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 didn't realize how poignant this song by Atsuko Nina（二名敦子）would be. The reason I say this is that the towns of Kaimū and Kalapana on the Big Island of Hawaii were destroyed by a lava flow erupting from the Kīlauea volcano in 1990. The towns are buried under 50 ft. of lava and a new black sand beach has formed over the old one which was once seen as one of the most beautiful examples of its type in the world. From what I've read, the new beach is really only good for volcanologists now.
Going back to Nina's song, "Kalapana Black Sand Beach" is the opening track from her May 1984 album "Loco Island". Written by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composed by Masayoshi Takanaka（高中正義）, the way Nina sings this jolly and laidback song, the beach, pre-volcano, was one heck of a place to get together and get surfing. A little bit of that jazzy piano goes a long way, too. Hopefully, the area will return to its former glory.
Remembering that I was in the Tokyo area as a resident and employee rather than as a tourist, it's easy to forget that the megalopolis was quite the town for fun and frivolity...provided that I had enough saved from my monthly pay packet. Not the easiest thing to do as an English conversation teacher but I did have my opportunities to paint the town red...usually around restaurants and karaoke boxes. Exclusive clubs and French restaurants? Not so much (though I did partake on the rare occasion).
Maybe for those in a higher income tax bracket, a song like this might be more reflective. "Wonderland Yuuyami City"(Wonderland Twilight City) is a track from Atsuko Nina's（二名敦子）1986 5th album"him". As with a number of other City Pop tunes from the latter half of the 1980s, there is that brassy sense of caviar-and-champagne fragrance infused into the arrangement.
City Pop fans will positively be snapping their fingers and getting that urge to strut down Chuo Douri in Tokyo as they listen to this one. Shun Taguchi（田口俊）provided the lyrics but Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）, who I usually associated with more languid oldies pop compositions, really puts in the feeling of sharp suits, fine dresses, sports cars and luxurious dining in the Bubble Era. Perhaps I can find more of Sugi's more metropolitan-minded masterpieces sometime down the line.
Icebox and a movie? Sure, I'll be right there. Nothing like watching a flick with a good friend while being able to raid the freezer for some ice cream. Surprisingly, I never did this myself, but I've had friends who would curl up in front of the small screen while opening up a tub of Neapolitan or Burgundy Cherry or Rocky Road and devouring half of it.
"Icebox & Movie" also happens to be the unlikely title of a breezy and summery City Pop tune by Atsuko Nina（二名敦子）. It's been a while since she's been up on KKP so I bid her welcome once more. The track hails from her 1985 2nd album"Windy Island". Written by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composed by Ken Sato（佐藤健）, the song sounds more like "Frozen Margarita & Ocean View" but I'm not judging. 😎 Some very nice harmonies going on between Nina and the backup singers and the arrangement is as aquamarine and calming as the picture of that sea on the album cover.
The track also shares album space with Nina's "Soldier Fish" which was my first of her entries on the blog.
One of the questions regarding City Pop that has sometimes sloshed around in my cranium is how some Japanese music fans began cottoning onto this musical umbrella which has included elements of AOR, R&B, jazz, Latin, etc. Well, I figure that back in the 1970s and 1980s, with Japan achieving the status as the 2nd-largest economic power in the world, there was that feeling of wanderlust once more among the working masses. People wanted to head over to places such as New York City, Los Angeles and Honolulu to walk the streets of Manhattan, drive on the supremely wide freeways of LA (not during rush hour) and bask on Waikiki Beach respectively.
Perhaps the music that was popular in America in those specific places rubbed off on Japanese listeners and musicians alike. When I think of the West Coast, notably the Golden State of California, I think of soft rock bands such as Ambrosia and the Doobie Brothers. I guess that I ought to change my venue for California that I mentioned in the previous paragraph. Presumably, a Japanese tourist may choose driving in that convertible on the Ventura Freeway rather than an LA highway.
So I've got another highway song from a Japanese singer here. Atsuko Nina（二名敦子）provides "Hi-way 1" from her November 1985 album"Naturally". Compared to her 1981 City Pop album "City" under her past stage name of Eri Hayakawa（早川英梨）which contains all of the sounds of Japanese urban contemporary music of that time, "Hi-way 1" possesses the arrangement of what I would call the caviar-and-champagne days of City Pop of the late 1980s. Perhaps then, Nina and this particular song may have been the harbingers of this new sound with the light and bright keyboards and plushy bass.
Although most of "Naturally" was arranged by Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）, "Hi-way 1" was composed and arranged by Yuji Toriyama（鳥山雄司）with Nina taking care of the lyrics. From what I can understand of the lyrics, it seems as if the singer was more than happy to trace out the dream of driving through southern California. Overall to me, it's an interesting combination of the feeling of that automobile journey, which would usually be adorned by a late 70s/early 80s City Pop melody, and that caviar-and-champagne sound of the late 80s.
I've been wanting to write about this rarity for a while now. In fact, I've already dabbled into Atsuko Nina's（二名敦子）"City" album from 1981, although this hadn't been released under that second stage name. It was actually put out under Nina's first stage name of Eri Hayakawa（早川英梨）. A year ago, I wrote about the first track, the mellow City Pop"Metamol City"（メタモル・シティ）.
