Boz Scaggs -- We're All Alone/Miss Sun

 

Welcome to another Reminiscings of Youth article since it is Thursday. And one of the reasons that I've had this category in the first place is because of one William Royce Scaggs, aka Boz Scaggs. Up to now, I've had his cool, uptown-and-downtown and upbeat songs such as "Lowdown" and "Jojo" as ROY articles, but I had yet to post this one mighty ballad of his from the "Silk Degrees" album of February 1976.

Arguably my memory of the really old days when I was a kid isn't exactly crystal-clear anymore, but I think out of all of the Boz songs, "We're All Alone" might be the first one that I had ever heard by him from the radio. The music is automatically identifiable although way back then, I hadn't known who Boz was; I just knew that the song was a pretty epic one, and one that has been covered by a lot of other singers such as Rita Coolidge and Frankie Valli.

Now, as I approach old age, I can honestly say that they certainly don't make them like "We're All Alone" nowadays when it comes to pop balladry. Glad that I did get my own copy of "Silk Degrees" a couple of years ago. 

Anyways, what was hitting the top of the Oricon charts when the album was released? Well, I've got Nos. 1, 3 and 5 from February 16th 1976, just a couple of days before listeners got their hands on "Silk Degrees" at the record store.

1. Masato Shimon -- Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun (およげ！たいやきくん）

3. Hiromi Ohta -- Momen no Handkerchief (木綿のハンカチーフ）

5. Iruka -- Nagori Yuki (なごり雪）

However, as the commercial announcer often says: Wait! There's more!

I have never and will never categorize Scaggs' "Miss Sun" from 1980 as a ROY tune. For one thing, I never heard this one at all in my childhood or youth. I only got to hear it for the first time in the last month! And it's such a banger! I am assuaging my poor soul with weak pleadings of "Better late than never" but man, am I over forty years late to the party here. Mind you, I'm in good company. The good folks at View From the 502 who have become hardcore Boz acolytes over the years were the music lovers who introduced me to this one and I still haven't quite pulled out from its allure. Have a read of the Wikipedia article for the song but basically TOTO had a lot of influence on this one.

m-flo -- L.O.T. (Love Or Truth)

 

Welcome to another Hump Day in the middle of the final full week of March. We're still making our slow way to spring weather as we hover a little over 0 degrees Celsius here in Toronto, but at least we've made some progress with the sun. 

As such, why don't we lift some of those spirits up with a bit of m-flo? I haven't discussed about LISA, VERBAL & ☆ Taku in over a year, and I was able to find this nice pick-me-up which was released as the group's November 1999 6th single, "L.O.T. (Love Or Truth)". To be honest, I'd never heard of this one before since for one thing, it hadn't been included on the lone BEST collection I have of them, "Award Super Nova".

m-flo to me has usually meant hip-hop or hip-pop so to hear this one is quite the revelation because "L.O.T.", which was written and composed by m-flo with H.U.B.'s help on the lyrics, strikes me more as a contemporary Latin pop number with some jazz elements (although VERBAL has got his usual rap patter in there). It's also been recognized as the group's first ballad and it's beautifully sung by LISA. "L.O.T." was used as the theme song for a TV Asahi drama series "Best Friend".

Quite the atmospheric music video for "L.O.T." but that hotel corridor looks like it came straight from "The Shining"! I was expecting a couple of creepy twin girls to invite LISA and company to play. Anyways, the video below is of the Agape Mix of the song. The song scored a No. 24 ranking on  Oricon. It also appeared as a track on m-flo's first album "Planet Shining" from February 2000; it peaked at No. 6.

The above video from the channel Heisei Sound System is an AI City Pop version of "L.O.T." that was released a couple of months ago, and to be honest, it was the first version of the song that I had heard before I quickly tracked down the original. I have to admit that it does sound quite good, and usually I haven't been all that impressed with the AI attempts at urban contemporary.

