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 only got the news earlier today through the regular NHK News broadcast, but veteran seiyuu and actress Masako Ikeda（池田昌子）passed away on March 3rd from an intracerebral hemorrhage at the age of 87. In her long career, she had a lot of roles of course, but one of her most famous roles was as the beautiful if enigmatic Maetel in "Galaxy Express 999"（銀河鉄道999）. She was certainly one of the first anime characters that I got to remember as a young kid.
What I didn't know was that Ikeda had also been the regular actress for Audrey Hepburn when creating the Japanese dubbed versions of the latter's movies such as "Sabrina".
Now, my first instinct was to see whether I could find anything that Ikeda had sung during her long career but I realized that she had just stuck to her voice roles and work as a narrator. Therefore, I did some searching within the "Galaxy Express 999" franchise for any songs there. Up to this point, I've only seen several episodes of the original TV anime and then the first movie in 1979 featuring Godiego's（ゴダイゴ）big hit.
If I'm not mistaken, there were two other motion pictures featuring anime's most famous train with the second of these being "Galaxy Express 999 ~ Eternal Fantasy" which came out in theatres in March 1998. Ikeda returned as Maetel but the band taking care of the theme song this time wasn't Godiego but rock band The Alfee. Comparing "Brave Love 〜 Galaxy Express 999" with Godiego's "Galaxy Express 999", whereas the latter was all about the excitement and adventure of being on such a special train, the former which was written and composed by Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦）was a very Alfee-esque song with its triumphant anthemic style. It would almost be like yelling out "Galaxy Express 999...ASSEMBLE!".
The single was released in February 1998 as The Alfee's 45th single and it peaked at No. 9 on Oricon. My condolences go to Ms. Ikeda's family, friends and fans.
Another one of those songs that finally got shown the light of day again within the darkness of my sieve-like memories. The Alfee's "ROCKDOM ~ Kaze ni Fukarete"(Blowing in the Wind), which was the venerable band's 24th single from September 1986, was a song that I used to hear on one of those Hong Kong-made pirated compilation tapes that I bought at Wah Yueh or other record stores in Chinatown.
Written and composed by Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦）, I once again regained my memories of "ROCKDOM" when I saw the latest episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）on NHK when The Alfee returned to the stage to perform this one. It's quite the epic and proud rock anthem and according to the J-Wiki article for the song, the lyrics were reminiscent of the Zengakuren movement of 1969 whose student groups staged protests against universities and the Japanese Communist Party. For some reason at the time, the Alfee fans got into their heads that this was a signal that the band was going to disband, although Takamizawa and his bandmates had been too young to get into the movement.
Still, the band decided to catch the ball and run with it, so for quite a while, they left the Japanese pop world hanging about whether "ROCKDOM" was going to be their swan song. Although they never explained themselves on the matter (probably they thought the fans should have known better than to think such things), as time passed by, it became evident that The Alfee was going to continue to rock on for years and years. "ROCKDOM" hit No. 4 on Oricon and became the 96th-ranked single for 1986. The song was also recorded onto the band's 11th album"AGES" from November that year; it peaked at No. 2.
It doesn't happen all that much anymore on the blog now that thirteen years have passed, but it's always nice when I come across an old song that I hadn't heard in years once more come into memory.
The last time I wrote about The Alfee was back in 2021 when I posted their 30th single from March 1988, "Weekend Shuffle ~ Hanayaka na Shuumatsu"（華やかな週末）. It was a song that I had in one of my compilations, and strangely enough, so was this one here, "Ichi-gatsu no Ame wo Wasurenai"(Won't Forget the January Rain). Unfortunately, that tape has gone missing so it's been literally a few decades since I heard this one written and composed by flamboyant Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦）.
Actually, "Ichi-gatsu no Ame wo Wasurenai" was released in January 1988 as The Alfee's 29th single and is sung by Masaru Sakurai（桜井賢）, the slick gangster-ish member of the band with the surprisingly heavenly voice. It starts off sounding like the prelude to an action movie but then settles into an introspective but fairly jaunty melody with some Spanish guitar playing away along with the usual rock one. Autumn is usually the season for the death of love and romance in kayo kyoku so this one set in January in the dead of winter really hits home regarding that one guy who is majorly suffering from heartbreak as the freezing rain shifts into snow.
The single hit No. 4 on Oricon and was actually part of the album "U.K. Breakfast" which was released by The Alfee back in December 1987 to a No. 2 ranking.
I'm providing a special Reminiscings of Youth here today. No, not because today is a national holiday or anything to do with the Christmas season. It's just that I finally got to see a movie that I had always wondered about: Fritz Lang's 1927"Metropolis". Former writer and good friend JTM was kind enough to send me a copy of the nearly century-old film some weeks ago so this was an opportunity for an old-movie aficionado like myself.
Probably there are a lot of people who aren't silent film fans or simply can't really understand the appeal of old Hollywood black-and-white movies in general (one friend told me that he really couldn't stomach "Casablanca"...I bit my tongue there). Yeah, I get that...but after seeing "Metropolis", I can still feel that this was probably one very heady and ambitious experience for the original viewers at the theatres with the overall design of the sets and costumes, the special effects and the original gorgeous soundtrack by Gottfried Huppertz. Since I was a kid, I have had an affinity with the whole Art Deco movement (some of those Bing AI images that I've made have had some Art Deco thrown in by me) and "Metropolis" includes this with other artistic influences.
