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.
Last week, I started posting a 2-parter translation of an article that I'd found in the April 2018 issue of "Record Collectors" titled "Cunimondo Takiguchi ga Erabu Shiteki Hachi-juu Nendai City Pop Best 10"（クニモンド瀧口が選ぶ私的80年代シティポップベスト10）. Part 1 contains the Ryusenkei（流線形）leader's first five albums for his Top 10 City Pop list and I'll be wrapping up here with Nos. 6-10. Again, although he doesn't go into great detail about his choices, I will still leave what he said about each one. One more point is that except for No. 6, I was able to bring in whole albums for the other entries. (Part 1 of the article is here.)
6. Baker's Shop with Haruko (Kuwana) -- Hot Line (1980)
I got to know Baker's Shop when they performed as Ruriko Ohgami's（大上留利子）backup band on "Yoru no Hit Studio"（夜のヒットスタジオ）. I thought that their playing was just so cool and reminiscent of a bunch of foreign studio musicians. It was through my discovery of Haruko's"Akogare no Sundown"（あこがれのSundown）in the 90s that I found out about this album. Their wonderful performance was able to bring back some distant memories to me.
I was trying to categorize this Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）song since it's some years removed from her peak City Pop days. Well, when I put it through the "What's My Genre?" wringer (Sonoteller is always busy), I got the following:
Synthpop (53%)
J-Pop (40%)
Blues, Funk, Alternative / Indie R&B (22%)
Funk (19%)
New wave (16%)
I'm talking about Kuwana's track, "Biyaku '85" (Aphrodisiac '85) from her June 1985 album"Don't You Know". The above genres are quite the heady mix which I guess would fit for a song with a title like that. Perhaps like the more famous "Love Potion No. 9", the aphrodisiac for 1985 has quite the mélange of spices and herbs and all that. But I'll just go with my Labels of Pop and J-R&B and if anyone can provide a more pinpoint version of that latter genre, I'd be grateful. In any case, it is quite heady and Kuwana's vocals are quite panther-y and slick. Yoshinobu Kojima（小島良喜）and Kyohei Sakayaki（月代京兵）were the composer and lyricist respectively.
Rum and vodka? Hmmm...sounds like putting together TNT and nitroglycerin. Then again, I was never much of a drinker so I think those two forms of alcohol are fairly lethal for a guy like me. For the purposes of this article, I was trying to look for any cocktail that includes rum and vodka and I didn't have to look far. There is the (in)famous Long Island Iced Tea as you can see above.
Back in my university days in the 1980s, one of my newfound friends after the Japanese-Canadian Students' Association had been formed and I ended up going to either Kuri the karaoke bar or some other drinking establishment in downtown Toronto with the rest of the gang. Of course, I stuck with my dependable Coke but my friend was intrigued by this tall cool cocktail known as the Long Island Iced Tea. Of course, neither of us knew it really wasn't iced tea but something far more potent with a whole plethora of stuff in there including rum and vodka. He ordered it, drank it and enjoyed it to the last drop. By the last subway, he was ready to drop. But before that, he was flying around like an overcaffeinated gibbon on the subway handholds. He was out of his mind, maybe out of his body and the next morning, out of much of his digested food perhaps. Maybe it was that experience that I witnessed but I've yet to have my first Long Island Iced Tea.
Anyways, all that preamble ramble about rum and vodka is up there so that I can introduce "Rum & Vodka", a track by City Pop chanteuse Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）from her June 1985 album"Don't You Know". It's great to have Kuwana back on the blog after so long and although the song has a pretty potent title, this tune composed by her brother Masahiro Kuwana（桑名正博）and written by Itsuro Shimoda（下田逸郎）is quite the laidback and groovy product that straddles the line between City Pop and urbane pop although I think the saxophone has it brought over to the former side. I can happily take in this "Rum & Vodka" without fearing any violently deleterious effects.
