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.
As is usually the case for me, I was doing my round of maintenance among the articles last night when I came across Noelle's 2016 article for "A rundown of the 48th Omoide no Melody (第48回 思い出のメロディー) Part 2". A few of the videos got taken down by YouTube so I had to replace them.
One such video was for Noelle's description of the performance by one of the guests on the annual NHK special who happened to be singer-songwriter Ichiro Araki（荒木一郎）. She had been expecting to hear Araki's "Itoshi no Macks ~ Macks A Go Go"(Macks, My Love) because she enjoyed actor/singer Hiroshi Tachi's（舘ひろし）cover version, but instead the original singer went with his debut single, "Sora ni Hoshi ga aru youni"(空に星があるように) .
We're going with something from seven years ago, but I'm not going to see one of my friends and fellow writers be disappointed, so allow me to bring "Itoshi no Macks" onto the KKP screen. This was his fifth single from May 1967, and true to the Group Sounds boom that was happening in the latter half of that decade, Araki made some adjustments to the melody and arrangement so that he was jangling it like any GS band. The entire song is a love paean to some lady named Macks (get that red dress for her, Ichiro!), perhaps short for Maxine or Maxie. And yep, the lyrics have the name down as "Macks" and not "Max" which I had assumed at first.
"Itoshi no Macks" may have been Araki's first big hit as it sold 1.25 million copies by some time in 1968 and got him his sole invitation to the 1967 edition of the Kohaku Utagassen. This was before the Oricon charts came out but I could imagine that the song would have hit No. 1.
To commemorate his 10th anniversary in the music business in 1976, Araki released through what was once Trio Records a revised version of "Itoshi no Macks". This one still retains the GS flavour but as the song progresses, there is more of a silky Mood Kayo element added through strings and sax.
Ahh...here is the Tachi cover which was his 1991 single. I could only find this video but it sounds like there is a bit more of a rock sheen to this one.
Earlier this afternoon, I was conversing with Rocket Brown of "Come Along Radio" and we plus a couple of others ended up watching the first episode of the beloved 1980s cop show "Abunai Deka" (The Dangerous Detectives) on Discord with the ever dapper Hiroshi Tachi（舘ひろし）and Kyohei Shibata（柴田恭兵）as the titular troublemaking and trouble solving detectives. With all of that fashion, hairstyles, bars and old-style telephones, it's so 80s, it hurts. Being the pilot, there were some interesting out-of-character moments such as Atsuko Asano's（浅野温子）Officer Kaoru being a bit more serious than my impression of her being delightfully daffy.
A few of the ending themes have been covered on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" such as the very first one "Tsumetai Taiyo"(冷たい太陽) by Tachi which was done by Noelle Tham. But none of us had taken care of the opening credits song which accompanies the quick tour inside Minato Police Station in Yokohama, the home base for the detectives. Well, I found out that "Abunai Deka (She's So Good)" was also composed by Tachi as a rock n' pop tune that is influenced by his time as a rock n' roller singer back in the 1970s.
It's been over three years since a new Mi-Ke article has been sighted around these parts, so I'm glad to have contributed to find one at last. To remind folks, Mi-Ke was a 1990s trio of female singers specializing in contemporized versions of the rock n' roll and Group Sounds, and they were first known as the chorus section of the group B.B. Queens. The three members were Keiko Utoku（宇徳敬子）, Haruka Murakami（村上遙）and Mami Watanabe（渡辺真美）. One of their big hits was the 1991 "Omoide no Kujukuri Hama"（思い出の九十九里浜）.
In July 1992, Mi-Ke released their 8th single"Asa made Odorou" (Dance All Night), and as the title signifies, it's all about putting on those party clothes and just spinning all about the dance floor until the sun rises. Yup, it sounds like getting the 1960s back into the 1990s combining the rock with the synth hits. Hiroshi Tachi（たちひろし）was responsible for the lyrics while Daiko Nagato（長戸大幸）provided the rock n' roll music. "Asa made Odorou" hit No. 15 on Oricon.
