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 Hiroshi Shinkawa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hiroshi Shinkawa. Show all posts
Well, here I was about to post my first Omega Tribe (under their 1986 Omega Tribe incarnation) song in a while and it was to have been on "I'll Never Forget You" from their 1987 album"Crystal Night". Glad I checked though since I actually had already talked about it within the article on the album itself. Unlike the song title, I did forget.😥
However, I am not going to leave Carlos Toshiki and his band in a lurch. I've opted to go with another song and that one comes from their June 1987 album"DJ Special". "Blue Reef", and no, it doesn't really have anything to do with one of Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）trademark songs, was written by Asako Yano（矢野朝子）, composed by Shinji Takashima（高島信二）and arranged by the late Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）. Speaking of that arrangement, it is pretty interesting since it sounds like a languid example of the then-novel New Jack Swing. Think Bobby Brown on vacation in Hawaii.
The weather is looking fine out there for once this week after most of it being gray and drizzly. We're looking at 18-degree C highs and wouldn't you know it...the condo still continues to pump heat into our units. And with our luck, it'll probably stay that way until early May.🥵
Still, let's start our Urban Contemporary Friday off right with something to enjoy on the dance floor. Not sure if those City Pop dance parties are still being held down in the United States, but anyways, I have singer-songwriter Meiko Nakahara's（中原めいこ）"Emotion" from her July 1984 album"Lotos". Written and composed by the singer with Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）handling the arrangement, it's a short and sweet brassy funk fest with some vocoder (?)-filled wah-wah adding an interesting angle to the proceedings.
I realize that I should have done this yesterday when the Lunar New Year began but it was getting late into the night and I was just too tired. Anyways, perhaps it's just as well that I'm doing this today on Hump Day when I need to get some energy expended especially on a dreary stormy day. So, allow me to give my Happy Lunar New Year greetings to everyone who's celebrating it this week and they include some of my friends and some of my brother's in-laws. Hopefully, you have eaten very well so far.
To be frank, I'm kinda surprised that I hadn't done an Author's Picks based on the Lunar New Year before but that simply means that I get to do it today when folks are celebrating the Year of the Horse. My picks here don't have any significantly deep meaning aside from the fact that they include song titles connected to areas whose populations would celebrate the holiday. Among the five I'm listing here, three of them already have their own articles on KKP, while the last two are newbies, so I guess this article is a hybridization of an Author's Picks and a regular posting.
The entries above and below are the newbies as I mentioned at the top and they're being included now since I had been looking for these songs on YouTube for years (and giving up) before they finally popped up. I actually borrowed Naoko Kawai's （河合奈保子）March 1985 11th studio album"Stardust Garden ~ Sennen Teien"（STARDUST GARDEN -千・年・庭・園-...Millennium Garden） from a friend back in my university days but never got my own copy, and the one song that I remember from it is "Chinatown Rhapsody" which also has the English subtitle of "Missin' Girl" which hints at some sort of neighbourhood intrigue. Written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, the song goes at a good clip with a certain mysterious aura imbued throughout. I do like that twanging instrument in the intro.
(1987) Koji Tamaki -- Hong Kong
Honestly speaking, I hadn't gotten a great impression of Koji Tamaki's（玉木浩二) "Hong Kong" in the intro which sounded like a combination of a soundtrack from an episode of "Doctor Who" deep into the 1980s when the show was frankly going downhill and a little smidgen of a Pet Shop Boys tune. Now that I've gotten to hear it for the first time in many years, "Hong Kong" still won't enter my Top 5 Tamaki songs but it's a pretty tight and sexy song thanks to his considerable vocals and the simmering arrangement by Chris Cameron. Tamaki was responsible for melody while Goro Matsui（松井五郎）provided the lyrics.
I'd never seen the music video for "Hong Kong" before and it appears that the director was going for a Neo-Noir look in the titular city with Tamaki cutting quite the figure as someone reminiscent of the late actor Yusaku Matsuda（松田優作）. Tamaki's naturally saturnine looks can have viewers wondering about which side he's working for. "Hong Kong" is a part of his debut solo album"All I Do" which was released in August 1987 and peaked at No. 2 on Oricon.
My previous posting on Masatoshi Nakamura（中村雅俊）was for his "Akogare no Summer House"（憧れのSUMMER HOUSE）, a B-side that was notable for its pompadour-swinging rock n' roll party sense. Richie and Mary Beth would have felt at home here.
