Fridays are usually reserved for the urban contemporary music but today also happens to be January 30th 2026, aka the 14th anniversary of "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Grace and Mr. Calico are celebrating up above so we will, too.
I just wasn't quite sure how we were going to commemorate and celebrate fourteen years of Japanese music blogging. However, for starters, I opted to search for cover versions of the song that became the point of the very first article on KKP back on January 30th 2012, and that was Jun Horie's（堀江淳）big hit "Memory Glass" from 1981. For example, I found this urbane version by Ms. OOJA that she recorded for her April 2024 album "Nagashi no OOJA 3 ~ Vintage Song Covers"（流しのOOJA 3～VINTAGE SONG COVERS～...Strolling OOJA 3）. I don't know who arranged it but they apparently went for the Old City Pop rather than the Neo-City Pop which is perfectly fine for me. There's even more of an urge to drop in at that hotel top bar for a cocktail now.
Decades earlier...in fact, in the same year that Horie's original was released in 1981, veteran chanteuse Keiko Fuji（藤圭子）recorded her own take on "Memory Glass" via her November album "Hotarubi"（螢火）which can be translated as either "Firefly Glow" or "Embers" (depending on how romantic you feel, you can pick either one). Fuji's take is much closer to Motoki Funayama's（船山基紀）original arrangement of the song.
GOSH! I don't know which one I like better, both the original by Jun Horie and Keiko Fuji cover are great! Maybe, Fuji Keiko's has a bit more flare to it.
ReplyDeleteI made a mistake! I meant both Ms. OOJA and Fuji Keiko's performance of Memory Glass are great in their own ways, but I do think Fuji Keiko's has a bit more flare.
ReplyDeleteNope, you're good with either comment. Ms. OOJA's version has a bit more of a torch song quality. The cover by Fuji has more of the flair of the original.
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