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 Jerry Goldsmith. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jerry Goldsmith. Show all posts
For anyone who grew up in the 60s and 70s and was at least able to catch a little bit of the prime-time police procedurals or detective shows on television (usually it was just the opening credits since my brother and I were told in no uncertain terms to head to bed at the time they began), the name Quinn Martin was a familiar one.
At first, I'd thought that there was a Mr. Quinn and a Mr. Martin producing these cop shows but no, it was really one person named Quinn Martin. And although he didn't apply it to every one of his programs, there was a certain formula to the opening credits. A cool dramatic theme and graphic design intro sequence would start up with the gravitas-laden narrator stating the title of the show and the aforementioned quote at the top. Then, he would continue by introducing the main cast, the guest actors and finally the name of the episode title emblazoned on the screen. This was nicely parodied for the brief comedy series "Police Squad!".
The late great Jerry Goldsmith already has a lengthening file on KKP which includes his majestic theme for "Star Trek: The Motion Picture". And for all of the exciting intros for Quinn Martin shows, my favourite theme song was his contribution to the series "Barnaby Jones". For a detective series regarding an elderly but wise ol' gumshoe played by Buddy Ebsen, this was a pretty kickass theme with the stomping brass and a calm and calculating flute sequence. Ever since I decided to write about this one for Reminiscings of Youth, the theme has been stuck in my head.
The audience must have gone crazy when they were watching the 1993 cinematic redux of "The Beverly Hillbillies" when Barnaby Jones showed up in a cameo. Ebsen was the star of the original TV sitcom which lasted even longer than "Barnaby Jones".
In any case, the detective series premiered on January 28th 1973. Now, what was hitting the top of the Oricon charts the next day afterwards?
1. Shiro Miya & The Pinkara Trio -- Onna no Michi (女のみち）
Well, I guess I'm making my way around the spy-fi theme tunes. There's the cool theme for "Mission: Impossible" by Lalo Schifrin and then Monty Norman & John Barry's iconic theme for James Bond. Both franchises I have known since I was a kid and one other similar example of spy drama and adventure that I got to know early in life was "The Man from U.N.C.L.E."(1964-1968) with Robert Vaughan and David McCallum.
The main scene that I've always remembered is the opening when some assassin in shadow bounces out with his gun and tries to shoot down another silhouetted figure but only manages to hit a shield before the agency's best agent, Napoleon Solo, comes out of his own shadow and threateningly shows what he can do with a weapon. All this was done to a dangerous snappy snare drum and timpani combo.
Then comes the theme by Jerry Goldsmith. I knew this guy was prolific but I had no idea that he was responsible for this one and many others, along with the theme for "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" years later. But to be honest, I really didn't get a bead on the "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." theme unlike the themes for 007 and "Mission: Impossible" until years later. Now that I have though, I prefer the original from the first season with the continuation of the percussion and the horn section reflecting the heroic and global organization.
Unfortunately, I don't remember much of the episodes throughout the four-season run of the series (there was one scene where Ilya fell into a vat of goop) but I read that the tone varied wildly from season to season which didn't do much for its fortunes. The first season has apparently been seen as the best one due to its straight and serious nature with succeeding seasons getting campier, and I gather that the variations on the theme also reflected this. The second season theme got jazzier in a beatnik way although the timpani returned on occasion.
The third season (and I'm assuming the final season afterwards) had a theme that just went full go-go boots and so I'm not a huge fan of that arrangement.
Some years ago, some enterprising person came up with their own fantasy opening credit sequence for an UNCLE movie starring George Clooney and Orlando Bloom which was quite well done (regrettably, it seems to have been pulled off of YouTube) and the version of the theme song was actually quite good.
Just from good luck, I managed to track it down as the first song of a medley on a compilation called "The Film Music of Jerry Goldsmith" with Goldsmith as the conductor leading the London Symphony Orchestra. Yep, as some commenters have intimated, Goldsmith was probably a better composer than a conductor here, the cues aren't too sharp, the medley at least sounds as if it had been recorded in Carlsbad Caverns, and frankly the cover of the album looks perfect as something to be found in a Wal-Mart bargain basement basket. However, I think this version is just a few rehearsals and tweaks away from being a really nice take on the UNCLE theme song thanks to the thrilling strings and percussion for a contemporary motion picture reboot.
Ah, speaking of which...the 2015 film of "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." was entertaining enough with Henry Cavill and Armie Hammer, but I do wish that the original theme had been brought in.
