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.
Perhaps not the most well-known of City Pop singer-songwriters, Koh Suzuki（鈴木こう）nonetheless came up with a fine 1982 album titled "Sa-Ra-Vah Street". I focused on some of the tracks from the album back in 2020.
Well, I have encountered another track from "Sa-Ra-Vah Street" titled "Moonlight Lovers" that sounds so quintessentially City Pop/J-AOR that my teeth just shimmered as if I ingested a huge spoonful of ice cream. Yup, it has the bluesy sax solo, the essential wailing electric guitar and the Doobie Bounce in the arrangement by Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹）. Suzuki, of course, is the congenial vocal host with his resonant and comfortable delivery. The singer and Toshiyuki Shibayama（柴山俊之）came up with the lyrics while Satoshi Takebe（武部聡志）whipped up the tasty urban melody. Nice way to finish up a Friday.
I've been to the neighbourhood of Daikanyama, Tokyo on a few occasions, all due to the fact that my friend was living in the area at the time. My impression of this very stylish area is that it was filled with college students dressed all in black (and perhaps reading stuff like Sartre). I probably stuck out like a hillbilly in Beverly Hills (I think there was an old TV show about that😊) and perhaps not surprisingly, I don't have any photographs of Daikanyama, as if someone from the great beyond (but a spirit who could afford an apartment in Daikanyama) whispered in my ear "YOU ARE FORBIDDEN FROM TAKING ANY PHOTOS IN THIS VICINITY! YOU ARE NOT DAIKANYAMA ENOUGH!". Ahem...regardless, enjoy the above video by Tokyo Weekender.
Perhaps then, this song by the cool fraternal duo Kirinji (before they exploded into a full-fledged band some years later) can be considered to be a contemporary form of a go-touchi（ご当地）song. "Daikanyama Elegy" hails from the Horigome brothers' November 2002 self-cover album"Omnibus". I also read that the smooth-as-silk song was actually first sung by actor-comedian-singer Takashi Fujii（藤井隆）but I can't seem to find hide nor hair of his original version.
However, I am not complaining at all at this self-cover which says Kirinji（キリンジ）all over. It was a combination of the brothers along with Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）coming up with the result, and this "Omnibus" version sounds like the type of music that customers in a Daikanyama cafe would hear. It's such a kakkoii and laidback song that would make Tomita Lab（富田ラボ）weep for joy and envy. I can talk on the music to a certain extent but as I've mentioned in past articles, I'm not so much of an expert on lyrics. However, I have to state that one person's Japanese blog entry that covers the song is absolutely enraptured by the words in "Daikanyama Elegy" so that I felt I had to say something about it. Feel free to use Google Translate to find out what he's saying.
Pretty moody music video for such a relaxing song. You may recognize the two actors in there. As for "Omnibus", it reached No. 42 on Oricon.
Welcome to another Reminiscings of Youth article since it is Thursday. And one of the reasons that I've had this category in the first place is because of one William Royce Scaggs, aka Boz Scaggs. Up to now, I've had his cool, uptown-and-downtown and upbeat songs such as "Lowdown" and "Jojo" as ROY articles, but I had yet to post this one mighty ballad of his from the "Silk Degrees" album of February 1976.
Arguably my memory of the really old days when I was a kid isn't exactly crystal-clear anymore, but I think out of all of the Boz songs, "We're All Alone" might be the first one that I had ever heard by him from the radio. The music is automatically identifiable although way back then, I hadn't known who Boz was; I just knew that the song was a pretty epic one, and one that has been covered by a lot of other singers such as Rita Coolidge and Frankie Valli.
Now, as I approach old age, I can honestly say that they certainly don't make them like "We're All Alone" nowadays when it comes to pop balladry. Glad that I did get my own copy of "Silk Degrees" a couple of years ago.
Anyways, what was hitting the top of the Oricon charts when the album was released? Well, I've got Nos. 1, 3 and 5 from February 16th 1976, just a couple of days before listeners got their hands on "Silk Degrees" at the record store.
However, as the commercial announcer often says: Wait! There's more!
I have never and will never categorize Scaggs' "Miss Sun"from 1980 as a ROY tune. For one thing, I never heard this one at all in my childhood or youth. I only got to hear it for the first time in the last month! And it's such a banger! I am assuaging my poor soul with weak pleadings of "Better late than never" but man, am I over forty years late to the party here. Mind you, I'm in good company. The good folks at View From the 502 who have become hardcore Boz acolytes over the years were the music lovers who introduced me to this one and I still haven't quite pulled out from its allure. Have a read of the Wikipedia article for the song but basically TOTO had a lot of influence on this one.
