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.
Happy Monday! And perhaps that goes especially for the Japanese since the Golden Week holidays are right around the corner. It'll be interesting to see where a lot of folks will be headed this year. When I was living in Japan, I basically treated each GW as a staycation because I appreciated an empty Tokyo even more.
"Bitter Sweet Friday" might sound more appropriate for the day when we handle the urban contemporary material on KKP, but it's been in the backlog long enough. A track from bird's May 2011 7th album"New Basic", this one sounds anything but bittersweet. If anything, it sounds quite hopeful along that arrangement that brings to mind the Motown sound and Stevie Wonder. The singer was the lyricist here while Yoshito Tanaka（田中義人）took care of the zesty melody.
Happy Monday! We're finally getting something resembling summer here in the Greater Toronto Area, but I think it'll still take some time before the gleaming days and the warm temperatures hit the city for the next few months.
The second-best thing next to getting to hear a new amazing bird single is being able to hear a past bird single that I'd never heard before. When the above video popped up on her official YouTube channel last year, I'd assumed that it was something new from the singer-songwriter when it was actually the video for her third single all the way back from August 1999, just some months following her splendid debut of "Souls".
Yup, I confess...I'd not heard of "Kimi no Oto ga Kikoeru Basho e"(To The Place Where I Can Hear Your Voice) although in my defense, I have heard a lot of bird's other wonderful tunes. It may not make me the most dedicated of bird fans, but here in 2025, I can once again enjoy the lovely notes and chords of a bird song for the first time. Written by the singer and composed by Shinichi Osawa（大沢伸一）, aka Mondo Grosso, I love those determined and groovy piano chords which anchor the 1970s jazzy soul feeling of the melody, as bird herself seems to be in her own blissful world while everyone else is tripping the light fantastic on the dance floor. The song reached No. 76 on Oricon.
I've already done my two articles for today but I just had to do one more because it is an Author's Pick that I'd been letting stew in my brain for a little while. Approximately a decade ago, I posted a similar article titled "Happy Songs for Me (for International Happiness Day)" on occasion of the annual March 20th tribute to all things happy. I realized that there were a number of songs already posted on the blog that simply made me happy each and every time I listened to them and so all those endorphins were flowing around like cars in the Indianapolis 500.
At the same time, I also recognized that there were other songs that not only provided an emotional high to me but also got me moving in my chair...not particularly easy considering a man of my mass and for that matter, a man of my often stoic temperament. But indeed, those tunes actually got me to dance...after a fashion. As such, I opted to put up my own list of tunes that have gotten me to shimmy. When I did a bit of research for this article, I found that there is such a day as International Dance Day but that's all the way ahead on April 29th. I'm not quite willing to wait that long.
So, without further ado, here is my list of up-and-at-'em tunes. As with the "Happy Songs" article, I've left out the years from Labels since that part of the article would have exceeded the limit of twenty and anyways, the years can be included easily enough beside the singer and the title.
I believe I've given my opinions on each of the songs but allow me to add some more for each song. Knowing that there was basically no way that "TOWN" would be played at the Tokyo Olympics (especially since the song was actually more about New York City), but if it had been devoted to Japan's capital city, the music video would have had the buildings and the populace get into one massive dance party. It can almost...not quite, but almost...get me to play air guitar near the end.
Dancing?! I don't need to dance to the well-titled "Sugar Time" to have a great time. All I need to do is jump all over the place. Whenever I listen to this fun fest, I always envisage Bobby Van's amazing sequence from the movie "Small Town Girl" released in 1953. Play "Sugar Time" and the Van dance while muting the latter. You'll lose a kilogram!
I do my best air drums when I hear Carl Smoky Ishii and company blast this one out the headphone speakers. And then if I'm really in a mood, I even try to emulate the K2C dancers on stage (I make sure no one's home).
I usually just repeatedly shift my weight to this technopop tune but my overactive mind envisions this being a battle and a dance simultaneously on the level and magnificence of the fights in the very first "Matrix" movie which was a mere two years after the source album "cure" had been released. It could be the background music for a fighting manga brought to life. And when the composer is the legendary Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）...well, quality guaranteed.