It's a fact of life doing this blog that my maintenance will turn up articles that have been denuded of their videos due to the usual copyright strikes and what-have-you. Well, it appears that City Pop chanteuse Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）and her band Baker's Shop have been the latest on the search-and-destroy mission by the powers-that-be. A couple of their articles, "Cheap Perfume" and "Vanishing Point" lost their videos but for one, I managed to find another replacement and for the other, I had to make do with a brief excerpt via link.
To provide some further views into my psyche vis-à-vis KKP, whenever a certain band or singer seems to get the vanishing treatment on YouTube, I tend to see if I can come up with a new article with video connected with said band or singer. So, this is what I have done, and besides, how can I ignore that beautiful smile of Kuwana on her 1980 album with Baker's Shop, "Hot Line"?
"Yoru no Dokoka ni" (Somewhere In The Night) is on Side B of the original LP and it's a lovely City Pop ballad written by Toshiro Masuda（トシロウ・マスダ）, who also came up with the words for "Cheap Perfume", and composed by Kuwana herself. It's quite the soothing nighttime tonic thanks to the slow groove and the wonderful Fender Rhodes work. To be honest, I don't know who is singing the male part but I wonder if it isn't Masuda himself. If at all possible, let's have this one up for a good long while.
Y'know, the other day, I saw this adorable little teaser from Sony Music Japan's YouTube channel.
Cartoon cutouts of the members of the legendary New Music band Sugar Babe（シュガー・ベイブ）appear and do some minimalistic moving around while their "Downtown" track is playing. Then the announcement comes out that their one and only "SONGS" album from April 25th 1975 is getting its special 50th anniversary release today.
Well, there was no way that I could let this one slide by KKP, especially on Urban Contemporary Friday. I did get my own special version of "SONGS" years ago at the old Shibuya RecoFan...I think it was the 30th anniversary edition and I wrote about the album way back in 2013, so that's all said and done. Plus, I had even written about the arguably most famous track "Downtown" more than a year previously in the first few weeks of the blog's existence.
However, as I said above, I'm not about to ignore the significance of this opportunity. Therefore, I've opted to provide as many of the cover versions of "Downtown" as created by composer Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）and lyricist Ginji Ito（伊藤銀次）that I've known and written about here including one that I discovered only last night.
As for why "Downtown" has been popular among listeners and musicians alike, I mentioned in the original article for the song that my favourite version among the covers has been EPO's 1980 City Pop take since it was not only the first version that I had ever heard, but also because it was just a bright and happy and welcoming song about enjoying a Saturday night in the big city, aka Tokyo. And I think despite all of the different arrangements that "Downtown" has undergone depending on the band or singer, that feeling of optimism and fun hasn't been diminished. Starting with Sugar Babe, the song dares listeners to come to the metropolis. Imagine what it must have been like back in 1975 or 1980 with the Sugar Babe original and then the EPO cover respectively when Tokyo and Japan were further going up in the world and the economy.
Sugar Babe (1975)
I have to admit that the original by this band took a while to grow on me since I was so attached to the EPO cover version. However, I can say that Tatsuro's take is also some rollicking rock n' roll fun which sounds like the gang busking about in Shibuya or Shinjuku.
EPO (1980)
EPO's EPO-tastic version is something that I will always put up alongside Mariya's "Plastic Love" and Miki's "Mayonaka no Door" as a City Pop anthem. Whenever I listen to it, I get those images of West Shinjuku and its skyscrapers at sunset and how they eventually got me to come over to Japan finally.
Another City Pop Queen, Haruko Kuwana's（桑名晴子）cover of "Downtown" is available on her 1982 album"Moonlight Island". Compared to Sugar Babe's rollicking original and EPO's groovy cover, Kuwana's take goes into a funkier and just-as-fun direction but it is no less City Pop.
YMCK and DE DE MOUSE (2008)
Apologies to DE DE MOUSE that I couldn't include him in Labels but I got the warning from Blogger that I reached my 20-label limit; I'll compensate on the original article since until today, I hadn't known that the chip tune band YMCK had collaborated with DE DE MOUSE on this cute-as-all-heck techno cover.