Probably would have preferred Kayo Grace and Mr. Calico to have stood a little farther away from the number, but in all of the excitement about writing the 2700th City Pop article on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" a few minutes ago, I completely overlooked the fact that the blog itself surpassed the 20 million view mark some time in the last 24 hours.
Thank you, Mr. DiCaprio! And congratulations yourself on "One Battle After Another" winning Best Picture although I'm sorry that you didn't get that Best Actor Oscar.
It's rather amazing that the views are already more than 70,000 deep beyond 20,000,000 so let's get at it with another song. First off, although I have separate articles for Makoto Iwabuchi（岩渕まこと）and the late great Chu Kosaka（小坂忠）, I had no idea that they also worked together as a duo for several years in the 1980s and 1990s, putting out a lot of albums together.
One album, released in 1982, is "Best Friend", and the cover has Iwabuchi and Kosaka looking very chummy. I managed to find one track "Rainbow" which brings in friendly folk and a hint of that Margaritaville AOR into the proceedings. It's just the melodic tonic for a cool and relaxing Sunday drive out in the countryside or the beachside. Not quite ready for that activity here in Toronto yet, but perhaps this time next month, things will have meteorologically improved.
Ah...yes. Shiroi Koibito（白い恋人...White Lovers）...commenter Brian Mitchell (who lives in Aomori Prefecture) and a lot of Japanese travelers ought to know the above wafer cookie very well. I even bought some of them myself as souvenirs. It's one of the more famous ones from the Tohoku area and it goes well with coffee or tea.
Now, I realize that it's Urban Contemporary Friday but when I was watching Jme earlier tonight, I was quickly reminded that March 14th is indeed White Day, the day when the guys give their own version of Valentine's Day chocolates to the gals at school or in the office. So it's a bit of a rush job and after looking out for the appropriate songs on this list, I just didn't want to throw all that out and wait until tomorrow, so the fifth slot today will be for songs that have the word "white" or "shiroi" in their titles.
One of my favourite tracks on Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"Miss M" album from 1980 was "Secret Love". In fact, I love it so much that I gave it its own article a few years after posting about the album. One YouTube commenter even mentioned that "Secret Love" seemed to be the great connector between American AOR and City Pop in Japan.
The song does go down smoother than a Bailey's Irish Cream. However in the 1980 album, there were those horns which suddenly blasted a hole in my eardrums during the instrumental bridge. It was somewhat jarring; otherwise, I would have pegged it as the perfect AOR song.
But that seems to have been resolved when one of the two guys responsible for its composition, guitarist Jay Graydon (the other guy was David Foster, so it was Airplay behind the music), released his third solo album, "Past to Present - The 70s" in 2006. The horns are now gone but the rest of the music and arrangement has basically been untouched, and this time, the vocals are provided by the lyricist Marc Jordan who also does a great job. Still feel like bombing down the Ventura in a convertible during dusk or dawn while hearing this.
Cafe Renoir...there are a number of places in Tokyo whose interiors seem to transport the customer back into the past by a few decades just from the decor and the furnishings. The Tokyo Prince Hotel up to 2016 and Nakano Broadway come to mind. However, when it comes to coffee houses, Cafe Renoir is the coffee house equivalent of that portal to the past.
I've been to a few branches such as the one in Ueno, although the one in the video above (by kei japantravel) seems to be in Ginza. There are interior decor variations depending on the branch but whenever I enter one, I get the impression that I'm surrounded by something from the 1960s or 1970s complete with that smell of tobacco infused into the chairs and the walls (there was a time when people could happily smoke like chimneys in cafes).
Maybe what I will say next is unfair to singer-songwriter Miyako Chaki（茶木みやこ） (to whom I will apologize profusely) but whenever I hear a lot of her music, I get the impression that this was the type of enjoyably light and melodic tapestry that I could hear accompanying a trip to a place like Cafe Renoir. That was the case when I posted my first article on Chaki, "Chizu douri ni Hashirikitta Anata"（地図どうりに走り切ったあなた）, several years ago.