My observations can start with my surprise that this was indeed a feature-length movie of two hours that sped by surprisingly quickly. I hadn't been aware that there were silent films that went on that long back then and even without using the fast forward function, Lang kept the pace going at a fairly zippy pace like some blockbuster. Even having repeatedly seen and known about some of the iconic scenes such as the transformation to the evil Maria from the Machine-Man, it was still thrilling to encounter them again within the near-entirety of the film (apparently, according to the trailer above, my version was still several scenes shorter than this new one that has been plugged). Another observation is that the main actress Brigitte Helm had only been 17 when she began work and this was her first motion picture role, and even with the hamminess that had been part and parcel of being in silent movies, she was very impressive.
I also realized that "Metropolis" showed off a lot of movie tropes that we've gotten accustomed to over the decades and may now find as rather cliché such as two old enemies reluctantly working together for a common goal, one young man fighting against institutional evil by raising his own resistance through kindness and decency, and even the good and evil doppelgangers. But back in 1927, these may have been very fresh ingredients. It was apparently the first time as well for a movie to include a robot, albeit briefly.
I've read that although perhaps regular viewers were enthralled with "Metropolis", the critics weren't nearly as kind with H.G. Wells himself calling it silly. But since then, it's gained a lot of cachet, popularity and respect and it's certainly provided a lot of influences for the sci-fi movies to come such as "Blade Runner", "Star Wars" and "Logan's Run".
But the people that I have to thank for introducing that "Metropolis" even existed was the band Queen via the music video for their January 1984 hit"Radio Ga Ga". Getting lots of love on radio and music video programming back in the day, the song itself was Freddie Mercury and band kindly telling folks that radio should still be loved but the video was a lavish tribute to the movie (and Queen itself), even recreating certain backgrounds and sets from "Metropolis". When I first heard it, I thought it was the band getting with the 1980s program and bringing in all those synthesizers while still retaining that anthemic rock stance that they've had since the 1970s. Even watching the movie finally, I could still hear echoes of "Radio Ga Ga" in my head during certain key scenes.
In Canada, "Radio Ga Ga" hit No. 11 on RPM while in the States, it reached No. 16. Meanwhile, several countries in Europe had it go all the way to No. 1. So, what else was being released in January 1984?
Hello and welcome back to another article of Reminiscings of Youth where I describe one of my old favourites from Canada, the United States or Great Britain when I was but a (not-so-) wee lad. For this edition, we have some good ol' very 80s Canadiana for you.
I was always hearing Toronto-born Sherry Kean's "I Want You Back" in 1984 on the radio and what stood out to me the most along with the fact that it contained a decade's version of Tropicana music mixed in with the synths was Kean's distinct voice. I can't quite describe it but it has a quality that I think a lot of singers would envy because no one else could emulate it. It's just a shame that "I Want You Back" was the only hit for Kean when it hit No. 19 on the RPM chart.
After a number of months of hearing "I Want You Back" on the radio, I finally got to see Kean in the music video for the song, and once again, I was struck by her distinct beauty. She looked like an 80s version of a 20s flapper girl, and for that matter, she had a passing resemblance to actress/singer Pauley Perrette, aka Abby Sciuto from "NCIS".
According to her Wikipedia profile, Kean made a shift into country music and for the last number of years has been a tour guide at the McCulloch Heritage Centre in Pictou, Nova Scotia.
Now, since I couldn't find out in which month "I Want You Back" was released, let's go with what was being released in October 1984.
Yesterday, the news came down that the iconic Tina Turner had passed away in Switzerland at the age of 83. As a result, I wrote up a special ROY article then to describe the song where I first got to know Turner, "Proud Mary" from 1971. Her presence on the stage to perform that hit had basically been the lone image that I would have of the singer when I was a kid.
It was going into the 1980s that I actually started getting interested in music on both sides of the Pacific Ocean, so as I was getting into kayo kyoku in Japan, I also got into and purchased American, Canadian and European pop music. What certainly helped was the blossoming of music videos on MTV and Canada's MuchMusic and all of the local music video shows such as "Toronto Rocks".
Well, a few years into that, I got reacquainted with the Queen of Rock n' Roll after many years through a song titled "What's Love Got to Do with It" which was released on May 1st, 1984. A story of someone going through internal turmoil about falling in love again after getting romantically burned previously, the song by Graham Lyle and Terry Britten struck me as this very calm and grounded tune very much of the 1980s. Naturally, hearing it again brought lots of nostalgia and warm feelings, especially with the sunny video of Turner taking a leisurely walk through New York City. And man, those 80s fashions!😎 To be honest, that image of her in the denim jacket, short black skirt and mounds of hair replaced the one of her singing "Proud Mary".
The Wikipedia piece on "What's Love Got to Do with It" has already stated it, but it became Turner's first and only No. 1 single on Billboard (hit the top in Canada, too) with over 2 million records sold globally. Also included in all of the accolades was that the song won three Grammys: Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.
I will give my condolences to Turner's family, friends and fans but I have a feeling that the legend is probably and very happily performing all of her discography in another realm.