Maaya Sakamoto's（坂本真綾）"Downtown" was a pretty cool take because it incorporated a couple of genres into one cover: ska and jazz. Plus, the fact that it was being used as the opening song of an anime brought me lots of joy since it would mean a new generation of folks were getting their share of this song.
Heck, even the contemporary aidoru group Juice=Juice was having their fun with "Downtown". Sounding like a spacy version of EPO's "Downtown", I wouldn't mind visiting Odaiba in Tokyo Bay while listening to this one as accompaniment. Nice oomphy percussion!
the band apart (2024)
And we come full circle with the latest version that I've gotten to know. the band apart has actually been around since 1998 and in July 2024, they came up with their "Downtown ep". Their take is more along the lines of Sugar Babe's original, and the bright and glossy music video above signifies what I've always imagined about the song vis a vis Tokyo. I'll see if I can find another song to cover by the band soon.
Strangely enough, April 25th is also an anniversary for another City Popclassic.
Starting from mid-August, the evenings here in Toronto tend to get a little cooler, a little crisper. And so, we get out heads-up from weather that the autumn is not too far away. Warm days and cool nights...not too bad a thing.
This is the first post for keyboardist Yu Imai（今井裕）that's getting onto KKP, but I can give you a quote from my fellow writer and friend on the blog, HRLE92, via his YouTube channel:
Yu Imai (Born March 31, 1949) is a Japanese musician, This is his only solo album. Although not heard a lot, he participated in many well-known Japanese musicians' releases and live shows, for example, he played keyboard in Taeko Ohnuki's "Sunshower" album and was a member of the Sadistic Mika Band.
Just to add some of my own information about the Osakan keyboardist, when he was with the Sadistic Mika Band, he was known as Hiroshi Imai. His career began around 1970 when he played both the keyboards and bass in the folk group Rock Candies（ロック・キャンディーズ）alongside Shinji Tanimura（谷村新司）. Imai was influenced by singer-songwriter Leon Russell and musician Nicky Collins.
Imai may have also been inspired by the Sadistic Mika Band and maybe even Tin Pan Alley when he recorded his one and only solo album in 1977, "A Cool Evening". The video above has the title track which launches the album with Imai handling the music while Takeshi Matsuyama（松山猛）and Gregory Starr are behind the lyrics. "A Cool Evening" is a long song to be sure at a shade over eight minutes, and HRLE92 has opined that it's a little overlong which I can understand. Usually for me, four to five minutes is an ideal length for a pop tune, but considering how musicians (especially the progressive rockers) liked to trip the light fantastic in the recording booth back in the 1970s, I'm not that surprised by the length of this one.
One thing for sure is that Imai did like to bring in some of that swing jazz (including that tribute to "Blue Moon") and tropical pop...maybe even a tad of disco near the end. There is also some sprinkling of City Pop that gets dusted onto the sung portion of "A Cool Evening". I'm not proof positive on who's singing but it could be Imai himself along with a female vocalist. Hip Tank Records lists only one female singer in its description of the album and that is Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）which would mean that she participated before her official debut in 1978. I gather that a cool evening was had by all.
I might never figure out the configuration of Haruko Kuwana's（桑名晴子）identification vis-à-vis her early singles. Initially, I had thought she and her band Baker's Shop first got together in 1980 to come up with the album "Hot Line", but then I saw the thumbnail for the above video which has "Vanishing Point", a single from November 1978. On that single cover, it has Haruko Kuwana with Baker's Shop although "Hot Line" had Baker's Shop with Haruko. Finally, J-Wiki lists the singer's 3rd single just under her name only.
But I'm just haggling over semantics or something here. "Vanishing Point" is a cool if lonely song about sudden heartbreak with a more hushed Kuwana. Still, even a more hushed Kuwana provides plenty of sultry sex appeal, and the music and arrangement by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）possesses its good share of strutting down Shinjuku, Roppongi or Akasaka. Kohei Oikawa（及川恒平）wrote the lyrics here.
