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 never expected to see her name up on television but recently I saw that veteran lyricist Fumiko Okada had received some sort of award for her decades of work via an NHK report. From that, I thought that it would be time to post a Creator article regarding her.
But first a bit of background from her J-Wiki file, Okada hails from Hiroshima Prefecture. When she gradated from university, her parents pressed her to get a job at television broadcaster TBS working as a timekeeper for music programs. However, knowing herself as someone who never really enjoyed the rigors of an average job or career, she was pretty miserable. Also, she developed insomnia but one night, she gained the urge to write poetry and found out that the words flowed out of her surprisingly easily. Then one day, after amassing her poems into a collection and having some faint interest in becoming a songwriter, she was noticed by the manager of a famous arranger at work. Noting how unenthused young Okada looked, he asked her what she really wanted to do for which she replied "I want to become a lyricist". A mere few days later, that manager suggested Okada to a record company as a rookie lyricist. At least, one song with her lyrics got into a music festival and that apparently was all she needed to write...literally. She started getting requests for her words, something that has been continuing for her for close to 55 years.
Whenever Okada's name is mentioned, I will always first remember Fashion Music specialist Ruiko Kurahashi's（倉橋ルイ子）songs since the lyricist provided a number of her works to her.
Green tea! Green tea! Green tea! Pickled ginger! Picked ginger! Pickled ginger!
In contrast with the elegance of Kurahashi's signature song, the raucous "Sushi kui ne!" comes under the catchphrase of "Okada wrote this one?!". She must love her sushi.
(1987) Kiyomi Suzuki with Rats & Star -- Lonely Chaplin (ロンリー・チャプリン）
Lonely Chaplin
Time passes...and even if you fade away
I will always wait for you
Smile like the little boy you are
You want to come home
Into my arms, don't you?
As long as your dreams are unfulfilled
Oh, do what you wanna do again
Oh, do what you wanna do again
Man, didn't know that Chaplin was that lucky a guy!
Well, I had a bit of drama earlier today when I discovered that I couldn't log into my Jme account for some reason. I sent an SOS to Customer Service and got a quick reply that there was a system error somewhere on their side. Happily, things have been resolved, so thank you, Jme. I can catch the Kohaku Utagassen.
For the past several years, it's been taking care of home base here at nights. I don't go out all that much anymore. The pandemic was one reason behind it but age and overall fatigue in the evenings are other factors. But I know that with New Year's Eve coming the next day, there will be the parties happening everywhere...as long as folks can take a bit of traveling through frigid weather.
Asami Kado（門あさ美）certainly sounds like she's started New Year's Eve a night early. From her July 1981 3rd album"Semi-Nude"（セミヌード）, I offer you "O-suki ni Semete" (At Least Do As You Like or perhaps At Least Love Me) which was written and composed by Kado with arrangement by Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）. Unlike the Fashion Music that I usually associate her with, this is City Pop with that samba twist. I can imagine a conga line forming right now on the party floor.
Over a decade ago, thanks to the special compilation album "Loft Sessions Vol. 1", I discovered to my delight that even before the beginning of her long and illustrious career which is approaching a half-century in longevity, Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）had provided a couple of pre-debut songs for us to savor. I wrote about those two more than a decade ago.
Well, I find myself in a similar situation now. Although singer-songwriter Asami Kado（門あさ美）isn't quite as famous as Takeuchi, the Nagoya native has also carved a niche her for herself and her fans which now include those from outside of Japan thanks to the City Pop boom of several years ago. She officially debuted in 1979 with "Fascination"（ファッシネイション）which I deemed a languid Fashion Music song as well as a City Pop tune.
However, I once again have discovered that Kado had put out at least a song before her debut, and it was through the Yamaha Popular Song Contest, known affectionately as PopCon for short. Her entry for that one was "Shiroi Isu" (The White Chair) and the song was included on the 1978 PopCon sponsored compilation album "Excellent Edition".