Seeing that last week's ROY was also a record from May 1984 which I then compared with entries from the Oricon Top 20, this time around, I will go with three of the singles that were released in that month.
Doing the Gosanke（御三家） series now for the past several months has made me think about what a hypothetical Western sophisti-pop Gosanke would look like. And yes, indeed I know that there were more than a few 1980s acts amassing jazz, soul and pop as triggered from the whole New Wave thing. But if I had to go with three off the top of my head, they would be ABC, Swingout Sister and this group.
The Style Council shares a little bit of something with The Beatles, The Carpenters and The Ventures in that they may even be more beloved in Japan than in the West. One tune of theirs, "Shout to the Top", was used as the theme song for a Fuji-TV weekday morning information show for years and years. And if I'm not mistaken, "My Ever Changing Moods" (which I like even better) was used in a commercial over in Japan.
"My Ever Changing Moods" was released sometime in 1984 and it's one of those songs that can be compared with chewing gum that never gets old or stale. The flavour has still remained and it's a joy to listen to each time. Although the lyrics (and music) by lead vocalist Paul Weller (love his breathy soul) make some veiled mention to the darkening global political climate, the song has always had that cool and jaunty and cheerful old-timey arrangement (a tribute to The Classic IV's"Stormy" according to Thomas McLean) that matches the bike race between two buddies in the music video. The message in that video seems to be stating: "Yeah, the world may be going to Hell in a hen basket, but at least the two of us can enjoy a pleasant ride in our neighbourhood. Maybe hit the pub later on?".
While "My Ever Changing Moods" hit No. 42 on the Canadian charts, it got even higher in America as it tagged in at No. 29. In the UK, it peaked at No. 5. I couldn't find out when exactly the song was released aside from the year, but the source album "Café Bleu" was released in March 1984. So what was hitting the Top 10 on Oricon that month? I have Nos. 1, 2 and 4.
Yes, Virginia....there was a Bruce Willis who had hair and a lot of jokes cracking out of him.
Indeed, decades before all of those action films where he's played deadly serious military officers and cops on the big screen, Willis used to play a wisecracking detective from New Jersey transplanted to Los Angeles on television for a few years in the 1980s. "Moonlighting" on ABC was a show that I first heard about from my brother during my university age; at the time, I was watching some episodes of "Remington Steele" on NBC, that other detective show (which I'll have to write about as well some time) with a distinctly different tone, and the star from that series went onto his own fame and fortune as an action star.
Although I did watch an episode of "Miami Vice" where he had played a monstrous gangster before he got his star-making role on "Moonlighting", Willis will always be detective David Addison even over his role of John McClane from the "Die Hard" franchise. I didn't much like the really mean fights between David and his partner-in-crimefighting, former model Maddie Hayes (played by Cybill Shepherd), but the ongoing banter of irritation between the two was fun to watch due to their very different personalities. Of course, I also adored the Blue Moon Detective Agency's receptionist, Agnes DiPesto (Allyce Beasley) and her iambic pentameter patter.
But I have to remember that this is the weekly Reminiscings of Youth article and not Reminiscings of "Moonlighting". That shouldn't be difficult, though, since after all, the theme song was by the one-and-only Al Jarreau. The opening credits with Jarreau's smooth-as-satin vocals and the smooth soulful melody by the singer and Lee Holdridge obviously weren't the only thing that brought me over to the series but they sure made it very inviting with those lovely scenes of LA. "Moonlighting" was both downtown and uptown, and I'm not surprised that YouTube commenters have been waxing and mooning over the 1980s on listening to it again.
Strangely enough, the actual single of "Moonlighting" with Al Jarreau wasn't released until 1987, so we basically had to rely on reruns of episodes to get our fix of the song. I was so happy when this got onto the radio, and I think a lot of listeners were, too, since it managed to reach No. 23 on America's Billboard and No. 38 on Canada's RPM, and No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary charts in both countries. The late Jarreau has had a lot of memorable songs on his plate, and I've already included his "Breakin' Away" as a ROY tune, but "Moonlighting" is probably the next song after that one that I've always cherished.
Although that single came out in 1987, we were hearing the theme since the show began in March 1985 so we'll go for that date in terms of what was hitting the top ranks of Oricon back then. Incidentally, the March debut for the show is an interesting one. Usually new and continuing seasons of programs begin in the fall in the United States, but I gather that "Moonlighting" was initially put in as a mid-season replacement for a show that had gotten cancelled, and I know that the first season was a trial run of only six episodes. But the half-dozen did the trick.
In recent months, I've been aware that Willis has been having some medical issues so that he will have to probably end his long career. I hope that he can overcome them and have a successful recovery.
Well, it took almost ten years, but comedian/actor Sanma Akashiya（明石家さんま）has finally come on board "Kayo Kyoku Plus". I've known this fellow for decades and he's grown his reputation to the point that he's now known as one of the Owarai Big 3（お笑いBIG3...The Big 3 Comedians）, joining Tamori（タモリ）and Beat Takeshi（ビートたけし）. He's loud, brash, short-tempered and guffaws a lot. When I was living in Japan, he was popping up most everywhere but nowadays being home in Toronto, I basically only see him now through his regular weekly show "HONMADEKKA!?TV"（ホンマでっか!?TV） via TV Japan.
