oira Tankoubu" (We Are Coal Miners) that was released in 1957, about a year following his version of "Tanko Bushi".
Written by Hiroshi Yokoi（横井弘）and composed by Hachiro Konoe（近衛八郎）, under the pseudonym of Toshiyo Kamata（鎌田俊與）, "Oira Tankoubu" has, for a lack of a better word, a rather industrious melody although not quite as cheerful as the legendary "Heigh Ho". There's a certain swagger in Mihashi's vocals (even some min'yo exhortations) as well, and in combination with Konoe's music, the message seems to be "We don't look too great, we don't smell too great but we are doing great...for Japan's economic boom".
As has been the case in previous issues of "Japanese City Pop", this book has defined Japanese City Pop as "urban music for city dwellers", and there probably has been no debating the opinion that the band Happy End was the starting point.
The music world of Happy End that expressed the dreamscape of Tokyoites as a "windy city" goes hand in hand with a refined Western style of sound and it has become the source for the great stream that has connected to today's J-Pop. No matter how big the river, going back to its beginnings will lead to a tiny stream up in the mountains, and in the same way, Happy End's music made only a tiny ripple back in the day, but it's now been appraised as the headwaters for this mighty river of music.
Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, Eiichi Ohtaki（大瀧詠一）, Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）and Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, the four members of Happy End, have each gone onto their own careers after the band's breakup and contributed greatly to the maturation of Japan's pop music. It wouldn't be too much of an exaggeration to point out that the four of them became the core of the history of Japanese City Pop, considering that it would be rather difficult to seek out any albums within the more-than-500 examples in this book that hasn't been touched by them.
Caramel Mama (later to be known as Tin Pan Alley), which was created by Hosono, Suzuki, Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）and Tatsuo Hayashi（林立夫）, made masterful use of their transcendent performing prowess, and from a sound point of view, they revolutionized Japanese pop. Over here as well, just like Happy End, though it made a little headway back in those days, when comparing and listening to the folk and kayo kyoku that had come before Tin Pan Alley and then listening to music after their arrival, the difference couldn't be clearer. Simply put, what made the Japanese sound cooler came following Tin Pan Alley.
If possible, I'd like the young people of today to realize how cool and sophisticated music was more than forty years ago in our country.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
As I was sitting around in the waiting room while a family member was going through some medical tests which I mentioned about in my first article today, I whipped out my issue of "Obscure City Pop CD's ~ 1986-2006". Knowing that I had my usual quintet of articles to post today, I wanted to see if I could find something from the book.
Well, as it turned out, one singer in the book has already been given some coverage here on KKP. Makiko Imai（今井麻起子）is someone that I had mentioned about for the first time back in 2019 for her "Belly Roll ~ Kaze no Josoji"（ベリー・ロール -風の助走路-）from her debut album"Ciao!" from February 1988. The impression about her was that she was quite the perky pop star along the lines of Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）.
In "Obscure City Pop CD's", attention was paid to her 2nd and final album"CANDY A GO GO!!" which came out in March 1989. Track 2 was readily available on YouTube. "Ten Years After" continues the upbeat good times of Ms. Imai but this time, there is some more robust funk in there. Written by Shun Taguchi（田口俊）and composed by Noriko Nigo（仁後典子）and Kazuo Horiguchi（堀口和男）, it's a story of some mild admonishment as a 1999 version of a young lady goes back in time to warn her younger self that she's letting a romantic opportunity go to waste, although it may already be too late (although knowing a sliver of temporal mechanics, I'm not sure how that could happen).
I have to say that though Imai only released two albums, those covers are among the more standout examples that I've ever seen. My compliments to the designers!
It's been several months since putting up an article based on a Lucky Tapes song but once again, I'm going very early in their discography. Almost ten years back, to be exact.
I recall back in 2022 posting an article for the Neo-City Pop band's "Friday Night" from their first full album "The Show" from August 2015. Like that song, its track mate "Yureru Dress"(Fluttering Dress) has the funk of a modern city but this time, it's been fortified with some good ol' disco as a couple trip the light fantastic. Fine horn and electric organ solo, to boot. Vocalist Kai Takahashi（高橋海）was responsible for words and music while guitarist Kensuke Takahashi（高橋健介）also helped out on the melody.
