I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
I haven't been to Osaka in many, many moons so my remembrance of the streets there is woefully lacking compared to my knowledge of some of the thoroughfares in Tokyo. However, Midosuji seems to pop up a fair bit especially when it comes to kayo kyoku. In fact, I'm wondering if I ought to provide an Author's Picks list of songs that pay tribute to what has been called Osaka's Champs-Elysees. But I'll leave that for further thought. Off the top of my head, though, there is Feifei Ouyang's（欧陽菲菲）"Ame no Midosuji"（雨の御堂筋）from the early 1970s. Anyways, the above video is provided by Japan Walking Tours on YouTube.
Well, yesterday, we were watching the weekend "Shin BS Nihon no Uta"（新BS日本の歌...Songs of Japanese Spirit）as usual, and The Cool Five's Kiyoshi Maekawa（前川清）appeared to provide one of his old group's classics "Saikai Blues"（西海ブルース）from 1977. Since his Cool Five members have basically retired or passed away, some of the other male guest singers provided the backup chorus. I figured that I must have already written on "Saikai Blues", and sure enough, I had done so back in December 2023.
But I wasn't going to be deterred by that, and it didn't take me long to track down another Hiroshi Uchiyamada & Cool Five（内山田洋とクールファイブ）Mood Kayo song. That was their 26th single from December 1975, "Futari no Midosuji"(A Couple in Midosuji), and it fits the typical Cool Five Mood Kayo feeling of love gained and lost in a famous part of a Japanese city. Of course, there's plenty of rain and mournful chorus to emphasize the bittersweetness of romance. Written by Shinichi Ishihara（石原信一）and composed by Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）, it did OK by hitting No. 44 on Oricon.
Look at all those abbreviations in the United States. Makes things rather compact, don't they? Well, it's time for a bit of whimsy here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" today as this thought came to my mind for the latest Author's Picks. I think they're rare enough but there are some Japanese songs that have two-letter abbreviations in their titles, so why not give a few out?
Let's start off this Thursday with a regular Reminiscings of Youth article. I remember back in the sixth grade when our teacher was one of those really ambitious types who had some of us creating a mini-greenhouse in the classroom along with macrame owls to boot. One of my classmates was a huge Bay City Rollers fan and she couldn't stop jabbering away about"Saturday Night", one of their big hits.
Methinks that if she had ever met the guys from Scotland, she would have been jabbering in tongues for the rest of her childhood. But "Saturday Night" is indeed a catchy anthem ("S-A-T-U-R-D-A-Y NIGHT!") of a power pop song and it was one of the hits that I remember hearing on telly and radio in the mid-1970s. From what I've read, there was an original version released in 1973 in the UK, but it didn't do much on the charts back then. However, it was re-recorded with new lyrics and re-released in the United States sometime in August 1975 and that was all she wrote. It hit No. 1 in both Canada and America.
I've mentioned "The Hockey Theme", the legendary former theme song for the CBC's iconic "Hockey Night in Canada" show. In that article, I also let folks know that "The Hockey Theme" and HNIC parted company years ago due to some failed negotiations between the original composer and the network. But since then, a cover version of "Saturday Night" by the band Monster Truck has been used to get the audience all revved up just before the games begin since HNIC always appears on Saturday night.
Since Wikipedia didn't bother to give an exact date of release for "Saturday Night" (simply August 1975) in the US, I'll just go with what was at the top of the Oricon chart for August 4th 1975. Here are Nos. 1, 4 and 5.
It is a whimsical Wednesday here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", so to alleviate the usual things about Hump Day, the windmills of my mind rotated rather furiously. As a result, in addition to the internal hemorrhaging, I was able to realize that a fair number of the songs of note in our humble little blog often have titles containing variations of personal pronouns whether in English or Japanese or other languages. Here are just a few of them.
Because we've been writing "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for fourteen years now, I've been getting interested in seeing some of those B-sides for those famous singles by various kayo performers. To think that it's taken this long just to start plumbing the depths of "the other side" is somewhat astonishing although we have managed to take a look at some of them even before last week's anniversary.
