2. YMO Kimi ni, Mune Kyun
3. Warabe Medaka no Kyodai
4. Akina Nakamori Ni-bun no Ichi no Shinwa
5. Akio Kayama Hisame
6. Chiemi Hori Natsu Iro no Diary
7. Rats & Star Me Gumi no Hito
8. Chiharu Matsuyama Sing a Song
9. Eisaku Ohkawa Sazanka no Yado
10. Yu Hayami Natsu Iro no Nancy
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| From Amazon.jp |
For the first number of times that I saw Akemi Ishii（石井明美）on television and heard her on the cassette player, she seemed to be that young singer who loved some of that spicy Latin sauce in her music through songs like "Cha-Cha-Cha". Then a few singles in, I heard her "JOY" from July 1987 and figured that she could do the straight-up pop song as well.
Well, now I've just heard the B-side from "JOY" and now it's been affirmed that Ishii was able to come up with the odd City Pop song. "Yasashii Hito" (Nice Guy) was written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, quite the golden duo of songwriting, and it's a smoky nocturnal number which includes a bluesy sax solo. I gather that the title is meant to be an ironic one since Ishii keeps singing "You are cruel!" at the end of each chorus. Betrayal in the big city can be a City Pop trope.
Not sure whether the game show is still flourishing on Japanese TV. When I was living there, it still had a pretty strong hold across the channel spectrum on a weekly basis. One of the more popular ones was "Quiz Sekai wa SHOW by Shobai!!"（クイズ世界はSHOW by ショーバイ!!...The Quiz World is a Show by Trade!!）on NTV. I don't quite remember the various segments but there was the slot machine spin, and if I'm going just by the video above, a mere lucky spin can get one team a victory right off the bat.
The comical band Modern Choki Chokies（モダンチョキチョキズ）was one of many musical acts to contribute theme songs to "Quiz Sekai", and I remember the band providing some of their music as commercial jingles or theme songs to shows such as "Super Jockey"（スーパージョッキー）which was also on NTV. Modern Choki Chokies seemed to be up for any particular genre as long as they could firmly place tongue in cheek.
Well, MCC's contribution to "Quiz Sekai" was their 7th single from November 1994, "Suteki na Maana" (Wonderful Manna). From the title, I'd initially assumed that it was all about "wonderful manners" but then I remembered that "manners" isn't quite spelled that way in katakana. So I then went with some wonderful young lady named Manna. Anyways, Mari Hamada（濱田マリ）and company have opted for a late 60s/early 70s rock/funk style with all the trimmings in the music video above. In a way, "Suteki na Maana" reminds me of some of the music that Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）provided. Fellow MCC vocalist Motoi Kishimoto（岸本基）was behind words and music with Ireme Yasuda（安田イレメ）helping out on the lyrics and then Hideya Nakazaki（中崎英也）assisting in the composition.
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Well, here I was about to post my first Omega Tribe (under their 1986 Omega Tribe incarnation) song in a while and it was to have been on "I'll Never Forget You" from their 1987 album "Crystal Night". Glad I checked though since I actually had already talked about it within the article on the album itself. Unlike the song title, I did forget.😥
However, I am not going to leave Carlos Toshiki and his band in a lurch. I've opted to go with another song and that one comes from their June 1987 album "DJ Special". "Blue Reef", and no, it doesn't really have anything to do with one of Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）trademark songs, was written by Asako Yano（矢野朝子）, composed by Shinji Takashima（高島信二）and arranged by the late Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）. Speaking of that arrangement, it is pretty interesting since it sounds like a languid example of the then-novel New Jack Swing. Think Bobby Brown on vacation in Hawaii.
A few weeks ago, commenter Francois steered me toward a song that he had heard. It was by jazz and fusion guitarist Hiroshi Yasukawa（安川ひろし）who used to be one-half of the duo DEW back in 1980. I've written about a few of their songs including "Atsui Sasayaki"（熱いささやき）.
Well, Yasukawa certainly kept himself busy after DEW had evaporated. He came up with three albums including the 1984 "Fission". That front cover doesn't have anything to do with fission, though; if anything, it looks like it should be described with another two-syllable word with a double-consonant combination in the middle.
Anyways, Francois was right to recommend the track "Talk To Me" since it's plum perfect for Urban Contemporary Friday. It's some groovy laidback City Pop composed by Yasukawa and Michael McClellan and written all in English by David Skinner. Yasukawa's vocals remind me of some of the other relaxed voices out there such as Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）and Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）.
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| By W.carter via Wikimedia Commons |
Couldn't tell sapphires from rubies aside from the colour, I'm afraid. All I know is that trying to acquire any of them would be way above my pay grade.
Mind you, acquiring Dirty Androids' "Classic" from 2024 with the track "Sapphire City" would be much more reasonable and perhaps more satisfying depending on how much of a music lover you are. I first mentioned the music producer, aka Daisuke Akitsu (秋津大祐), when I posted his collaboration with punipunidenki（ぷにぷに電機）, the 2021 "Private Sunset"（プライベート・サンセット）. Since then, I haven't gotten much more information about the secretive artist although I finally did find an entry on RemyWiki.
"Sapphire City" is a pretty cool and clubby City Pop tune of the 2020s...it's something to enjoy while savoring a cocktail during sunset in one of the tallest bars in Tokyo, perhaps. Yup, it's a very chill tune.
