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.
Within our television viewing habits as kids, one of the genres we watched was nature programming. "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" was must-see TV and every episode, we got to see Marlin Perkins, Jim Fowler and Stan Brock observe and occasionally wrestle the heck out of the bigger beasts. In fact, it was the running gag on the late-night talk shows that Jim would be getting mauled by a lion while Marlin was narrating the adventure while sipping on a martini.
Somehow, I get the feeling that Japanese TV coverage of animals has been far more docile. In fact, between 1983 and 1992, TBS had run a popular show titled "Waku Waku Doubutsu Land"（わくわく動物ランド...Exciting Animal Land） which combined a couple of TV show genres: the nature show and the quiz show.
As for the ending theme, it's natural that the producers would have wanted an adorable voice singing it, and what more adorable voice was there at the time than the one belonging to actress/singer Hiroko Yakushimaru（薬師丸ひろ子）? So, she was tasked to record the cute march "Sukoshi Dake Yasashiku" (Just A Little Bit Nicer) as the co-A-side to the cool "Tantei Monogatari"(探偵物語）from May 1983. Created by the same triumvirate, lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, composer Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）and arranger Akira Inoue（井上鑑）, this is a song so nice and kid-friendly that the animals themselves were probably prancing happily all over the field while listening to it.
It's threatening rain out there as I type this now, but so far, any precipitation has held off. Plus, compared to some of the heat that was bombarding us last week, it's been quite pleasantly cooler today, and the wonderful thing is that the huge cloud of forest fire smoke from northern Ontario has largely stopped coming our way.
We have another obscure pop singer from the 1980s in our midst here. I could find little on Yuko Machida（街田祐子）aside from the fact that she released (only?) two singles in 1981 with the first one being "Yuuwaku Summer"(Summer of Temptation). Now, the songwriters here were lyricist/composer Ichiro Araki（荒木一郎）and arranger Akira Inoue（井上鑑）, both of whom have had their hands in the City Pop jar. However, aside from a few chord progressions that struck me as being City Pop, "Yuuwaku Summer" is really a cute pop ditty with Machida's twee vocals, although I don't think she was ever labeled as an aidoru. In addition, looking at the single cover with the singer wearing that particular dress, I'd expected something like a 50s/60s pop song but it actually all sounds rather contemporary to me (except for a boss sax blast).
Talk about a song that has had nine lives like a cat. Yasuha's（泰葉）1981"Fly-Day Chinatown"(フライディ・チャイナタウン) has once again popped up like a rubber duckie in the pop culture bathtub after getting its exposure at the end of Episode 5 of the currently running anime "Ganbare! Nakamura-kun!!"（ガンバレ!中村くん!!...Go for It, Nakamura!）. And hey, a good song is a good song no matter how often it arises out of the ether.
As such, I wanted to see what the B-side for "Fly-Day Chinatown" was. It is "Morning Date" which was also the creation of lyricist Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）, composer Yasuha and arranger Akira Inoue（井上鑑）after their primo work on the A-side.
"Morning Date" is the opposite of "Fly-Day Chinatown". For one thing, as the title shows prominently, it is an upbeat morning tune compared to the nocturnal swings of "Fly-Day Chinatown". Moreover, instead of some rumbling City Pop through a famous part of Yokohama, this is basically some happy West Coast AOR in an apartment featuring a couple of newlyweds as a wife wakes up all fresh and freshly showered just so that she can greet her husband in the breakfast nook. I don't think I've ever experienced a married couple that blissful at breakfast; must be really early in the relationship. Still, I can hear some City Pop chord progressions blipping through along with a rock n' roll coda.
I believe I mentioned that I finally caught Zack Snyder's very long take on "Justice League" recently, and I was a lot more satisfied with that than with the version that I had caught some years previously at the theatre. Most notably, I was really happy with the scene involving Wonder Woman as played by Gal Gadot taking on those psychos in London early in the movie. Once I heard that warrior theme by Rupert Gregson-Williams, I knew I was going to witness some massive ass-kicking by Diana of Themyscira.
One day, the Snyderverse take showed up on the local sci-fi channel and that same scene popped up when I turned on the channel. My mother who has never understood or liked any form of superhero media surprised me when she verbally identified Wonder Woman. But then again, she had seen Diana many moons ago.