Now, if that lyricist's name rings a bell, especially for kayo and Japanese TV fans, then indeed you'll know that it is indeed singer and one-half of the the "Abunai Deka"（あぶない刑事）, Hiroshi Tachi（舘ひろし）, who wrote the words. In fact, Mi-Ke's single was a cover for the original version of "Asa made Odorou" recorded as a 2nd single from September 1977 by Tachi and his Sexy Dynamites（舘ひろしとセクシー・ダイナマイツ）.
Indeed, that is 1977 and not 1967, but the rock n' roll of yesteryear is still imbued in it, and I guess that might explain why the single was released again, this time as a solo effort by Tachi, in 1980. It was around that time when all those 50s rock n' roller types were amassing in Harajuku every weekend to do their twisting and dancing.
Well, we've reached the final day of June, and for us here in the Great White North, that also means the eve of Canada Day. Tomorrow on July 1st, the country will be celebrating 155 years of existence, and as such, I've decided to devote a couple of Reminiscings of Youth articles today and tomorrow to Canadiana.
First off, this will be the third ROY article dedicated to the Burlington, Ontario band Spoons which had its heyday in the 1980s. However, compared to the atmospheric synthpop of "Nova Heart" and the breeziness of "Romantic Traffic", their 1984 single"Tell No Lies" was a whole other animal. Even the Wikipedia article for Spoons remarked that this particular song was a bit unusual for the band.
For one thing, it was fully dunked into some really upbeat pop with the addition of a horn section that seemed to burst out from Tito Puentes' band and merge with some of that Spoons synthiness (yes I know that the preceding isn't a real word). For another, I remember seeing the music video for "Tell No Lies" and thinking that Gordon Deppe, Sandy Horne and the rest of the guys must have hit the sauce really hard since these guys were just happily goofing around in this air vacation gone horribly wrong (and on a more serious note, Toronto's own Pearson Airport is going through some major logistical issues along with other airports around the world; do wonder about Narita and Haneda in the Tokyo area, too). But hey, they need to have fun as well.
And "Tell No Lies" is a fun song. In fact, I made it SOP for a while as a late teen to always listen to it whenever it came on the radio, and I did a search for the extended version. I did find it on one of the regular Saturday night dance remix shows, fortunately enough. Moreover, both "Tell No Lies" and "Romantic Traffic" shared the same September 1984 album "Listen to the City" which was actually the soundtrack for a cinematic drama of the same name that had bassist Horne as one of the cast. Both she and Deppe worked on the album which has been apparently discontinued according to the band's website but it does exist via that YouTube link above.
Now, what was also coming out in September 1984 from Japan?
When I first saw the above photo in the pages of a Myojo issue, I just thought that these guys were members of the yakuza instead of the police department, especially that grim-looking fellow on the left there. Then I read the title at the bottom of the photo "Abunai Deka"（あぶない刑事...Dangerous Detectives）.
I've known about the series since then for many years and even caught a few episodes. My impression was that this was the Japanese coming of "Starsky & Hutch" with a much better tailor. I didn't become a fan, but I couldn't deny that the two leads, Hiroshi Tachi（舘ひろし）and Kyohei Shibata（柴田恭兵）, cut quite the dashing figures. Of course, Atsuko Asano（浅野温子）was just plain smoking in the photo although her character in the show was a lot goofier. A couple of days before Xmas, my Vancouver friend, Michael, was kind enough to give me his DVD sets of "Abunai Deka" so I'm gonna have to set up a schedule to see the show.
Usually, Hiroshi Tachi is Noelle's territory. However, I came across this song by him on YouTube and found it in that same mold of rock n' blues that his even more famous "Nakanaide"（泣かないで）was back in 1984. As I told Noelle in that article, Tachi's appearance to sing "Nakanaide" on the Kohaku Utagassen in that year kinda helped me cement the image of the man...the dedicated detective who may not be the most upstanding citizen but he's on the side of the angels although he likes some of the devilish things in life.
"Dakishimete" (Hold Me) is actually not part of the "Abunai Deka" soundtrack but a song he performed and released in April 1990 as one of the theme songs for another show he was on called "Deka Kizoku"（刑事貴族...The Detective Nobility）. According to the J-Wiki write-up, the NTV program was inspired by the American NBC series "Crime Story" from 1986 which was notable for its long-term storyline, something that has become par for the course for TV series now here but was very groundbreaking decades ago. Tachi played ace detective Shunsuke Maki for the first part of "Deka Kizoku".
