Night Drive

By Yudai_photography via Wikimedia Commons

Welcome to another Urban Contemporary Friday on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". I'm starting things a little differently today with an Author's Picks. I was inspired to do this one this way from actually viewing a segment on Wednesday's edition of NHK's "Asaichi"（あさイチ）morning infotainment program which focused on the Kawasaki Industrial Site.

I not only remember seeing this glittering otherworldly complex of lights and metal but for one night, I was actually within it! That night, due to a teacher falling ill, I was assigned to teach a lesson for a couple of the employees working within the complex and yep, it was pretty stunning especially when seeing it from the train. Entering the area felt like boarding the mother ship.

The Japanese tourism industry certainly didn't let the opportunity go. There are now tours on foot, bus and boat to take a look at the Kawasaki Industrial Site through selected spots. If you're interested, you can take a look at the relevant page at Japan Experience. Also, the above video is by YouTuber Hachimantai Outdoors.

The reason that I wanted to do this "Night Drive" is because seeing the Kawasaki Industrial Site from the air had me thinking of Kazumasa Oda's（小田和正）lovely ballad "Oh Yeah!". The official music video for Oda's 1991 song had couples enjoying each other's company but there were a couple of scenes in there showing some glorious eagle-view night shots of Tokyo which stayed with me.

Now, to be honest, this Author's Picks isn't something unprecedented. I've already noted "Oh Yeah!" in a 2014 article "J-Canuck's Nighttime Playlist". Plus in 2022, I whipped up "Driving to City Pop" with its cool songs. So, consider "Night Drive" to be the love child of the two articles and I will be choosing different tunes that still reflect in my opinion, the nighttime drive experience in Tokyo, Yokohama, Osaka, etc. (although of course, you may have your own choices). Furthermore, another inspiration for this one is the old "Night Ride" 1980s late-night Toronto show that appeared almost every night in the wee hours on Global Television to relax those night owls.

(1976) Yuming -- Chuo Freeway（中央フリーウェイ） 

(1982) Yasuhiro Abe -- We Got It!

(1982) Tohoku Shinkansen -- Up and Down

(1984) Anzen Chitai -- Mayonaka Sugi no Koi （真夜中すぎの恋）

(1985) Akina Nakamori -- Lonely Journey （ロンリー・ジャーニー）

(1987) Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- City Hunter: Ai yo Kienai de （愛よ消えないで）

Strangely enough, I'm already getting entries in my head for "Night Drive 2". Maybe next month. In the meantime, you can also enjoy "Night Walk".

Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- Frontier (album)

Amazon.jp

Some days ago, a commenter asked me about a track from Kahoru Kohiruimaki's（小比類巻かほる）"Frontier" album from September 1992 and I realized that it's been some years since I gave the CD a proper run on the stereo. So, I gave it another listen. I've already posted on a couple of the tracks: the first track "Control" and the title track which was written by the singer and composed by the one-and-only Maurice White from the legendary Earth Wind & Fire, Billy Young and Brenda Russell.

(5:18)

Now, I'll give a few more tracks from "Frontier" some exposure here including the upbeat Track No. 2 "Let's Share Love". A nice piece of gospel-like 70s soul, this was also a creation by Kohhy with her old songwriting partner, the late Yoshiaki Ohuchi（大内義昭）. As the title says, it's all about shedding the sadness and enjoying each other.

The following track is "Tears of Joy" which was written and composed by Kohiruimaki. The song goes into full funk mode (some fine wacka-wacka guitar work) and for some reason, whenever I listen to it, I get thoughts that this could have been a theme song for some 1990s cop show in Japan. I have a feeling that some of Prince's influence was still hanging around when "Tears of Joy" was being produced. To be honest, I've often thought that a number of Kohhy songs could have belonged to the soundtrack for the original "The Equalizer" series in the 1980s. 

"Tangerine Moon Night"（タンジェリン・ムーンナイト）was the one song that commenter had been inquiring about, and it's the one other track on "Frontier" that Maurice White collaborated with Kohhy on. Also, Bill Meyers and Sheldon Reynolds contributed as well on the songwriting. I believe I made a misspelling when I responded to the commenter by referring it as "Tangerine Moon Knight". Perhaps with "Fantastic Four" in theatres now, I had a bit of Marvel on the brain. It's indeed "Tangerine Moon Night" with the protagonist hoping for that meeting with a significant other. A goodly amount of EW&F brass stuff and rhythm shuffling populate this one.