"Shiroi Isu" was written and composed by Akihiro Kado（門晃弘）, although I don't know for sure whether he was her husband or had any familial relationship with Asami. With the exotic kayoand City Pop coming out at the time, bossa nova was enjoying quite the resurgence in Japanese music, and "Shiroi Isu" was one such example. The singer would bring some of that bossa into her official career with "Fascination", but it's interesting how she sounded in her pre-debut "Shiroi Isu" with not a lot of that sultriness in her vocals back then. Also notable was that sudden shift into mystery funk at the end.
Several days ago, a commenter asked me if I had done anything on Asami Kado's（門あさ美）"Anti Fleur" yet, and I had to confess that my answer was in the negative. But allow me to rectify.
The commenter made his inquiry on my most recent Kado article which had been posted back in late June, and that was for "Koko ni Iru no"（ここにいるの）, a track that originated from her 10th and final album to date,"La Fleur Bleue" from 1988. The album was produced by Yellow Magic Orchestra's Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）with him also handling all the arrangement of the songs,
"Anti Fleur" was the previous 9th album from April 1987 which managed to score a No. 21 ranking on Oricon. It was also produced and arranged by Takahashi, and I guess in a way, Kado was as much a collaborator/protégé of the YMO drummer as Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）had been with YMO's Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）in the early 1980s and Miharu Koshi（コシミハル）had been with YMO's Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）considering the dramatic change in sound of the singers under their aegis.
With "Anti Fleur", while Takahashi did his thing, Kado took care of the entire songwriting of all of the tracks, one of which was "Ko Ro Ku". I have no idea what the title is on about although when I put in the relevant hiragana into the dictionaries, I only got one definition of it referring to a right-pocket quiver that had been used from the Nara period onwards. As for the music and vocals, "Ko Ro Ku" strikes me as this very appealingly quirky pop which reminds me of those Ohnuki/Sakamotocollaborations, although "Ko Ro Ku" doesn't have any overt techno bleeps or bloops in there. Kado's voice also goes quite high much like her contemporaries Ohnuki and Koshi during their YMO associations (well, Ohnuki always possessed a high voice).
When it comes to the works of singer-songwriter Asami Kado（門あさ美）, I usually think of her as one of the prime examples behind Japanese Baroque Pop or as I've put it, Fashion Music. Certainly, that's what I've hearing when it comes to her early works in the late 1970s going into the 1980s.
This is about as late as I have gotten into her career. Her 10th and final studio album to date is "La Fleur Bleue" which came out in April 1988 and the first track from it is "Koko ni Iru no" (I'm Right Here). It's basically a coquettish and delicate pop piece that was written by Kado and composed/arranged by Yellow Magic Orchestra's Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）(well, the whole album was produced and composed by the fellow), but I can also hear some of the synthpop and some faint hints at reggae in the underlying rhythm. I assume that is also Takahashi handling the background chorus. The album reached No. 58 on Oricon.
Forgive me if I come across as being a little forward, but considering that it was with singer-songwriter Asami Kado（門あさ美）that I first read the term or genre Fashion Music, maybe I can peg the Nagoya-born artist as the Queen of Fashion Music, that particular subset of the 1970s New Music which gives off vibes of languid and luxurious living with a chaise lounge being the representative piece of furniture. Perhaps individual offerings of grapes can be the official food for the genre as well. Then again, the singer known as the Japanese Carole King, Mayumi Itsuwa（五輪真弓）, would be the more appropriate choice since she actually had been singing earlier than Kado.
Regardless, before I derail my train of thought, let's return to Kado once more. I did find this rather unusual if relaxing song written and composed by her, "Luna Iro no Iseijin" (Luna-Coloured Alien), from her March 1984 6th original album"Urara"（麗）. With arrangement by Yasunori Soryo（惣領泰則）, it comes off as a rather early-morning tune with that bit of wooziness. There is that feeling of City Pop wafting into the penthouse apartment but thanks to the background chorus and the general languidness of it all, I also get some of the old Fashion Music that Kado illustrated through early songs such as "Season".