After so many years of focusing on City Pop in all its iterations spanning a few decades, I confess that I still have a soft spot for the late 1970s' brand of sophisticated pop in perhaps still smoggy Tokyo while savoring cocktails in the high-up hotel bars.
Mind you, "Tokimeki no Toki" (A Time of Excitement) by singer-songwriter Machiko Watanabe（渡辺真知子）begins with a phrase that literally sounds like the typical riff that sets off viewers' minds a reeling when a TV suspense program goes to commercial. But then, the quintessential strings, piano and horns all assemble like The Avengers to provide a scene of high class but also one of, yes, suspense. As written and composed by Watanabe with Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）handling the arrangement, the romance involved here is appropriately ardent but though the woman is willing to give her whole heart now and forever, she feels that her partner only appreciates her current self and perhaps may change his mind with any evolution. Perhaps it's time for that suspense riff to come in here one more time.
Regardless, "Tokimeki no Toki" is in the middle of Watanabe's fourth studio album"Memories" which was released in December 1979. According to the J-Wiki article for the album, there were some big names among the studio musicians including trumpeter Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）, Eiji Arai（新井英治）on trombone and Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹）on electric guitar.
To quote some of my British friends and former colleagues, I am knackered. I had to take care of the logistics regarding a medical appointment for one of my family earlier this morning in terms of both transportation and the actual visit itself, so with only one snag that was easily rectified, everything went off OK. I did end up dozing off in my armchair for an hour after a Big Mac (I hadn't had one of those in a few years and noticed that the hamburger is more of a Medium Mac now) meal so I gather that the stress built up was fairly large. My shoulders could use a rubdown right now but that's not going to be resolvable.
However, there is the saying "Music has charms to soothe a savage breast" from "The Mourning Bride", and I can happily go with that to start off this Friday's edition of the urban contemporary stuff. The thing is, though, that I basically have no information about this artist by the name of Mizuiro but looking at his YouTube channel, it appears that he has put out a number of albums already. His latest is "Skyline Flow" which came out earlier this month, and here is a very pleasant track, "Warm Wind Melody". It's got this somewhat bluesy approach to a laidback jazz/AOR sunset tune, and with the cool wind coming in from the window right now as I type this, "Warm Wind Melody" is having its beneficial effects on my tired body and mind.
The cover for "Skyline Flow" is also very comfortable to peer at. It reminds me of the original cover for Makoto Matsushita's（松下誠）"First Light" album. Well, I've got my next few articles to type up before this day is up so I'll probably give "Warm Wind Melody" a few more plays for therapeutic purposes before moving on.
Well, I've heard singer-songwriter Yuko Tomita（とみたゆう子）ply her trade in the pop and City Pop realms. This time around, I get to hear another side from her which is more along the lines of techno jazz, thanks to that battery of synthesizers behind her.
In February 1986, Tomita released her 6th and final album under Crown Records, "Moulin Rouge", although by the looks of her on the cover, perhaps it should have been titled "Stood Up at Moulin Rouge". Nope, not the happiest look on her but it's a classy shot. "Silk-Hat-Club" (no idea about the two hyphens) was written and composed by the singer as what I assume to be a sophisticated time out on the town in tux and gown...maybe with a few droids in tow. The synths are fine as they are, but I also wonder how the song would have sounded with a real jazz orchestra behind her.
The above is a photo of what was once the small Tower Records branch underneath the skyscraper village known as Shiodome between the Tokyo neighbourhoods of Ginza and Shimbashi (the store closed down in March 2021). Compared to the massive main store in Shibuya, the Shiodome branch was cute and petite but it still had plenty of shelves to be perused and I used to visit it a fair bit. To give credit where credit is due, the photo is actually a shot that I copied from Minato Eye no Minato-ku Tsuushin's site. I haven't been able to find my own photo of the branch itself so my apologies to the site if I've overstepped my bounds here.
Now, the reason that I'm even mentioning one of my old CD haunts for this Reminiscings of Youth article is that Shiodome Tower Records was where I first heard Canadian jazz singer great Michael Bublé. He's already been mentioned here at KKP through "Spider-Man" and "Sway" but this is the first time that he gets his own ROY article (and it won't be the last either).
