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.
It's been almost five years since I last put up a posting for 80s aidoru Juri Hamada（浜田朱里）. My last article on her was for the light and mellow "Sincerely" which was on her 3rd album, "Hitomi ~ Sentimental"（瞳・センチメンタル...Eyes - Sentimental） from December 1981. It's about as AOR as she could get as a teenybopper singer.
Well, about a year earlier, Hamada released her 2nd single "Anata ni Necchu" (Crazy About You) in October 1980. In the article for "Sincerely", I mentioned that producers everywhere were looking for the next Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）when the real Momoe Yamaguchi happily decided to call it a career at the tail end of the 1970s, and Hamada had been one of the potential targets as the post-Momoe Momoe. With "Anata ni Necchu", I can see how the powers-that-be could have been pointing her into that direction with the addition of those wailing electric guitars for that rock music edge within the rollicking arrangement...much like how Momoe's music had sounded in the latter part of her career.
Lyricist Shigesato Itoi（糸井重里）and composer Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）were behind the creation of "Anata ni Necchu" which only broke in at No. 100 on Oricon. Hamada didn't become the next Momoe (no one really did or should have) but those attempts to bring in the Momoe-esque latter 70s sound would shape the music for a number of early 80s aidoru such as Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）.
About 4 1/2 years ago, I wrote about an aidoru and actress with a relatively brief career in the geinokai by the name of Juri Hamada（浜田朱里）. She was part of the Post-Momoe craze in which the powers-that-be in the music industry had been searching high-and-low for that female aidoru to become the next big star in the wake of Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）retirement. Can't imagine what the pressure was like on some of these young women but I think the only ones to rival Yamaguchi's success was Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）and Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）, although I don't think the latter, who did have some comparisons made to the legendary 70s aidoru, was ever considered part of the Post-Momoe pack.
However, during her singing phase between 1980 and 1984, Hamada was able to release 11 singles and 4 albums, and on her 3rd album, "Hitomi ~ Sentimental"（瞳・センチメンタル...Eyes - Sentimental） from December 1981 is the track "Sincerely". Written by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composed by Kiyoshi Hattori（服部きよし）, for an aidoru song, it's quite light and mellow almost like an AOR. A bluesy saxophone and perhaps a flugelhorn are there to greet the ears as Hamada provides some lower tones in her delivery. I'd probably say that her voice is perhaps a little closer to Momoe's than Seiko's. Also, for a song on an album released in the Xmas month, "Sincerely" is quite summery.
Enjoying your Sunday, I hope. There's nothing like weather in Toronto...a mere few weeks ago, the forecasters were giving us heat warnings but there has just been a frost advisory issued for tonight! It will be a properly chilly Canadian Thanksgiving tomorrow. However, my family no longer does the turkey thing for Thanksgiving but since my darling niece's birthday is imminent, we will be having some Japanese fare outside tonight.
For this article, I have three aidorus from two eras performing one song. It was another happy happenstance that I was able to encounter "Omoide no Serenade"(Serenade of Reminiscences) on YouTube by aidoru Juri Hamada（浜田朱里）who had a relatively brief singing career at a little over 4 years in the early 80s before focusing more on acting for several more years.
I gotta say that I like the cover for Hamada's 7th single from February 1982. Nice lighting and that certain uncertain expression on her face which seemed to be one of a few default expressions used in photographing single covers. "Omoide no Serenade" was created by a couple of veterans, Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）for the lyrics and Koichi Morita（森田公一）for the melody.
The J-Wiki bio for the Tokyo-born Hamada, who made her debut in 1980, stated that she stood out for her unique and husky voice despite her cute aidoru looks although I don't think her vocals on "Omoide no Serenade" were particularly un-aidoru-like. Perhaps compared to teenyboppers like Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）or Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）but otherwise...
Melodically, the song has that arrangement by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）which stamped a lot of aidoru ballads from that time: a lot of wistful strings and an overall feeling of meruhen or fantasy as if the singer was meant to be waltzing around in that huge ballroom of a palace somewhere in Lichtenstein. In terms of the lyrics, Hamada sings about remembering a romance which is now very much in the past although the heroine most likely harbours that torch for her old flame.
"Omoide no Serenade" turned out to be Hamada's most successful single, peaking at No. 51 on Oricon with around 43,000 records sold. In all, she released 4 original albums and 11 singles. Her hit single was placed onto her final album as the title track in 1983.
When Hamada first entered the scene in 1980, it had been reported that she had an aura similar to that of imminently retiring Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）which had her staff grooming her to be the "Post-Momoe". Unfortunately, it didn't quite take although she came onto the scene alongside Naoko Kawai, Yoshie Kashiwabara（柏原芳恵）, Yoshimi Iwasaki（岩崎良美）and Seiko Matsuda, the last one who became a close friend of Hamada. According to the J-Wiki article, Hamada herself even implied that she really didn't like singing all that much and preferred to head into the acting field. Still apparently, she has her own dedicated legion of fans. After getting married in 1995, she decided to retire from show business to start raising a family.
I found out a bit later that Hamada actually sang a cover of the original "Omoide no Serenade" by 1970s aidoru Mari Amachi（天地真理）. Her 11th single from September 1974, it was interesting to compare the arrangements between Hamada's cover and Amachi's "Serenade". There are indeed those strings and that light touch in there but the arrangement by Koji Ryuzaki（竜崎孝路）included some hints of rollicking drums which brought a bit of that city and go-go boots feeling that I've often associated with 1970s kayo kyoku. Of course, there is Amachi's breathy high-tone voice that automatically brings up memories of my first ever trip to Japan in 1972.
"Omoide no Serenade" was Amachi's 11th and final Top 10 hit, getting as high as No. 8, selling 340,000 records. It was also the 41st-ranked single for 1974. The song also punched her ticket into the Kohaku Utagassen for the 3rd and final time in her career.
Several days ago, I noted through an article that 70s/80saidoru Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）had provided an audiotape in the year of her debut, 1978, which is most likely the rarest of the rare for kayo collectors. Titled "Kurumiwari Ningyo/Migimuke Migi=Watashi wa Hi-to-mi="（くるみ割り人形・右向け右 =わたしはひ・と・み=...The Nutcracker/Right-Turning Right=My Hi-to-mi=）, the B-side has covers of a number of other songs including that of "Omoide no Serenade" arranged by Akio Araki（荒木圭男）. Ishikawa's version sounds a bit more laid-back with her vocals also being high but perhaps a bit sharper for the lack of a better term.