The interesting thing is that there is nothing ironic or analogous about the title. Kado has written a story about actually meeting an alien who appears suspiciously like E.T., and it seems like it was a pretty romantic close encounter. And that's where I'll leave that discussion. In any case, "Urara" ranked No. 14 on Oricon's album chart. Urara also happens to be the name of an old student-turned-friend of mine when I was living in the Tokyo area. She even stayed a time in Toronto as a working-holiday student and I'm wondering how she and her husband have been doing over the past several years.
Although the usual period during the 24-hour cycle that City Pop evokes is early evening into night, I have encountered some songs that bring up memories of the early morning hours just when the sun is about to peek out. So it is with Asami Kado's（門あさ美）"Kibun wa Mou Menthol" (Feel Like a Menthol Cigarette) which is the lead track on her July 1982 fourth album"Hot Lips".
Written and composed by Kado with arrangement by jazz musician Naoya Matsuoka（松岡直也）, the story is established even before the first note is played when a woman leaves a hotel in the wee hours but not before she leaves a message for her date from the night before who is probably sleeping it off upstairs. Meanwhile, the front desk clerk is probably rolling his eyes and thinking "Ah yes, it's Saturday, isn't it?".
Well, that last part is my own concoction but please allow me to be a bit snarky before the weekend. In any case, "Kibun wa Mou Menthol" is, I think, all about the hopefully amicable understanding of the one-night stand or maybe the well-established weekly tryst with the lady taking off in the taxi. As she does so, she's appreciating the freshness of the morning air equating it with the cool inhalation of that menthol cigarette. She can now slough off the sordid but fun hijinks of the previous night and look forward to the new day with a feeling of refreshment as the breeze flows in through the rear window.
The melody by Kado is just as light and airy and still has that feeling of being in the city. Keyboards and strings bring out that AM sensation, and in terms of singers, I think of folks like Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）and Ami Ozaki（尾崎亜美）. I would also like to give my compliments to the guitarist for the solo, whether it be Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）, Akira Wada（和田アキラ）or Takayuki Hijikata（土方隆行）. "Hot Lips" peaked at No. 10 on the Oricon album charts.
Coming across this new discovery called "Promise" by singer-songwriter Asami Kado（門あさ美）, I got a bit snarky inside and wondered whether this had anything to do with that margarine William Shatner had once hawked on TV or the Japanese loan-sharking company.😈
But no, of course not. Instead, "Promise" was the B-side to Kado's September 1981 6th single"Gekka Bijin"（月下美人）and unlike the boppy Latin of that A-side, "Promise" is a softer, middle-of-a-pleasant-evening mid-tempo City Pop tune written and composed by the singer. Maybe it's not dinner time anymore but it's also not time to retire back to the penthouse suite quite yet. This is the song to accompany the short stroll over to the couple's favourite bar for one more drink...promise!
I especially love the intro with the cool chorus and the arrangement in general reminds me of the AOR by folks like Airplay and Rod Temperton. And then there is that lone trumpet solo...some fellow on the top of a Manhattan brownstone somewhere playing away during his break. I couldn't find "Promise" on any of the studio albums that were released at around the time that "Gekka no Bijin" came out, but perhaps it's popped up on one of the BEST albums by Kado.
For this Reminiscings of Youth article, I decided to go back a few years and into the AOR genre. But first, for those of my generation, do you remember this band?
Yep, this is Mr. Mister with their huge 1985 hit "Broken Wings". It made it to No. 1 on the American and Canadian charts, and although I personally didn't become a fan of this song or the band itself during my university years, I certainly recognize it and the music video since it got plenty of airplay and heavy rotation on the video shows.
The big surprise for me here was that years before Mr. Mister, two of the members, Richard Page and Steve George had created this AOR band in 1978 called Pages. And it turns out one of their songs luckily ended up on one of my BRIO AOR CDs.
Pages never got all that successful aside from a single called "I Do Believe In You" from 1979 that peaked at No. 84, their only song that got into the Billboard Hot 100. The single was also a part of their 2nd album that year, "Future Street", and from that same release came "Who's Right, Who's Wrong".