Mariko An -- Kanashimi wa Kakeashi de Yatte Kuru（悲しみは駆け足でやってくる）

 

At first, I'd assumed that this would be Mariko An's（アン真理子）first appearance on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but that would have been wrong. The former chorus singer and dancer has been up here and not too long ago. In fact, back in 2022, I posted an article for the duo Yuki to Hide's（ユキとヒデ...Yuki & Hide）"Shiroi Nami"（白い波）from 1967, and as it turned out, I was reminded that Yuki had been Mariko...before she became Mariko; her real name is Yuki Sato（佐藤ユキ）.

Yuki to Hide would release a couple of singles including "Shiroi Nami" (Sato would release a couple of her own solo singles while the duo was still together) and then break up in 1968. Taking on the new stage name of Mariko An, she made a new debut with the July 1969 single "Kanashimi wa Kakeashi de Yatte Kuru" (Grief Comes Running). Written by An herself with Katsuhiko Nakagawa（中川克彦）taking care of the melody, it's a melancholy kayo kyoku although through An's lyrics, it seems as if she's really trying hard to balance the worlds of light and dark especially as they affect the youth of the nation when it comes the vagaries of love. An released seven more singles up to the mid-1970s and one original album in 1970. She also continued to work as a lyricist under her real name of Yuki Sato although the kanji was a variant version（佐藤由紀）.

Yuuki Hide -- Chikai no Ballad（誓いのバラード）

 

It was almost five years ago that I posted the article for the opening theme for Toei's take on "Spider-Man" from 1978 because at the time "Spider-Man: No Way Home" was on its way to theatres with a flash-bang trailer leading the way. I'll let you know right now, I only got to see the whole film finally last month, and much to my regret, I wish I had seen the movie at theatres but with COVID restrictions and my parents' health a concern, there was no way I could do so.

Earlier this morning, the trailer for the next chapter in Peter Parker's life was released. I saw the big ad for "Brand New Day", and I'm definitely looking forward to this one. And hopefully this time around, I'll be able to catch this one at the cineplex at the end of July. For Peter's sake, I'm also looking forward to a happier movie overall as the title hints.

Well, then, to follow the pattern of the article for "Kakero! Spider-Man"（駆けろ！スパイダーマン）, I will provide the ending theme for the 1978 Japanese show. The same people involved for that opening theme: singer Yuuki Hide（ヒデ夕樹）, composer Chumei Watanabe（渡辺宙明）and lyricist Saburo Yatsude（八手三郎）, are back for the ender "Chikai no Ballad" (Ballad of Vows). Not surprisingly, this one contrasts with the heroic opener by being more introspective and revealing of the costs of being a superhero: loss of loved ones and a lonely existence. Good heavens! It pretty much wraps up the whole story of "No Way Home" into a tightly-packed ball. Mind you, it's a ballad that almost reaches City Pop groove.

Akira Fuse/Ayaka Hirahara -- Danny Boy

 

It's frigid as all heck out there in Toronto but March 17th, aka St. Patrick's Day, wasn't going to send anyone away from the Irish pubs, and I'm assuming that the places are still jam-packed with folks enjoying the Irish holiday. I personally don't celebrate the holiday myself but I remember a few times back in my Tokyo days when I joined fellow teachers and students for a pint at the local Irish pubs there such as Dubliners.

I recall in past years that I tried to come up with kayo kyoku with an Irish theme on St. Patrick's Day, but came up wanting. I think in those cases, I searched and perhaps found some songs with "Green" in their titles.

Well, I realized that the 1913 folk song "Danny Boy" has been sung in Japan through what I've learned while doing the blog over the years and from performances on TV by the older kayo kyoku singers. Although I don't know when the above performance was made, Akira Fuse（布施明）has given his own rendition of the tear worthy ballad. And below, there is singer-songwriter Ayaka Hirahara（平原綾香）with her cover of "Danny Boy" which was on her 2011 album "My Classics 3" with her own Japanese lyrics.

