Masahiko Kondo -- Jounetsu Neppu Serenade（情熱☆熱風☽せれなーで）

 

My usual impression of a serenade, and I know that a lot of kayo kyoku have used the word in their titles, is of a tenderhearted love song weaponized by a suitor underneath the window of the target of their affections.

Well, "Jounetsu Neppu Serenade" (Passionate Tropical Wind Serenade) isn't a heavy metal anthem but I don't think it's a soft ballad either. Released by aidoru Masahiko Kondo（近藤真彦）in January 1982 as his 5th single, it's a pretty upbeat tune about falling hard in love from afar for that lovely young lady, presumably in those sylvan glades in the warmer areas of Earth. Written by Ayumi Date（伊達歩）, composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arranged by Kazuo Otani（大谷和夫）, there's nothing rock-n'-roll about the song, which is usually my genre impression for Matchy. It's more of an easy-listening tropical-tinged tune.

According to the J-Wiki article for "Jounetsu Neppu Serenade", the characters of the crescent moon and star were meant to be included in the title to reflect the starlight mentioned in Date's lyrics. Apparently, this particular song was enough of a tangent from what Matchy usually tackles so that it actually did become quite the long seller in the stores. It hit No. 1 on Oricon and ended up as the 9th-ranked single for 1982.

Yumi Seino -- Rio no Mahoutsukai（リオの魔法使い）

Wikimedia Commons

 

KKP readers may be noticing that I've started the usual Friday Urban Contemporary articles a tad early on a Thursday night. Well, one reason is that I'm going to be rather busy tomorrow with other projects so I'm getting a lead on at least a few of them tonight.

Such as this one. Singer Yumi Seino（清野由美）released three albums with the first one being "U・TA・GE" in March 1981. And I guess I'm continuing some of that city City Pop from my last article being a Tokyo-based one; this time, we're heading down to Rio de Janeiro with the track "Rio no Mahoutsukai" (The Wizard of Rio). Written by Ayumi Date（伊達歩）and composed by Latin jazz musician Naoya Matsuoka（松岡直也）, there is a rumbling samba rhythm in there but the City Pop arrangement is also not standing back either. Plus, Seino's singing with the background chorus reminds me of some of the music from vocal groups such as Circus（サーカス）and Hi-Fi Set（ハイ・ファイ・セット).

Masatoshi Nakamura -- Akogare no Summer House（憧れのSUMMER HOUSE）

 

Once in a while, our local news station will have a charity raffle for a summer house out in the countryside by Georgian Bay or some other lake in Ontario (the above is actually a video for some place similar in the state of Wisconsin). I could never pay the price needed to enter the raffle but I've noticed that the prize doesn't just include the house but also a million bucks. No doubt, the winner will get the house but that person will also be saddled with property tax for the next number of years, so the million will come in handy.

Well, perhaps someone like veteran Japanese entertainer Masatoshi Nakamura（中村雅俊）wouldn't have to worry too much about the expense of owning a summer house although I don't know how much something like that would go for out in Japan. Knowing him, he may also own property outside the nation such as in Hawaii.

Anyways, he at least sings about a summer house via his "Akogare no Summer House" (Summer House of My Dreams), the B-side to his 21st single, "Puzzle Night"（パズル・ナイト）, from June 1984. Written by Ayumi Date（伊達歩）, composed by NOBODY, and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, it's got that handclapping rock-n-roll beat and the hopeful title, so perhaps Nakamura's place is the place to hold the Queen of All Parties; not a bad thing this summer. Mind you, sometimes I think that the tempo of "Akogare no Summer House" threatens to leave Nakamura's vocals in the dust, so maybe he could have used that summer house therapy at the end of recording. 