One more track that I'll show you happens to be the final one. I'm surprised that I hadn't included the Space of Love version of "Smile for Me" with the original version which was Kohhy's 18th single from April 1992 although I did mention it there but at least I get to do it now. Compared to the original R&B-flavoured "Smile for Me", this one ending "Frontier" indeed sounds rather spacy as would befit the Space of Love label and it almost takes things for a cooldown feeling. If it had been toned down any further, it could have gone ambient which is unusual for the singer.

Oh, Those Camellia Diamonds CM Songs（カメリアダイアモンド）

 

Back in the 2010s, I noted through a couple of articles that there was that series of Parliament Cigarette commercials that popped up late at night. Those were famous for showing off some classy scenes of the high life, a lot of it based in Manhattan where the beautiful people were having the time of their lives at some swanky soiree. Meanwhile, the songs used in the ads were of the Quiet Storm variety: soulful love ballads featuring folks such as Bobby Caldwell and Carl Anderson, both of whom have sadly left this mortal coil. They didn't get me to take up smoking (thankfully), but I still appreciated the commercials for their dreams of the good life.

Well, there has been another series of cool and classy commercials for Camellia Diamonds in Japan over the years, and the thing about these ads is that they have pointedly featured supermodels and female celebrities varying from Lea Thompson to Sharon Stone. The above one is showing off Canada's own Linda Evangelista to the stirring voice of Kahoku Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）. And speaking of that singer, unlike Parliament's use of American singers, Camellia was more than happy to employ Japanese singers and bands with their high-energy goods. You can take a look at the long history of those ads below, thanks to YouTuber pstexe.

So, I've opted to start off this KKP business week with some of my own choices of Camellia Diamonds commercial tunes that I've enjoyed. I hope you do, too.

(1990) Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- Moving Action

(1989) Masayuki Suzuki -- Wakare no Machi (別れの街）

(1993) Keizo Nakanishi -- You And I

(1984) Mariko Takahashi -- Momo Iro Toiki （桃色吐息）

(1987) Kiyomi Suzuki with Rats & Star -- Lonely Chaplin (ロンリー・チャプリン）

I've also put up another Camellia Diamonds song in its own article. Check out Ryoko Moriyama's（森山良子） "Navigation".

Eurythmics -- Missionary Man

 

I can't quite believe that it's almost two years since I first up a Eurythmics single on Reminiscings of Youth. Of course, it had to be "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)", one of the anthems for 80s New Wave.

Annie Lennox and Dave Stewart concocted a lot of hits since that first memorable hit in the form of their 2nd single back in 1983. They've come from a whole bunch of angles, but one that also smacked me hard was "Missionary Man", their July 1986 single from the "Revenge" album. For me anyways, if there were ever a song that could get up to the levels of Tomoyasu Hotei's（布袋寅泰）"Battle Without Honor or Humanity" as a power walk song, "Missionary Man" could be the one. 

It's just too cool with Jimmy Zavala on the harmonica in an intro suggesting something rather epic is going to happen and then all of the rocking out. Lennox sings out the lyrics as if she were describing the missionary man as this otherworldly Thanos-level superbeing ready to sow justice or destruction while Joniece Jamison is the backup vocalist who sounds like a herald for Galactus. Any spy, assassin or hero/villain with that particular name would be proud to have this as a theme song before all hell breaks loose.

Additionally, the music video is a combination of Frankenstein's castle and Southern Gothic. Compared with Lennox's corporate dominatrix look on "Sweet Dreams", she looks to be more of a conventional dominatrix (not that I'm complaining at all). I'm not surprised that the video got heavy rotation on channels like MTV, especially with that stop-animation technique that became the popular thing following Peter Gabriel's "Sledgehammer". When I first saw those affected scenes, I was going "WOW!".

"Missionary Man" went up to No. 13 on Canada's RPM charts while Stateside, it peaked at No. 14. So, what was also coming out in the month of July in 1986?

Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- Ryote Ippai no Johnny （両手いっぱいのジョニー）

KUWATA BAND -- Merry X'mas in Summer

Kyoko Koizumi -- Yoake no MEW （夜明けのMEW）

Gosanke Imagined: The Yonin Musume of My JET Days

 

Back on my wistful and whimsical imaginary Gosanke（御三家）series where I come up with my own trio of singers depending on my own times and experiences. Last week, my musings took me to the harmony-laden vocal groups of my past. Today though will be more about four (!) individual female singers that I remember fondly while I was on the JET Programme between 1989 and 1991. Now of course, I knew more than four female singers but these are the ones that hit my psyche the best during my time in Gunma Prefecture. 

