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'll be honest with you...up to now, whenever I heard the name Mei Mei, the only image I got was the one for the little sister of Panda-kun on the early 2010sanime "Shirokuma Café"（しろくまカフェ）. As voiced by seiyuu Kana Hanazawa（花澤香菜）, her crazed excitement over her crush, the zookeeper Mr. Handa, was such that she made Sonny the Cuckoo, the mascot for all those Cocoa Puffs commercials, seem all calm and collected in comparison.
However, that's all changed now. Why? Well, I found out that Mei Mei is also the childhood nickname of singer-songwriter and 70s aidoru Agnes Chan（アグネス・チャン）, and as such, for her 1976 album "Mei Mei ~ Itsudemo Yume wo"（いつでも夢を...Dream All The Time）, the title track was indeed her nickname. Not surprisingly, "Mei Mei" is so Agnes Chan...an adorably sunny and sing-songy folk tune created totally by her describing what I think is a typical day in her life in Japan, and it seems as if she were a fine foodie with shoutouts to the patisserie, curry, and her favourite tea shop. Gastronomy is bliss! I've followed that philosophy a little too well.
Something that does make me go hmmm though takes us back to Mei Mei the panda. As a seiyuu, Hanazawa has a wide variety of voices at her disposal. So it is interesting that in my observation, her voicing of Mei Mei seems quite similar to how Agnes sounded back in the 1970s...well, without the manic screaming, that is.
Agnes Chan（アグネス・チャン）will always be that one singer who I believe was born with long silky hair and an acoustic guitar attached to her hands. And she'll always be playing under a tree for any and all of the children in the neighbourhood. Her works as an aidoru in the 1970s have swung between touches of folk and country.
I read on one person's website that her November 1979 22nd single "Haru Tou Karaji" didn't become a major hit for Chan but it still resides solidly within his list of Top 5 Agnes Chan favourites. Indeed, it is a pleasant and wistful song that sides more into the folk side of things.
Written by Makoto Kitajo（喜多條忠）, composed by Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロー）, who has a recent Creator article, and arranged by Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）, I was a bit stuck on how to translate that title since it came across as something akin to a typical Japanese four-kanji proverb (though I know that there are just three in the title). I actually had to find a page that had the Portuguese translation of "Haru Tou Karaji" and then translate the Portuguese title into English and it is "Spring Is Not So Far Away". Looking through Kitajo's lyrics, yep, I can see that working since a woman, recently losing her beau, is walking a park path all by her lonesome although the message is that spring will be back and so will opportunities for new love.
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.
As the byline says, Happy Chinese New Year or Gong Xi Fa Cai! (If I have this wrong, please correct me.) And indeed, it is the Year of the Snake whose titular animal is supposed to bring wisdom, transformation, calmness and creativity. I can only hope that this is really true. Within my city, I've got a number of friends who are probably celebrating with their families so I wish them well on this day.
In any case, I don't quite believe that up to now, I haven't had an article commemorating Chinese New Year but I will rectify that now. I had initially thought about putting up songs which have had something to do with Chinese places or culture, but I've now decided to post songs by singers who have come from places such as Hong Kong and Taiwan to provide hits within the kayo kyoku world.
Well, baseball season got officially under way earlier this afternoon for our local Toronto Blue Jays. Happily, their first game against the Tampa Bay Rays was a successful one with the Jays defeating the Rays 8-2, so I guess then that at least for today, Torontonians and the Jays are on....top of the world!
OK, let us all get our coughs out of the way after that last statement. It's very healthy to clear our phlegm. 😖Anyhow, for this week's regular Reminiscings of Youth article, I've returned to Carpenters and their hit single "Top of the World". Released on September 17th 1973, this may have very well been the first Carpenters' song that I had ever heard about since it just seemed to be getting onto the radio all the time when I was a kid. I didn't know what a steel pedal guitar was at the time but it's the chief instrument that has always gotten into my head whenever I heard this feel-good tune.
And though "Top of the World" has been categorized as a soft rock song on Wikipedia. it's because of that steel pedal guitar and the chorus work that has made me consider it as more of a country pop tune. As I said, too, it was a very successful one since it hit No. 1 on both the American and Canadian charts as well as in Australia. Even in Japan, it made it up to No. 21 on the regular Oricon charts.
"Top of the World" has gotten its fair share of covers over the decades, and my first reference to the song was through Shonen Knife's cover which I posted about back in 2017. Of course, because Carpenters are absolute legends in Japan, the original song has been used for commercials and even television dramas. As well, personally, my friends and I have performed this one all the time at karaoke. But obviously, none of us hold a candle to Karen Carpenter.
