Midori Hara -- KO・KO・RO・NOTE (Part 1)

Fred Cherrygarden via Wikimedia Commons

 

The above is the famous gyoza statue just outside of JR Utsunomiya Station in Tochigi Prefecture. Utsunomiya City is one of the big places for the cooking and consumption of those plump and delicious gyoza dumplings. I actually transited through the station on my way to other farther places in Japan at the time, but sadly, I couldn't partake in any of the gyoza places there (although I ate a truck's worth of the dumplings during my 17 years in the nation). 

From Discogs

Now, the reason that I started out with one of the big symbols for Utsunomiya is that the lady for this article hails from there. I'm talking about singer-songwriter Midori Hara（原みどり）who has been mentioned twice in the blog. One article featured her 1987 debut (and what a debut!) single "Tsugunai no Hibi"（償いの日々）which was also a debut with Tulip lead singer, Kazuo Zaitsu（財津和夫）. If anyone asked me what an 80s power ballad sung by Japanese artists is like, I would point to this one.

I also found out that she had been the first female vocalist for the long-running eclectic band SPANK HAPPY from the early 1990s. And in those days, the band took on a rock flavour with Hara taking on a katakana-ized form of her name（ハラミドリ）and a certain timbre that reminded me of another rock vocalist, YUKI from the band Judy & Mary. And it was then that I assumed that Hara was really about that pop-rock sound.

Well, how wrong I was. I had a bit of a taste of her debut album from June 1987, "MiDo", and the songs sounded like a playful funk-pop. And then for the Holidays, I was able to pick up a few albums, one of which was her second album "KO・KO・RO・NOTE" (Heart Note) which was released in March 1988. If I'm not mistaken, Hara took care of all of the songs' words and music while both Hara and Masahiro Ikumi（幾見雅博）were the album arrangers.

"KO・KO・RO・NOTE" is quite the revelation. If the aforementioned YUKI had been asked to tackle a City Pop or generally adult contemporary project, this album would be what I had envisioned. It all starts with "Pajama no Mama de STEP!"（ぱじゃまのままでStep!...Dance About In Your Pajamas!）which has a battery of synths and horns coming together to provide some of that Bubble Era champagne-and-caviar urban sound. The singer even sounds a bit like Janis Joplin having some real vocal fun with the breathy and propulsive delivery and scatting. I can imagine her dancing in her PJs when she was a teen...and getting yelled at by her parents.

"Uchuu Kuukan Yuuei"（宇宙空間遊泳...Spacewalk） is the second track and this one hit me very hard when I first heard it because of the really smooth City Pop vibes here. The groove and romantic sax solo provided by arranger Ikumi rolls in like a large ripple of velvety-smooth chocolate syrup. There are some big names of the genre helping out as well such as Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）on flugelhorn, Shuichi "PONTA" Murakami（村上ポンタ秀一）on drums, and Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）on piano (you can see the full list underneath the video at YouTube). It's been a while since I've heard something this City Pop and at the same time, I also got those early 80s Manhattan Transfer vibes.

Track 3 is "Kannazuki no Omoi"（神無月の想ひ...October Memories） which is even more laidback and languid than "Uchuu Kuukan Yuuei" but this is more of a Latin-tinged pop ballad. Time for a twirl around the dance floor at 10 pm here.

"Kokoro no Juunan Taisou"（Ko・Ko・Roの柔軟体操...Calisthenics of the Heart） has her bringing more of the old-timey-wimey jazz although the song is more of a fusion effort between it and pop...nice to bring this in when we've completed the first century of the American-born genre. I don't get to hear clarinets so much in jazz anymore so it's nice to have the ol' licorice stick back, especially I used to bring that home almost every night during junior high school.

The last one for Side A and the last one for Part 1 is "Itami"（痛み...Pain） which is a gently lilting ballad with a bit of a gospel blues touch. It makes for a nice contemplative cool-down track to end the side. Speaking of which, I'll bring Side 2 next Friday.