Yukari Ito -- Naga Denwa（長電話）

Takuya Nakayama
via Wikimedia Commons

 

Man, do I remember these old Japanese phones of different colours and shapes when I first visited the nation in 1972. They all had their purposes but for the life of me, I can't remember what they were.

Yesterday I was talking about airports being a popular subject for kayo kyoku. Well, another object that's also been quite the target in the old Japanese songs has been the good ol' telephone whether it be for romantic continuation or dislocation, often the latter.

This time around, I have "Naga Denwa" (Long Phone Call) which was the final track on Yukari Ito's（伊東ゆかり）October 1981 album "Aisuru Uso wo Shittemasuka. Onna ni Kansuru 10-shou"（愛する嘘を知ってますか。女に関する10章...Know Any Loving Lies? Ten Chapters About Women）. And it was a good choice to finish things up on because it is a slow and lush 1970s-style ballad that seems to have been done with some inspiration from folks such as Barry Manilow, Boz Scaggs and Carly Simon. I would place it as an AOR tune but there is that middle part which dives right into classical, so I've also thrown in the Fashion Music tag, too. 

Yoko Yamaguchi（山口洋子）was responsible for the lyrics while Daisuke Inoue（井上大輔）took care of the melody. The arrangement was handled by the City Pop duo DEW. Some years ago, I also wrote about another track on "Aisuru Uso wo Shittemasuka. Onna ni Kansuru 10-shou" titled "Gigolo", so give that one a try as well.

DEW -- Aki（秋）

 

Back in late spring, I posted an article on the City Pop duo DEW consisting of guitarist Hiroshi Yasukawa（安川ひろし）and keyboardist/producer Nobuo Kurata（倉田信雄）. They didn't last too long together but were able to put out one single and one album in 1980.

Whereas the first one was on the single "Atsui Sasayaki"（熱いささやき）, this article will look at one track from the album "1st", and though we're still three weeks away, the title is "Aki" (Autumn). Written by DEW and composed by Yasukawa, we learn pretty quickly that the two really did like their bossa nova or samba, but "Aki" kinda stumbles out the gate before everyone and everything right themselves into something smoother and more pleasant. Not sure who's singing here but he's evidently decided to go the Akira Terao（寺尾聰）route by going low and soft with the vocals. 

DEW -- Atsui Sasayaki（熱いささやき）/Night Time

 

To begin the first Urban Contemporary Friday for June 2023 on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I may have found one of the rarest of the rare. I am talking about what was probably the short-lived duo DEW consisting of guitarist Hiroshi Yasukawa（安川ひろし）and keyboardist/producer Nobuo Kurata（倉田信雄）. In 1980, they put out one single and one album titled "DEW 1st".

Today will provide space and time for the lone single "Atsui Sasayaki" (Hot Whispers) with lyrics by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）and melody by Yasukawa under Kurata's arrangement. It's notable for some odd choices such as Christmas bells in the intro and a weird combination of keyboards in the coda, but between the two is some rumbling downtown Latin-tinged City Pop.

The B-side is "Night Time" which starts off with a steamrolling cascade of piano before the convertible takes off for a road trip on the expressway. Kurata trips the light fantastic on his instruments and there is a feeling of 70s and 80s City Pop arrangements coming together for a passing of the torch perhaps. Yasukawa also has a good deal of fun on the guitar. Unfortunately, I couldn't find out who was handling the songwriting for "Night Time".

I could find the J-Wiki articles for both Yasukawa and Kurata although neither make any mention of their time in DEW. Yasukawa began his music education as a violinist at the age of 5. Graduating from Doshisha University, he entered a jazz trio and later on, provided his skills for the television industry. Yokohama-born Kurata began as a studio musician in 1977 and has worked with virtually everyone ranging from Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）and Masashi Sada（さだまさし）to Misia and Ringo Shiina（椎名林檎）.