September 17th 1973 was also a date that does show what was up at the top of the Oricon single charts thanks to the site which I discovered a few months back. What was up at Nos. 1, 2 and 3...and for that matter, what was up at No. 6?
I've been wondering how Agnes Chan（アグネス・チャン）has been doing these days. At this point, the most recent news is that the former 1970s aidoruand UNICEF Goodwill ambassador received the Order of the Rising Sun from the Japanese government back in 2018.
Well, in the meantime, I can bring back her familiar high-pitched voice to the blog via a track from her 1978 album"Yoi Don"（ヨーイドン...Ready, Go）, "Magari Michi, Wakare Michi" (Roundabouts and Crossroads). The album cover certainly shows Chan in athletic mode. In any case, this song by lyricist Choichiro Koizumi（小泉長一郎）, composer Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロ）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）is a jaunty affair with a hint of country as Chan describes the ups and downs of love through the allegory of the highways and byways.
I remember that Chan had been living and studying in my hometown of Toronto in the mid-1970s so I'm not sure if it was a matter of her taking the plane back to Japan to record "Yoi Don". One thing for sure; tuition at the University of Toronto was probably nowhere near as high as it is now.
When it comes to the Agnes Chan（アグネス・チャン）file on KKP, I've only written about her 1970s aidoru songs so it was a revelation coming across this particular song.
The album is "Ai ga Mitsukarisou ~ CITY ROMANCE"（愛が見つかりそう CITY ROMANCE...On the Verge of Love） which is a 1985 release by Chan, and it's safe to say that this is no longer the aidoru Agnes behind the mike here. Just from viewing the cover, the Hong Kong-born singer was going for a more mature approach. I had always envisioned her in a frilly white dress but she went for very stylish black, and the lettering for the title gave off a big sign of urban contemporary.
"CITY ROMANCE" has as its first track "Tasogare Monogatari"(Sunset Story), a love ballad that brings together an arrangement reminiscent of some of that West Coast pop feeling. I've heard similar things with 80s aidorusuch as Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）and Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）when they were pushing the envelope, so to speak, at around the same time. Written by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子） and composed by Akira Okamoto（岡本朗）, who had once gone by the moniker Issei Okamoto（岡本一生）, I actually wrestled in my first few listenings to "Tasogare Monogatari" whether this actually fell into the City Pop realm instead of it being purely pop. There may be some disagreement with my final decision, but I think what finally got me to go for both genres (plus AOR) in Labels is the last half when the romantic saxophone joined those keyboards; there was simply something about the ballad that struck me as being rather "City Hunter" via a drive in a taxi in Shinjuku.
When I went a bit deeper into "CITY ROMANCE" and listened to some of the subsequent tracks, I could still hear that voice of Chan that I heard back from her early days as an aidoru. However with "Tasogare Monogatari", if I hadn't seen that cover and not been told who it was, I wouldn't have recognized the singer as Agnes Chan. For the lack of a better word, her vocals seemed to have taken on some more gravitas.
Over the past several months, some of my translator friends have been involved in setting up a translation conference to be held here in Toronto hopefully in 2021. A topic that has been getting brought up is about who to invite as a keynote speaker. Various names have come up but I have wondered about the possibility of 1970s aidoru Agnes Chan（アグネス・チャン）. Between 1976 and 1978, and I've mentioned this in previous Agnes articles, she attended University of Toronto majoring in child psychology. According to her discography, though, she still had time to release a few singles although I think her TV appearances in Japan were pared back considerably.
I'm not aware whether she has had any experiences in translation or interpretation but she has been an essayist and a UNICEF Goodwill ambassador at the very least. Many years ago, when my old friend from the Japanese-Canadian Students' Association at U of T was establishing an alumni association in Tokyo, Chan's name had also been bandied about as a speaker but regrettably she politely declined the invitation. Not sure if anything will change this time, but as they say, hope springs eternal.
Anyways, here is Chan's 11th single from August 1975, one of her last few before she made the crossing over to Canada, "Shiroi Kutsushita wa Niawanai" (The White Socks Don't Match). Now, before any of you folks get the idea that this is simply an ode to tonsorial crankiness, the wistful tune, penned by Yumi Arai（荒井由実）herself, is a melancholy number about trying to move on from a former relationship as a woman sees her old flame in the arms of another. I really like the refrain when it soars forward with the help of those strings and the sighing background chorus reminds me of at least one pop song that I used to hear on the radio back in that decade.
I don't know how it did on Oricon but I would like to think that Arai's pedigree as a songwriter had already made its mark for other singers at that time.
