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.
Showing posts with label Fujimal Yoshino. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fujimal Yoshino. Show all posts
Getting over Hump Day, we're now on the descending side of the hill toward the welcoming arms of the weekend. Perhaps it's time for something encouraging. And so, we have Osaka rock n' roller singer-songwriter Hirosuke Fumita（文田博資）, aka Hirosuke（ヒロスケ）, to provide us with his March 1980 debut single"Ikutsu Mono Hoshi ga Nagare"(Many Stars Shoot Across the Sky).
Thus far, I've only had a couple of Hirosuke's songs up on KKP and both of them were also introduced in 1980 but with a City Pop slant. His debut though was more of a bluesy rock number that was written and composed by him. A song about he and his buddies getting through the ups and downs of life, Hirosuke is glad that they've all come this far but there's more to get although the feeling is that they can do it. It sounds like the type of song that would be great as a final singalong entry at one of his concerts.
The arranger for the original was Osamu Ishida（石田長生）. Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）was the arranger for Hideki Saijo's（西城秀樹）cover of "Ikutsu Mono Hoshi ga Nagare" which was released as Saijo's 69th single in November 1993. Although the bluesy touch is still intact, the song has been given more of a contemporary power pop ballad treatment.
It was once a hot time in the city back in the 1980s when my friends and I used to hit karaoke and dancing on alternating weeks. Back in the day, it was so easy to stay up until 4 am in the morning while shimmying (or attempting to anyways) across the dance floor (can barely last past midnight now). I wonder things were like this over in the Roppongi and Shinjuku areas of Tokyo in the decade of the Bubble Era.
That's kinda the image I get with "Dance W Me", a track on "aesthetic", the July 1986 4th album by MIQ when she was going by the name MIO forty years ago. A brassy City Pop tune written by Kai Natsumi（なつみ海＊）and composed by the one-and-only Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）, I couldn't help but think with that intro whether Yoshino had a bit of inspiration from Sheena Easton's"Strut" from a couple of years earlier. But yes, circling back to that first sentence, the excitement within the song did get me imagining the crowded discos in the party neighbourhoods of Japan's capital. All involved probably thought the song was so cool that the preposition didn't even need full lettering.😋
*Not 100% sure on the pronunciation of the lyricist's name. If anyone can confirm or correct me, that would be much appreciated.
It's been a while since I last posted up anything by 1970s City Pop group Fujimaru Band（藤丸バンド）led by Yoshino Fujimal（芳野藤丸）. And it looks like this is quite the whopper from their 1977 album"BGM". And unlike what that album title intimates, this middle song on Side B of the original LP is anything but mundane.
"Don't Ever Say Good-bye to The Sun" is a glorious soul-filled love song written and composed by Fujimal himself. Armed with those disco strings, I couldn't help but be reminded by The Love Unlimited Orchestra's iconic "Love's Theme", although of course, "Love's Theme" is significantly louder and brassier. That's not to take anything away from "Don't Ever Say Good-bye to The Sun" whose orchestra is a bit more muted if present but also has plenty of warmth glowing from inside. It's quite reassuring and I thought it would have made for a great final track on "BGM".
As the Kyoku sisters and Mr. Calico are enjoying their walk through a gold-and-orange forest, autumn did arrive officially here at 8:44 am Eastern Daylight Time this morning. I had my own 40-minute walk running an errand and though it was overcast then (nice and brilliant as I type this now), it's been cool outside but without that slightly frosty snap in the air. I'm sure the cold tang will come in soon enough though.
I was looking for an autumn-themed song to start my own contribution to "Kayo Kyoku Plus" today and one song that came out at me was Masahiro Kuwana's（桑名正博）"Tsuki no Akari" (Light of the Moon). This was the late singer-songwriter's 14th and final single from November 1988, and it's good old-fashioned rock-and-roll ballad about a guy who's leaving town and the woman he loves (or loved). He keeps on telling her that he's just taking off for a while but the feeling is that he's trying (and probably failing) to reassure her that he'll be back someday.