When you link back to the original article, you'll notice that I only supplied one paragraph to this song, something that I haven't done in years. However, it really is the song that can give the oomph compared to anything that I could put down in prose. Some great samba beats by Mondo Grosso and some lovely vocals by Bird to get me doing my own line dance. I'm sure any concert performances of "Life" would have the audience frenetically dancing to theirs.
Once you get past the technopop intro, it's all wonderfully soulful brass and bass and disco strings and the Sawayama sisters. Yep, this is another one to get the blood pumping and the shoulders shimmying all over the place. Of course, I encourage you to be more ambitious in the movements.
Honestly speaking, I had to include both of these songs which come from Kirinji's heavy rotation 2018 album"Ai wo aru dake, Subete"（愛をあるだけ、すべて）. I mean, I probably would have included a few more tracks but I didn't want to go overboard. Of course, "Jikan ga nai" is the finest example of SALARYWAVE that I've seen especially with that section chief tripping the light fantastic on the disco floor in the music video. And then with "Hi Zero Wa Game", I never thought that I could dance to a Doobie Brothers-like arrangement but here we are. The concert performance videos are splendid but I wonder what a conceptual music video would have looked like.
I've enjoyed these and even burned some calories to them. How about you? Any danceable kayo kyoku out there?
Singer-songwriter bird celebrates her 25th anniversary as an artist this year and it's been almost a dozen years since I first posted her revelatory "Souls"debut single onto the blog.
For a while, I'd thought that this particular song was a new one from bird's arsenal (the official video had only been posted on YouTube in the last week) but actually "Flash" is a single that first got released in August 2002 as her 16th single. Apparently, it didn't register on Oricon which is a shame because it's got that old groovy soul that I've always cherished in a song, but that's OK. We old souls know what we like, don't we? It's kinda reminiscent of Grover Washington Jr.'s"Just the Two of Us".
The singer was responsible for the lyrics while Lori Fine from COLDFEET came up with the cool music. For some reason, the YouTube page has the title of the song spelled as both "Flush" and "Flash". Somehow I think I prefer the latter romanization. I'm also happy to observe that bird has a 25th anniversary album coming out in September according to her website.
I guess Kayo Grace and Mr. Calico both have the same idea. It's summer, the patios are open as well as the dance floors, and right now in Toronto, there is the annual Salsa Festival for this weekend. Plus, if I'm not mistaken, the annual Samba Festival will be taking place in Asakusa, Tokyo later this season. Frankly, I was thinking about putting up some previously posted songs which can potentially have listeners doing a bit of the salsa, cha-cha, samba and other dances from around the Equator (well, the salsa is actually from New York) and southwards. Enjoy!
A Happy Good Friday to you! Yup, it's a long weekend here in Canada so while things are still chilly outside, at least the sun is out brilliantly.
Starting off Urban Contemporary Friday from a weird angle, I recollect that I saw Stanley Kubrick's classic "2001: A Space Odyssey" in its entirety only once. There were a number of noteworthy scenes including the title sequence with "Also sprach Zarathustra", the appearance of the massive spiral space station, HAL 9000, and that final mind-altering sequence featuring Dr. Bowman's evolution into the Starchild. The one chilling scene was seeing HAL murder Dr. Poole and throwing him into the celestial abyss (no worries, though...he gets better in the novel "3001: The Final Odyssey").
Watching the relaxing music video for Tomita Lab's（冨田ラボ）April 2021 digital single"MAP for LOVE", I couldn't help but feel that this could have been the perfect song and fate for good ol' Dr. Poole...he somehow gets thrown into an alternate universe over Tokyo in the year 2021 (mind you, he seems to have an even better future in the year 3001). As for the song itself, "MAP for LOVE" is basically a get-together of the Tomita Family in the recording booth. Written by Ryuta Tsunoda（角田隆太）of the band Mononkul（ものんくる）and Ryohu from KANDYTOWN, both of whom had a hand in Tomita Lab's 2018 album"M-P-C 'Mentality, Physicality, Computer'" and composed by the Lab himself, there are no fewer than nine singers behind the microphone: the aforementioned Ryohu, singer/seiyuu Maaya Sakamoto（坂本真綾）, guitarist Ryosuke Nagaoka（長岡亮介）of R&B band PETROLZ, Kento Nagatsuka（長塚健斗）of WONK, Naz, Bird, Sakura Fujiwara（藤原さくら）, Yasuyuki Horigome（堀込泰行）of Kirinji（キリンジ）, and Mononkul vocalist Sara Yoshida（吉田沙良）, all of whom have collaborated with the producer in the past.