Now, perhaps I ought to be guilty of a little fraud here since in actual fact, I had never known about "Who's Right, Who's Wrong" or Pages when I was a teenager. It was only through my purchase of that BRIO CD that I found out about this marvelous ballad. But still, the sound that emanated through my headphones when I first heard this in Ichikawa was so very reminiscent of what I was hearing during my childhood on the radio, and boy, was I happy to have finally made my acquaintance with this one.
Created by Page and Kenny Loggins (no stranger to AOR himself), that Michael Brecker sax opening is just perfect, and I would go so far to say that it's one of the greatest openings of any pop song that I've heard. It was instant relaxation at first listen. The remainder of "Who's Right, Who's Wrong" with the keyboards, synthesizer, the vocals and the Jerry Hey strings arrangement struck me as what I have loved about AOR.
Loggins himself would also record his own mellow version of the song for his 1979 album"Keep The Fire" with Page and the Michael Jackson on backing vocals. However, I have to say that the Pages version will always be my favourite by far.
Try as I might, I couldn't find out in which month "Future Street" was released in 1979 and so for the kayo comparison, I've opted to find out which Japanese singers made their debuts in or around September 1979...since after all, we are in September.
As I've mentioned in the past, singer-songwriter Asami Kado（門あさ美）was seen to be one of the representatives of a certain type of especially refined pop known as fashion music, the name that was put onto her by the media. It's the sort of music where you expect any music video for that singer to have her lying on a chaise longue quietly asking "My grape please...".
Well, the lead track on Kado's 1979 debut album "Fascination", which has both the title track and "Blue", is "Morning Kiss", written and composed by her. I wouldn't say that it was fashion music this time around since on hearing this one, I can't really imagine the singer lying down; in fact, I would say that she was fairly skipping about town with a parasol over her head. As well, I really couldn't dub this one as either a City Pop or an AOR tune (seems a little energetic for the latter genre), so I will go with New Music and regular pop.
For such a bouncy (hm...maybe I shouldn't be using that particular word😊 considering the circumstances here) song, Kado's lyrics describe a young lady simply enjoying waking up next to her bedmate in the early hours. Living life well, I see.
Along with Midori Karashima（辛島美登里）today, I'm putting up my first solo Asami Kado（門あさ美）article for the first time in a few years. From her April 1983 5th album, "Private Male", I bring you the truly tender "Yuunagi" (Evening Calm), written and composed by Kado about what I think is a possibly re-lighting of the flame of romance for a couple.
The arrangement was handled by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）and what I like about "Yuunagi" is that old-fashioned ballad treatment with violins and rich piano as I get images of The Eagles and Carly Simon from the 1970s. With Kado behind the mike, there's still that feeling of Fashion Music, and her tender vocals suggest that the wish for a second chance at love is tenuous at best.
"Private Male" was a Top 10 hit for Kado, breaking in at No. 9.
Over a week ago, I provided the article "Shigeru Suzuki -- Sunset Hills Hotel, Side A" regarding Suzuki（鈴木茂）getting a bunch of his fellow musicians together to create compilation albums of instrumental music basically with an AOR feeling. "Sunset Hills Hotel" was the first of three such compilations all released in 1987.
Just so that I can finish what I've started, here is my look at Side B of the original LP, beginning with "Transit Airport" by the late Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）at 23:50. Out of all of the tracks on "Sunset Hills", I feel that this is probably the most appropriate as background music for some sort of Japanese comedy-drama. And yep, it isn't particularly my favourite track because of that. The synthesizers come into play here as light and plucky strings and then a steady beat comes into play before some boozy synth-horns stumble their way onto the airport floor. It may indeed describe a fairly harrowing hike through the airport for check-in and luggage pickup midway through a flight.