One of the earliest posts that I put up on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" was for Hiromi Ohta's（太田裕美）classic "Momen no Handkerchief"(木綿のハンカチーフ）which was released back in December 1975 as the Tokyo-born singer's 4th single. The cheery kayo kyoku has stuck with Ohta all these decades so that basically whenever she shows up nowadays on some TV show, it's to sing either "Momen no Handkerchief" or "Saraba Siberia Tetsudo"(さらばシベリア鉄道）.
The plot of the A-side involved the relationship between a couple of smalltown lovers in which the guy is now working in the big city while the gal is still in the hometown. Well, the somewhat more melancholy "Yureru Aijou" (Wavering Love), the B-side, seems to be a sequel of sorts for "Momen no Handkerchief". I've only listened to it a few times but the impression I'm getting is that the couple have met up again during the boyfriend's semi-regular visits back home, and maybe, just maybe, things are a little unsteady on the romance front, at least according to what I've gleaned from the title. Perhaps the guy is worried that his girlfriend is losing interest due to the distance and passage of time but she keeps reassuring him that she doesn't need to see a ring or that small house built for her and him...just that occasional but regular "I love you" is fine enough for now.
The same team behind "Momen no Handkerchief" was also taking care of 'Yureru Aijou": lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）. Methinks that if a 2026 single based on the fate of the couple were produced, I would think that the couple are celebrating their 45th anniversary, still in that small house in their hometown, with grandchildren.
In high school, I was always more adept in Chemistry than I was in Physics (Biology was my favourite, though). I couldn't make heads nor tails of Physics but give me a test tube and some substances, and I was a happy camper. For one class, we had to go crazy making esters. It was indeed great fun but all those odors infused into us so heading home on the bus that day wasn't the most pleasant for my fellow commuters.
Anyways, I did bring over a periodic table from Wikimedia Commons. At one point, I was able to memorize the first ten elements. I think I still have the ability but I've noticed in the 40 odd years since my last Chemistry class, the periodic table has grown some more elements. Also, I need to put a shoutout to my old Chemistry teacher, Mr. Phillips. He was a grizzled elderly ex-soldier who definitely held a position of some responsibility (sergeant at the very least) and if he detected any nonsense, he made you feel like the lowest recruit at boot camp. But if you were on his good side, he could be quite cordial.
Yes, I am being quite whimsical (and before a Wednesday, to boot) which means that I've got to get an Author's Picks out of my system. This time, it's all about the substances that I've seen in titles of kayo kyoku over the years. And I'm not just talking about the bare elements either.
One more thing about Mr. Phillips. There was once this cockamamie so-called allowance at high school in which if a teacher didn't show up at class within the first ten minutes, then the students could walk out and have a free hour. One time, our math teacher didn't show up due to traffic issues so of course, a third of the class just stood up and walked out gleefully. A minute later, that whole third walked back in looking dramatically glum...and in walked Mr. Phillips behind them looking very miffed. We then got the drill sergeant's reprimand along with a no-nonsense reminder that no such allowance existed. It turned out that the math teacher had called the office to let the school know that he would be late. Mr. Phillips was there to make sure that the allowance never happened.
True to age and the state of my memory, I was on the way to create an article on 1970's folk group Belle's"Coffee Ippai no Shiawase"（コーヒー一杯の幸福）...only to realize that I had already done so way back in 2021. Not sure if I should be increasing or reducing my intake of coffee on that situation.
Anyways, to compensate, I did find an earlier 1975 single by Belle called "Denwa" (Telephone). In terms of arrangement, it has a similar style to that of "Coffee Ippai no Shiawase": quite lush and classical (with that familiar background chorus of the 1970s), although this time, it even has a hint of exotic kayo through the use of one particular instrument that I can't readily identify. Both songs were created by Masami Koizumi（小泉まさみ）. Also, another common point between the two is that it involves a reunion between two former lovers; of course, the phone is the connector here.
From what I've read of folk singer Hako Yamasaki's（山崎ハコ）debut album"Tobimasu"（飛・び・ま・す...I Can Fly） from October 1975 on J-Wiki, she was only 17 years old when she released it and it sold 50,000 copies which was quite the miraculous achievement especially when it came out without any special promotions. It managed to reach No. 51 on Oricon.