Despite the sad lyrics by Itsuro Shimoda（下田逸郎）, Kuwana's melody and Fujimal Yoshino's（芳野藤丸） arrangement of said melody make for a wonderfully nostalgic musical experience especially with the solos of the guitar and the brassy bluesy saxophone. And the fact that this would be Kuwana's final single brings further poignancy, although he wouldn't pass away until many years later in 2012. As for the autumnal element, there is nothing overtly seasonal stated but I can imagine that the theme of romantic breakup and the mention of the moon are somewhat subtle hints.
Back in August 2022, I posted an article regarding Natsuko Yamamoto（山本奈津子）, a singer and actress who had a brief career in entertainment during the 1980s before calling it quits in 1988. Her "Hachi-gatsu no Fuan"（八月の不安）from her lone November 1984 album"19/20" was a slice of City Pop with a hint of synthpop.
I found another track from "19/20". "Kuchibiru Scandal"(Lip Scandal) is a track that takes things more fully into the technopop realm. The whimsical nature of the song made me think initially that either Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）or Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）or maybe even EPO had their hands in the arrangement and/or composition. It was all the more surprising that it was the same duo behind "Hachi-gatsu no Fuan" that took care of "Kuchibiru Scandal". Mirai Minegishi（嶺岸未来）was once again behind the lyrics while Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）, someone that I usually associate with the groovy City Pop realm, came up with the blippity-bloppity music.
This time around, the demands to have Yamamoto hit the higher registers vocally weren't nearly as great as they were for "Hachi-gatsu no Fuan", so the singer had a better handle on the delivery. Still, the song is quirky enough to be appealing as a good ol' 80s pop tune from Japan.
Decided to dust off the very 80s-ish self-made logo that I usually hide away.
But one guy who hasn't needed to be dusted off or hidden away is singer-songwriter-musician Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）. Rocket Brown let me know yesterday that Yoshino had celebrated his half-century of music last year with a commemorative album called "50/50" which I believe was released in September 2022.
Within the album is the title track "50/50 Fifty-Fifty" which is this quietly celebratory song created by Yoshino and lyricist Yoshihiko Ando（安藤芳彦）. It's an eight-minute bluesy pop ballad with a barrel full of guest vocalists: Hiro Tsunoda（つのだひろ）, Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）, Kiyotaka Sugiyama（杉山清貴）and Yoshimi Iwasaki（岩崎良美）. Just some good friends paying tribute who all probably headed for the local pub after recording following the comfortable vibes generated during recording.
Yup, my first article today was Xmas-based as would be the case on any November 25th on KKP, but I haven't forgotten that it is also Urban Contemporary Friday. In a way, I guess that I was psyching myself up for this last night since I was listening to a string of my old City Pop favourites: Junko Yagami's（八神純子）"Jealous", Junko Ohashi's（大橋純子）"Nemurenai Diamond" (眠れないダイアモンド）and Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）& Haruko Kuwana's（桑名晴子）"Who Are You?".
While listening to that last one, I saw a video off to the side titled "You Turn Me On" by the band SHOGUN, which had Yoshino as a member. Knowing the group primarily for uptempo songs such as "Otokotachi no Melody"（男達のメロディー）, I'd first assumed that a tune with a title of "You Turn Me On" would be something fairly funky and raunchy.
The English-language "You Turn Me On" is indeed upbeat but it isn't actually a sex machine of a song. It's actually a very sweet paean to the one the protagonist loves, and I can picture some fellow finishing up a long day at work heading back home to happily see his wife. With lyrics by Casey Rankin and lovely melody by Yoshino, it's a gently galloping New Music/City Pop sound with the typical synthesizer haze effect of 70s City Pop gone even more spacey. The arrangements were handled by Kazuo Otani（大谷和夫）with "You Turn Me On" included as a track on the band's debut self-titled album from June 1979. Not surprisingly, "Otokotachi no Melody" is also in there.
Indeed, it is August, and yep, it is feeling somewhat hot and humid outside and inside. The ancient fan is still doing its best to keep me cool.
(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)
As such, I've been keeping this particular song in storage until the month was ready. Greetings to Chiba Prefecture-born Natsuko Yamamoto's（山本奈津子）"Hachi-gatsu no Fuan" (August Worries) which is a track on her one and only album from November 1984, "19/20".