Welcome to a torrid Canada Day! I'm trying to keep things cool without a fan or air conditioner in my room by keeping the lights off and the blinds closed. It's not too bad, all told. Of course, being a national holiday means that I have a bit more time to consider what to put up here on the blog as a tribute to my home nation this year.
After a bit of a look around YouTube and the rest of the Net, I did discover this jaunty tune by adorable aidoru Agnes Chan（アグネス・チャン）. It's a track from her November 1977 album"Canada yori Ai wo Komete"（カナダより愛をこめて...From Canada With Love）, and I do remember that the Hong Kong native had spent some time going to the University of Toronto in my hometown. There was even a short news feature on Chan on CBC with the only thing that has stayed in my memories being that she was having a slightly difficult time with the English language. Well, that was then but I think she's perfectly fluent now and has been for decades.
In any case, the tune is "Kokoro no Kakehashi"(Suspension Bridge of the Heart), and I think her singing here is quite good. Written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed by Bread & Butter's Satsuya Iwasawa（岩沢幸矢）, it's quite skippy in that aidoru way but something about the arrangement by Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）has that certain element of the exotic kayothat was getting popular in the late 1970s. It reminds me of Machiko Watanabe's（渡辺真知子）classic "Mayoi Michi"（迷い道）which came out in the same month.
I can't be totally certain because it was such a long time ago, but the cover for "Canada yori Ai wo Komete" with Chan may have been taken in the tony Toronto district of Yorkville which isn't far away at all from the university. With the prices of restaurants in the area, I don't get to go there much but every time the Toronto Comic Arts Festival comes to town in May, my friends and I get some lunch at Sushi Inn in Yorkville. My impression is that Ms. Chan never got that opportunity to savor sushi in the neighbourhood back then.
For at least some of the enka-and-Mood Kayo loving fans of "Uta Kon"（うたコン）, the latest show a couple of nights ago may have been somewhat disappointing considering that there was probably only one such song...performed by Kenichi Mikawa（美川憲一）. However, for those who love Japanese pops spanning decades, it was definitely their night (and mine) since a good part of Tuesday's show was devoted to the works of lyricist extraordinaire Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）. The man himself appeared as a guest along with his old bandmate from Happy End, guitarist Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）.
Almost as if NHK was providing a visual version of my article on the works of Matsumoto, "Uta Kon" gave a montage of his songs being performed by the various singers, and I was still floored being reminded that the former drummer of Happy End did actually write the lyrics for these many, many songs.
Now, I was going to write an article on Agnes Chan's（アグネス・チャン）"Pocket Ippai no Himitsu"（ポケットいっぱいの秘密）since that was not only the debut work of Matsumoto as a solo lyricist after Happy End had broken up but it was also the first song that was performed on "Uta Con" on Tuesday by the singer herself. However, after I checked my article "The Works of Takashi Matsumoto", I found out that I had already given my two pennies' worth of the song.
Instead I found another Chan and Matsumoto collaboration with Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃）, the man who introduced the Hong Kong singer to Japan, providing the music. This was Chan's 10th single from June 1975, "Hadashi no Boken" (Barefoot Adventure), and no, it isn't a song about foot fetishism. Actually, it is simply a happy tune about an innocent romp in the surf between a woman and a man.
There's quite a bit of the happy-go-lucky melody that reminded me of the Carpenters' famous "Top of the World", and perhaps that was the point there....to bring some of that sunny optimism into the proceedings. And who better than ever-cheerful Agnes Chan? However, I couldn't find out how well "Hadashi no Boken" did on the Oricon charts.
In tribute to Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃）who passed away in the last 24 hours, I've already written about one of his songs as a singer in the 1950s. However, I also want to pay my last respects through one of the many songs that he had written for others.
Therefore, who better to select than Agnes Chan（アグネス・チャン）since Hirao was the one who brought her over from Hong Kong, where the singer had already become famous, to Japan. Hirao also helped create four of her tunes, including her hit "Sougen no Kagayaki" (草原の輝き）.
Another song that can be included in that quartet is "Hoshi no Negai wo" (Wish Upon A Star) which was her 5th single from February 1974. Another typically bubbly and bouncy number for Chan, the lyricist was Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）who had also written the lyrics for "Sougen no Kagayaki". I realize that Hirao whipped up songs for so many singers but it was hard for me to imagine that a rockabilly singer such as this fellow was able to create such 70s aidoru-tastic tunes like this one.