Well, I have the same vibes for her "Bye Bye Blues" which was composed by the lady herself while Ritsu Iwasawa（岩沢律）took care of the lyrics. A track from her August 1977 album"Rainbow Chaser"（レインボウ・チェイサー）, this feels like the type of music floating over and around a couple of buddies painting the town red on a major shopping excursion and then taking a well-earned break in a chic coffee house somewhere in Tokyo of the 1970s. In fact, some of that keyboard work seems to scream for inclusion in a soundtrack of some detective drama. Not sure whether the title is a declaration of farewell to those bad feelings or the dark miasma following a heartbreak. Chaki's music is cheerful enough but of course, kayo veterans know that happy melodies often come with sad lyrics.
I do like the album title though. "Rainbow Chaser" could describe how the Japanese were feeling back in those days when the Economic Miracle was finally paying dividends for everyone. People could actually dream of heading off to foreign climes on a vacation or buying something on the luxurious scale.
Y'know...I think this is the earliest in singer-songwriter Kengo Kurozumi's（黒住憲五）discography that I've ever reached. Usually, I've been going through his1980s City Pop material but today, I'm taking a tangent here and bringing over his second single from May 1979, "Tsumibukai Yoru" (A Sinful Night). Written by Ray Nakanishi and composed by the singer himself, the title might refer to something rather salacious but Kurozumi's melody comes across as being rather chipper and light-hearted; more a breezy walk in the park rather than a roll in the hay.
On J-Wiki, he's been categorized as a J-AOR singer instead of a City Pop performer and "Tsumibukai Yoru" has that Margaritaville feeling to add to that argument. The song came out some three years following his 1976 debut single and in 1979, he was on a nationwide tour with the band Godiego（ゴダイゴ）when he released his sophomore effort.
The article for folk rock band GARO's biggest hit"Gakusei Gai no Kissaten" (学生街の喫茶店）was posted up in the very early days of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but it's now been almost a decade since I've put up anything by the group. Time to rectify.
According to the J-Wiki article for the June 1972 3rd single "Gakusei Gai no Kissaten", the original release had the song as the B-side while the A-side was "Utsukushiku Sugite" (Too Beautiful). However, seeing that "Gakusei Gai no Kissaten" was getting the lion's share of accolades, the record company quickly did an about-face on that plan and made any future releases with the more famous song becoming the A-side.
Not to say that the relegated "Utsukushiku Sugite" is a bad song at all. It's a wonderful song and a very different one, to boot. In contrast with the Japanese folky"Gakusei Gai no Kissaten", "Utsukushiku Sugite" is a laidback tune that brings to mind the loveliness of American Sunshine Pop and perhaps even some Motown R&B thanks to Kunihiko Murai's（村井邦彦）melody and Kaoru Iiyoshi's（飯吉馨）arrangement. As with "Gakusei Gai no Kissaten", the lyricist here was also Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）.
I'd thought that my previous article on Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）would be the final one for February 2026, but I was very wrong there on realizing that the music world has lost a pioneer in pop music and someone who has had a presence on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" over the years. Singer-songwriter Neil Sedaka passed away at the age of 86 on February 27th.
From what I've read on his Wikipedia file, he was responsible for a huge number of hits for himself and other singers, especially during the 60s and 70s, and I recall hearing his voice through radio, on K-Tel commercials and TV appearances since I was a kid. In fact, the very first ROY article that I posted was a Sedaka creation for Captain & Tennille. But for his own records, I always remembered that higher and melodic voice of his.
With all of those Sedaka successes in the postwar era, it's perhaps no surprise that the Japanese, who were more than happy to provide their own cover versions of many American and British hits of the time, also took a fancy to Sedaka's own tunes. Here are the ones that have been plucked from the pages of KKP over the years.
One of my favourites by Sedaka though was "Laughter in the Rain" from 1974. It still gives me a chill when he sings the chorus out and it's a song that I definitely have great memories about. My condolences to his family, friends and many fans.
Gotta have singer-songwriter Yasuhiro Abe（安部康弘）back on Urban Contemporary Friday. When you're talking about a drive on an evening leading into the weekend in Tokyo and thinking about what to put onto the radio, one of his songs usually fits the bill.
Managed to come across the B-side for Abe's November 1982 debut single"We Got It!" which is definitely car stereo-worthy. Mind you, "Hadashi no Ballerina"(Barefoot Ballerina) can also be put into the dashboard slot although it's a little more melancholy as a ballad. Written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed by Abe, it looks like one guy and his "prima ballerina" have come to the end of their relationship so the night is spent with one last meal before the inevitable goodbye. It is indeed another song of broken hearts but it also feels like a true Abe creation.