I just had to include Bing Crosby's take from 1943. Anyways, I hope that all of you are enjoying yourselves out there tonight.

Tinseltown-ish Tunes

 

By chance, did anyone check out the Oscars last night? To be honest, and I have most likely mentioned this in past articles, I had once been a regular watcher of the Academy Awards when I was a kid because of the glitz and the fact that it was Hollywood celebrating Hollywood. But living in Japan all those years gradually weaned me off due to the fact that the live presentation was happening while I was at work.

Then when I returned to Toronto for good in the early 2010s, I realized that I had lost interest in the glitz and the celebration of celebrity. Plus, my track record of seeing those Oscar movies is frankly abysmal. The last Oscar-nominated movie I caught was "Oppenheimer" back in 2024. I don't really consider myself a cinephile and yet, I still cherish some of the older stuff such as "Casablanca" and "Roman Holiday" (as for newer stuff, there is "Inception" and a few of the MCEU movies). And to be frank, when I occasionally catch a movie, the purpose is to get away from reality for a couple of hours and be entertained...not necessarily to be educated or moved.

OK, I'll just jump off my rapidly sinking soapbox and give you my latest Author's Picks. Over the years, I have discovered that from time to time, certain songs pop up which have at least a titular connection with Hollywood or movies, so here's a short but varied list.

(1977) Ikue Sakakibara -- Al Pacino Tasu Alain Delon Yori Anata (アル・パシーノ＋アラン・ドロン＜あなた)

(1978) Hiromi Go -- Hollywood Scandal （ハリウッド・スキャンダル）

(1979) Kenji Sawada -- Casablanca Dandy （カサブランカ・ダンディ）

(1981) Ruiko Kurahashi -- Last Scene ni Ai wo Komete （ラストシーンに愛をこめて）

(1985) Picasso -- Cinema （シ・ネ・マ）

EPO -- Claxon（クラクション）

By Cjp 24 via Wikimedia Commons

 

As someone's who communicated in the Japanese language and enjoyed Japanese pop culture for so many decades, it's always been interesting how some of those gairaigo（外来語）have been adopted into regular usage within the nation where I used to live. For example, an air conditioner in Japan is known as the cooler, and the hood of the car is called the bonnet. Speaking of cars, the horn on one isn't called a horn in Japan; it's called the claxon (or klaxon). I've barely heard claxon used for anything in Canada although I think it's used more widely in the UK. In fact, my entry into the lexical usage of claxon was through Junichi Inagaki's（稲垣潤一）mellow ballad hit "Natsu no Claxon"（夏のクラクション）from 1983.

Well, this will be my second song discovery using the term claxon. And it's from another City Pop veteran who used the term for another ballad. "Claxon". The B-side to singer-songwriter EPO's breakthrough 1980 debut single, her cover of "Downtown", I actually did hear this through her debut album of the same name in March of that year.

Written and composed by the singer herself, "Claxon" seems to paint a bittersweet picture of two ships passing in the night via a gas station. EPO has always been great mixing the contemporary with the past in terms of musical stylings, and "Claxon" is no different. It feels like a nostalgic bobbysoxer ballad but there is also something there that says "Yep, it's the Japanese 80s alright!". 

The Tigers/Toi et Moi -- Kaze wa Shiranai（風は知らない）

 

It is once again Hump Day this week so perhaps the stress levels and blue feelings are at their peak. Well, I can't prescribe anything professionally, but at least, I can provide some soothing music. This time, I'm plucking something from the Group Sounds era of the late 1960s in Japan...specifically, this B-side from a March 1969 single by The Tigers（ザ・タイガース）titled "Kaze wa Shiranai" (The Wind Doesn't Know). Written by Tokiko Iwatani（岩谷時子）and composed by Kunihiko Murai（村井邦彦）, it was the flip side of The Tigers' 9th single "Utsukushiki Ai no Okite"（美しき愛の掟...A Decree of Love）.