That's right. There was a time in the mid-1970s when my brother and I saw the weekly TV series "Wonder Woman" with Lynda Carter. So, we got to see the indestructible bracelets, the Lasso of Truth and the spinning around each episode.
Yes, I still remember when a pre-"An Officer and a Gentleman"Debra Winger guested as Diana's little sister, aka Wonder Girl. In fact, I think I prefer the first season when the show had been set during World War II instead of the more contemporary setting for the last couple of seasons.
At the time, I was also confused when I was watching the opening credits which paid homage to the original comic book from decades ago, and yet, the theme song was decidedly cheesy disco boogie. I mean, nowadays it all comes to me as very nostalgic but at the time, I thought it was pretty progressive to hear a superhero theme song that sounded like something one would dance to in the clubs.
I never knew who was behind the theme song for "Wonder Woman" the 1975 series. As it turns out, it was John Bahler of the Ron Hicklin Singers on the main vocals, Marti McCall, Carolyn Willisof the R&B group Honey Cone, and Julia Waters of the R&B group The Waters according to Wikipedia. Charles Fox and Normal Gimbel made up the songwriting team.
November 7th 1975 was the date when "Wonder Woman" premiered. Well, what was hitting the Oricon charts a few days earlier on the 3rd? We have Nos. 3 and 6.
But as the informercial announcer says...Wait! There's more!
"Wonder Woman" did make its way to Japan sometime down the line and though the Bahler theme song was played for that first season, the subsequent seasons had actress/singer Kaoru Yumi（由美かおる）provide a Japanese theme tune in the form of "Ai no Boukensha"(Adventurer of Love) which was specifically for the series; Machiko Ryu's（竜真知子）lyrics give a blatant shoutout to Wonder Woman. Meanwhile, the melody by Ken Sato（佐藤健）and arrangement by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）also follow a disco line but more on the AOR side of things.
This is Yumi's first time on the blog. From what I remember of her, she had a recurring role in the legendary jidaigeki series "Mito Komon"（水戸黄門）as quite a warrior herself. She was also famous in that show for her bathing scenes which you can see being parodied in the commercial below.
Recently, I have been listening to my various CDs again and one I got to hear once more after a long while was Mioko Yamaguchi's（山口未央子）"Yume Hiko"(Dream Flight) album (pictured lower right) from 1980. Being her debut release, I covered the album and then a couple of songs from the album on their own: the title track and "Itsuka Yurarete Tooi Kuni"（いつかゆられて遠い国）. With the pretty, mysterious and silken Yamaguchi covering the two fresh genres of technopop and City Pop within "Yume Hiko", if I were asked by anyone interested in popular Japanese music of yesteryear for any recommendations, I would definitely suggest this one. Now, I still have four more tracks left to cover from the album so let's get those out of the way.
According to Yamaguchi's 2017 liner notes for the remastered version of the album, "A Dream of Mio" serves as a more organic counterpoint to the earlier and YMO-reminiscent "A Dream of Eμ". As the latter song leads into the next track of "O-Matsuri"（お祭り...Festival）, "A Dream of Mio" leads into the title track. It's only thirty seconds but I couldn't help but feel that there was a bit of Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）whimsy in the arrangement.
Yamaguchi said that she had come up with the words and music for "Aru Yo no Dekigoto"（ある夜の出来事）when she was on the bus for university. And for those old movie fans, she indeed did get the title from the famous Clark Gable flick "It Happened One Night", and just like that classic, Mioko's technopop "Aru Yo no Dekigoto" sounds like a rom-com, and for that matter, it just seems to weave scenes from any anime with a clumsily delivered confession speech. A young lady realizes that she may have blurted out one sentence too much the night before (thanks to some alcohol) and rushes over to the guy's house to confirm. The guy's sly smile says it all.😎
"Waltz"（ワルツ (流舞)）is supposedly one of the fruits of her imagination and labour from attending a course in jazz piano, and it does come across as a most congenial pop waltz which starts off with some of that jazz. Just a personal opinion, but I would like to think that the comical couple from "Aru Yo no Dekigoto", having gotten all their opinions out earlier in the day, are now having their first official date with them dancing to "Waltz" to cap things off. Jake H. Concepcion and Akira Inoue（井上鑑）are helping out on soprano sax and keyboards respectively here.