Now, I was just going to go with Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）, Mariko Nagai（永井真理子）and Kahoru Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）as would be the case for the typical trio of singers. But then, I recollect that I got to know Miki Imai（今井美樹）for the very first time while I was having tea in a stylish lodge-style café on the way home after a JET seminar, and I was absolutely smitten. So, you'll forgive me if I push the envelope a tad and extend beyond the usual Sannin Musume（三人娘）to Yonin Musume（四人娘）.

Misato Watanabe -- Summertime Blues

Mariko Nagai -- Zutto

Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- Twilight Avenue (44:35)

Miki Imai -- Retour

Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- Mercy Me

Amazon.jp

 

I shouldn't neglect the fact that March has indeed come in. Can't complain too much about the weather either since it's sunny and the temps are hovering at around freezing which isn't bad at all considering where we live and the time of year.

Kahoku Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）is one of my favourite singers and I've acquired a number of her albums over the years except for the one whose thumbnail you can see at the top. I never got her 1988 4th album, "Hearts On Parade". With that jagged script on the cover and Kohhy looking rather ominous in that purple outfit, I couldn't be blamed if I'd assumed that she was trying out for the role of the Joker in Tim Burton's "Batman" a year later. That's a pretty ironic statement since she would be working with Prince soon enough, the same fellow who came up with "Batdance" for the movie at around the same time.

Well, since I don't have "Hearts on Parade", there are some new Kohhy songs to plumb even at this late stage in the kayo kyoku game. I've known the singer-songwriter for her very upbeat numbers such as her first big hit "Hold On Me" but she's also quite capable with the ballads as well. In fact, I remember the soulful "I'm Here" which was composed by the one-and-only Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）in 1987.

Martin is back again as he created another ballad for Kohiruimaki for "Hearts On Parade". "Mercy Me" was given words by the singer herself as she compares everything about an old flame to a beloved record of memories and voice. It's accompanied by some warm piano and even a trombone solo by Takaaki Hayakawa（早川隆章）. Masami Tsuchiya（土屋昌巳）was responsible for the arrangement. Kohhy does a great job here but I'm also wondering whether Martin has ever done a cover of this one.

J-Canuck's Favourite Kahoru Kohiruimaki Songs

 

Seeing that I've recently been getting hooked on one particular Kahoru Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）song again after a while, I've decided to start off this week's Hump Day with my favourite line of Kohhy tunes. For me, the period of time that I paid the most attention to her was from the late 1980s into the early 1990s, and even that segment can be divided into two: her early pop/rock years and then the R&B from the 90s onwards. All good stuff! As usual, I'm not putting them into any particular error.

Keep On Dreamin' (1995)

And we start off with that one song that I've been playing daily over the past few days. "Keep On Dreamin'" is one of the horn-and-string tunes that I've often accessed to get my mood back up and revved since it's such a cool jammer. I've already given my accolades in the original article, but suffice it to say that "Keep On Dreamin'" is one theme that is in need of a tongue-in-cheek cop or spy flick.

Mirage Mirror (1991)

Starting off with a synth riff that sounds somewhat ominous, "Mirage Mirror" then gives those bass addicts a fix that will probably last a good month before a 1990s City Pop melody showing that everything is good in Tokyo emerges. Let me remind all those out there that Kohhy's vocals are also an important part in every song.

Dreamer (1989)

I never said it outright in the article for "Dreamer" but I think that it was with this single that signified the transition of Kohiruimaki from pop/rock to R&B. So with all of those musical influences thrown in there, her 12th single may not have made much of a dent on the charts, but it still remains one of my favourites and a pop cultural touchstone for my time on the JET Programme.

Tonight (1988)

(9:20)

I wanted to include one ballad on the list and I'm going with "Tonight". As I mentioned in the article for her BEST album "So Real", Kahoru's 10th single was a theme song for a TV drama but it was also a polished love song among the skyscrapers of Tokyo. I give thanks to those strings, too.

Moving Action (1990)

(7:44)

As one commenter for this YouTube video has stated, this is the coolest track on Kohhy's 7th studio album "Distance" from October 1990. This was also her 16th single released on New Year's Day in 1991, and I'm just repeating myself here, but along with the above "Keep On Dreamin'", this is also another horn-driven funk fest that needed to have its own spy show although it did get used for a diamond commercial starring supermodel Linda Evangelista.