Meanwhile, its A-side, which represents Nakamura's June 1984 21st single, is "Puzzle Night", and no, it has nothing to do with the weekly jigsaw puzzle get-together with the whole family. Instead, lyricist Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）reveals the vagaries of love in the big city where whatever happens there may really have to stay in there. Meanwhile Tetsuji Hayashi's（林哲司）melody under Hiroshi Shinkawa's（新川博）arrangement has a rocking and dramatic feel somewhat reminiscent of Hayashi's work with Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）at around the same time.
"Puzzle Night" wasn't a humongous hit for Nakamura as it went only as high as No. 52 on Oricon, selling around 36,000 records. Hopefully, it did better for the Nissan Pulsar whose commercial featured both song and singer.
Once in a while, our local news station will have a charity raffle for a summer house out in the countryside by Georgian Bay or some other lake in Ontario (the above is actually a video for some place similar in the state of Wisconsin). I could never pay the price needed to enter the raffle but I've noticed that the prize doesn't just include the house but also a million bucks. No doubt, the winner will get the house but that person will also be saddled with property tax for the next number of years, so the million will come in handy.
Well, perhaps someone like veteran Japanese entertainer Masatoshi Nakamura（中村雅俊）wouldn't have to worry too much about the expense of owning a summer house although I don't know how much something like that would go for out in Japan. Knowing him, he may also own property outside the nation such as in Hawaii.
Anyways, he at least sings about a summer house via his "Akogare no Summer House" (Summer House of My Dreams), the B-side to his 21st single,"Puzzle Night"（パズル・ナイト）, from June 1984. Written by Ayumi Date（伊達歩）, composed by NOBODY, and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, it's got that handclapping rock-n-roll beat and the hopeful title, so perhaps Nakamura's place is the place to hold the Queen of All Parties; not a bad thing this summer. Mind you, sometimes I think that the tempo of "Akogare no Summer House" threatens to leave Nakamura's vocals in the dust, so maybe he could have used that summer house therapy at the end of recording.
The other day in the Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）forum on Discord, I read that the original drummer for the famed AOR band, Keiichi Hiroishi（廣石恵一）, had passed away on March 16th at the age of 64 due to a cerebral hemorrhage. Giving my condolences to Hiroishi's family, friends and fans, I wanted to start my contributions to KKP today with an Omega Tribe song.
Usually when it comes to the smooth and groovy stylings of Omega Tribe with Carlos Toshiki, I think of composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and lyricist Chinfa Kan（康珍化）. But for the band's 6th single under their incarnation at that time, "Toki wa Kagerou"(Love is an Illusion), it was none other than Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）who provided words and music with Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博） handling the arrangement. Released in June 1990, it's an ethereal musing on love as an amourous couple enjoy each other's company on the sands of some desert (those synth-wood pipes help with the effect). I can imagine that the concept of time must dissipate like a heat haze in such an environment. Reaching No. 38 on Oricon, "Toki wa Kagerou" was also the first track on Omega Tribe's album"natsuko" which came out later in July; the album was a No. 13 hit.
Interestingly enough, the first time that I had even heard of the song was through Yuming's（ユーミン）self-cover of "Toki wa Kagerou" from her November 1990 album"Tengoku no Door"（天国のドア）. It isn't quite as ethereal as the version that Shinkawa had arranged but the drama is still in there under Masataka Matsutoya's（松任谷正隆）handling of it. I'm not sure when I ended up buying Omega Tribe's album, but it wasn't too long after getting "Tengoku no Door" since when I listened to that first track on "natsuko", I was left wondering where I had heard that song before.
It didn't happen all that much since I was quite careful about how much I imbibed on a certain play night, but on rare occasions, I did get smacked with a hangover that left me either wincing with a headache or running to the nearest washroom to pray to the porcelain god. Tylenol or something stronger would usually get me out of the jam, though (long after I stopped drinking).
Perhaps 80s aidoru Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）and any of her short-term band RAMU had their hangover problems in the past. However for their "Late Night Headache" on the band's one and only September 1988 album"Thanks Giving", it sure sounds like the fun was still filling the dance floor despite the title. Written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composed by Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, "Late Night Headache" sounds like a Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）project for Omega Tribe with that certain crystalline keyboard and the languid nocturnal rhythms. And maybe it is the influence of the arrangement but when I hear Kikuchi sing, it reminds me of Carlos Toshiki!
The overall feeling is of young beautiful people driving out of Tokyo to a seaside resort at night to party it up during the Bubble Era as the music wavers between City Pop and straight pop. Near the end, there's even some Eurobeat riffing.