Tachi also wrote and composed "Dakishimete" which has that combination of guitar, slamming drums and slightly Asian strings. Perhaps Noelle can confirm for me whether this has been a trademark musical style for some of his other creations. Another observation from my part is that for some reason, the rhythm has me reminded of Ben E. King's"Stand by Me". Listening to him, I can see him striding down one of the main streets of Tokyo in a slightly bedraggled but obviously expensive suit after a long night out and heading back to headquarters. Sleep is for losers, according to him. He may be tired, but he will still be protecting the city proudly, and that trumpet in the middle kinda puts the accent on that.
Another image I have of Tachi is that he probably treats the microphone as his lover. There is always that particular singer who cradles the head of the old-fashioned mike while he sings into it, and with Tachi, that would be the case here as well. However, he also has developed an even deeper growl to show and ask for that passion.
(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)
The above video is from a broadcast of NHK's afternoon talk show "Studio Park" in which some 10 minutes into the program, Tachi professes his affinity for the sweets, especially in this case, the very Japanese taiyaki. However, there was also an NHK English conversation seminar program featuring tarento years ago in which Tachi was a guest and showed some proficiency in the English language. In fact, I remember him distinctly saying that he and his family were Anglophiles to the extent that they used to have regular teatime in the late afternoon.
Yes, can you J-Drama fans ever imagine a young Tachi saying something "Please, Mummy, may I ask you for some more clotted cream?". Then again, one Humphrey Bogart (yes, that Bogie) used to appear in a few roles where he played the rich and spoiled guy about town very early in his career. So, perhaps, I can place Tachi as a J-Bogart?
As you probably know by now, I am quite... fascinated by Hiroshi Tachi... Okay, fine, "quite" and "fascinated" are an understatement but you get what I mean. He's cool, intimidating and suave as a hard-boiled detective; silly and warm as a home drama father figure in the recent years; hilarious as a high school girl in her father's body. However, one part of Mr. Dandy that I'm still not a big fan of is him as a biker dude/bad boy. I don't know, the combination of an all black leather get-up, the hair gelled up to the high heavens, the defiant look, and hunched swagger, just made me go, "He looks like a goon." rather than the usual (for Tachi) "Dang, that's hot." despite showing off them abs. Fine, the latter came afterwards and there is sort of a twisted charm in seeing a mischievous smirk like what you see up there. Nevertheless, goony Tachi from the 70's is goony and I'm really, really glad he grew out of that stage.
The song that introduced and reminds me of the actor-singer's biker phase from time to time is "Asa made Odoro", the newer version with rock band, THE COLTS, to be specific. It's got a funky 70's rock'n'roll vibe, plus those deep blaring horns and wonky rumbling of electric guitar that is reminiscent to a roaring Harley Davidson. While I did come to appreciate the music for its amazingly cool arrangement and the conjured image of a current-day, sunglassed Tachi riding that hulking motorcycle, it was initially quite bewildering to realise that the gentleman I see now was a scrappy, James Dean-like fellow the moment "Asa made Odoro" hit my ears - the goony Tachi pictures I saw later only intensified the bewilderment. Well, I guess everyone's got to start somewhere, right?
Prior to the self-cover with THE COLTS in 1996, "Asa made Odoro" had been released several times from the late 70's to the early 80's but it officially came out in 1977 as Tachi's 2nd single. The original isn't as loud or intense and it doesn't sound very much like rock. Daiko Nagato's (長戸大幸) composition has more of a laid-back, Latin feel and a young Tachi sounded like he had just taken a few shots before recording it. I much prefer the self-cover and I find that its arrangement better represents Tachi's lyrics of dancing all night long with his lady - isn't that tiring though? (opinions of a lazy person)
Now, that's a lot better.
On a side note, it seems like Tachi enjoys dancing as seen from the multitude of songs he has regarding getting down on the dance floor and there being a number of dance scenes involving him throughout the "Abunai Deka" series.