Yamamoto isn't listed on J-Wiki as a singer but as an actress and a TV personality, and perhaps that isn't too much of a surprise since her voice wasn't particularly the greatest, especially in the higher registers. In fact, her debut at the age of 18 in show business took place in a roman porno in June 1983 and a number of her roles were in the softcore porn industry, although she also appeared in at least a couple of TV dramas under the name of Atsuko Saito（斉藤厚子）during that decade.
With Mirai Minegishi（嶺岸未来）providing the lyrics, "Hachi-gatsu no Fuan" has a funky bass-and-horns arrangement thanks to composer Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）, so I'm guessing that the song straddles the line between City Pop and aidoru pop. As for Yamamoto, she got married in 1988, retired from showbiz and then later got divorced after which she started up an aromatherapy salon. However in 2005, she returned to acting.
Perhaps it's still a bit cool out there but the sun and sky are also out so it might be a great day outside for a park outing, as long as you still have a few layers on. Guess why I put up this Seizo Watase picture from my calendar as the thumbnail?
Once again, I read on Van Paugam's Twitter feed a few days ago that one of the big guys in City Pop, singer-musician Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）celebrated his 71st birthday on April 21st. All the best to him. Incidentally, my most recent article on Yoshino was "August" written up logically enough in August 2021, but once again in another display of my increasing forgetfulness, my memory failed to inform me that I'd actually written about "August" originally back in November 2018. I've done this before with at least a couple of other songs but I've kept everything up just to see if time has changed my outlook on them any.
Anyways in tribute to groovy Yoshino, I'm providing an article on "Pacific", the second track from his second album"Romantic Guys" from July 1983 which also has "August" as the final song. This time, though, I did check whether I'd already written about "Pacific", but luckily, this will be the one and only article. With lyrics by Yoshihiko Ando（安藤芳彦）, his comrade from the band AB's, Yoshino has come up with some summery and sunny music that reflects the title nicely, including a cutting guitar solo. I read up on a review of "Romantic Guys" on the Japanese music blog "Music Avenue", and those additional vocals are provided by Naoki Watanabe（渡辺直樹）, another AB's member, and he gives the song a bit of Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）. Just lay back in that hammock and relax!
Much as I did for 80s aidoru and Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）graduate Marina Watanabe's（渡辺満里奈）"Hachi-gatsu, Saisho no Suiyoubi"（八月、最初の水曜日）, I kept Fujimal Yoshino's（芳野藤丸）"AUGUST" under backlog lock and key for a number of months since I was waiting for August to reveal it on "Kayo Kyoku Plus".
Glad I did, too. "AUGUST", which comes from Yoshino's July 1983 album"Romantic Guys", is as cooling as a Japanese summer wind chime, and where I sit in the warmest area of my home, the song definitely has come in handy. This is so City Pop that my eyes have blurred looking at the thumbnail image of the video, but then again, that is probably because the uploader didn't put up a clear version of the album cover.
But no matter. It obviously doesn't take anything from the song which not only has Yoshino's creamy yet smoky vocals but those wonderful guitars and a delectable Fender Rhodes. Kazuko Kobayashi（小林和子）provided the lyrics, and may I say that the background chorus harmonies are just top-notch. I still could use a drink after working on a few assignments today before hitting the blog.
Happy Saturday...and most definitely so for the sun worshippers because we're under a heat warming here in the GTA. This is indeed rich since last Friday, we were hit with winter which included snow flurries. There's never a dull moment in Southern Ontario if you're a meteorologist.
Currently, I'm in a bit of a holding pattern just before another taping session with Rocket Brown for another album but while I'm waiting, I think that I can put in an article before show time. This is "Beautiful Our G", a song by the vocal group Circus（サーカス）, and the video above is thanks to Marty McFlies.
I was trying to figure out the meaning of the title for a while when I found out that this most optimistic-sounding tune was meant to be the theme song for a festival that was held in 1985 on Awaji Island in Hyogo Prefecture. Released in December 1984, the Our G part in "Beautiful Our G" is a pun on Awaji. Amazing what a lax attitude to English syntax can bring to Japanese pop song titles! With lyrics by the legendary Yu Aku（阿久悠）and shiny and happy melody by the one-and-only Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）, the sweet vocal stylings of Circus provide a summery sheen to this tribute to the island. Marty has put up the whole single consisting of the original song followed by the instrumental version.