There are some lovely harmonies between Kenji Sawada（沢田研二）and his colleagues and some peaceful arrangements as a lot of natural images come through Iwatani's lyrics such as wind, rainbows and the great big sky. I guess that would be par for the course for a pop song from the late 1960s. However, the impression that I got from the song was that one shouldn't rely on those symbols of nature for wisdom; ultimately, one has to rely on his/her own soul for guidance.

Some months later in December 1969, the folk duo Toi et Moi（トワ・エ・モワ）recorded a cover of "Kaze wa Shiranai" for their first album of cover songs, "Anata to Watashi to Toi et Moi"（あなたと私とトワ・エ・モワ）. The English translation of "You and Me and You and Me" sounds obviously redundant which may explain the official English title of "A Wonderful World of Toi et Moi". Anyways, their cover version is also lovely and it sounds a little more upbeat. 

Yuki Saito -- ONE

 

In comes March...not like a lion; more like a polar bear. Yes, it's still rather Arctic-looking outside my window but we still have three more weeks of official winter to get through.

Outside of her inclusion in ROY articles and any Author's Picks, Yuki Saito（斉藤由貴）hasn't shown up on KKP for almost a couple of years, so it's nice to begin this third month of 2026 with one of her tunes. And this time, it's a pretty ethereal one. "ONE" launches her 4th studio album "Fuumu"（風夢...Wind Dream） from April 1987.

Sounding like something that should be listened to after having lit up a particularly pungent cone of incense, Saito's voice suits the high-falutin' English lyrics by BANDIT and the near-mystical melody of Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）. She sings about two becoming one in a paradise-like setting. I'm just surprised that no religious figures were mentioned here. 

Another track that was on the album was "MAY" but I'd like to clarify my statements there by saying that "MAY" was actually on the CD version of the album, and not on the original LP, according to the J-Wiki article regarding the album. My apologies on any confusion.

Yasuhiro Abe -- Hadashi no Ballerina（裸足のバレリーナ）

 

Gotta have singer-songwriter Yasuhiro Abe（安部康弘）back on Urban Contemporary Friday. When you're talking about a drive on an evening leading into the weekend in Tokyo and thinking about what to put onto the radio, one of his songs usually fits the bill.

Managed to come across the B-side for Abe's November 1982 debut single "We Got It!" which is definitely car stereo-worthy. Mind you, "Hadashi no Ballerina" (Barefoot Ballerina) can also be put into the dashboard slot although it's a little more melancholy as a ballad. Written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed by Abe, it looks like one guy and his "prima ballerina" have come to the end of their relationship so the night is spent with one last meal before the inevitable goodbye. It is indeed another song of broken hearts but it also feels like a true Abe creation.

Malja -- Nice Guy ni Ai wo Komete（NICE GUYに愛をこめて）

 麻留時夜

I'll be honest here but I've had this lovely song on the back burner for some time now and I'm finally putting it up today because I've finally figured out what the singer's name is. Yes, I held off from posting this due to a naming problem but the last thing I want to do is screw up a name, especially if the singer is still alive...which of course I'm hoping she is.

Depending on the source, I've come across the readings Maru Tokiyo and Maru Tokiya. However, down the 1986 self-titled album's obi, there is one sentence that begins with "I'm Maruja", And then, my brain did all sorts of old-fashioned computing noises with the conclusion being that all four kanji spell out MA-RU-JI-YA with the stylized form of the name above the upper-right hand corner of the photo on the album cover: Malja.

So, now that I've figured that one out, I can introduce Malja formally to KKP. She's one of those mysterious singers that came in and out along the lines of Takako Mamiya（間宮貴子）in that she released only one single and this album "Malja". One of the tracks here is the scintillating "Nice Guy ni Ai wo Komete" (With Love To A Nice Guy) which is a pretty sweet title although it sounds like the nice guy here is now very much in the past. 

