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.
Now that Japan is in Golden Week mode, I remember when I was living in the nation, students and TV programs often spoke of Cebu in hushed tones as if it were a hallowed destination. And it was...for recreational purposes. It's a group of islands in the Philippines and apparently it was and is still rather popular. Taking a look at the above video from Island Hopper TV, I can see why.
I believe I mentioned that I finally caught Zack Snyder's very long take on "Justice League" recently, and I was a lot more satisfied with that than with the version that I had caught some years previously at the theatre. Most notably, I was really happy with the scene involving Wonder Woman as played by Gal Gadot taking on those psychos in London early in the movie. Once I heard that warrior theme by Rupert Gregson-Williams, I knew I was going to witness some massive ass-kicking by Diana of Themyscira.
One day, the Snyderverse take showed up on the local sci-fi channel and that same scene popped up when I turned on the channel. My mother who has never understood or liked any form of superhero media surprised me when she verbally identified Wonder Woman. But then again, she had seen Diana many moons ago.
That's right. There was a time in the mid-1970s when my brother and I saw the weekly TV series "Wonder Woman" with Lynda Carter. So, we got to see the indestructible bracelets, the Lasso of Truth and the spinning around each episode.
Yes, I still remember when a pre-"An Officer and a Gentleman" Debra Winger guested as Diana's little sister, aka Wonder Girl. In fact, I think I prefer the first season when the show had been set during World War II instead of the more contemporary setting for the last couple of seasons.
At the time, I was also confused when I was watching the opening credits which paid homage to the original comic book from decades ago, and yet, the theme song was decidedly cheesy disco boogie. I mean, nowadays it all comes to me as very nostalgic but at the time, I thought it was pretty progressive to hear a superhero theme song that sounded like something one would dance to in the clubs.
I never knew who was behind the theme song for "Wonder Woman" the 1975 series. As it turns out, it was John Bahler of the Ron Hicklin Singers on the main vocals, Marti McCall, Carolyn Willis of the R&B group Honey Cone, and Julia Waters of the R&B group The Waters according to Wikipedia. Charles Fox and Normal Gimbel made up the songwriting team.
November 7th 1975 was the date when "Wonder Woman" premiered. Well, what was hitting the Oricon charts a few days earlier on the 3rd? We have Nos. 3 and 6.
3. Kenji Sawada -- Toki no Sugi Yuku Mama ni （時の過ぎゆくままに）
6. Hiromi Iwasaki -- Romance （ロマンス）
But as the informercial announcer says...Wait! There's more!
"Wonder Woman" did make its way to Japan sometime down the line and though the Bahler theme song was played for that first season, the subsequent seasons had actress/singer Kaoru Yumi（由美かおる）provide a Japanese theme tune in the form of "Ai no Boukensha" (Adventurer of Love) which was specifically for the series; Machiko Ryu's（竜真知子）lyrics give a blatant shoutout to Wonder Woman. Meanwhile, the melody by Ken Sato（佐藤健）and arrangement by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）also follow a disco line but more on the AOR side of things.
This is Yumi's first time on the blog. From what I remember of her, she had a recurring role in the legendary jidaigeki series "Mito Komon"（水戸黄門）as quite a warrior herself. She was also famous in that show for her bathing scenes which you can see being parodied in the commercial below.
Haven't posted anything by the 80s female trio Sugar（シュガー）recently but I did come across this April 1982 follow-up to their razor-tongued debut single "Wedding Bell" from the previous year.
As was the case with "Wedding Bell", a lovingly-delivered curse of death to a former beau getting married, "Aventure wa Looks Shidai" (The Adventure Depends on the Looks) was also written and composed by Yoshiaki Furuta（古田喜昭）as this light and frothy Brazilian-tinged song. Furuta's lyrics also have some sting in them although the potency isn't as great as in "Wedding Bell". There are just some irritating internal barbs from a lady who's seeing the man in her sightlines going out with another woman. Considering how breezy it is, one wonders whether this could have been an ideal tune for some commercial or insert song in a rom-com of those days.