(3:43)
Enjoy her live performances as well. And sorry...my English teacher may be showing here but I think her pronunciation of the title is quite a bit better in performance than on the recorded version. Haruko's a tiger on the stage!😁
I've got a bit of lyrically split-personality song by City Pop chanteuse Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）and it's really nice to hear from her again. "Key wa, Futari de" (The Key is the Two of Us) was her 5th single from August 1979, and it's a little different from the soulful City Pop that I've usually associated her with, though I confess that this might be more my own impression than anyone else's.
"Key wa, Futari de" has lyrics by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）, and going through them, I get the feeling that a young lady is being alternately sour and sweet on a romantic relationship that seems to be in danger of fizzing out. The lass is being fairly tsundere about things but then she speeds off to where her potentially former beau is in the insistence that the two of them are meant to be with each other. Meanwhile, the music by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arrangement by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）give off a certain comical edge to the downtown tune as if "Key wa, Futari de" had been meant to be used for some television rom-com. I could even see it being used in a "Lupin III" flick.
As I type this, there are less than six hours left before my family, myself and the eastern part of North America enter 2022. I won't mind seeing 2021 leaving for good but we've been warned that January in the new year may not be too pleasant in terms of the pandemic.
Under these circumstances, why not go for something that's very listenable and enjoyable? It's been a while since I've seen singer-songwriter Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）, so let's have a go at her "Chance" from her May 1979 sophomore album"Show me your smile". Written and composed by the singer herself, I've seen one comment comparing "Chance" to a Japanese cousin of anything that Earth Wind & Fire were whipping up at the time. However from what I've heard in the arrangement, I get more of that Cheryl Lynndisco vibe, perhaps along the lines of her "Got To Be Real". I know that Dreams Come True's"Kessen wa Kin'youbi" (決戦は金曜日）has paid some tribute to it.
Regardless of the influences, it's a mellow strut down Chuo Dori that even includes some vocal harmonization and a smooth guitar solo. Who wouldn't want to get their chance to take a walk arm-in-arm with Ms. Kuwana?
Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）has been a bassist but more importantly, he's been one of the most prolific composers in Japanese music history, providing melodies to so many singers including one of his biggest clients, Shizuka Kudo（工藤静香）, and another aidoru Sonoko Kawai（河合その子）, who would eventually become his wife. But it's been pretty rare for me to see him front and centre although I did write about a track from one of his solo albums, the 1985"City Trickles ~ Machi no Shizuku"（街の雫）. However for that one, it was actually fellow composer Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子） who was handling the vocals for "The Night Landing: Yuudoutou"（誘導灯）.
This time around, though, we finally get to hear Goto in front of the mike. And it was through his "Strange Crew", the second track on his first original solo album"Mr. Bassman" released in 1979. Goto makes his presence known right from Note One in this song that has me getting all sorts of Gino Vannelli vibes although to be honest, I don't think Gino has anything much to fear from the bassist in terms of vocal ability (despite the observation that I think that there's a bit of Hiroshi Sato in the delivery).
As a couple of sources such as Tower Records' description of "Mr. Bassman" have described it, it's truly rare for Goto to actually sing but he's not alone here. Even though "Strange Crew" isn't an official duet, City Pop utahimeHaruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）is helping out in the backup vocals; didn't recognize her in her first few exhortations but then when she got to throw out full phrases, it was obvious that it was indeed her especially when she sang out "STRANGE CREW". The song is also some fine gumbo of that City Pop mixture of funk, jazz and other urban elements, and I read on Tower Records that the album has the able assistance of Yukihiro Takahashi + Tatsuo Hayashi（高橋幸宏 ・林立夫）on drums, Ryuichi Sakamoto + (the aforementioned) Hiroshi Sato（坂本龍一 ・佐藤 博）on keyboards, and Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹）on electric guitar. I also feel like tipping my fedora, too, to whoever was playing that cool trumpet on "Strange Crew".
