Timelesz -- Kakumei no Dancin' Night（革命のDancin' night）

 

Admittedly, I haven't had the sharpest eyes looking out for the STARTO (formerly Johnny & Associates) boy groups over the past few years, so I was a little surprised when a commenter informed me about this group called timelesz. I didn't know who they were so I looked them up on J-Wiki and Wikipedia and found out that they used to be known as Sexy Zone. "Kayo Kyoku Plus" has a couple of Sexy Zone's songs so with the new name change (which came into effect as of April 2024), I've made some adjustments to their Label on KKP as you can see at the bottom of the article. Their new name was formed from one of their previous incarnation's final songs before the 2024 change, "Timeless" and a fusion of the initials from Sexy Zone added onto the end of their new name. With the name change also came a fairly large change in the lineup which is currently numbered at eight members.

Moving on, the commenter also recommended one of their songs under the new regime, as it were. From their June 2025 album, "FAM", I give you the bouncy "Kakumei no Dancin' Night" (Revolutionary Dancin' Night). For me, it's been SOP that whenever I see any title containing the phrase "dancing night", I check it out for some of that juicy urban contemporary nature I've enjoyed in City Pop, R&B and the like. The commenter told me that there is some of that Neo-City Pop feeling in "Kakumei no Dancin' Night" and that's all probably due to the composer Umi Kinami（きなみうみ）who has had a love for AOR and Black contemporary music. There is also a quartet of lyricists on this one: Kinami, Yui Kimura（木村友威）, EARSY and Shori Sato（佐藤勝利）. 

As for "FAM", it went to No. 1 on Oricon and it also went Double Platinum.

Reiko Ohshida -- Dousei Jidai（同棲時代）

 

A couple of years ago, I posted "Onna no Gakko"（女の学校）, a 1970 kayo kyoku and debut single by actress and singer Reiko Ohshida（大信田礼子）who had been in the popular action series  "Playgirl"（プレイガール）. "Onna no Gakko" was a slithery and sexy song of the night that also probably summed up Ohshida's character in the TV series.

Ohshida released seven singles up to the middle of 1973 with her penultimate one being "Dousei Jidai" (The Time of Living in Sin) which came out in February that same year. Composed by Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）and arranged by Hiroshi Takada（高田弘）, the melody sounds a whole lot more peaceful and innocent but the lyrics by Kazuo Kamimura（上村一夫）are quite the downer as a couple discovers that they can't live with each other and yet they can't live without each other. In fact, at one point, the woman had even considered killing her paramour and then killing herself. Talk about words and music going into opposite directions!

Interesting piece of trivia is that Ohshida actually ended up getting married to composer Tokura the following year, although she had apparently not gotten along with the man during the production of "Dousei Jidai". The marriage didn't last too long, however, since they divorced by 1978. As well, Ohshida had been classmates with Kenji Sawada（沢田研二）from elementary to high school in their native Kyoto.

Linda Ronstadt -- Just One Look

 

Not only did I hear "Just One Look" on the radio but I also heard plenty of it as a commercial jingle for cars. I just forgot it was for the Mazda. By the way, the actor speaking in the ad ended up becoming a doctor at "General Hospital". In any case, "Just One Look" renditions by different singers and bands were used in other commercials; that title was just perfect for selling.

But the first time was on radio. Didn't know at the time that this wasn't even an original by Linda Ronstadt but a cover version done by her, but it has been the one that I will always remember. Released as a January 1979 single, it's a tune that starts off country congenially but then becomes progressively buzzier with the rock edge. I also didn't realize that the main chorus is only heard once and at the end of this fairly short song at just a little over three minutes. Ronstadt's cover did modestly well on the Canadian and American charts by  posting somewhere in the 40s but in the former's Adult Contemporary chart, "Just One Look" placed in at No. 4 while on the latter's East Listening chart, it had a No. 5 ranking.

The original "Just One Look" was recorded by singer-songwriter Doris Troy for release in May 1963 with Troy and Gregory Carroll creating the song. It's an even shorter tune with the main chorus basically acting as a fadeout coda. 

We have here the Top 3 singles of Oricon for January 22nd 1979, a day before Ronstadt's cover was released.

1. Pink Lady -- Chameleon Army (カメレオン・アーミー）

2. Alice -- Champion （チャンピオン）

3. Godiego -- Gandhara （ガンダーラ）

Blogger Announcement: False Positives for "Malware and Similar Malicious Content policy"

 

Hello, folks. J-Canuck here and usually when I put up the apple pie photo, it means that I have an APB on an unknown song that we are searching information on. But this is not that sort of article but I needed to have something up, so I chose the apple pie.

Anyways, I wanted to inform readers and fellow bloggers on the Blogger platform that I received a message from KKP contributor Oliver Ebisuno92. Apparently for the past couple of days, there has been a rash of blogs getting flagged or even locked out due to Blogger automated systems going on a misguided search-and-freeze operation. From what I've read of some of the comments, it looks like any blogger on Blogger who has recently made any changes to the basic template may get smacked unfairly, although actual postings won't trigger anything. You can take a look at the actual announcement here.

"Summer" Songs

By Muke Tever from Wikimedia Commons

A little over a year ago, I put up "The First Day of Summer!", an Author's Picks consisting of all of those summery tunes with the explanation point being that all of the song titles contained the word "summer". Well, I figured that I would go for another similar posting but I've relaxed the rules slightly by also allowing the Japanese term for summer, "natsu". So, without further ado then, get into that hammock and pull up a citrus-y cocktail.