I had already known about jazz chanteuses Diana Krall and Holly Cole, but when I entered that Tower branch in 2003, I had yet to hear about Bublé from Burnaby, British Columbia. However, he'd been around the jazz world for a few years already when I encountered a display shelf filled with copies of his third album "Michael Bublé" and it just so happened that the first track was playing on the store speakers. That song was "Fever", a steamy tune that I had heard in the past from Peggy Lee as a "torchy lounge" song as has been described. What I hadn't known was that Lee's rendition was also a cover of the 1956 original by Little Willie John.
Well, getting back to the Bublé cover, I noticed that the steam was piping hot there (always love a good wood bass) but there was also some of that Las Vegas ring-a-ding-ding swing as we hit the climax. I read one comment on YouTube where the person still enjoyed "Fever"despite the jazz orchestral trappings. I ended up buying "Michael Buble"becauseof the swing. Thus began a very nice addition to my jazz collection.
"Michael Buble" came out on February 11th 2003. What were two songs in Japan that hit the Top 10 the day before?
This might sound downright shocking coming from a foodie like me, but I was never a huge fan of macaroni and cheese. At least, not at main course levels. I just find mac n' cheese way too rich in those quantities. If it's very much a really minor side dish, then I can take it.
Still, I'd like to offer this for your listening perusal. This is "How To Cook Macaroni & Cheese" by singer and sound creator Takeshi Nakatsuka（中塚武）. I wrote about him and his QYPTHONE project earlier this month via "On the Palette", but I also realized that I hadn't written anything about him on his own since my 2019 article on his visually mesmerizing "Japanese Boy".
"How To Cook Macaroni & Cheese" is Nakatsuka's contribution to the 2004 compilation album"BGM Vol. 1 for Modernica", and what it lacks in an equally mesmerizing music video, it gains in having Mr. Macaroni and Ms. Cheese performing light, soothing and amiable banter regarding the titular dish. It almost sounds like one of those old-fashioned cooking segments I used to watch on morning or late afternoon television as a kid. Instrumentally, it's only a piano and an acoustic guitar but accompanying the happy talk, it's as filling as a bowl of mac n' cheese...not that I would ever have one willingly. A couple of spoonfuls, and I'm happy.
The other day in the Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）forum on Discord, I read that the original drummer for the famed AOR band, Keiichi Hiroishi（廣石恵一）, had passed away on March 16th at the age of 64 due to a cerebral hemorrhage. Giving my condolences to Hiroishi's family, friends and fans, I wanted to start my contributions to KKP today with an Omega Tribe song.
Usually when it comes to the smooth and groovy stylings of Omega Tribe with Carlos Toshiki, I think of composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and lyricist Chinfa Kan（康珍化）. But for the band's 6th single under their incarnation at that time, "Toki wa Kagerou"(Love is an Illusion), it was none other than Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）who provided words and music with Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博） handling the arrangement. Released in June 1990, it's an ethereal musing on love as an amourous couple enjoy each other's company on the sands of some desert (those synth-wood pipes help with the effect). I can imagine that the concept of time must dissipate like a heat haze in such an environment. Reaching No. 38 on Oricon, "Toki wa Kagerou" was also the first track on Omega Tribe's album"natsuko" which came out later in July; the album was a No. 13 hit.
Interestingly enough, the first time that I had even heard of the song was through Yuming's（ユーミン）self-cover of "Toki wa Kagerou" from her November 1990 album"Tengoku no Door"（天国のドア）. It isn't quite as ethereal as the version that Shinkawa had arranged but the drama is still in there under Masataka Matsutoya's（松任谷正隆）handling of it. I'm not sure when I ended up buying Omega Tribe's album, but it wasn't too long after getting "Tengoku no Door" since when I listened to that first track on "natsuko", I was left wondering where I had heard that song before.
For the final piece of my Hachiro Kasuga (春日八郎) Centenary project, I would like to end with a piece on the Sannin no Kai (三人の会... Group of Three). I thought that this would be the perfect end since it was one of the singer's last enka activities and the trio was the reason I got to know Hachi in the first place. In fact, you may be able to trace my Hachi discovery via Sannin no Kai right here on KKP!