Watching that show, I've noticed that Sanma gets good-naturedly lobbed some beanballs from his fellow tarento regarding his predilection for the ladies, something that even he's poked himself for from time to time. I'm not sure if his supposed playboy peccadilloes are true or not but he was married at one point to actress Shinobu Otake（大竹しのぶ）in the late 1980s, and whenever either ex-spouse has had the other mentioned to him or her, there's usually been a moment of discomfort and maybe even some eye-rolling.
I actually encountered this song purely by happenstance some months ago through a YouTube video featuring one of the Hello Project aidoru doing a cover of it on a Sanma-hosted Xmas special which brought some rare embarrassment to the host. The main reason for the embarrassment is that it was one of Akashiya's singles from the 1980s, "Makka na Uso" (Barefaced Lies). In fact, I was quite surprised to find out that he actually released quite a few singles, nine to be exact, between 1979 and 1989.
"Makka na Uso" was his 5th single released in February 1987, and it kinda reflects that Lothario side to him. Words and music were provided by Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦）from rock band ALFEE and the song portrays a cynical fellow who surmises that it's the lies that keep all romance, whether it be pure or illicit, moving around. That fast-paced rock beat (maybe even some ska in there?) by Takamizawa reminds me of a couple of songs actually: Masahiko Kondo's（近藤真彦）"Gingiragin ni Sarigenaku"（ギンギラギンにさりげなく）and Checkers'"Gizagiza Heart no Komori Uta"（ギザギザハートの子守唄）. Incidentally, aidoru Mamiko Takai（高井麻巳子）provides the backup chorus according to J-Wiki. The single did fairly well by peaking at No. 17.
Takamizawa himself performed a cover of "Makka na Uso" during an ALFEE concert. Of course, I have to leave this with a live performance of Sanma himself.
I did forget that Masakazu Tamura（田村正和）also had his fun in commercials as well. Anyways, I promised in my first tribute to the actor whose passing had been announced within the last few days that I would come up with a further tribute through the theme songs that adorned some of his 1980s and 1990s dramas. They all have their own articles on the blog so I will just treat as a hub to get in touch with those pages. However, I will mention the song, singer, drama and year of broadcast.
It was literally at the top of NHK's nighttime newscast this morning as breaking news came in that veteran actor Masakazu Tamura（田村正和）passed away on April 3rd from heart failure at the age of 77.
Tamura had a career in movies, TV shows and plays spanning 60 years in which he's taken on roles as romantic leads, historical warriors and frazzled fathers. However, arguably his most famous character came in during the halfway point when he became the eccentric TV detective clad in fashionable black, Ninzaburo Furuhata（古畑任三郎）. Comparisons with America's beloved Columbo were made although both detectives had their own different but distinct idiosyncrasies. Plus, both had their memorable theme songs and years ago on the blog; I did write an article about Yusuke Honma's（本間勇輔）theme for Furuhata.
Although I couldn't find any sign of the program on YouTube, while Tamura was taking on lead roles in the trendy dramas of Japanese TV in the 1980s, he starred in the 1988 "Papa wa Nenjuu Kurou Suru"（パパは年中苦労する...Papa Suffers All Year Round）, which was the second in the "Papa" trilogy of programs beginning with the long-running "Papa wa Newscaster" (パパはニュースキャスター...Papa is a Newscaster) in 1987 and then "Papa to Natchan"（パパとなっちゃん....Papa and Natchan） in 1991.
The theme song for "Papa wa Nenjuu Kurou Suru", which was about a divorced father played by Tamura who suddenly has to take on his kids again after his ex-wife suddenly disappears, was "Weekend Shuffle ~ Hanayaka na Shuumatsu" (A Brilliant Weekend) recorded by rock band The Alfee. A fairly rollicking 30th single by the band released in March 1988, I remember the song from that lyric "...the weekend lover!" and then its performances by The Alfee when they appeared on the music ranking shows. The song was written and composed by band member Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦）who kinda looks like Tamura himself on that cover. It peaked at No. 4 on Oricon and it first made its appearance on an album through The Alfee's BEST selection, "BEST SELECTION II THE ALFEE" that came out a couple of months later in May.
My condolences to Tamura's family and friends and all of his fans. I may actually provide a compilation article on some of the theme songs for his dramas a little later on this week. Also, Noelle Tham provided an article on the actor's sole single, "Sora Ippai no Namida" (空いっぱいの涙) from 1966.
On this week's Reminiscings of Youth article, I bring you the second Madonna song to grace "Kayo Kyoku Plus", and nope, it's not her 1990 hit"Vogue", which I've already written as the first Madonna ROY piece. However, I guess you can consider the above photo of my copy of her "I'm Breathless" as a segue of sorts since the album does contain "Vogue".
Nope, we're taking things back to brass tacks with Ms. Madonna Louise Ciccone. We're returning to the early 1980s when I first heard the singer on the car radio sing "Holiday" which was frequently on the "The Top 6 at 6" on 680 CFTR when the station used to play music. And I think that was for a period of months before her 5th single hit the airwaves and the TV ones as well as the record shelves in February 1984.