This article's song title illustrates our feelings about those hot vacations...far away. We're well into spring but it sure doesn't feel like it today. We even saw a few snowflakes a few days ago flying about like gnats.
Anyways, allow me to bring back actress and singer Hiroko Kasahara（笠原弘子）. She's been in show business just about her entire life with her acting career beginning when she was around five years old in 1975 and then getting into the seiyuu industry in 1983 before finally going into recording in 1986. She's got quite the long discography despite it being the aspect of her overall career starting the latest.
From her June 1992 7th album "Tooi Natsu no Kyujitsu" (Distant Summer Holidays), I introduce the title track itself. Written and composed by Minori Hotate（保立稔）, it's a breezy and brassy contemporary version of 60s girl pop punctuated hard by a sax solo bent on jazzy excursions. It would make any current Torontonian swoon for the hot sunny days along the beach.
Well, that was quite the happy ending sequence for Episode 4 of "Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!!"（ガンバレ!中村くん!!...Go for It, Nakamura!）as you can see above. Nakamura saves the love of his life, Hirose, from some photography-crazed punks and he's celebrating his win at home. Meanwhile, the ending theme cavalcade of oldies continues apace and cheerfully for fans. Episode 5 had quite the explosion of delight with an old City Pop fave, Yasuha's（泰葉）"Fly-Day Chinatown" (フライディ・チャイナタウン).
As was the case with Kenji Ozawa（小沢健二）& Scha Dara Parr's "Kon'ya wa Boogie Back"（今夜はブギー・バック）which was the ender for Episode 3, Barbee Boys' "Makeru mon ka" (Like Hell I'm Giving In), which was Nakamura's celebratory tune at the end of Episode 4, is also a song that I hadn't covered on the blog or heard at all. I was never all that much of a Barbee Boys fan although we do have a couple of their songs on KKP and up to now, my impression has been that the band loved to create songs showing conflict of all sorts whether it be internal or external.
"Makeru mon ka" was released as Barbee Boys' 5th single in April 1986 and as soon as I heard it, I knew it was a signature Barbee Boys song with those sparkly guitars, soprano saxophone and Kyoko's（杏子）vocals. Written and composed by band guitarist Tomotaka Imamichi（いまみちともたか）, it's about a guy's battle with himself about how to handle the potential consequences of his very assertive girlfriend wanting to drop by his place late at night. Methinks that the angel and devil on his two shoulders are having an Avengers level of fighting.
That's quite the music video for "Makeru mon ka" as well. There's nothing like ancient Soviet-era propaganda showing the populace actually having fun to attract viewers. Anyways, the song peaked at No. .47 on Oricon, and it was a track on Barbee Boys' 2nd album "Freebee" from November 1985. It hit No. 18.
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| via Wikimedia Commons |
As I noted in my previous article, due to Wednesday the 29th being Showa Day in Japan (and thus the official start to Golden Week), NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）devoted a good chunk of its broadcast tonight to some of the Showa Era kayo kyoku which I was plenty grateful about. After all, this is what we're all here for when it comes to this blog.
I recollect that I may have done something in the past to commemorate Showa Day via an Author's Picks but I decided to still go ahead with another try at a list. Initially, I'd thought about bringing over some of a list of most popular Showa Era karaoke songs but when I realized that most of those songs originated in the years 1985 to 1987, I jettisoned that idea for being a little too centralized, time-wise. Then, after some more thought, I blurted out "Oh, what the heck!". I'll just let my memories pick out one song that immediately comes to mind when I think of a certain decade or period within Showa (1926-1989) and let the chips fall where they may.
The list below only consists of five songs...yes, very inadequate (I've left out City Pop and Group Sounds, for instance) but take this as an opportunity for folks to chime in with their representative kayo choices. Anyways, anything that would seem adequate would probably force me to make a new blog. Plus, Labels would throw a major tantrum at me. Still, allow me to mention the Blue Comets' "Blue Chateau"（ブルー・シャトウ）from 1967 and Miki Matsubara's（松原みき）"Mayonaka no Door" （真夜中のドアー）from 1979.
