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.
Well, out of curiosity, I wanted to see if there were any singers out there whose birthdays were on July 29th today, and sure enough, I could find one chanteuse. Japanese-Brazilian bossa nova singer Lisa Ono（小野リサ）celebrates her 64th birthday so many happy wishes upon her.
To commemorate this day, and on a Hump Day which might have been rather stressful thus far being the day farthest away from weekends, I should find something that is quite soothing. Ono has often provided the musical balm in that respect. And so I provide her cover of the classic "Moon River" which was originally made in the early 1960s by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer for the film "Breakfast at Tiffany's".
With a fan wafting some needed cooling air into my otherwise stuffy room and the sun beginning to set into the horizon, Ono's "Moon River" is just the tonic for a Wednesday. The only thing missing is a Brown Cow on my desk. Anyways, her version is included in the March 2002"Ono Lisa Best 1997-2001".
Yep, the above is RCA's "50 Years of Hits in Stereo", a collection of 5 LPs that probably came with the new stereo when my parents bought it just before my birth. I used to see this and hear this all the time. I haven't seen it since I got back from Japan and asking my parents about its whereabouts just brings blank looks, so I'm ruefully assuming that they had thrown the entire set away when they got rid of the RCA Victor.
That would be too bad. There was a lot of music history in that set. And as much as I've said in the past that my music awakening began at the turn of the 70s into the 80s, music really had always been there with me in those first fifteen years of life. It wasn't just Yukio Hashi（橋幸夫）, Kyu Sakamoto（坂本九）and others on the Japanese side, there was also Henry Mancini, The Ames Brothers and The Boston Pops with Arthur Fiedler along with the many other singers and groups involved in "50 Years of Hits in Stereo".
As such, I've already referred to that huge tome of records a few times since The Ames Brothers have gotten their due on the blog with their remarkably bright and chipper version of "September Song" while Mancini was of course behind the cool "Peter Gunn" theme, both versions which are on "50". I distinctly remember my mother playing the former song when I came home after a rotten day at school and I cheered right up. What I would eventually learn is that a lot of those songs that I grew up with were indeed actually cover versions of the original song but given a jazzier, more swivel-happy, and loungier touch. "September Song" by The Ames Brothers definitely falls into that category.
"Sing, Sing, Sing" was once the go-to song for all trailers of Hollywood movies set in the Jazz Age. A bunch of us fellow moviegoers figured that Benny Goodman's iconic swing classic was contractually obligated to be on any and every such trailer. But the Mancini version which is far shorter than the original is the first version that I had ever heard, and it's even swingier, cooler and more dangerous in that 1960s way. It even seems to tell a story of a major heist that suddenly turns very dangerous for its perpetrators and the the police coming after them.
As with "Sing, Sing, Sing", Ann-Margret's take on "Moon River" was the first version I ever heard, not hearing the original by Audrey Hepburn from "Breakfast at Tiffany's" or the popularized version by Andy Williams for many years. Apparently, her version first showed up on RCA Records in 1962.
"Lover" was the Rodgers and Hart song from way back in 1932 when it was sung by Jeanette MacDonald in the movie "Love Me Tonight" when her character sung it to a horse. It's been popularized as this grand pop waltz, performed by many an orchestra such as The Boston Pops. However, it's not that version which was included in "50", but the one by Marty Gold & His Orchestra. And this one has got to be the jazziest and most percussive march I will ever hear.
As with Mancini's propulsive version of "Sing, Sing, Sing", Perez Prado and his Latin jazz ensemble made "Caravan", a jazz standard from 1936 by Duke Ellington and Juan Tizol, into this car-chase-through-the-city-streets thriller of a cover. There was another cover by Arthur Lyman, a vibraphone and marimba player from Hawaii, which was used in "Ocean's Eleven" (2001) for one scene where Ocean and Ryan are recruiting the Amazing Yen.
