Crystal Kay -- Koi ni Ochitara（恋におちたら）

 

As I've mentioned before, our Japanese streaming service Jme currently broadcasts NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン） at around 8 pm Japan Standard Time which is actually 7 am Eastern Daylight Time here. Unfortunately, I forgot that today's episode was one of their special longer shows so it premiered at 6:30 which meant we missed the first thirty minutes but I was able to catch up on most of it during the later rerun.

I did manage to catch Crystal Kay for the first time in a long while though. The last time I posted anything about her was back in 2020 just before the pandemic roared in. I never became a huge fan of hers but my memory engrams sparked at hearing her 17th single from May 2005, "Koi ni Ochitara" (If I Fall in Love), the song that she performed on "Uta Con" tonight.

She's usually deeper into the R&B...perhaps more hip-hop, but with "Koi ni Ochitara", it's a bit more of a lighthearted pop love song with a touch of soul. Written by H.U.B. and composed by Misako Sakazume（坂詰美紗子）, the chorus especially has this catchy sing-songy quality that can entrance everyone from kids to grownups. It hit No. 2 on Oricon and became the 30th-ranked single of the year. It was also used as the theme song for the Fuji TV drama "Koi ni Ochitara ~ Boku no Seikou no Himitsu"（恋におちたら〜僕の成功の秘密〜...If I Fall in Love ~ The Secret of My Success）. The song is also available on her 6th album "Call Me Miss..." which was released in February 2006; it scored a No. 2 ranking on the Oricon weeklies and ended up as the 50th-ranked album for that year.

Crystal Kay -- Ex-Boyfriend/Sweet Friends

Happy Monday! The weather isn't too bad for a February day...it's a tad warmer than usual at around the 0-degree Celsius mark, and I think even the sun has come out for a peek.

Commenter Fireminer had come around to give his New Year's greetings when he mentioned the name of Crystal Kay, an R&B singer that I used to hear about regularly in the early to mid-2000s. She's actually represented here on the blog but as part of a couple of articles on compilation albums but she's never had her own article on "Kayo Kyoku Plus".

Allow me to rectify this. In fact, I'll start the week with a two-for-one deal. First off, there is Crystal Kay's 6th single, "Ex-Boyfriend" from July 2001. She performs this with Verbal from m-flo, and I find it a bouncy and catchy number reminiscent of some older R&B that I used to hear about a decade before this single's release.

Written by Emi K. Lynn and composed by Kura T., I wish that "Ex-Boyfriend" had gotten a bit more respect on the charts but it got as high as No. 44 on the Oricon weeklies. The song was also included on Crystal Kay's 2nd album "637 ~always and forever~" from August of that year which went Gold as it peaked at No. 19.

Fireminer recommended this particular Crystal Kay song "Sweet Friends" which was from her 16th single, "Kiss",  released in January 2005. Created by H.U.B. and Kazuhiro Hara（原一博）, "Sweet Friends" has less groove than "Ex-Boyfriend" but even more speed. Listening to these two songs, I've read comparisons of the singer with Brandy, but I guess being from an older generation, I also get that Janet Jackson feeling. As for "Kiss", it reached No. 10.

Keiichi Tomita -- Tomita Keiichi WORKS BEST 〜beautiful songs to remember〜

One of my recent acquisitions that I managed to get my hands despite the rotating strikes at Canada Post. I was definitely looking forward to hearing this BEST work by songsmith Keiichi Tomita（冨田恵一）, aka Tomita Lab（冨田ラボ）. A number of songs that have been crafted by him on this March 2011 compilation have already been given their own individual due, but there are still plenty of tracks that have yet to be covered.