All of the Arthur C. Clarke comparisons aside though, "MAP for LOVE" is a sweet and breezy romantic soul ballad about being connected by love no matter the distance whether it be in kilometres or light-years. My apologies but I'm going to have bring in another motion picture here. There's something about the story that reminds me of "Sleepless in Seattle" with Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan...and the crazy thing is that I read on Wikipedia that Hanks had once been interested in adapting "3001: The Final Odyssey" for the big screen.
Ahhh...nothing more precious than sweet bird song...
Managed to find another track that I hadn't covered on Tomita Lab's（冨田ラボ）fine album "Shipbuilding" from 2003. Titled "Michi" (The Road), it's a gentle and groovy ballad that was composed by Tomita himself with wonderful chanteuse bird handling lyrics and performance. It has that wonderful mix of past and present that Tomita Lab has been famous for, plus I couldn't ask for anyone better than bird handling this one. Interestingly enough, the lyrics of trying to find that road within all of that tumult while keeping in contact with a faraway friend and taking things day by day are very timely right now.
This is the type of song that reassures and helps folks stop by and smell the flowers once in a while. I think we can all use some of this music right now.
Over 10 years ago, there was the story of "Densha Otoko"（電車男...Train Man）about an Akihabaraotaku and young lady who get into an unlikely romance when the former rescues the latter from a drunken idiot on the train. The Train Man is shocked and delighted to perceive some possible interest from the woman code-named Hermes and has to consult with his fellow geeks via 2channel about how to handle the situation.
The story was intriguing enough that it was adapted into both a movie and a TV series. I'd heard all about "Densha Otoko" when I was living in Japan, but by that point, the petals had fallen off the flower long ago when it came to my interest in the local TV dramas, so I never bothered watching.
It's only been recently that I discovered that the ending theme for the TV series was rock band Sambomaster's 5th single"Sekai wa Sore o Ai to Yobundaze"(That's What the World Calls Love). I had also heard about the band before since the vocalist Takashi Yamaguchi（山口隆）has had a penchant for going from soft vocalization to throat-shredding screams.
With "Sekai wa Sore o Ai to Yobundaze", which was written and composed by Yamaguchi, I think that the downtrodden corporate cog may have found his/her rallying anthem to get that second wind and go for something bigger and better. At the very least, the average salaried worker now had another song at the karaoke boxes to mightily de-stress. As for me, along with that feeling of getting off one's duff and becoming a hero to someone special, I've also enjoyed those key shifts in the refrain. Not sure if I could ever sing the song but I wouldn't certainly mind hearing someone sing it at karaoke.
Coming out in August 2005, the song went Gold, reaching No. 7 on Oricon and becoming the 76th-ranked single of the year. The single also ended up on Sambomaster's"Boku to Kimi no Subete o Rock 'n Roll to Yobe"（僕と君の全てをロックンロールと呼べ...Call Everything About You and Me Rock 'n Roll）,their 3rd album from April 2006, which peaked at No. 8.
"Sekai wa Sore o Ai to Yobundaze" has been covered by a number of singers over the years including Bird who performed her version with the pop unit Kuchiroro（□□□）in 2007 on her "BIRDSONG EP-cover BEATS for the party-". Her take is also pretty cool with that familiar Latin/club treatment that I've known her for.
I was surprised that "Densha Otoko" didn't quite get the interest of Hollywood since they were more than happy to adapt all those horror stories like "Ringu" along with heartwarming tales such as "Shall We Dance?" and "Hachiko". But then again, maybe something similar happened on TV instead.😁
A few days ago, I hinted at providing such a list when I wrote about Lisa Ono's（小野リサ）cover of "One-Note Samba". With the passing of bossa nova legend João Gilberto along with the influence that the genre has had on kayo over many years, I've decided to join my fellow collaborators Marcos and Joana, who have given their own Author's Pick lists in the last few days, and give my own list about some of those Japanese songs with the kiss of Brazilian music.