Yutaka Kimura Speaks ~ Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100: Bread & Butter -- Nagisa ni Ikou （渚に行こう）

 

Number: 059

Lyricist: Ayumi Date

Composer: Fuyumi Iwasawa

Arrangers: Shigeru Suzuki and Haruomi Hosono

From Bread & Butter's 1979 album: "Late, Late Summer"

"Nagisa ni Ikou" is a wonderful melodious song infused with Fuyumi Iwasawa's（岩沢二弓）distinctive flavour. With the combination of Haruomi Hosono's（細野晴臣）rhythm arrangement and Shigeru Suzuki's（鈴木茂）arrangement with the strings, there is that whole connection of Tin Pan Alley taking part in the song, and in terms of the sound, there is an impeccable finish. This is a hidden masterpiece among the Bread & Butter classics which can be fully enjoyed for its comforting vibe that feels just like being enveloped in the sea breezes of Shonan.

The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).

The Works of Ayumi Date（伊達歩）, aka Shizuka Ijuin（伊集院静）

From Yahoo.jp

Unfortunately, the Japanese music world and the literary world lost a major figure on November 24th. Shizuka Ijuin passed away at the age of 73 from cancer. Born as a 2nd-generation Korean-Japanese in 1950 in Yamaguchi Prefecture, he was known as Cho Chung-rae（조충래）but his Japanese name was Tadaki Nishiyama（西山忠来）. He later became a celebrated fiction author under the pen name of Shizuka Ijuin who won the Naoki Prize and the Yoshikawa Eiji Literary Award.

According to his J-Wiki and Random House files, he wore some other hats such as commercial director, advertising executive and lyricist. For that last occupation, he took on the name Ayumi Date for which he has some representation on the blog. He came up with lyrics for a wide variety of singers in the pop, aidoru, rock and City Pop categories. Here are some of those songs. Of course, I offer my condolences to his family, friends and fans.

(1981) Masahiko Kondo -- Gingiragin ni Sarigenaku （ギンギラギンにさりげなく）

In a casual way, that's my way

Just live your life casually, casually

(I got you baby, I need you baby

I want you baby, Right on!!)

(I got you baby, I need you baby

I want you baby, Right on!!)

(1979) Bread & Butter -- Nagisa ni Ikou （渚に行こう）

I wanna walk together with you

on the beach that hasn't woken up yet

The remaining light of the stars

is on your lips

Kiss me gently

(1979) Yuko Asano -- Summer Champion（サマー・チャンピオン）

Summer Queen, Tempting Summer Queen

Woo Woo Summer Queen Summer Love

When I turn around, she whispers and hugs me

Looking at me with admiration, I will become the one and only champion

(1979) Mari Natsuki -- Wing（ウィング）

Forgotten in the crowd

I feel nostalgia when I go down the stairs

at the small station

I hear "Diana"

When I go up the white hill

The unbearable love

is surrounded by the scent of saffron

Kaoru Sudo -- Omoide no School Love（思い出のスクール・ラブ）

 

Forgive me for some Sunday night silly whimsy here as far as "Kayo Kyoku Plus" is concerned, but actually, I have mentioned this in a past recent article. There has been a pitched battle among our three years in the Labels to become the year with the most article entries: 1981, 1982 and 1983. With the addition of this 1981 song, we'll have a tie for second place with both 1981 and 1983 with 464 articles each and then 1982 with a slim lead of 465. Where will this lead to? Enquiring minds want to know.

But I digress. In the last few articles for the late and dearly missed singer Kaoru Sudo（須藤薫）, I've covered a couple of her albums but this time around, I'll just be handling one song here. "Omoide no School Love" (School Love of My Memories) is the first track on her second album "Paradise Tour" (July 1981) which was written by Ayumi Date（伊達歩）, composed by Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）and arranged by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）. 

I've come up with another angle when it comes to the spirited music of Sudo especially listening to the genki "Omoide no School Love". The singer and the song seem to combine the 1950s/1960s girl pop of Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）back around the same time and the happy-go-lucky projecting voice of EPO along with the arrangement of her songs, although EPO tunes were often arranged by Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）. It's a fun tune that may harken back to those 50s and 60s but also remind me of what music was doing in Japan in those 80s. As the thumbnail photo for the video will attest, "Omoide no School Love" was also included in Sudo's second BEST compilation "Tear-drops Calendar" from April 1985 which peaked at No. 63 on Oricon.