City Hunter: Ai yo Kienai de （愛よ消えないで）(1987)

There was no way that I was going to leave this one out. I think that as much as Ruiko Kurahashi's（倉橋ルイ子）"December 24" is the masterful combination of City Pop and Xmas, Kahoruimaki's inaugural opening theme for the animated debut of "City Hunter" is one of the classic pairings of anime and City Pop smack dab in the Bubble Era of thousand-yen cups of coffee and million-dollar golf club memberships. If there's an old-fashioned theme song for West Shinjuku, this is it.

Hold On Me (1987)

Finally, we come to the beginning...the very first Kohhy song that I ever heard and it turned out to be the one that first got the singer to the Kohaku Utagassen. One thing that I didn't mention in the original article was that it was the first time that I (or perhaps any of the audience at NHK Hall and beyond) ever experienced a camera operator swoop all over the stage to capture a participant's performance. "Hold On Me" was such a catchy tune that I was quite ebullient when I was able to get a J-Pop compilation album in Chinatown and discovered that the song was one of the tracks.

Yep, just seven tunes out of the many Kohhy songs of dynamism and balladry and it wasn't too easy to make the choices but these are indeed my favourites. Hopefully, you can let me know what yours are.

Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- Time The Motion (Follow-Up)

 

Happy Monday! Earlier this morning, there was this video on singer-songwriter Kahoru Kohiruimaki's（小比類巻かほる）YouTube channel for one of the tracks on her scintillating 1989 hit album "Time The Motion", and it was there that I found out that a video featuring the entire album was up. Very good news for me and KKP because when I wrote up "Time The Motion" all the way back in 2014, it was much more difficult to find tracks from there and Kohhy's channel wouldn't be up for a few more years. So it's time for a follow-up!

Along with the article for "Time The Motion", I've already written about the most famous track, the hit "Dreamer" and the uptempo "Wild Generation" which starts things off. 

As mentioned in the original article, most of the tracks (there are a few special exceptions) were created by Kohhy and the late Yoshiaki Ohuchi（大内義昭）but I failed to mention that the arrangement was handled by Canadian David Campbell and Junichi Kawaguchi（川口淳一）.

The above video from her channel has the whole album and beginning things here is Track 4 "In The Rain" at 14:33 with a great riff at the start and then some dramatic kickass horns. In fact, I think Kohiruimaki's work here seems to be weaving a contemporary film noir's final scene where the femme fatale and the anti-hero are in different cars going off in different directions. She's doing fine whereas the guy has a tiny permanent hole in his heart which she had once occupied.

At 24:38 is one of the special exceptions, namely "Bliss" which along with "Mind Bells" (that got its due in the original article for "Time The Motion") was created by the Prince and Levi Seacer Jr. "Bliss" is the aftermath of some rather heavy romancing, and it's so funky Prince (well, the guy is providing backup chorus) that it was a wonder that he hadn't included it with "Batdance" a month earlier. It is so out there that it took me a while to get used to it.

My opinion on "Everything's All Right" at 29:09 is also a bit out there since because of that synthesizer work in the song, I can't but feel that this could have been just at home on The Police's Stewart Copeland's soundtrack for the original CBS version of "The Equalizer" from the mid-1980s. But there is no need for an ex-CIA vigilante here since as the title says, everything is all right; heck, in fact the guy even took up a Cessna to do so some skywriting to emphasize this.

Remember at the very top where I mentioned that I saw this Kohhy video that started things off here today? Well, this is the video for the track "Asphalt no Kaeri Michi"（アスファルトの帰り道...The Asphalt Way Home） and it's one of my favourites on "Time The Motion". I just had to include this particular video although in the video for the entire album, it's located at 33:39. The music by Kohhy is more reminiscent of her earlier pop-rock material rather than the R&B that she was displaying on the rest of the album and that she would be singing more of in later albums. Lyrically, it's about remembering a childhood friendship that no longer exists due to the passage of time and circumstances.

The title track is at 38:24 and it sounds like Prince couldn't help but come back in at the intro, but "Time The Motion" is a purely Kohhy concoction. This was another song that I had always wanted to cover, and again "The Equalizer" pops up in my head. Wouldn't it be great to see Robert McCall dispense his special brand of justice while this song is playing? Keyboards are working overtime at time and a half here!

