I haven't been to this place in quite a while but Fuwa Fuwa is our local establishment for Japanese-style pancakes. To be honest, during my time in Japan, I hadn't been aware that my old stomping grounds were famous for fluffy souffle pancakes. Sure, I used some of that pancake mix from Morinaga in Ichikawa, but I never got anything nearly as airy as the pancakes they make at Fuwa Fuwa.
But I digress. Another object that has been given the name is one of aidoru Mia Masuda's（増田未亜）songs. "Fuwa Fuwa" (Fluffy) is a track on her August 1989 debut album "Pure", and Masuda certainly sounds quite fluffy here; heck, the first word in Machiko Ryu's（竜真知子）lyrics is marshmallow. One can't get fluffier than that.
Ken Sato（佐藤健）, Junko Ohashi's（大橋純子）husband and composer of many of her City Pop songs, was responsible for the melody. It was truly made for an aidoru but with an extra level of class thanks to those strings and a general arrangement of pop music that sounds as if it had been meant for someone like Mariko Nagai（永井真理子）or Miki Imai（今井美樹）. So, perhaps the vocals and the overall atmosphere were the fluffier parts of "Fuwa Fuwa".
Hmm... Not sure about Ms. Masuda's vocals but I'm intrigued to check out the album because of that great production you mention -- this has a certain late 80s/early 90s sound that is a total sweet spot to me. Very nice, thanks!
ReplyDeleteYeah, it's as I've always said about late 80s aidoru-dom: the singers may not have had the greatest vocals but they were surrounded by some fine arrangements.
DeleteHey, J-Canuck, I am not sure if I have ever heard (or rather read) you making those comments before, but I will take your word on it and I basically agree with you on this one. Perhaps the late 80's was when the concept of aidoru started to evolve into something different than it was in the 70's and early 80's?
DeleteHello, Brian. I think with those late 80s aidoru, there seems to have been a lushness with some of the arrangements for at least some of the A-level and the not-so-famous aidoru as a sort of compensation. The budding superstars like Miho Nakayama and Shizuka Kudo perhaps didn't need the extra help but they still had some big producers behind them such as Toshiki Kadomatsu helping the former.
DeleteIn terms of presentation, I thought that the 70s aidoru including Momoe Yamaguchi were more conventional and girl-next-door types before the chiffon cake dresses started popping up on the 80s aidoru with folks like Naoko Kawai. The songs were probably more in line with the overall kayo kyoku feeling back then before the synths made their big splash in arrangements.