Christopher Cross is already represented on the weekly Reminiscings of Youth series via his theme song for "Arthur", "Best That You Can Do", and yeah, indeed it was a hit and one of the songs that was a regular on the radio airwaves throughout 1981.
But the singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas, had been around for a decade and then in January 1980, he released his first single"Ride Like The Wind". As with "Arthur's Theme", it was a regular on radio. When I first heard it though, I'd thought that it was all about some guy enjoying riding on his steed in the countryside. Actually, it's all about fleeing the authorities on the way to the haven in Mexico. For some reason, I get images from "The Shawshank Redemption". Compared with "Arthur's Theme", "Ride Like The Wind" is much more dramatic, thrilling and urgent rather than the sophisticated and romantic cadence of the former. Thriller versus romance. But of course, Michael McDonald's singular contribution adds some further wondrous spice...like kosher salt in all those YouTube cooking videos.
As one YouTube commenter put it, he'll never listen to "Ride Like The Wind" without remembering this sketch from Canadian comedy series "SCTV". As a segment on the in-house radio show "The Gerry Todd Show", it features Rick Moranis as McDonald himself racing to the studio to give his multiple takes of "a long way to go". I'm happy to say that I actually saw the sketch in its first run!
I only discovered this Rick Beato video several months ago. During this interview with McDonald, we find out that he actually caught the "SCTV" skit and figured that he was having a nervous breakdown. The power of pot!😵 Glad that he has such a good sense of humour.
In Canada, "Ride Like The Wind" made it all the way up to No. 3 on RPM while in America, it peaked at No. 2. Let's see what was also at the top of the Oricon charts on January 28th 1980, a couple of days before the Cross classic was released.
Well, this brings back some sentimental memories. The bunch of us often went to this combination of Hard Rock Cafe and Tony Roma's at the end of an alley off the main street of Roppongi in Tokyo. There was really no worry about the alley being dark; the neon firing away off the building housing the two restaurants was more than enough to light the way.
Back in 2024, I posted an article featuring singer-songwriter Kingo Hamada's（濱田金吾）fourth single from November 1981, "N.Y. City Marathon". If I ever do an Author's Picks based on New York City, this is one song that I will definitely feature. However, tonight's article and the last article for tonight is the B-side"Sentimental Moment". A happy-go-lucky song that contains some City Pop verses and an AOR chorus, this was created by Hamada with Kazuko Kobayashi's（小林和子）lyrics.
Speaking about those lyrics, it seems to deal with a guy surprised (and probably secretly delighted) that a woman from his past that he's never quite gotten over has darkened his doorstep once more. A second chance and a sentimental moment. Judging from the very upbeat chorus, I imagine that the reunion has been successful and they're both bounding down the highway in a cherry-red convertible.
As a sad sign of the times, another establishment close to my friends and myself is going into liquidation proceedings right now. My anime buddy who's also a big guitar enthusiast often went down to Steve's Music Store in the Queen West area of downtown Toronto to check out the guitars and any other equipment. Well, if he wants to pick up any final things there, he's gonna have to put a rush on.
It's a bit of a melancholy way to start off an article about a very reassuring tune, but I had to go with something. Regardless, here is "Deanna" by Tokyoite jazz/fusion guitarist Yoshiaki Masuo（増尾好秋）. Although he never got any formal training in the instrument, according to his website's biography section, he was the son of a jazz band leader and then he took up the guitar by himself when he was 15. Obviously the talent and affinity for music was passed down to him. While he was playing away at the Waseda University jazz club, he was discovered by theSadao Watanabe（渡辺貞夫）, saxophonist extraordinaire, and recruited into his own band in 1967. Masuo's first album would come out a couple of years later titled "Barcelona no Kaze"（バルセロナの風...The Winds of Barcelona）.
In 1980, his album "The Song is You and Me" was released, and it had at least a couple of notable guests helping out: Yutaka Yokokura（横倉裕）, and the jazz fusion duo The Brecker Brothers. One of the tracks is the soothing "Deanna", penned by drummer Tony Cintron Jr., which sounds readymade for some sipping cocktails at sunset. If you've had a bad day, this should take some of the edge off. As for the mime tuxedo that Masuo is wearing on the album cover, I'm not too sure about that. However, he's being kind to the canary on his finger, so I'll give him that.