The final song here and the final track on "Yume Hiko" is the bouncy "Paradise"（パラダイス）. Nice to have some of that City Pop funk in there but there is also some in-and-out of some synthy version of traditional Japanese phrases. In the liner notes, Yamaguchi stated that she had been inspired by Yutaka Yokokura's（横倉裕）1978"Love Light"album which she listened to quite often back in the day, so she wanted to try some of that fusion as well.
Well, it took over eight years but I've finally covered all of "Yume Hiko".
Welcome to Single 11112 according to the Labels count, and I'm happy to say that this song is from Yumi Seino（清野由美）who I last spoke about at the end of November regarding her "Rio no Mahoutsukai"（リオの魔法使い）.
As with "Rio no Mahoutsukai", "Hasta Manana"(See You Tomorrow) also belongs to Seino's debut album"U・TA・GE" from March 1981. In fact, this is the track that starts things off and it itself starts off with a big boppy bass riff before things go into an appropriately jumpy Latin pattern but then it keeps interweaving with City Pop and pop rhythms. Talk about trying to nail this genre down. In any case, "Hasta Manana" was written by Mami Kikuchi（菊地眞美）and composed by City Pop permanent resident Akira Inoue（井上鑑）.
I would expect that there may still be a number of Canadians enjoying their Holiday vacations in the Caribbean for at least a few more days before they have to come back to the bitter cold and work come Monday. Allow them to enjoy the warmth and good feelings for a little while longer.
This is a fairly raucous song for Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）in terms of the arrangement by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）. That percussion and beefy saxophone which start "Bahama Airport" can probably trigger a few tremors but they don't allow themselves to overwhelm Inagaki's tender vocals. It is definitely his style out there. "Bahama Airport" is the second track on the City Pop crooner's debut album"246:3AM" from July 1982. Kozo Endo（遠藤幸三）was the lyricist while Akira Mitake（見岳章）composed the summery happy melody.
I enjoy getting a little surprise in the form of yet another new discovery from a singer that I've always liked. Actor-singer Akira Terao（寺尾聡）has been someone that I've covered since the earliest days of the blog starting with his No. 1 "Reflections" album and his City Pop entries are very much cherished by me.
Well, whaddaya know? I found this one for the first time in his discography. "Long Distance Call" just happened to be Terao's 6th single from December 1982, and the same team who was helping out the singer-songwriter on "Reflections" gave their contributions here, too: lyricist Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）and arranger Akira Inoue（井上鑑）. "Long Distance Call", a song about getting that unexpected midnight ring in the dark metropolis, is quite the rambunctious AOR tune most likely reflecting the tumultuous feelings roiling about the protagonist's mind and soul about this call from far away. The horns coming in near the end are a nice touch, too.
I remember placing my first long-distance calls while abroad in Japan. They weren't nearly as dramatic as Terao's phone calls but I had to figure out things such as collect calls, person-to-person, and station-to-station. Still not too sure about the difference between those last two.
Well, I have to confess over here on a mistake that was left hanging over one article for a little over three years. You see, back in November 2020, I wrote an article on the 1976 "Suteki na News"(Wonderful News) by the late Mari Yoshida（吉田真梨）. I had been having trouble tracking down who the songwriters were and unusually, JASRAC wasn't all that helpful either but seeing the familiar names of songwriting siblings Etsuko and Takao Kisugi（来生えつこ・来生たかお）there with no singer listed, I naturally credited the mellow melody from what I heard to the Kisugis, especially since Takao had already been quite active in his singing career back in those 1970s.
Now, I was doing some maintenance on the blog earlier this morning when I was checking through the articles for any dropped videos and saw that the video for Yoshida's "Suteki na News" had been taken down. Of course, I start searching for any other videos featuring this particular song but I kept getting a song with the same title but different singer...to be specific, a model and tarento, really, by the name of Risako Shitara（設楽りさ子）who had recorded it in 1990. Plus, I saw Etsuko and Takao Kisugi attached to this one and so I naturally assumed that this young Shitara had done a cover version of the Yoshida original. However, Shitara's "Suteki na News" sounded nothing like the 1976 version, so I began sweating a bit and went down to town to find out the truth.