I first saw the announcement on singer-songwriter Mioko Yamaguchi's（山口未央子）Twitter account last night, and unfortunately, it was regarding the fact that arranger and keyboardist Hiroshi Shinkawa had passed away on January 8th 2025 at the age of 69 due to heart disease. Yamaguchi had relayed the news from Shinkawa's wife. The above YouTube video shows Shinkawa playing some blues piano.
Shinkawa may not have been quite as prolific as Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）or Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）, but his name and his works have been a solid addition to "Kayo Kyoku Plus" over the years so I wanted to pay some tribute to him through this Creator article. Born in Tokyo in 1955, his mother was the poet Kazue Shinkawa（新川和江）, who had just passed away last August, and he started playing classic piano at the age of 5. At 11, he and his classmate Char would form their own band. Some years later, Shinkawa had a part-time job at a music publishing company while being taught by composer and producer Kunihiko Murai（村井邦彦）. He later graduated from Nihon University College of Art and made his professional debut at 20 as part of the backing band for Hi-Fi Set（ハイ・ファイ・セット）. He would participate in Yumi Matsutoya's（松任谷由実）concert tour as the music director and then at 28, he became a full-fledged arranger.
I've found that a lot of his works for other singers were in the aidoru, pop and City Pop fields. Here is just a mere sample of what he arranged, a lot of it in the 1980s.
Although he had his main arranging work, in the 2000s, Shinkawa set up his own label Aosis Records covering the genres of jazz and AOR. He would also produce four of his own solo albums including the 2001 "Shinkies". I'll leave this article with a track from "Shinkies", the smooth "Altogether Alone". My condolences go to Shinkawa's family, friends and fans.
The last time I wrote about late 80s/early 90s aidoru Yuri Kunizane（国実百合）was back in November when I posted her "Hishochi no Sagan"（避暑地のサガン）from her July 1988 debut album"Summer in Blue". That was in the territory of Motown boogie.
However, later in December of that year, Kunizane put out her 4th single"Tomodachi Ijou" (More Than Friends) which was also placed within her mini BEST album"Y-923NE" from July 1989. That album, according to Discogs, has been categorized as synthpop, kayo kyoku and City Pop, and I think that this particular song seems to exemplify characteristics from all three genres. But without any of the three winning out over the other two, I've kept the Label here as aidoru. Written by Shun Taguchi（田口俊）, composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, it's quite the sweetly sung song with a killer electric guitar solo near the end.
I also have to note that the title for that mini BEST album is a pretty cool depiction of Kunizane's full name in an old-fashioned Japanese pager language sort of way. Plus, Kunizane herself looks more like a lady ready to hit the dance floors in a bodicon dress in comparison to the more demure 1950s persona that she showed on "Summer in Blue".
OK, I would like to note that the above photo of the Kyoku family has its members carrying glasses of non-alcoholic grape juice...not champagne. I don't want to be accused of catering to delinquent behaviour. Anyways, I would like to state to the Japanese: 「新年明けましておめでとうございます。」since they're now well into 2025. As I'm typing this though, we here in the Eastern Standard Time zone are still about eight hours away from making that transition. Yup, I did watch the Kohaku Utagassen but I will hold off on any opinions for at least a day until other folks have had a chance to see any reruns of it.
The New Year's holidays in Japan may be a more solemn and family-oriented occasion but of course here in North America, New Year's Eve is probably the biggest party night of the year. So as such, I thought it would be nice to add this song to the blog's coffers.
"Party Time" was C.C. Girls' 8th single from April 1994 and yeah, you can enjoy it with real champagne. Written by Mami Takubo（田久保真見）, composed by Ichiro Hada（羽田一郎）and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, it's appropriately sparkling fun times condensed into a 4-minute song with some rock here and perhaps some Eurobeat feeling. Hopefully, all of you going out tonight to ring in the New Year will have a good and safe time.
Soulful singer Kiyomi Suzuki（鈴木聖美）has been known to me as someone who has been involved in that classic urban contemporary duet with her brother Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）, "Taxi". Plus, I discovered that she had her own dip into Japanese pop culture franchises such as "City Hunter" with her ballad "Give Me Your Love Tonight".
However, even before those two songs, Suzuki had been involved with another such franchise, that being the cops and robbers series "Abunai Deka"（あぶない刑事）. The show has always had its share of R&B-inflected tunes and Suzuki provided "Wait and See (Love Song)" as her contribution to the show's soundtrack from November 1986. Linda Hennrick wrote the English lyrics for Suzuki while Takashi Shoji（小路隆）composed the melody that Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）arranged. Especially with that saxophone in there, I couldn't help but feel that there was some kinship between "Wait and See" and the love theme from "St. Elmo's Fire" by David Foster.
