Nash Music Library -- Kamakura de X'mas

Dirk Beyer via Wikimedia Commons

 

Well, it wouldn't be a KKP Christmas season without including something Yuletide from the good folks at Nash Music Library. I did have something from them last year with "Happy Christmas". And so, I thought "Why not have them aboard again?".

This time,  I have "Kamakura de X'mas" (Christmas in Kamakura). Now, to be honest, Kamakura would be one of the last places where I would imagine anything having to do with Noel and the like, but hey, this ancient city gets snow and illumination so again, why not? "Kamakura de X'mas" is most likely the first KKP entry which has both the Xmas and Traditional Instrumental labels for the same song and with the piano and the jingling bells in there, I couldn't help but get images of Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）and even Studio Ghibli vibes via Joe Hisaishi（久石譲）. The song was part of the October 2024 compilation "Christmas Avenue".

Yukio Hashi -- Okesa Utaeba（おけさ唄えば）

 

It seems so long ago and yet it's only been a few months since enka singer and actor Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）left this mortal coil at the age of 82. I guess that the music that he provided fans were so imbued with the feeling of a long-ago era that it might be easy to assume that Hashi was someone from a very long time ago.

I was just scrolling through the Top 10 Songs of 1961 and it was evident that Hashi had a lot of hits during that time, including one that came in at No. 9, "Okesa Utaeba" (Why Not Sing A Traditional Folk Song?). Hashi's 3rd single was released in October 1960 and it's definitely an enka tune when compared to some of his later and more muscular rock kayo tunes such as "Zekken No. 1 Start da"（ゼッケンNO.1スタートだ）. Written by Takao Saeki（佐伯孝夫）and composed by Tadashi Yoshida（吉田正）, it's got that jingly and jangly festival spirit in there although according to the J-Wiki article on "Okesa Utaeba", there was no choreography particularly planned for it in performances of the song unlike some of Hashi's other fare. I certainly thought that there was something min'yo about it.

With the mention of Niigata Prefecture in Saeki's lyrics and perhaps other places within the province, I assume that "Okesa Utaeba" can also be considered to be a go-touchi song or a regional tune as Hashi sings about the one that got away. Maybe the song is supposed to be a salve for that broken heart. Listeners could sympathize because "Okesa Utaeba" managed to sell about 200,000 records and break the Top 10 list in the pre-Oricon era as mentioned above.

Hidemi Ishikawa -- Watashi wa Otona（私はオ・ト・ナ）

 

There are always those times when children think they are grown-ups or want to show that they are grown-ups by putting on make-up or clothes that are way too big. Of course, the parents get all gushy and smiley. Then, the kids actually do grow up and the parents may have different reactions.

That was the impression I got while I was listening to Hidemi Ishikawa's（石川秀美）December 1983 3rd album "Semi-Sweet" and specifically one track, "Watashi wa Otona" (I'm An Adult). Ishikawa was actually around 17 when she recorded this so I'm assuming that the protagonist in the song is someone going through the rebellious stage and storming out the house. 

Written by SHOW and composed by Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）, this is a somewhat out-of-the-ordinary aidoru tune with the slightly spooky background chorus, the Dazz Band-like synths in there, and the rumbling percussion contrasted with the squeaky vocals of Ishikawa. Not sure whether Oda and the other producers were trying to show off their aidoru's persona in "Watashi wa Otona" as someone insisting of her adulthood despite the fact that she certainly didn't sound like an adult but the effect worked on me.

Kurofune Lady to Ginsei Gakudan -- Furubon'ya no Waltz（古本屋のワルツ）

 

It was about a year ago that I introduced a since-disbanded jazz trio with the name Kurofune Lady to Ginsei Gakudan（黒船レディと銀星楽団...The Black Ship Lady and The Silver Star Orchestra） consisting of singer Fumi Mizubayashi（水林史）as the Black Ship Lady herself with pianist Yuri Hirota（廣田ゆり）and guitarist Toshihiko Shiokawa（塩川俊彦）. Their song was the peppy "Ichiban Hoshii Mono"（いちばんほしいもの）.