Mari Natsuki -- Wing（ウィング）

 

I've already given my accolades about the singer/actress Mari Natsuki（夏木マリ）when I wrote up my first article on her in October 2018 for her song "Ichiban Suki na Mono"（いちばん好きなもの）. My word for the lady was "vivacious" and if I can continue with an analogy, I can see her as the coolest and most street-smart senior citizen owner of her own small and stylish bar or café dishing out the drinks and advice on just about anything. Whenever she's appeared in recent dramas, she seems to have cornered the market on that sort of role.

But of course, Natsuki has been acting and singing since she was a young woman in the 1970s. In fact, she even had a brief run for several months on the long-running detective drama "G-Men '75"（Gメン'75）in 1979 and 1980 as Detective Keiko Tsugawa who had transferred in from the International Division of the Metropolitan Police Department for Tokyo and would later join Interpol.

Natsuki would even contribute a couple of songs to the long line of ending themes for "G-Men '75". The second of her two was "Wing", her 16th single from October 1979 which was written by Ayumi Date（伊達歩）, composed by Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）and arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）. I don't have an extensive knowledge of those ending themes but "Wing" has that melodic feel that I've often associated with ending themes for Japanese cop shows: fairly soaring, reassuring and inspiring as if to let viewers know that the cops got justice and that everyone can relax and go about their business securely. I really enjoy "Wing" since I'm a sucker for the electric guitar and its chord progression from those times. Also, you can give an ear to the very first ending theme for the show, Yuri Shimazaki's（しまざき由理）"Omokage"（面影）.

Junko Hirotani -- Koi Moyou（恋模様）

 

Well, I can say that at least this time, I'm not quite as late this time as I was, coming up with another track from Junko Hirotani's（広谷順子）June 1981 "Blendy" album. When I wrote up about one other track "Hohoemi ni Nemurasete"（微笑みに眠らせて）, that was back in August 2019 which was over 2 years since the time I'd written about the overall album. This time, the delay is perhaps a year and a half.😑

Besides, to give myself an out, "Koi Moyou" (Love Pattern) wasn't even a track on the original "Blendy" but it was added to the remastered version that came out in 2016. Actually, it came out on the scene even before the album as Hirotani's 4th single from August 1980. 

Hirotani was behind the melody with Ayumu Date（伊達歩）providing the lyrics, and Akira Inoue（井上鑑）crafted the arrangement to create this light and mellow "Koi Moyou", filled with summer resort relaxation and classy living along the shore. Unsurprisingly, the song was used for Kintetsu Railways' tourism campaign in the Ise and Shima regions. Aural memories of Junko Yagami（八神純子）and Akira Terao（寺尾聰）come to mind as I listen to this number with the guitar, strings and flute contributing to everything.

Yumi Seino -- Gin no Koibito（銀の恋人）

One of those lovely rarest of the rare discoveries, it's not all that easy to track down a Yumi Seino（清野由美）album and perhaps it's even harder to find a song that only made it onto a 7" single by her as a B-side.

"Gin no Koibito" (Silver Lover) was on the flip side of Seino's 1982 single "Wet Morning"（ウェット・モーニング）, and it's quite irresistible to me. I couldn't find out who wrote and composed the song but it's got a great horn section and a City Pop/J-AOR arrangement that reminds me of those high-flying 1980s and Burt Bacharach. I'm not sure if "Gin no Koibito" had ever been used as a jingle for a commercial or as a theme song for a radio program, but it would have made for some fine musical backup for any sort of scene. Keep on browsing through YouTube for those hidden gems.

January 19 2022: Thanks to Ace below, those songwriters are lyricist Ayumi Date（伊達歩）and composer Keitaro Miho（三保敬太郎）.

Yuko Asano -- Summer Champion（サマー・チャンピオン）

My very first summer job was in 1983 when I was hired to paint all of the fences in a townhouse development in the northeastern district of Toronto called Agincourt. I realize that you can't see inside my memories but, let me reassure you, this was a huge development. I also had to water lawns in the morning and pick up any garbage in the area. Then the remainder of the day was painting the fences a dark green, something that took over 2 months to complete. It was a surreal "Twilight Zone" experience since the neighbourhood was virtually deserted during the day with folks out at work or school. There was a group of kids, mind you, that took care of landscaping once a week but I never associated with them. It was simply me, a can of paint and a paintbrush outside alone.