So, when the original show premiered in September 1964, what were some singles coming out in Japan at around that time?
I usually just provide three articles on a Thursday: one Reminiscings of Youth article and then a couple of kayo. However, I did realize that today is February 22nd, so of course, I'm thinking 2/22. I never thought about going as far as waiting until 2:22 pm today to put up an article but in the interests of whimsy and the fact that Japan is celebrating a national holiday in the form of the current Emperor's birthday on the 23rd, I'm putting up another ROY which will make it the third this week.
And yup, I'm going to be very cute here and post up the opening theme song for the American sitcom "Room 222". Sitcom?! All these years, I'd assumed that the show was a heartfelt coming-of-age drama about high schoolers and their teachers. But indeed, it was made for laughs. Its run lasted between September 11th 1969 and January 11th 1974.
I don't recall ever seeing an episode but then I couldn't imagine someone like myself at my age of just under 4 years sagely watching "Room 222" for the insightful parables and gentle humour. Still, the opening credits of the students and teachers coming to school and the theme song have stuck with me all these decades, and isn't that what they're supposed to do to attract viewers? As for that theme, it was composed by none other than Jerry Goldsmith, a man who came up with a lot of famous theme songs including the one for "Star Trek: The Motion Picture" and "Star Trek: The Next Generation". I'll probably be covering at least a couple more of Goldsmith's creations as ROY material.
Goldsmith's "Room 222" invaded my ears and brain right from the get-go in 1969. I guess it is because it has that cool contemporary pop rhythm overlaying periodic urgent drum rolls hinting at the academic lessons to come. What has it staying in my head is that the theme and the opening credits show off that certain innocence of life back then, even in the blackboard jungle.
Anyways, what was at the top of the Japanese song rankings back on September 8th 1969? I have Nos. 1, 5 and 6.
Nope, I don't actually mean to pay homage of John Williams and the awesome soundtrack from "Jurassic Park". However, I am using the above video to reflect what a lot of folks including myself are feeling today on seeing that actor William Shatner, aka Captain James Tiberius Kirk from "Star Trek", became the oldest human being to make it out to (the edges of) space...the final frontier.
Up until today, it was Captain Kirk that worked in space, William Shatner that worked in Hollywood. Well, he can now say that he has at least touched space and experienced zero gravity...at the age of 90! I knew that he was old but still, he looks pretty darn spritely for a nonagenarian, and he has just gone where no nonagenarian has gone before. Somewhere, Sir Patrick Stewart is gnashing his teeth.
On this special Reminiscings of Youth, then, I give you Jerry Goldsmith's theme from "Star Trek: The Motion Picture". I've already provided the theme from the original NBC TV show by Alexander Courage as a ROY, and it's difficult for me to choose which one I like better. Both of them are fine and heroic to me. The fact that I grabbed the soundtrack to the movie from the record store pretty quickly once the movie came out in December 1979 rather shows that I warmed up to Goldsmith's grand theme easily. Since then, the theme has been handed down to the folks at "Star Trek: The Next Generation".
Unfortunately, the movie didn't exactly live up to the same appraisal that I gave the theme song. When my brother and I caught it downtown on a rainy Saturday morning that month, we were pretty amazed for the first third of the movie (reintroduction to the characters, the renovated USS Enterprise, the wormhole and even the transporter accident), but then the whole thing about V'Ger frankly gummed up the narrative and I thought that the interplay among Kirk, Spock and McCoy seemed rusty and forced. My brother fell asleep for several minutes and I was on the verge myself.
Even seeing "The Motion Picture" years later again with the improved special effects hasn't really changed my mind. "The Wrath of Khan" in 1982 will always remain my favourite out of all of the "Star Trek" films. It got to the point where I was snarking off that the first movie should have been called "The Motionless Picture".
Still, no flies on that soundtrack by Goldsmith and that includes his take on the Klingons and Lieutenant Ilia. I remember during the Oscar ceremony the next year when John Williams performed a suite of theme songs and the first song up was the Goldsmith theme with the Enterprise flying by and it got some delighted applause (apparently a number of celebs didn't get a life). I tried to keep a Vulcan expression on my face but didn't entirely succeed.
Anyways, I found a couple of kayo that supposedly got released in November 1979 but for some reason, Showa Pops have them seeing the light of day in December. They are also classics of their genre.