(1979) The Milky Way -- Kagirinaki Natsu（限りなきの夏）

(1982) Junko Yagami -- Summer In Summer ~ Omoide wa Suhada ni Yaite（サマー イン サマー 〜想い出は素肌に焼いて〜）

(1983) Yoshinori Monta with Junko Ohashi -- Natsu Onna Sonia（夏女ソニア）

(1984) Yukiko Okada -- Sayonara Natsu Yasumi （さよなら・夏休み）

(1987) Kanako Wada -- Natsu no Mirage （夏のミラージュ）

(1987) TUBE -- Summer Dream

Masashi Sada -- Kamisama no Iu Toori（神さまの言うとおり）

 

Welcome to Hump Day! And yeah, it feels even more like a Hump Day than usual. For one thing, I've been noticing for the past three days that our household has suffered micro-power outages of less than a second at around the same time in the morning. Now as I said, they are very short in duration so the power is back on lickety-split but it's enough to require me to wait five minutes for the Internet to return and I have to reset all of the clocks. Very annoying. I've sent our electric power company a letter of inquiry and complaint for which I've received a reply stating that it may take up to five days for a proper answer.

In any case, I've learned that people having a bad day tend to be more productive at work, presumably because they want to focus on anything other than the source of the bad day. Well, I'm focusing on this one here. And it has to do with a couple of observations regarding recent Japanese society. The first one is that Japan may have one of the larger populations of centenarians in the world and the other is that when the patriarch of the family retires from decades of work, he may tend to just lounge around the house with nothing to do all day which can aggravate the wife and perhaps even the children to no end. 

That seems to be the premise of the Japanese comedy movie franchise "Oshûkatsu Jukushun! Jinsei, Hyaku-nen Jidai no Sugoshi Kata"（お終活 熟春!人生、百年時代の過ごし方...The Final Years: The Golden Years of Maturity—How to Spend Life in the Era of the 100-Year Lifespan） that started in 2021. A third movie was released at the end of May this year. As to why I'm talking about this, well....last night, singer-songwriter and tarento Masashi Sada（さだまさし）appeared on "Uta Con"（うたコン）to sing this old-time jazzy number called "Kamisama no Iu Toori" (As God Says). I've heard Sada sing folk and City Pop but this is the first time that I've heard him sing anything jazz and this is where I found out that "Kamisama no Iu Toori" was the theme song for the third movie. Written and composed by Sada with Toshiyuki Watanabe（渡辺俊幸）handling the arrangement and the conducting of the orchestra, it's a sweet nostalgic tune that had Sada doing a bit of Vaudevillian soft-shoe on the stage and maybe the movie characters dancing cheek-to-cheek on the floor.

Nash Music Library -- BATTLE X

 

I really couldn't find an image that I already had on file that would match the tone of this song and it was quite the adventure to even find something appropriate on Wikimedia Commons. Finally, though, I could get this one by Spinnmaster for his Mutasect Core Ventus.

Considering my previous article based on the movie that I'd seen earlier today: "Spider-Man: Brand New Day", I figured that it was time to check out the good folks at Nash Music Library if they had something with a battle theme...considering there are quite a few of those in the Marvel flick. 

Well, it didn't take long to track one down. And I have to admit that even though NML has covered a lot of genres in its huge storehouse of music...everything from jazz to disco, this is the first time I've come across "BATTLE X" with its arrangement that reminded me of many a magical girl anime with battle scenes. Specifically, I was thinking of the "Pretty Cure" franchise with their music directors' love of injecting some thrilling rock shreds into their battle music. Not sure whether Michael Giacchino would do so, though. In any case, this piece comes from their 2003 album "Dead Heat".

Kotaro Kobayashi & BB5 -- Spider-Man Boogie（スパイダーマン・ブギ）

 

It's been a long day and one reason that I'm doing my two articles rather late tonight is that I was out for most of the day today. Yep, I caught "Spider-Man: Brand New Day". And I have to say that this may not only be the best of the "Spider-Man" franchise (up there with the second Tobey Maguire movie) but one of the best Marvel movies, period. It certainly stands out and away from the first three Tom Holland movies. But that's all I'm going to say.

Now, I had thought I gave my tribute to the movie through the official theme song commemorating the release of "Brand New Day" in Japan, Mrs. GREEN APPLE's "Brand New" back last Saturday. However, I wanted to see if I could find one more Japanese pop song that had an association with Your Friendly Neighbourhood Spider-Man. Of course, I've already covered the opening and ending theme songs for Toei's own "Spider-Man" show from 1978.

But scrolling down the J-Wiki article for the show, I also found an insert dance song that had been used in Episode 7 of the one-season series. Apparently, some band named Kotaro Kobayashi（小林幸太郎）& BB5 came up with "Spider-Man Boogie". With lyricist Shozo Uehara（上原正三）and composer Chuumei Watanabe（渡辺宙明）creating the rollicking rock and roll number, it's short and sweet. And one other YouTuber wanted to add a little more to the song in terms of visuals.

Hey, Maguire had his time on the dance floor...er, street. And of course, Holland has his background in dancing. Andrew Garfield...where are you?

Yukiko Haneda -- Milky Way

By Kristian Pikner via Wikimedia Commons

 

Well, now that we're in early August 2026, I might be introducing this song a month late. After all, the Tanabata festival is an early July event in Japan. But still...better late than never.