Oh my goodness, that picture. Ack! Kyohei Shibata (柴田恭兵) is cool and still looks decent and all but Hiroshi Tachi (舘ひろし) is so... So... Hot! I feel like Keisuke Kuwata (桑田佳祐) at the beach after he took a look into his binoculars in the Southern All Stars "DIRTY OLD MAN ~ Saraba Natsu yo" (DIRTY OLD MAN ～さらば夏よ～) MV... ...
*Ahem* Sorry about that. Got a bit... distracted there.
ANYWAY, a couple of weeks back I headed over to Kinokuniya for a look-see at the Japanese magazine section in hopes that I'd find myself another enka-yo magazine. Sadly I couldn't find anything of that sort. However, to make up for that I stumbled upon the wonderful sight of Tachi and Shibata on the cover of "Men's Ex", a Men's fashion magazine, and an issue of "PICT-UP", on movie entertainment. My mind kinda froze and needed a moment to process what I just saw. Needless to say, I got both. While "PICT-UP" had many snapshots of the two suave-looking fellows in mod suits and sunglasses, the "Men's Ex" one only had a couple of photos in the first few pages, after that it was all about nice shoes and bags of foreign brands and exorbitant prices. At least the cover photo was huge.
As to why Tachi and Shibata were featured on the magazine covers, it's because their newest film, "Saraba Abunai Deka" (さらば あぶない刑事... Farewell Abunai Deka), was released on the 31st of January of this year. It's supposed to be the 6th and last installment of the buddy-cop series that's similar to "Miami Vice", "Abunai Deka" (あぶない刑事), that began in 1986 as a TV drama, and it also came out a little more than ten years after the previous "Abu-Deka" movie, so it seems like it got quite a lot of attention. Watching the promotional video for "Saraba", I have to say that it's as cheesy as it was 30 years ago in the late 80's, but I'd watch it just because and there looks to be a number of funny moments as well, so why not?
Kicking off the promotional video was the deep voice of Tachi crooning a song that has pretty much become the theme to the "Abunai Deka" series, "Tsumetai Taiyo". Being Tachi's own hit single that he wrote from 1986, it was first used as the theme to the first season of "Abu-Deka" that very same year, then in the first movie in 1987. I must say that this tune does fit the image of the shades-wearing Toshiki Takayama (鷹山敏樹) a.k.a. Taka, played by Tachi, and Yuji Oshita (大下勇次) a.k.a. Yuji, played by Shibata - the music has this cool vibe to it and the saxophone gives it a refined edge and an air of mystery.
The ending for the first "Abunai Deka" (the TV series, I think).
A new version of "Tsumetai Taiyo" or the "NEW BLOOD VERSION" was released 10 years later in 1996 and was the theme for the fourth movie, "Abunai Deka Returns" (あぶない刑事リターンズ). The air of mystery in this rendition was traded for funk as the sax and trumpets blare away. You can check it out at niconico here if you have an account. I like both versions, but I think I find myself favouring the "NEW BLOOD VERSION" - it's arrangement reminds me of the good times I had in San Francisco for some reason. Finally, "Tsumetai Taiyo Final Version" was used as the ending theme for "Saraba Abunai Deka". It was released on 9th December 2015 in Tachi's 40th anniversary album "ANTHOLOGY 〜40th ANNIVERSARY BEST ALBUM〜" - I haven't yet heard it, but knowing me I'd buy that album in the near future to listen to it... Okay, fine, to be honest the main reason I'd buy the album is that Tachi looks so cool on the cover.
Best photo ever 10/10.
Oh-ho, that smile and the way he looks into
the camera... ><
Although I must admit that Hiroshi Tachi (舘ひろし) doesn't sing particularly well, he does have a deep, soothing voice and I'm glad that he had recorded a number of songs over his 40 years in show business. As someone who would rather not watch serial dramas, even those starring him, due to my tendency of binge-watching - not a fan of suspense in all sense of the word, so I'd want to get it over and done with - it's a good way for me to see the actor-singer... Wait, no that doesn't sound right - hear him. Hang on, come into contact with him? Oh whatever, you get the point.