One of the tracks, "Sayonara no Kane"(The Goodbye Bell), which was written and composed by Yamasaki and arranged by Jun Sato（佐藤準）, must have left quite the impression on listeners. At over five minutes long, it is a bittersweet summary on a romance that has ended with a pealing bell on the hill being used as the symbol of the completion of the relationship. Through the lyrics and Yamasaki's delivery, there is a feeling of weeping over the death of what is perhaps the first love of that person. Maybe as the person grows older and more experienced with all those romantic entanglements, there is not so much drama but that first one which goes awry will always hurt. The melody is an interweaving of blues, folk and pop brought together as a contemplative piece on emotional pain and release.
Quite a few famous musicians were in the recording studio for "Sayonara no Kane": guitarists Char and Chuei Yoshikawa（吉川忠英）with the aforementioned arranger Sato also on keyboards.
A synthpop opening begins the cover version of "Sayonara no Kane" by Miyuki Kosaka（香坂みゆき）. The song was released as her 16th single in April 1984. Sato also arranged this one with those synths coming in. It's more than a minute shorter than the Yamasaki original but the bluesy feeling of melancholy and loss is still there.
A few weeks ago, one commenter asked about this one since the song is approaching its 50th anniversary in December. Yup, I am talking about Paul Simon's"50 Ways to Leave Your Lover" which was released all the way back at the end of the year 1975.
My personal encounter with "50 Ways" happened back in band class in the early 1980s and it wasn't particularly an auspicious one. Our class was given the sheet music for it and we had to practice it. The first impression by us was how we could make a sardonic joke about nicknaming it "50 Ways to Love Your Lever". Aside from that, we didn't do a great job on it, not that many of us were all that interested in it or knew about it or Simon at that time. I knew about the famed New Jersey singer-songwriter mostly through his partnership with Art Garfunkel and for his many hosting appearances on "Saturday Night Live".
I finally got to hear "50 Ways" once I finally decided to drop my clarinet (figuratively speaking) for the last time and put a very happy sealed door on my music-playing career. That's when I said "Ah, so that's how it's supposed to sound!". Not too bad a song either with the key change between verse and chorus, the hip rhyming chorus itself, and the legendary Steve Gadd with his classic drum riff.
In Canada, "50 Ways" reached No. 7 on RPM while in the United States, it hit No. 1. As for what was pretty hot in Japan at the time, I'll go with the final Oricon ranking for 1975...December 29th.
Back in 2023, I wrote about a singer that I had no idea about named Kimiko "Kiiko" Shiba（芝紀美子）, and apparently since she was more of a part of the underground Japanese music scene in the 1970s, maybe a lot of people in Japan hadn't been aware of her either. The article for her was on her languid and relaxing song "Nagarete Ikitai"（流れて行きたい）, a track on her 1975 album"Shikomegari"（醜女狩り...Ugly Woman Hunting） which contained kayo kyoku, blues, folk and soul.
Well, another track from "Shikomegari" is "Little Jimmy" which seems to have all of those genres wrapped up unto itself. Written totally in English by Irene or Eileen（アイリーン）...maybe Shiba under a pseudonym?...and composed by Yasuo Inada（稲田保雄）, perhaps all involved were big fans of Ray Charles considering the scotch-soaked arrangement. I was even surprised that Charles had nothing to do with this song at all while I was listening to it. Shiba sings about the title character of Little Jimmy who has long gone; maybe he's left this mortal coil or arrived in a new area somewhere but although his old friend misses him terribly, he/she hopes that wherever he is, he's doing well.
The interesting thing is that there are parts of the song that sound just like "Memory" from "Cats", although the musical wouldn't come out for several more years.
Yesterday, I had a doctor's appointment at a clinic so I managed to escape a major morning downpour by getting there about fifteen minutes before the clouds opened up. Of course, being a doctor's office, there were magazines there probably dating back to the age of the Gestetner machine...I couldn't see the title initially due to the stratified layers of dust. Knowing this, I brought my copy of the Japanese-language journal "Record Collectors" with the special feature on City Pop between 1973 and 1979 to wile away the time before the doctor saw me.