1. Tomita Lab feat. Maaya Sakamoto -- April Fool 
  2. Yumi Matsutoya -- Kaede（楓）
  3. Ken Hirai -- Ring 
  4. Mika Nakashima -- WILL
  5. Tomita Lab -- here it comes
  6.  m-flo loves Crystal Kay -- REEWIND! (Tomita Lab. Remix)
  7. Tomita Lab feat. Hanaregumi -- Nemuri no Mori （眠りの森）
  8. Tomita Lab feat. CHEMISTRY -- Zutto Yomikake no Natsu （ずっと読みかけの夏）
  9. Tomita Lab -- high noon
  10. Fantastic Plastic Machine -- Why Not? (Tomita Lab. Remix)
  11. AI -- ONE
  12. Youmou & Ohana -- falling
  13. Tomita Lab -- color them green
  14. RIP SLYME -- Mata Au Hi made 2010 ~ Tomita Ryu（マタ逢ウ日マデ2010～冨田流～） 
  15. Kirinji -- Aliens （エイリアンズ）
  16. Tomita Lab feat. Motohiro Hata -- Parallel（パラレル）

Unfortunately, I couldn't find Yumi Matsutoya's（松任谷由美）contribution to the album so we're gonna start off with Ken Hirai's（平井堅）"Ring". His 17th single from November 2002, it was written and composed by the singer with Tomita handling the arrangement, and yep, the Tomita touch of groovy and soulful strings is in there along with some gospel. As you can see from above, "Ring" was the theme song for the NTV drama "Psycho Doctor"（サイコドクター）about a dedicated psychiatrist played by Yutaka Takenouchi（竹野内豊）and looking at that perpetually hangdog expression on his face, I kinda wonder if he needed help.

Hirai had another hit with "Ring" as it went to the top of the charts, going Platinum and becoming the 39th-ranked single of 2003.

m-flo teams up with Crystal Kay for its 14th single, "REEWIND!" and then puts it through the Tomita filter. So we've got the Tomita groove mixed in with the fast-paced tumble-dry style of m-flo. The original single came out in June 2003 and got as high as No. 9, and it's also a track on the group's 3rd album "Astromantic" from May 2004. That album went up to No. 2 and became the 42nd-ranked album of the year.

I had never heard of the acoustic duo Youmou & Ohana（羊毛とおはな）but I'm happy to make their acquaintance through their "falling" which was on their 2nd album "Konnichiwa"（こんにちは。...Hello.）from January 2008. Tomita arranged and produced both song and album, and it looks like he let Kazunori "Youmou" Ichikawa（市川和則）and Hana "Ohana" Chiba（千葉はな）fully show their own sound which I'm happy about. "falling" was originally written and composed by Corinne Bailey Rae, et al with Chiba providing the Japanese lyrics. Sadly, Chiba passed away in 2015 at the age of 36.

Welcome aboard, RIP SLYME! Tomita gave his own layer of glam to the hip-hop group's "Mata Au Hi Made 2010 ~ Tomita Ryu" (Until We Meet Again 2010 ~ Tomita Style) as its 17th single. The original version of "Mata Au Hi Made" was RIP SLYME's final single in November 2000 (lyrics by the band and music by Fantastic Plastic Machine/DJ Fumiya) as an indies unit before making their major debut the following year. The Tomita-arranged version of the song came out in June 2010, and though I'm not a hip-hop fan per se, this one is pretty fun. Plus, I do like the video for a few reasons which include the fact that it reminds me of the trailer for the 50th anniversary special for "Doctor Who". The 2010 version hit No. 10 on Oricon. I will have to take a look at the original version later on.

My final song is Tomita's 6th single "Parallel" (September 2009) featuring singer-songwriter Motohiro Hata（秦基博）, and it seems to make for a fine "good night" song to finish up the proceedings. Tomita composed the song with Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）providing lyrics, and hearing Hata, he and the song remind me of some of the soulful contributions by Chikuzen Sato（佐藤竹善）and Sing Like Talking. "Parallel" hit No. 11 which makes it Tomita's most successful single to date.

Along with Matsutoya's track, I couldn't find AI's "ONE", but otherwise, including the songs that I had already covered in past articles, I believe that I've provided everything from this BEST compilation by Tomita. Looking at his list of songs that he's had a hand in providing to other artists on J-Wiki, I think, though, there are still many gems to be unearthed, and certainly, I won't be stopping at this album when it comes to him. Incidentally, "〜beautiful songs to remember〜" peaked at No. 77.