(Prewar) Ichiro Fujiyama -- Tokyo Rhapsody （東京ラプソディ）
(Postwar/1950s) Frank Nagai -- Yurakucho de Aimashou (有楽町で逢いましょう）
(1960s) Hibari Misora -- Kanashii Sake （悲しい酒）
(1970s) Pink Lady -- UFO
(1980s) Yellow Magic Orchestra -- Rydeen (雷電）
I've been to Nagoya a few times and despite all the flak and indifference toward this major city in Japan, I think it's a perfectly nice metropolis to visit. Nagoyans and, on a larger scale, residents of Aichi Prefecture really bring the goods at wedding parties. Plus, the area is famous for all sorts of dishes that have been categorized as B-class. Ten-musu（天むす）in particular is one of my favourites. Just imagine...the combination of shrimp tempura and rice ball. Culinary match made in heaven ranking alongside peanut butter and chocolate to form Reese's Peanut Butter Cups! By the way, thank you Japanese Cooking 101!
As with a lot of other television programming, "Uta Con"（うたコン）is going on Golden Week hiatus but it still gave us one more episode. Since Wednesday is the beginning of the whole mess of national holidays in Japan with the first one being Showa Day, the NHK kayo kyoku show devoted a lot of its time to the Showa Era hits which was great.
Near the end, we got the usual new stuff from the guests. Enka singer and go-touchi song master Kaori Mizumori（水森かおり）came up with her latest single last month. "Koi no Owari no Nagoya ni Hitori" (Alone in Nagoya After the Love is Gone) is one song that makes it very nakedly plain that it's the typical number about recovering after heartbreak in the city of ten-musu. Written by Takashi Taka（たかたかし）and composed by Tetsuya Gen（弦哲也）, it's quite upbeat and reassuring though and the ever-smiling Mizumori is more than happy to be the happy guide through the city in the music video.
It was less than a week ago when I posted up "Tokyo Songs" which of course would have to include Shogo Hamada's（浜田省吾）"Tokyo"（東京）, a not-so-positive but probably more realistic account of what life in the big city could be like at the time. Maybe it was released as a counterpoint to Kenji Sawada's（沢田研二）hit "TOKIO" which was also out there in the same year.
Well, I was curious then to hear what the B-side of Hamada's "Tokyo" was like, so I came across "Kayaku no You ni" (Like Gunpowder). With that title, I had been expecting something quite hard rock and explosive, but it's actually quite the cordial rock n' roll story about a couple of high school buddies who choose to skip class and hop onto the motorcycle and hit the beach to play music and scope out the ladies. Ahhh...life in 1980 Japan...or maybe even 2026 Japan, I don't know.🤷 Hamada was behind words and music with Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）arranging everything.
Time for a crazy coda for this article. As I was looking over the information on "Kayaku no You ni" on J-Wiki, I found out that the song was actually Hamada's own self-cover of a track that he'd provided aidoru Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）all the way back in August 1977 when her 12th studio album "Golden Flight" was released. It was titled "Ai no Twilight Time" (Twilight Time for Love) at the time, had different lyrics about lost love by Akira Ito（伊藤アキラ）, and though Hiroshi Kato's（加藤ヒロシ）arrangement kept things in rock, it had more of a honky-tonk style with a bit more in the production. "Golden Flight" hit No. 3 on Oricon. Always fascinating to hear a new Momoe tune and this one is no different.
Happy Monday! And perhaps that goes especially for the Japanese since the Golden Week holidays are right around the corner. It'll be interesting to see where a lot of folks will be headed this year. When I was living in Japan, I basically treated each GW as a staycation because I appreciated an empty Tokyo even more.