Considering Goto's talents as a composer, I was surprised to realize that it wasn't him behind the composition for "Strange Crew". It was actually the most prolific composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）although Goto may have arranged the song. Some person named Vinyl provided the lyrics.
Cheap perfume? I would probably snark a couple of drops of One Cup Ozeki behind each ear but there is some of the stuff that I bought in the neighbourhood convenience stores when I was living in Ichikawa. At least, the fragrance for the konbini cologne was magnitudes more subtle than the average douse of Aqua Velva, although I know that Aqua Velva was really aftershave.
Anyways, I mention cheap perfume here because that is also the title for this song from Baker's Shop with Haruko's 1980 album"Hot Line"（ホット・ライン）. I also have one other track, "Furimukuna"（ふ・り・む・く・な）, from Haruko Kuwana's（桑名晴子）lone album under this particular band name, and unlike that one, "Cheap Perfume" isn't a cool City Pop number at all. Instead it's some fun and rambunctious piano pop that brings to my mind some of the music that Elton John and Billy Joel were making those days. If I were thinking of someone Japanese for comparison's sake, I would also go with Yumi Arai（荒井由実）.
Toshiro Masuda（トシロウ・マスダ）, who came up with the lyrics for "Furimukuna" alongside Kuwana, also provided the words for "Cheap Perfume" while keyboardist Teruyuki Kokubu（国府輝幸）was responsible for the music. Kokubu has worked with other musicians such as Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）, Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）and Makoto Kubota（久保田麻琴）.
Well, with all of the folks that I've brought onto the Reminiscings of Youth series over the past several months, I just had to once again bring on the Piano Man himself, Billy Joel, after introducing him onto the pages of this blog with "Rosalinda's Eyes" back in December 2020. He and his songs were regular parts of my radio-listening regimen as a kid and of course there are so many of them that I can feature as a ROY article.
However, I think for the Japanese, and perhaps especially for the karaoke fans in Japan, Joel's "Honesty" has been the most popular song for some reason. Maybe it's the gut-wrenching message that the brutal truth is more necessary than comforting words to prop up a relationship, and in a country where heartrending melodramas have thrived for decades, "Honesty" has just been the perfect Joel tonic. In any case, many was a time that this May 1979 single was performed in front of me at karaoke joints, and I've even given it a try.
The one other Joel song that got a lot of karaoke time was "My Life", and both it and "Honesty" were tracks on his October 1978 album"52nd Street". I always enjoyed telling the students that "My Life" was used as the theme song for "Bosom Buddies", the sitcom featuring a very young Tom Hanks (but that'll be a different article).
In any case, I've loved "Honesty" for those melancholy piano chords that start it off and then those strings that back up Billy when the refrain comes in. The arrangement is just so lush and although my interpretation may be wrong, the song might be reflecting a relationship in crisis but there's hope at the end that after taking in some of that bitter medicine that the romance or friendship will come out stronger. The US Billboard Hot 100 had "Honesty" peaking at No. 24 while it reached its highest point at No. 9 on the Adult Contemporary chart for the same company. Meanwhile in Canada where it also got plenty of airplay, the single got as high as No. 16.
So, according to "Showa Pops", which singles were coming out in May 1979? And once again, there is some discrepancy between J-Wiki and that site about release dates for two of the songs here.
I recollect reading from some of Haruko Kuwana's（桑名晴子）liner notes that she loved her time living by the ocean for several years. Although my places of residence in Japan were up in the Japanese Alps and a couple of kilometres from Tokyo Bay, I can certainly imagine that she did. It must have been very enjoyable and calming to be able to walk along the beach during sunrise and sunset with the waves lapping along the shore.
Therefore, I gather that "On The Seashore" must have provided a good amount of inspiration for Kuwana to do her best on this track which was a part of her May 1979 2nd album"Show me your smile". Accompanied by some of that lovely hazy keyboard of 70s City Pop and that chipmunky keyboard solo, there's also another solo that takes over that is performed by perhaps a Wurlitzer (?). As usual, the singer has those husky vocals of hers to spread the joy of beachside living.