"Hoshi no Negai wo" went as high as No. 4 on Oricon and finished the year as the 26th-ranked single. I'm positive that the next "Uta Con"（うたコン）will be providing some news and tributes to Hirao on Tuesday night so perhaps I won't be surprised if Chan or enka singer Hiroshi Itsuki （五木ひろし）appeared on the program.
I was kinda wondering about devoting an article to the works of longtime lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）but was musing about the approach. This is a fellow who is currently 3rd in terms of best-selling lyricist in modern Japanese music history behind Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and the late Yu Aku（阿久悠）, but he far outstrips either of them in terms of entries on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". In fact, with this entry being the 97th article with his name involved, he is the one human Label with the highest number of entries.
There really wouldn't be much to say except to suggest to readers to look at his J-Wiki entry provided they can read Japanese or go through the Takashi Matsumoto Label here and scroll down the songs (advance apologies if a number of those YouTube videos have been taken down). His own homepage was discontinued years ago and even the J-Wiki entry doesn't give any insights about his songwriting style. And the fact is that I couldn't really glean any patterns from the lyrics (aside from a love theme) that he has given to his too-numerous-to-count clients over the decades. He is just one prolific lyricist who can work with any genre save enka or Mood Kayo. However, since I have given space and time to some of the other major Creators, I would be remiss if I didn't mention him in this category. At the very least, I would like to present some of those famous hits he was partially responsible for although they have already been represented in their own articles just to let folks know that, yep, he actually did write them.
Takashi Matsumoto was born in the Aoyama neighbourhood of Tokyo on July 16th 1949. According to the Wikipedia entry for him, even as an elementary school student, he was already proving himself quite the aesthete by listening to the works of Igor Stravinsky and reading Jean Cocteau. But thanks to the Beatles, he plunged into rock music and got a drum kit.
Matsumoto's first band was Apryl Fool with Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）but that didn't last too long so his more famous outfit with Hosono was Happy End (1969-1972) as the band drummer. He already started practicing his lyricist chops since he provided the words to a good chunk of the band's output.
After Happy End broke up, Matsumoto started working with Moonriders while at the same time continuing writing lyrics and even getting into producing records. He did so with Yoshitaka Minami's（南佳孝）debut album"Matenro no Heroine"（摩天楼のヒロイン...Skyscraper Heroine）which was released in September 1973. However on completion of the project, Minami remarked that there was too much of Matsumoto in the lyrics and that "Matenro no Heroine" was really Matsumoto's album. If this scene had played out as an anime, Matsumoto's face or the background behind him would have cracked like a mirror. Ouch! In any case, any more ambitions about producing quickly leached out of him and he stuck with writing.
Matsumoto's first go as a professional lyricist, post-Happy End, was an Agnes Chan（アグネス・チャン）song "Pocket Ippai no Himitsu"（ポケットいっぱいの秘密...A Pocketful of Secrets）released in June 1974 as her 6th single. Apparently, according to Wikipedia, the gig may have been the result of a misunderstanding when Matsumoto had asked to write a commercial song, his friend in the industry had assumed it meant a pop song rather than a jingle for an actual TV ad.
But it all worked out in the end. Matsumoto's song (with composer Yusuke Hoguchi/穂口雄右) about a girl giddily asking a guy to keep their tryst under wraps got up to No. 6 on Oricon and ended up as the year's 60th-ranked single.
The band Tin Pan Alley（ティン・パン・アレー）came up with a cover version of "Pocket Ippai no Himitsu" in 1977 and you can read about it here.
Of course, one of Matsumoto's earliest hits was Hiromi Ohta's（太田裕美）"Momen no Handkerchief"（木綿のハンカチーフ）from December 1975. As sunny and cheerful as a spring day, the couple may have been parted by circumstances but somehow the feeling was that everything would be all right.
Matsumoto has had some long and successful working relationships with a number of composers. Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）was one example; he was behind the music for the aforementioned "Momen no Handkerchief". Another was fellow songwriting legend Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）and together they came up with a number of classic hits for 80s aidoru Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）. Case in point: "Akai Sweet Pea"（赤いスイートピー）, also a karaoke favourite. The lyric "I will follow you..." will follow me to the end of my days as one of my beloved Seiko-chan phrases.
But it wasn't all about the aidoru for Matsumoto. One of his greatest achievements was providing the words for Akira Terao's（寺尾聰）"Ruby no Yubiwa"（ルビーの指輪）in 1981. It just happened to become the No. 1 single of the year and perhaps the highest-ranking City Pop song. This would be the theme song for any walk through the hotel district of West Shinjuku when the sun is going down.
I'm a bit surprised that I hadn't already written this one up in its own article but Matsumoto also gave his lyrics on that sudden rejection by the titular "Bachelor Girl" for Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）, his 9th single from July 1985 with Inagaki himself providing the music.