(full album)
Thankfully, I was able to encounter a number of the tracks via YouTube so the first one up is "Last Typhoon"（ラスト タイフーン）at 31:59 created by lyricist Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composer Ken Sato（佐藤健）. This is a fun and bouncy number that enjoys its West Coast AOR roots, and I'd think that American TV theme master Mike Post may want to nod in approval.
"You Move Me!" at 27:27 has a striking intro and overall arrangement which brings some memories of disco and Bee Gees and perhaps even Rod Stewart when he was into the genre. I could easily envisage ladies in their day-glo outfits and roller skates snapping their fingers and swiveling their hips to this number although perhaps the tempo is a little slower. The same duo of Miura and Sato were responsible for "You Move Me" as well.
"Plastic Lady"（プラスティック・レディ）at 7:25 takes things into different territory that's more mindful of late 1970sJunko Yagami（八神純子）and Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）. It's got some of that Latin jazz to be heard in a swanky nightclub and I think Hayakawa even channels some of those two chanteuses' vocals. Daisuke Inoue（井上大輔）was responsible for the melody while Yukari Ito（砂東由加利）provided the lyrics, although from the kanji, I don't think this is the famous kayo singer here.
"Dramatic Good Night"（ドラマティック・グッドナイト）at 23:17 sounds like a date ending on a very happy note with some lingering thoughts of happiness before bedtime. It speeds by at a nice clip and picks up some country and even a Boz Scaggs riff along the way. It's quite the City Pop couple behind this one: Tomoko Aran（亜蘭知子）on lyrics and Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）on music, but ultimately it's perhaps not the strongest track on "City".
The final one I will tackle here is "Sorry" at 4:09 which first impresses me with that down-home City Pop beat popularized by Akira Terao（寺尾聡）in his "Reflections" album from the same year. Written once again by Ito and composed by Casey Rankin, that combination of electric guitar and keyboards at points reminds me of Airplay and again I get some of that Yagami delivery in Hayakawa's vocals, especially in the refrain.
The original release of "City" was entirely arranged by Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）. Meanwhile, the remastered version also contains a couple of bonus tracks in the form of the A and B sides of Hayakawa's 1979 debut single"Sasowarete Natsu"（誘われて夏）with the B-side being "Yurenagara Futari"（ゆれながら二人...A Swaying Couple）. It looks like Tower Records was responsible for that re-release but alas, currently "City" is not taking any online orders. However, you can listen to the full album right here.
To begin, the song of this article is titled "Sasowarete Natsu" (Tempt Me, Summer). For the past several days, Toronto has been in a heat wave and it's very possible that this will continue for at least another week, though there looks to be some rain coming during the weekend. Therefore at this point, I'm more than willing to say "Don't Tempt Me, Summer", although admittedly, Tokyo summers are still far more fiery.
However, on a more musically pleasant note, this "Sasowarete Natsu" is the first single by Eri Hayakawa（早川英梨）from 1979. As explained in her first article on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" nearly a year ago, the originally named Atsuko Iwai（岩井敦子）from Osaka took on the stage name of Eri Hayakawa for a couple of years and then went to a new moniker, Atsuko Nina（二名敦子）.
In the J-Wiki article for Nina, it's pointed out that Hayakawa's "Sasowarete Natsu" doesn't really follow the City Pop rhythms that she would later adopt from her first album"City" in 1981. But I will respectfully disagree with that statement since I think the bossa nova involved in Yuji Ohno's（大野雄二）melody was an ingredient (along with jazz, R&B, disco, etc.) in what made City Pop what it was in the late 70s and early 80s. Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）provided Hayakawa with the lyrics for this debut of hers that reminds me of the first stage of Miharu Koshi's（越美晴）career when she debuted at around the same time with "Love Step", and was also going along the City Pop line. In any case, I'll have that tall glass of caipirinha right now.🍹
"Sasowarete Natsu" is available on a recent re-release of Hayakawa's "City" album as a bonus track. The singer had released a second single under her first stage name, "Kiri no Liverpool"（霧のリバプール...Foggy Liverpool） before that album came out.
Just to reassure everyone, this song has nothing to do with Maya from the second season of "Space:1999" or Constable Odo from "Deep Space Nine". There were actually no metamorphs involved in the making of this song.
However, there is apparently one in the title of this song "Metamol City" which is the lead track for Eri Hayakawa's（早川英梨）one and only album from August 1981, "City". Hayakawa was the first stage name for singer Atsuko Iwai（岩井敦子）who would later take on the name Atsuko Nina（二名敦子）. She's already represented on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" with her later discography, but I had been hoping to hear her City Pop material under the name of Hayakawa, and happily under the aegis of Kimi no Station: The Home of City Pop up on YouTube, I can get a listen.