Although Kuwana sings "On The Seashore" as if the song were her own distillation of that good life, actually it was written by Yellow Magic Orchestra drummer Yukihiro Takahashi（髙橋幸宏）and composed by bassist Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）.
Show us YOUR smile, Haruko! You are absolutely photogenic!😍
Listening to this playfully sultry title track from Haruko Kuwana's（桑名晴子）May 1979 2nd album, "Show Me Your Smile", it has that light tropical feeling that had made me wonder whether Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）had some input into this rum-and-coke of a song. The answer would be no; this was all Kuwana's doing in terms of words and music.
I just love how relaxed everyone is in "Show Me Your Smile" as if they all had a cocktail or two before recording. Haruko and the musicians are all in mellow synch with one another. Plus, I especially enjoy how the singer's voice does that smooth parabolic curve down into the lower register before coming back up for air. Can easily imagine this one being on the playlist at any of her concerts...preferably in a tiki bar.
Nice to have gotten some bagels and English muffins last week from the supermarket. I always appreciate the variety. Did the same thing this morning and got the same items to tide us over until next week.
An intriguing one to start off the City Pop stuff for this Friday as we also begin the month of May. I found this one by genre songbird Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）, and as I've always noticed, she's a most photogenic lady! 💝However in 1980, she and the band decided to go with the moniker Baker's Shop with Haruko when "Hot Line"（ホット・ライン）was released that year, and evidently from what I see in the video thumbnail above, a single did come out of it as well titled "Furimukuna"(Don't Look Back).
From the JASRAC database, it was written and composed by Kuwana (although the name that was given there was Harukoo) with Toshiro Masuda（トシロウ・マスダ）co-writing the lyrics. And why I selected it will be evident from the first few notes of "Furimukuna"; it's just scintillating City Pop with Kuwana's splendidly smoky vocals as that intro did it for me.
Rocket Brown and I have talked about some of the musical tropes in City Pop including what he has identified as the Sparkle Riff, that tinkly keyboard riff that we've all heard in many a song of the genre such as Takako Mamiya's（間宮貴子）"Love Trip" (at about 8 seconds in). I also like to call it the Perrier Pour. Well, that might be an 80s City Pop thing to me. With the Japanese urban contemporary material in the 1970s, the musical trope that I've heard in a number of songs there has been another keyboard phenomenon that I've dubbed the Haze, and that pops up almost immediately in "Furimukuna". It just sounds like haze rising from the hot ground, although I did say that this particular Kuwana delight was made in 1980, but of course, there was no temporal Iron Curtain in that year stating that the Haze had to end and the Sparkle Riff had to begin.
In any event, "Furimukuna" ironically makes me want to look back to the good ol' days in Tokyo when I hear it.
I like what I hear...I will support the artist. But not immediately since I basically went nuts on my spending on Japanese albums over the Holidays.
However, I do like Haruko Kuwana's（桑名晴子）"Soshite Denwa no Bell wa" (Then The Phone...), and so maybe sometime later this year, I may try to get the source album "Show me your smile" from May 1979. The song was also her 4th single released at the same time, and it's got that party hearty mood with some captivating Latin rumbling through the arrangement. Kuwana certainly sounds like she's enjoying herself; maybe there were some libations passed around during recording.
The singer did come up with the music while Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）provided the lyrics. Altogether, "Soshite Denwa no Bell wa" is one of those City Pop concoctions that has made me wonder what life in Roppongi and Shinjuku were like during those economically heady days. Yes, I realize that I was in Tokyo in the summer of 1981, but I don't recall ever being in those two happening neighbourhoods at the time (well, at our age, our teacher would have been severely reprimanded if she had let us go to those places).
Happy Monday! Thankfully, the torrid heat and humidity have decreased noticeably over the past 48 hours. A lot of people appreciated the summer weather but even the most ardent sun worshipers were admitting that Saturday was just a tad too hot. Well, that wasn't certainly not the case today.