The producers really must have loved the song since there are two more versions on the soundtrack: the strings version and the instrumental version.
"Mizuiro no Wagon" (Light Blue Wagon) shows a guy coming across a car with a local number plate and then taking a short trip led by his heart to a nostalgic street corner via an expressway running through the city. The group, which was with CBS/Sony at the time, has a song strongly reminiscent of "Sunao ni Naritai"（素直になりたい）which was created by Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）, but it's also a number that feels like it was truly penned by the Hi-Fi Set（ハイファイセット）members. The gorgeous harmonies are there as usual, and Hiroshi Shinkawa's（新川博）arrangement which hits the key points is also splendid.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
Well, it looks like that Indian Summer might be coming a lot sooner than expected. Although things have been properly autumnal this week, this weekend and even going into next week, we'll be seeing temps perhaps hitting as high as 20 C which is a tad unusual for this time of year. Not complaining too much, though.
Even doing "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for well over a dozen years now, I will still be surprised now and then. A commenter from last week's "Sybille no Heya ~ Midnight Message"（シビルの部屋）was kind enough to reveal to me that the erstwhile Johnny's Entertainment (now STARTO Entertainment) that basically held the monopoly on male aidoru groups for decades once had a few female aidoru groups in its employ during the 1970s and 1980s!
One such group was Orange Sisters（オレンジ・シスターズ）consisting of Kayoko "Judy" Yoshitake（吉竹加世子）, Tae "Sandy" Sakai（酒井妙）, and Kiyomi "Candy" Yoshikawa（吉川聖美）. In 1982, Judy and Candy had been teen DJs for a tiny radio station known as the Kids Radio Station only broadcasting within the tony Aoyama district of Tokyo when through an audition, Sandy was selected to join the group. It was only a matter of time that the new trio would cut a record under the name Orange Sisters.
Although the three have only been designated as singers on J-Wiki, I would think that their employment under Johnny's and their singing style made them into an aidoru group. In any case, though, their debut single from March 1984 was "Summer Holiday", a very airy and pleasant 50s girl pop sort of tune written by Takako Osawa（大沢孝子）and composed/arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）. It did just modestly though by peaking at No. 97 on Oricon. However, the song had gotten its exposure to everyone a year earlier as a track on the 1983 album"Raspberry Avenue" under the name Kids All Stars.
Looks like Kayo Grace has gotten dolled up for a night in the big city. Meanwhile, someone else has chosen to try out a hotel on the beach.
Well, specifically "Nagisa Hotel"(Beach Hotel) by aidoru Mayumi Hara（原真祐美）. This was actually the B-side to her 5th single from April 1984,"Wakatte My Love"（わかってマイ・ラブ...Understand Me, My Love）, and this one is a rather interesting tune in terms of the key and chords. Plus, there is this combination of the disco strings and 80s rhythm that skirts with City Pop. Written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composed by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, Hara gamely sings in a soundscape that has its dramatic and doubtful verses which shift into a hopeful pre-chorus before things revert to a determined and perhaps heroic chorus. It sounds like one of those gang girl dramas on TV centering on one lass trying to get out of the life but having to literally punch her way through to the light.
As with my previous Hara outing, "Yuugure wa Love Song"（夕暮れはLove Song）, "Nagisa Hotel" was also a track on her 2nd album"Vert Clair"（ベール・クレール）from February 1984.
Ahh...nothing like a breezy J-Pop song to begin the work week. And this song was provided by singer-songwriter Sachiko Kumagai（ 熊谷幸子）, whose other song"Circus Circus"（サーカス サーカス）had once been the subject of a KKP APB. This time around, "Kaze to Kumo to Watashi" (The Wind and the Clouds and Me), was Kumagai's 5th single from February 1994.
Composed by Kumagai and written by Mica Project（マイカプロジェクト）...which is basically Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）and friends, "Kaze to Kumo to Watashi" was given its refreshing sheen through arrangement by the singer and Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）. It was used as the theme song for a Fuji-TV drama from that year, "Natsuko no Sake"（夏子の酒...Natsuko's Sake）. Starring Emi Wakui（和久井映見）, the drama (adapted from a manga) centered around a woman who ends up becoming a sake brewer after her brother in that business suddenly passes away.