Surprisingly, the different entries and articles weren't that difficult to read and I was able to discover a few more artists that I had never heard of before. One band was called Ginga Tetsudo (銀河鉄道...Galaxy Railway), and no, it had nothing to do with the famed manga-turned-anime or the hit Godiego song.
Amazon.jp
Ginga Tetsudo was a 1970s four-piece band consisting of Shuuji Honda（本田修二）, Nobuhiko Sato（佐藤信彦）, Yoshio Maki（牧良夫） and Daijiro Suzuki（鈴木大治郎）. Although I'm not entirely clear on how long the band lasted, it seems to be around the middle of that decade, specifically 1975. When at least some of them were still in high school, an indies album was released that was titled "Milky Way" but I'd like some clarification on this. Officially, the band released one self-titled album and two singles before they broke up.
Let's take a look at those two singles, shall we? I believe the first single was "Sekiyu Stove" (Kerosene Stove). One of the statements that stood out to me in the blurb for the band in "Record Collectors" was that Ginga Tetsudo sounded more like suburban pop than City Pop. Considering that other websites have described the band as a folk rock unit and as I hear the country side of things in both singles, perhaps the suburban pop tag might be a compromise term. Honda was responsible for both words and music for a song with lovely harmonies that indeed combines the folk rock of the great outdoors and a bluesy urban saxophone solo. Plus the other wonderful thing is that I have finally come across a song that targets one of the vital appliances of any junior high school in northern Gunma Prefecture where I used to teach. And isn't a kerosene stove the perfect thing to sing about if one's a folk band from the 1970s?
The second single below was "Omoidashite Goran"(Try to Remember) which is a short, sweet and zippy number by lyricist Hiroyuki Hayashi（林裕之）and composer Maki. It not only has me thinking of American roots rock but also the works of Happy End and Sentimental City Romance. In fact, one of the websites cited Ginga Tetsudo as the 1970s version of Sunny Day Service which is perhaps akin to saying that the Candies were the 1970s version of Perfume. In any case, it's been a while since I've had any one song pick up so many genres through a couple of listens. I have to indirectly thank my doctor for that.
First off, many congratulations to enka singer Takashi Hosokawa（細川たかし）on his 50th anniversary in show business. I've often seen the man in formal Japanese dress on stage with a battery of traditional musicians supporting him in the back, although not to the degree that the fellow above has.
It was indeed fifty years ago that Hosokawa debuted with his classic April 1975 "Kokoro Nokori"（心のこり） that also works as a pretty bouncy kayo kyoku. Over the past half-century, he's become famous for a number of hits including this one which became a No. 1 hit and his ticket to the Kohaku Utagassen that year.
But let us not ignore the B-side. In this case, it's "Nakiguse" which translates into "Crying Out" on Jisho.org but I can also see it as being "Forever Crying" as if it's become a sad habit. Written by Takashi Taka（たかたかし）and composed by Koichi Morita（森田公一）, the intro might have a bluesy sax as would be the case for any Mood Kayo, but the feeling here is heart-on-a-sleeve enka. I couldn't find the lyrics online but it sounds as if a guy is trying to render support to a weeping young lady one cold rainy night (of course, it would be a cold rainy night for this sort of thing to happen). Kouji Ryusaki（竜崎孝路）as the arranger provides a quaint sentimental atmosphere of solace as a shield against all that precipitation, meteorological and emotional.
I guess one can be forgiven if they assumed that the aidoru during the 1970s only consisted of Candies（キャンディーズ）, Pink Lady（ピンクレディー）and Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）. It just seemed to me for example that though the 1980s also had the big guns of Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）, Miho Nakayama（中山美穂）and Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）up on top, it was also very evident that there was a noticeable bank of revolving doors underneath where many an aidoru star wannabe walked through weekly. That didn't look as obvious in the preceding decade.