Y'know...I had thought that one of us here at "Kayo Kyoku Plus" already provided his or her article on "Horo", the title track from Chu Kosaka's（小坂忠）4th album from 1975. But actually such was not true. I guess it was because that some of us often referred to the album in other articles and correspondence concerning Kosaka.
Then, allow me to rectify this situation. "Horo" was written and composed by Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, Kosaka's old bandmate from Apryl Fool（エイプリル・フール）which had its days in 1969. Now, I'm not sure whether the above video is the original 1975 recording or the remake that Kosaka made for his "HORO 2010" album in March of that year, but this is a nice funky and bluesy number with great vocals by him that I could imagine the late great Ray Charles swaying back and forth to. "Horo" means "wandering", and considering that another track from the 1975 album, "Fuuraibou"（風来坊）, also referred to "wanderer", I'm kinda wondering if the singer-songwriter and his fellow musicians including Hosono did think of themselves as somewhat vagabond-ish Japanese New Musicians in their existence in the music industry back then.
Listening to "Horo", I think the best setting for this in a live session wouldn't be in a huge arena such as Tokyo Dome, but a small basement club in a bohemian neighbourhood such as Shimo-Kitazawa. To be specific, it would be Kosaka and his small group headlining on a tiny stage in front of a stylish brick wall.
"Horo" has gotten its cover versions. In fact, Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）provided one such cover on her 1977 album"Iroha ni Konpeito"（いろはにこんぺいとう）. Yano takes things just a bit slower and provides some of those silky and kittenish vocals, but the original funkiness and bluesiness aren't lost here.
Now, the reason that I decided to write this article in the first place was that I listened to Haruko Kuwana's（桑名晴子）1982 "Moonlight Island" album of cover songs, and felt that it was time to take a look at one of the tracks there that I hadn't written about in my original article on the album. Plus, Come Along Radio has given his own thoughts on "Moonlight Island" on Reddit, so you can take a look at it right here.
"Horo" is the first track on "Moonlight Island" for the video of the album above, and Kuwana ramps up the funk right from the get-go with that joyful "ALL RIGHT!". There is much more of a proud strut down the main street with this version, further emphasized by an electric guitar solo by either Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）or Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）. In fact, according to the liner notes, it looks like the entirety of AB'S helped out in the recording of the album.
It took a while but I finally did get that Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）debut album"Million Kisses" (1978) over the Holidays. Having already written about a couple of tracks in there, "You're Young" and "Akogare no Sundown"（あこがれのSundown）, I finally pulled the trigger on my yen gun and it came on in.
From the above two songs, I definitely got the impression that this would be a very soulful beginning for the career of Ms. Kuwana, thanks to her honeyed and sultry vocals. Plus, the songs take things across the Pacific in terms of the overall sound. In fact, Side A of the original LP was apparently recorded in Hawaii while Side B was in Los Angeles.
The first track here today is from the L.A. side of things, "Machiawase"（待ち合わせ...Rendezvous）. About someone racing to meet that significant other, presumably somewhere in Tokyo (perhaps Hachiko?), before being considered tardy, it's a cool, driving and happy-go-lucky number of mellow funk. I think that there is something very City of Angels about it and yet there is an instrumental part near the end that brings things back to Tokyo. Both Haruko and her brother, singer-songwriter Masahiro Kuwana（桑名正博）, came up with the lyrics while frere Kuwana composed the music.
(The video was taken down but you can check 41:37 in the full album video below.)
As with remastered Japanese albums nowadays, the new versions often come up with bonus tracks, and "Million Stars" is no exception. One of those tracks is "Key wa Futari de"（Keyはふたりで...Key For Two）which was originally Kuwana's 4th single from August 1979. Written by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）and composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, it's a playful City Pop strut where this time, one half of the relationship is racing in a car to meet the other half. Not surprisingly, this was created for a Nissan commercial.