Written by Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）and composed by Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）, it's quite the laidback and slightly haunting mid-tempo ballad with the velvet vocals of Malja providing soothing solace to listeners' ears. I've only heard this song and one other track on the album but according to the website of the hair and music store Fam, "Malja" is apparently a hidden gem of Baleric modern pop music which features arrangements that make full use of the intricately programmed sounds unique to this era. And yeah, it does feel rather 80s.

Miki Matsubara -- Soushite Watashi ga（そうして私が）

Amazon.jp

When it comes to those B-sides, they are often decent enough songs by the artists but of course, when the A-side is a huge hit, those songs on the other side disappear within a huge shadow. Can you imagine Miki Matsubara's（松原みき）monster single "Mayonaka no Door ~ Stay With Me"（真夜中のドアー）when it first got out in November 1979? I can wonder why another song would be placed on the flip side.

But then again, that B-side isn't too bad at all, and it feels as if the songwriters were paying a bit of tribute to the intro of Peaches & Herb's "Reunited" which had been released several months earlier that year. "Soushite Watashi ga" (And Then I) is a musical musing regarding a lady pining over a guy who hasn't quite noticed her yet. The lass wishes she could be a bird or a flower so that she can surreptitiously look over the fellow and hope that he can do the same.

Written by the same duo behind the more famous A-side, lyricist Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composer/arranger Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）have created a creamy and soulful City Pop ballad to contrast with the perky "Stay With Me", complete with those silky strings, keyboards and horns. Listeners can decide which of the two songs are the more poignant.

Yuiko Tsubokura -- Je t'aime（ジュテーム）

 

In the relevant J-Wiki article for this particular song by chanteuse Yuiko Tsubokura（坪倉唯子）, she sang this on TV Asahi's "Music Station" while still in her wild costume as the squeaky-voiced singer for B.B. Queens. Maybe they were reprising their hit song "Odoru Ponpokorin"（おどるポンポコリン）. Anyways, I would have loved to have seen the expressions on everyone's faces while she was creamily singing it. Well, we can all check the video below out.

No squeaky voice here for her 4th solo single "Je t'aime" which came out in January 1993 and definitely no hint of "Odoru Ponpokorin". This is a classy urban ballad that sounds as if it should have been the ending theme for a drama. Guess what? It was...it finished each episode of the NTV drama "Jealousy"（ジェラシー）. Written by Akira Ohtsu（大津あきら）and composed by Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）, this sophisticated pop song was Tsubokura's highest-ranking single when it hit No. 25 on Oricon.

Midori Hara -- KO・KO・RO・NOTE (Part 2)

From Discogs

Last Friday, I provided an article featuring Side A of Midori Hara's（原みどり）sophomore album from March 1988, "KO・KO・RO・NOTE" (Heart Note) . It's been a production that's surprised me with the singer tackling some of the more urban contemporary genres such as City Pop. Today, I'm finishing up with the Side B tracks. Unless noted, everything here is by Hara.

This starts with "too young" which was written by Yu Aku（阿久悠）with Hara providing the melody which Masahiro Ikumi（幾見雅博）arranged (and in fact, he arranged all of the tracks). It starts off feeling as if David Foster got his hands on the song and it then continues onto a West Coast AOR vein. If you ever wondered what such a song would sound like if YUKI from Judy & Mary or NOKKO from Rebecca had gotten behind the mike, then today is your lucky day (though it's ironic then that today is Friday the 13th).

"Iro no Nai Movie"（色のない Movie...Colourless Movie） is a wholly Hara creation whose verses are underlaid with a bit of reggae before going into a city strut chorus. The singer herself takes on a slightly more plaintive and sultrier direction with her vocals. There's also some really nice guitar work here in the intro and instrumental bridge.