However, there were young ladies trying their luck and hard work at becoming that next teenybopper heroine on TV and radio. One such lass from Tokyo was Hiroko Ikeda（池田ひろ子）. From her early childhood, she'd studied all sorts of dancing ranging from ballet to traditional Japanese dance to build up her strength which hadn't been all that great back then.
Then, in 1975, she made her debut as an aidoru with "Koi no ABC" (The ABCs of Love) under the CBS/Sony label. Written by Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）and composed/arranged by Yusuke Hoguchi（穂口雄右）, "Koi no ABC" showed all that heavy Japanese love for the rock and roll of the 1950s may have arrived earlier than expected. Along with Ikeda's chirpy vocals, I think that may also have been her tap dancing in the background since that was the first form of dance she'd tried out according to her J-Wiki profile.
Ikeda would release three more singles up to 1977 with no albums. She also appeared on a number of TV shows with the latest entry being in 1980 when she was the assistant on a TV Tokyo game show. After that, I don't know.
Abram: He once killed three men in a bar with a (expletive) pencil! Who can (expletive) do that?!
Well, some guy named John W. I know another amazing fellow named John W.
Yeah, he once terrified millions of people with two notes! Who could do that?!
It also didn't hurt that these two notes were the musical representation of a hungry Great White shark. I was just a few months shy of becoming ten years old when Steven Spielberg's iconic "Jaws" came out on June 20th 1975...indeed tomorrow will be the 50th anniversary of its release. I remember seeing the TV version of the above trailer as a commercial, and that was enough to have me burrow into the sofa. The following months wouldn't get any easier as "Jaws" thrilled and scared audiences and its fame would lead to more scenes getting shown on the telly. I finally saw the entire movie on VHS years later and yep, there would be plenty of jump scares including the one with poor Ben Gardner. Probably by the end of 1975, people refused to get into the water...even if the water belonged to Lake Ontario (well, mind you, back then people refused to get into the water there for different reasons).
Anyways, back to that John W. Of course, I'm referring to soundtrack maestro John Williams. A couple of years before he would make another iconic soundtrack via "Star Wars", he had really made his mark with those two notes for "Jaws", something that initially had Spielberg laughingly reacting to it as if Williams had wanted to make a joke. Instead, this ostinato (only learned about the musical term recently) has become one of cinema's most recognized and deadly riffs, and folks who listen to it from other people will automatically get that image of a shark in their heads. Seeing the various reaction videos (like the one above) for certain scenes from the movie, a number of the reactors reacted viscerally whenever the two notes began playing again. It's back!🦈
I finally listened to the full version of the "Jaws" theme when I bought "John Williams ~ Greatest Hits: 1969-1999". I had no idea that there had been more to the basic two notes, and yeah, it's dramatic and thrilling, although I was a little surprised by that middle part where it sounds like some kids happily hitting the water at the beach or a buffet at their favourite restaurant...not knowing in the former case that they could become the buffet.
Well, I heard that "Jaws" will be getting that big 5-0 celebration later in the summer with special big-screen releases among other events. Just when you thought it was safe to go into the water...
Incidentally, Japan wouldn't get its first look at "Jaws" until several months later in December 1975. Also, when I was first introduced to the term ostinato, my faulty memory had initially remembered a song by KEDGE that I had thought used the word for its title. However, the song is actually "Sostenuto"（ソステヌート）, named for a musical term which has a different meaning.
What was at the top of the charts on June 23rd 1975 in Japan? I give you Nos. 1 and 2.
It's been a little over eight years since musician, singer and TV personality Hiroshi "Monsieur" Kamayatsu（かまやつひろし）passed away. During the time that I knew him when he was still alive, I had thought that he was always the happy if grizzled folk-rock veteran. But as it turns out, I'm slowly getting the impression that he was actually quite musically fluid in terms of what he's experienced. Of course, there was his time with the Group Sounds band The Spiders （ザ・スパイダース）but then I also found out through my work on the blog that Monsieur was also quite happy in his AOR mode for a while through songs like "Island Girl".