From Shinobu
The very first time I encountered Hachi was via a video of what was perhaps the intro to what I now know as the Sannin no Kai Concert somewhere in 1989 (if I'm not mistaken). Back then, I only knew rokyoku artist turned manly enka star Hideo Murata (村田英雄) and loved his shogi-themed hit Osho(王将)*, which made me give that video a watch. Little did I know that he and the two other singers were doing a mochi uta exchange where they sang each of their most significant hits. Murata sang Aishu Ressha (哀愁列車). Min'yo master Michiya Mihashi (三橋美智也) in an eye-popping pink kimono and yellow hakama set sang Akai Rampu no Shuressha(赤いランプの終列車). Finally, with bushy eyebrows and dressed in a tuxedo was Kasuga making a grand entrance fitting for Osho. Yet, I did not like the way he handled Osho. It just wasn't right. His presence was also not particularly outstanding, which was ironic considering he stood a head above his compatriots. With such a view in mind, 2014 Noelle watching that clip would not have envisioned that she would choose the one she thought was the most boring.
The mochi-uta exchange I watched ages ago.
So, what made made three of the biggest stars of the enka-kayo world join forces? Well, for one, they were already pretty good friends. Then, it just so happened that some time in the late 1980s as they were hanging out, Muchi broached the idea of joining forces to breathe new life into the twilight years of their careers and the enka realm. His seniors** gladly agreed, and thus the Sannin no Kai was formed with the goal of "enka no fukkatsu" (the revival of enka). The first concert they organised was in 1988 and held at a hotel owned by Michi. The subsequent concerts in 1989 and 1990 were led by Hachi and Muchi respectively.
During these concerts, the fellas unveiled a couple of new collaboration songs: Aishu (Sorrow) and Otoko no Furusato (A Man's Hometown). These were released as physical singles in 1991, the former before Hachi's death, the latter after. Both had their lyrics penned by Muchi; Michi took charge of composing Aishu, while Hachi did Otoko no Furusato. True to the group's constitution, both have that distinct enka sound derived from usage of the yonanuki scale. Aishu took the minor scale route, making it sound slightly melancholic atmosphere, while Otoko no Furusato took the major scale, giving it a masculine and powerful punch. The first I encountered and the only one of the two that's available online is Aishu, thus, it will be the one I feature today.
I remember freaking out upon encountering the blurry video of Aishu. I mean, how often do you get a trio of legendary artists in the kayo world doing songs where each of them have their own part? Despite the plaintive melody and title suggesting a sad time, Aishu paints a little picture of each of our fellows in each stanza. A cliff notes version of Hachi, Michi and Muchi, if you will. First up is Hachi, the man from the village at the foot of Mt. Bandai (Fukushima) and who rose to prominence by walking the path of enka. Then we have Muchi, the Kyushu native raised by the Genkai coast and who prides himself as the purveyor of manly songs since the beginning of time. Finally, we have Michi, toughened by the harsh winters of the north and who sought his musical future in the land of apples.
I talked about the Sannin no Kai and Aishu in the final part of my thesis. There, I brought up how only Hachi's part included the buzzword "enka" and enka being his life work. This made me wonder if Murata was cognizant of his buddy being heralded as enka's top figure and wanted to pay homage to that in this song. It may also have been that Hachi had a say in it too, considering he is the most senior (in age and kayo world experience). Either way, despite the fact that all three fellows are deemed as enka veterans by the late 80s, there was likely a common consensus even among themselves that it's Hachi who is the enka man. That, I argued, reinforced Hachi's "Preeminent Enka Singer" (Enka no daiichi ninsha) image that was developed over a decade prior. As I'm writing this article, I've now also noticed that Hachi's part also had the buzzword "furusato", something integral to the Bokyo Kayokyoku/Enka (Homesickness Song) genre. Hachi is often also considered the forerunner of Bokyo Kayo-Enka, so I wonder if Murata also gave a nod to that with the aforementioned term.
