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.
In all the kerfuffle of putting up my Author's Pick on Tanabata yesterday, I was also informed that July 7th 2025 was World Chocolate Day because it was apparently the day that chocolate had been introduced to Europe in the 16th century. Now, I don't quite consider myself a chocoholic anymore but I still like the sweet stuff whether it be in cookies, bars, drinks and the like. I've had chocolate beer and chocolate-covered potato chips as the more extreme examples but I'm perfectly at home munching down a Hershey's Kiss or a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup (covered in chocolate, of course).
As such, although I'm a day late, I would like to commemorate World Chocolate Day with some of my own chocolate concoctions whether they be located in the song title or the artist name.
Well, since I was so curious, I finally did get that Chocolate Lips (1984) album over Xmas since I enjoyed that one track "Day Dreamin'". It was about as close as one could get to hearing a Japanese band doing the Dazz Band.
To be honest, all of the Chocolate Lips songs that I've already covered on the blog such as "Day Dreamin'" are from this one single self-titled album. Just to remind folks, the band consisted of high-toned vocalist and keyboardist Miho Fujiwara（藤原美穂）, saxophonist Jimmie L. Weaver and bassist James Norwood.
My impression of the album as a whole was that it was OK but not spectacular. I pretty much covered all of my favourite tracks except this one above, "Milk and Honey" with lyrics by Fujiwara and music by Weaver and Michael C.Wilson. Lots of bass for this strut and even a rap of sorts shouting out a lot of the major sites in Japan.
The first track is "Sexy Eyes" with Weaver providing both words and music with Wilson and Shu also helping out on the music. It's got plenty of funk and Fujiwara really throws out the high notes here. A nice guitar solo near the end, too.
Most of the other tracks are along these funky lines except for the final track which is a ballad titled "In Time". Fujiwara again provides lyrics with Weaver and Shohei Narabe（奈良部匠平）composing.
"CHOCOLATE LIPS" the CD version also includes as bonus tracks all of the songs from Fujiwara'smini-album"California Crisis" from 1986. She keeps the funk going with "Heartbeat", a song that doesn't especially break any molds but is reminiscent of some of the R&B from my MTV and MuchMusic-infused youth. And to be honest, I keep getting reminded of some of the action movies that came out during the 1980s with their BGM.
Nice song to write about since it is indeed a Friday (the 13th). Marcos V.'s mention of Miho Fujiwara（藤原美穂）in his article "Marcos V.’s Special Selection Vol. II" recently reminded me that the lady was once the vocalist for the J-Funk band Chocolate Lips back in the 1980s.
Yup, I really ought to track their album "Chocolate Lips" down. I found another track from their 1984 record, and though it isn't quite as catchy as "Day Dreamin'", the first song that I discovered by the band, "Weekend Lover" is still a nice piece of tight funk. And I think Fujiwara is one of those underrated singers of the genre. I do love that beat and the saxophone plus the keyboard sure sound sweet.
It's when I listen to the old-school R&B that I start appreciating some of the music that Bruno Mars has been introducing or re-introducing in recent years. Wouldn't mind a call back to the more soulful brand of the genre.
Yup, I do realize that I'm writing this past midnight but I was getting somewhat obsessed about getting my quota in since I skipped writing anything on Thursday. Fortunately, I did find a song that has a comfy midnight feel.
Two years ago, I discovered via one of the "Light Mellow" CDs of City Pop/J-AOR tunes this band called Chocolate Lips featuring vocalist Miho Fujiwara（藤原美穂）and musicians James Norwood and Jimmie L. Weaver. The song on that disc was "Day Dreamin'", a short but sassy funk piece that took things even past City Pop into good ol' American R&B of the 1980s.
I had wondered on the article whether their 1984 self-titled album"Chocolate Lips" was the first of a number of releases or the lone example. Well, according to Tower Records, it was the latter. That's the bad news. The good news is that apparently the album was converted into CD format back in 2015, so perhaps it's not quite as rare now.
One of the tracks is "Foolish Girl" with lyrics by Fujiwara and music by Yoshinori Monta (もんたよしのり) of Monta and Brothers fame. Somewhat more introspective and cooled down than the peppy "Day Dreamin'", this would be the sort of song to be heard while walking somewhere in the metropolis on a rainy night. My respects to Weaver on his sax and whoever was doing the guitar solo.
Got my latest package from CD Japan a couple of days ago. It included another in the "Light Mellow" series of J-AOR/City Pop songs, and my new acquisition has the subtitle of "Dancing" which I would really never have associated with anything kayo.
I came across one of the tracks which is easily the shortest song on the disc at under 3 minutes. "Day Dreamin'" is this short n' sweet tune of light pop-funk which had me thinking of The Dazz Band on Ovaltine (for those in Japan, think of Milo). And the band behind it is Chocolate Lips. I never heard anything of these guys before and the only information that I could find was through the liner notes in "Light Mellow Dancing". Vocalist Miho Fujiwara（藤原美穂）had been doing her fair share of backing vocal work for some more famous singers when saxophonist Jimmie L. Weaver came to Japan and had a chance to listen to her at some live house. A conversation ensued and voila, Chocolate Lips was born.
"Day Dreamin'" was a track on Chocolate Lips' self-titled album from 1984. My impression is that the album is one of the rare of the rare, something that even the liner notes hint at when the author mentioned that it might be found at a pretty high price in some old music store. In fact, the notes also state that it is the first time that "Day Dreamin'" has been put onto any CD. I am further impressed to find out that the original music video actually exists on YouTube. Along with Weaver and Fujiwara who both created the song, I'm assuming the third fellow in the video is James Norwood on bass after referring to the liner notes. For such a pleasantly funky tune, it was pretty funny seeing the guys film the video in what looked like a suburban house in New England. Maybe they were trying to be ironic.
In any case, the song isn't too long but it's got that fine 80s R&B vibe that I used to listen to all the time on the radio. I don't know whether Chocolate Lips ever released any further albums or whether they even lasted the year, but perhaps it might be time for me to go on another rare album expedition.