And then I slowly realize that the folk-rock part of him came later than I had assumed, considering his debut in 1960. When I was looking for information on one of his representative hits, "Waga Yoki Tomo yo"(My Good Friend), I realized that in the 1970s, he was going to live houses in Harajuku and Roppongi to actually look at the real folk-rockers such as the legendary Takuro Yoshida（吉田拓郎）. Apparently, he had always been drawn to musical artists who played stuff that was different from his own material. I'd assumed that his solo debut single"Dounika Naru sa" (どうにかなるさ) was folk, but I guess the country-style rhythms may have changed that.
Striking up a friendship with Yoshida, Monsieur mentioned that he had become an apprentice of sorts for Yoshida which included being forced to drink until he basically burst. There was also a fighting component in there but there weren't too many details there. In any case, it looks like Kamayatsu got the rough and tumble education in tackling folk rock, and one of the big results was his February 1975 single"Waga Yoki Tomo yo", which was written and composed by Yoshida with arrangement by Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）. People around Yoshida had been hoping that their hero would be the one to record it, but instead he offered it to Monsieur who accepted it gratefully.
As it was, the song about a relationship with a rough and tumble university student (I guess this was the Japanese equivalent of Stiffler from "American Pie") was probably a distillation of sorts of the early Monsieur and Yoshida friendship. And strangely enough, it was such a perfect fit for Monsieur that "Waga Yoki Tomo yo" has been the song that I usually associate him with...the reason that I only got to put this one up now after several Kamayatsu articles is that I couldn't remember the title. It did hit No. 1 for several weeks on Oricon and it ended up as the No. 9 single of the year, selling around 900,000 records.
I guess if there's a template for the typical Agnes Chan（アグネス・チャン）single, it would contain a moderately bouncy rhythm with a folksy country arrangement while the Hong Kong-born singer sang in her high sing-songy style.
That's certainly the case with her 9th single from March 1975, "Koibito-tachi no Gogo" (Lovers' Afternoon). I can only imagine Agnes with her boyfriend riding on the back of a haycart in the middle of rural Japan simply enjoying each other's company. In Michio Yamagami's（山上路夫）lyrics, the singer trills about wrapping each wonderful memory in the sunshine within her handkerchief and taking them home with her. Mind you, logistically, I think having that Polaroid camera would have been easier.
Koichi Morita（森田公一）came up with the sweet melody while Shunichi Makaino（馬飼野俊一）took care of the arrangement. "Koibito-tachi no Gogo" hit No. 7 on Oricon.
Feeling pretty tired all told to the extent that I don't even really want to write another article for the rest of the day today. Plus, I've got my student later tonight and some blog maintenance that I have to do, so I'm just gonna handle a Top Ten list for a date almost fifty years ago.
Y'know, the other day, I saw this adorable little teaser from Sony Music Japan's YouTube channel.
Cartoon cutouts of the members of the legendary New Music band Sugar Babe（シュガー・ベイブ）appear and do some minimalistic moving around while their "Downtown" track is playing. Then the announcement comes out that their one and only "SONGS" album from April 25th 1975 is getting its special 50th anniversary release today.
Well, there was no way that I could let this one slide by KKP, especially on Urban Contemporary Friday. I did get my own special version of "SONGS" years ago at the old Shibuya RecoFan...I think it was the 30th anniversary edition and I wrote about the album way back in 2013, so that's all said and done. Plus, I had even written about the arguably most famous track "Downtown" more than a year previously in the first few weeks of the blog's existence.
However, as I said above, I'm not about to ignore the significance of this opportunity. Therefore, I've opted to provide as many of the cover versions of "Downtown" as created by composer Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）and lyricist Ginji Ito（伊藤銀次）that I've known and written about here including one that I discovered only last night.
As for why "Downtown" has been popular among listeners and musicians alike, I mentioned in the original article for the song that my favourite version among the covers has been EPO's 1980 City Pop take since it was not only the first version that I had ever heard, but also because it was just a bright and happy and welcoming song about enjoying a Saturday night in the big city, aka Tokyo. And I think despite all of the different arrangements that "Downtown" has undergone depending on the band or singer, that feeling of optimism and fun hasn't been diminished. Starting with Sugar Babe, the song dares listeners to come to the metropolis. Imagine what it must have been like back in 1975 or 1980 with the Sugar Babe original and then the EPO cover respectively when Tokyo and Japan were further going up in the world and the economy.