Anyway, when I began to take an interest in Tachi, music.163 was still up, enabling me to sample some more of the actor-singer's musical works that YouTube doesn't have as the site had songs from "TACHI THE BEST COLLECTION". Those found in this 2005 compilation album are listenable, and I'm very fond of the music from a handful of them as I find them comfortable and relaxing - something to note is that most of those were composed by the man himself. "Yoru wo Kakeru Omoi ~THE ONLY ONE~" is one such example.
Despite me discovering "Yoru wo Kakeru Omoi" much later than the other tracks, my liking for it quickly surpassed that of the others. It moves along at a steady pace with the electric guitar revving away in the back and occasionally making itself known but not in an excessively loud manner, following which is Tachi's laid-back vocals. Makes me think of the fellow riding on his bike along a long, empty stretch of road at dawn when the sun begins to rise, with a pair of shades and the wind blowing through his hair and that smirk on his face. Ah, that's so cool.
Moving on, so when music.163 closed down, I wasn't able to find this song anywhere else (or so I thought), which led me to get the aforementioned album late last year just so I could listen to "Yoru wo Kakeru Omoi" again. Though there's no loss in doing so as I could also revisit the other tracks again and have a couple of pictures of Tachi from the lyrics booklet and the jewel case, I only realised a few days ago that I could've listened to it on YouTube, the one place that I ignored as I assumed it wouldn't have a song that uncommon, in the very video above. I really underestimate YouTube sometimes. Part of me was happy that I found it as it meant that I could share it with you guys, but the other part of me is pinching my nose bridge at the fact that I missed something that was literally right under my nose this whole time.
"Yoru wo Kakeru Omoi" was written by Tachi as well as lyricist and essayist, Yumi Yoshimoto (吉元由美). It was released on 2nd February 1994 as the B-side to "Naze "(何故〜I DON'T WANNA SAY "Good-Bye"〜) - now I'm curious as to how that one sounds like - and used as the theme song to the movie "Menkyo ga nai!" (免許がない！) that had Tachi in the lead role. Seems to be about an actor learning how to drive for his role; the commercial is in the video below. He looks so cute with those glasses.
Just a bit of personal trivia to round things up. The Marutama Auntie (Japanese lady who runs the ramen joint; I've mentioned her before) said something that caught me off guard when I mentioned Tachi the last time I saw her a couple months ago when I went to Marutama for my menchi-katsu fix. Usually it's a bewildered "Ehhh?" or "Why?" which I find thoroughly amusing. Instead she went "Ah, Tachi Hiroshi! That one I can understand (why you fancy him)." It was my turn to be at a lost for words and be the one who's genuinely surprised. That's the first time I've heard such a thing when aged artistes are brought up. And then again, it is Tachi...
From one of my favourite genres to another... Besides enka and Mood Kayo, I really enjoy jazz, and I've made that known when I did the article on Duke Aces'cover album filled with ancient jazz tunes. The combination of sounds in such music - the not too boisterous tapping of the drums, the tinkling of the piano, the blare of the trumpets, and the rich notes from the saxophone - brings relaxing thoughts and images to mind. And that was what compelled me to get this album by Hiroshi Tachi (舘ひろし).
After hearing his rendition of "Arashi wo Yobu Otoko", which was where I got to see the current-decade-Tachi being as suave or even more so as he was back in the 80's, I was pleased to know that he had done a cover album solely on the hits sung by his senior and former leader of the Ishihara Gundan, Yujiro Ishihara (石原裕次郎). It was released on 26th September 2012, and it peaked at 128th place on the Oricon charts. Through an episode of NHK's "SONGS" online that featured this very album, I was glad to know that his renditions all had the familiar, comforting sounds of jazz, which was probably why I accepted them fairly easily even though I wasn't familiar with or didn't liked the originals.