"Bitter Sweet Friday" might sound more appropriate for the day when we handle the urban contemporary material on KKP, but it's been in the backlog long enough. A track from bird's May 2011 7th album "New Basic", this one sounds anything but bittersweet. If anything, it sounds quite hopeful along that arrangement that brings to mind the Motown sound and Stevie Wonder. The singer was the lyricist here while Yoshito Tanaka（田中義人）took care of the zesty melody.
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| By Paolo Piscolla from Wikimedia Commons |
I do have a love for pasta, especially spaghetti. I grew up on Bolognese made by my mother but then in Japan, I realized that the Japanese absolutely adore pasta of all kinds and so that's how I discovered other types such as Pepperoncino, Carbonara and Napolitan (which actually doesn't come from Naples but is a purely Japanese type).
Of course, it's not as wonderful as actually eating the stuff itself, but I also indulge in watching the many pasta-making videos on YouTube such as this one by Preppy Kitchen for his take on Carbonara. His way of cooking actually makes the sauce look less intimidating to create...since I have some PTSD from making something that involved raw eggs from long ago.
Once again, my preamble ramble leads us to a group called spaghetti vabune! which I discovered by happenstance a few weeks earlier. When I posted an article on the technopop unit Plus-Tech Squeeze Box, I found out that their "Kitchen Shock" hadn't come from their own discography but it actually belonged to a December 2004 compilation album titled "Contemode V.A. 2".
Well, I looked through the rest of the tracks and saw some other dynamic-sounding acts there and tried looking up the titles. And spaghetti vabune! was one of them. According to their website, the group began life in 2001 and perhaps currently consists of vocalist/guitarist Keiji Tokuda, vocalist/multi-instrumentalist Chihiro Yoshii, guitarist Takayoshi Umeno, drummer Naoya Shimai and bassist Shuhei Kinukawa. Their J-Wiki article has them categorized as a unit into indies pop, jangle pop, Shibuya-kei and alternative rock.
spaghetti vabune!'s contribution to "Contemode V.A. 2" is "Favorite Song (contemode bossa mix)" which does have plenty of Brazilian swagger to the extent that I was wondering whether it should have been called "contemode samba mix" instead. But no complaints here. It makes for some fun and summery listening. I did wonder whether there was an original version of "Favorite Song" and the answer was Yes! The much shorter guitar pop original does appear on the band's April 2003 album "summer vacation, sunset vehicle". Incidentally, the bossa mix was created by Yasutaka Nakata（中田ヤスタカ）.
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| By Gen'o Yoshida via Wikimedia Commons |
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| From TorontoGuy79 of Wikimedia Commons |
Millions of people watched the most recent edition of the World Baseball Classic last month. What I hadn't known was that while I was in Japan, the 2009 edition had at least some of its games played in Toronto's Rogers Centre...although I still prefer to call it the old name of Skydome.
What I also didn't know? Japan Netflix's own broadcast of the WBC this year had one eye boggling and mind-blowing campaign song. Imagine Koshi Inaba（稲葉浩志）of the kickass duo B'z doing a cover of Yoshimi Iwasaki's（岩崎良美）most famous song "Touch"? Well, we don't have to imagine it. It actually got recorded and then released as a single on March 6th. Perhaps a lot of people and their What Ifs were finally satisfied. Written by Chinfa Kan（康珍化）and composed by Hiroaki Serizawa（芹沢廣明）, the original guitar riff is back but instead of the ol' rock n' roll from Iwasaki's original, this "Touch" has got Inaba's arrangement touch for that B'z vibe.
I was in contact with a Kei Marimura（真梨邑ケイ）fan, Bree, in the last few days and that person mentioned the song "Shiseikatsu" (Private Life) which was a 1986 single for the jazz-and-City Pop singer who made quite the career turn when she also opted to become a hardcore porn actress. And yes, that also did pop up very briefly in the conversation.😎
"Shiseikatsu" was one of the first songs that I'd heard by Marimura and way back when, I couldn't find it at all on YouTube so it was a case of reluctant relinquishment and forgetfulness that the song left my memory. But Bree's contact got me back to this interestingly arranged song so I'm quite grateful and it's great that "Shiseikatsu" has finally made it onto YouTube. As for Bree, it was a case of falling for the song when first encountering it on J1Gold back in the pandemic days.
