KEDGE -- Complete Samples (Follow-Up)

 

Happy Saturday! Another cold start to the weekend and a few more centimetres of snow on the ground, but at least it's sunny out there. Still, I'm happy to be here inside working on the blog as usual.

From Discogs

Almost four years ago, I was surprised to encounter this album titled "Complete Samples" which got its release in 1988. First off, the tracks that I was exposed to were darn catchy in the synthpop sense, and secondly, the duo behind the music, KEDGE, had a very young Tomita Lab（冨田ラボ）, aka Keiichi Tomita（冨田恵一）, as one of the two members while lyricist-singer Naoko Sugimoto（杉本直子）was the other one. It was most definitely quite the revelation since I'd been accustomed to the smooth groove and soul of Tomita Lab's subsequent works many years later as compared to the techno perkiness of the KEDGE tracks on "Complete Samples".

I just had to include the photo of the younger Tomita and Sugimoto via Fondsound since I'd never seen KEDGE in the flesh before. Of course, as a disclaimer, if Fondsound comes across this article and doesn't appreciate the inclusion of the photo, they can let me know so that I can take it down.

(4:40)

Now with that first article on "Complete Samples" which, I assume, had all of its tracks composed by Tomita and written by Sugimoto, I put up only three of the tracks so it was actually an incomplete sample of "Complete Samples". So for today, I hope to take care of the remaining six tracks on this most distinct album. We can start off with Track 2, "Merry-Go-Round"（メリーゴーランド）, a very Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）French song of elegance with the synthesizers and piano that mellows things right down after the supremely poppy opener of "Chime". I thought at one point that "Merry-Go-Round" could have made for a nice contemplative ballad in a musical.

(refer to 8:30 in the above video)

I recall the Art of Noise making a similar song with this propulsive dance beat and the callout chorus. This is Track 3 "It's So Easy". Mind you, I'm not sure whether Tomita had meant it to be a dance tune, and there are some rather fascinating tangents coming off the melody with perhaps some influences as varied as Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）and Howard Jones, both of whom I've compared to each other in the similarities of their voices. The other fascinating thing about "It's So Easy" comes from the credits on Discogs since one of the backup singers was identified as Sachiko Suzuki（鈴木早智子）, and when I pressed on her link, it led me to the Sachiko Suzuki of Wink.

Judging from the thumbnail above, I gather that "Rolling Like A Heaven" was released as a KEDGE single with the lovely "Sosutenuto"（ソステヌート）as the B-side. It's a somewhat more pensive technopop tune approaching the YMO home world with that shimmering synthesizer aural wall sounding like it could have been concocted by The Professor himself. At one point, Sugimoto even goes into a Blondie-like rap although I'm fairly sure that she isn't talking about eating cars.

"Rondo"（ロンド）has listeners join KEDGE on a strange and slightly trippy waltz. Not being a classical music expert, I discovered that the most famous example of a rondo is Beethoven's "Fur Elise". "Rondo" by KEDGE though feels slightly like going through Dr. Strange's first trip through the multiverse thanks to The Ancient One in a playful and somewhat mean-spirited mood. However, the pace is considerably more genteel and reminiscent of PSY-S.

"Fushigi na Shinnyusha"（不思議な侵入者...Mysterious Intruder） is one of the more upbeat tunes and the closest to straight summertime pop on "Complete Samples". Not sure what the connection is between that ominous title and what is a very bubbly happy-go-lucky song, but the remarkable thing about Sugimoto here as she sings this one is how her vocals alternate between the aforementioned Ohnuki and any 80s aidoru. Another interesting point is how Tomita ends "Fushigi na Shinnyusha" with repeated phrasings of the refrain as if it were the end of an old American variety program or game show. I can hear the announcer saying "Thanks for joining us tonight! We'll see you again next week!".

The final track, "Gate to the Mood", is neither a ballad nor an uplifting song but is a mid-tempo instrumental being set in a techno tropical paradise. Again, I'm drawn to Tomita's arrangement because of the key shifts as if he's trying to bring in some story of intrigue along the lines of a Hollywood adventure of the 1940s or 1950s. But yes, I'm trying to keep aware that this is a synthpop finale to a fascinating and rare (and probably very expensive) album.

I mentioned Fondsound earlier and the site has its own article on "Complete Samples" which you should also take a gander at.

J-TRIPS -- Cherie ni Kuchizuke（シェリーに口づけ）/Merry Destiny（メリー・デスティニー）

 

As I've said a few times before, I always like coming across a song that begets a winding story. I started with this single's B-side and then found out about the A-side before finally finishing up with the song that the A-side was covering. We shall start from there.

I didn't know about him until just a few minutes ago, but French singer-songwriter Michel Polnareff came up with a song in 1969 called "Tout tout pour ma chérie" that I recognized as one that has been used in at least one Japanese commercial while I was living in the Kanto area. Didn't know the title or the singer; just accepted it as one of the number of French pop tunes that the Japanese had fallen for.