Sugar Babe (1975)
I have to admit that the original by this band took a while to grow on me since I was so attached to the EPO cover version. However, I can say that Tatsuro's take is also some rollicking rock n' roll fun which sounds like the gang busking about in Shibuya or Shinjuku.
EPO (1980)
EPO's EPO-tastic version is something that I will always put up alongside Mariya's "Plastic Love" and Miki's "Mayonaka no Door" as a City Pop anthem. Whenever I listen to it, I get those images of West Shinjuku and its skyscrapers at sunset and how they eventually got me to come over to Japan finally.
Another City Pop Queen, Haruko Kuwana's（桑名晴子）cover of "Downtown" is available on her 1982 album"Moonlight Island". Compared to Sugar Babe's rollicking original and EPO's groovy cover, Kuwana's take goes into a funkier and just-as-fun direction but it is no less City Pop.
YMCK and DE DE MOUSE (2008)
Apologies to DE DE MOUSE that I couldn't include him in Labels but I got the warning from Blogger that I reached my 20-label limit; I'll compensate on the original article since until today, I hadn't known that the chip tune band YMCK had collaborated with DE DE MOUSE on this cute-as-all-heck techno cover.
Maaya Sakamoto's（坂本真綾）"Downtown" was a pretty cool take because it incorporated a couple of genres into one cover: ska and jazz. Plus, the fact that it was being used as the opening song of an anime brought me lots of joy since it would mean a new generation of folks were getting their share of this song.
Heck, even the contemporary aidoru group Juice=Juice was having their fun with "Downtown". Sounding like a spacy version of EPO's "Downtown", I wouldn't mind visiting Odaiba in Tokyo Bay while listening to this one as accompaniment. Nice oomphy percussion!
the band apart (2024)
And we come full circle with the latest version that I've gotten to know. the band apart has actually been around since 1998 and in July 2024, they came up with their "Downtown ep". Their take is more along the lines of Sugar Babe's original, and the bright and glossy music video above signifies what I've always imagined about the song vis a vis Tokyo. I'll see if I can find another song to cover by the band soon.
Strangely enough, April 25th is also an anniversary for another City Popclassic.
I've noticed that I hadn't been covering any of the 1970s kayo kyoku all that much recently...not that I've been intentionally snubbing the songs from that decade; it just turned out that way.
So, luckily, I've encountered this atmospheric piece by the late Aki Yashiro（八代亜紀）titled "Tomoshibi"(The Light) which was the singer's 11th single from May 1975. Delivered softly and wistfully by the singer, if I've read the lyrics by Keiko Yuuki（悠木圭子）correctly, "Tomoshibi" deals with a woman in agony because her former significant other may be on his last legs and the light in him is slowly fading away. It's a nice nostalgic kayo to listen to because I can't quite qualify it in any one genre. I can get the regular kayo but also I feel that it has two other limbs in Mood Kayo and enka at the same time. My compliments to composer and arranger Jun Suzuki（鈴木淳）, especially when it comes to the sharp trumpet. The song reached No. 10 on Oricon and became the 35th-ranked single of the year.
Later in December that year, singer-actress Naoko Ken（研ナオコ）released her 3rd album"Guzu"（愚図...Indecisive） in which most of the tracks were covers of songs including Yashiro's "Tomoshibi". Her take is more along the straight pop line with a twangy guitar replacing the trumpet and some shimmering strings. What stands out for me is that Ken's usually smoky and world-weary vocals come across higher and more emotional.
An adaptation of a song from Chu Kosaka's（小坂忠）Apryl Fool days, "Ryuusei Toshi" is a masterpiece about sparkling city life riding on the unique groove of Tin Pan Alley. Beginning with the lyric "...the city fans out from her fluttering skirt...", there is an abundance of riches in Takashi Matsumoto's（松本隆）snappy turns of phrase. In terms of the sound, a highlight is Masataka Matsutoya's（松任谷正隆）keyboard work (particularly at "...check out Captain Nemo's Hammond!").
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
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