Yukiko Haneda（羽根田征子）is a singer that I first introduced back in 2020. The reason I found out about her was due to her 1989 cover of the late great Hiroshi Sato's（佐藤博）"It Isn't Easy" from his 1982 "Awakening" album. That particular cover can be found on Haneda's 2nd album "Sora", which was produced by Sato. I've also found another really pleasant track from that one, and it's called "Milky Way". Again composed by Sato and written by Yui Masaki（真沙木唯）, it's an urban and urbane synthpop number with a touch of bossa nova. Haneda's strong and silky vocals are given some backup by Sato himself.

Billy Joel -- The Bridge

 

Looking at the above public domain-friendly photo from Wikimedia Commons, he's got considerably less hair and he's got more of a paunch but he'll always be Billy Joel to me (ha, ha). Yup, the Piano Man turned 77 a few months ago but I will always see him in that work-a-day suit tickling the ivories. 

A few weeks ago, I did a Reminiscings of Youth posting on Level 42' s "Running in the Family" album, one of those EPs that I put onto audiotape as one of the go-to listenings during those times overnight when I just had to get a thesis done or cram for an exam during university. Well, I forgot that Joel's July 25th 1986 album "The Bridge" was another one of those musical energy drinks that I had also transferred to tape. Incidentally, it is a holiday here in Toronto so I'm doing the usual special ROY post.

"The Bridge" isn't up there with Joel's absolute best such as "The Stranger" or "Turnstiles" or "An Innocent Man", and even Billy himself agreed with his critics that "The Bridge" wasn't the greatest work he's created. But I have to state that even a self-professed not-so-great album by Billy Joel is still not a bad thing at all. Having said that, I'm not giving "The Bridge" the same treatment as my two-parter on "The Stranger" in which every track was deserving of some comment.

One reason that I ended up buying Joel's 10th studio album was because of "Big Man on Mulberry Street", a Big Band jazz blast that was the Piano Man's contribution to a "Moonlighting" episode in which Maddie Hayes, played by Cybill Shepherd, dreams an epic old Hollywood song-and-dance sequence starring his love-and-hate detective partner David Addison, played by Bruce Willis. 

Yep, you (who are younger than 40) read that correctly...Bruce Willis. As with Joel, he now has less hair and more of a paunch, but back then, who knew that he could trip the light fantastic with a bunch of choreographers? But seeing that sequence and hearing "Big Man on Mulberry Street", the story of a nebbish in New York City who punched way too high above his station in life, I was just so impressed that this 70s pop-and-rock guy could swing jazz as well that I knew I had to get "The Bridge" just for this track.

Tracks from the album did make it out as singles. And I did hear "Modern Woman" and "A Matter of Trust" on the radio all the time, but to be honest, they never really stuck with me. However, if "Big Man on Mulberry Street" was the reason that I purchased "The Bridge", then the first track "Running on Ice" was the reason that I've kept "The Bridge" all these years. 

"Running on Ice" is the equivalent of Charlie Brown skating and failing horribly as he takes out every single Peanuts character on the frozen pond and with everyone from Lucy to Snoopy out to get him, he just causes more mayhem. I heard it has been used in a spoof drama on the US version of "The Office" and perhaps it can be used for some sort of comedic ice hockey montage. The drums by Liberty DeVitto are incredible and absolutely vital for the song to work.

I've known that Joel is a singing chameleon of sorts. He's done Ray Charles on "New York State of Mind", Mick Jagger on "It's Still Rock n' Roll to Me" and even Frankie Valli for "Uptown Girl". But I had no idea that Joel was channeling The Police for "Running on Ice". I had been wondering why he clipped his vocals so high on that one and it turned out he was trying to emulate Sting. 

The last song I'm featuring here is another jazzy one and speaking of Ray Charles, he finally and successfully got associated with Joel on "Baby Grand". Billy may not have been able to get the legendary Charles to do "New York State of Mind" initially but a decade later, the two of them were having fun with their ballad in tribute to the baby grand piano.

In Canada, "The Bridge" made it up to No. 10 on RPM while it reached No. 7 on America's Billboard. Its highest rankings came in Australia and Japan where it peaked at No. 2 in both nations. So, as usual, let's find out what singles were coming out onto record store shelves in Japan in June 1986.

KUWATA BAND -- Merry X'mas in Summer

Kyoko Koizumi -- Yoake no MEW （夜明けのMEW）

Onyanko Club -- O-saki ni Shitsurei（お先に失礼）

Mitsuko Nakamura -- Jinsei Banzai（人生万歳）

 

I was watching "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌）last night when I saw the ever-beaming enka veteran Mitsuko Nakamura（中村美津子）appear on stage to perform a song that I'd initially assumed was one of her oldies. As it turned out, it was her latest (her 73rd) single from May this year.

"Jinsei Banzai" (Here's to Life) was released to commemorate Nakamura's 40th year in the music industry and I'm pretty sure when it comes to the annual Kohaku Utagassen, her name will probably be in the Red team lineup. Written by Kyosuke Kuni（久仁京介）and composed by Koji Tokuhisa（徳久広司）, it's a very genki song showing off her satisfaction and gratitude to everyone over the past four decades. The enka is in there of course, but I could hear a rumbling rhythm reminiscent of a 50s Latin-tinged number. 