And the truth of the matter is that though it took a bit of time, I realized that I had been wrong about the songwriters for Yoshida's "Suteki na News" all along. By searching for the record itself in Yahoo Images and blowing up the liner notes by 50%, it turns out that a couple of French songwriters had created the original French pop song with lyricist Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）actually providing the Japanese lyrics. Of course, I made any corrections on the original article and noted the error at the very bottom of the article.
As it is, Shitara's "Suteki na News" was never released for sale and it was simply used as a promotion song for a Sanwa Bank (which was my old bank in Japan) commercial back in 1990. But indeed, this "Suteki na News" was taken care of by the Kisugis with Akira Inoue（井上鑑）handling the summery and relaxing arrangement paired with Shitara's whispery vocals.
The above video here has who I presume to be Shitara in a series of Sanwa Bank ads although "Suteki na News" isn't included. She was born in New York City and raised in both Dusseldorf, Germany and Fujisawa City in Kanagawa Prefecture. Along with doing her fair share of commercials, she has a short filmography, almost all in TV, and released two singles and five albums between 1988 and 1993. Shitara has been married all these years to Japanese soccer legend Kazuyoshi Miura（三浦知良）.
Lining up with masters like Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, needless to say but the songwriting sense of Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）is the biggest thing to listen for when it comes to the iconic "Long Version" which was contributed to Junichi Inagaki's（稲垣潤一）2nd album"Shylights". Additionally, Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）leaves quite an impression with phrases such as "I'd only wanted a single play, but before I knew it, I got the long version", and Akira Inoue（井上鑑）provides a splendid arrangement which really hits the mark.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
I guess that I should have added the label Kanebo Cosmetics to the Labels because so many of the songs noted here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" have ended up as campaign music for the company's commercials.
But interestingly enough, this particular song hasn't been included in the video compilation at the very top. Apparently, this November 1984 22nd single by the vocal trio Hi-Fi Set（ハイ・ファイ・セット）,"Hoshi Geshou Halley"(Star Make-Up Halley) was used by Kanebo but I haven't been able to find any sign of a commercial associated with the melancholy number on YouTube.
However, there is an anime short that has acted as the official music video for "Hoshi Geshou Halley" which is a bit on the bizarre side. It not only has the trio in anime and live-action form but it stars a time-displaced baby dinosaur missing his family dearly while he's struggling to figure out modern-day Tokyo. But no worries...Hi-Fi Set make like Doctor Who and set things back to normal although there is an Urashima Taro plot twist at the end.
As for the song itself, "Hoshi Geshou Halley" has a star list of songwriters: lyricist Shun Taguchi（田口俊）, composer Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）and arranger Akira Inoue（井上鑑）. It leans toward the sophisticated pop territory of City Pop although a lot of the song also has that Gallic feeling that might transport some listeners to the streets of Paris. Not sure how all this managed to intertwine itself with a baby dinosaur but hey, whimsy is Japanese pop culture's middle name.
A few weeks ago, I read a tweet from one of my Twitter buddies stating that Tsukasa Ito's（伊藤つかさ）"Namida no Crescendo"(Crescendo of Tears) was the only saving grace from her April 1984 5th album"Crescendo" and that her following album "Osusume!"（オススメ！）that came out in December of that year had no redeeming features whatsoever. Granted, even for a young lady in aidoru mode, Ito's voice was never heard as being all that strong and there's perhaps a big reason that she's only been described as an actress in her J-Wiki file (despite the presence of a discography there). However, her "Kanashimi wo Uketomete"（悲しみをうけとめて）from the latter album isn't all that bereft of intrigue, especially with that combination of synthesizers and a Maynard Ferguson-loving trumpet, but yeah, I am reminded of her vocals which had my face contorting a bit at times.
It just goes to show though that the aidoru of the 1980s had a lot of good support from the songwriters and arrangers surrounding them. But anyways, let's go to "Namida no Crescendo", which was also her 6th single from February 1984. Written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）, composed by Kazuhiko Matsuo（松尾一彦）and arranged by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）, the song is going into that more languid ballad-y (approaching AOR) style that was one part and parcel of the aidoru experience back in that decade. I also have to say that the backup singers in the main chorus were also quite heavenly for the hell being suffered by that lass in the song who has found out, gosh darn it, romantic relationships often don't take. Bitterness hasn't tasted so sweet.