Much has been written about Reggie Lucas' "Borderline" including the Wikipedia article for the song so you can take a look there about what went into the making of it as well as its effects. What I can say about it is that the song and the video are a couple of my very big icons in terms of my memories of the 1980s. Except for a viewing of her on a British music program performing "Holiday", that video of her dancing and posing in Los Angeles in "Borderline" was my introduction to the future Material Girl, and for me, it is my favourite image within her many personae...that street-smart woman with the tousled hair having the carefree life, at least before that photographer recruits her to become a model.
That Wikipedia article also goes further into the chord progressions and what-not about "Borderline", but suffice it to say, when I think about all of those Madonna songs that have come since then, I think this one is the freshest and most innocent-sounding entry. I used the adjective "carefree" in the previous paragraph, and I'll use it here as well to describe the music. And for me, if I were to ever head back in a TARDIS to 1984, I want "Borderline" to be the first song I hear when I step foot back into my high school days.
"Borderline" was Madonna's first Top 10 hit by hitting in at No. 10 on Billboard Singles chart, and it didn't do too badly in Canada either by striking at No. 25. But even more significantly, the singer anchored herself firmly in the world of pop culture globally.
So for today, we have No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4 on the February 1984 Oricon chart when "Borderline" was released.
Last Saturday, I did my article on "Oricon Top 5 Most Commercially Successful Lyricists" and after noting that Yasushi Akimoto was now at the top of the heap, usurping the legendary Yu Aku（阿久悠）, I figured that it was time to talk about some of his creations in this Creator article.
First off, some information about the man himself via Wiki and J-Wiki. Along with his hats of music producer and lyricist, he's also contributed in the production of a lot of movies and TV programs including dramas and anime and has written novels including the horror "Chakushin Ari"（着信アリ）which would become a movie that would be further adapted into a Hollywood flick "One Missed Call" in 2008.
Akimoto was born in the Tokyo area in 1958 and during high school in the 1970s, he was so inspired by a radio program on the Nippon Broadcasting System that he wrote up around 20 pages of notes for the show and caught the eyes and ears of radio personality Koushin Okuyama（奥山侊伸）, eventually becoming his apprentice after hanging around the radio station often enough. He would then become a broadcast writer but after a period of time, Akimoto soon began to feel that this wasn't exactly the thing that he wanted to do for the rest of his career. He was then introduced to music critic and producer Ichiro Asatsuma（朝妻一郎）at what is now the Fujipacific Music Inc. music publishing company which is where he started his new job as a lyricist.
Of course, when anyone who knows about J-Pop hears the name Yasushi Akimoto, the three words which come to mind are aidoru, aidoru, aidoru....and a whole bunch of alphabet letters. The first time that I saw that famous arrangement of letters and numbers, AKB48, it was on the side of a huge truck rolling in Akihabara naturally. I wasn't sure if the code was referring to some sort of drug or something. Of course since then, there have been a whole bunch of other letter-number combinations representing female aidoru groups such as SKE48, NMB48 and SDN48. Basically, Akimoto is to these groups as Tsunku（つんく♂）has been to the girl groups under the Hello Project! banner.
To further hammer in the nail, on his J-Wiki profile, there is a list of all of Akimoto's No. 1 hits. The vast majority of them involve aidoru singers starting with Momoko Kikuchi's（菊池桃子）"Sotsugyo" in 1985. His latest 204th No. 1 was attained less than a couple of weeks ago with STU48's"Omoidaseru Koi wo Shiyou"（思い出せる恋をしよう）. Moreover, he's been married to former 80s aidoru Mamiko Takai（高井麻巳子）.
I've not been a huge fan of the AKB48 and company fare since they began in the mid-2000s but I have enjoyed listening to some of their songs such as "Koisuru Fortune Cookie" (恋するフォーチュンクッキー). However, for this article, I wanted to focus somewhat on his non-aidoru works simply just to let everyone know that he hasn't been all about the teenyboppers.
Akimoto's first assignment was coming up with the lyrics for an insert song on the 1980-1981anime "Tonde mo Senshi Muteking"（とんでも戦士ムテキング...Muteking The Dashing Warrior）, but unfortunately, I couldn't find that on YouTube. However, I was able to find his first set of lyrics for a musical act, and that was Alfee（アルフィー）. It was actually the B-side, "Kotoba ni Shitakunai Tenki"（言葉にしたくない天気...Weather That I Don't Want to Put Into Words）, to the band's 11th single,"Toori Ame"（通り雨...Shower） which was released in October 1981.
"Kotoba ni Shitakunai Tenki" which was composed by Alfee members Konosuke Sakazaki and Toshihiko Takamizawa（坂崎幸之助・高見沢俊彦）is a fairly bouncy City Pop/AOR number. Akimoto basically wrote a story that a weatherman would probably have loved in which a fellow ends up breaking up with a lady and describes the experience in terms of weather. Yes, every woman has a heart that forecasts sunny with cloudy periods. The melody is fun to listen to since it has that mixture of Billy Joel and down-home City Pop guitar, and who knew that Alfee could pull off that genre?
Speaking of City Pop, Akimoto also provided one of the princes of the genre, Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）, with a couple of his trademark tunes, "Dramatic Rain"（ドラマティック・レイン）of 1982 and then a decade later, "Christmas Carol no Koro ni wa"（クリスマスキャロルの頃には）became one of the most popular J-Xmas songs ever..
