Carlos Toshiki -- Yoake made Borderless（夜明けまでBORDERLESS）

 

Last night, I was looking at HRLE92's epic article on the various side projects budding out of the perennially summer time City Pop/J-AOR band Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）, "Omega Tribe-Related Works Review". Up to now, I had assumed that it was Kiyotaka Sugiyama's（杉山清貴）group to be passed over to Carlos Toshiki（カルロス・トシキ）, but like the multiverse which began to sprout at the end of the first season of "Loki", Omega Tribe apparently grew its own branches.

One album that came under HRLE92's scrutiny was Toshiki's debut solo album "Emotional" from December 1991. It wasn't looked upon too kindly by my fellow KKP contributor but he and I both agree that the first track "Yoake made Borderless" (Borderless Till Dawn) was the one standout. The song was actually his November 1991 2nd single as a solo artist following his 1982 "Lusia" (also noted in HRLE92's review) which had been released before Toshiki's relationship with Omega Tribe.

Written by Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）, composed by Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, the keyboards might sound 90s but in all other regards, "Yoake made Borderless" feels as if Toshiki had never left the band. Those harmonized backing vocals and the summery sax seal the deal in terms of the familiarity. The single only did very modestly, though, by scoring a peak of No. 97 on Oricon. The Economic Bubble Era may have crumbled away in that year but this song sure didn't get the memo.

Marcos V.’s Special Selection: Love Letter to Brazil

 It seems long ago, but I took this picture in Rio de Janeiro in February 2019.

Brazil is not in its strongest moment right now, since it’s going through lots of hardships, and I’m not talking only about the COVID-19 situation, which, per se, is already very worrisome. Anyway, even though things are bad and there’s little to nothing to celebrate, I still like to remember how my country is special, since it’s a good way to continue moving forward. Also, I believe music is a great way to celebrate different cultures, just like we usually do here on Kayo Kyoku Plus, so here’s my “Love Letter to Brazil”, which is basically a selection of Japanese songs somehow connected to Brazil, even if indirectly.

Mako Ishino -- Omoikkiri Samba (思いっきりサンバ)

There’s plenty to like in Mako Ishino’s (石野真子) discography. The cute crooked teeth aidoru from the very late 70s and early 80s even had her share of hits, like the aidoru-like “Haru La! La! La!” (春ラ!ラ!ラ!) – which, by the way, wouldn’t be out of place in Seiko Matsuda’s (松田聖子) discography – or the catchy unrequited love-themed “Shitsuren Kinenbi” (失恋記念日), but it’s the dazzling “Omoikkiri Samba” that fits this list with its mixture of samba, disco and aidoru pop. Released in February 1981, it may not be one of Ishino’s most noticeable singles, but I never resist how bouncy it sounds.

Carlos Toshiki -- BRAZIL NIGHTS

“BRAZIL NIGHTS” is a song from Carlos Toshiki’s (カルロス・トシキ) “Emotional~Migigawa no Heart-tachi e” album (Emotional〜右側のハートたちへ), which was released in 1991 and marked the start of his solo work after the end of Omega Tribe (オメガトライブ). This jazzy tune is one of his solo highlights to me, and, even though Carlos was born in Paraná state, in Brazil’s Southern region, which is primarily known for German immigration (but also Polish, Italian, Japanese and many others) – therefore not a region with a strong samba tradition –, he ended recording some samba songs in Japan, like this one, probably because it’s Brazil’s representative music genre alongside bossa nova worldwide. The Portuguese lines in the chorus, though, are almost meaningless, but they’re charming in a strange way. Also, the energy is great (the pianist was on fire in the live performance above).