Welcome once again to Urban Contemporary Friday on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". The above photo is of the Tokyo business district of Kasumigaseki to get us in the mood.
Last year, I introduced singer Hatsue Kato（かとうはつえ）, someone who doesn't have a whole lot of information regarding her life and career, via her B-side"Kurayami ni Sayonara"（暗闇にさよなら）. The A-side is her 1979 single"Youki na Houmonsha" (A Cheerful Visitor), a song that also leads off her lone album from the same year, "Cascade".
I mentioned that the languid "Kurayami ni Sayonara" was interesting but ultimately not the most fulfilling tune. However, "Youki na Houmonsha" is a more stable number with more pep as a City Pop entry. There is also some nice rumba rolling in and out of the arrangement and any bass addicts should like this one, too. For some strange reason, though, Kato's vocal style somehow keeps reminding me of the delivery from Ichiro Nitta（新田一郎）, vocalist of the band Spectrum（スペクトラム）. Akira Inoue（井上鑑）was responsible for the melody while Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）took care of the lyrics.
"Boukensha-tachi"(The Adventurers) is one song that splendidly inherits the resplendence of the Niagara sound. It goes without saying that Akira Inoue's（井上鑑）arrangement greatly contributed to the end result, but Seishiro Kusunose's（楠瀬誠志郎）clarity and satisfying high-toned vocals along with the distance between city dwellers and the resorts that is masterfully expressed within the lyrics among other factors show off a unique hue that is reminiscent of the child-like nature of Happy End.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
Well, I was trying for something more Hiroshi Nagai（永井博）but it didn't quite deliver. Plus, I was also hoping for a more comfortable road rather than a major highway along the coastline.
However, the lovely video here has plenty of Nagai's work onscreen. And it's adorning the song "Kaigan Doori Monogatari"(Seaside Road Story) by Motoyoshi Iwasaki（岩崎元是）& WINDY. With Iwasaki handling words and music and then Akira Inoue（井上艦）arranging everything (as well as playing the synthesizer and other keyboards), it's some nice summery beach pop with a hint of 50s and 60s. It is the type of tune to hear on the car stereo while driving along the sea on a Sunday afternoon.
The song hails from WINDY's 2nd and final album to date, "From South Avenue", which was released in May 1987. And along with Inoue participating in the recording session, some other famous session musicians lent their talents to the album including guitarist Tsuyoshi Kon（今剛）, saxophonist Hidefumi Toki（土岐英史）and singer Sumiko Yamagata（やまがたすみこ）as part of the chorus.
Through this video, I've read that Akira Terao's（寺尾聰）"Natsu Arashi"(Summer Storm) is available on his compilation "Twin Best". But that was from 1998 and this song sounds like one of his bouncy tracks from his 1981 mega-hit album "Reflections".
As it turns out, "Natsu Arashi" is indeed a much earlier creation. In fact, it hails from his December 1983 album"Atmosphere", which has also been dubbed "Reflections 2". Sounding like it could have easily been included in "Reflections", "Natsu Arashi" also has the same folks from that album: Terao himself composing it, Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）behind the lyrics and Akira Inoue（井上鑑）taking care of the arrangement. Accordingly with that bouncy homegrown City Pop beat, the lyrics also take on a similar form as to those from the singer's classic "Ruby no Yubiwa"（ルビーの指輪）in that they don't describe a happy situation as a couple's relationship seems to be coming apart at the seams, so that storm isn't really a meteorological one. Too bad about the kids but dang, is it fun to listen to!
Some years ago, I wrote an article on Yoko Katori's（鹿取洋子）debut single"Goin' Back to China" which was a cover of Dutch pop/rock band Diesel's song. Both songs got their release in 1979.
The B-side of Katori's single was "Heartache Tonight", a homegrown tune which doesn't have quite as much bounce as "Goin' Back to China" but it's still a pretty nice 70s City Pop tune with some of that disco flair. I guess it must be Kingo Hamada Day（濱田金吾）on KKP since he's already been mentioned on the previous two articles today including "Ink Blue no Yoake"（Ink Blueの夜明け）; he's responsible for the melody while Kazuko Kobayashi（小林和子）has taken care of the lyrics. Akira Inoue（井上鑑）arranged the entire song.