I was happily reminded that Matsumoto was also responsible for the lyrics for one of my favourite J-Pop tunes, the oh-so-smooth "Nemuri no Mori"（眠りの森）by Tomita Lab from his album "Shipbuilding" in 2003. You gotta have a nice cup of tea while listening to this one.
But to finish off this admittedly short list of Matsumoto's contributions to Japanese music, I want to head back to 1979 with Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"September" which paired his lyrics with the boppy disco-pop of Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）. This was one of the keystone songs that got me into this music in the first place and therefore this blog. Just so many items in the Labels that I couldn't fit her name and year in.
As I said from the top, I was a little unsure about how to approach "The Works of Takashi Matsumoto" but I'm now glad that I got it out of my system. Please consider this as a very brief stopping-off point or launch pad describing the variety of songs he has provided singers over the past 40-odd years. It's ironic that the last two Japanese song articles before this Creator article focused on Matsumoto-written tunes but I am positive that this will not be the final period on this very prolific lyricist.
The other night, I was watching a special via TV Japan which featured some of these unsung craftsmen who had the ability to make miraculous restorations from supposedly lost causes. What was interesting was that it wasn't just about tables and chairs. One fellow who might be someone I would call a forensic culinary researcher was able to re-create a lost beloved curry sauce recipe for a lady whose late father ran a small restaurant but never wrote down how to create any of his dishes by asking some of his old regulars and checking the remains of the curry levels in the old pot.
What wrapped up the special was the appearance of former 70s teen aidoru Agnes Chan（アグネス・チャン）. She brought her old guitar which is most likely the one you see in the above picture. Tenderly referring to it as her companion and security blanket of sorts in her early years in Japan, she came on the show to find out if someone was able to restore the guitar since it had gotten a good amount of fuzz in the sound over the past number of years. The master guitar repairer checked it out to realize that the bracing inside the instrument had cracked thereby causing the undesired roughness. Several days, some glue and many vice clamps later, Agnes' old friend was back as she tearfully and gratefully played a Stevie Wonder song on the guitar. It was actually the first time in my life that I got to hear her sing in English.
With that happy prelude, I bring to you Chan's 8th single from December 1974, "Ai no Mayoigo"(Love's Lost Child). It's kinda ironic since the song by lyricist Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）and composer Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃）is about a poor woman trudging through an autumn forest (and nothing says lost love more than a lot of dead leaves in kayo kyoku) after her beau decides to stop the romance and head back home, although near the end of the song she admits that she is wiser for the experience. And for a sad ballad, Hirao made quite the galloping melody which contrasted interestingly with Chan's characteristically sing-song vocals.
"Ai no Mayoigo" peaked at No. 2 on Oricon and ended up as the 19th-ranked single for 1975. The song was also able to have Agnes appear on the annual Kohaku Utagassen for a 3rd straight time. It would be her final time at the Kohaku, though, since the next year, she would start studying social child psychology at the University of Toronto for the next couple of years although that apparently didn't stop her output of singles. In terms of her singing career in Japan, I think the heyday most likely started fading from that point but obviously she's been able to go on to bigger and better things since then such as a UNICEF ambassadorship, a professorship and appearances as the occasional tarento.
Last week, 78-year-old singer-composerMasaaki Hirao appeared on "Kayo Concert". Unlike some of his contemporaries, he has popped up fairly often on a number of programs including the weekly Tuesday night NHK music show including as the current conductor of the NHK Orchestra who leads everyone in the customary round of "Hotaru no Hikari"（蛍の光）at the end of every Kohaku Utagassen on December 31st.
When the host of "Kayo Concert", Tetsuya Takayama（高山哲哉）, remarked that Hirao has composed over 1,600 songs throughout his career of over half a century, I figured that it was time to highlight at least a small fraction of his output.
The one big song that I have associated Hirao with is "Yokohama Tasogare"（よこはま・たそがれ）from 1971 which was the breakthrough hit for Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）. Itsuki was also a guest performer on last week's "Kayo Concert" and I can echo and paraphrase the veteran singer's sentiments about Hirao: "No him, no me". As for me, although I've been hearing enka and Mood Kayo since I was a toddler, this was the one song that finally hooked me into those two genres.
Another song that I've always equated with Hirao is "Canada kara no Tegami"（カナダからの手紙）from 1978. His duet with Yoko Hatanaka（畑中葉子）has become a karaoke staple since my Kuri days.