Perhaps the metamol in "Metamol City" is the Japanese abbreviation for "Metamorph" or "Metamorphosing" , but whichever the case may be, it's a good and mellow urban contemporary number for Hayakawa which begins with an interesting arrangement of what sounds like a marimba. Then enter some of those silky strings, Fender Rhodes and even a lone trumpet. It's got that nice sheen of early 80s City Pop. In fact, I'd say that "Metamol City" would make for a fine accompaniment for that morning walk through West Shinjuku.
Composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）took care of the music and lyricist Yuriko Matsuda（松田侑利子）provided the lyrics. Apparently, "City" got a Tower Records-only remastering release earlier this decade but I'm not sure whether there are any more copies remaining. But I wouldn't mind going for this one rarity along with some of the later albums under the name of Nina. At the same time, I'm also curious about even further into her past since she made her debut under the name Eri Hayakawa in 1979 with the single "Sasowarete Natsu"（誘われて夏...Inviting Summer）. Her J-Wiki profile stated that her first song is more of a regular kayo rather than a City Pop tune.
I've got that feeling of entering that amorphous period between Xmas and New Year's Day. There's no longer than holly jolly emotion of the Yuletide but I've yet to get that air of year-end conviviality. There seems to be a holding pattern, so to speak, especially since I'm not at all interested in Boxing Day shopping.
So in a way, it's good that I've got some translating assignments to keep me occupied during this time, and there are the discs from Japan that I've got to listen to, plus a couple of volumes of "Record Collectors" from JTM to devour. Also, "Kayo Kyoku Plus" will always provide some time for me.
Here is this track from Atsuko Nina's（二名敦子）4th album"Fluorescent Lamp"(1987) called "Teibou" (Embankment). It's been classified as a City Pop tune, and it is that, but I think it's also got that arrangement of late 1980s sophisticated pop. Those horns in there remind me of Swingout Sister to a certain extent. Nina took care of both words and music. Would like to explore more of this album, if possible.
Happy Monday! Recently, I've come across some more of the works of singer Atsuko Nina（二名敦子）after hearing about her "Soldier Fish" song, and I found them eminently listenable and varied. As a result, I've decided to cover a couple of them in one article today.
The first song is "Communication" from her 1983 album"Play Room ~ Tawamure ~"（PLAY ROOM ～戯れ～...Fun）. The album represented a re-birth of the singer's career under this new stage name (her real name is Atsuko Iwai/岩井敦子), following her first start under the name Eri Hayakawa（早川英梨）in 1979.
Now, if "Communication" sounds awfully familiar, it is because that it is a cover of the Latin standard "One-Note Samba". Apparently, a number of tracks in "Play Room" are covers of famous Western tunes but under different titles. Unfortunately, I couldn't find out who provided the Japanese lyrics but I have to give Nina and the arranger for "Communication" some kudos for a slick and assured version, especially with that slightly City Pop feel to the proceedings.
In 1986, Nina released a single which sounds as sweet and bright and refreshing as a glass of orange juice in the morning. And sure enough, her "Orange Basket" was used for TV ads plugging Kirin Orange Juice.
Written by Shun Taguchi（田口俊）and composed by Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）, "Orange Basket" does come across as plucky and catchy (thanks to those synthesizers) as any commercial jingle should, but the full version couldn't help but include that cool soaring guitar solo. The single also got onto Nina's 5th album from September 1986, "him".
Winter is back in Toronto much to a lot of Torontonians' chagrin and knowing resignation. Heck, we even had a mini-blizzard in our neighbourhood for several minutes this morning.
Well, for those few folks in Toronto who may be reading "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I can perhaps provide a little bit of warm solace through this song. Actually, kudos should be given to commenter Daemonskald who was not only kind enough to send me larger copies of the liner notes for Mioko Yamaguchi's（山口美央子）"Nirvana" album (my eyes are saved and the retinal cells no longer have to pull overtime), but also gave me some nice tips about other singers out there in the kayo universe.
The first singer he recommended was Atsuko Nina（二名敦子）, a singer-songwriter from Osaka who had her time in the sun in the mid-1980s. Actually, I had come across Nina's name through the pages of "Japanese City Pop" but had never come around to her until I got that nice nudge from Daemonskald a few days ago.
Anyways, he led me to this summery number called "Soldier Fish". Had no idea what a soldier fish was until I looked it up on Wikipedia, and apparently the proper spelling has the words merged into one: soldierfish. Looks good enough to eat. As for the song itself, "Soldier Fish" was a track on Nina's 2nd album"Windy Island" from 1985. REICO composed this one with veteran Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）providing the lyrics of somebody just enjoying a contented life in the warm waters just like the titular fish. I'm sure that a lot of my fellow citizens are desperately hoping for that sort of lifestyle right now.
The notable thing about Nina here is that she sounds a fair bit like another 80s chanteuse Kanako Wada（和田加奈子）, except that the former seems to especially specialize in the summer beach experience. Nina herself, whose real name is Atsuko Iwai（岩井敦子）, debuted all the way back in 1979 under the stage name of Eri Hayakawa（早川英梨）and perhaps had more of a City Pop bent in her music. According to her J-Wiki biography, she's been a fan of R&B singers including Chaka Khan, along with Janis Joplin.