However, once in a while, someone would play the radio so that I did get some background music. One song that I distinctly remember was the 1983 hit "Never Gonna Let You Go" by Sergio Mendes. Yes, that Sergio Mendes...the one behind "Mas que Nada", his signature tune from the 1960s. And yet, "Never Gonna Let You Go" was the first Mendes song that I had ever heard, a dreamy and epic ballad of the 1980s that was far into the AOR genre.  I also remember seeing it on Casey Kasem's "America's Top 40" TV show frequently.

Well, in the 1970s which was perhaps seen as a quieter period for Mendes, he released the album "Magic Lady" in 1979 which had the disco-pop song "Summer Dream" as one of the tracks.

However, I only found out about "Summer Dream" and "Magic Lady" because I discovered the cover version first in the form of Yuko Asano's（浅野ゆう子）"Summer Champion". It was released as Asano's 14th single in April 1979. The Japanese lyrics were provided by Ayumi Date（伊達歩）, and like the original, it's quite the roving downtown City Pop number with the sultry vocals by the singer. As with some of her other output during the late 1970s going into the 1980s, it's quite the revelation that she used to perform some of those urban contemporary songs I've enjoyed when I consider that I used to know her simply as the trendy drama queen and the classy if quirky commercial pitchperson.

Not certain which album it was released on or even if it did get onto an album, but it has been placed on her "Golden Best RCA/Fun House Years" （GOLDEN☆BEST 浅野ゆう子 RCA/FUN HOUSE YEARS）from 2005.

I finished my time painting just before my senior year in high school. Battling sunburn, heatstroke and athlete's foot, I rather felt like a summer champion by the time Labour Day swung by. And the money helped in getting me into first year at University of Toronto.

Yumi Seino -- Natural Woman

Another recent acquisition is Yumi Seino's（清野由美）"Natural Woman" from 1981. I first found out about her through some of her songs that got onto YouTube in the last couple of years, all through her third album "Continental" from 1983. But what finally had me pulling the trigger on my credit card was hearing her lovely cover of Yumi Arai/Hi-Fi Set's（荒井由実・ハイ・ファイ・セット）"Sky Restaurant"（スカイレストラン）which is indeed a track on "Natural Woman". I was about as surprised as anyone else that "Natural Woman" could actually be purchased at CD Japan, and I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I picked it up lickety-split.

http://hiptankrecords.com/?pid=70719996

The bad news is that Yumi Seino's output on YouTube is almost only represented by her "Continental" tracks, except for "Sky Restaurant", of course. However, I was talking with commenter Daemonskald last night through my recent article "Some Pages to Make You Happy by Commenters", and he mentioned about the site Hip Tank Records with its wealth of information and song excerpts. I had heard about HTR and I've even linked to some of the pages through other articles, and I will be doing the same over here since the site does have "Natural Woman" represented with a few excerpts of the tracks. Of course, I will be writing about the songs that can be listened to in part.

Track No. 1 is "You & I", a cool and slick City Pop piece that has Seino tripping the light fantastic with her voice. The song has all the tropes for the genre: funky synths, soaring strings and sexy sax. Plus there is that overall feeling of a night in Tokyo in 1981. Man, do I miss those early nights in the metropolis during my graduation trip! Shinzo Higurashi（日暮真三）took care of the lyrics while singer-songwriter Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）provided the great music.

"Summer Hotel"（サマーホテル）is as the title says...a musical trip to a luxury resort inn along the coast with a young lady leaning languidly against the balcony railing while taking in the view. There is some Latin mixed into this one like some lemon zest in a cocktail, and I think I even heard a whiff of Boz Scaggs material. Again, like the city-based "You & I", the resort-based "Summer Hotel" brings some nice sense of nostalgia. Ayumi Date and Naoya Matsuoka（伊達歩・松岡直也）created this track.