But let's go way back. Masaaki Hirao was born Yu Hirao（平尾勇）in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo in 1937 but grew up in Chigasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture. He attended jazz classes as a boy and then after dropping out of high school, he joined a country & western band, The Chuck Wagon Boys. In 1957, he was scouted by Watanabe Productions at a jazz cafe where he was performing and released his first solo single the next year which was a Japanese-language cover version of "Little Darlin'" by the Diamonds. Soon after, the media dubbed Hirao, and fellow singers Mickey Curtis（ミッキー・カーチス） and Keijiro Yamashita（山下敬二郎）as the Rockabilly Three for which they all gained superstar status.
Hirao continued singing into the 1960s even with the end of the rockabilly boom but seemed to have caught the bug for songwriting later in the decade. With him creating songs for young up-and-comers Hiroshi Itsuki,Rumiko Koyanagi（小柳ルミ子）and Agnes Chan（アグネス・チャン）, a professional partnership with lyricist Yoko Yamaguchi（山口洋子）created a good amount of success which earned them the moniker The Golden Combo. Hirao was the one who introduced Chan to Japan with hits such as "Sougen no Kagayaki"（草原の輝き）. The above video is for another Hirao/Chan collaboration "Hoshi ni Negai wo"（星に願いを...Wish Upon A Star）, her 5th single from February 1974 which was another Top 10 hit for her with Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）behind the lyrics.
With all those hundreds and hundreds of songs under his belt, it didn't surprise me that Hirao dabbled through all of the Great Japanese Songbook, and that included anison. For instance, he composed the theme songs for the "Ginga Tetsudo 999"（銀河鉄道999）TV series, both sung by the legendary Isao Sasaki（ささきいさお）.
With his breadth of songwriting, it would be impossible to pin down a specific genre or style to Hirao. Let's just say that he is the master of all things kayo. In December 1972, he and Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）created a sprightly tune for aidoru Mari Amachi（天地真理）titled "Futari no Nichiyoubi"（ふたりの日曜日...Sunday For Two）which hit No. 3 on Oricon and became the 13th-ranked song for 1973.
Speaking of aidoru, Hirao even composed a song for Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）in 1980 called "Eighteen" with lyrics by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）as one-half of a double-A-side single with "Kaze wa Aki Iro"（風は秋色）. The song is definitely very aidoru-ish but there is some of that rockabilly feel in the arrangement, thanks to Hirao no doubt.
As with any of the Creators articles that I've put up over the past few years, there is no way that I would be able to put up a comprehensive account of Hirao's works without making this a full-time job. So I will end the article with one of his more recent compositions. The Golden Combo was back with him and Yamaguchi penning "America Bashi"（アメリカ橋...America Bridge）for enka crooner Yutaka Yamaguchi（山川豊）in February 1998. It's quite the classy melody that Hirao created here, sounding like a Mood Kayo waltz about the Ebisu Minami Bridge located between Meguro and Ebisu Stations on the Yamanote Line in Tokyo. Nicknamed America Bashi since it was modeled after a similar bridge built for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, in terms of the song, the bridge was the setting for a reunion between two past lovers.
Allow me to finish then with Hirao singing another old chestnut, "Diana" which was originally sung by good ol' Canadian Paul Anka. Another Canadian connection for the veteran.
Reading the J-Wikiarticle on Akiko Yano's（矢野顕子）4th album (and her first under the Tokuma Japan label), that is the impression I got. "Gohan ga Dekita yo" (Dinner's Ready) came out in October 1980 and it is my 3rd purchase from her discography, and it happens to be the earliest album I've now got compared to her BEST album from 1996 and "Oui Oui" from 1997. Aside from the tracks from her output in the 70s that are included in her BEST compilation, I don't really have that much knowledge about those early years. However, the way the J-Wiki article read, it certainly felt like Yano was taking on a new layer in terms of her music as she entered the 80s.
That layer included just about everyone in the Yellow Magic Orchestra: Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）, and Hideki Matsutake（松武秀樹）. And heck, she was touring as a keyboardist with YMO during that time so she was basically a member (got the wicked YMO shirt and a husband!). Yano still had her elegant piano-playing and her vocally flexible style but this time forward, she also had some of that cool technopop backing her up as well.
I've already talked about some of the tracks on "Gohan ga Dekita yo" over the years this blog has been in existence: the funky "Zai Kuntong Shonen", Yano's silky take on "Tong Poo", and even the title track with the singer sounding like a particularly welcoming Mama armed with a hot pot of soup. I hadn't been sure about whether I would get the album but then when I came across her cover of "Tong Poo" and the amazing first track of "Hitotsudake", I knew that I had to place it on my Must Get list when I went to Japan in October. And sure enough, it was the first CD I got during my trip at Recomints in Nakano Broadway.