My awareness of bossa nova has been in existence since I was literally a baby since I do remember hearing the classic "Girl From Ipanema" by Antonio Jobim. However, Ryoko Moriyama's（森山良子）"Ame Agari no Samba" is probably the first time I've heard the bossa nova treatment being given to a kayo kyoku, and that was through the radio program "Sounds of Japan" back in the early 1980s.
2. Gontiti -- Natsu no Riyuu（夏の理由）
Along with songs like the above "Ame Agari no Samba" which have their own articles here on the blog, I'm also inserting some new discoveries such as this one by the acoustic guitar duo Gontiti（ゴンチチ）. I was going to include their "Honto no Uso"（本当の嘘）which is their splendid collaboration with PSY-S, but I knew that Gonzalez and Titi had plenty of more fine bossa/samba in their vast discography, so looking around a bit, I was able to find this pretty lively affair called "Natsu no Riyuu"(Summer Reason) from their 2007 BEST album"gontiti Super Best 2001-2006"（gontitiスーパーベスト2001-2006）from 2007. I just didn't want to put up only the languid songs, and "Natsu no Riyuu" has more of a happy skip down the beach rather than just the gentle swaying of a hammock. Strangely enough, "Natsu no Riyuu" reminds me somewhat of some of the soundtrack from the anime "Amanchu!"（あまんちゅ！）which Gontiti produced.
Couldn't have asked for a better band and better vocalist to really tap into the romantic side of the genre than Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）and Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）. This was the title track from their 1988"Anzen Chitai VI"album, and listening to it after so long, some of those nostalgic vibes of being driven home in my friend's car after another long Friday night extending into Saturday morning returned. Perhaps for other folks, the images might include that trip on the dance floor after a few cocktails.
The above is the long-form version of "LIFE" (2000) and it would be one of the only inspirations that I would have for actually getting up and participating in a samba. However, I do have compassion for sighted people, so I will refrain if asked. All joking aside, "LIFE" through the magnificent tandem of Mondo Grosso and Bird is one fun song, and I can only wish that my life could be as wonderful and happy as the song is expressing.
A touch of Henry Mancini class with this 1976 bossa kayo, "Douzo Kono Mama", that is the most famous song by singer-songwriter Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）. This was another discovery from "Sounds of Japan" all those years ago, and whenever I hear it, I think of a very ritzy but sedate bar serving martinis as their best cocktails. Young Sean Connery, Peter Sellers, and Audrey Hepburn are more than welcome here.
6. Taeko Ohnuki -- Voce é Bossanova
This is another new entry here and it's a really nice bossa nova number by singer-songwriter Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）. Ohnuki has created and recorded Latin-influenced songs in the past but I recently found "Voce é Bossanova" from her 1988 album"PURISSIMA" and felt that I needed to put it here. I find that her vocals became a little more whispery and more halting from around the mid-1980s, and as such, they became more fitting for the genre.
7. Shoko Aida -- Mezamemashou（目覚めましょう）
My final entry for the article is yet another song that hasn't seen the light of KKP before but it comes from my lone Shoko Aida（相田翔子）album "luz" from 1997. "Mezamemashou" (Let's Open Our Eyes) was well-titled since it was an eye-opening revelation for me as someone who was in Japan when Aida and Sachiko Suzuki（鈴木早智子）had their heyday as the successful aidoru duo Wink. I and probably most of Japan had no idea that Aida was a huge bossa nova fan, but she created most of the tracks on "luz" including "Mezamemashou" with Hiroyo Watanabe（渡邉浩世）helping out in the composition. The singer has that pleasant lightness in her voice perfect for bossa nova ballads.
My fellow collaborator and administrator, Marcos V., placed his own Aida bossa tune, "Jóia" from her previous solo album of the same title. In fact, the article was his first as a contributor on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" all the way back in early 2013.
Of course, there are many more bossa/samba-influenced kayo that I've covered in other articles, so this is just a sampling.
Yes, I could use with a good vat of sangria over the next number of days since the forecast for my city is Humidex figures in the 40s. Summer is definitely not over with us yet...not by a long shot. And summer is not done with this article, Part 2 of my own favourite summer tunes coming over from Part 1 earlier this afternoon. Without further ado:
I didn't mention this in the original article that I wrote for Jun'ichi Inagaki's dreamy "Natsu no Claxon"（夏のクラクション）but I think I may have heard and seen this through a concert video that was put on Fuji-TV in the early morning winter hours as I was shivering in my futon in Gunma. Oh, the irony. But then again, either Fuji-TV had a very sardonic sense of humour or the network was trying to get us folks thinking of summer thoughts to get us through the bitter snowy season. In any case, I think "Natsu no Claxon" is one of the summer J-AOR classics, and compared with the early summer vibe of "Summer Connection" by Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）who I also listed in Part 1, I like to think of Inagaki's signature song as something more mindful of the last few weeks of summer...namely now.