Hikashu -- Shiroi HIghway（白いハイウェイ）

From Discogs

Usually a song title containing the word "highway" in it would conjure up the genres of City Pop or rock n' roll in my mind...the latter especially as some lone wolf rides out on his Harley into the sunset on that titular road to nowhere and everywhere.

However, we have Hikashu's（ヒカシュー）2nd single from 1980 titled "Shiroi Highway" (White Highway) which was written and composed by leader Koichi Makigami（巻上公一）. I wrote about the B-side "Puyo Puyo"（プヨプヨ）back in January 2024 and then there was my previous posting on the band which happened to be on their 1979 debut single "Nijuu Seiki no Owari ni"（20世紀の終りに）, so I figured it was time to close the circle, so to speak. 

"Puyo Puyo" had that New Wave mixed in with the technopop but the A-side I think is more on the technopop, and strangely enough, Makigami did come up with a story of that loner on the endless titular highway that I mentioned in the top paragraph; there's even a synth version of that famous whistle from "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly" coming in at points. Makigami's vocals make the song sound like a heroic tokusatsu theme so that lone wolf vibe is even more enhanced. But instead of a Japanese superhero show, "Shiroi Highway" was used for a car stereo commercial.

Yasuko Naito -- Otouto yo（弟よ）

From YouTube

When it comes to Yasuko Naito（内藤やす子）, I will always remember her for "Roppongi Lullaby"（六本木ララバイ）from the mid-1980s whether it be the refined urban lullaby version or the one with a bit more of rock kick to it.

However, let's go to her debut single from November 1975, "Otouto yo" (Hey, Kid Brother). From the cover of that single, Naito gave a first impression of someone who didn't suffer fools gladly and could carve flesh out verbally or physically. Even the way the title is displayed, it looks like quite the rough life in the city.

Although nothing of the kind is mentioned in its J-Wiki article, I wonder whether "Otouto yo" could have been an answer song of sorts to folk band Kaguyahime's（かぐや姫）"Imouto"（妹...Younger Sister） which had been released the previous year. Lyrically speaking, and those were provided by Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）, whereas "Imouto" was the touching story of an orphaned young man proudly if sadly giving away her younger sister to his best friend through marriage, "Otouto yo" is the more pensive tale of a young woman trying to get her estranged younger brother back on the straight and narrow path, presumably pleading with him not to end up like herself. The music by Makoto Kawaguchi（川口真）is dramatic and somewhat foreboding, but there's an ever-present ocarina blowing away as if it represents one lone ember of innocence and goodness in the man. 

For a debut, "Otouto yo" was an auspicious one for Naito as it broke the Top 10 of Oricon by peaking at No. 8, becoming the 24th-ranked single for 1976. The singer also earned Best New Artist honours at the 5th annual FNS Kayo Festival, also in 1976. The single sold around 650,000 records.

Kahimi Karie -- Mirage

Wikimedia Commons

I've seen my fair share of shimmering mirages in the past including the one for a non-existent body of water. Nothing more exciting than that.

Looks like Kahimi Karie（カヒミ・カリィ）was in the middle of a Danny Thomas spit take in that cover photo for her October 2006 album "NUNKI". The track I'm covering here is "Mirage" which doesn't really come across as anything Shibuya-kei, the genre that I've always associated her with. The soft and kittenish French vocals are there but I think there's more of an intriguing indies pop feeling with some adventurous percussion blasting away. Karie took care of the lyrics while American musician and longtime Japanese resident Jim O'Rourke was the composer and arranger.

Mrs. GREEN APPLE -- Brand New

 

I bumped into this video purely by accident yesterday when it was released onto YouTube, and I know that the band Mrs. GREEN APPLE has been known for participating in some really snazzy music videos. However, although the song was another supremely upbeat tune by the guys, I was rather marveling at the very ambitious parkour the three were doing all over the city in their latest video.

And then I saw the title: "Brand New". Then, 2+2 started popping up in my head immediately after which I checked the relevant J-Wiki article and sure enough, my rushed suspicions were verified. Mrs. GREEN APPLE's latest digital download single from July 13th was indeed the theme song for the Japanese release of "Spider-Man: Brand New Day". Reading that all three members were big fans of the superhero, they must have had the time of their lives acting like the webslinger.

Written and composed by vocalist Motoki Ohmori（大森元貴）, "Brand New" isn't actually the first time that Mrs. GREEN APPLE has come up with a theme song for people with super powers. I recall writing about another song of theirs that fits the bill years ago. In any case, "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" has come out here and in Tokyo, so I gather that my old movie viewing buddies there are already planning their big outing to see it. I will be catching it myself pretty soon.

Cunimondo Takiguchi's Personal Selection for His Top 10 City Pop Albums of the 1980s ~ Part 1

 

Over the past few years, it's become fairly regular for me to wait in hospitals and clinics while my folks and myself go through various medical procedures. And as such, I bring a book along to wile away the time. A few weeks ago, I brought the above tome called the April 2018 edition of "Record Collectors" which was focusing on the City Pop singles and albums from 1980 to 1989.

Well on Page 47, there was an article with the title "Cunimondo Takiguchi ga Erabu Shiteki Hachi-juu Nendai City Pop Best 10"（クニモンド瀧口が選ぶ私的80年代シティポップベスト10）which has been translated into the title on the above byline. Now, Takiguchi is the leader of the band Ryusenkei（流線形）, one of the groups that spearheaded a new version of City Pop going into the 21st century although he has gone on record to state that he doesn't particularly want that exact label applied to his work since City Pop is a musical phenomenon of past decades; he would prefer that his discography and those of other similarly-minded contemporary musicians be called urban contemporary. I respect his opinion but I also have my own on the reach of City Pop throughout the past few decades and I feel that City Pop never really died out even when the Bubble Era collapsed at the turn of the decade from the 80s into the 90s so I have continued to use the label to categorize songs by Ryusenkei, Kirinji（キリンジ）and Suchmos, etc.