Speaking about "Hitotsudake" (ひとつだけ...Just One), those first few bars of music on the first track made it abundantly clear of the YMO influence. Knowing that "E.T." was still 2 years away from release at the time the album came out, the song still sounds like a fun first trip by the Reese's Pieces-munching Extraterrestrial as he descended slowly into Earth's atmosphere before starting a thrilling adventure over the oceans and continents. And then there was the wonderful collaboration between Yano's piano and Sakamoto's synths...I still feel a wind whizzing past my neck as they take over from the singer's initial innocent lyrics. It was the right song to mark the switch in studios and musical style (although I probably wouldn't use "switch" for the latter item...perhaps "technopop enhancement" is better).
Now I have to prepare to eat some crow here. All of the time that I've mentioned "Hitotsudake" here and there, I didn't know that Yano's version was actually the cover version for the Agnes Chan（アグネス・チャン）original which was included on her 1979 23rd album, "Utsukushii Hibi"（美しい日々...Beautiful Days）. I guess I was afflicted with selective sight when it came to the J-Wiki article. In any case, it was interesting listening to this original version with Agnes' just-as-sweet & high vocals and the 70s aidoruarrangement by Masaaki Ohmura（大村雅朗）.
Back to our regularly scheduled album. The second track, "Les Petit Bon Bon" seems to address a lot of folks, including me, when it comes to not being able to stop at one peanut. I'm not sure whether Yano was referring to the unstoppable need to grab that one last candy or just the concept of greed in general, but the song showcases that playful side to her as if she were reverting back to her childhood and getting that urge to sneak one more cookie out of the jar.
"High Time" is one of two English-language tracks, and it's one of the few songs whose lyrics weren't provided by Yano. Instead, Fran Payne wrote this ode to a lover coming back into the protagonist's arms after a time away. Yano's delivery and the airy music seem to reflect the soaring feelings of someone back in love.
Another angle that Yano explores in "Gohan ga Dekita yo" is her interpretation of some of the old kayo kyoku. In this case, she performs a cover of Ichiro Fujiyama's（藤山一郎）"Aoi Sanmyaku"（青い山脈...Blue Mountain Range） in her inimitable way with some of that YMO boppiness. Along with her loopy vocal style, what else is notable is how she manages to make her version sound like a suspenseful adventure through the forest at the bottom of those blue mountains.
The kayo kyoku interpretations also include children's songs. For example, the above is "Genkotsu Yama no Tanuki-san"（げんこつやまのたぬきさん...The Raccoons of Genkotsu Mountain） which was written by Yoshiko Koyama（香山美子）and composed by Akihiro Komori（小森昭宏）in 1973, and features a mother-and-child raccoon duo.
Then, there is "Onigiri Kororin"（おにぎりころりん...Rolling Riceballs） which was also created by Komori with Michio Mado（まど・みちお）providing the lyrics about all those rolling rice balls. Love my onigiri...especially when it has either salmon flakes or bonito flakes soaked in soy sauce!
So, from those two children's songs arose the epic "Genkotsu Yama no Onigiri-sama"（げんこつやまのおにぎりさま...The Riceballs of Genkotsu Mountain）. And here I thought that "Zai Kuntong Shonen" was the centrepiece of the album. "Genkotsu Yama no Onigiri-sama" not only beats that song by over a minute but it's truly a crazed roller coaster ride combining Yano's inventiveness, YMO's bleeps and bloops, the eerily amazing work by Hibari Jido Gasshodan（ひばり児童合唱団）and the guitar of Makoto Ayukawa（鮎川誠）from Sheena & The Rockets. I think out of all the tracks on the album since I purchased it, this has been the one that's gotten especially frequent attention by me. Usually when I think of children's choruses, tokusatsu hero theme songs come to mind, but here, the Hibari Children Chorus is more than happy to keep up with Yano through all of the musical zips and dips and their contribution is one of the reasons that I love this one. The other reason is how she is able to ecstatically steer this 7-minute-plus song through all of the happy technopop, prog rock, relaxing piano passages and funky excerpts of the two kids' tunes, especially the way she delivers that latter song almost like a hip-hop line.
Here is a concert version of my favourite new song on the album.
And for that matter, "Gohan ga Dekita yo" has quickly become a favourite disc. It is that fortified package of what my image has been of Akiko Yano no matter what she did in the 70s and what she has done since the early 80s. Soaring, introspective, techno-cool, welcoming!