Following the comical "Transit Airport" is Asami Kado's（門あさ美）more flavourful "Purple Rose Goodbye" at 28:41. Although the liner notes that I saw at Amazon hint that it isn't Kado doing the velvety slow scatting, I did see the name Atsuko Honda（本田淳子）, nee Atsuko Souma（相馬淳子）, who has also gone by the professional moniker of Rajie, a City Pop veteran. "Purple Rose Goodbye" is downright romantic bar jazz rather than AOR with the piano and sax. I almost felt like putting a $20 bill into the non-existent goblet on the grand piano as I was listening to this! It's so steamy and creamy at the same time...kinda like sampling some melodic chocolate fondue.
Guitarist and singer-songwriter Chuei Yoshikawa（吉川忠英）is a name that I have heard before and it's possible that I may have mentioned him in a few of the articles on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but this is the first time that he's been put into the Labels because he is responsible for "On The Second Honeymoon" at 33:17. According to Wikipedia, his genres are folk and jazz, but this particular track has more of a gentle bossa nova beat.
At 37:21 is Shinichiro Miyagi's（宮城伸一郎）"Long Distance Call" which sounds faintly like "The Rose" and "My Way" in certain parts. Thanks to the synthesizer here, there is something quite 80s dreamy, perhaps even ethno-ambient thanks to the exotic arrangement and the percussion. I started imagining some of those coming-of-age movies from that decade such as "St. Elmo's Fire" and "The Breakfast Club" for some reason as I was listening to this. The titles and composers of all of the tracks at the YouTube page by Rare Japanese Sounds were written in English so I'm not 100% certain, but if it's indeed the right Miyagi, then he was the bassist for the 1970s folk band Tulip（チューリップ）.
Finally at 40:40 is the final track, and this time, it's Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）who created this one. "Her Sunset Smile" is also probably performed by Matsutoya himself as a lonely piano starts things off. I wasn't too crazy about that particular synthesizer flowing in right after although the second synthesizer riff was more acceptable. I remember in an interview long ago that Matsutoya had said that he regretted relying so much on synthesizers for his wife Yumi's（松任谷由実）albums in the late 80s and early 90s, but I gather that he was interested in putting some more experimentation on the musical technology at the time; no harm in that. In any case, "Her Sunset Smile" is the short and sweet epilogue to an eventful day at the surroundings by the Sunset Hills.
As a summary, I think Side B of "Sunset Hills Hotel" mixed in and featured more to the fore a few more different genres than the more straight-ahead AOR Side A. I could be churlish and say that I prefer Side A over Side B, but as I mentioned, "Purple Rose Goodbye" and "On The Second Honeymoon" are also my favourites. Overall, Suzuki's first contribution to his 1987 series would be an album that I would be interested in acquiring on CD later this year, if it's available, and certainly I would be curious about the next two albums.
This is something that I've said almost on an annual basis but there are two signs in Japanese pop culture that the end of the year is indeed near: 1) the announcements of the participants in this year's Kohaku Utagassen (may be as early as next week) and 2) the announcements of the nominees for Top Catchphrases and New Words of the Year. The latter was announced earlier today and apparently, the nominees include No. 19 "Sho Time" for Los Angeles Angels phenom Shohei Otani, and No. 23 "TikTok" which I had to look up some minutes ago.
www.ebay.com
Well, speaking of catchphrases, I want to throw an old and probably not very well-remembered one at you: Fashion Music. Back in the early days of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I wrote about a singer by the name of Asami Kado（門あさ美）and her song "Fascination". When I looked up the J-Wiki article for her, I found out that the catchphrase that was used by her people to describe her brand of musique was indeed Fashion Music (and not Fashion Pop that I may have erroneously used in other articles...🙏).
According to that article, Fashion Music may have become a brief sub-genre under the New Music banner in the late 1970s and early 1980s to describe an especially refined sort of popular kayo, perhaps somewhat like the sophisticated pop (Manhattan Transfer, Swingout Sister, etc.) of the West. However, although I punched in the katakana for this genre into Yahoo.jp, I got bupkis so perhaps to all concerned, Fashion Music was more Kado's catchphrase.
