Harold Faltermeyer -- Axel F

 

To all those KKP readers in the United States, Happy Fourth of July! Actually, I'm hoping that all of you are really enjoying barbeques and baseball rather than reading a middle-aged guy's writings on kayo kyoku; c'mon, it's America's birthday!

Axel Foley has returned to Beverly Hills as of yesterday via Netflix in "Beverly Hills Cop: Axel Foley", so I figure that for this week's Reminiscings of Youth, what better way to celebrate the 4th than to bring in one of the more representative theme songs of Hollywood in the 1980s.

Harold Faltermeyer would later come up with the ultimate instrumental hymn for all naval aviators later in 1986, but here, it was all about the synthpop behind one of the most famous movie cops. "Axel F" was released as a single some months after the release of the first "Beverly Hills Cop" in December 1984. Coming out in March 1985, I remember it being a virtual heavy rotation hit on radio and TV to the point I was starting to get sick of the song. Absence does make the heart grow fonder because it was actually nice hearing it again after so many decades of not hearing it.

According to the weekly charts around the world on Wikipedia, "Axel F" reached No. 2 in Canada and then No. 3 in America, while it hit the top spot in Ireland and the Netherlands. And perhaps the song was probably cemented as Eddie Murphy's theme tune, too.

So, what else was hitting the record store shelves in March 1985?

Akina Nakamori -- Meu Amor e（ミ・アモーレ） 

Seiko Matsuda -- Train (album)

Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe -- Futari no Natsu Monogatari （ふたりの夏物語）

Because it is a holiday south of the border, I'll put up another ROY article later tonight.

Harold Faltermeyer -- Top Gun Anthem

 

I think the last time I actually had a day off from writing on the blog was during my trip to Japan in 2017. But after nearly five years, that's what happened to me yesterday so I am grateful to my fellow co-administrators Larry and Noelle for putting in their articles of choice and passion on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" on the 13th. And of course, Happy Birthday Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）!

Now the reason that I was a non-blogger yesterday was that I got together with an old friend of mine for the first time in nine months to have lunch and a movie. And as you can see from the thumbnail and that familiar smile above, it was "Top Gun: Maverick". To be honest, I never expected to catch this one since I'd never seen the original 1986 movie "Top Gun". It really wasn't my cup of ocha, so to speak. But over the years, I've managed to catch all of the main scenes through various sources including Pete "Maverick" Mitchell buzzing the control tower, Goose getting his name cooked, Maverick and Iceman digging into each other, and of course, the dogfights. Oh, yes...there was some romance in there, too.

Watching the sequel yesterday, I had a good time especially with those amazing scenes on the jets and all of the dogfighting there. Basically, the two hours were very much a coda to Maverick's career in the navy. I just had to keep track of all of the pilot nicknames (Bob was easy, though).

Of course, the "Top Gun" soundtrack probably made oodles of money, and though as I said, I didn't catch the original movie, some of the individual tracks from the album became huge hits on their own. There was Kenny Loggins' "Danger Zone", Berlin's "Take My Breath Away", and of course, the "Top Gun Anthem" by Harold Faltermeyer with Steve Stevens (from Billy Idol's band) on the guitar. I remember hearing the rock ballad back in the 1980s all the time alongside those two other hits, and I have to admit that hearing the reprise of it on the trailers for "Maverick" and in the movie itself did activate my goose pimples. It also raised enough interest at the Grammies and as such, the anthem won an award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance in 1987.

Seeing that the soundtrack was released in May 1986, how were the Japanese singles doing that month? Well, here are Nos. 4 and 6.

No. 4 KUWATA BAND -- BAN BAN BAN

No. 6 REBECCA -- Raspberry Dream

Mami Ayukawa -- Who Is It?

 

The singer Mami Ayukawa is undeniably known to many J-Pop fans from her anime songs, particularly the opening theme of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam. In addition, similarly to other J-singers of the 1980s, she did a few covers as well. On her albums, you can find mainly Mami’s takes on Modern Talking hits, but I was surprised to accidentally stumble upon the cover of Patti LaBelle’s "Stir It Up" (1985).

The "Stir It Up" song is the tune that got 12-year-old me hooked on 80s American music. It was originally featured in Eddie Murphy's classic comedy Beverly Hills Cop (1984), and I vividly remember feeling the thrill when shabby cop Axel Foley was entering the world of glamour and uptown celebrities.

In all fairness, the soundtrack for Beverly Hills Cop is filled with many memorable songs ("Don't Get Stopped in Beverly Hills," "Do You Really (Want My Love?)," "Gratitude"), plus the classic "Axel F track" composed by Harold Faltermeyer. However, Patti LaBelle’s "Stir It Up" occupies a special place in my heart. Just to experience the brilliance of this song time and time again in the pre-internet era, I would hook up headphones to a VCR and repeatedly rewind the end credits to listen to "Stir It Up" in its full glory. Even though I was not extremely knowledgeable about English back then, I could phonetically recite lyrics from memory. That’s how deeply this song engraved itself on my mind.

Consequently, I was pleasantly surprised to find Mami’s cover on her Fifty Fifty album. The track is called "Who is it?" so, as I presume correctly, the song is about knocking on a door. The original melody and tempo from Patti’s original are preserved, but the synthesizer arrangement seems a bit low-key, almost as if Mami did not have as much resources at her disposal as Harold Faltermeyer.

All in all, "Who is it?" seems like a great choice to serve as a theme for some light-mellow 80s OVA. I don’t mind coming back to it ever once in a while, but it does not function well as a cover. Mami does great stuff with "You’re My Heart, You’re My Soul" disco stuff, but when we’re talking about "Stir It Up," there is only one proper version which everyone should hear.

Here’s Mami’s "Who is it?" It has taken me quite a while to track this song on YouTube, so that Kayo Kyoku Plus readers could enjoy it. Thankfully, some kind soul posted in a fan compilation (timestamp- 1:55:52).

Photo source: Amazon