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.
Yes, Martin. Do please contemplate about life...because you look so cool doing so!
Strangely enough, I did cover "Sayonara Itoshi no Baby Blues"(Farewell, My Beloved Baby Blues) when I wrote that 2019 article on Masayuki Suzuki's（鈴木雅之）BEST compilation"MARTINI II" but I'm OK with another go-round of this slow-cooking banger. Along with its inclusion in his original 1992 album "Fair Affair" and "MARTINI II", it was also the coupling song to Martin's 14th single in May 1992, the splendid "Mou Namida wa Iranai"（もう涙はいらない）, and my opinion on B-sides on those old 45"s also applies to the coupling songs for those tiny CD singles. They should be checked out as well.
And certainly "Sayonara Itoshi no Baby Blues" is one soulful cool-down tune after "Mou Namida wa Iranai" which can sound good on the stereo at home or in the car while rumbling down those Tokyo highways. Written and composed by Hideki Andoh（安藤秀樹）and arranged by the late Nobuo Ariga（有賀啓雄）, the song was also performed by Suzuki in its entirety sometime during the third season of the cop show "Deka Kizoku"（刑事貴族...The Detective Aristocrats） on NTV which used "Mou Namida wa Iranai" as the theme song.
I wasn't quite sure how I was going to approach this particular song and the incident that occurred partially because of it, but here goes.
Not 100% certain whether this sort of scene has come up enough times in the history of Hollywood to reach meme or cliché status, but I've sometimes watched a certain scene in a movie in which the main character or characters are all lined up in front of a figure of authority to get royally chewed out for some sort of malfeasance or misadventure, sometimes for humourous effect, as the list of charges is read out. Of course, being a Trekkie, the first example that comes to mind is the scene near the end of "Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home" where Admiral Kirk and his loyal bridge crew get lined up in front of the Federation President as he reads the various charges for the misdemeanors that Jimmy T. and company pulled off in "Star Trek III: The Search for Spock" to rescue pop culture's favourite Vulcan.
I believe that I've also seen similar scenes play out in the Barbra Streisand farce "What's Up, Doc?" and Tom Cruise's"Top Gun".
Well, if you can bear with me for a number of lines, maybe I can replay that sort of scene for you. The two folks here will be rock singer/actor Koji Kikkawa（吉川晃司）and the head of his management company. Imagine Kikkawa standing ramrod straight in front of the president's enormous oaken desk. It's New Year's Day 1986 and neither of them pictured being in the same office together on that day.
President (barely containing his rage): Well, let's see, Mr. Kikkawa. I've got the following charges here from NHK.
Kikkawa (gulps): Uh, yes, sir.
President: You appeared on the 36th Kohaku Utagassen last night to perform your song.
Kikkawa: That's right, sir.
President (sarcastically): Yeah, that's right. You proceeded to run on stage, swallowing down a bottle of my champagne and then spitting a mixture of my Dom Perignon and your saliva all over the stage.
Kikkawa: Yes, sir.
President: Plus, that special cocktail got onto some of the audience.
Kikkawa: ...
President: You actually jumped into the front seats and crashed into an operating camera.
Kikkawa: ...
President: You then proceeded to run long in your performance leading to Miss Naoko Kawai's having to short-circuit her own performance because your hijinks ran into hers.
Kikkawa: Uh...I did apologize to her, sir.
President: And then you inexplicably lit your guitar on fire and exploded it, apparently unaware of the concept of blast radius.
Kikkawa: Well, not inexplicably, sir. I was trying to emulate my hero, Jimi Hendrix...
President: AND the next performers on the White Team, Shibugaki-tai, ended up slip-sliding all over the stage because of that amazing solution of champagne and spit that you left on the stage!
Kikkawa: Well, uh...
President: YOU HAD ONE JOB! WHAT HAVE YOU GOT TO SAY FOR YOURSELF?!
Kikkawa: Ah...did I get the best ratings of the night?
Of course, the above is a purely fictionalized tale. I don't know what the aftermath of one of the strangest incidents in Kohaku history was, but all of the stunts that have been described actually did happen live according to the special section in Kikkawa's J-Wiki article, although supposedly the burning of the guitar was not picked up by the cameras. I am pretty confident though that someone around the singer probably gave him the biggest tongue-lashing since grade school, even if it hadn't been the president. And on top of that, he was banned from NHK for several years (pure speculation, but maybe Keisuke Kuwata gave him a thumbs-up😁), although it looks like he was finally forgiven going into the 21st century.
Former KKP contributor Jari first related the story of the Kikkawa Incident in his article on Naoko Kawai's（河合奈保子）"Debut" which was the song that she was supposed to have sung right after Kikkawa's performance (she ended up singing half of it). Indeed, Kikkawa did end up apologizing to the aidoru.