However, according to my memories, I think a case can be made that there was indeed Fashion Music featuring female singers for a few years at least around the turn of that decade to accompany the exotic kayoinvolving chanteuses singing about traveling through foreign countries and of course, the first high point of Japanese urban contemporary via City Pop. But unlike the inclusion of jazzy elements within sophisticated pop, my impression of Fashion Music is that it was distantly akin to the sweet music of American popular music of nearly a century ago as opposed to the "wild and immoral" jazz of the 1920s. Fashion Music is still perhaps not considered to be a true sub-genre, so my examples of what I consider to be part of it have been categorized under different genres ranging from New Music to general Pop, but in terms of sound, there is a certain Old World European feel often involving strings and maybe an accordion. The melody is also very mellow and occasionally melancholy or dramatic. Visually, I think the singer is on a chaise lounge performing the song while reaching for that solitary grape on a tiny wooden table.
But I've written enough for now here. Allow me to give my own examples of Fashion Music.
Well, why not start with the lady who first got the phrase coined? This is one person who I would also automatically picture on that chaise lounge on a balcony in some really ritzy hotel in the south of France. With Asami Kado's"Fascination", there is a tiny hint of bossa nova in there, another easy genre to relax to.
I also mentioned in that article for Kado's "Fascination" that Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）, one of my favourites, would also make for a fine member in Fashion Music. Her appearances on TV and her album covers have her looking very ennui-laden. The one song that seems to be one of her trademark tunes is "Last Scene ni Ai wo Komete"（ラストシーンに愛をこめて）which seems tailor-made (especially the instrumental bridge) to accompany an Oscar broadcast montage of classic romance scenes (such as the final one between Rick and Ilsa in "Casablanca"). Visually, I can only imagine a night walking along a canal in Venice.
Sweet music, indeed. Chika Ueda's（上田知華）strong vocals and a pop melody from the 1970s that has been given an arrangement dating back 40-50 years earlier really made an impression on me when I first heard it on "Sounds of Japan" decades ago. It's those strings by Karyobin which finally sparked me into writing this article. "Aki Iro Kesho"（秋色化粧）does sound like something that I would like to hear in an old-fashioned cafe while the master is expertly grinding those coffee beans.
Through listening to Mieko Nishijima's（西島三重子）music via "Sounds of Japan" for many years, I've categorized her brand of music as ranging from folk to AOR. As I put it in the original article, "Kamome yori Shiroi Kokoro de"（かもめより白い心で）is a reminder of a walk through sylvan woods in Europe, although perhaps with that titular seagull in the title, maybe Nishijima had meant the setting to be somewhere along the beach.
I could have done without the horns in the "Yoru no Hit Studio"（夜のヒットスタジオ）performance by Mayumi Itsuwa（五輪真弓）, but listening to the original recording of "Sayonara Dake wa Iwanai de"（さよならだけは言わないで）, it almost describes a scene from a 1960s French movie with Alain Delon and Charles Aznavour. It's one of my favourites by Itsuwa, and for other fans, I wouldn't be surprised if they said they had been transported to France.
Considering that I envisaged a trip to an old-style café for a couple of these songs, perhaps Fashion Music can also be known as Café Kayo. Any of these songs could call for a really finely brewed cup of coffee with a slice of pie or cake. The one word that I have yet to use here, though, is elegance. I guess the common denominator for all of these songs and perhaps songs that I have yet to come across is the elegance within them.
I think the above picture says it all about Fashion Music singer Asami Kado（門あさ美）. She not only can sing the martini-friendly, sophisticated stuff but the lady herself looks like someone who would belong in that certain environment. Yesterday, I pulled out her BEST album (so far the only tangible evidence of her musical existence on my shelves) and gave CD 1 another listening. As I remembered it, her body of work has been of the languid chaise lounge variety...some bossa, some West Coast, some other music which are all fine for the genre of City Pop.