The last track I can cover tonight is the last track for "Natural Woman", "Midnight Blue", a little bit of a reggae strut to end the proceedings with Machiko Ryu's（竜真知子）lyrics hinting at a late-night visitor coming to the door. I do like the boss baritone saxophone which starts things off and the seeming salaciousness of the arrangements. We can all thank Akira Inoue（井上鑑）who came up with the melody. Usually my feeling is that the final track of a typical Japanese pop album is showcased by an introspective ballad. Not this time...this is far steamier.

Another happy acquisition in "Natural Woman". With Seino, I get this feeling of a voice reminiscent of Meiko Nakahara（中原めいこ）or Yasuha（泰葉）tackling a range going from City Pop to mellower fare covered by Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）. At this rate, I may just have to get "Continental" and her debut album "U-TA-GE", if only to complete the set and to be able to talk about some of her stuff that's on YouTube.

Tatsuhiko Yamamoto -- Saijoukai （最上階）

Well, I plunked some more yen into the coffers of CD Japan since there were a couple of albums that I wanted to peruse. One of them was a compilation album "70s & 80s Best" by Tatsuhiko Yamamoto（山本達彦）who I have written about in the last year starting with his single "Last Good-Bye" from 1982.

As with a number of singers in the City Pop genre, there isn't a whole lot of information on Yamamoto. For one thing, the J-Wiki article for him has only deposited the singles and albums that actually scored relatively high in the rankings which means that only his 80s output is listed. It would be easy to make the mistake of assuming Yamamoto debuted in that decade as a solo singer (he had been with the band Orange in the mid-1970s). Plus, his website is sorely lacking in material, including any sort of discography which has been categorized as "under construction".

However, I managed to find out that Yamamoto started his solo career in 1978 with his album "Toppuu〜SUDDEN WIND"（突風）. One of the tracks from that release and the first track on "70s & 80s Best" is "Saijoukai" (Top Floor) which was composed by Yamamoto and written by Ayumi Date（伊達歩）. It's a melancholy if hopeful ballad about a man standing on the top floor of a building sometime around the Holidays while paying tribute to the love of his life who may in fact have died tragically. My impression is that instead of wallowing in eternal grief, the protagonist is coming out of his mourning and thanking her up in heaven for the good times they had together.

The one thing that got my interest about Yamamoto was that from listening to some of his other songs on YouTube, he wasn't just another singer specializing in the City Pop genre. He started to come across as a pop balladeer. The piano also seemed to be an extension of himself with that symbolism further reinforced with the faded picture of the instrument on the front cover of "70s & 80s Best". I gather that he was the Piano Man of Japan, somewhat comparable to the Piano Man of the USA, Billy Joel, who is also very popular in Japan.

"Saijoukai" is definitely not City Pop but it is somewhat wistful 70s New Music to me. In a way, he rather bridges the gap between two other Japanese balladeer-songwriters, Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）and Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）. Yamamoto isn't quite as nasal as Inagaki or dips quite as deep as Kisugi in terms of his voice (although this isn't to say that Takao is a basso profundo by any means); he occupies the middle between those two fellows. Another insight is that when listening to Disc 1 of "70s & 80s Best" last night, Yamamoto struck me as a singer who may be quite comfortable in the pop realm but, like Inagaki and Kisugi, hasn't minded going a bit rock or even jazzy at times.

Will be listening to Disc 2 later on tonight. But this one is definitely a keeper.

Bread & Butter -- Nagisa ni Ikou （渚に行こう）

Well, I need not regret anymore. I finally got that Bread & Butter album, "Late Late Summer" that I had been wondering about back in my last article on the folk/AOR/City Pop duo. And as my former student had said, it's a very comforting album.