"Silent Blue" is the final track at 48:47 and it's a soulful and slightly jazzy mid-tempo finale bringing back those notions of film noir as someone stands on a nighttime pier realizing the good times and bad times of life. I guess that it would Kohhy's version of "Que Sera Sera". 

It's been a while since I got to put up a Kohiruimaki song or album so I'm glad that I could find all of the songs from "Time The Motion" to provide some finality to one of the first CDs that I bought in Japan during my time on the JET Programme. I think that it did prove to be a turning point in the singer's career.

Minako Tanaka -- Mou Ichido ROLL ON (もう一度ROLL ON)

 

I’ve been listening a lot to Kahoru Kohiruimaki (小比類巻かほる) lately, and I mean A LOT. Classics like “Dreamer”, “Tonight” and “Hold on Me” are insanely good, but some hidden gems, like the funky “Heart no Parade” (ハートのパレード), for example, are also very nice.

J-Canuck had already covered a lot of songs recorded and released by this great singer-songwriter here on the blog, but I remember contributing an article with a song composed by her, called “Last Graduation” (ラスト・グラジュエイション), that was given to Minako Tanaka (田中美奈子) to record in 1993. The thing is, for some reason, Kohiruimaki penned great songs to Tanaka, even producing her album “ROLL ON”. Luckily, another one of the singles released prior to this album, “Mou Ichido ROLL ON”, appeared on YouTube last year.

Just as exciting as “Last Graduation”, and also horn-driven like a good upbeat tune by Kohiruimaki must be, “Mou Ichido ROLL ON” succeeds in making a good impression. We can almost hear Kohiruimaki singing it instead of Tanaka, but I think she never recorded it, unfortunately. As for Tanaka, she was never the greatest singer out there, but by 1993~94, during her singing career’s twilight, she wasn’t an amateur anymore. In other words, she could handle recording a song fairly well, and in a charming way (sorry, my standards are not very high).

Released as a single in January 1994, “Mou Ichido ROLL ON” was included in Tanaka’s fifth and final album, “ROLL ON”, from February of the same year. Kahoru Kohiruimaki was responsible for the lyrics and music, while Keiichi Ueno (上野圭市) did the arrangement.

Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- Cops and Robbers

 

I've seen my fair share of cop shows over the decades although I can't really say that I have a favourite among them. However, if I have to make a choice, I would have to go with the straight-arrow police procedural programs such as the original "The Untouchables" with the late Robert Stack and Jack Webb's "Dragnet" TV series. Just the facts, indeed.

"The Untouchables" and "Dragnet" had their own famous theme songs done as grim and justice-seeking marches, but I gather as American television entered the 1980s, there was the trend of having some slick rock singer or band come up with a kickass theme tune. I think that the same thing was probably happening on Japanese TV.

Never became a die-hard fan of "Abunai Deka"（あぶない刑事...Dangerous Detectives） with the slick-if-slightly-goofy detectives played by Hiroshi Tachi and Kyohei Shibata（舘ひろし・柴田恭兵）, but the show had their own tough-talking theme songs with wailing guitars. I'm not sure if pop/rock singer Kahoru Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）ever contributed one to "Abunai Deka" in her early years but she did provide a Japanese version of "You're Gonna Lose Me", an insert song for the series as her 3rd single in December 1986. That Japanese version was given the title of "Nagaku Atsui Yoru"（長く熱い夜...The Long Hot Night）.

The B-side for that single is "Cops and Robbers" which probably wasn't included in any cops-and-robbers program but had that sensation of any action superstar like Sly, Arnie or Steven going into battle against a million bad guys...and winning, of course. It has the beat and growling guitars to bravely accompany any lone wolf police officer and his beloved handgun into a non-descript den of iniquity. It also ends rather abruptly with the music suddenly falling off a cliff leaving Kohhy to quickly spurt out the last few words of English as if the recording studio were being shut down for non-payment of rent. Go figure.

Written by Linda Hennrick, composed by Takashi Shoji（小路隆）and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, "Cops and Robbers" was an ideal tune for Kohiruimaki since I'd always seen her back then as the tousled-hair hellion in leather with the lower velvety voice. However, it was with her next single, the poppier "Hold On Me", that she got her breakthrough hit and then right after that, she came up with the City Pop-friendly theme song for the anime "City Hunter".

Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- Jidai（時代）

Allow me to present the lovely Kahoru Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）with her rendition of a comforting kayo classic, Miyuki Nakajima's（中島みゆき）1975 "Jidai" (Time Goes Around). At the end, she gives her hope that we can all look back on this current time as a past event. Indeed, let us hope so.

Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- Halloween wa Curiosity（ハロウィンはCURIOSITY）

I'm sure that at about this time the kids in my neighbourhood have been getting their candy. And not surprisingly, the weather forecaster on my local news show has been decked up as Frankenstein and making all sorts of merry. This kinda brings about this cross-cultural observation from me. Weather forecasters over here in North America seem to be the Court Jesters of the news teams while their equivalents in Japan are all very button-downed professorial types. Things that make me go Hmmm...

OK, this will probably be my last Halloween J-Pop song for this year, and it's one by Kahoru Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）, "Halloween wa Curiosity" (Halloween is a Curiosity), a track from her 1991 album "Silent". For me, my favourite track from that album is the first one "Mirage Mirror" especially because of that amazing bass intro.

"Halloween wa Curiosity" probably won't ever become one of my favourite Kohhy songs although it was created by the singer and her longtime songwriting partner, Yoshiaki Ohuchi（大内義昭）. The pair have come up with many other songs that I like better, including "Mirage Mirror". Still, this one is interesting to hear since the two seemed to have wanted to go for a Beatles/Rolling Stones vibe. I mean, I think there is a melodic shoutout to "Day Tripper" at the beginning. Also, taking into account that at the time, Kohiruimaki was going more for an R&B sound, I think this particular track takes things back more to her late 80s pop/rock days.

It looks like "Halloween wa Curiosity" goes into a couple's date during October 31st, and considering the time that it was first released, Halloween truly was a curiosity for a lot of Japanese at the time. Perhaps Kohhy encountered the annual hijinks during a trip to Los Angeles which is the city out of Japan that I often associate her with. Evolving from the hijacking of a Yamanote Line train car by drunken English teachers back in that decade to that now-annual massive party in Shibuya, Halloween is as much of a holiday in Tokyo (at least) as Xmas is.

Well, since I'm here, I might as well put up a couple of my favourite Halloween-themed songs. Of course, there is "Ghostbusters" by Ray Parker Jr. Despite the fact that it was the conglomeration of folks from both "SCTV" and "Saturday Night Live", I don't recall laughing too hard (except for that "This man has no dick" snark) when I first saw the movie in 1984. Still, I enjoyed it since it did have a heart among the Ghostbusters themselves. The theme song itself was definitely a hit as one of the most muscular (fictional) commercial jingles ever made, although its performance at the Academy Awards for that year fell regrettably flat for some reason.

The other one is "The Great Pumpkin Waltz" by the Vince Guaraldi Trio for "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" from 1966. I don't think anyone would have thought about creating a romantic jazz waltz as a Halloween song, but Guaraldi did, and even hearing it tonight, I still got that ASMR shiver as soon as I heard that opening piano. Truly one of the classics.

Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- On The Loose

The news over the past few days on NHK and, presumably, on the other commercial TV stations in Japan has been about this fugitive Junya Hida（樋田淳也）who managed to escape from the Tondabayashi Police Station in Osaka Prefecture by bashing through the clear partition in the meeting room where he had met with his lawyer. And apparently, no one was keeping an eye on the guy. Anyways, he's been on the loose for close to a week as of this writing and allegedly committing a new rash of purse snatchings in the area, while the police are desperately trying to bring him to ground. Not surprisingly, the residents are very worried since Hida has already been indicted on theft and rape.

The Hida case has gotten me to remember this Kahoru Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）single which was released on New Year's Day 1988, "On The Loose". For those Kohhy fans who first discovered her music at around the turn of the decade such as "Dreamer", "On The Loose" is more reflective of her pop-rock days when she first started. And to me anyways, it almost sounds like it could have been arranged with the 1980s James Bond in mind. Whether it be pop-rock or R&B, Kohiruimaki and her vocal chops could handle the genres with aplomb. I don't think I've ever said this about her in my previous articles, but there is something rather reminiscent of Pat Benatar in her.

"On The Loose" was her 8th single which was written by the singer and composed by her longtime collaborator Yoshiaki Ohuchi（大内義昭）. It got as high as No. 15 on Oricon and was also a track on Kohhy's 5th album "So Real" which I've already written about.

In any case, I hope the police do finally catch up to this fellow.

Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- Like A Factory

Looks like I won't really ever need to do an article on Kahoru Kohiruimaki's（小比類巻かほる）7th album "Distance" from October 1990 since I've covered almost half the album already through "Moving Action", "Twilight Avenue" and "Crazy Lover". Today, I get to do the oddly-titled "Like A Factory".