Ugh! Trying to think of an absolute favourite summer song by Yamashita would be like a parent choosing which one of his/her kids is his/her favourite...in front of all of the kids. I just can't do it and any one I choose will probably get some push back from the Tats fans, so let me just phrase things diplomatically and say that "Loveland, Island" is the representative of the vast number of beloved hot season tunes by the singer-songwriter. And I gotta say, I really love the song. I mean, I'm not too big on traveling but listening to "Loveland, Island" could make even me want to head off to tropical climes. Viva Tatsuro!
When the 2020 Olympics finally hit the big stage in less than 2 years, I hope that NHK will pick a theme song for its coverage that at least matches the epic heights of Maki Ohguro's fiery "Atsukunare"（熱くなれ）which was used for the network's broadcast of the 1996 Games in Atlanta. Living in Ichikawa at that point, I did watch my fair share of the events but I have to confess that the big thing I wanted to watch at the end of each highlight show on NHK was the above video showing the agony and ecstasy of competition while "Atsukunare" was playing. Got the heart pumping, it did.
The above is the extended version but even the single version has been a very pleasurable melodic trip through Brazil. I was wondering in the few weeks before I finally bought this collaboration between music producer Mondo Grosso and the wonderful Bird who created this fun number although I was able to peg the singer in an instant. It's one of the relatively few songs that could instantly make me bop about in my chair...not an easy thing to do when I'm typing, but that's how much I love "Life".
TUBE was definitely not going to be left out of this list by any stretch of the imagination. If there is any Japanese band that could be known as the permanent resident of the beach, it would be Nobuteru Maeda（前田亘輝）and the guys. And again, tons and tons of summer fun have been provided by the band over the years, but if I have to pick something, I will always go with their first bona fide hit, "Season in the Sun". I'm just surprised that it wasn't used by any of the TV networks as a theme song for one of their dramas.
My next two favourites for the summer were picked because I first heard them over my cherished radio program "Sounds of Japan" during the summer itself. 70s aidoru Yamaguchi's"Yume Saki Annainin"（夢先案内人）may have been released in Spring 1977, but everything about it says summer to me. The song could apply to walking through the streets of Tokyo or the beaches of Shonan at that time but the weather is always blisteringly sunny and hot. It may be rather uncomfortable out there in a typical Japanese summer but Momoe makes it darn inviting.
"Mizuiro no Ame"（みずいろの雨）is another tune that I picked up on "Sounds of Japan" back in 1982, and along with the dulcet tones of Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）, Junko Yagami was another wonderful voice who made me realize that there were some truly amazing singers in Japan. Years before I even knew of the Japanese genres of New Music and City Pop, Yagami was already charming me with her brand of cool urban contemporary material with a Latin twist. I know that a lot of folks are going ga-ga over "Tasogare no Bay City"（黄昏のBAY CITY）on YouTube, and I love it too, but I will still have a special place in my kayo kyoku heart for "Mizuiro no Ame".
I will finish my tunes here with "Summertime Blues" which is not only a great Misato favourite but also one of my musical touchstones of my time in Gunma Prefecture. Perhaps even more than her most iconic "My Revolution", this particular single reflects Watanabe's big and bright presence on stage. I think everything about it brings back the memories of summer in Japan without the annoying heat and humidity...although I will accept the sounds of cicadas.
Well, that is my list and there are quite a number of songs this time around but as I hinted in the first article, it's awfully hard to pare these down. Perhaps some of you collaborators and commenters have your own favourite summertime tunes. If so, let all of us know!
If you like your J-Pop videos with a bit of shoe voyeurism, I have got just the one for you!
And guess what? The song that comes with it is pretty darn spanking nice as well...perfect for the coming summer. This is bird's 21st single, "Sparkles" from October 2006 which, considering what I said in the previous statement, makes it very sunny for the season when it was released. Still, this tune which bird wrote and composed is likely one of the most joyous tunes to accompany a stroll in the park. And the arrangement rather mixes in the old and the new.