"Nagisa ni Ikou" (Let's Go To The Beach) is another track from Bread & Butter's 6th album (1979), but I don't think the Iwasawa Brothers really wanted to invite us for a sweaty game of volleyball on the shore. Instead, they wanted us to just lie down on the sand at sunset, judging from the really laid back melody which was made by one of the siblings, Fuyumi（岩沢二弓）. However, the lyrics by Ayumi Date（伊達歩）describe that romantic stroll by the beach. Those sparkling keyboards automatically had me thinking pouring Perrier. Such were the days of City Pop back then. By the way, the arrangement was handled by Haruomi Hosono and Shigeru Suzuki（細野晴臣・鈴木茂）from Happy End.

Listening to Bread & Butter especially here, I couldn't help but feeling that they sounded like a really mellow version of ALFEE or Spitz.

Masahiko Kondo -- Orokamono （愚か者）

The other day, I saw a far more weathered Masahiko "Matchy" Kondo（近藤真彦）show up on the NHK morning wide show, "Asaichi" to talk about his career and life after which he performed one of his famous songs, "Orokamono" (Fool). I haven't written a whole lot about Matchy but what I have talked about has been on his early tunes in the early 80s when he was playing the role of the hyper teenage rebel.

"Orokamono" was released on New Year's Day 1987 as Kondo's 23rd single, and although he was still nowhere near middle age at that point, his role in the song seemed to be that of a more worldly, or perhaps more world-weary, fellow giving some tough-guy reassurance to a woman who might be his kid sister or a former flame after going off the rails. In his performances of the song, there was none of that high-energy grinning and dancing that represented his music from the early days. It was just him, the mike and the hard attitude.

I remembering seeing Matchy singing "Orokamono" a number of times on the video rentals of "The Best 10" and the other music shows, and in fact, I managed to purchase a compilation album of Japanese pop music in Chinatown which had the song as well. Written by Ayumi Date ( 伊達歩...which is actually a pen name for author/lyricist Shizuka Ijuin) and composed by Takayuki Inoue（井上堯之）, the song went all the way up to No. 2 on the Oricon charts and became the 35th-ranked song for 1987. As well, it was responsible for him getting onto that year's Kohaku Utagassen for the 7th of 9 times.

Now that Matchy is indeed in middle age, I think the song fits him even more like a glove now.

The song has been covered a number of times by other artists but here is composer Takayuki Inoue himself giving his own version with help from rock singer-composer Ryudo Uzaki（宇崎竜童）. Speaking of Inoue, the man also happens to be the one behind one of the most famous TV theme songs in Japan.

Masahiko Kondo -- Gingiragin ni Sarigenaku （ギンギラギンにさりげなく）

 Another part of the Masahiko Kondo （近藤真彦）juggernaut from 1981. Released in September, just after "Blue Jeans Memory", "Gingiragin ni Sarigenaku"(Cheerfully [?] Nonchalant) had a brief dogfight with Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）"Kaze Tachinu"（風立ちぬ） but held onto the top spot for a total of 6 weeks. Furthermore, it got Matchy a Japan Record Award for Best Newcomer, and a spot on the 1981 Kohaku Utagassen. Ultimately, it not only was the 21st-ranked song of the year, but even at the end of 1982, it was ranked 37th.

One of the fellows on YouTube remarked that it was Japanese disco music, and yes, there seems to be a bit of Rod Stewart's "Do Ya Think I'm Sexy?"-era music in the arrangements. However, I think the adjective for Matchy during his performances of the song in concert or on the TV ranking shows would've been "cute" .

To be honest, I've heard the karaoke version more often than the version sung by Matchy himself. "Gingiragin ni Sarigenaku" was a popular request at Kuri, and the video was hilarious. It featured what looked like a topless model from Abercrombie & Fitch just boogeying around outside. Hoped it paid well, pal. I wanted to find the video on YouTube, but alas the karaoke videos of the song there are much more subdued.

The composer of the song? Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, who had created Saori Minami's（南沙織） "Juu-nana Sai"（１７才...17 Years Old) and Miki Hirayama's（平山みき）"Manatsu no Dekigoto"（真夏の出来事....A Midsummer Happening） a decade earlier. As for the lyricist, it was Ayumi Date（伊達歩）, a pen name for author Shizuka Ijuuin（伊集院静）.