As an added bonus, I found this 1979 episode excerpt of Fuji-TV's long-running "Music Fair" in which Polnareff is performing "Tout tout pour ma chérie".

Over three years ago, I put up an article on this rather distinctive album by KEDGE, a duo consisting of composer Keiichi Tomita（冨田恵一）and singer/lyricist Naomi Sugimoto（杉本直子）, "Complete Samples" (1988). Tomita would go on at the turn of the century to become this songwriter and producer Tomita Lab（冨田ラボ）with his distinctive brand of stylish café-friendly soul and groove for various singers. But in his KEDGE days, he came up with some very different sounds, more akin to really happy and hooky and rapid-fire synthpop along the lines of PSY-S.

For KEDGE, I had thought it was one and done with "Complete Samples" in the late 80s, but apparently, he did provide one trio with a KEDGE-sounding single. And this trio was quite the interesting combination although J-TRIPS came and went with the wind. From the only information that I could get, J-TRIPS was actor Tsuneyuki Hasegawa（長谷川恒之）, model JUN and fashion coordinator Naohira Kameyama（亀山尚平）. The only one with a J-Wiki entry was Hasegawa, and there is no mention of any singing credits assigned to him. How they all got together is an unknown matter to me; maybe they all met at a party and decided to make a group.

Anyways, J-TRIPS released a 1989 single which was a finger-snapping synthpop cover of "Tout tout pour ma chérie" with the Japanese title of "Cherie ni Kuchizuke" (A Kiss for Cherie). For those who have heard the tracks from "Complete Samples", yep, it indeed has that KEDGE sound and speed. Looking at the JASRAC database, Michi Shibano（柴野未知）provided the Japanese lyrics.

(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)

Before I move on, may I say how Bubble Era and gorgeous the three members of J-TRIPS look on the cover? Anyways, the B-side and my introduction to J-TRIPS is "Merry Destiny" which really does cement the KEDGE link. It's bubbly and Tomita wields that synthesizer like a rapier, and there's something about "Merry Destiny" which hints at a futuristic economic utopia which ironically Japan was not heading towards as it entered the 1990s. As for the singing by this actor, this model and this fashion coordinator, it's not bad at all especially since there were no vocal acrobatics demanded of them. But as I mentioned above, it was most likely one and done for J-TRIPS.

KEDGE -- Complete Samples

Keiichi Tomita（冨田恵一）, aka Tomita Lab（冨田ラボ）, is a name that I've learned to keep an eye on whenever he's involved in any songs since discovering his 2003 release "Shipbuilding". I've grown to love the album because of the mellow groove that seems to course through a lot of the tracks like a long string, especially the cafe-worthy "Nemuri no Mori"（眠りの森）with Hanaregumi（ハナレグミ）.

Now, "Shipbuilding" was actually his 2nd album although it was his first under the name of Tomita Lab, and "Nemuri no Mori" was his very first single. However, Tomita's very first album was released all the way back in March 1988 and it was titled "Complete Samples". Actually, I shouldn't say that it was merely composer Tomita behind the project since he was part of a duo named KEDGE with singer-lyricist Naoko Sugimoto（杉本直子）.

Happily enough, I came upon three tracks from "Complete Samples" (so, no, not complete) on YouTube, and I'm quite impressed. The first track I heard was "Chime" which is indeed the first track of the album. And the sound is quite 80s technopop with a bit more stress on the pop aspect, but wow, Tomita Lab sure was different back then. "Chime" is catchy, and all of a sudden, I've got vibes of early 80s Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）, Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）and Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）. For longtime readers of the blog, you know how much I love those three, and here is KEDGE giving a pretty good melodic shoutout to them. Plus, Sugimoto kinda reminds me of Mari Iijima（飯島真理）.

Then comes "Narcisse" which continues the funky and quirky technopop. In fact, I think the arrangement here reminds me somewhat of the urban contemporary side of the Manhattan Transfer from the late 70s into the early 80s. Gleaming glass towers come to mind. I've only started to listen and appreciate KEDGE but there are similarities and differences that I'm starting to pick up on between it and another technopop band of that time period, PSY-S.

"Sostenuto"（ソステヌート）is another revelation in that Sugimoto takes on a delivery that reminds me of mid-80s Miharu Koshi（コシミハル）when she splashed into her own technopop phase. And then there's that music. Tomita's melody actually had the hairs on the back of my neck and arms standing up; it is that amazing, especially during the refrain. It is technopoppy, romantic, old-fashioned and bossa-friendly all at the same time.

The album is one of the rarest of the rare. "Complete Samples" can be found on Amazon but you may want to have a tissue handy since the price may induce a nosebleed! Someday, hopefully, it will get the remastering treatment. 

February 19 2022: J-Canuck from the future stating that an article for the remainder of the songs is now available right here.