In 1983, Akimoto and folk/rock singer-songwriter Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi（長渕剛）worked together on the latter's 11th single"Good-bye Seishun"（GOOD-BYE青春...Good-bye Youth）, a surprisingly uptempo tune about bidding a perhaps not-so-fond farewell to the teenage years after a lot of trouble. The single went all the way up to No. 5 on Oricon. Those Inagaki songs and this one with Nagabuchi helped raised the lyricist's profile.
Akimoto's first brush with a large group of female aidoru was with Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）in the mid-1980s and of course, he and composer Jun Sato（佐藤準）made a huge and notorious splash with the doo-wop"Sailor Fuku wo Nugasanaide"（セーラー服を脱がさないで）.
The lyricist also had a relationship with the popular comedy duo Tunnels（とんねるず）in the 1980s which included some parodies of enka/Mood Kayo such as "Ame No Nishi Azabu"(雨の西麻布). Then in the 1990s as a new theme song for the duo's long-running comedy show "Tunnels no Minasan no Okage desu"（とんねるずのみなさんのおかげです）,Akimoto and composer Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）came up with "Gajaimo"（がじゃいも）, a song about a heroic spud, which was a No. 1 hit after its release in January 1993 and ended up as the 36th-ranked single of that year. The lyricist really played up the ballad of this titanic tater as he tries to rescue the lovely May Queen from the clutches of evil.
According to J-Wiki, the title was the way that Tunnels' member Takaaki Ishibashi's（石橋貴明）toddler daughter said jagaimo（じゃがいも）, the proper pronunciation of potato.
Going back to 1982 and speaking of Junichi Inagaki, Akimoto was the lyricist on this B-side for his 2nd single"246:3AM". Titled "Gin de Asa made"（ジンで朝まで...Gin 'Til Morning）, when I listen to this and the ones that I've heard above, I think I kinda know why he's been able to slide so smoothly into writing lyrics for aidoru singers. He seems to have enjoyed providing words to those very peppy songs. With Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）behind the melodic equivalent of a high-speed road trip in a convertible, Akimoto weaves a story of a happily feckless guy reassuring a not-nearly-as-happy love that everything will be OK despite an "accident" of sorts and that nothing is so bad that can't be solved with a bottle of gin. Naturally, her parents may beg to differ.
I'll finish off by highlighting what was probably one of Akimoto's most significant set of lyrics and those were for Hibari Misora's（美空ひばり）"Kawa no Nagare no Youni"(川の流れのように). I'm not sure whether Misora or anyone had known at the time when this song was released about how serious her cancer was but even if that hadn't been the case, I can only imagine the pressure that Akimoto and composer Akira Mitake（見岳章）must have felt in creating what would become the grand coda for the Queen of Kayo Kyoku's career and life. Misora's life is still annually remembered and given tribute on the kayo shows and specials, and ultimately "Kawa no Nagare no Youni" is sung by everyone.
No matter how the trio of Takamizawa, Sakurai and Sakazaki (sounds like a Japanese accounting firm, I know) would prefer to refer themselves in terms of their group, Alfee or The Alfee, my memories of them will always involve a sort of epic rock opera since their music has incorporated the shredding electric guitars and the classical strings. One great example is their 19th single"Koibito-tachi no Pavement"（恋人たちのペイヴメント）from 1984. There is something very Queen-esque about that one.
For their March 1987 single"Kimi ga Toori Sugita Ato ni"(Don't Pass Me By), the rock aspect is toned down considerably and I think the members have gone more with acoustic guitars here, but the strings and epic sensation are back along with the wistful innocence of youth and baseball. Well, J, you ask, how does baseball fit into this?
It just so happens that "Kimi ga Toori Sugita Ato ni" is the opening theme for the final movie based on Mitsuru Adachi's（あだち充）"Touch"（タッチ）high school baseball franchise, "Touch 3 ~ Kimi ga Toori Sugita Ato ni" which came out in April 1987. Alfee sang the ending theme as well, but as someone who has never seen the movie, I kinda wonder whether "Kimi ga Toori Sugita Ato ni" would have been the better ending theme since it has that bittersweet tone of a pitcher on the mound at sunset following a game that his team just had to win but didn't although they gave it their all. Toshihiko Takamizawa's（高見沢俊彦）lyrics actually go for a fellow's retained love for a lady that was either not reciprocated or couldn't stand the test of time during the relationship. Y'know...just reading the last two sentences, this could apply to good ol' Charlie Brown. In any case, he is hoping that he won't be forgotten.
I also have to mention that I enjoy the classical music riffs that begin and finish the song. Very Alfee. "Kimi ga Toori Sugita Ato ni" reached No. 5 on the Oricon weeklies and ended the year as the 58th-ranked single for 1987. As for an album, the song was placed onto "BEST SELECTION II THE ALFEE" which was released in May 1988. Ah, incidentally, although the band referred to themselves as The Alfee during this time, the single itself just had them labeled as Alfee.
Of course, when it comes to the representative song for the "Touch" franchise, you just have to look here.
When I was listening to that ancient audiotape from the 1980s yesterday, I also managed to hear this song by ALFEE. And as it turns out, it was the B-side to the very first ALFEE song that I had ever heard, "Marie-Anne"（メリーアン）.