The penultimate track has a pretty existential title. "Yojigen Kuukan Ryokou"（四次元空間旅行...Trip Through Four-Dimensional Space） has that feeling of a relaxing jazz standard with a wood bass figuring prominently in the arrangement, although the presence of the Fender Rhodes or electric piano keeps things in the contemporary. So, would the title be referring to a regular trip through time and space?

For the final track of "KO・KO・RO・NOTE", "Tsuyoku Dakishimeteite mo Sayonara"（強く抱きしめていてもSa・Yo・Na・Ra...Holding You Tight Even If It's Goodbye）, the poignancy is in the piano as Hara delivers a heartfelt ballad about saying goodbye although the feelings for each other are still there. Just like the final track on Side A, "Itami"（痛み...Pain）,  I can get that hint of gospel blues which makes me wonder what would it have been like if an actual organ had been used instead of the piano.

As I've mentioned, "KO・KO・RO・NOTE" is quite the delightful surprise from thirty-eight years ago by Hara. For those who like their 80s City Pop and some more genres, you can give this one the good ol' college try.

Shoji Ishibashi -- Yoake no Teishajo（夜明けの停車場）

 

I've heard of the manga "Ashita no Joe"（あしたのジョー...Tomorrow's Joe）and know of its anime adaptation which has become iconic for that final scene of the main character leaving this mortal coil in the best way possible. However, I hadn't known about the live-action adaptation that was released in 1970. The man who played the titular boxer was actor/singer Shoji Ishibashi（石橋正次）who hails from Osaka, and he was featured on the big and small screen up to the end of the 20th century, although his time as a stage actor has continued up to nearly the present day.

Ishibashi also had a music career that spanned from 1970 to 1978 with 19 singles and 10 albums under his belt. One of his big hits was his third single from January 1972, "Yoake no Teishajo" (Sunrise Station) which managed to stay at No. 1 for three consecutive weeks, sold 493,000 records and ended up as the 11th-ranking single of the year. Written by Haruki Tango（丹古晴己）and composed by Gendai Kanou（叶弦大）, it's a bittersweet ballad of the times with the boss rhythm and the sorrowful background chorus as Ishibashi sings about a couple having to tragically and reluctantly separate under unclear circumstances although their love for each other is crystal clear. The song was successful enough that it also earned Ishibashi his one and only invitation to NHK's Kohaku Utagassen at the end of 1972.

Five Favourite Songs by Sing Like Talking

Amazon.ca

Well, it's been quite a day already although I'm typing this before noon. The Winter Olympics are on, the Super Bowl will probably upstage that later tonight, Japan's Lower House elections have resulted in an LDP steamroller, and our long-awaited and long-suffering LRT here in Toronto finally launched about six years late. All a little overwhelming on a Sunday to be sure and I wouldn't mind a little solace right now.

I haven't posted a Sing Like Talking article for well over a year although Chikuzen Sato's（佐藤竹善）group is one of my favourite bands, and with all of the attention on singers' career anniversaries in last year's Kohaku Utagassen, SLT, which I believe has yet to be seen on NHK's Shibuya stage on New Year's Eve, celebrated its 40th anniversary last year. Unfortunately, any celebrations were probably muted to a great degree due to the passing of SLT guitarist Tomohiko Nishimura（西村智彦）in June 2025.

The other surprise is that I have yet to put up an Author's Picks on my favourite Sing Like Talking tunes. And this one was difficult because the band is so smooth in a number of genres, whether it be funk, AOR, straight pop, etc. and they've had a lot of great songs in my estimation. But I've got my five favourites here...although realistically, they are four favourites by SLT itself and one by Sato from his "Cornerstones" album series (it is too cool to pass up).