The tracks for "HIROSHI TACHI sings YUJIRO" are as follows:
1. Prologue (序章)
2. Yogiri yo Konya mo Arigato (夜霧よ今夜も有難う)
3. Arashi wo Yobu Otoko (嵐を呼ぶ男)
4. Akai Handkerchief (赤いハンカチ)
5. Iki na Wakare (粋な別れ)
6. Brandy Glass (ブランデーグラス)
7. Futari no Sekai (二人の世界)
8. Ginza no Koi no Monogatari (銀座の恋の物語)
9. Kurutta Kaijutsu (狂った果実)
10. Mina Dare ka wo Aishiteru (みんな誰かを愛してる)
11. Waga Jinsei ni Kui Nashi (わが人生に悔いなし)
12. Amai Seikatsu (甘い生活) - Bonus track, Tachi's own song.
On a whole, the covers are louder with a fuller arrangement, and the Mood Kayo feel is mostly lost to that of jazz - most sound like tunes you'd hear in jazz bars and Broadway shows rather than a little izakaya tucked away in some back alley in Ginza - but I like them anyway.
Alright, enough with the introduction, let's get on to the songs I enjoy from this album, shall we? For the tracks that I can't find online, I will put down the original instead.
Yogiri yo Konya mo Arigato (1967)
As you probably know by now, I LOVE this song, and I'm actually very particular about who sings this jazzy Mood Kayo hit - besides Tough Guy, of course. In fact, I can get quite ticked off if I don't think the singer has the right vocal delivery for it. Lucky for Tachi, I think his voice has some similar qualities to Yujiro's, those being low, smooth and gentle; he isn't able to reach the higher notes as easily though. If I were to use food as an analogy, Yujiro's voice would be something like a smooth and light hot chocolate, while Tachi's a thicker, heavier caramel.
Unfortunately, I'm unable to find Tachi's cover of "Yogiri yo Konya mo Arigato", but it is a lot louder than the original with the trumpets blaring away rather than just the lonely sax. It's nice, but frankly, I prefer the music to the original as it represents the loneliness of the song better.
Arashi wo Yobu Otoko (1958)
I enjoy both versions of "Arashi wo Yobu Otoko", but I think I prefer Tachi's by a slim margin. The original is more on the refined side if you take out the boisterous crashing of the drums and cymbals. The cover on the other hand is aggressive and combatant and very Tachi in its arrangement, and I think that it blends with the boxing-related taunt mid-way through the song.
Iki na Wakare (1967)
This one came across as slightly enka to me when I heard the sample of it on CD Japan, and I took a liking to it immediately. The laid back vibe of "Iki na Wakare" made by the horns and sax had me thinking of someone taking a leisurely stroll in a park with brown leaf litter crunching underfoot and the trees painted gold, red and orange by autumn. The original is softer and more deconstructed but it gives off a similar feeling, though instead of a park I envision the person strolling down a Parisian street at sundown. "Iki na Wakare" was the B-side to "Yogiri yo Konya mo Arigato", and Kuranosuke Hamaguchi (浜口庫之助) had also put this song together.
Ginza no Koi no Monogatari (1961)
"Ginza no Koi no Monogatari" was one of Tough Guy's songs that I never paid attention to even after hearing it a couple of times on "Kayo Concert", and for a while I was wondering why this duet was one of his most successful hits. And then Tachi's version, sung with jazz singer Karen Aoki (青木カレン), staved off the doubts I had. I think it has got to do with the arrangement of the song again, with the former being quieter and more subdued, while the latter being more Broadway-like and exciting. But either way, "Ginza no Koi no Monogatari" has found its way into my brain and it has no intention of leaving - it's been stuck in my noggin for a few days now... it's getting quite annoying. You can find the cover in the video above which shows that episode of "SONGS" I was talking about earlier. "Ginza no Koi no Monogatari" comes in at the 9:47 mark.
Waga Jinsei ni Kui Nashi (1987)
To end off the article, I'll talk about the last song in the album (not counting the bonus track). I think "Waga Jinsei ni Kui Nashi" translates to "I have no regrets in my life", and taking into account that this was Ishihara's last single released while he was still in the world of the living just makes it one poignant tune... It's one that would put a sad smile on your face. The music that Tokiko Kato (加藤登紀子) had composed starts of soft at first, and while Tachi/Yujiro sings during that bit, it sounds as if our protagonist is staring into the mirror and talking to himself, reviewing what had been happening in his life thus far. Then it picks up at the chorus where he then proclaims sort of triumphantly that he has no regrets in his life. Rei Nakanishi (なかにし礼) had written the lyrics. "Waga Jinsei ni Kui Nashi" did quite well on the charts in 1987, peaking at 12th place and selling about 840 000 copies. Ah yes, and you can find Tachi's cover in the "SONGS" video above at the 25:52 mark.