I'm just sorry that "Sparkles" only ranked in at No. 199 on Oricon. Should have gotten some more love than that, but I am being biased here. And it was nice to have it included on her "Free Soul Collection" of her hits which came out in September 2008.
The name Sparkles also has some meaning for me. It used to be the name of what was once the highest disco in the world when it was located in the Skypod section of Toronto's CN Tower. Of course, with its limited floor space, it was also probably one of the tightest discos on Earth.
For one of the YouTube videos for the singer bird, someone wrote down that if artists like bird actually appeared on the Kohaku Utagassen, he/she would actually watch the NHK New Year's Eve special. That's a personal opinion, of course, but I can also sympathize since I think that bird has been a vastly underrated talent. According to her article on J-Wiki, although her first three albums broke into the Top Ten of Oricon, she's never had a single that broke into that big list; the closest single was her 4th, "Sora no Hitomi"（空の瞳）, in 1999 which peaked at No. 14.
And here is this wonderful number "Kami wo Hodoite" (Undo Your Hair) which was bird's 19th single from September 2004 which apparently didn't even chart. Unfortunately, it isn't included in my copy of "Free Soul Collection" whose picture you see at the top. This is one of those hair-standing-on-the-back-of-my-neck discoveries when I first heard it last night.
It's one of those classy numbers that I can't quite categorize definitively. It seems to weave very comfortably through pop, groove, jazz and J-AOR. But what I can say is that it's just a great song to feel the melody and bird's wonderful voice. It is truly birdsong. And the interesting thing is that bird sings a lot of "Kami wo Hodoite" in this lower register.
bird herself came up with the lyrics of the electricity of falling in love while Takaki Horigome（堀込高樹）came up with the great music. Horigome is one-half of the brother duo Kirinji which came up with the just-as-lovely "Aliens" back in 2000. Wouldn't it be nice indeed to have some of that city groove in the Kohaku?
As someone commented for the above video, it's been too long since the last collaboration between bird and Mondo Grosso. I still fondly remember their sunny "Life" from 2000.
"Time" isn't an instant earworm but it's still pleasant enough. At first, I couldn't quite believe it was actually bird singing but as the song went along, that distinct voice started emerging again. Nice to hear her after so long.
It is the first track on Mondo Grosso's latest album"Nando demo Atarashiku Umareru"（何度でも新しく生まれる...Newly Reborn Over and Over）that was released just last week. And MG's website has some videos for the tracks. Along with bird, UA gives her contributions as well as actress/singer Hikari Mitsushima（満島ひかり）and Asuka Saito（齋藤飛鳥）from Nogizaka 46（乃木坂46）.
At this point, I think I have two albums by the velvety-voiced Asako Toki（土岐麻子）, one of them being in the shot above. Still love that cover design for her 2011 "Light" album which is a BEST collection for the Tokyo-born singer.
She may have been born in The Big Sushi but for my own reasons, I've seen her as a Chiba lass. I remember seeing her for the first time on TV doing her version of YMO's classic "Kimi ni Mune Kyun"（君に、胸キュン）which got my curiosity. Then one time I was in the Tsudanuma district of Narashino City, Chiba Prefecture, not too far away from Chiba City since I usually taught my English circle there on Tuesday mornings. I had a few hours of time to kill before my next lesson in Tokyo so I had lunch in one of the commercial complexes in the area which included a CD shop. It just so happened that "Light" was on sale there and so the CD was playing on the speakers. As I said, I did love that 80s-looking cover and the music was quite nice so I picked it up right then and there. "Light" has been one of the touchstones that has helped me remember that shop and Tsudanuma in general.
This article would be the 6th Asako Toki entry on the blog, so 5 of them are from this album: "Komugi Iro no Mermaid"（小麦色のマーメイド）, "Gift", "I-ke-na-i Rouge Magic" (い・け・な・いルージュマジック), a cover of Michael Jackson's"Human Nature", and this one, "Summer Nude". A nice glass of smooth sherry of a song, it's got that lovely laidback and tropical feeling to go with those wonderful Toki vocals. I'd say enjoy that glass while swinging in the hammock. It might be cold out there wherever you are; put this on the player...you'll warm up. All kidding aside, the first time Toki sang this one was on her 2008 album"Summerin'".