Hidemi Ishikawa -- Motto Sekkin Shimasho (もっと接近しましょ)

“Motto Sekkin Shimasho” is probably not directly related to Brazil or its music genres, but the title and how Hidemi Ishikawa (石川秀美) sings it, coupled with the Latin and almost Carnival-like rhythm, of course, is just something very Brazilian to my ears. I think what triggers this reaction are the “motto” and the “shimasho” words in the “Motto Sekkin Shimasho” title, which could be translated in a cold way as “let’s get closer”, in English, or “let’s get even closer” if we want to use and put some emphasis on “motto”. As I can see, and I can be wrong, since I’m not an expert in Japanese language, both “motto” and “shimasho” could turn this innocent, almost cold or neutral sentence, “let’s get closer”, into something not very innocent… and that’s how I always connect it with the Brazilian Portuguese. Let me explain: here in Brazil, we use a kind of baby talk and diminutive language (here’s a great BBC article discussing the subject), even in our daily life, to soften words, give them nuances and sometimes change their meanings. For example, Ishikawa’s “let’s get closer” means “vamos ficar juntos” in Portuguese, but for it to have the warmer meaning I think the “motto” and the “shimasho” are meant to in the original title, we would have to turn the “juntos” (together) into its diminutive version, which is “juntinhos”. It's a tender way of speaking, which shows affection and takes the load off some situations, even in serious talks. It's like the suffixes "-chan" or "-kun" in Japanese, or also a kawaii way of speaking that I know also exists in Japan, but here in Brazil we use for everything, not only for people, and in a very natural way. In the end, “vamos ficar juntinhos” (“let’s get together”, but using the diminutive version of “together”) would have a more romantic, and even sexier, meaning, just like I hear in the way Ishikawa sings it. Well, I ended talking more about language and my own interpretation of the song’s title in a confused way than of Hidemi Ishikawa herself, but that’s it. We all know she’s one of the quintessential 80s aidoru singers in Japan, and, regarding “Motto Sekkin Shimasho”, it was a single released by her in 1985.

Eliana -- Salsa Bonita (サルサ・ボニータ)

As the title already implies, this is obviously salsa, and not samba, bossa nova or any other Brazilian music genre, but the singer, Eliana (エリアナ), is actually Brazilian, according to the single’s liner notes, and she also mentions Brazil in the lyrics penned by Yukinojo Mori (森雪之丞). Anyway, “Salsa Bonita”, or “Beautiful Salsa” in English, is a very curious single released in 1980, but, unfortunately, I couldn’t find much information on Eliana besides the fact that her family name is Freitas, she was born in Rio de Janeiro, recorded this single after winning the Brazilian leg of a tournament called Horipro Talent Scout Caravan (ホリプロタレントスカウトキャラバン), and is, apparently, already dead (here's the link for this info). However, is she the cute girl on the cover? I don’t know… there are still so many unanswered questions about this single, so I wish I could find more about it.

Miyuki Utsumi -- Fire Dance (ファイヤー・ダンス)

Known for the hit song “Yopparachatta” (酔っぱらっちゃった), which I love in Ryuko Mizuta’s (水田竜子) voice, Miyuki Utsumi (内海みゆき) came to Rio de Janeiro in early 1990 to record an album called “Alô, Alô, Brazil!” (アロー,アロー,ブラジル!) under the wings of famous musician, and one of the founders of bossa nova, Roberto Menescal, probably trying to score a hit during the worldwide lambada fad. Released later in the same year as the coupling song to the “NASCI PARA BAILAR” (“I was Born to Dance” in English) single, and anticipating the aforementioned album, “Fire Dance” is a cover version of the Brazilian hit song “Fricote” (something like having a fit, or showing anger towards something/someone, in English), which was originally released by singer-songwriter Luiz Caldas in 1985. In general, when it comes to Brazilian music, international audiences are most familiar with samba or bossa nova, but not other music genres, so it’s surprising to see a Japanese artist recording an axé song, which comes from a specific region of the country, Bahia state, in the northeast region. In the end, since I already like the original version and its summery energy, this Japanese version with bits of Portuguese language sang by Utsumi and the background singers is really interesting to my ears.

