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.
Earlier in the summer, I provided an article on ELIKA's "Sunny Summer Days" when she was working under the temporary moniker of Trade Love. It was the very pleasant example of Resort Pop of the 1990s.
"Sunny Summer Days" was not just a single but it was also a track on Trade Love's lone album"paradise door" from July 1995. Another track is "Temptress" which also has its share of bass-powered oomph and nightclub-feeling beats, thanks to singer-songwriter Kingo Hamada's（濱田金吾）melody accompanying Trade Love's lyrics under her real name of Erika Shimakage（島影江里香）. I think it's those beats that has had me distinguish "Temptress" as a City Pop tune when compared with the AOR/Resort Pop of "Sunny Summer Days".
Actually tried to search for "paradise door" on CD Japan but no luck there, and it looks like it's pretty much out of my price range at Yahoo Auctions.
Yesterday, it was a drive from San Francisco to California's wine country via J Utah's marvelous driving videos. Today, it was down south through Malibu, and the reason for another virtual drive this hot weekend is that this time I was listening to YouTube channel Sentimental Tokyo's"Summer Edition IV: The Lost Summer「90s」" compilation of City Pop/AOR tracks (which has unfortunately been taken down).
It was another pleasant drive although this time around there was quite a gap in times with the Malibu drive lasting around 40 minutes while the City Pop compilation video was a little over an hour, but that's fine. If you wanna give it the City Pop Radio treatment, you can always choose another J Utah video to finish things up. The wonderful thing is that while listening and enjoying the drive, I got to hear some new stuff; the second track, for instance.
And that would be "Sunny Summer Days" by Trade Love, aka ELIKA. Actually, I posted an ELIKA tune around 18 months ago "Kono Mune wo Dakishimete"（この胸を抱きしめて）, a coupling song for her 5th single"Midnight Party"（ミッドナイト・パーティ）in June 1992. However, some time into the 1990s, she decided to take on a new moniker for a while, Trade Love, and her first single under that name was "Sunny Summer Days", a dynamic and refreshing splash of pop music that came out in April 1995.
I mentioned this in the article for "Kono Mune wo Dakishimete", but I think that similarity in Trade Love's vocals with those of ZARD is also in "Sunny Summer Days". The lyrics were provided by the singer under her real name of Erika Shimakage（島影江里香）while Kazuya Daimon（大門一也）was responsible for the happy music which I could imagine being categorized as Resort Pop. It definitely heralds a pleasant summer drive down to the beach.
"Sunny Summer Days" was the first of two singles that came under Trade Love, and the song was also a part of Trade Love's sole album"paradise door" which was released in July of that year. Incidentally, "Sunny Summer Days" was also used the ending theme for a sports show on NTV. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this song as well as the drive and the City Pop compilation as well.
I had this song bookmarked for such a long time that I'd forgotten what it was all about, so getting to listen to it again, I was reminded why I had chosen it in the first place.
Singer-songwriter and radio personality ELIKA is originally from Gifu Prefecture and has loved music since she was very young. In fact, according to J-Wiki, she had really gotten into singing Naoko Kawai's（河合奈保子）"Young Boy"（ヤング・ボーイ）at a Nagoya recital at the age of 11 in the early 1980s. She made her way to Tokyo soon after graduating from junior high school, and took music lessons while working part-time and then going to night school. At a music academy audition, she sang an Ann Lewis（アン・ルイス）number where she was scouted by personnel from the entertainment corporation Being Inc. However, her debut single"New Vision" in 1989 was produced at what is now Bandai Music Entertainment.
"Kono Mune wo Dakishimete"(Hold These Feelings) was the coupling song for ELIKA's 5th single"Midnight Party"（ミッドナイト・パーティ）which came out in June 1992. Written and composed by the singer under her real name, Erika Shimakage（島影江里香）, the ballad has that overall arrangement that I remember about the music recorded by female pop singers in the early 1990s. Wistful and keyboard-driven, ELIKA also has that delivery reminiscent of ZARD.
With 8 singles, 3 mini-albums and 2 full albums and a number of songs that she wrote for other performers, ELIKA was basically active in the 1990s. J-Wiki mentions that there has been nothing heard of her going into the 21st century.