What I didn't know was that "Summer Nude" was a Toki cover of a song that had been originally performed by a rock and soul group Magokoro Brothers（真心ブラザーズ）. I did hear of the name but never experienced their music before. And what a pity that is. Because I was really impressed by the original version of "Summer Nude".
Released in April 1995 as their 12th single, "Summer Nude" is a funky and jazzy delight by Magokoro Brothers that reminded me of another group which was quite popular around that time, Original Love. Love the horns! It may have only gone up to No. 81 on the charts but let's say that this wonderful song can be our own little secret. Once again, that analogy of some wonderful stuff in the underwater 90% of that J-Pop iceberg is coming into play.
"Summer Nude" was created by Magokoro Brothers, Hidetoshi Sakurai（桜井秀俊）and Yoichi "YO-KING" Kuramochi（倉持陽一）. The two first met in the late 1980s while students at Waseda University with Sakurai in the Faculty of Law and Kuramochi in the Faculty of Education. Their first single, "Umi" (うみ...Sea) was released in September 1989. "Summer Nude" was first included in an album through their 2nd BEST compilation, "B.A.D.(Bigger and Deffer) 〜MB's Single Collection" in June 1997. That album peaked at No. 10.
Bird released her rapid-fire version of "Summer Nude" as her 23rd and final single to date in July 2008. I'll have to be honest, though, and say that this was not quite up to the level of the ones by Toki and Magokoro Brothers and not even up to Bird's early wonderful material.
The Brothers came up with an improved version of their own masterpiece: "Endless Summer Nude" in 1997.
Another weekend is upon us so it's time for a bit of spice in my choice tonight. And since I've put up an article in the last few days about a turn-of-the-century J-R&B diva, I'll put up another one via the chanteuse bird.
This would be her 4th single from October 1999, "Sora no Hitomi" (Eyes in the Sky). I noticed that Yuki Miura (三浦有紀...bird's real name) had a really busy freshman year in music with her first 5 singles coming out between March and December of that year. Her inaugural single "Souls" was a lovely and light piece of disco soul introducing her and that huge ball of hair. But with "Sora no Hitomi", it was all about the more nighttime downtown brand of soul with those fine horns. Even the music video above had me imagining about these 1970s performances in those urban nightclubs although I was way way too young to ever enter those. Plus, there were enough flares to get J.J. Abrams' attention.
To date, "Sora no Hitomi" which was written by bird and composed by Shinichi Osawa (大沢伸一...aka Mondo Grosso), is the singer's most successful song in terms of chart achievements. It peaked at No. 14 on Oricon. Of course, I'm being biased here because I like her work so much but I was hoping that she would have scored even more highly (her next-highest-ranking singles were in the 20s). Then again, I don't think she particularly cares about rankings and TV appearances so why should I? She's been singing the music that she wants to sing.
Saw the Super Bowl last weekend and when you have the two best defensive teams in the NFL go after each other...well...it's not gonna be the most rousing game. However, there was the halftime show which overall didn't particularly grab me (nope, not a Coldplay fan and I'm choosy about which Beyonce song I like), except for Mark Ronson & Bruno Mars and their "Uptown Funk". Can't get tired of that one. The official music video is fun to watch but I have to say that I was amazed by the video of all that old movie choreography synched up with "Uptown Funk" by UK Nerd Fest, and in fact, I prefer to watch the latter more than the former. Don't believe me? Just watch!
One of the reasons that I enjoy "Uptown Funk" so much is that it not only had me reminiscing of some of the funk and disco of my childhood, it also had me remembering some of the R&B that was coursing through the airwaves on both sides of the Pacific back in the late 90s and into this century. Listening to Mars' hit, I rather felt like digging into the memories for one of the underrated songbirds from Japan at around that time, bird.
Her 9th single, "Mind Travel" from November 2000 (I think the guys behind the video mistakenly put it at 2001) has some of that old-fashioned disco which was fashioned by songwriter Mondo Grosso with bird herself behind the lyrics. If I'm not mistaken, I think the singer was trying to relate about trying to get out of a funk (no pun intended) in one's life even if it means just merely imagining a way out. The disco also reminded me of Jamiroquai from the UK who had his day back in the 90s with one of my students in Tokyo being a huge fan of his.