I finally caught most of the original 1956 movie "Around the World in 80 Days" with David Niven and Cantiflas with its royally sweeping theme song. The Boston Pops with Arthur Fiedler were back to give their take on the theme which also has its sweep but further seasoned with some Latin and enough excitement in the intro and outro to fuel a Saturn rocket launch. It does feel like a musical orbit around Earth.
From the Wikipedia article, I read that "Moonglow" is a jazz standard from 1933 by composers Will Hudson and Irving Mills with the words by Eddie DeLange. It's the one song in this sample tonight for which I have not heard any other version and that's fine with me although it's been covered by some of the greats including the aforementioned Duke Ellington. The Ames Brothers are more than satisfying with this smoky take that seems to be perfect for a performance in an equally smoky nightclub in Manhattan. I guess that the one I know from "50" had its intro truncated compared to the one above.
The above is merely and approximately 10% of the total output in the 5-LP set. I know that at least some of the other tracks among the records do exist on YouTube, so if there are any of you interested in the old-school pop, just cut-and-paste the artists and titles from that Discogs site that I linked you to at the top and try them out.
Let's see what some of the big hit singles in Japan that got released in 1965 were.
This isn't a Reminiscings of Youth article though that will be coming up soon enough. However, when I heard that Duane Eddy had passed away a few days ago, I felt like I needed to do some sort of tribute to the guitarist with his gift of twang.
Now, I know that the musician originally from New York State has had his own string of hits over the decades, but when I hear the name Duane Eddy, I'm always going to think of one song: "Peter Gunn". The original Henry Mancini version with John Williams pounding on the keys was one of the first songs that I remember hearing and internalizing forever but it was when Art of Noise did their hit cover of the song in 1986 that I got to hear Eddy for the first time and that got me to his own solo cover of "Peter Gunn" in 1959. In a way, it was Eddy's take with its more slithery rock n' roll vibe (including that sexy sax) compared to the Mancini swing jazziness that sounded even more dangerous and therefore more fitting in the world of detective Gunn.
Alongside Boz Scaggs' "Lowdown", I think "Peter Gunn" is the song to accompany you and your buddies if you're cruising down the nighttime streets of the city. My condolences to Eddy's family, friends and fans.
Yup, I bought "The Best of Henry Mancini" CD when I was still living in Japan. I figured since I enjoyed a lot of his theme songs for movies and television, it would be nuts to miss out on the opportunity. Plus, it didn't cost too much at all.
So, for this week's Reminiscings of Youth, I've decided to piggyback one Mancini onto the other with this one, "Charade", being included although I had yet to be born when the Stanley Donen film was released in 1963. Up to this point, I've only seen certain scenes from this rom-com thriller flick but since it entered the public domain, I've witnessed at least one YouTube channel that has put the entirety of "Charade" onto the platform, so one of these days, I'm going to have to see the whole thing. After all, it has Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant...two of my favourites from old Hollywood.
However, I have to admit that I've seen the opening credits to the movie several times since it is so cool. Just start the whole ball rolling by throwing the first murder victim off a speeding train without so much as a how-do-you-do, and then launch the rotating arrows (by Maurice Binder, the fellow behind 007's gun barrel sequence in those opening credits) and the percussion before Mancini's main theme gloriously rolls in.
"Charade" is described as a sad Parisian waltz, and I think that there was a sung version which reflected that sentiment, but the one used in those opening credits is definitely oomphed-up to a Mancini-esque creation of romance and thrills and adventure, perfect for the movie. The tapping percussion and drums sound like an alert to danger before the French-sounding version of the theme enters the scene with that feeling of danger. Then, the swinging jazz orchestra follows up with its own take on the chorus followed by a soaring romantic sensation. I'm always going to prefer the one used for those opening credits over the single version since the latter makes a definite finish instead of the fadeout of the former as if the theme had been meant for the credits of a TV show.