But in any case, I have here Part 1 of his list of those City Pop albums from the 1980s that he has enjoyed starting from 1 to 5. The latter half of the selection will be posted next week. I have also included the comments that he stated in the article for each album. For the last couple of entries, I wasn't able to find a full album.

1. Tatsuro Yamashita -- For You (1982)

When I was a junior high school sophomore, one summer, my three buddies and I listened to "Futari" on the Walkman from the veranda of an Atami cottage while looking at the night sky. We were so moved as we each had a turn listening to it and the memory has lasted as a formative experience in City Pop for me.

2. Hiroshi Sato -- Awakening (1982)

For the wonderful keyboardist, Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）, who had his input on that Yamashita album, I took another look at his "Awakening" in my thirties and it became one of my most favourite albums. He once gave me an interview and though I was nervous, he was kind enough to give me two hours of his time which was a happy memory.

3. Makoto Matsushita -- First Light (1981)

Going back from Matsushita's（松下誠）days with AB's, the original jacket from "First Light" struck me as something that was so cool. The refined chord progressions and arrangement along with Matsushita's not-overly-polished vocals were very comfortable to hear.

4. Izumi Kobayashi -- Coconuts High (1981)

I got into "Coconuts High" through the soundtrack she provided to "Urusei Yatsura"（うる星やつら）, and those tropical songs contained the Latin rhythms and her light and cute vocals which harmonized just right with those muscular synths.

5. Junko Ohashi -- Point Zero (1983)

I fell in love with "Tasogare My Love"（たそがれマイ・ラブ） when I was in elementary school. I got to know her cool and groovy side when I listened to "Point Zero" in my twenties. 

Izumi Kobayashi & Flying Mimi Band -- My Beach Samba（マイ・ビーチ・サンバ）

 

Recently going over "Light Mellow ~ Beams", I've come across a few tracks on the compilation that I never thought to cover on the blog, so shame on me for that oversight.

One of those former neglected songs from "Beams" is Izumi Kobayashi（小林泉）& Flying Mimi Band's "My Beach Samba", originally from her March 1978 debut album "ORANGE SKY－Endless Summer". Written, composed and arranged by Kobayashi herself, it's a fun and perky and Latin jazzy City Pop number of the 1970s with inclusion of that decade's aural symbol of the genre...the keyboard haze effect. Speaking of keyboards, I think that is indeed Kobayashi just going crazy on her instrument near the end. Not to be outdone, I have to mention the saxophone and guitar solos, too.

PS. Well, it looks like my memory is failing me. I did write up something on the album proper back in 2019 and that also included my comments on "My Beach Samba". But hey, any song is worth another look.

Microcosmos II -- Tsuioku no Scat（追憶のスキャット）

 

Ahhh...there's nothing like the pure hard-boiled escapism of a 1970s/1980s Japanese cop show. All those tough detectives firing shots in Tokyo as if an American Western had transplanted itself into Japan's capital city. In real life, if a Japanese cop actually fires a single bullet even in self defense, it becomes the top story on a news broadcast with lots of questions asked and lots of reports made. 

The above video by Suna-chan TV has the three opening and ending credits scenes for the 1976-1979 cop series "Dai Tokai"（大都会...The Big City）, one of the big Ishihara Gundan shows starring Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）and Tetsuya Watari（渡哲也）. Admittedly, the third season has nearly the entire cast going all gun-happy while the first two seasons had opening credits which were far milder. I'll have to ask good friend and KKP contributor JTM about "Dai Tokai" since he's much more knowledgeable on Japanese cop shows than I am, but I'm a little confused since Ishihara seemed to be playing a sage reporter in Season 1 but then changed occupations in the last two seasons to become an intrepid surgeon! I mean, was cross-training education that thorough back then?

Anyways in 1979, the final year for "Dai Tokai", there was an LP for the series' background music called "Dai Tokai Soundtrack Soushuuhen"（大都会 サウンドトラック 総集編...The Big City Soundtrack Compilation）. One track there is the cool and calming "Tsuioku no Scat" (Reminiscing Scat) that is provided by Microcosmos II which I couldn't find anything about. I can only assume that it was just a group of studio musicians with a female vocalist providing all of the mournful scatting. 

I've said cool and calming. I can also add wistful and slightly melancholy. I don't recall watching much of "Dai Tokai" but I can imagine that the scene which would include "Tsuioku no Scat" is one where Ishihara and Watari are commiserating at their favourite bar somewhere in Tokyo after a case gone bad or a cop gone dead. They are nursing their tumblers of Old Parr wondering aloud if the job is worth it anymore. However, by the end of the scene, it's back to work.

Junko Ohashi -- Sensual Night

 

Within the many albums that the late great Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）had released, my impression is that her October 1983 album "Point Zero" stands out to me as the one where she really dove into the American funk-and-dance sphere. It wasn't just a City Pop thing but something that sounded as if Ohashi wanted to groove it up with folks like the Dazz Band.

