Yutaka Kimura Speaks: Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）

 

The first time that Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）met Kazuhito Murata was back in 1978. It was during when Murata had been active with his band Almond Rocca. Listening to a demo tape, Tats had been charmed by how good Murata's music was, and set out a plan for his solo debut. However, it reached a dead end midway and then the band broke up. Without any word on the Murata song, Yamashita had been thinking of doing a cover version of it, but after that, he caught up with Murata again all of a sudden when the latter had resumed his career. And in 1982, Murata debuted with "Denwa shite mo"（電話しても）under Moon Records.

With their teacher-and-apprentice relationship, there was a tendency to believe that they shared the same musicality, but Yamashita's roots had been into the Beach Boys while Murata had been more into the Beatles and American southern rock, so the difference was rather stark. However, it is also true that they did share some commonalities such as their predilection for that especial bittersweetness of 1960s pop.

When it comes to the biggest attraction of Murata's music, it is his generosity which fits his personality to a T. And to extend that distinct characteristic even more, America, and specifically the West Coast, was the most ideal environment. "Showdown" (1986), which was his first album recorded in Los Angeles, was a dynamic project which was slightly different from his past works, and appealed to listeners with a reborn Murata. His follow-up album "Boy's Life" (1987) was even more fulfilling with its polish which led to a career peak.

However, he moved over to Toshiba Records while he was on top where his "Go Pop" (1988) actually took a stumble. Murata wondered what could have been if he had stayed on the same track as "Boy's Life", but then after transferring to Victor, he regained his original mojo with "Hello Again" (1993). Afterwards, he would go at his own pace and give listeners his brand of mellow pop, but unfortunately, he passed away in 2016.

The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).

Masatou Higashi -- Tokyo Shining Love

 

Not sure what the inspiration was behind the big eye art at Shinjuku Station. Was it "The Great Gatsby" or "1984"? Perhaps the message is that no matter how many people are amassing at one of the world's busiest transportation hubs, someone is looking out for you...or someone is simply watching you. 😨

Anyways, no segue from the first paragraph to the second. Just here to introduce Masatou Higashi's（東正任） second song on KKP, "Tokyo Shining Love". A track mate to that first song of his on the blog "Singapore no Yuki"（シンガポールの雪）from his lone 1987 album "E La Nave Va ~ Soshite Fune wa Iku"（そして船はいく...Then the Ship Departs）, I unfortunately couldn't definitively find out who was behind words and music, but because Higashi was also a songwriter, it could have been him.

Compared to the more haunting and crystalline "Singapore no Yuki", "Tokyo Shining Love" seems to be basking in the warmer glow of 1980s Tokyo. There's even a hint of kayo kyoku in the arrangement...that down-home City Pop that I first noticed in Akira Terao's（寺尾聡）"Ruby no Yubiwa"（ルビーの指輪）so many years ago. The saxophone certainly helps out.

Deep Sea Diving Club -- Shooting Star

 

I was flabbergasted when I caught this video put up by MeTV about a decade or so ago. This scene from the popular NBC cop show "CHiPs" which ran from 1977 to 1983 not only has roller disco, which was a thing back in my adolescence, but it also contains the greatest concentration of TV stars that I've ever seen outside of the annual autumn promotion commercial for the network. Of course, I was a tad too young to partake in roller disco, but then again, I never learned how to ice skate when I was smaller so roller skating was pretty out of the cards for me as well.

Has roller disco returned somewhere on the planet? Maybe. I could see a resurgence in Japan for some months. Maybe even in America. Regardless, it's back in this music video for Deep Sea Diving Club's 10th and most recent digital single "Shooting Star" from September 2024. I wrote about these guys a couple of months ago for their Neo-City Pop "City Flight" from 2022 and I've been keeping an eye on them ever since.

"Shooting Star" continues the groovy urban contemporary and it shows what is basically a colourful PSA for women in the workplace to not only work hard but also play hard. One young executive decides to trip the light fantastic in her roller skates to let off some steam and enjoy her evening in the grand futuristic metropolis. Not surprisingly, the music by drummer Showhey Idehara（出原昌平）incorporates some disco into the proceedings. Guitarist and vocalist Sota Tani（谷颯太）provided the lyrics.

Junko Yagami -- Tatoe Kanawanai Yume demo Kore de Ii（たとえ叶わない夢でもこれでいい）

 

If someone were to ask me "Who has been one Japanese singer who has worked in the largest variety of genres?", I would answer quite quickly: Junko Yagami（八神純子）. She's not the only one but she's the one who readily comes to mind. Pop balladry, City Pop, bossa nova/samba, R&B, world music...perhaps I have missed one or two.