Kayo Grace is once again in the giving mood because it is Valentine's Day after all. In the past, I've already given my lists for "love" songs and "valentine" tunes, so we'll keep things simple this year and focus on an individual song.
Remembering that one of the songs on the "love" list was Off-Course's（オフコース）"I Love You", I decided to check whether the love extended onto the B-side of this 1981 single. Sure enough, I was right. There is "Yoru wa Futari de"(The Two of Us Tonight), a song that has probably never made it onto any album by the band.
It's certainly a new one to me. Written by Mitsutoshi Ambe（安部光俊）and Yasuhiro Suzuki（鈴木康博）with Suzuki also taking care of the melody, the verses and the chorus seem to take on different moods with the former hinting at some uncertainty in the relationship while the latter reassures that things are perfectly fine since the two in the title are two in the bed. Ahem. The music has that AOR feeling especially with some of that TOTO-esque piano pounding.
I've often referred to the Japanese asset price bubble which arguably lasted from around 1986 to 1991. Commonly it's known as the Bubble Era and it originated from the effects of the Plaza Accord signed at New York City's Plaza Hotel by representatives of various countries including Japan and the United States. Basically, the US dollar was depreciated against the currencies of the other nations, and from the following year, a huge influence was felt in Japan with asset prices skyrocketing and economic activity bubbling away like my pot of boiling pasta.
When I visited Japan in 1981 and started studying about the country in those early 1980s, I'd already thought that the economic party-hearty atmosphere arrived. I saw glossy magazines from the nation showing what was a pretty nice life among the citizens and certainly borrowing all of those videotapes of Japanese TV shows with their commercials emphasized those feelings.
But then it was in the late 1980s when I was fully into my time at the University of Toronto that I read the craziness of buying million-dollar golf club memberships, sidewalk tiles that were more expensive than whole cities outside of Japan, and sprinkling gold flakes on broiled eel on rice. I got to Japan once more in 1989 at the tail end of the Bubble Era although I was working deep into the countryside so it wasn't quite that often that I experienced the grand Tokyo life.
In terms of Japanese popular music, and specifically City Pop, I thought that during those late 1980s, there was a certain additional swagger in City Pop which encompassed a lot of genres including disco, soul, and Latin. During that time, I think that there was also a goodly injection of sophisticated pop and horn-based jazz. And I've often made use of the phrase "champagne-and-caviar" when describing some of those tunes because whenever I heard them, it wasn't just about walking the streets of Tokyo; it was also about partaking in the various high-priced and high-life establishments on those streets of Tokyo. There still was the groove to be sure but there was also some of that Henry Mancini swing jazziness grafted onto the City Pop tunes. And since I love both groove and Mancini, I've remained a happy camper when it comes to the songs of the Bubble Era.
Of course, the party came to a crashing end at the beginning of the 1990s and music took a new tangent but I still look fondly at the City Pop that came out then. So yes, I'm also a nostalgic guy about the uber-genre. And as such, I thought that it would be nice to provide a summary of some of those champagne-and-caviar City Pop songs. One of the songs on the list actually came out a few years before the Plaza Accord but I still think it fits the bill in terms of the overall feeling. Anyways, have a good weekend.
PS If any of you have your own favourites that you think would fit the champagne-and-caviar platter, please let us know!
Last Friday, I provided an article featuring Side A of Midori Hara's（原みどり）sophomore album from March 1988, "KO・KO・RO・NOTE"(Heart Note) . It's been a production that's surprised me with the singer tackling some of the more urban contemporary genres such as City Pop. Today, I'm finishing up with the Side B tracks. Unless noted, everything here is by Hara.
This starts with "too young" which was written by Yu Aku（阿久悠）with Hara providing the melody which Masahiro Ikumi（幾見雅博）arranged (and in fact, he arranged all of the tracks). It starts off feeling as if David Foster got his hands on the song and it then continues onto a West Coast AOR vein. If you ever wondered what such a song would sound like if YUKI from Judy & Mary or NOKKO from Rebecca had gotten behind the mike, then today is your lucky day (though it's ironic then that today is Friday the 13th).