"Radical Teenager", the B-side to that 16th single from June 1983 was something that, when I heard the host of "Sounds of Japan" announce it all those years ago, I'd assumed was a hard-rocking number according to the title.
However, it's actually softer than "Marie-Anne". In fact, I would posit that it is a pretty sweet pop/rock tune by the dandy member Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦）with arranging assistance by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）. It comes off as one big song of optimism and encouragement as the protagonist in the lyrics gets a good friend down on his/her spirits to stand up, brush himself/herself off and get on that horse once more. I'm kinda surprised that "Radical Teenager" hadn't been used as some theme song for a school drama, but I read that it is a real audience rouser at the concerts.
The song has gotten onto "ALFEE B-men Collection"（ALFEE B面 コレクション...ALFEE's B-Side Collection）which came out on CD in May 1985. Listen to it for all your cheering-up needs.
By kismet, I guess this article could be considered to be a sequel to a couple of other articles with one being a slightly more distant cousin of sorts. Earlier today, I had written about the City Pop tune "Tawamure no Koi no Mama ni"（たわむれの恋のままに）whose refrain sounded fairly similar to the one for the song of this article here. And since I didn't want to leave readers hanging, I've decided to write on it tonight. The other cousin is the article that I'd written was "Osaka Tsubame"（大阪つばめ）just in the last several minutes, simply because 80s aidoru Yoshie Kashiwabara（柏原芳恵）is a born-and-bred Osakan herself.
"Shinobi Ai" is Yoshie Kashiwabara's 23rd single from September 1985. According to the J-Wikiarticle on the song and its lyrics that fairly scream "TAKE ME, I'M YOURS!" (well, not so loudly), the theme is about having an illicit affair. I was trying to figure out the meaning of shinobi in this case since the title is written in hiragana and depending on the different kanji, the definitions are quite different. If it's read as 「偲ぶ」, then it could mean "nostalgic" but the other kanji 「忍ぶ」could refer to "concealed" or "enduring". Frankly, I would go with the latter. The above is of Yoshie-chan's 2nd appearance on the Kohaku Utagassen singing "Shinobi Ai".
I do like the original recorded version for the single. "Shinobi Ai" has that hint of City Pop in it and that breathy synthesizer intro adds some sultriness to the atmosphere. Plus, the arrangement (especially with the backing chorus) makes it sound like a ballad that Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）could have performed at that time as well. The song peaked at No. 9 on Oricon and also got onto her 12th studio album of the same name from October 1985. That release got as high as No. 17.
Surprises are always welcomed on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" when it comes to writing about songs here. For example, the lyricist and composer for the song is Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦）, one of the members from rock band ALFEE, and I found out here that Kashiwabara had actually provided a cover and not an original song. The original version was actually recorded all the way back in November 1979 as a B-side for Chika Takami's（高見知佳）5th single, "Cezanne no E"（セザンヌの絵...A Cezanne Painting）, and that original was titled "Shinobi Ai ~ Don't Leave Me Alone" with a different set of kanji（しのび逢い...Secret Encounter[?]）.
Although the lyrics are the same, the song here by Takami sounds more melancholy, innocent, folksy and 70s...perhaps as if the lovers are high school kids in a Romeo & Juliet situation sneaking off for a double-straw milkshake in a café on the other side of town. No idea how well the single did, but I'm glad to know of the song's original existence.
It's been almost a couple of years since my last Alfee（アルフィー）entry on the blog, but since I have covered a lot of their 80s hits, I wanted to check out more of their material before finally making it big with songs such as "Marie-Anne"（メリーアン）in 1983.
As I mentioned in the article for that very song all the way back in 2012, Alfee was certainly paying their dues since their debut in1974 with "Natsu Shigure"（夏しぐれ）since they didn't get any hits throughout the 1970s. So what was happening between their folk beginnings and their pop/rock heyday? Well, apparently, they got dropped by their recording company and ended up doing a lot of backup duties behind other singers.
In fact, it was almost another four years since their 2nd single"Seishun no Kioku"（青春の記憶...Salad Day Memories）was released (I will have to write about that soon), when Alfee came out with their next record "Love Letter" in January 1979. Written and composed by Alfee guitarist Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦）, it was neither folk nor rock but something along the lines of a bossa nova...perhaps even edging into New Music and Mood Kayo...tune.
The song was also Alfee's first tie-up with a company, the stationery manufacturer Showa Note, and although "Love Letter" wasn't a hit, it seems from the YouTube comments for the videos that have shown the song that folks still remember the commercial (unfortunately I couldn't find the ad) that was adorned with the song. Maybe it didn't initially resonate with the folks at large, but it's an interesting discovery for me as a number before the 1980s Alfee.
According to the J-Wiki article for "Love Letter", Alfee played the song as part of their encore at a 1986 concert (which is above), and Takamizawa got rather emotional afterwards stating that he couldn't quite believe that he would ever perform the song in front of a huge audience. By the way, "Love Letter" was first placed on the band's 2nd album"TIME AND TIDE" from August 1979.