The song hit No. 10 on Oricon and became the 86th-ranked single for 1994. It also got onto Kumagai's 3rd album"Poison Kiss" from April that year.
HRLE92 was actually the first KKP writer to introduce this particular song on his "Omega Tribe-Related Works Review". And he's absolutely right. "STRANGERS DREAM" sounds like an Omega Tribe song as if an aidoru along the lines of City Pop-loving Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）had opted to tackle it. But the singer here is Jackie Lin who hails from Hong Kong, born to Chinese and Korean parents. She and her band Par Avion（ジャッキー・リン&パラビオン）formed in 1987 and indeed it was meant to be a female-fronted version of the summery and urbane Omega Tribe.
Now, for those Japanese cop drama enthusiasts, and I know that we have at least one such person "on staff" here at KKP, if "STRANGERS DREAM" sounds remotely familiar to you, then you are definitely onto something. The reason is that the single which was released in April 1987 is a remake of the first opening theme song for the detective drama "Jungle"（ジャングル）as composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, who was also a regular melody maker for Omega Tribe. The original arrangement was by Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）who made the theme into a dynamic dance remix of cops going after the bad guys. "STRANGERS DREAM", on the other hand, is a fairly mellower City Pop tune with Masao Urino（売野雅勇）providing the lyrics while Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）handled the arrangement. This version came out just a couple of months following the premiere of "Jungle".
It was just the one single from Lin and Par Avion. According to the music magazine "The Best Hit" via J-Wiki, despite "STRANGERS DREAM" becoming a hit, the band soon disbanded although a second single had been on the way. Lin couldn't get used to the differences between the entertainment worlds in Hong Kong and Japan, suffering mental distress. Additionally, there had been rumours about her dating Carlos Toshiki who was fronting Omega Tribe at the time and so for her, enough was enough, and she headed back to Hong Kong.
To be honest, I didn't pay too much attention to the aidoru groups of the early 1990s although I do possess a few of the decade's "Myojo"（明星）magazine issues that had them within their pages such as ribbon and CoCo. These were the last groups before the so-called Aidoru Winter of that decade when it seemed as if the concept and genre of the female teenybopper singers had been thrown onto the pop music ash heap of history (it really only lasted a few years while the Komuro Steamroller took over the pop culture zeitgeist in the mid-90s before Morning Musume came onto the scene).
Marcos V. was the first KKP writer to bring the aidoru group ribbon onto our humble pages when he posted his thoughts on their 1990 2nd single"Soba ni Iru ne"(そばにいるね...I'm By Your Side) back in 2014. The trio consisted of Hiromi Nagasaku（永作博美）, Arimi Matsuno（松野有里巳）and Aiko Sato（佐藤愛子）and I think Nagasaku has been the member that has lasted the longest in Japanese show business since she has gone into acting and appearing on TV programs as a tarento. Above is a popular segment where Nagasaku goes through a rather intense foot massage.
I managed to find my own ribbon song titled "Ai no Diary" (Diary of Love) which is special from a few angles. For one thing, it's one of the group's entries that was never put onto a single or a regular album, only appearing up until that point in their June 1993 BEST compilation "More Delicious ribbon Best II" which peaked at No. 45 on Oricon. Another thing is that "Ai no Diary" had been written and composed by the late Shinji Tanimura（谷村新司）whose tribute I gave a few weeks ago on hearing about his death on October 8th.
Tanimura had created songs for many singers such as the classic "Ii Hi Tabidachi" (いい日旅立ち) for Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）all the way back in 1978, and my impression of him as a songwriter was that he made these elegant ballads that belonged in the New Adult Music realm of Japanese popular music; not enka but not totally pop either. So it was with some surprise to realize that he came up with "Ai no Diary" for an aidoru group like ribbon. Indeed, it's also unusual for the fact that the song is quite long at over 5 1/2 minutes. However, it's worth listening to under Hiroshi Shinkawa's（新川博）arrangement. It's an aidoru song of that decade, to be sure, with the synths and all that, but at the same time, I can actually hear Tanimura's voice (spiritually speaking) in the trio's vocals and his lyrics have that familiar reassuring pat on the shoulder for anyone who's going through tough times. It's almost like a "Subaru"（昴）for aidoru.