Y'know...I was thinking that it's been a while since I've had one of the mainstays of City Pop up here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", so I figure that it's time to have good ol' Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）back for an article.
Luckily, there is some more goodness from his 1982 self-titled album"Yoshino Fujimal" to explore after writing about it back in 2017. Here is "Not What I'm Looking For" which is exactly what I'm looking for during this City Pop Friday.
With the music by Yoshino and lyrics by a fellow named Jeffrey Paul Keeling according to the JASRAC database, "Not What I'm Looking For" is the story of someone driving on the highways and byways when he decides to take a break at some bar along the way. He sees a most dangerous lady hanging around in there and being the jaded veteran of roads and romance, he immediately turns off the love alarm.
Again with the rest of the tracks on "Yoshino Fujimal", "Not What I'm Looking For" is so cool that it needs shades and it's so bright that I need shades. Can't help but hear the Steely Dan/Doobie Bros. influence in the chorus, and the entire song through the melody alone helps embellish the lyrics with the sultry and mysterious beginning, the potential promise of a good night and then Fujimal's declaration of a rather snarky "No Go" with this lady via the SD/DB chords. It may be one of the few truly kakkoii public safety warnings on LP. The other thing is that whenever I hear the lyric "...sun's getting low in the sky...", I think of Black Widow's calming phrase for the Hulk in "Avengers: Age of Ultron".
Well, it's the first day of spring! And as would befit such an auspicious day, it's been looking gorgeous out there with a ton of sun and some relatively balmy temperatures. Couldn't have asked for anything better.
A little less than a couple of years ago, I wrote about musician-songwriter Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）and his old backup band for Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）, Fujimaru Band（藤丸バンド）via their 1977 album"BGM". "I Know It’s Gonna Last" is one mighty number with some boss horns.
Well, the opening track on "BGM" is "Highway", a bossa nova-inflected song with some of that 70s City Pop keyboard haze that has that touch of sophistication of a high-class night in Tokyo back then. Plus, I find that the way Yoshino sings "Highway" is rather predictive of how Akira Terao（寺尾聰）will croon his tracks out on the future "Reflections" in 1981. With the music by Yoshino and lyrics by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）, the ballad is a cool number to be enjoyed while bombing down the Shuto Expressway in Tokyo.
"Highway" was also the B-side to Fujimaru Band's 1977 single"Kanashimi no Hodou"（哀しみの舗道...Melancholy Paved Road）, a song that is also included on"BGM".
One night on Friday June 24th 2011, I decided to take a long walk around downtown Tokyo to get some pictures of the concrete jungle. I have to say that one of my proudest photos is the one above that I shot in the Daimon neighbourhood, not too far away from Ginza. If I'm going to do a City Pop article, this will be one of my go-to pictures to flick up as a thumbnail.
This is my fifth article for today and usually I cap it off on Fridays to four but since I've got my second wind (thank you coffee), a number of Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）fans have been giving me their accolades recently on Twitter (thank you fans), and I put up a City Poparticle involving his good buddy Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）just now, I figured that the least I can do is get another Saijo City Pop tune up here.
Now, the topic of this article is his song "Halation" from his July 1985 album"Twilight Made...Hideki" (the source of the last piece I did on Saijo), and I have to make a bit of a tangent here for purposes of definition since I'd never heard of this word before reaching Japan years ago. But it's popped up in my country of heritage via a number of shows including the original "Sailor Moon" (I think it was one of the Sailors' powers) and I could never understand this rather arcane word. At first, I'd assumed that it had something to do with the word "inhalation", and knowing how George Lucas liked to name his Dark Lords of the Sith by chopping off the prefix "in-", I first thought that Darth Halation was an evil being who really had problems with breathing. But such was not the case at all.
In fact, the official definition of "halation" is: the spreading of light beyond its proper boundaries to form a fog around the edges of a bright image in a photograph or on a television screen.
OK, so if I've got this right, it's basically the effect of a halo around something or someone that really stands out like a saint or a person that you have a major crush on. Years of wondering have come to an end...which is why I cherish this blog so much.