I put this photo up before showing a small temple of sorts to the band ALFEE when my anime buddy, our benefactor and I visited a traditional restaurant in Yoyogi a few years ago. Called Uogashi（魚がし）, it not only serves sushi but also a lot of the comfort food the Japanese love such as miso soup, grilled mackerel and tons of rice. And the owners are apparently huge fans of ALFEE.
"Cinderella wa Nemurenai"(Cinderella Can't Sleep) was the band's 20th single from February 1985. I've been a casual fan of ALFEE so I didn't pick up on the following until I read about it, but perhaps the die-hard fans did notice that with this rocker, this had been the first time in 8 years that the folksy-looking Konosuke Sakazaki（坂崎幸之助）was the lead vocalist. Also, there was apparently some surprise at seeing Sakazaki handling a set of syn-drums on stage instead of holding his usual guitar like his two compadres, Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦）and Masaru Sakurai（桜井賢）.
I had heard "Cinderella wa Nemurenai" before but, come to think of it, there is a bit more of that synth sound in this particular ALFEE outing when compared with some of their other 80s hits. Although Takamizawa was not the main mike this time, he and Ken Takahashi（高橋研）took care of the lyrics about a guy pining for his little Cinderella while Takamizawa also provided the music.
The song became the 2nd No. 1 for the band immediately after their first chart-topper, the epic "Koibito Tachi no Pavement"（恋人達のぺイヴメント）from October 1984. It also ended up as the 15th-ranked single for 1985. It was also placed on ALFEE's"THE BEST SONGS" which was released in December that year. That compilation peaked at No. 5 on the Oricon weeklies.
Ah, this song (and MV) never fails to lift my spirits.
From what I've been seeing, Yuzo Kayama (加山雄三) collaborates with many bands to come up with a number of his works since ever. There's The Launchers (ザ・ランチャーズ) and The Wild Ones (ザ・ワイルド・ワンズ) that go way back during the Group Sounds era and to when the Wakadaisho was actually wakai and awkward. Fast-forwarding to just last year in 2015, he was in the unit, THE King ALL STARS that looked like some hip rock group. But my favourite Kayama-collaboration has got to be with The Yanchars (ザ・ヤンチャーズ) back in 2010, during Kayama's 50th anniversary of being in showbiz.
Here are the members of The Yanchars: Kosetsu Minami (南こうせつ), Masashi Sada (さだまさし), Ryoko Moriyama (森山良子), Shinji Tanimura (谷村新司), and THE ALFEE. It's like a gathering of Kayama's pals! As for why I love this gathering of folk veterans - it's the music video. It had them looking cool with shades and strumming guitars, and adorable (especially Minami in that chullo) at the same time. Before seeing this clip, I never paid much attention to these guys as I don't listen to folk all that much, but they've definitely made their presence known to me by showing off their fun side.
Kayama and The Yanchars had released only one single, "Za . Lonelyhearts Oyaji Band", on 7th April 2010. It peaked at 36th place on the Oricon charts, which I think is quite decent for a group of aged singers. Witnessing the chemistry between the members and judging by how much I like this song, I really wished that they would have come up with more than just one piece. Oh well, I take what I can get.
Putting "Za. Lonelyhearts Oyaji Band" together were Sada, who was in charge of the lyrics, and Kayama as Kosaku Dan (弾厚作), who composed the music. What interested me in this tune was its amusing name that literally has "old man band" in it. Then what got me hooked was the bright and cheerful melody that is mostly folk-oriented, but then there's the screaming electric guitar that comes in from time to time that spices things up and gives it a rock vein. Hearing it with the voices of the folks behind the mic, the first thing I thought was, "ROOOAD TRIP!!!" - I can clearly envision a bunch of oldies going on a road trip in a beat up Volkswagen Kombi to relive the memories of bygone days. And speaking of memories, I'm guessing that's the main focus of "... Oyaji Band". Y'know, said oldies who were once in a garage band of sorts coming back together to play again for nostalgia's sake. Same old songs and it's as if nothing had changed over the years despite going through the pains of growing up. Come to think of it, perhaps the band's original name was "Za . Lonelyhearts Band" and the "Oyaji" bit was added years later. :)
tora3hime.ti-da.net/e3591961
Hmm, I wonder what "Yanchar" in The Yanchars stands for. If I'm not mistaken, Sada came up with the name. The only possibility I could think of is "Yanchar" meaning "Mischievous/Naughty" in Japanese... Actually that would be quite funny if it were really the case.
Well, it's almost been a year since I've written an article on ALFEE. Welcome back! I think the last one I did about them was their debut "Natsu Shigure"（夏しぐれ）from all the way back in 1974 when they were known as ALFIE.
"Kiri no Sophia"(Sophia in the Fog) is ALFEE from their full-throated glory days in the 80s. It was their 21st single from October 1985, and it's actually the first time I've heard it. Written and composed by the dandy member of the trio, Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦）, with Ken Takahashi（高橋研）co-writing the lyrics, it's Takamizawa singing and mourning about the loss of his beloved Sophia as he still can't let go of her while remembering about their last dance together on that foggy night.
The music shifts slightly between urgent and wistful as ALFEE does what it does best and provides some power pop/rock to the concert masses. Whenever I hear one of their epics from this decade, I always envision some sort of sword n' sorcery video game for some reason. The single peaked at No. 2 on Oricon, and was first placed on their 1985 BEST compilation "The Best Songs".
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