I gotta say that Kohhy has hardly aged since her debut in the mid-1980s which would put her in the same enviable category as Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）. Sometimes I wonder if there is an ominous picture of Dorian Gray hidden in her home somewhere.

Anyways back to the song. "Like A Factory" was also her 15th single from November 1990 as well as a track on my favourite Kohhy album. When I first saw the title, I kinda thought that this song must have been about the most joyous manufacturing depot on the planet, but of course it was actually about the singer's metaphor for bringing all these different parts in life together to create the wondrous whole that is love. In any case, it's a fusion tune with some gospel overtones and a nice kick of horns to bring some happiness into people's lives.

"Like A Factory" was written by Kohiruimaki and composed by her and the late Yoshiaki Ohuchi（大内義昭）.

Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- Shiokaze no Love Call（潮風のラブ・コール）

Well, I noticed that the Kahoku Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）YouTube channel had added a new entry into its store of videos so I checked it out. It was called "Shiokaze no Love Call" (Sea Breeze Love Call) which  which seemed to have been inspired through the usual kit-bashing of kayo title tropes at the time. I never heard of this one before...at least the title, so I figured it must have been one of Kohhy's very early B-sides or an album track.

Then, I heard it. Lightning struck!

Decades back, during my university days, I had heard this very song on either some compilation tape without checking out who was on it or on a tape that I had borrowed from a like-minded friend. Afterwards, I realized that both the song and the singer sounded awfully familiar.

I had already known about Kohiruimaki through what was arguably her first big hit, "Hold On Me" from 1987. And listening to "Shiokaze no Love Call", that delivery, I mused at the time, sounded just like Kohhy but I just couldn't be sure. Time flew by so the mystery of the identity gradually flew from my mind.

As it is, "Shiokaze no Love Call" was a B-side to the singer's debut single from October 1985, "Never Say Good-Bye" and now getting confirmation about who sung it, I can hear the beginnings of that husky voice which would later characterize her. I think she must have been all of 18 when she released this one.

I did say the song sounded familiar. Well, that is because Kohhy sang a cover of "Just As I Am" by the Australian soft rock duo Air Supply. That song also came out in 1985. Rob Hegel and Dick Wagner were responsible for the original music but Kohiruimaki herself took care of the Japanese lyrics.

Mystery happily and completely solved.

West Shinjuku at Night

Monday November 6. Not sure why the main Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building was done up in these colours.

Still, the scenes of West Shinjuku at night are also photo candy. And whenever I found myself in the area at that time when the windows were glowing against the dark sky, I couldn't help but remember the first opening credits for the anime "City Hunter" with Kahoru Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）singing the soaring "Ai yo Kienai de"（愛よ消えないで）. The original producers must have had the hotel district in mind when they came up those opening visuals.

Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- Forget the Memories (フォゲット・ザ・メモリーズ)

It's around this time that I start thanking my blessings and "Kayo Kyoku Plus" is no exception. I'm grateful for this wonderful hobby and project that is now approaching its 5th anniversary. I am also very thankful to the various people who have commented and collaborated with me such as Noelle and Marcos right now and those in the past such as JTM and nikala.

Moreover, I'm grateful for those Japanese singers who have their own YouTube channels with videos of their songs available for import. I know that they weren't meant to be imported by little ol' me but I'm still happy that I've been able to make use of them for the many articles without having to worry too much about losing them someday....at least for a good long while.

Such is the case with Kahoru Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）. The Aomori-born singer-songwriter's YouTube account is chock-filled with video goodies. And one of those videos happens to be for "Forget the Memories", a track from her 8th album "Silent" from 1991. As is the case with the bass-heavy starting track "Mirage Mirror", "Forget the Memories" is anything but silent. It's not quite up there as one of my very favourite Kohhy songs but it still has that nice combination of horns and disco strings. The video made me wonder if it were made to be the funkiest tribute to Lassie, though.

The song was written by Kohhy and composed by Yoshiaki Ohuchi（大内義昭）. I'm not sure if I had ever mentioned this in any of the recent articles but I was surprised to find out that Ohuchi had sadly passed away in May 2015 at the age of 55 due to an undisclosed illness. Some of the singer's best material was due to the collaboration between her and Ohuchi. I had thought that the duo was so tight that they may have been a romantic pair but actually, the late singer and composer was married to a former NHK announcer. In any case, I certainly won't forget what he was able to forge during those prime years in the late 80s and early 90s.

Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- Frontier

https://www.flickr.com/photos/vic_vega_araujo/10064432236/

About 1:30 pm Eastern Standard Time, I found out about the death of Prince via a bulletin which flashed across my computer screen, and I immediately turned on CNN. Then I just went "My golly...not again!" There are folks in my generation that have, up to today, been lamenting about all these singers such as David Bowie, Glenn Frey and Natalie Cole who have left this mortal coil this year. Now, we all have to say goodbye once more...shockingly so...to Prince.

I was a casual fan of Prince. I never went to any of his concerts, including the one that was held just last month here in Toronto, nor did I stalk out his house when he lived briefly in the tony Forest Hill neighbourhood in my hometown. However, his music was as much a part of the Western side of my musical awakening in the 1980s as the material provided by folks such as Pet Shop Boys, Madonna and Depeche Mode. I enjoyed "Little Red Corvette", "1999" and "Let's Go Crazy". And of course, there is "Purple Rain". One of my old university buddies would always listen to Prince in his dorm and try to emulate his dance moves there although not on the dance floor. My friend was confident but even he wouldn't be that daring; he wouldn't dare try to copy his hero in public.

Earlier today, I was trying to think of how I would be able to put in a tribute of sorts to Prince. So I searched online for any Japanese singer who could have been influenced by him but really couldn't find anybody and no one can still come to mind. However, whenever Prince and Japan pop up simultaneously in my brain, the only commonality comes in the form of singer-songwriter Kahoru Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）. Prince helped write and produce a couple of her tracks on her 1989 album "Time The Motion" which I covered over two years ago. The two tracks are "Mind Bells" and "Bliss" but regrettably neither of them can be heard online.

Still, perhaps I can provide an oblique tribute of sorts through Kohhy's "Frontier" which was the title track from her 9th album in 1992. I have to admit sheepishly that I had completely forgotten about this particular song since whenever I think of "Frontier" the album, I always think about the first song, the funky "Control" and the spacy version of "Smile For Me". But listening to it again after so long, I've finally realized how smooth and comfortable this ballad is. Nope, it doesn't break the mold and it has nothing to do with Prince but the music is a reminder of how my R&B sounded back in my salad days. And ironically, that music was composed by another beloved singer-songwriter who left us as well this year, Maurice White from Earth Wind & Fire, along with Brenda Russell and Billy Young. Kohhy provided the lyrics. "Frontier" may have come out in the early 90s but its heart seems to belong in the early 80s. I've often thought that a lot of Japanese music was more than willing to delve into the melodies of the past.

And once again because of the passing of another singer from my youth, I'm looking back into the past.

Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- Smile For Me

When I got my copy of Kahoru Kohiruimaki's（小比類巻かほる）9th album "Frontier" back in the early 90s, along with the rousing starting track "Control", there was the final track which was this spacy song called "Smile For Me". It kinda caught me off guard at first since it was a bit different from the usual Kohhy soul but it gradually grew on me.

Little did I know that "Smile For Me" was not only the singer's 18th single from April 1992 but it had an original version which was more along the horn-driven R&B line that I frequently associated her with since the late 1980s. I discovered this when I bought her 3rd BEST compilation "Dreamin' 89-92" through Eye-Ai  mail order. I mean, the two versions were so different in terms of arrangement, I didn't realize that they were versions of the same song until later. Kohhy wrote the lyrics while Noriyuki Asakura（朝倉紀幸）provided the music.

Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- Wild Generation

Well, it's been a wild day and not in a good way. The hot water pipe burst above our condo which flooded our kitchen and some small parts of the living room with plenty of ceiling stains. So, along with my translation work, I spent over an hour sloshing and squeezing plenty of towels trying to mop up the mess. And currently, there are four huge industrial fans and one mighty dehumidifier airing things out for the next few days. Nope, not a good day.

So, I've come to the blog with a bigger need for solace than usual. Happily, I was able to track down this video uploaded by Kahoru Kohiruimaki (小比類巻かほる...or more likely, one of her representatives) for her 1989 song, "Wild Generation". It didn't exist when I wrote the article about the album that it spearheaded, "Time The Motion", so I was quite glad to finally find it (it also has one of my favourites by her, "Dreamer"). Created by the usual tandem of Kohhy and Yoshiaki Ohuchi（大内義昭）, it starts a bit slowly before things get moving with the happy and cool R&B and those tight horns. After the events of today, I could use a good cup of Kohhy.