After getting interested in aidoru Yoshie Kashiwabara（柏原よしえ） via her 1983 hit, "Haru Nanoni"（春なのに）, it was actually a pretty simple thing to head down to Chinatown's Wah Yueh to find some of her material. I once picked up an audio tape, but then there was this 4-record album of her best hits which was screaming my name, and although I held off for a while, I finally decided to pull the financial trigger and grab it.
So, I had this grand product to go over the oeuvre of this Osaka singer. And one of the songs in there was "Hello, Goodbye", this sprightly tune that just made me think of Yoshie-chan as this countryside girl skipping along a river. However, the lyrics are somewhat more metaphysical as she sings of being reincarnated as a cup in a café with the love of her life returning as a spoon to stir her contents. Well, I gotta admit it's pretty imaginative.
What has also enhanced my memory of this song is Kashiwabara's performance on stage. I will always remember her for that hair and the way she bounces in place when "Hello, Goodbye" begins. KA-WA-I-I-I-I! It's one of my lasting images of 80's aidoru-dom. I was surprised to read though that instead of the Miyuki Nakajima-penned "Haru Nanoni","Hello, Goodbye" has been her most successful hit. Released in October 1981 as her 7th single, it peaked at No. 6 on Oricon and sold 380,000 records, several thousand more than "Haru Nanoni". It would finish as the 45th-ranked song of 1982.
I had another surprise in store for me when I discovered that Yoshie's magnum opus was not an original for her but a cover version of a B-side for Agnes Chan. Yup, "Hello, Goodbye", written by Makoto Kitajo（喜多條忠） and composed by Masami Koizumi（小泉まさみ）, was originally created as the flip side song for her December 1975 release of her 12th single, "Fuyu no Hi no Kaeri Michi"（冬の日の帰り道...The Road Home on a Winter Day）. The arrangement is quite similar to the one for Kashiwabara's version, but although I know that Agnes has always had that high-toned delivery, I think she kinda brought her voice a little for this one....a tad more huskiness (relatively speaking) in there.
And according to J-Wiki, Agnes was nothing but grace personified when Kashiwabara introduced her version almost 6 years later. She stated, "Thank you for bringing this song to the light of day."
"Sougen no Kagayaki"is translated as "Splendor in the Grass", and for all those kayo kyoku fans who are also old movie fans (like me), yep, the song title was indeed from Elia Kazan's 1961film starring Warren Beattyand Natalie Wood. However, I don't think lyricist Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）made any reference to it when she wrote this song up. The composer was Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃）, the same person who had invited and introduced Agnes Chan to Japan just a few years previously.
Agnes Chan once again brings a familiar memory through this song with her high voice and Hirao's light melody. A popular song when it was released in July 1973, it got as high as No. 2 on the Oricon weeklies and ended up as the 17th-ranked song for the year. Chan's 3rd single also earned her a Newcomer's Award at the Japan Record Awards.
She just looks so cute in this video. A bit of foodie trivia about Agnes. When she first arrived in Japan, she wasn't able to speak the language so her representing office always gave her a bowl of chuuka-don (中華丼）....which is basically chop suey on rice, something that is basically a Japanese invention....as her meal, simply because the first two kanji stood for "Chinese". She quickly got sick of the stuff to the the extent that even to this day, she can't even stand looking at it. However, she is a huge fan of yakitori （焼き鳥）.
And just for interest's sake, this is the trailer for "Splendor in the Grass".
I first came across Agnes Chan（アグネス・チャン）in one of those Japanese elementary school comic books that were sold at the Furuya Store in Toronto's downtown Chinatown in the early 70s. Of course, I couldn't read even a simple hiragana character at the time but just noticed this very pretty girl being featured in there. I barely remembered the name that my mother told me at the time. But then a few years later, she was on CBC being featured for some reason as a student attending the University of Toronto.
It wouldn't be until many years had passed that I realized how popular Agnes Chan was in Japan. She'd debuted with her sister, Irene, in 1971 in her native Hong Kong, and had already earned herself her own show. The next year, singer-songwriter Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃） (who later on would write for Chan, Seiko Matsuda and several other singers, and write the theme song for the anime "Galaxy Express 999") became acquainted with her and introduced her to Japan. She debuted with this song, which is translated as "Poppy Flower", in November 1972 and got as high as No. 5 on the Oricon weeklies. Her looks, high voice and her broken Japanese at the time endeared her to the public.
During the next few years, Chan attended Sophia University in Tokyo, but decided to break away from show business in 1976 to study child psychology. At her father's recommendation, she chose the University of Toronto and graduated in 1978. Since then, she has become a visiting professor at Japanese universities, and a UNICEF goodwill ambassador.
