Yutaka Akiba & Arrow Knights -- Yuwaku （誘惑）

Ikebukuro

It's a cool Sunday night here. Most likely, most folks in Japan at this point in time would just be resting up after a hearty dinner and watching TV before heading back out into the rat race on Monday. So, they would probably not be too enthused about hitting the bars or karaoke boxes as may be the case on a Friday or Saturday night.

My family and I enjoyed a good round of tempura tonight. And yes, I kept things homebound as well, not that there is anything remotely resembling a friendly neighbourhood nomiya or karaoke box in my neck of the woods at all. Still for today's second entry on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I felt more in a Mood Kayo mood so I settled on searching for something appropriate.

Well, I came across a tune by Yutaka Akiba & Arrow Knights（秋庭豊とアローナイツ）. Now, Noelle has already written on this Mood Kayo group in some good detail so you can check out her write-up on "Nakanoshima Blues"（中の島ブルース）which the Arrow Knights debuted with in 1973. However, my contribution concerning the Hokkaido-based band is one of their later songs, "Yuwaku" (Temptation) which was actually released in 1990.

Although enka has been coming out steadily up to the present day, I think its cousin genre of Mood Kayo hasn't been quite as prevalent so I was initially surprised to hear this example of the old stuff being released at the beginning of the final decade of the last century. But "Yuwaku" has got that classic sound (with a bit of modern arrangement) for enjoying a glass at some swanky bar or club in Ginza or Akasaka. And I do like whoever is handling the electric guitar.

I had to do some research to find out how to read the lyricist's name but it is Akira Saketani（酒谷明良）, and he does a marvelous job in setting up the Mood of two ships passing in the night and tripping the light fantastic. Composer Hiroyuki Nakagawa（中川博之）, as I intimated above, brings back those sweeping sounds to accompany those clinking ice cubes and the smell of cigarette smoke.

The release of the song must have come with some sorrow since the original leader, Yutaka Akiba passed away at the age of 44 during the summer of 1990. Along with that point, I can further add to Noelle's information on the Arrow Knights by saying that most of the members came from the city of Utashinai in Hokkaido Prefecture, which is currently the smallest city in terms of population in the nation. Also, the group formed while they were working as coal miners!

Akiba Yutaka & Arrow Knights/Hiroshi Uchiyamada & The Cool Five/Kiyoshi Maekawa -- Nakanoshima Blues (中の島ブルース)

                                                  Arrow Knights' version (1975)

I guess you could say that 'Nakanoshima Blues' is one of The Cool Five's well-known songs. Released on the 25th of July, 1975 it did well on the Oricon charts, cracking the top 10 and placing 9th at its peak and giving them another hit after 'Soshite Kobe' in 1972. However, The Cool Five wasn't the first to sing this song.

                                                           http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/rahyale/32854262.html

The original version was sung by Yutaka Akiba & Arrow Knights (秋庭豊とアローナイツ), with the late Yutaka Akiba as the leader and Akira Kinoshita (木下あきら) as the lead vocalist. And was this Mood Kayo group's debut song... I suppose twice? Before we get to that, here's some background info on this group.

Apparently, the Arrow Knights started out an amateur singing group from a construction company Sumiseki Materials Co., Ltd that decided to go pro and if I read it right on the Japanese Wikipedia page for 'Nakanoshima Blues', they were rather popular in Sapporo - where they originated.

The original original version of the song was self-produced and was released in 1973. The lyrics then only mentioned Nakanoshima, in Sapporo. I didn't think it did that well and they did not have any other singles from then until 1975.

In 1975, the lyrics of the song were changed to incorporate Osaka and Nagasaki into the equation. And this version released in July as well for the Arrow Knights finally hit the nail on the head and made the group relatively well-known. Therefore, twice their debut song. For both the 1973 and 1975 versions, the lyrics were written by this fellow 斎藤保 (I have no idea how to pronounce his name)  and the music by Tasuku Yoshida (吉田 佐).

Since both Mood Kayo groups released the same song at around the same time, there was some competition to see whose version was better. In the end, The Cool Five's version did better in terms of sales. And they did get to sing their 25th single at the 26th Kohaku uta gassen (1975). Can't say the same for the Arrow Knights though. It could be because of The Cool Five's popularity in the 70's that gave them the upper-hand. (Edited)

I myself prefer The Cool Five's version... and no, I'm not being biased. Well, maybe a little. But you can decide for yourself as to whose rendition of 'Nakanoshima Blues' tickles your fancy.

                                                              The Cool Five's version

Kiyoshi Maekawa (前川 清) - lead vocalist of The Cool Five - also sings this song solo without his now reduced to 4 cronies. Here's him singing it with Takao Horiuchi's (堀内孝雄) newly formed group Brothers 5 (ブラザーズ5) as his backup singers in 2014.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q-_Fkr6ZBWA