(1988) Juu-Ichi Gatsu no Kioku ～Raining Blues （11 月の記憶）

(1991) Steps of Love

(1994) Together

(1995) Mitsumeru Ai de (みつめる愛で) 

(2007) Hatsukoi (初恋）

Midori Hara -- KO・KO・RO・NOTE (Part 1)

Fred Cherrygarden via Wikimedia Commons

 

The above is the famous gyoza statue just outside of JR Utsunomiya Station in Tochigi Prefecture. Utsunomiya City is one of the big places for the cooking and consumption of those plump and delicious gyoza dumplings. I actually transited through the station on my way to other farther places in Japan at the time, but sadly, I couldn't partake in any of the gyoza places there (although I ate a truck's worth of the dumplings during my 17 years in the nation). 

From Discogs

Now, the reason that I started out with one of the big symbols for Utsunomiya is that the lady for this article hails from there. I'm talking about singer-songwriter Midori Hara（原みどり）who has been mentioned twice in the blog. One article featured her 1987 debut (and what a debut!) single "Tsugunai no Hibi"（償いの日々）which was also a debut with Tulip lead singer, Kazuo Zaitsu（財津和夫）. If anyone asked me what an 80s power ballad sung by Japanese artists is like, I would point to this one.

I also found out that she had been the first female vocalist for the long-running eclectic band SPANK HAPPY from the early 1990s. And in those days, the band took on a rock flavour with Hara taking on a katakana-ized form of her name（ハラミドリ）and a certain timbre that reminded me of another rock vocalist, YUKI from the band Judy & Mary. And it was then that I assumed that Hara was really about that pop-rock sound.

Well, how wrong I was. I had a bit of a taste of her debut album from June 1987, "MiDo", and the songs sounded like a playful funk-pop. And then for the Holidays, I was able to pick up a few albums, one of which was her second album "KO・KO・RO・NOTE" (Heart Note) which was released in March 1988. If I'm not mistaken, Hara took care of all of the songs' words and music while both Hara and Masahiro Ikumi（幾見雅博）were the album arrangers.

"KO・KO・RO・NOTE" is quite the revelation. If the aforementioned YUKI had been asked to tackle a City Pop or generally adult contemporary project, this album would be what I had envisioned. It all starts with "Pajama no Mama de STEP!"（ぱじゃまのままでStep!...Dance About In Your Pajamas!）which has a battery of synths and horns coming together to provide some of that Bubble Era champagne-and-caviar urban sound. The singer even sounds a bit like Janis Joplin having some real vocal fun with the breathy and propulsive delivery and scatting. I can imagine her dancing in her PJs when she was a teen...and getting yelled at by her parents.

"Uchuu Kuukan Yuuei"（宇宙空間遊泳...Spacewalk） is the second track and this one hit me very hard when I first heard it because of the really smooth City Pop vibes here. The groove and romantic sax solo provided by arranger Ikumi rolls in like a large ripple of velvety-smooth chocolate syrup. There are some big names of the genre helping out as well such as Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）on flugelhorn, Shuichi "PONTA" Murakami（村上ポンタ秀一）on drums, and Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）on piano (you can see the full list underneath the video at YouTube). It's been a while since I've heard something this City Pop and at the same time, I also got those early 80s Manhattan Transfer vibes.

Track 3 is "Kannazuki no Omoi"（神無月の想ひ...October Memories） which is even more laidback and languid than "Uchuu Kuukan Yuuei" but this is more of a Latin-tinged pop ballad. Time for a twirl around the dance floor at 10 pm here.

"Kokoro no Juunan Taisou"（Ko・Ko・Roの柔軟体操...Calisthenics of the Heart） has her bringing more of the old-timey-wimey jazz although the song is more of a fusion effort between it and pop...nice to bring this in when we've completed the first century of the American-born genre. I don't get to hear clarinets so much in jazz anymore so it's nice to have the ol' licorice stick back, especially I used to bring that home almost every night during junior high school.