From Mikasa
The Sannin no Kai were probably every enka-kayo's dream team turned reality - it certainly is one of mine! My favourite part about the Sannin no Kai is seeing each of the member's different personalities. From the videos I've been seeing, what I've noticed is that Murata gives off fearless responsible leader who cares for his compatriots deeply. Michi, while seemingly withdrawn, is actually quite wild and very loud. Hachi, despite his status among them, seems the most laidback and speaks in lowercase (by that I mean he mumbles). It's really enjoyable to see them bounce off each other so naturally. So, it was heartbreaking to know that it lasted a mere three to four years. Hachi was the first to go in 1991, followed by Michi in 1996, leaving Muchi to power on in memory of his buddies until his death in 2002. That said, it was even more heartwarming to know that the three enka veterans had great fun working together while trying to keep alive the genre they hold dear.
* I can't believe it's been 10 going on to 11 years since I wrote my first articles on Hachi, Michi, and Muchi!
** Michi, while a year younger than Muchi, joined the pop music business earlier, hence making him Muchi's senior in this respect.
P.S. I very recently attended the Hachi fan club's new year gathering, the Shunyo no Tsudoi (春陽の集い). It was great fun meeting more members of the club and other figures affiliated with Hachi. I had to do a number of name card exchanges (as is common practice here, at least), and one of such figures did not bring his name card. So, as an alternative, he gave me what I can only describe as a piece of treasure in exchange for my flimsy old name card. I was dumbfounded to see Hachi, Michi, and Muchi smiling back me on the pristine telephone card you see above. Perhaps it was because I mentioned that the Sannin no Kai was how I had my fateful encounter with Hachi that this person insisted I have this card. If you haven't already noticed, the guys are wearing the exact outfits as they did in that mochi-uta exchange I watched. Seeing it reminds me of where I first began and how far I've come since then, so this telephone card means a lot to me, and I am extremely grateful to have been gifted it.
Well, I have to confess over here on a mistake that was left hanging over one article for a little over three years. You see, back in November 2020, I wrote an article on the 1976 "Suteki na News"(Wonderful News) by the late Mari Yoshida（吉田真梨）. I had been having trouble tracking down who the songwriters were and unusually, JASRAC wasn't all that helpful either but seeing the familiar names of songwriting siblings Etsuko and Takao Kisugi（来生えつこ・来生たかお）there with no singer listed, I naturally credited the mellow melody from what I heard to the Kisugis, especially since Takao had already been quite active in his singing career back in those 1970s.
Now, I was doing some maintenance on the blog earlier this morning when I was checking through the articles for any dropped videos and saw that the video for Yoshida's "Suteki na News" had been taken down. Of course, I start searching for any other videos featuring this particular song but I kept getting a song with the same title but different singer...to be specific, a model and tarento, really, by the name of Risako Shitara（設楽りさ子）who had recorded it in 1990. Plus, I saw Etsuko and Takao Kisugi attached to this one and so I naturally assumed that this young Shitara had done a cover version of the Yoshida original. However, Shitara's "Suteki na News" sounded nothing like the 1976 version, so I began sweating a bit and went down to town to find out the truth.
And the truth of the matter is that though it took a bit of time, I realized that I had been wrong about the songwriters for Yoshida's "Suteki na News" all along. By searching for the record itself in Yahoo Images and blowing up the liner notes by 50%, it turns out that a couple of French songwriters had created the original French pop song with lyricist Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）actually providing the Japanese lyrics. Of course, I made any corrections on the original article and noted the error at the very bottom of the article.
As it is, Shitara's "Suteki na News" was never released for sale and it was simply used as a promotion song for a Sanwa Bank (which was my old bank in Japan) commercial back in 1990. But indeed, this "Suteki na News" was taken care of by the Kisugis with Akira Inoue（井上鑑）handling the summery and relaxing arrangement paired with Shitara's whispery vocals.
The above video here has who I presume to be Shitara in a series of Sanwa Bank ads although "Suteki na News" isn't included. She was born in New York City and raised in both Dusseldorf, Germany and Fujisawa City in Kanagawa Prefecture. Along with doing her fair share of commercials, she has a short filmography, almost all in TV, and released two singles and five albums between 1988 and 1993. Shitara has been married all these years to Japanese soccer legend Kazuyoshi Miura（三浦知良）.