"Iro no Nai Movie"（色のない Movie...Colourless Movie） is a wholly Hara creation whose verses are underlaid with a bit of reggae before going into a city strut chorus. The singer herself takes on a slightly more plaintive and sultrier direction with her vocals. There's also some really nice guitar work here in the intro and instrumental bridge.
The penultimate track has a pretty existential title. "Yojigen Kuukan Ryokou"（四次元空間旅行...Trip Through Four-Dimensional Space） has that feeling of a relaxing jazz standard with a wood bass figuring prominently in the arrangement, although the presence of the Fender Rhodes or electric piano keeps things in the contemporary. So, would the title be referring to a regular trip through time and space?
For the final track of "KO・KO・RO・NOTE", "Tsuyoku Dakishimeteite mo Sayonara"（強く抱きしめていてもSa・Yo・Na・Ra...Holding You Tight Even If It's Goodbye）, the poignancy is in the piano as Hara delivers a heartfelt ballad about saying goodbye although the feelings for each other are still there. Just like the final track on Side A, "Itami"（痛み...Pain）, I can get that hint of gospel blues which makes me wonder what would it have been like if an actual organ had been used instead of the piano.
As I've mentioned, "KO・KO・RO・NOTE" is quite the delightful surprise from thirty-eight years ago by Hara. For those who like their 80s City Pop and some more genres, you can give this one the good ol' college try.
Well, it's been quite a day already although I'm typing this before noon. The Winter Olympics are on, the Super Bowl will probably upstage that later tonight, Japan's Lower House elections have resulted in an LDP steamroller, and our long-awaited and long-suffering LRT here in Toronto finally launched about six years late. All a little overwhelming on a Sunday to be sure and I wouldn't mind a little solace right now.
I haven't posted a Sing Like Talking article for well over a year although Chikuzen Sato's（佐藤竹善）group is one of my favourite bands, and with all of the attention on singers' career anniversaries in last year's Kohaku Utagassen, SLT, which I believe has yet to be seen on NHK's Shibuya stage on New Year's Eve, celebrated its 40th anniversary last year. Unfortunately, any celebrations were probably muted to a great degree due to the passing of SLT guitarist Tomohiko Nishimura（西村智彦）in June 2025.
The other surprise is that I have yet to put up an Author's Picks on my favourite Sing Like Talking tunes. And this one was difficult because the band is so smooth in a number of genres, whether it be funk, AOR, straight pop, etc. and they've had a lot of great songs in my estimation. But I've got my five favourites here...although realistically, they are four favourites by SLT itself and one by Sato from his "Cornerstones" album series (it is too cool to pass up).
Interestingly for Reminiscings of Youth this week, this particular ballad had been mentioned years before I even decided to start the ROY series. When I wrote up Saburo Tokito's（時任三郎）"Kawa no Nagare wo Daite Nemuritai"(川の流れを抱いて眠りたい）back in 2012, I noted that it sounded just like Michael Johnson's "Bluer Than Blue".
"Bluer Than Blue" hit the record shelves and radio stations back in April 1978 and it's one of the first songs to stick in my head as perhaps a prelude to my opening up to music in general going into the 1980s. I hadn't heard of Johnson before and I haven't really listened to anything else by him since but "Bluer Than Blue" contains this beautiful combination of gently rolling piano and shimmering strings that frankly entranced the heck out of me any time I heard it at home or in the car. Randy Goodrum was the one who created this quiet masterpiece and perhaps I can thank him for planting the seed to enjoy AOR/soft rock ballads. I didn't really pay much attention to the lyrics but I'm rather glad that I'm putting this one up this week rather than next week which gets really close to Valentine's Day as a man tries and fails to rationalize his new existence without his old love.
As I said, I used to hear this on the radio all the time so I was surprised to realize that there had been a music video. In fact, this wasthe eighteenth videoplayed on MTV on its opening day of August 1st 1981. Wow! I know it was the debut day but I hadn't even thought that a video of a 1970s AOR tune would ever appear on the music channel. In Canada, "Bluer Than Blue" hit No. 6 while in the United States, it reached No. 12.
Well, let's see. What was up at the top of the charts on April 3rd 1978?
It is a whimsical Wednesday here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", so to alleviate the usual things about Hump Day, the windmills of my mind rotated rather furiously. As a result, in addition to the internal hemorrhaging, I was able to realize that a fair number of the songs of note in our humble little blog often have titles containing variations of personal pronouns whether in English or Japanese or other languages. Here are just a few of them.
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