And now I can include 90s dance music (House, anyone?) to the list. In 1994, Yagami released her 16th album "Renaissance" in November 1994 and one of the tracks there is the very long-worded "Tatoe Kanawanai Yume demo Kore de Ii" (Even If It's a Dream That Won't Come True, That's Fine). Written by Yuuho Iwasato（岩里祐穂）and composed by Yagami, I'm not sure if she had been aiming for C+C Music Factory but she's thrown in everything but the kitchen sink into this one...dance, funk, Latin and jazz. And lyrically speaking, her protagonist is also going for broke trying to get this one guy. Life and love in Tokyo, ladies and gentlemen!

Minako Yoshida & Tatsuro Yamashita/Niteflyte -- If You Want It

 

If you want it...you can get it!

Yum!

I was going to have some leftover spaghetti with some butter, soy sauce and pepper. But then I discovered that my supermarket was selling fully cooked smoked bacon. Well, since I think that pasta without some sort of meat is just plain naked, I wanted it, I could get it, and I got it! Throw in a few hot pepper flakes and I've got my make-do Pasta Pepperoncino. 

Now this whole joke segue landed in a pile of fortuitous coincidence since I would come home to the blog to find a comment from Francois stating his discovery of a wonderful cover by the duo of Tatsuro Yamashita and Minako Yoshida（山下達郎・吉田美奈子）, and those two have been responsible for the creation of some of the more beloved City Pop songs from that original period of the late 1970s going well into the 1980s. 

I am talking about their rendition of Niteflyte's "If You Want It", and many thanks to Francois for the recommendation. Apparently, this was some 1980 studio recording of the original 1979 single by the American funk group, so perhaps Yamashita and Yoshida performed it during a radio show, but the two are full money on their cover, especially due to Yoshida's soaring vocals. It's a wonder that the two didn't do any more of these duets. By the way, listening to this, I can get an idea of how "Sparkle" came about.

I can't think of a better song to start off this edition of Urban Contemporary Fridays on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" than "If You Want It". It was love and not bacon that was the subject of the original Niteflyte song which peaked at No. 37 on Billboard, and I have to admit that I love the original even more thanks to those disco strings which have plucked my own heart strings. And the groove is mighty epic! "If You Want It" is also present on the band's self-titled debut album from 1979. By the way, I wrote about Niteflyte for the first time almost a year ago with their 1981 "You Are".

Now I'm going off to have my pasta!🍝

Gino Vannelli -- Living Inside Myself

 

Time for a bit of Canadiana once more on the regular weekly Reminiscings of Youth. I first posted his 1978 "I Just Wanna Stop" a few years ago, and another frequent radio presence by singer-songwriter Gino Vannelli in my youth was his March 1981 song "Living Inside Myself". A single and a track on his seventh album "Nightwalker", it's another lush and epic ballad about the huge regrets being suffered by a man after a breakup. A song about a heart crushed like so many graham crackers shouldn't sound so wonderful, but it does. 

In Canada, "Living Inside Myself" went up to No. 13 on RPM while on America's Billboard, it soared even higher by placing in at No. 6. Another wonderful thing is that a number of those YouTube reactors have been discovering and delighting in this sad song.

So, what else was being released in March 1981?

Masahiko Kondo -- Yokohama Cheek （ヨコハマ・チーク）

Naoko Kawai -- Juu-Nana Sai （17才）

Hiroyuki Okita -- E-Kimochi （E気持ち）

Riho Makise -- Osoi Santa Claus（遅いサンタクロース）

 

Yes, it is indeed a bit unusual for me to put up a Christmas song only a few days into June but I've been known to leave a J-Xmas tune during the summer months before so that we can be reminded that the Yuletide is only half a year away.

Anyways, this year's candidate for the Christmas song in June/July is Riho Makise's（牧瀬里穂）"Osoi Santa Claus" (Late Santa Claus). Her penultimate single from November 1993, it's a kid-friendly number due to that children's group helping her out, the adorable synths and the cute bouncy chorus; it was written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）with the melody and arrangement provided by Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）. In it, Makise sings about some kid getting rather impatient for Kris Kringle to arrive because he wants his presents yesterday. Apparently, "Osoi Santa Claus" was used as a commercial jingle for Japan Postal Savings.