I was reading about ribbon's fate on J-Wiki and it seems as if unlike the cases with the other aidoru groups in that decade, Nagasaku and company didn't have any official finale in terms of their songs, albums or concerts or any announcements of a breakup. Basically, their end was characterized by a very long fade beginning at the end of 1993 with what would be their 13th and final single in October, "Yoake Nante Iranai"（夜明けなんていらない...What Do I Need a Sunrise For?）. J-Wiki would note the final album, concert and other appearances on TV and such in a timeline which would extend as far as 1994, maybe 1995 with the feeling that not even the members were sure when the end would be or whether it had already happened. 😦
One of the comments that I read for this video was that this song may have been used for some Japanese TV drama but I'm not 100% sure.
Mind you, "Sora ni Niji ga Ukandemo" (Even If a Rainbow Floats in the Sky) does have its playful bits in there so it may have very well been utilized as a theme tune or an insert song. But for now, we'll just say that this was singer-songwriter Keiko Utsumi's（宇都美慶子）3rd single from January 1991. Written by Utsumi, composed by Shinya Naito（内藤慎也）and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, the song is pretty darn smooth although it rather flits over the borderline between 90s City Pop and straight ahead pop.
As for the drama part, Utsumi's lyrics do talk of a couple having a pleasant stroll on a flowery lane although there doesn't seem to be any sturm und drang in the walk. Everything's copacetic! Ah...well, we have some breaking news...I scrolled further down Utsumi's J-Wiki article where she has a song tie-up section. Apparently, "Sora ni Niji ga Ukandemo" was used as the ending theme for the second half of Series 1 in the NTV series "Deka Kizoku"（刑事貴族...The Detective Aristocrats) which was broadcast from 1991 to 1993. That means the song shares a fellowship with Masayuki Suzuki's（鈴木雅之）"Mou Namida wa Iranai"（もう涙はいらない）which was a theme song used in Series 3.
Well, I did have the above CD cover as the photo of the week in the upper-right corner for about a week so I figure that at least I should find out what the song is all about. I've not covered aidoru Rieko Miura（三浦理恵子）before now.
The tune is associated as an image song with an interesting anime created by Italian production companies and broadcast on NHK from 1994 to 1995. Titled "Montana Jones"（モンタナ・ジョーンズ）, it was about anthromorphized cats with an adventurous streak, and yes, the show was inspired by a famous Hollywood hero-adventurer.
Not sure how Miura's "Rakuen no Tricot" fit in as an image song for "Montana Jones". Perhaps it was placed as a track in the soundtrack or a character song album. However, the aidoru's 8th single from August 1994 is a cheerful and bubbly tune with some cool horns to add some urban jazziness to the proceedings. Written by Hirofumi Nagatomo（長友博文）and Neko Oikawa（及川ネコ）with Minoru Komorita（小森田実）and Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）handling composition and arrangement duties respectively, though I wouldn't quite place it as a 90s City Pop song, there is something of the caviar and champagne in there. Incidentally, I had to dig a tad to find out what a tricot was...apparently, it's some sort of knitted fabric so I gather that "Rakuen no Tricot" can be translated as "Paradise Fabric". It peaked at No. 38 on Oricon.
Miura went on a solo aidoru career once her group CoCo called it quits in 1994. However, I recall seeing her more on television as a tarento, although she would continue releasing albums and singles on her own until 1997.
Just returned from a popular Chinese restaurant after dinner with the family. I'm more than satisfied with the repast of Cantonese Chow Mein, Spicy Deep-Fried Squid and Beef and Broccoli, and my humble abdomen is obviously showing its happiness right now. However, my hands may have some problems reaching the keyboard so please bear with me.
Anyways, earlier in March, I provided an article on Yoshiko Miyazaki's（宮崎美子）2nd single"Watashi no Kibun wa Sangria"（わたしの気分はサングリア）from September 1982. The A-side is a delectably not-so-easy to categorize number with elements of City Pop, Latin, New Music and exotic kayo. However, the B-side of "Konya wa Futari" (The Two of Us Tonight) is most definitely old-style jazz from Note One.
Perhaps I could be anywhere along the Mediterranean when I listen to "Watashi no Kibun wa Sangria", but with "Konya wa Futari", I imagine myself in the big lounge in Manhattan's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel either in the 1920s because of the Big Band jazz or in the 1960s because of the vocal chorus accompaniment. It's all classy and fun. At first thought, I'd assumed that Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）had offered "Konya wa Futari" to Miyazaki because I know that he was just as much about the old-time jazz as he was about City Pop, but in point of fact, it was Yayoi Tanaka（田中弥生）who had come up with the melody, all arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）. Miyazaki herself wrote the lyrics. I can also imagine the singer doing the ol' soft-shoe with some of those backup dancers on the Vaudeville stage during the song.
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