Luiz Caldas -- Fricote

To finish, just out of curiosity, here’s the original version of Miyuki Utsumi’s “Fire Dance”, which is “Fricote” by Luiz Caldas. The video was shot in the beautiful Salvador, Bahia state’s capital city, and Brazil first national capital, from 1549 until 1763, when Rio de Janeiro took its place (since 1960, the national capital is Brasília) Like I said before, the song was originally released in 1985.

Omega Tribe-Related Works Review

S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe, Photo from Last.fm

Hi, I am HRLE92, a new author of this blog. I run a Youtube channel called "Island Fantasia" to upload music. If you like city pop, AOR, or jazz, you might find something interesting there.

Omega Tribe is probably one of the most well-known city pop bands. However, its offshoot bands are lesser-known. This article introduces some bands and projects that are related to Omega Tribe. The works by S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe, 1986 Omega Tribe, and Carlos Toshiki & Omega Tribe are not introduced, as these bands are considered collectively as the original“Omega Tribe” Works by Kiyotaka Sugiyama are also not introduced, because they are pretty well-known.

Each album/single will have these under it:

My personal review

Audio Sample (if available)

Rarity: How many copies were sold in the last 120 days on Yahoo Auctions by the time this article was written. So the lower the value is, the rarer the album/single is. 

Recommendation Rate: Range From 1-5. This value reflects my personal opinion on whether you should listen to the musical work if you like Omega Tribe. 1 means that you can totally skip this album and it would be a waste of your time if you are trying to find Omega Tribe vibes. 5 means that it is a must-listen.

Price: based on how much a physical was sold on Yahoo Auctions. This is merely an estimation and it may not reflect the actual price it will go for by the time you are reading this article.

Please note that all of these are very personal and you might find some of them not true for you.

1. Carlos Toshiki - Lucia/哀愁のイパネマ (Single, 1982)

From Yahoo.jp

Carlos Toshiki released this single before joining Omega Tribe. However, in terms of music and style, this single is nothing like Omega Tribe. It is more kayo-inclined. It does not feature any Omega Tribe composers/arrangers and does not have that resort vibe. Even the album art does not have any Omega Tribe feeling.

Rarity: 1

Recommendation Rate: 1

Price: around 4000 JPY

2. きゅうてぃぱんちょす (Cutie Panchos) - Live 1982 (Album, Presumably 1982)

Image from Discogs

Cutie Panchos is basically Omega Tribe before being officially called Omega Tribe. According to Wikipedia, the band consisted of many more members than its successor, S. Kiyotaka & Omega Tribe, did. Although I did not find any audio clip from this tape, I did find some materials that may indicate what Cutie Panchos sounded like:

I like it. I think the band sounds really good. 

Rarity: 0

Recommendation Rate: 3

Price: N/A

3. Jackie Lin & Par Avion - Strangers Dream (Single, 1987)

Image from Discogs

This single sounds and looks incredibly like what Carlos Toshiki & Omega Tribe would release in the late 80s. I think if Carlos Toshiki was on Vocal of these two tracks, they can be included in one of the Omega Tribe albums. The two tracks on the disc are written by people who worked on Omega Tribe songs: Hiroshi Shinkawa, Tetsuji Hayashi, Motoki Funayama, and Kiyotaka Sugiyama. The 7-inch vinyl version is easy to come by, but the 8cm CD edition is much rarer.  

Rarity: 4 (vinyl), 1 (8cm CD)

Recommendation Rate: 5

Price: 50-1000 JPY (vinyl), 5000-30000 JPY (8cm CD)

4. Masanori Ikeda - Quarterback (Album, 1987)

From Discogs

The main style of this album is Boogie and Synth-pop. It is very similar to later omega tribe albums and it features many musicians who composed and arranged for Omega Tribe. The producer is also the same. However, I feel that this album is just a little bit weaker than real Omega Tribe albums.

Rarity: 2 (vinyl)

Recommendation Rate: 4

Price: <600 JPY (vinyl)

5. Carlos Toshiki - Emotional (Album, 1991)

From Discogs

The first track is extraordinarily good, but the rest of the album is kind of average.  All tracks are composed by either Tsunehiro Izumi or Carlos Toshiki and are arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa. As of now, this album is not reissued, so you may need some effort to find a copy. 