Case in point: the track "Sensual Night". As the title says, it's a funky and writhing body on the dance floor inviting the listener to come and jump in (the water's fine!). And there's even a rapping interlude in there (even Ohashi takes part in the rapid patter). It feels more like disco-ing in Los Angeles rather than Tokyo. Short and sweet...there's a cigarette for the afterglow. 😋Ohashi provided the lyrics while Kazufumi Ohama（大浜和史）composed "Sensual Night". Ohama was once the musical director for Pink Lady and was the leader of the band NASA.

Chiyono Yoshino -- 1985-nen no Koibito（1985年の恋人）

 

Welcome to the final day of July...pretty much halfway through summer. And hopefully, your entry into August and the latter half of the hot season will be a good fun one. 

Despite the title of this sparkling Chiyono Yoshino（吉野千代乃）song, "1985-nen no Koibito" (Lovers in 1985) was actually something from 1987 when it and the rest of its track mates were released in the singer's June 1987 3rd album "Say Goodbye". Not sure about why the focus on lovers in that specific year but...and I say this tongue in cheek...with the signing of the Plaza Accords in 1985, perhaps lovers realized that they pretty much had carte blanche when it came to dating and having fun in Bubble Era Japan.😊

But I digress. "1985-nen no Koibito", which was written by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）and composed by Kyoko Matsumiya（松宮恭子）, is a very upbeat slice of sophisticated pop with a wedge of happy-happy samba on top which launches with some pounding bass and keyboard. It practically demands listeners to get into a conga line on the Lido Deck of some cruise liner. Strangely enough, the footage in the video above comes from the 1990 trendy drama "Sekai de Ichiban Kimi ga Suki"（世界で一番君が好き....I Love You The Most in the World), one of the first such dramas that I watched on Fuji-TV when I arrived on the JET Programme some months before. Its theme song is of a much different genre, though.

Higurashi -- Tsukiyo no Highway（月夜のハイウェイ）

 

It's been getting close to forty-four years since I heard my first Higurashi（日暮し）song on "Sounds of Japan" and that was without knowing the name of the folk/New Music band or the title of that song until I finally discovered it after returning from Japan for good in 2011. Furthermore, it's been fourteen years since I posted that splendid song, "Aki no Tobira"（秋の扉）, onto "Kayo Kyoku Plus".

Up until now, I'd seen Higurashi as a band that had its time in the 1970s before becoming a part of Japanese music history. However, I learned recently that the original members got together one more time in 2017 to release "Everlasting -Unreleased & Rare Tracks-". One of the tracks is "Tsukiyo no Highway" (Moon Night Highway) which was written and composed by members Seiichi Takeda（武田清一） and Yukio Nakamura（中村幸雄）, and the jaunty arrangement has that feeling of Higurashi especially with everyone getting in behind the mike including Naomi Sugimura（杉村尚美）, now Naomi Sakakibara（榊原尚美）. However, there is that contemporary freshness with the instruments and the recording which struck me. I especially like the addition of what sounds like a steel pedal guitar; gives the song a really nice accent of traveling smoothly on that titular highway.

Morton Gould -- So In Love/Night and Day

Wikimedia Commons

This week's Reminiscings of Youth will be a little more unusual and involved so please bear with me today. For one thing, this really ought to be one of those Reminiscings of Babyhood articles actually, but I'll explain as we go along.

For citizens and international residents of Japan of a certain age such as myself, there was the weekly Sunday night Hollywood movie of the week on TV Asahi that lasted for decades since the 1960s. So, folks could watch anything from that decade to something more contemporary like a Steven Seagal action flick but it had to fit within the tight two-hour slot with commercials...which often meant that the movie had a fair amount of footage slashed out. Annoying as heck, but that's the way it was. 

The host of "Nichiyou Youga Gekijo"（日曜洋画劇場...The Sunday Western Movie Theatre） for most of its time was the avuncular and dapper movie critic and tarento Nagaharu Yodogawa（淀川長治）. He always showed up at the beginning of the show to introduce the film and then wrap up with his thoughts about it for a few minutes before signing off with "Sayonara, sayonara, sayonara". 

Then, there were the ending credits for "Nichiyou Youga Gekijo" which had stills or slow-motion footage of the movie just presented while this really dramatic and melancholy-sounding song played in the background. In fact, I found the music so sad that I was more than happy to switch the channel. I wouldn't find out until literally several days ago that the piece was a Cole Porter standard called "So In Love" as interpreted by conductor and arranger Morton Gould.

"So In Love" was a song used in one of Porter's famous musicals "Kiss Me Kate" from 1948. It was also used in the 1953 cinematic adaptation, but Gould's interpretation was presumably from 1951. Now that I've heard the whole thing above, I have a better view of it as something more epic and moving. Japanese commenters have complimented it as being very nostalgic since they used to watch the Sunday movie of the week when they were younger.

But "So In Love" hadn't been the main target for my ROY ROB this week. That was merely a happenstance stumbling discovery. Actually, it was for another Porter classic "Night and Day" which had been created in 1932. I remember getting to see it performed on the 2004 "De-Lovely", the Porter biopic musical starring Kevin Kline where I could glean some more insight into what the song was about.

Now, I realize that there have been many renditions of "Night and Day", sung and instrumental. But the reason that I started all this was that I remember the very first rendition that I heard of this song and it was by the aforementioned Morton Gould through his 1961 record "Kern/Porter Favorites" although that track later showed up on our "RCA 50 Years Of Hits In Stereo" that I wrote about last October. 