Now, it's time for some Mancini magic when I was in existence. NBC's "Sunday Mystery Movie" was one signal to me and my brother that the beloved weekend was once again coming to an end, and so at the time, we weren't too fond of it. But the sequence was memorable for the desert-setting mystery man off in the distance walking toward the camera as various photos of the detectives involved in this wheel series popped up.
One of those detectives was "Columbo", a fictional hero who has enduring popularity here in North America as well as in Japan despite the fact that actor Peter Falk passed away over a decade ago. Although some of the other detectives on "Sunday Mystery Movie" had their own theme tunes such as "McCloud", "Columbo" never did but I think that a lot of folks on either side of the Pacific have pretty much accepted the "Sunday Mystery Movie" theme as the theme for "Columbo", especially on the Japanese side because those famous opening credits never showed up; the broadcasting Japanese network simply went directly into the latest episode of "Columbo" and then had the ending credits roll by as the "Sunday Mystery Movie" theme played.
And for me, whenever that lovely Mancini theme plays, I'm always going to think of "Columbo", not "McCloud", "Banacek", "McMillan and Wife" or "Hec Ramsey". This is even though it's hard to imagine a self-effacing and shuffling police lieutenant with a Noo Yawk accent being given such a grand song with a bit of country-western and romance accompanied by a whistling synthesizer (apparently a Yamaha CS-80 according to this exchange on "Film Score Monthly").
Come to think of it, I guess Mancini was a composer who just loved to insert a bit of sex appeal and romance into many if not all of his theme songs. They couldn't be all about the intrigue and derring-do.
Well, although the Wikipedia entry for "Sunday Mystery Movie" just listed the premiere year as 1971, I can assume that it could have started in September because back then, the advent of autumn meant the advent of new TV shows. As such, what kayo was being released at that time?
For this week's Reminiscings of Youth, I once again take you to cartoon land.
Along with bunnies, mice, ducks, prehistoric blue-collar guys and round-headed kids, I also got to know a pink panther and an obtuse French detective. Yeah, as a very young little boy, I watched "The Pink Panther Show" which opened as you can see here with a quintessentially 1970s groovy theme song.
My weekday afternoons following school were often filled with views of the innocent and unintentionally troublemaking Pink Panther and the bumbling Inspector Clouseau. I did get my laughs at both of them although at the time, I had no idea that they shared a common origin.
The other thing was that instead of "The Pink Panther Show"70s theme song, Pink himself was always accompanied by this boozy and jazzy saxophone-led theme in his individual cartoons that I actually enjoyed much more. In fact, in contrast with this theme and its variations showing up in most of the episodes, I actually fell hard for the "soundtrack" as it were of what was the very first Pink Panther cartoon, "The Pink Phink". Everything stood out for this one as the pilot cartoon: the more minimalist design, the slightly stouter but still suave panther and what would be a more faithful rendition of the theme song.
Some years would pass before I finally discovered that the Pink Panther hadn't come from a weekday cartoonist's mind but from director/screenwriter Blake Edwards' realization of an idea for a 1963 motion-picture live-action caper comedy which would introduce one of cinema's biggest comedic characters in the form of Inspector Jacques Clouseau played by Peter Sellers, and of course, the legendary Pink Panther. Apparently, the opening credits for the movie became so popular with folks that some of them actually bought more tickets just to see them again...and thus, the cartoon was born.
It's been a long time since I've seen "The Pink Panther" but though I remember that Clouseau back then was also a bumbler, he was not quite so to the extent that he was in later sequels. Sellers had played him a bit more competently back then, and the jewel thieves were also in the bumbling category which surprised me considering that David Niven and Robert Wagner were the stars. My general feeling was that "The Pink Panther" was slapstick comedy nestled within a sophisticated movie of high society, international intrigue and beautiful people.
But when it comes down right to it, it will always be that Henry Mancini theme song with Plas Johnson behind the tenor sax that everyone will remember first. "The Pink Panther Theme" hit the Top 10 on the U.S. Billboard Adult Contemporary chart and was nominated for a Grammy in the Best Pop Instrumental Performance category, according to Wikipedia.