As for an explanation for the unexpected excitement as the top batter for the White Team, the singer stated that he had gotten rather miffed about the hullabaloo surrounding various music prizes probably being selected based more on the political power of the production staffs and record companies along with that small feeling of rebellion against the run-of-the-mill operations of the annual Kohaku Utagassen so he decided to shake things up a tad. He then admitted that unfortunately he let things get out of hand and by the time he realized that, it was already too late. The above here I was able to get via J-Wiki from various magazines and TV shows.
To be fair, though, the Kikkawa Incident hasn't been the only kerfuffle to have the NHK switchboard light up like a Xmas tree, but it certainly was one of the most memorable. But ironically, that wasn't the case for me. I barely remember the incident; actually, the one clear memory that I have from the 36th Edition is the performance by Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）.
All of that surrounds Kikkawa's 5th single, the pop-rock"Nikumaresouna NEW Face"(Could Hate That New Face) released in April 1985. In light of the incident, though, maybe the title could have been changed to "Nikumaresouna LOST Face" (sorry, sorry). In any case, this was Kikkawa's 2nd No. 1 in a row, following his "You Gotta Chance" that had come out earlier in January.
Written by Hideki Andoh（安藤秀樹）and composed by the rock band NOBODY, the whole song was arranged by bassist Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）, who also performed on the song. Despite all of the controversy from that one New Year's Eve, "Nikumaresouna NEW Face" isn't too bad on the ears at all, and there is something pretty cool in Kikkawa's delivery. There is perhaps even something rather BOOWY-esque about it, and if the singer had only toned down the antics on the Kohaku, I think the song and performance would have been well-matched...if only he had left the champagne in NHK's Green Room. And cynically speaking, his performance may have even sparked a spike in sales at the record shops into the new year.
"Nikumaresouna NEW Face" ended up as the 36th-ranked single of 1985, and it can also be found in Kikkawa's first BEST album"beat goes on" which was released in April 1988. The album hit No. 3 on the Oricon weeklies. Now, at least, I've got another Kikkawa song that I know quite well, next to "Monica".
I've been checking the pageviews over the past week and it looks like the winner has been the opening theme for this season's anime "Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai ~ Tensai-tachi no Ren'ai Zunousen"（かぐや様は告らせたい〜天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦〜）, "Love Dramatic"（ラブ・ドラマティック）.
So, all I can say to the main singer is:
Congratulations, Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）. You are now the proud father of an earworm! Please feel free to get your sunglasses at night by the door.
I've been checking out for any comments on "Love Dramatic" online and most of them have been very positive about the song. The other thing that I've found is that a number of folks have only discovered Martin just in the past few weeks because of the theme song.
So although I was already thinking about doing this first BEST article for 2019 since I discovered that Suzuki did provide his first anison, the comments that I saw over the past few days have pretty much cemented my decision. Therefore, without further ado, I introduce the second of his BEST compilations, "MARTINI II" released in October 1995.
1. Wakare no Machi (1995 acapella version)（別れの街） 2. Koibito（恋人） 3. Mou Namida wa Iranai（もう涙はいらない） 4. Sayonara Itoshi no Baby Blues（さよならいとしのBaby Blues） 5. Chigau, Sou Janai（違う、そうじゃない） 6. Adam na Yoru（アダムな夜） 7. Midnight Traveler 8. Liberty 9. Come On In 10. Shibuya de Go-ji（渋谷で5時） 11. Ai no Okite（愛の掟） 12. Glass Goshi ni Kieta Natsu 1995（ガラス越しに消えた夏1995） 13. Yume no Mata Yume（夢のまた夢 (1995 Remix Version)）
As you can see above, about half of the songs have already been spoken for through past articles, so feel free to link on those. Let's go on with the ones that I have yet to cover starting with the smoky "Sayonara Itoshi no Baby Blues" (Farewell, My Beloved Baby Blues), a track from Suzuki's 5th album,"Fair Affair" from 1992. A whisky-on-the-rocks-worthy soul & blues song about a love gone wrong, the aforementioned drink would be one of the libations needed at that bar with a sympathetic mixologist.
Martin's recording of "Sayonara Itoshi no Baby Blues" was actually a cover of the original song by singer-songwriter Hideki Andoh（安藤秀樹）which was his 17th single from December 1991. The concert video above has all of Martin, Andoh and Chikuzen Sato（佐藤竹善）from Sing Like Talking performing the song, although I think the evening is probably the ideal setting instead of what looked like the afternoon in the video.
(karaoke version)
"Adam na Yoru" is interesting enough just for the title. If I were to translate it as "Adam's Night", perhaps the Japanese would be "Adam no Yoru"（アダムの夜）, but with that "na"（な）in there, maybe it's "An Adam-esque Night"?