According to his Wikipedia article, Gould was a master of interweaving different musical genres into formal classical structure without losing any of the main elements from either the adopted genres or the original song. Gould had a few more contributions to my family's "RCA 50 Years of Hits In Stereo" which were "Brazil" and "Blues in the Night" and I note that he was epic and playful with those.

With "Night and Day", he showed that same verve for grandness. His take took the ultimate song of pining away in love and made it into his own overture movie. To me, his "Night and Day" sounds like a romance between two people rudely interrupted by war with the happy and grateful return interpreted as this huge orchestral rush. And it just happened to be a song that I heard often enough as a kid on the old RCA stereo.

So, let's see about some of the major singles of 1961 in Japan.

Kyu Sakamoto -- Ue wo Muite Arukou (上を向いて歩こう)

Yujiro Ishihara & Junko Makimura -- Ginza no Koi no Monogatari （銀座の恋の物語）

Hitoshi Ueki -- Suudara Bushi (スーダラ節）

Gen Hoshino -- Suki（好き）

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With all of the various issues happening locally and abroad, it's no surprise that people could use some more of a salve for what ails them. 

Nothing medical here but musically, perhaps KKP can introduce singer-songwriter and hookmeister Gen Hoshino's（星野源）latest digital download single "Suki" (Love Ya) which was released only yesterday. And yep, it's got that catchy Hoshino hook along with some Hoshino scatting. Furthermore, I'm always going to be a sucker for any song that has those mellow horns from yesteryear...especially a snazzy flugelhorn. 

Not surprisingly, Hoshino came up with "Suki" for a TBS drama titled "Kimi no Suki wa Muteki"（君の好きは無敵...Your Love is Boundless） that started up a couple of weeks ago. He can come up with some of the great theme tunes such as "Kigeki"（喜劇）for the anime "Spy x Family" some years ago. According to one part of the J-Wiki article on "Suki", I was able to Google translate this paragraph regarding the song:

This track marks a new frontier in pop music for Gen Hoshino, characterized by a melody that instantly lifts the spirits, a groove that makes you want to dance, and a sound brimming with vitality. It captures the inner radiance felt the moment one falls for someone —as well as the immense power of that emotion—and serves to encourage anyone who is evolving with that passion as their driving force, adding vibrant color to the world of the drama.

I'm not sure if I would say that this is a new frontier for Hoshino. His reputation has usually involved very upbeat tunes and "Suki" is no different. But I would certainly agree with the groovy assessment and indeed, falling in love can pack quite a punch of positivity. I'm assuming that the final word "drama" is referring to the TBS show (unfortunately I couldn't find any footage on YouTube).

Lisa Ono -- Moon River

 

Well, out of curiosity, I wanted to see if there were any singers out there whose birthdays were on July 29th today, and sure enough, I could find one chanteuse. Japanese-Brazilian bossa nova singer Lisa Ono（小野リサ）celebrates her 64th birthday so many happy wishes upon her.

To commemorate this day, and on a Hump Day which might have been rather stressful thus far being the day farthest away from weekends, I should find something that is quite soothing. Ono has often provided the musical balm in that respect. And so I provide her cover of the classic "Moon River" which was originally made in the early 1960s by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer for the film "Breakfast at Tiffany's".

With a fan wafting some needed cooling air into my otherwise stuffy room and the sun beginning to set into the horizon, Ono's "Moon River" is just the tonic for a Wednesday. The only thing missing is a Brown Cow on my desk. Anyways, her version is included in the March 2002 "Ono Lisa Best 1997-2001".

The Works of Fumiko Okada（岡田富美子）

 

I never expected to see her name up on television but recently I saw that veteran lyricist Fumiko Okada had received some sort of award for her decades of work via an NHK report. From that, I thought that it would be time to post a Creator article regarding her.

But first a bit of background from her J-Wiki file, Okada hails from Hiroshima Prefecture. When she gradated from university, her parents pressed her to get a job at television broadcaster TBS working as a timekeeper for music programs. However, knowing herself as someone who never really enjoyed the rigors of an average job or career, she was pretty miserable. Also, she developed insomnia but one night, she gained the urge to write poetry and found out that the words flowed out of her surprisingly easily. Then one day, after amassing her poems into a collection and having some faint interest in becoming a songwriter, she was noticed by the manager of a famous arranger at work. Noting how unenthused young Okada looked, he asked her what she really wanted to do for which she replied "I want to become a lyricist". A mere few days later, that manager suggested Okada to a record company as a rookie lyricist. At least, one song with her lyrics got into a music festival and that apparently was all she needed to write...literally. She started getting requests for her words, something that has been continuing for her for close to 55 years.

(1972) Young 101 -- Kaiju no Ballad（怪獣のバラード）

In a desert where the blood-red sun set

A great big monster lived there in peace

One morning when he woke up, he heard a bell from a caravan off in the distance

He suddenly screamed out

I wanna see the ocean! I wanna love people! Monsters have hearts, too, you know!

Let's leave the desert behind and head to where love and the ocean reside

Although I didn't note this in the original KKP article for "Kaiju no Ballad", this was apparently Okada's first work as a professional lyricist. 

(1981) Ruiko Kurahashi -- Glass no Yesterday （ガラスのYesterday)

Yesterday

I danced all night with you

Yesterday, although we can never meet again

We said "See you later" and parted

You're the one who embraced me while saying

I can't love you on mere kindness

Whenever Okada's name is mentioned, I will always first remember Fashion Music specialist Ruiko Kurahashi's（倉橋ルイ子）songs since the lyricist provided a number of her works to her. 