"Blue" is one such track on that CD. Originally from her debut album "Fascination" (1979) whose title track was the first song I wrote about her, "Blue" was written and composed by Kado and has that atmosphere of fine wining and dining and romancing at a really nice restaurant in Aoyama. If a video had been made, it would have been filmed through a gauzy filter with perpetual close-ups on the youngish couple. Going through the lyrics, I believe the singer-songwriter was describing the feelings of one of the pair as he/she tries to get the other to step things up emotionally.
For a listener like me, I'm quite happy to avoid the sturm und drang of the relationship and just sit back and enjoy the melody on a quiet Friday night.
One thing I can say about Fashion Pop singer Asami Kado（門あさ美）, she sings like she hangs out in the bars and nightclubs of Akasaka and Ginza: nonchalantly sitting in that chair, a cocktail in one hand, a cigarette dangling between the fingers of the other, and tons of ennui filling her exquisitely made-up visage. I guess maybe that's why she was the face of Fashion Pop (basically City Pop).
"Gekka Bijin" (Beauty Under The Moon) was released as her 6th single in September 1981 and was also a track on her 3rd album, "Semi-Nude" which came out a few months earlier and peaked at No. 16. I'm not sure how the single itself did on the charts but it certainly painted an enticing image for the urban and urbane guys of that unreachable woman who only comes out at night. There's a bit of Cinderella in there although I'm not sure what that beauty changes back into past midnight. An OL? The song was written and composed by Kado, and it has that nice twist of Latin which brings to mind some of the earlier works of Junko Yagami（八神純子）.
I don't know when or where I first heard "Lonely, Lonely" by Asami Kado（門あさ美）. It just kinda drifted into my memories decades ago...perhaps it may have been "Sounds of Japan". But I guess in a way, the mystery behind its inception (and yes, I am indirectly referring to the Chris Nolan movie) kinda sums up the singer herself who had been behind the lyrics and music. As I mentioned in my first article on Kado, "Fascination", she has always been Garboesque in her media exposure, which was basically as rare as a fine steak. However, according to J-Wiki, despite her professional shyness, her albums and singles did enjoy a fairly good run.
As well, I think the lyrics as well in "Lonely, Lonely" reflect Kado's image. There is one verse in the song in which Kado wants to reach out for that cigarette, open a door and trace either her lips or the lips of a missing lover with her finger. Sounds pretty Garbo to me. And where "Fascination" was a bit bossa nova, and "Season"had a hint of American country, this song has struck me as good ol' West Coast AOR.
"Lonely, Lonely" was Kado's 3rd single released in June 1980. It was also a track on her 2nd album, "Sachet" which came out in October of that year, and peaked at No. 16.
Probably out of all of the singles from the Greta Garbo of kayo kyoku, my favourite is this one, "Season", her 4th single released in September 1980. Written and composed by Asami Kado （門あさ美）herself, it has that congenial twang to it which reminds me a bit of American country singer Crystal Gayle. Although three of her albums have been put up on "Japanese City Pop", （already profiled under "Media")I think "Season" is just a straight-up pop ballad. The song is also a track on Kado's third album, "Semi-Nude" which was released the following year in July. It went as high as No. 16 on the Oricon weeklies.
Asami Kado（門あさ美） had always had this Greta Garbo-like sense about her. From her looks of ennui to very few appearances in the ravenous Japanese media, the Nagoya-born singer-songwriter had a cloak of mystery that she was never really willing to shed.
Apparently, the media painted her music as an example of "fashion music"...music that was in the New Music genre that was especially polished and refined. Perhaps it was the J-equivalent of sophisticated pop here in North America. I think Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子） was probably the closest in style to her.
Her first single, "Fascination"was released in September 1979. The song was composed by Kado herself (with lyrics by Fumiko Okada...岡田冨美子) and reminds me of Ami Ozaki's（尾崎亜美） early style....somewhat of a languid bossa nova feel. I would probably want to be on a lounge chair sucking back a lemonade as I hear this. I'm not sure whether her debut tune made it into the Top 100 but her first album which has the same title did get as high as No. 79 in 1980.