In any case, Martin's 20th single from February 1995 was written and composed by the songwriting couple Ryudo Uzaki and Yoko Aki（宇崎竜童・阿木燿子）, who were behind a lot of Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）later hits in the late 1970s, and though it sounds like the perfect tune to hear while prepping up for a banner night out in Tokyo, Aki's lyrics actually portray a scene right from the "Penny for your thoughts?" moment following a tryst in some bedroom. Looks like Adam and Eve took a huge bite out of that apple.
"Adam na Yoru" was also the theme song for a TBS drama titled "Watashi, Mikata desu"（私、味方です...I'm A Friend）which was televised between January and March of 1995. It peaked at No. 17 on Oricon. Do love those horns. Heck, I think it would be great listening on the car stereo while driving through West Shinjuku.
"Liberty" was actually Suzuki's 3rd single from March 1987 but it has been included here in "MARTINI II". Written and composed by the great Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）with AKI, it's a gospel-influenced tune performed in English, and Yoshida provides some of the background vocals. Peaking at No. 64, "Liberty" also made it onto his 4th album "mood" from 1990.
Martin can really rock those suits, can't he? "Midnight Traveler" was his 17th single from October 1993. It basically has the same flavour as the aforementioned "Adam na Yoru" through Yoshiyuki Osawa's（大沢誉志幸）melody but Kitsuma Ohshita's（大下きつま）lyrics provide more mystery in the story of two lovers on a journey for parts unknown, perhaps unable to come back. I already talked about "Midnight Traveler" through its album "Perfume" but my write-up doesn't have the full version that is right above this paragraph.
In 1991, Suzuki and 80s pop mainstay Paul Young got together as a duet to sing Sam & Dave's 1969 "Come On In" for a bit of that old-time soul. Originally written by Isaac Hayes and composed by David Porter, the Suzuki/Young single got as high as No. 79 and was also included on "mood".
The final track on "MARTINI II" is "Yume no Mata Yume", which I can think can be translated as "Dreams On Dreams". As much as "Liberty" sounds like a Minako Yoshida creation, "Yume no Mata Yume" feels like Kazumasa Oda（小田和正）and the way that he made his songs back in the early 1990s (and he's in the background vocals as well). And yep, it was written and composed by the Off Course（オフコース）singer as Suzuki's 19th single for release in October 1994. In a way, Oda's lyrics can almost describe the tensions in "Kaguya-sama". Peaking at No. 17, it is included in his 7th album"She・See・Sea"which came out in the same month.
"MARTINI II" hit No. 1 and ranked in at No. 27 on the Oricon yearly charts. It also hung in there for 1996 at No. 68. I will have to do another BEST for Martin's immediate predecessor, "MARTINI", since there are some great tunes in there, too but perhaps next month. So until "Love Dramatic" gets out officially on February 27th, you can do a bit of exploration here and on some of the other Martin songs.
Weather can be very changeable overall and even more so in my city. 2 weeks ago, we were looking at a temperature barely reaching 6 degrees Celsius and snow showers whereas today, Toronto will reach at least 28 degrees with a Humidex of around 35 degrees. Summer has landed prematurely...not that many of us are complaining. In other news, we've had a couple of missing capybaras from the High Park Zoo for the past few days.
It's a very warm Friday so perhaps it's time for some hot soul from the guy who owns the lion's share of it, one Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）. I bought his 7th album from October 1994 at a used CD shop one day several years ago and the case certainly saw its share of abuse; the hinges were broken so basically the CD case was a convertible.
Still, nothing wrong with Martin's music. Track 2 is "Toubousha"（逃亡者...Fugitives）, an urgent and speedy number about a couple being on the run...whether from parents, creditors, the Mob, it doesn't matter. The man and woman are crazy in love. Written by Saeko Nishio（西尾佐栄子）and composed by Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）who decided to go with a pen name that could be read in so many ways that I'm not going to bother translating it, the backing band has got a couple of known names in veteran saxophonist Jake H. Concepcion and keyboardist and arranger Akihiko Matsumoto（松本晃彦）who later provided the soundtracks for the "Odoru Dai Sosasen"（踊る大捜査線）movie franchise.
Track 7 is "Sokonashi no Umi"（底なしの海...The Bottomless Sea）by Abe again and lyricist Kitsuma Ohki（大木きつま）. Slightly mellower in sound but the theme of turbulent love is still in there. I sometimes think that Suzuki would have made the ideal Rod Serling-type of host for an anthology series on romance.
The next track is "Nanimo Iwazu ni"（何も言わずに...Without Saying A Word）written by Hideki Ando（安藤秀樹）and composed by veteran Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）. Suzuki goes even more tender as he croons about having those sleepless nights over that special someone he has fallen head over heels with. There seems to be a certain 1970s soul feeling in the arrangement, and the strings really add to the experience.
"She-See-Sea" also has the single "Chigau, Sou Janai"（違う、そうじゃない）, Martin's musical plea for another chance. The album managed to get as high as No. 4 on Oricon.