Ginza Evening (compilation album)

Back in August 2014, I wrote up an article about Yoko Kuzuya's（葛谷葉子）"Koi"（恋）which was this rich ballad from this compilation album called "Ginza Evening" which was released back in 2001. Looking at the title, I had assumed that there would be a whole bunch of snazzy Mood Kayo songs in there but then on seeing the fuzzy background image on the booklet, I started wondering. And then on giving it a test listen at one of the listening posts in the CD shop, my mind was definitely changed. The tracks were all of a mellow contemporary nature. This was more of spending a quiet rainy Sunday afternoon in a Ginza café (and yep, I have been in a few of those) rather than a raucous night in a Ginza nightclub.

The wonderful thing about picking up these compilation albums is that not only do I re-discover some of those old tunes that had once been gathering dust in the brain but I also get to discover new wonderful songs from artists that I would never have heard unless I buy one of these omnibus releases.

Yoko Kuzuya was one such example. Another is Yuka Kawamura（川村結花）, a singer-songwriter who was born in Osaka. She actually gained (further) fame when she helped pen the SMAP megahit, "Yozora no Mukou"（夜空ノムコウ）in 1998 a few years after she had first debuted. But I didn't get to finally hear the singer part of her until I picked up "Ginza Evening" and listened to her 8th single from February 1999, "Every Breath You Take", and no, it has nothing to do with that early 80s hit by The Police.

Speaking of The Police, I vaguely remember an interview with Sting during which, when told that his song was about loyal devotion to a loved one, he surprisingly countered that one of his band's most famous tunes was actually about stalker-like obsession. I could imagine that interviewer's jaw dropping onto the floor. Kawamura's own "Every Breath You Take" is happily more innocent via the lyrics in which the singer declares her support for that significant other no matter how trying the circumstances. The song does sound as if it had been recorded straight from the floor of an intimate nightclub in front of an audience while Kawamura's vocals and piano have that feeling of a performance from way back in the 1970s. It is also featured on her 3rd album "Lush Life" from April of that same year.

There is a lot to be introspective about when it comes to "Ginza Evening". Another ballad that helps in that endeavour is Akiko Yano's（矢野顕子）"New Song". This was originally from her 1995 album "Piano Nightly", and although "New Song" has that relaxing atmosphere, Yano's words are there to help the listener come out of any gloom and doom.

One of my favourite tracks has been "Kiss no Ondo"（キスの温度...Temperature of a Kiss）by the duo known as wyolica. They have been defined according to Wikipedia as "...a two-piece folk pop/chillout group from Japan". Since I'm not all that well versed on those newfangled genre names, I'm going to imagine that chillout doesn't include bands such as Loudness or X Japan. And certainly "Kiss no Ondo" as purred by vocalist Azumi would probably have me imagining that I was in a tiny hidden cafe in bohemian Shimo-Kitazawa rather than a Renoir (a long-running coffee house chain) in Ginza. That Latin guitar and the mellow keyboards definitely do fine by me. Azumi wrote the lyrics while guitarist so-to and Shinichi "Mondo Grosso" Osawa（大沢伸一）took care of the music. "Kiss no Ondo" first appeared on wyolica's debut album "who said 'La La...'?" from February 2000 which peaked at No. 17 on Oricon.

Crystal Kay was another one of those artists that I saw and listened to during that period when R&B really started making the rounds in J-Pop in the late 1990s and early 2000s along with folks like m-flo and Misia. However, the one song by her that stayed in my brain was the one she debuted with, "Eternal Memories" from July 1999. She recorded this song when she was 13 years old (maybe I can have my niece listen to this one just to provide her with a bit of inspiration) and it was put into heavy rotation merely by having it become the campaign song for a long-running commercial on TV.

Listening to the whole song, there is something haunting but also quite soothing about "Eternal Memories", especially when she sings the mantra:

I will go and try, to find what's in my self
I need to find the way, to find what's in my self
I know it's not that easy, but I'll try

My memory of the original commercial song had it sounding a little more energetic but I still like this slower version that is in "Ginza Evening" since it is going along with the overall mellow tone of the album. Hiroshi Ichikura（一倉宏）and Crystal Kay provided the lyrics while the marvelous Yoko Kanno（菅野よう子）composed the hypnotic melody. Kanno had just created something a whole lot more jazzier the year before.

There are of course a number of other tracks on the album but I will probably give some of them some more individual attention in the near future. But the take-away here is that just like B-sides on an old 45" record, don't count out some of those subtle compilation albums.