There are a couple of City Pop hands behind the creation of "Shiseikatsu". Lyricist Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子） weaves the story of a woman psyching herself up for a possibly sinful night with a fellow in a hotel room while Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）comes up with the melody that starts off with a keyboard sounding akin to a warning alarm (accompanied by some sexy sax) as if the lady is entering some mightily dangerous territory before the song jumps into a more relaxing warm bath of slow groove and sophistication (rose petals and candles optional). Even Marimura has this rather off-kilter bent to her vocals which may be reflecting the lady's trepidation; once she enters that suite, she's not coming back to her normal world.
I'm sure that a lot of folks in my neck of the woods would greatly prefer not to hear the word "snow" for the next several months at least. It was a very long and cold winter and even now, things are still pretty cool although temperatures should be rising happily next week.
However, allow me this one. A few weeks ago, I introduced singer Masaki Sato（佐藤正樹 or 佐藤真紀）who wasn't the most prolific fellow with just two singles that I could find online thus far. I did cover his second single "Million Night" from 1983 which seems to cover a really rumbling City Pop drive down the urban highways. Well, this time, it's his debut single from 1982 which is a whole lot more congenial and jingly.
I don't mean "jingly" as in a Christmas jingle bells sort of way, though. It's more like this really does sound like a commercial jingle (and the lyrics do contain the corporate catchphrase "It's the No. 1 spirit!"). "Snow Dancer" was the 1982 campaign song for the sporting goods store Salomon, and I guess from the title, perhaps the company was aiming for the skiing set. Written and composed by the same duo behind the later "Million Night", lyricist Akira Ohtsu（大津あきら）and composer Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロー）, the happy City Pop disco arrangement was provided by Kazuo Otani（大谷和夫）. No, perhaps there isn't a city involved with the ski resorts and slopes but skiing has been connected with the urban and urbane lifestyle for such a long time that we can give this one a pass. It's just too bad that I couldn't find the commercial itself on YouTube.
Yeah, I knew that Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）had his City Pop phase going deeper into the 1980s but I didn't realize that it went quite this deep. Armed with a sparkling single cover by Hiroshi Nagai（永井博）, Saijo released his 57th single from May 1987 in the form of "New York Girl".
Beginning with a quiet intro that had me thinking of Earth Wind & Fire's "Fantasy" for a little while, "New York Girl" vaults into sultry urban dance pop action with Saijo yelling out the title throughout the song (bass addicts, you'll love this one, too). It seems the song was created for Saijo right from the start with keyboardist and record producer George Duke and Shalamar member Howard Hewitt creating the song while future AKB48 Svengali Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）came up with the Japanese lyrics. "New York Girl" managed to peak at No. 50 on Oricon. The Japanese version is above while the English B-side is below. Its first appearance on an album was on the December 1987 version of "BEST PACK/Saijo Hideki".
Hiromi Ohta's（太田裕美）trademark song will forever be "Momen no Handkerchief" (木綿のハンカチーフ）. It has that fresh countryside feeling of innocence and hope emanating from a young lady. Written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, one couldn't have asked for a steadier trio of song creators to weave this hit.
But guess what? I guess that young lady simply couldn't resist that pull from Tokyo or whatever huge metropolis was close to her small town. She finally relented and took the train and ran into the disco to dance out her passions. And that's where we are with "Unlimited" which is represented by the "∞" on Ohta's source album "Umi ga Naiteiru"（海が泣いている...The Sea is Crying） from December 1978. It also happens to be the final track on the album, so I guess Ohta wanted us to continue all of the nocturnal dancing.