The last one for Side A and the last one for Part 1 is "Itami"（痛み...Pain） which is a gently lilting ballad with a bit of a gospel blues touch. It makes for a nice contemplative cool-down track to end the side. Speaking of which, I'll bring Part 2 next Friday.

Michael Johnson -- Bluer Than Blue

 

Interestingly for Reminiscings of Youth this week, this particular ballad had been mentioned years before I even decided to start the ROY series. When I wrote up Saburo Tokito's（時任三郎）"Kawa no Nagare wo Daite Nemuritai" (川の流れを抱いて眠りたい）back in 2012, I noted that it sounded just like Michael Johnson's "Bluer Than Blue".

"Bluer Than Blue" hit the record shelves and radio stations back in April 1978 and it's one of the first songs to stick in my head as perhaps a prelude to my opening up to music in general going into the 1980s. I hadn't heard of Johnson before and I haven't really listened to anything else by him since but "Bluer Than Blue" contains this beautiful combination of gently rolling piano and shimmering strings that frankly entranced the heck out of me any time I heard it at home or in the car. Randy Goodrum was the one who created this quiet masterpiece and perhaps I can thank him for planting the seed to enjoy AOR/soft rock ballads. I didn't really pay much attention to the lyrics but I'm rather glad that I'm putting this one up this week rather than next week which gets really close to Valentine's Day as a man tries and fails to rationalize his new existence without his old love.

As I said, I used to hear this on the radio all the time so I was surprised to realize that there had been a music video. In fact, this was the eighteenth video played on MTV on its opening day of August 1st 1981. Wow! I know it was the debut day but I hadn't even thought that a video of a 1970s AOR tune would ever appear on the music channel. In Canada, "Bluer Than Blue" hit No. 6 while in the United States, it reached No. 12.

Well, let's see. What was up at the top of the charts on April 3rd 1978?

1. Pink Lady -- Southpaw （サウスポー）

2. Candies -- Hohoemigaeshi （微笑がえし）

3. Masaaki Hirao and Yoko Hatanaka -- Canada Kara no Tegami (カナダからの手紙）

Personal Pronouns

Vi.gomez via Wikimedia Commons

 

It is a whimsical Wednesday here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", so to alleviate the usual things about Hump Day, the windmills of my mind rotated rather furiously. As a result, in addition to the internal hemorrhaging, I was able to realize that a fair number of the songs of note in our humble little blog often have titles containing variations of personal pronouns whether in English or Japanese or other languages. Here are just a few of them.

(1973)  Akiko Kosaka -- Anata （あなた）

(1975) Hiromi Iwasaki -- Watashi Tachi （私たち）

(1980) Kenji Sawada -- I am I

(1986) 1986 Omega Tribe -- Kimi wa 1000% （君は1000％）

(1993) Keizo Nakanishi -- You And I

Eikichi Yazawa -- Shinjitsu（真実）

 

As I mentioned in my thoughts on the most recent Kohaku Utagassen, Japanese rock legend Eikichi Yazawa（矢沢永吉）made his third appearance on the NHK special for the third time (his other appearances were in 2009 and 2012), as he sang his new song before going for that "Kohaku B'z" shot and coming up to the main stage to perform his old hits.

That new song was "Shinjitsu" (The Truth) which was released in September 2025 as part of his 35th album "I believe" which hit No. 1. First and foremost, it's a love ballad and judging from the official music video below, it seems to be addressing the love between a couple that's been around for quite a while. Written by Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）and composed by Yazawa, I actually threw the YouTube link for the above video into one of those AI music analyzers which got me the result of folk rock. I know that the 76-year-old is a rocker at heart but I'm not quite sure that "Shinjitsu" would rate as a rock song...more of a pop ballad that sounds like it came from yesteryear; maybe it's even got some blues in there.

"Shinjitsu" was also used as the theme song for a Fuji-TV live-action drama adaptation of the novel "Saigo no Kanteinin"（最後の鑑定人...The Final Appraiser） that had its run between July and September 2025.