I'm a bit surprised by this one. I have heard Ruiko Kurahashi's（倉橋ルイ子）"Umi no Mieru Mado kara ~ Omoide no Natsu" (The Ocean View from the Window ~ Summer of My Memories) a number of times before, but I realized that I had yet to cover this one.
A track from Kurahashi's September 1982 3rd album, "Heartbreak Theater", it's a fitting ballad by one of my favourite singers because it is about that sad look out of the bus window while going along the beach where probably the lass in the lyrics had once frolicked with her beau back in the summer. However, it's plainly evident that despite her love for him, the romance is as dead as the autumn leaves fallen from the tree. It's the quintessential Ruiko ballad with her languid delivery, Tetsuji Hayashi's（林哲司） melancholy tear-stained melody and Machiko Ryu's（竜真知子）words. The bluesy saxophone and the chorus backing the singer just ups the ante on wistfulness.
I didn't think that I would write such an article but after having watched NHK's travelogue "Otona no Wagamama Tabi"(An Adult's Selfish Trip) last night, I was rather inspired by the "soundtrack" pushing things along. The city for last night's episode was Taipei, Taiwan, and unfortunately, I couldn't find any sign of anything of the NHK show but I figure that the network had done its usual search-and-destroy mission of any signs of unpermitted NHK coverage on YouTube. However, I've found a fine video by Maibaru Travel as you can see above. I've been to Taipei myself once and all I can say after watching the episodes is that I still have much to discover about the city, especially when it comes to its gastronomy.
Anyways, about that eclectic "soundtrack", and yes, I have put it in quotation marks because I'm fairly sure that NHK is not going to put out an actual soundtrack but I thought it was nice to hear some of the old songs, a few of which were instrumental covers while others were the real McCoy. Here is what I heard as the actor/model on "Otona no Wagamama Tabi" was touring and eating his way through Taipei.
I don't consider myself a tried-and-true expert on the aidoru career of Mizue Takada（高田みづえ）but just from listening to her earlier material in the late 1970s, I've gotten the impression that at least melodically, she was getting some fairly galloping material to tackle.
Takada's debut single from March 1977 is the fondly remembered "Garasuzaka"（硝子坂）which provided some romantic sturm und drang thanks to lyricist Takemi Shima（島武実）, composer Ryudo Uzaki（宇崎竜童）and arranger Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）. Well, her sophomore effort, "Dakedo..." (However...) from later in July continues some of the handwringing in love with Shima, Uzaki and Makaino helping out again to form out a fairly rollicking song. In fact, the overall rhythm reminds me of some of the drama from Hiromi Ohta's（太田裕美）"Saraba Siberia Tetsudo" (さらばシベリア鉄道）which wouldn't come out until a few years later in 1980.
"Dakedo..." was another Top 10 hit for the emerging 17-year-old singer as it hit No. 6. It finished the year as the 52nd-ranked single.
I heard this particular song on last night's episode of NHK's "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新・BS日本のうた）as performed by none other than bidanshi enka singer Keisuke Yamauchi（山内惠介）who really rocked one out and maybe scratched up his larynx in the process.
To be honest, I hadn't heard of Ulfuls'（ウルフルズ）"Ehh Nen" whose meaning is the Kansai dialectal variant for expressions like "Hey, it's OK", "No worries" and "We're good". It came out as the band's 25th single in November 2003 but also as a welcome back song to one of the original members of Ulfuls, bassist John B. Chopper, after he'd left the band in 1999 due to philosophical differences with the band's sound. I can imagine that the return was loud, joyful and boisterous with plenty of those ehh nen. Written and composed by vocalist Tortoise Matsumoto, the lyrics are basically letting listeners know that whatever the issue, no probs man!
Hey, I can imagine "Ehh Nen" being a popular choice at karaoke, especially if two good buddies in a company department, baseball team or neighbourhood association had gone through a sudden tiff followed by the making-up phase. Although "Ehh Nen" was a big hit in the Kansai region, overall, it "only" got up to No. 20 nationwide which nullified some plans to provide variations on the song through regional ways to say "Ehh Nen".
Up to now, I've posted two articles regarding the rock-n'-roll band Cools which has undergone a number of name and lineup changes since starting up in 1975. Thus far, I've been covering them during their time between 1977 and 1980 when they were known as Cools Rockabilly Club.
