Daddy Takechiyo & Tokyo Otoboke Cats -- Yuugata Friend（夕方フレンド）

 

Daddy Takechiyo & Tokyo Otoboke Cats（ダディ竹千代&東京おとぼけCATS）, led by Daddy, aka Go Kajiki（加治木剛）, was a comical and talented band which I discovered via a track in that "Light Mellow" CD series. That led to my first article about them for a breezy City Pop-esque 1980 song called "Itsuwari no DJ"（偽りのDJ）back in the summer of 2020.

I've now found a track from their 1980 first album, logically titled "First". "Yuugata Friend" (Sunset Friend) seems to be a playful pun on the Carole King song "You've Got a Friend" but that's where any similarities end. Written and composed by Daddy Takechiyo, it's a bopping track which starts out with what sounds like a polite rejection letter to the leader's confession of love from a pleasant-sounding young lady. The young lady just happens to be twentysomething Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）, and I did mention in the "Itsuwari no DJ" posting that he and the Cats had some connections with not only Mariya but also her future husband, Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）.

Hey, if I got rejected by the lovely Ms. Takeuchi, I would be crawling into a corner of my room (the one with the most dust and ant carcasses) myself for a certain amount of time, so I cannot blame Daddy for getting into the doldrums in the first verses of "Yuugata Friend" and thinking that he needs to drink his way into a stupor. There's something not surprisingly Tom Waits bluesy here but it doesn't take too long before he and the Cats get back on their feet and move on, thanks to some James Brown-style R&B. By the end of the five minutes and change, it's as if the rejection never occurred. Tats and Mariya are together and Daddy and his band are together as well.

Takenoya Central Heating -- All My Loving/Koi no Vacance (恋のバカンス）

Yesterday, I wrote about "Itsuwari no DJ"（偽りのDJ）by the comic band Daddy Takechiyo & Tokyo Otoboke Cats（ダディ竹千代&東京おとぼけCATS）and at the same time, I discovered something rather special. During my research, I found out that Daddy had been involved in a fun little lark with some good buddies from the music industry called Takenoya Central Heating（竹野屋セントラルヒーティング）thanks to a radio program called "Pioneer Sound Research" on FM Tokyo in 1980.

Those good buddies happened to be Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）, Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）, Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）, and Masanori Sera（世良公則）, and they had a nice little jam session. On the "Itsuwari no DJ" article, I put up TCH's cover of The Beatles' "Twist and Shout". I was so charmed and delighted by the fact that these legends pulled an all-star gig that I have also decided to provide another couple of songs that they did.

One is another Beatles' classic, "All My Loving" (1964) for which I first heard the original on the airplane stereo offerings while on that flight to Tokyo in 1981. Then right after that, TCH gives their rendition of the kayo chestnut "Koi no Vacance" originally done by The Peanuts in 1963. I was able to find out on the J-Wiki article for "Koi no Vacance" (along with the information on the radio program) who was on which instrument: Tats was on drums, Mariya was on keyboard, Daddy and Kuwata were on guitar, and Sera was on bass. Apparently, both Tats and Kuwata have played the songs on their respective radio shows in the past.

Daddy Takechiyo & Tokyo Otoboke Cats -- Itsuwari no DJ（偽りのDJ）

This is a band that seems to have had a fair bit of history. I found Daddy Takechiyo & Tokyo Otoboke Cats（ダディ竹千代&東京おとぼけCATS）on one of the "Light Mellow" CDs, "Dream", and the name of the band alone grabbed my attention immediately.

Daddy Takechiyo was born Go Kajiki（加治木剛）in Kagoshima Prefecture although his family moved over to Yokohama when he was little. Soon after graduating from high school, he got involved in live performances and then he joined the staff of the band Carmen Maki & Oz（カルメン・マキ＆OZ）for which he had songwriting duties and overall management at one point.

In 1976, he took on the stage name Daddy Takechiyo and brought together the musicians that would form the comic band Tokyo Otoboke Cats with a debut single coming out in 1978, "Denki Kurage"（電気クラゲ...Electric Jellyfish）. Then in 1980, the band released their first album, logically titled "First" with a follow-up release called "Idiot Plot" （イデオット・プロット）in 1981. The Cats broke up that same year but then got back together a number of times up to the present day with a few more albums released.

Supposedly, being a comic band (with talented musicians), Daddy Takechiyo & Tokyo Otoboke Cats were happy to take the piss out of all musical artists through parodic songs and controversial lyrics, and they became known for some over-the-top performances. According to their J-Wiki article, they were even banned from performing in some of those venues. Still, despite all of the potshots, the guys had good connections with a number of singers and musicians, and that included who I would call The First Couple of City Pop: Tatsuro Yamashita and Mariya Takeuchi（山下達郎・竹内まりや）.

In fact, Yamashita composed The Cats' 3rd single "Itsuwari no DJ" (False DJ) with Daddy's lyrics under his real name. When I first heard the song on "Light Mellow ~ Dream", I got all sorts of Electric Light Orchestra vibes along with some Elton John and Billy Joel feelings to a certain extent. Daddy takes a good poke at that smooth-talking disc jockey as he attempts to salve broken hearts as an ultimately superficial pop psychologist. I thought that for a comic band, the recording of "Itsuwari no DJ" is just as smooth as that DJ they are making fun of, but perhaps that is the point. It's well-produced and performed slick City Pop and New Music but there's nothing deeper than that.

Along with Yamashita whipping up the melody for "Itsuwari no DJ", Takeuchi also participated in "First". Then, Daddy along with the First Couple of City Pop, rocker Masanori Sera（世良公則）from the band Twist, and Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）of Southern All Stars（サザンオールスターズ）decided to create a band, Takenoya Central Heating（竹野屋セントラルヒーティング）, within (what I think is) Takechiyo's radio program. As a treat, you can listen to this group handle The Beatles' "Twist and Shout" below with Kuwata on lead vocals. Talk about an all-star lineup!