(1986) Shibugakitai -- Sushi Kui ne! （スシ食いねェ！）

This is the No. 1 sushi restaurant in Japan

Gotta eat sushi! Gotta eat sushi! Gotta eat sushi!

Green tea! Green tea! Green tea! Pickled ginger! Picked ginger! Pickled ginger!

In contrast with the elegance of Kurahashi's signature song, the raucous "Sushi kui ne!" comes under the catchphrase of "Okada wrote this one?!". She must love her sushi.

(1987) Kiyomi Suzuki with Rats & Star -- Lonely Chaplin (ロンリー・チャプリン）

Lonely Chaplin

Time passes...and even if you fade away

I will always wait for you

Smile like the little boy you are

You want to come home

Into my arms, don't you?

As long as your dreams are unfulfilled

Oh, do what you wanna do again

Oh, do what you wanna do again

Man, didn't know that Chaplin was that lucky a guy!

(1979) Asami Kado -- Fascination (ファッシネイション）

I love you. Stop it because you make me feel so helpless

Stop it if you're only going to kiss me once

I love you. I got myself all psyched up

I hate you stalling for time

Nothing like pouty coquettishness to spice up a relationship!

Reimy -- Niji no Asa Kaze no Sora（虹の朝 風の空）

 

The late 1980s for me in terms of Japanese pop music meant a lot of things: overt diversification of the genres as we moved from kayo kyoku to J-Pop, a fresher and brasher type of aidoru in the form of Shizuka Kudo（工藤静香）and Miho Nakayama（中山美穂）as examples. And also, the emergence of female pop singer-songwriters coming up with some very mellow and eminently listenable material. Of course, I think of Miki Imai（今井美樹）, Midori Karashima（辛島美登里）and the young lady of note here, Reimy Horikawa（堀川麗美）.

But I have to admit that this final track, "Niji no Asa Kaze no Sora" (Morning Rainbow, Windy Sky), from Reimy's 3rd album, "Pansy", from May 1985 is perhaps one of the earliest examples of this breezy girl pop that I've discovered. With the melody by Reimy herself and then lyrics by Shun Taguchi（田口俊）and arrangement by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）, the singer's oh-so-adorable and comforting vocals are the maraschino cherry on top of this swooning sundae that can actually induce images of morning rainbows and windy skies, and nope, nothing pharmacological is involved. Nice touch with the steel pedal guitar, too!

Shinichi Mori -- Bojou ~ Amakusa no Onna（慕情〜天草の女〜）

By STA3816 via Wikimedia Commons

Earlier this morning, I turned on Jme to see the NHK news when I saw the familiar blue frame surrounding the video, and I knew immediately that there had been some major disaster. Unfortunately, Kumamoto Prefecture was hit with a big earthquake a decade following the tremor that had slammed into it before. I'm hoping that everyone in the province is doing OK under the circumstances, especially the family of an old friend of mine.

To start off today's duo of articles, I've decided to go with a go-touchi song from Kumamoto Prefecture (specifically the city of Amakusa) by enka veteran Shinichi Mori（森進一）relatively early in his career. "Bojou ~ Amakusa no Onna" (Longing ~ Woman of Amakusa). Released in April 1971 as Mori's 19th single, it's a bittersweet enka regarding the theme of "parting is such sweet sorrow" as one-half of a once-happy relationship is now on a boat slowly puttering away from the Amakusa shore (you can hear the engine itself at the beginning and the end) while the other half is probably standing devastated on that shore. Mori was most likely already the go-to singer for heartrending enka thanks to his weeping vocals.

Written by Akari Yamaguchi（山口あかり）, "Bojou" was composed by Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃）. It's not everyday that Hirao came up with an enka melody so I consider this quite the revelation. It broke the Oricon Top 10 by coming in at No. 9 and it sold 300,000 copies in the first month following its release. 

Cheuni -- Wasurenagusa（忘れな草）

 

When it comes to South Korean singer Cheuni（チェウニ）, I've always known her as someone who had gotten her career in the 1990s singing a mix of enka and other genres mixed together...something that I've labeled New Adult Music. It was quite the musical version of blended refined whiskey.

However, after I'd posted my previous Cheuni song, "Glass no Tokyo Tower"（ガラスの東京タワー）, a month ago, one commenter had to give me a correction in that Cheuni's debut had actually happened perhaps as much as a dozen years earlier than expected. For some reason, although J-Wiki had noted her debut as a child singer in the early 1970s at the age of 8 and a Japanese album release at the end of that decade via what is now known as the Taihei Record Company, there is currently no mention at all of a couple of singles in 1979 and 1981.

The anonymous commenter thankfully guided me to the above video on YouTube and it was for her debut single in Japan, "Wasurenagusa" (Forget-Me-Nots), which was released in 1979. She was in her mid-teens at the time so there was of course none of that familiar rasp in her vocals but listening to them now, I can still recognize them as Cheuni's. Considering her age, the single may have indeed been marketed as one belonging to an aidoru and there is something in the arrangement that hints at enka but I think most of the song gives me folk and kayo vibes.

Yoko Yamaguchi（山口洋子）provided the lyrics while the melody was composed by Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃）, the veteran songwriter who also had a hand in bringing over another lovely teen ingenue from overseas to Japan: Agnes Chan（アグネス・チャン）.