Hiroyuki Izuta -- Juu-ni Gatsu no April Fool（12月のエイプリル・フール）

 

Well, this upcoming week will be a busy one as I get started on the Xmas shopping. As for the cards, since there is no sign that Canada Post will be ending its workers' strike anytime soon, my friends and family will probably have to settle for the digital Christmas cards this year.

Anyways, I'm keeping the "Winter Gift Pops" album series going that was continuing this time last month with Caoli Cano（かの香織）& Hiroshi Takano's（高野寛）"First Flight" and bringing another song from that album. Again, my thanks go to Scott from the podcast "Holly Jolly X'masu" since he first brought Masamichi Sugi's（杉真理）1997 compilation to our attention. 

This time, the track of note is actually a cover of EPO's 1985 melancholy "Juu-ni Gatsu no April Fool" (December April Fool) by singer-songwriter Hiroyuki Izuta（伊豆田洋之）. Izuta is someone I mentioned earlier this year in June for his 1987 "Kodo no Distance"（鼓動のディスタンス）, a blend of City Pop and 80s pop/rock. Well, his cover of "Juu-ni Gatsu no April Fool" is a fine one as his version is a slightly R&B-inflected pop version which heads close to something unplugged although the technology is still there; this is in comparison with EPO's original Minnie Ripperton-soulful rendition. EPO even helps out in this new take as backup chorus.

Hiroyuki Izuta -- Kodo no Distance（鼓動のディスタンス）

 

Always great to encounter a City Pop singer that I hadn't heard about before even at this late hour in the world's love affair with the uber-genre. 

Hiroyuki Izuta（伊豆田洋之）is a singer-songwriter from Chiba Prefecture born in 1959 who graduated high school in Tokyo and then went over to the States to study at Illinois State University (I heard another singer-songwriter went to high school in the Prairie State). Then, he transferred to University of California, Los Angeles and got a job in the City of Angels as a piano player. One day, a Japanese music producer met him and I gather that the meeting was a good one since they both went back to Japan and Izuta ended up cutting a single and an album, both titled "Rose Bud Days" in 1984.

Izuta released 16 singles up to 1993 and 7 original albums up to 2014. His third one in December 1987 was "Bless You". From here, I give you "Kodo no Distance" (A Heartbeat Away) which was composed by the singer, written by Masumi Kawamura（川村真澄）and arranged by Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）. The first thing I was struck by was Izuta's resonant voice which reminded me of Billy Joel's own vocals (further enhanced by finding out that he was working at that piano bar in LA), and then there is the very 80s-sounding electric guitar that got me reminiscing over old music videos on Canada's Muchmusic once more. Izuta has been categorized as being a singer of City Pop and rock, and I think that "Kodo no Distance" fulfills that observation.

From the middle of the 1990s, Izuta was very much into collaboration. He worked with Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）and Kiyonori Matsuo（松尾清憲）to form the group Piccadilly Circus in 1996 and then the following year, he joined the drummer from the band Tulip（チューリップ）, Masatoshi Ueda（上田雅利）and others to become GAR-YIZ. Then in 1999, Izuta, Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）, Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）and Yudai Suzuki（鈴木雄大）worked together as the unit A,M,S & I, even releasing one album.

Kanako Wada -- Ano Sora wo Dakishimete （あの空を抱きしめて）

It would seem that Kanako Wada（和田加奈子） and the 80s anime series, "Kimagure Orange Road" were just like this (imagine me crossing my fingers). I love one of the ending themes for the TV series that was sung by Wada, "Natsu no Mirage"(夏のミラージュ....Summer Mirage）(already profiled) in 1987. Then a year later came the October 1988 movie treatment of the adventures of Madoka, Kyosuke and Hikaru. Titled "Ano Hi ni Kaeritai"（あの日にかえりたい....I Want to Return to That Day), the ending theme by Wada here was well made for that title.

"Ano Sora wo Dakishimete"(Embrace That Sky) is a wistful, atmospheric ballad that probably has all of those old KOR fans instantly transporting themselves back to the theatre on hearing this song. I've always loved the sweeping arrangement of the strings and the synths, and Wada's tender vocals.

"Ano Sora wo Dakishimete" is also Track 3 on Wada's 5th album "Vocu" released in 1988. The song was written by Wada herself and composed by Hiroyuki Izuta（伊豆田洋之）.