When I first started with them, it was for their September 1978 single"Sentimental New York"（センチメンタル・ニューヨーク）which was surprisingly quite City Pop in its arrangement. Then, a couple of years later, I posted their follow-up single from March 1979"Climax"（クライマックス）with its 1950s rock n' roll flair.
Today, I've got the B-side for the metropolitan "Sentimental New York", "Kaze ga Kawaru Mae ni"(Before the Wind Changes). Written by Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）and composed by the band's guitarist James Fujiki（ジェームス藤木）, this has more of the "Climax"rock vibe while also bringing in horns that sound more like the contemporary 1970s. However, it's also got a nice laidback feeling and from that title, I get the impression that the lone motorcyclist is about to take off again for places unknown after spending a few weeks or months settling into one site.
I remember in the days of those PBS hard-sell campaigns for contributions on TV so that we could still get our episodes of "Doctor Who" and "Sesame Street". It was basically Goldie and Mike in Buffalo New York stating, "We love you all but no money, no Doctor, no Big Bird" and then they waited for the signups via phone.
In Japan, there were no special campaigns. You have a television, you live in Japan, you pay NHK monthly. No ifs, ands or buts. I know that things are different now, but when I was living in Ichikawa, there was always a fellow who came up to the apartment to collect that monthly NHK fee of 3,000 yen. To be honest, I have been viewing much more NHK here on TV Japan and now Jme over the past dozen years that I ever did in Japan. It was more of the private networks such as TBS and Fuji-TV that I was watching than NHK...NHK for me back then was the news and the weekly I-Go program, so you can imagine that I was somewhat grumbly about the NHK fee.
Singer-songwriter Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）and his Southern All Stars（サザンオールスターズ）had their own axe to grind with the quasi-governmental TV network for many years. It was in the first year of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" when I posted the band's "Chako no Kaigan Monogatari"（チャコの海岸物語）that I mentioned the feud that had exploded between them and NHK which lasted for many years with the cold war even including counterprogramming by SAS against the New Year's Eve special, the Kohaku Utagassen.
But starting from a few years ago, it looks like hatchets have been buried and the Southern All Stars did pop up on the Kohaku again. And certainly, I couldn't have imagined this happening in the 1980s or 1990s, but the band actually showed up to do a special with one of the major announcers of the network to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the network. I saw the special on Friday night and it was rather weird to see Kuwata dressed up like an old Showa era guy in a Showa era living room including an old-fashioned dial and knob television set humbly giving accolades to NHK for providing the kayo kyoku and J-Pop over the decades which also included footage of just about every single that SAS had performed on the network's music programs. Talk about mellowing out. But it was pretty much "You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours" with SAS coming on board the network celebrations while being able to show off the tracks from their 16th and latest album"Thank You So Much" which was released on March 19th.
So far, the track that has stood out to me is "Kamisama kara no Okurimono"(A Gift from God) which is being used as the theme song for the 100th anniversary of NHK events. It, like the album, is a reflection of Kuwata's appreciation for all of the songs and singers who have come before to influence his own works and how much he loves Japan. For me, it's a very upbeat and nostalgic-sounding tune that seems to have plugged into the early 1970s Motown soul sound. I've got a feeling that Keisuke and the gang will be showing up on the 76th edition of the Kohaku later this year...it's just too tempting, unless SAS decides to flip the script (among other things) again.
Last month, I made a discovery within Hideki Saijo's（西城秀樹） long discography that hadn't quite surfaced although it earned the late singer a Gold Prize at the Japan Record Awards in 1981. His September 1981 39th single"Sentimental Girl"（センチメンタルガール）was a very pleasant old-fashioned rock-n'-roll and pop tune that fit the man like him and denim.
The B-side to "Sentimental Girl", "Moonlight Party", especially with City Pop maestro Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）behind the music and arrangement and Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）as the lyricist and that title itself, might hit the eyes and brain as an urban contemporary number to contrast with the the feeling of the A-side. However, that's a definite no. "Moonlight Party" continues the good ol' rock-n'-roll and doo-wop times with some twangy country thrown in for good measure. And once again, my head was doing a nice little nodding here and there as it did its three minutes and change.