He looks really good in a tux... especially with
the bow tie undone... like that.
Reading J-Canuck's article on "Ginza Kankan Musume" (銀座カンカン娘) had me thinking of other tunes like it - jaunty, post-war, and hugely popular even in the current millenium. And the song that popped into my mind first was Ichiro Fujiyama's (藤山一郎) "Aoi Sanmyaku". The fact that it's been requested twice in a row during the recent "Omoide no Melody" (2014 and 2015) and sung from time to time on music shows like "Kayo Concert" and "Thursday 8 o'clock Concert" just proves its popularity - though I've not yet heard it in its entirety, much to my disappointment.
I was first introduced to "Aoi Sanmyaku" through a snippet of the aforementioned "8 o'clock Concert" (link above) where the night's guest performers were split into two teams of four, the Mountain Team and the Sea Team, and each member singing songs based on their given theme. I watched that quite a while back, around the time that I was still unfamiliar with most old enka/ryukoka and even some of the singers present, so most of the tunes just flew over my head. The only one that managed to make an ever so slight impression (it only made me familiar with the title and probably just one sentence) was "Aoi Sanmyaku", sung by the Mountain Team's captain, Kiyoshi Maekawa (前川清) - maybe because he was also the only one I bothered to listen to at that point in time - but that was about it. As to how I came to truly enjoy ancient number is still a bit of a blur, but I have a feeling that it might have been at the start of an older episode of "Nippon no Uta".
Anyway, as with most songs, what drew me to "Aoi Sanmyaku" was none other than its memorable score that makes one want to clap along to, and it definitely has a knack of getting stuck in my brain often too. Composed by the same person responsible for the music to "Ginza Kankan Musume", Ryuichi Hatori (服部良一), the trumpets blaring away in that brisk pace brings the image of an old, smoke-spewing locomotive chugging along through the mountains to mind. In a carriage sits our protagonist who's anxious yet pumped about the changes and challenges he may face upon arriving at his new destination. To take his mind off such worrying thoughts, he looks out the window to admire the hilly terrain of the blue mountain range. Get it? Sorry. Poet and lyricist, Yaso Saijo (西條八十), penned the lyrics.
I think this was part of "Aoi Sanmyaku" the movie...
"Aoi Sanmyaku" was released in 1949. It was originally a duet between Fujiyama and Mitsue Nara (奈良光枝) back when it came out, and it was used as the theme song to a movie of the same name. But when Nara passed away in 1977, the song became Fujiyama's. Strangely enough, Fujiyama sung "Aoi Sanmyaku" once (or twice, if you count his special appearance medley in 1979) on the Kohaku in 1989, despite being that well received. Well, but it did come in first out of two hundred Showa era songs in this NHK show "Showa no Uta Kokoro ni Nokoru 200" (昭和の歌・心に残る200) that aired in 1989.
Many singers, young and old, have done covers of this song, but out of those that I've seen, the name I was most taken aback by when reading the "Covers" portion of the tune's J-Wiki page was Hiroshi Tachi (舘ひろし). From his overall bad boy persona, it did not occur to me at all that he'd have a go at "Aoi Sanmyaku", of all songs. However, I must say that Tachi's funky rendition of this ryukoka with that low, gentle voice of his - a stark contrast to Fujiyama's nasally warble - was interesting to hear. I kinda like it... What? No..., it's not because Tachi sang it... ... Okay, well, sort of... but still, it's a cool take on the song. His version was titled "Aoi Sanmyaku '88", released in October 1988, and it was also used for the theme song to, well, "Aoi Sanmyaku '88" (I think it was a remake of the original movie too), starring the actor himself.
acore-omiya.com
Oh, J-Canuck did an article on "Aoi Sanmyaku" too a while ago, you can check it out here.