Rarity: 6

Recommendation Rate: 3 (for the sake of the first track)

Price: usually around 3500 JPY

6. Carlos Toshiki - Alquimist (Album, 1993)

From YouTube

This album sounds very different from Toshiki’s emotional album and any Omega Tribe albums. The sound is closer to 90s city pop than to the 80s. I think it is an average album compared to most 90s city pop albums. Composers of this album include Carlos Toshiki, Julia, and Tsunehiro Izumi, and arrangers include Takao Sugiyama, Akihiko Matsumoto, and Yasutaka Mizushima. There are not a lot of Omega Tribe connections. This album is reissued with bonus tracks, so rarity does not apply. 

Rarity: N/A

Recommendation Rate: 3

Price: >1700 JPY (used reissue version)

7. Carlos Toshiki - Doushitedarou? (Album, 1994)

From Discogs

After “Alquimist”, Carlos Toshiki is finally getting back to the Omega Tribe style. Composers of this album include Tsunehiro Izumi, Julia, and Carlos Toshiki himself. Arrangers include Tetsuya Osaka and Hiroshi Shinkawa. This album is partly reissued as bonus tracks in Toshiki’s “Alquimist” album, but if you want to get an original issue, it might be a bit hard.

Rarity: 0

Recommendation Rate: 4

Price: N/A

8. D.O.M.E. - D.O.M.E. (1992)

From my collection

D.O.M.E is an abbreviation of “deconstructed omega by mints entertainment”. I think it is a weird name for a band. According to Discogs, this band consists of Michihisa Ikeda, Satoshi Mikami, Shinji Takashima, Seiichi Bannai, and Toshitsugu Nishihara, meaning that there are only two original Omega Tribe members in the project.

The album sounds good in terms of city pop, and it does give me a general  “omega” impression with all the funky bass slaps and city pop vibes. However, I feel that something essential has changed and it does not sound like an authentic omega tribe album at its core. Shinji Takashima and Toshitsugu Nishihara are in charge of writing all of the songs on this album.

Rarity: 1

Recommendation Rate: 4

Price: 2000-4000 JPY

9. Brand New Omega Tribe - BNOT (Album, 1994)

From Discogs

Brand New Omega Tribe is another post-omega tribe project that did not reach large-scale success. Since I do not own the CD, I cannot provide much information about this project. But I do know that the vocalist is Masahito Arai, a city pop singer who was active since the late-1970s. 

According to Discogs, songs on this album are written by Masahito Arai, Tsunehiro Izumi, and Masao Urino. Arrangements are done by Hiroshi Shinkawa. This crew of composers raised my expectation for this album to have the Omega Tribe sound. However, the actual arrangements indicated otherwise. It felt that the music sounds like someone told the arranger to put in more R&B elements in the album when the songs were halfway done. The overly used synth bass and drums just seem to be too much for this album. I do not like this project too much. 

Rarity: 0

Recommendation Rate: 2

Price: N/A

10. Weather Side

From my collection

Weather Side consists of Hideaki Takatori, Shiji Takashima, and Toshitsugu Nishihara. I cannot write too much stuff about this band, because all songs this project has released are rock songs (not soft rock). It is such a shame that no Omega Tribe element is preserved at all, so do not be fooled by the album cover art. If you are buying any weather side albums for some Omega Tribe vibes, you will be very disappointed.

“Driving A Go Go” (1994)

Rarity: 1

Recommendation Rate: 1

Price: 500-2000 JPY

“Happy Go Lucky” (1996)

Rarity: 2

Recommendation Rate: 1

Price: 100-500 JPY

“30°” (1995)

Rarity: 1

Recommendation Rate: 1

Price: 3000-5000 JPY

So that’s it for the moment. I hope this article is helpful and thank you for reading it! If you have time, I recommend checking out my Youtube channel. I regularly share some of my discoveries in city pop there.