Mancini was also the composer behind the theme song for the 1964 "A Shot in the Dark", the first sequel to "The Pink Panther". And once again, I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the theme for all those "The Inspector" cartoons had gotten its full glory in another popular opening credits sequence. "A Shot in the Dark" basically reflected Clouseau in its arrangement of intrigue, Frenchness and jazzy coolness along with the brassy explosions. And Clouseau seemed to attract all sorts of explosions.
This was the movie that set the Clouseau franchise template of being a total puffed-up buffoon who brought mayhem to any situation and person, especially his long-suffering boss, the increasingly neurotic Commissioner Dreyfus. I remember laughing my innards out like a sea cucumber on Red Alert during the running gag of the police van taking Clouseau into custody four times, including after his escapade at the nudist colony.
Well, Oricon wasn't around in the early 1960s and the usually dependable Showa Pops website of singles releases only goes as far back as 1965, so let us go with what won at the Japan Record Awards in 1963.
Time for another ROY article. Recently, it came to my attention that episodes of the original "Peter Gunn" gumshoe series were coming up onto YouTube including the pilot which indeed I did see. Yep, I now realized where a lot of those lone-wolf detective conventions originated from: the sardonic voiceover by the main character, the down-and-dirty jazz soundtrack and the surprisingly preferred setting of not-so-nice areas of town. And yet, Peter Gunn himself was not just urban but also urbane and sophisticated which apparently wasn't the usual description of movie or TV private eyes back in the day.
"Peter Gunn" had a short-but-sweet run on NBC and then ABC between 1958 and 1961, so the famous theme has been much better remembered than the actual series with Craig Stevens. And to reiterate, it wasn't the theme that begat the show but the show that begat the fame for the theme originally by the legendary composer and arranger Henry Mancini. That's how incredible the song has been.
It was one of the first songs that I had ever heard in my life thanks to that collection of standards which came with our old oak Victor stereo. And the version that I preferred (which was on that collection of standards) among the original takes of it wasn't the one with Duane Eddy or the one that played in the brief opening credits, but the one with John Williams (yep that John Williams) on the piano and the French horns trumpeting like mad elephants warning of danger. No matter which version, though, "Peter Gunn" was the song that you wanted accompanying you if you went outside on the town and were in that "I gotta a job to do!" mood. You'd invest in the trench coat, even.
"Peter Gunn" has probably popped up in a number of TV shows and movies over the decades to show just that sort of atmosphere for the characters. For example, there was "The Blues Brothers".
Then several years later, I was absolutely gobsmacked when avant-garde pop group Art of Noise (with the help of the aforementioned Duane Eddy and his guitar), whom I'd known for some of the most weirdly infectious songs that had ever come out of the 1980s such as "Beat Box", "Close to the Edit" and "Legs", actually tackled one of the coolest songs ever. I think that I saw the music video first before hearing the song on radio, and that video was glorious with the late Rik Mayall as it took some affectionate pokes at the genre that the original series was representing.
Art of Noise's"Peter Gunn" was unmistakably Art of Noise and unmistakably "Peter Gunn". It was a musical synthesis made in heaven for me and became a must-hear whenever it got onto radio and even now, whenever I need a boost in my energy levels, I go to YouTube to listen to it among other cool tunes. Not surprisingly, it won Best Rock (!) Instrumental Performance (Orchestra, Group Or Soloist) at the Grammys in that same year.
I regret not ever buying the remix LPs back in the day but I finally got my copy of AON's"In Visible Silence" which had originally come out on April 14 1986 with both this song and "Legs".
So now that I've gushed forth my love for Art of Noise's"Peter Gunn", what were some of the top-sellers on Oricon in the month that "In Visible Silence" came out? Well, I got Nos. 3, 5 and 6 for you.