Contrary to my initial speculation, this "Nakanaide" is NOT the same Mood Kayo "Nakanaide" that is the Hiroshi Wada & Mahina Stars (和田弘とマヒナスターズ) hit. The two songs are actually quite contrasting.
Just last night, after being spurred by the find of a black and white footage of Yujiro Ishihara (石原裕次郎) singing "Yogiri yo Konya mo Arigato" (夜霧よ今夜も有難う) earlier in the day, I began hunting for some more videos featuring singers from back in the day when I came across this promising medley that featured many familiar names... and Tough Guy's face on the thumbnail, so I went ahead with watching it. I was first greeted by the dapper Ishihara crooning Tetsuya Watashi's (渡哲也) "Kuchinashi no Hana" (くちなしの花) in his smooth as silk voice, followed by an equally polished Ryotaro Sugi (杉良太郎), and after that George Yamamoto (山本譲二), who appeared and sounded quite awkward - I'm used to seeing the enka singer with his current-day flair and machismo. Then came the only fellow in the medley that I had never heard of, Hiroshi Tachi (舘ひろし). The title of the song he sang was up on the screen saying "Nakanaide", but unlike the really slow and melancholic "Nakanaide" I know of from the late 50's, the former had this out-on-the-town funky vibe and upbeat music, which was composed by Tachi himself. Also, his deep and gentle vocal delivery makes his "Nakanaide" more consolatory and assuring, hence my preference for this one.
Besides that, there were other features of the singer-actor that quickly caught my eye. That particular relaxed and nonchalant expression on his angular face, and that manner in which he sang - a hand on his belly, his body bobbing from left to right to the beat, the way he turned his head to the side when he brought the mic down, gazing at the floor occasionally - just reminded me of ASKA during the late 80's to the 90's. In general, Tachi looks like a real cool cat, and this part of him shone in his role as a rugged officer (I think) in the Ishihara-produced police drama series "Seibu Keisatsu" (西部警察) that aired from 1979 to 1983.
"Nakanaide" was released in 1984, and although there's not much information on the song, I think it was quite popular as it allowed Tachi a spot on the Kohaku on that same year. The video above had Tachi jammin' with another popular Hiroshi (unfortunately the video isn't available, so enjoy Tachi singing it on "Yoru no Hit Studio"). Huh, this article is filled with Hiroshi-s. Oh, I almost forgot, the lyrics to "Nakanaide" were written by the late lyricist, Yuji Konno (今野雄二).
Hooo boy... Wow... That is just... Wow...
laughy.jp
Tachi seems to have aged pretty well, and he looks better now in my opinion. A lot better. He's a rather suave, good-looking man if I don't say so myself... ...
My memories of Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎） were mostly of his later years when he was The Big Man: crooning enka ballads and being the veteran police squad leader on TV. I wouldn't know until much later that Ishihara had once been the tall strapping young hellraiser in his movies. To be honest, I haven't seen any of his flicks in the 50s and 60s, but there was one scene from one movie that I managed to catch on a television retrospective on Ishihara.
The movie was "Arashi wo Yobu Otoko" (Man Who Causes A Storm) which was released in December 1957. It's about a young ex-con named Shoichi (played by Ishihara) who finds a job as a drummer in a Ginza nightclub and proceeds to claw his way up the ladder. The big scene is when Shoichi sings the main tune while he drums up a storm despite having injured his hand.
Written by Umetsugu Inoue（井上梅次） and composed by Seitarou Omori（大森盛太郎）, the song sold 630,000 copies after its release in February 1958. There wouldn't be an Oricon ranking system for another decade, but if there had been, this song probably would've been a No. 1 easily.
The above is the trailer for the movie. Seeing Ishihara's two different types of cool in the 50s and in the 70s/80s rather reminds me of Clint Eastwood. Perhaps his brother, former Tokyo governor Shintaro Ishihara, could've felt the same way when he met Eastwood himself a few years ago when the director came to Japan.
And in one of the recent Kohaku Utagassen specials, Ishihara's old kohai and buddy from the Ishihara Gundan, actor/singer Hiroshi Tachi（舘ひろし）, gives his own tribute to The Big Man.
(The performance starts at around 5:20 below.)