Well, that song belonged to the trio's 2006 album "Furubon'ya no Waltz"（古本屋のワルツ...The Old Bookstore Waltz）, and now that they're back on the blog again, I'm providing the title track. As advertised, it is a lovely and intimate jazz waltz with Mizubayashi's gently lilting voice doing that light waltz all over the floor and on the song sheet. Seeing that the album had been produced to help support the bookstore area in Jimbocho, Tokyo, there is that atmosphere of the ancient pages of books and woodsy bookshelves within that old-style bookstore. Here's hoping that the E-book trend hasn't totally eliminated the need to visit some of those establishments in Jimbocho. Writing this on a Saturday, I remember that I often used to visit the area on Saturdays.

NUTS -- Heart Beat Express

 

It's quite the lovely day outside if a wee cold out there. Hopefully, all of you are enjoying your weekend.

NUTS is a 1990s pop duo that I had last posted about back in 2019 so it's time to give them their due once more. Plus, it is brilliantly sunny in my neck of the woods so something just as light and happy is appropriate. Just to remind folks, the duo consisted of vocalist Tomomi Saito（斎藤友美）and keyboardist Akihiko Hirama（平間あきひこ）. What I hadn't realized was that Hirama was once part of the funk group JADOES.

So far, this is the earliest that I've gone in NUTS' discography. Their 4th single from February 1995 is "Heart Beat Express" which is quite the bouncy number. It almost achieves 1990s City Pop status but in the end, I went with regular pop in Labels. There's no mention of whether it was it was tied up with any particular commercial but I think it should have since it does sound so welcoming for a product or service such as Japan Railways. Being a 90s song, it does have that clear and crisp brassy synth work; sounds like I described a brand of beer. The single was also included in NUTS' debut album "Ticket to Happiness" which was released about a month following the single.

Masayoshi Takanaka -- Bad Chicken

 

I think the one time that I had bad chicken was when I was back in Ichikawa. For dinner, I decided to make my own chicken katsu so I did the usual thing with the chicken breasts and dredged them in flour, egg and panko. They went into the microwave oven for some minutes (yup, I didn't use a fryer...followed my friend's style) and I chowed them down with rice. Well, I was glad that this all happened on a Friday since my weekend was pretty much a goner. I had the worst stomachache; whether it was due to not cooking the chicken enough or there was something in the egg wash, I'll never know. The horror of that gastrointestinal disaster was enough for me never to make chicken katsu ever again.

Hopefully, master musician Masayoshi Takanaka's（高中正義）only approach to bad chicken was actually through his creation "Bad Chicken" from his June 1987 14th original album "RENDEZ-VOUS". Takanaka was responsible for the funk and rock but Daryl Canada took care of the lyrics. Yes, this is a better way to shake that body around instead of wincing and twisting in agony. "Bad Chicken" wasn't necessarily used for the dance floor, though. It was actually used as a campaign song for a Toshiba product and none other than Hiroko Yakushimaru（薬師丸ひろ子）was in the commercial. I guess she liked hugging electric poles; I'm not judging.🤷

Ritsuko Amano -- Lemon no Namida（レモンの涙）

From Mercari

Once again, I have encountered a singer whose profile is virtually a tabula rasa. I couldn't find any information on this singer Ritsuko Amano（天野立子）aside from the fact that she released a single in 1985 titled "Lemon no Namida" (Lemon Tears).

And that's too bad since she's got a very nice voice...not even sure whether she was promoted as a regular pop singer or an aidoru. I figure that she spans the gap between Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）and Mari Iijima（飯島真理）. And "Lemon no Namida" indeed has that breezy aidoru-esque arrangement but with some City Pop and disco which makes this feel like something that could have been composed a half-decade earlier; love the bass by the way. I had to track down a photo of the actual 45" single at Mercari to find out that Mariko Kubota（窪田まり子）was the lyricist while the composer was Kunihiko Suzuki（鈴木邦彦）. If anyone out there can provide some further insight into this mystery singer, that would be greatly appreciated.