Going back to the original tracklist, we have "Kaze no Naka ni"（風の中に...In The Wind） at 26:54 in which Kuwana seems to go more into the 1970s Linda Ronstadt frame of mind as she sings about sitting down on a hill somewhere and getting some natural therapy after what I assume is a breakup. It's a ballad that is more in the pop/AOR vein.
(full album)
Track 2, "Sarigenaku sugi Yuku Toki ni"（さりげなく過ぎゆく時に...When Casually Passing） from the Hawaii side (3:45) is something that I could envision Kuwana singing at a party or in an intimate nightclub while appreciative guests/fans flock around the piano. With lyrics by Haruko and music by Masahiro, there is a dreamy arrangement while the story told here seems to be of two ships passing in the night with the possibility being that they may have had encounters in the past but for reasons unknown, those encounters will stay in the past. This was her 2nd single from July 1978 and "Akogare no Sundown" was the B-side.
The title track at 16:12 is totally sung in English and was written & composed by Chucky Souza with arrangement by Mackey Feary, the same fellow who came up with the original version of "You're Young". It's got a nice Latin beat although that drum sometimes sounds more like a very slow basketball dribble.
My final song at 20:06 is an interesting one since when I first heard it, I went "Where have I heard that one before?". As it turns out, it's a cover of "Give A Little" by the late Nicolette Larson, one of my favourites by her that I first heard when I got her BEST compilation. Kuwana spins "Give A Little" into a happy, funky and let's-strut-down-Meiji-Dori version. Frany and Bill Payne were responsible for this song. As comparison, you can listen to the original mellow take below.
For years, I've seen the iconic cover for "Million Stars" in "Japanese City Pop" and on YouTube, and I'm glad to say that I've finally gotten my copy. Will be giving this album repeated playings for the next number of years.
Nope...the song of note here isn't on "Moonlight Island" by Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）, but "Akogare no Sundown" is on her 1978 debut album"Million Stars".
Sharing space with the song from the last Haruko Kuwana article that I wrote about in early 2017 "You're Young", the first track "Akogare no Sundown"(Desired Sundown) is a cool and cooling City Pop tune. After hearing it a few times, I went down to the YouTube comments, a few of which were marveling at the interesting sound, and this was after I had internally remarked on the keyboards myself. There's definitely a 70s city vibe because of that, and Kuwana's swooping vocals hint at those sunset breezes coming off the ocean. It truly feels like a sunset song worthy of a glass of wine.
Like "You're Young", I couldn't find out who wrote and composed "Akogare no Sundown" unfortunately, but that's all the more incentive for me to track down and purchase "Million Stars". It is apparently available at Tower Records in Japan. Checking my Xmas wish list.
The above was just taken a few days ago over the weekend but it's still quite reflective of some of the unseasonable but welcome weather we've had today. We actually hit around 17 or 18 degrees Celsius which has smashed a record for a high temperature that had been set all the way back in 1984 (14.9). So, of course, part of the news broadcast had cameras focused on the patio bars which were packed with beer lovers tonight...not a scene that is typical of February in Toronto.
At this point, if chanteuse Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）had yelled out the title of this tune to everyone here today, everyone would have enthusiastically nodded back. "You're Young" was one of the tracks on Kuwana's debut album "Million Stars". Up to now, all of my articles on this singer with the great soulful voice were based on material in the 1980s but even back in 1978 when this album was released, she was belting out some wonderful stuff.
Hearing those vocals and the saxophone in the instrumental, the song does have the power to bring back some of that ideal summery sunset weather. Kuwana would have had a pretty nice outdoor concert at the Bandshell near the CNE by Lake Ontario with this album, I think. Unfortunately, I couldn't find out who was responsible for creating the song although a part of me thinks that the singer herself may have had some hand in either the lyrics or music.
March 3rd 2017: It turns out that I actually had the original version on one of the American AOR compilations I bought years ago. "You're Young" was performed by the Mackey Feary Band on their self-titled first album from 1978.