The singer and tarento Marico（真璃子）is someone that I had never heard about during my early years appreciating Japanese popular music. Actually, I first heard about Mariko Koga（古賀真里子）through my work on the blog over the years. During her initial run as a singer between 1984 and 1995, she had started out as an aidoru for songs such as "Nijuu-ni Shoku no Heart"（22色のハート）but by the early 1990s, she was probably considered more as a pop chanteuse covering ballads including "Anata no Umi ni Naritai"（あなたの海になりたい）.
Marico's transition happened halfway somewhere but I can't really make that distinction even with her 5th single "Kanashimi no Festa" (Festival of Sorrow) which was released in March 1987. So, I'll just throw in the appropriate Labels. In any case, despite a thumpy synthpop intro, "Kanashimi no Festa" quickly becomes a dramatic Latin funk fest along the same lines as Akemi Ishii's（石井明美）"Cha-Cha-Cha" although without the Eurobeat tropes. Words and music were provided by Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦）from ALFEE fame with Satoshi Takebe（武部聡志）handling the arrangement.
Well, my previous article's song was something which I likened to a fine theme for a Nike commercial, so why not finish up tonight's Urban Contemporary Friday with something that could be great for a beer ad?
Yup, there's plenty of luscious beer in the video for singer-songwriter Galali's July 2024 single"Party Tune" and the song is definitely short-and-sweet at barely over two minutes. However, it's got plenty of that Galali fun and bop about a fellow who's having his own little party by himself for himself. The drink du nuit is pretty obvious. Still, it looks like the video has included a lot of Galali's character buddies from previous videos.
Man, you suds fans are really going to like this song. "Party Tune" was used as the opening theme song for the third season of TV Tokyo's 2024 late-night drama "Banshaku no Ryuugi"（晩酌の流儀...The Art of Drinking in the Evening）. Yup, that is indeed actress Chiaki Kuriyama（栗山千明）from "Kill Bill" as the star. Cheers!🍻
I've seen the cover for singer-songwriter Issei Endo's（円道 一成）1984 album"RUN TO LIVE, LIVE TO RUN" in the book "Japanese City Pop", and I've thought that with that title and Endo looking cool in that baggy jacket against the violet sky, this could have been the ideal ad for Nike shoes.
The commercial would have been amazing especially with the title track which serves as the first song on Side B of the original LP. The fact that it's a City Pop song hits the listener right from Note One and the coolness factor kicks in with the battery of brass and keyboards as Endo sings away. Written by Taihei Tomosada（友貞 太平）, composed by Endo and arranged by Kazuo Shiina（椎名和夫）, I've managed to listen to "RUN TO LIVE, LIVE TO RUN" three times straight without losing the aural flavour. Even at the fair-enough time of four minutes and thirteen seconds, I sorta wish that the song could have been a little longer with the horns playing some more.
I'm not sure who was playing on the title track but the album certainly has a lot of big names helping out in the recording including drummer Jun Aoyama（青山純）, Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）on guitar and keyboards, saxophonist Jake H. Concepcion, trumpeter Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）and Makoto Matsushita（松下 誠）as part of the chorus. It's been a few years since I posted an Endo article; you can take a listen to his "Try Again" that I put up back in 2021.
It didn't happen all that much since I was quite careful about how much I imbibed on a certain play night, but on rare occasions, I did get smacked with a hangover that left me either wincing with a headache or running to the nearest washroom to pray to the porcelain god. Tylenol or something stronger would usually get me out of the jam, though (long after I stopped drinking).
Perhaps 80s aidoru Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）and any of her short-term band RAMU had their hangover problems in the past. However for their "Late Night Headache" on the band's one and only September 1988 album"Thanks Giving", it sure sounds like the fun was still filling the dance floor despite the title. Written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composed by Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, "Late Night Headache" sounds like a Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）project for Omega Tribe with that certain crystalline keyboard and the languid nocturnal rhythms. And maybe it is the influence of the arrangement but when I hear Kikuchi sing, it reminds me of Carlos Toshiki!
The overall feeling is of young beautiful people driving out of Tokyo to a seaside resort at night to party it up during the Bubble Era as the music wavers between City Pop and straight pop. Near the end, there's even some Eurobeat riffing.
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