Returning you to your regularly scheduled article, "Halation" sounds like the beginning of a wondrous trip through Tokyo (day or night...doesn't matter) in Saijo's convertible with the top down of course. It just has that engaging and smoothly propulsive beat connected with some tight horns and that needed sax solo. I could even peg that certain guitar riff from someone in the genre I know and indeed it is Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）behind the music and arrangement with Yumi Morita（森田由美）taking care of the lyrics. I think Yoshino is also helping out on the background chorus.
Well...not a great start to the work week, although I don't think the news was unexpected at all. Ontario got walloped by 700 new infections today so people are wondering whether we will be dragged back to Stage 2 or worse. In any case, it's gonna be another bumpy trip.
Anyways, to go to something considerably more soothing...the above photo has my purchases over the last couple of weeks from CD Japan, two of which I've already written about: Masayuki Suzuki's（鈴木雅之）"ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL" and Kiyohiko Ozaki's（尾崎紀世彦）"Kaze no Graffiti"（風のグラフィティー）.
It's always nice to discover a new "Light Mellow" CD that hasn't yet been purchased. This time, it's "Neon Nights" and there were some tracks that I've already heard and some new treats from the world of City Pop and AOR.
One of the tracks is SHOGUN's "Lonely Man", another band funk fest thanks to lyricist Casey Rankin and composers Kazuo Otani（大谷和夫）and Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）. This was actually the band's 3rd single and the ending theme to Yusaku Matsuda's（松田優作）"Tantei Monogatari"（探偵物語...Detective Story） detective TV series, a single that also included the more famous "Bad City", the opening theme to that show.
Compared to "Bad City", "Lonely Man" has got more of that City Pop beat although from the intro, I first thought that "Lonely Man" was going to enter Big Band swing. Still, that feeling of jazz never quite leaves the melody entirely although that also goes for the funky strut. I believe that is indeed Yoshino and Rankin sharing vocals. Maybe "Bad City" is the more well-known of the two songs but there's nothing wrong at all with the A-side, and dang it does sound nice being performed on stage. By the way, that final CD in the picture that I've yet to mention? It happens to be Kirinji's "Neo"（ネオ） album
Well, first off, I would back away slowly from her with no sudden moves and then head off quickly into another direction. Far be it from me to bother Mayumi Horikawa（堀川まゆみ）while she's making sure her cosmetics have been applied correctly. I do believe that she's sitting on a park bench in New York City.
Perhaps the fact that the picture is a cover of her 3rd single"New York Doll" from September 1979 is a clue. However, that's not the subject of this article...it's actually the B-side "Climax". Maybe the original setting for the song was the Big Apple, but when I hear this now some 40 years after its debut in the record stores, I can't help but hear Tokyo back in the day. The funk is there for that City Pop feeling but Horikawa's vocals and those strings remind me of some of the more uptempo songs that 70s aidoru darling Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）was releasing also in the latter part of that decade.
The wailing guitar, the disco strings and the boppy bass are also joined by some pretty thumpy percussion at times, too. Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）was behind the music while Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）took care of the lyrics.
Finally decided to take a look at the rest of Mai Yamane's（山根麻衣）debut album"Tasogare"(Twilight) from May 1980. I have already written about half the tracks separately: the title track, "City Drive", "Foolin' Myself", and "Wave", and just judging on that half, I had assumed that "Tasogare" would be a pure City Pop/J-AOR collection.
Of course, I was wrong, and happily so. If it were just a City Pop album, I think that would have been cheating us and Yamane from showing off the range of her rich bluesy voice, which she does in tracks like "Heart For Sale". The singer wrote and composed this 2nd track as this down-home country tune, and the image that I get is the lady manning a bar out in the dusty desert somewhere in the Western United States. There are only a few regulars, the lights are laid down low and it's the jukebox playing the song itself while Yamane is singing away while sitting the other way around on a wooden chair with a Corona in her hand. Another City Pop king, guitarist Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）handled the arrangements.
It's Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）, Matsushita's good buddy, who came up with the rumbling New Wave-ish music of "Get Away". We're away from the desert here and racing down the highway cutting through the city at warp speed, and I'm getting some Pat Benatar vibes here. Yamane once again supplied the lyrics.