"Shadow City" is truly a fresh number with the idea of Terao（寺尾聰）scatting throughout the first half of the song. Even within this celebrated hit album arranged by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）, this song's arrangement still stands out when I listen to it and in addition, the backing performance by the members of the band Parachute is splendid. The aesthetic sense of Inoue, who saw a bit of Pierre Balou in Terao, really injected something into the Japanese music scene.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
I've learned to make my fair share of soups over the years because of my solitary lifestyle in Japan. My repertoire has ranged from tonjiru (Japanese pork soup) to good ol' minestrone and I quickly picked up the point that soups gain better flavour and depth when the ingredients are left alone to get to know each other over a day or so.
There's a better than even chance that my night tonight will be filled with Kohaku Utagassen on the PVR so I'm getting this final KKP song for 2023 posted on the afternoon of December 31st. Maybe one or two of the other writers will write up something but my contribution ends here until I'm on the side of 2024.
Listening to the good folks at "Weathernews Live", I've managed to find out about another nice song from their "Weather Music" segment, and it's by a singer that has already gotten some acknowledgement on the blog. Last year, I noted about singer-songwriter and actress Sakura Fujiwara's（藤原さくら）"Watashi no Life"（わたしのLife）, her digital download single from March 2022. Well, this song was her debut single from June 2016, "Soup". Like any good soup, it's got a fair mix of interesting ingredients in the form of pop, country and folk, all genres that Fujiwara has dabbled in although in this case, actor-singer Masaharu Fukuyama（福山雅治）provided words and music. Fukuyama and Akira Inoue（井上鑑）worked together to arrange it. Lyrically, it's also about what a couple can add to their increasingly flavourful soup of a relationship over the years and decades.
The collaboration between Fujiwara and Fukuyama didn't end there. "Soup" was also the theme song for the 2016 Fuji-TV drama "Love Song"（ラヴソング）which starred the two as a spring-fall couple. I don't know how the drama did, but "Soup" itself not only went to No. 4 on Oricon but it also went Gold and Platinum. It would end the year as the 71st-ranked single and become a track on Fujiwara's 2nd album as a major artist, "Play", which peaked at No. 5.
Anyways, thank you "Weathernews Live" for another lovely tip. And I must thank all of you out there, fellow KKP writers, commenters and viewers for checking in and supporting us throughout this year. There have been a lot of things that have happened in Japanese music, sad and good, in 2023, but once again, we've got a fresh new year coming in and hopefully we can continue the kayo kyoku journey together! Happy to say that we got to 1103 articles!
There was that episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）about two weeks earlier which had hit my head and heart so hard that I quickly devoted space on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" to it. Singer-songwriter Masaki Ueda（上田正樹）was part of the lineup, and though I didn't mention it in that article, I had to say that I was a tad worried about Ueda's health since he looked so frail at the age of 74 and I know that one of his contemporaries, Shinji Tanimura（谷村新司）, had passed away some weeks ago at the same age. However, he and fellow singer-songwriter Diamond Yukai（ダイアモンド☆ユカイ）took care of the former's famous hit "Kanashii Iro ya ne"(悲しい色やね....Osaka Bay Blues) with caressing aplomb.
"Osaka Bay Blues" is one of the great City Pop songs by Ueda with all of its stylish bluesiness. Recently though, I came across the B-side to the original October 1982 single, "Night Train to the Stars" which is actually a bit more playful and upbeat. Written and composed by the singer, the night train of note is simply the metaphor for a couple of enjoy their evening together, fueled not by coal but by some fine and strong libations. As someone who went a little overboard on the screwdrivers and creamsicles early in his drinking career, I can certainly sympathize.
The arrangement was handled by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）, and there's an interesting melange of tropical, some Tin Pan Alley and maybe even some Steely Dan swimming about. Plus, a rock guitar crashes into the proceedings from time to time. Perhaps those aforementioned libations include the Scorpion Bowl, another product made from a melange of ingredients.
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