The crazy and wonderful thing is that Matsumoto, Tsutsumi and Hagita were also all in on this number as well which had me thinking mirror ball, Bee Gees and flashing floor panels. But then again, back in those 1970s, when it came to disco stuff, Tsutsumi was the go-to guy for the melodies. That piano instrumental break followed by the electric guitar is absolutely sublime to me. Enjoy boogeying the night away!
I'd expected "angel hearts" to launch with a bang such as one of her dance-pop numbers created by Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）...although Kadomatsu had nothing to do with this album. Actually, the only biggest constant in the songwriting crew is Chinfa Kan（康珍化）, but for this first song, "Sweetest Lover", it was Miporin herself that came up with the lyrics of dedication to the love of one's life; mind you, she went under the pen name of Mizuho Kitayama（北山瑞穂）. The very tender soulful ballad melody was created by another singer-songwriter who also left us very prematurely, CINDY, with Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）handling the arrangement.
"Sweetest Lover" sounds like a nice comfortable way to ease into the waters of "angel hearts" and the style of the song reminds me some of the balladry that was coming out back in those 80s in the States. I'll have to see if I can cover the rest of the album but I'll have to re-listen to it once more; it did too good a job of sending me off to La-La Land.
Since hearing her for the first time back in 1983 for "Holiday", it was pretty much Madonna everywhere for the rest of the 1980s. I'm not sure how many nicknames she's picked up during that time, but one of them was The Material Girl because of that January 1985 single, "Material Girl", and it's the nickname that I usually associate with her (I just read that she hasn't been too fond of that one, though).
As with a lot of her hits, "Material Girl" was all over the airwaves and the music video was on heavy rotation on the local video shows with her going all Marilyn Monroe. Songwriters Peter Brown and Robert Rans wrote the lyrics to show that Madonna was all about the glam and goodies but the music video impressed upon the viewers that she was quite the opposite. The melody itself hit me as a synthy and slightly sinful song for Madonna done up in a cutesy yet sly fashion, and it was quite the change to see the lady done up in a totally different fashion compared to her previous videos. I also forgot that there were a couple of other celebs involved in the video: Keith Carradine and Robert Wuhl.
"Material Girl" reached No. 2 on America's Billboard and No. 4 on Canada's RPM. So, what else was hitting the record stores in Japan in January 1985?
Yutaka Ozaki -- Sotsugyo （卒業）
Yoshie Kashiwabara -- Lonely Canary （ロンリー・カナリア）
Seiko Matsuda -- Tenshi no Wink （天使のウィンク）
Back in the 1980s, Japan and Coca-Cola pretty much equaled good times in the big city as you can see above. All the more reason to grab the fizzy stuff. Ironically, I don't drink it nearly as much as I used to since the rest of my family prefers the clear stuff: Canada Dry, 7-Up, Sprite, etc.
As I mentioned in my last article regarding singer-songwriter Kaoru Nakahara（中原薫）, she'd been given the rather appropriate if somewhat cringey stage name of Cola Hazuki（葉月コーラ）earlier in her career because she'd become known at the turn of the decade from the 1980s into the 1990s as someone who sang a lot of cola jingles. Hey, if the gigs pay the rent...
In June 1991, Cola Hazuki and comedian Kanpei Hazama（間寛平）put out a single titled "Anata dake wo"（あなただけを...Only You） as the ending theme song for one of Hazama's variety shows. However for this article, I wanted to focus on the coupling song which Hazuki handles on her own called "Day In Vacation". If the song sounds familiar, then you must have heard the original version by the summery supergroup Nagisa no All-Stars（渚のオールスターズ）when they recorded it back in 1989.
Nagisa no All-Stars included the band TUBE and at least a couple of their beloved songwriters, Tomoko Aran（亜蘭知子）and Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）, and not surprisingly, those two were the ones behind the creation of "Day In Vacation". Hazuki gives the song her summery best as well and perhaps I'm imagining things here, but it even sounds a bit ZARD-ish. Furthermore, my timing isn't too bad either because next week will introduce the annual Golden Week holidays in Japan. Enjoy guzzling down that Coke!