Plenty of atmosphere with "Yore Yore Boy"（よれよれ・ボーイ...Worn-Out Boy）as Yamane provides some musical libation to cheer up a guy who hasn't had a great day. It looks like the cure is working, though. Perhaps this time, the singer is in a more successful drinking establishment replete with adorably off-tune honky-tonk piano and good friends. This time, it wasn't Yamane behind words and music, but Kyoko Matsumiya（松宮恭子）.
The final song on "Tasogare" is the wonderfully wistful ballad "Hikari to Kaze to Nami"（光と風と波と...The Light, Wind and Waves）as Yamane becomes a giver of a country lullaby about being apart from a loved one. Indeed, true to the album title, it's probably twilight as the heroine stands on the wave-lapped beach as the music brings hints of the Eagles'"Desperado". Bringing in an orchestra near the end to finish things off might divide opinions, but being a fellow who likes his fair share of schmaltz in a song, I'm good with it. Yasuhiro Abe's（安部恭弘）music is paired with Yamane's lyrics.
By this point in the recent history of City Pop, I think that most likely fans have already discovered "Tasogare" and have grown to appreciate the surprising variety in it instead of it just being focused on one genre. Moreover, even as far back as 1980, some of us got that hint of what she could provide in the late 90sanime classic "Cowboy Be-Bop".
I'm glad that I could get a re-released form of "Tasogare". Way back when I was still living in Tokyo but still early in my City Pop ardor, I went to visit one of my old haunts, Tacto, and tried to track down a Yamane album, but could only find a BEST compilation for the low, low price of $100! Luckily, there was a change of heart once I came back home to Toronto.
If' I'm gonna be finishing up the City Pop triplet today, there's no better way to wrap it up than with Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）.
From his "Romantic Guys" album released in July 1983, here is "You're The One", about as much of a courting song as any romantic tune out there in Japan. I guess that I can call it an AOR ballad with some more edge, thanks to some great horns, and of course, there's that marvelous creamy crooning voice of Yoshino. Then as we get deeper into the song, those nightside horns come further into play so maybe that's when the City Pop comes through. It's kinda like that franchise I remember from Tokyo, Pronto, which was a café during the day before making the switch to a bar at night.
I only found out earlier today that the "Romantic Guys" track is actually a self-cover of what Yoshino recorded with his old band SHOGUN a few years previously in their July 1980 album"You're The One". The title track, though, had a slightly longer title with "One On One (You're The One)", and there was a slightly jazzier arrangement. Fujimal composed the music while bandmate Casey Rankin provided the lyrics.
Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）has been praised for that romantic voice of his, but I also think that Yoshino possesses those love-me vocals.
I've got another track from Naomi Miyanaga's（宮永尚美）"Moment" debut album (1984). Last September, I wrote about her City Pop"Summer Rain" and the fact that she's another one of those singers of the genre that we don't have a whole lot of information about.
Well, this time the track from "Moment" is "Party ni Furarete"(Rejected at the Party) whose lyrics (which I couldn't find) may be rather unhappy but the song is pretty darn bouncy. I would say that it's a mellow mix of AOR, City Pop and even some kayo; there's something rather old-fashioned and a fair bit jazzy about the overall arrangement and yup, from looking at the images of the original LP, Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）was behind this. In fact, along with Yumi Morita（森田由美）providing the lyrics, Miki Matsubara（松原みき）was the one who took care of the melody.
Gotta say...I cherish Hideki Saijo's（西城秀樹 ）aidoru material from the 1970s, but I've been realizing over the past several months that this guy also had quite the proclivity for some fine City Pop stuff.
There was Saijo's very infectious "City Dreams From Tokyo", but there is also another crackling track "Television" from his July 1985 album"Twilight Made...Hideki". Considering that title, it's ironic since this song takes listeners places at a good strong strut throughout the metropolis instead of having folks doing the couch potato thing. It's got everything...Hideki's vocals, the tight horns, thrumming bass and snappy drums.
Now, take a look at the folks behind "Television": Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）took care of the lyrics and chorus arrangements, Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）was the one behind the percolating melody, and Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）of AB'S fame arranged the whole thing. You really don't want to be sitting in front of the idiot tube while listening to this. It's time to get out and paint the town red!