The music video for "Mind Travel" illustrated that need to break out of the cage of ennui that bird was in. She was stuck in another mindless party surrounded by vapid people from the 1970s before her mind came to the rescue and delivered her to choreography. The video also stood out in that it might be the only time that bird ever truly busted a move in front of the camera for a song, and she wasn't half-bad.
Although the single only reached No. 73 on the charts, her album of the same name "Mind Travel" which was released at the same time peaked at No. 5 and became the 86th-ranked release for 2001. Y'know, I wouldn't mind some of that uptown (or even downtown) funk coming back to Japan. By the way, the above video is an instrumental version of the song.
I gather with all of the sturm und drang of this winter so far in Toronto and all of the excitement over the Holidays, it was just time for a bit of cool-down in terms of music. So I've picked bird's "Oasis"....a pretty appropriate title for those who need to get out of the bitterly frigid winds currently plaguing my metropolis.
Shinichi Osawa (aka Mondo Grosso) and bird herself were behind the singer's 8th single which came out in September 2000. The two of them were able to weave some fine soulful music, and "Oasis" is no exception. It's a nice mix of Latin and soul and club with bird's vocals calmly but confidently steering the song through some of that leafy green of that titular oasis. It peaked at No. 24 and is also a track on her 2nd album, "Mind Travel" which came out in November of the same year. It managed to go as high as No. 5 on the album charts.
I have heard some wonderful ol' time soul from bird, thanks to her debut single, "SOULS" and then some great Latin with her collaboration with Shinichi Osawa（大沢伸一） aka Mondo Grosso (who also composed the debut and today's song) on "Life". In between those two songs was "Game", her disco entry. Released in April 2000, I first saw the video on TV and then heard it a few more times before I decided I needed to get this into the collection.
I couldn't find the single itself but found the 10-minute version in Osawa's album of remixes, "Sakurahills Disco 3000"which came out on the same day as the single itself. The album has folks like Fantastic Plastic Machine, Towa Tei and Kyoto Jazz Missive contributing their stuff, but I came for "Game". I just love that voice of hers and how she rattles some of her lyrics as if they were bullets and she were the Gatling gun. Plus, there is a cool jazzy piano riff. I only wish she had gotten a bit bigger in her fame.
The top video is the original 5-minute single which peaked at No. 25 on Oricon. And the one above is her epic-length version of the song in concert.
I first saw this wonderful soul singer when the commercials selling her first album came on television near the end of the last century. My eyes were immediately riveted to her hair....good golly! Did she have a hair dryer with the power of a small radio station?! Still, that and that voice of hers got my undivided attention.
bird was born in Kyoto in 1975 as Yuki Kitayama (北山有紀）. After graduating with a degree in Sociology from Kansai University, she lived for a year in New York before returning to Japan. She was discovered in an Osaka jazz club by Shinichi Osawa（大沢伸一） (aka Mondo Grosso) and was given a featured role in an album by hip-hop deejay ZEEBRA in 1998.
In March 1999, bird released her first single, "SOULS", written by the singer herself and composed by Osawa. I really enjoyed the mellow soul coming through this voice which sounded as if it had gotten a good aging in Motown. Made for fine summer listening. The single went as high as No. 44 on Oricon. Her first album, "bird" was released a few months later in July, and that went as high as No. 8 on the album charts.
Almost a year later, bird and Osawa released a Latin-inflected version of the song called The Peach Bossa Mix which was also used as the theme song for a TV drama. You can decide for yourself which one you like better. The Latin feeling would continue in a number of her future contributions, including one that I have already profiled titled "Life".
As for her stage name, Osawa dubbed her "bird" since there was a bird's-nest quality to that afro (it disappeared some years later), and because he had also wanted his protégé to sing with a bird-like quality.
One of my favourite summer songs has been "Life", a collaboration between soul singer Bird and musician/DJ/producer Mondo Grosso (aka Shinichi Osawa....大沢伸一). Between Bird's pipes and the dance beat, "Life" brings my mood up to its title. The single was released in May 2000 and is included in the album "MG4"which was released in July of that year. The video is a pretty attractive travelogue of Brazil.
