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 Kazuhito Murata. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kazuhito Murata. Show all posts
I think opinions may vary here, but today's feeling like the coldest day of the year thus far in my city. The wind chill factor took things down to -24 degrees Celsius! Had wanted to get my hair cut at the local barber but when I got to the place, it still hadn't opened and one poor guy was waiting in his car for the salon to open up. Wasn't going to wait and even the walk over to the convenience store to pick up the paper was an arduous odyssey.
At this point, still several weeks away from spring, I wouldn't blame folks for wanting to take the season off and make like bears going into hibernation. Instead, I'll be content to listen to heartwarming tunes like "Season Off" by Miyuki Kosaka（香坂みゆき）. A track from her September 1985 album"Fairway", it feels like a summer breeze with the melody and arrangement by the late singer-songwriter Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）, and it does have that laidback Murata merrily-we-roll-along jauntiness along with, I suspect, his voice as the background chorus and his guitar in the instrumental bridge. Kazuko Kobayashi（小林和子）was responsible for the lyrics. Nice to have a bit of summer back again.
The first time that Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）met Kazuhito Murata was back in 1978. It was during when Murata had been active with his band Almond Rocca. Listening to a demo tape, Tats had been charmed by how good Murata's music was, and set out a plan for his solo debut. However, it reached a dead end midway and then the band broke up. Without any word on the Murata song, Yamashita had been thinking of doing a cover version of it, but after that, he caught up with Murata again all of a sudden when the latter had resumed his career. And in 1982, Murata debuted with "Denwa shite mo"（電話しても）under Moon Records.
With their teacher-and-apprentice relationship, there was a tendency to believe that they shared the same musicality, but Yamashita's roots had been into the Beach Boys while Murata had been more into the Beatles and American southern rock, so the difference was rather stark. However, it is also true that they did share some commonalities such as their predilection for that especial bittersweetness of 1960s pop.
When it comes to the biggest attraction of Murata's music, it is his generosity which fits his personality to a T. And to extend that distinct characteristic even more, America, and specifically the West Coast, was the most ideal environment. "Showdown"(1986), which was his first album recorded in Los Angeles, was a dynamic project which was slightly different from his past works, and appealed to listeners with a reborn Murata. His follow-up album "Boy's Life"(1987) was even more fulfilling with its polish which led to a career peak.
However, he moved over to Toshiba Records while he was on top where his "Go Pop" (1988) actually took a stumble. Murata wondered what could have been if he had stayed on the same track as "Boy's Life", but then after transferring to Victor, he regained his original mojo with "Hello Again"(1993). Afterwards, he would go at his own pace and give listeners his brand of mellow pop, but unfortunately, he passed away in 2016.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
This was also the case with his debut song "Denwa shite mo"（電話しても）, but there are many instances in Kazuhito Murata's（村田和人）melodies which evoke that particular bittersweetness of youth. Furthermore, when Yoshihiko Ando's（安藤芳彦）excellent lyrics expressing that feeling are laid down, the songs truly shine. "Lady September" is one of those songs representing the duo's early works, and it splendidly illustrates the passing summer and the loneliness present at the end of one love that happened that summer.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
With the warmer days finally coming after a long and damp winter, it's time to think about lying on the beach chairs while sipping those cocktails.
Perhaps I may have just the tonic for that thought. I last posted something on singer Yukiko Tanaka（田中友紀子） back in late 2021 regarding her boisterous "Futari no Cinema wo Tsukuritai"（ふたりのシネマを作りたい）from 1994. Well, this time around, I have something much mellower in her July 1993 "Anata no Shiranai Umi de" (In Your Unknown Seas), a track from her album "Kimi-tachi no Kureta Natsu"（君たちのくれた夏...The Summer You Gave Me）.
Written by Yoshihiko Ando（安藤義彦）and composed by Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）, this is a rather soulfully languid tune with Tanaka singing an equivalent of a balm against metropolitan stress. Simply think "calm blue ocean" while listening to "Anata no Shiranai Umi de" and drink down your favourite libation. We can all use some relaxing down time.
Let's see...I just returned from a rather contentious condo owners' board meeting tonight pitting the board association against the owners. Hell was unleashed and ninety minutes into the meeting, we hadn't even gotten past the first item on the agenda. With all of the accusations and anger thrown at each other, it was time for me to leave since it was obvious that nothing was going to be resolved and there is now a somewhat toxic atmosphere in our neighbourhood.
However, before I witnessed our version of "Gladiator" tonight, I had encountered a piece of good news on the blog. Back on March 3rd, I sent out anAll-Points Bulletin regarding a mystery song that commenter Javier had told me about. Usually the results of our APBs have been rather hit-and-miss admittedly and it's even rarer when the person making the request for an APB actually tracks down the original song. Well, it's our lucky day.
The Future Funk song known as "Dreaming" as arranged by Cosmjc Burrito is actually singer-songwriter Kazuhito Murata's（村田和人）"Taiyou no Koibito" (Sun Lovers), and indeed Javier was the one who tracked it down. If Javier is reading this, I hope that he can let us know how he was able to figure it all out. "Taiyou no Koibito" is a track on Murata's 11th album "Sweet Vibration" from September 1995. Written by Yoshihiko Ando（安藤芳彦）and composed by Murata, it's a typically summery concoction of good vibrations and I'm indeed happy that the song has been uncovered. Some nice harmonies in there, too.
Usually when it comes to Murata's discography, I've focused on his 1980s stuff but including this 1995 entry, I have covered one other 90s song by him: "TRUST" from his 1994 album"evergreen". Anyways, a mystery is solved! Congratulations and thanks to Javier!
Even Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）has tooted his own horn about "So Long, Mrs." as a song deserving to be in the category of his greatest hits. Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）deftly used his arranging skill to capture the texture of the demo tape, and as was the case with Murata's debut single"Denwa shite mo"（電話しても）, I can imagine that Tats shaped the song to make best use of that demo's nuance. The lyrics which masterfully feature the heart of a man after suddenly running into an old flame are also splendid. The bittersweetness can't be beat.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
Now that we're less than a week before official Summer comes gliding in, I guess that I can earnestly throw in some of those summer kayo. It is looking really nice out in my city today.
YouTuber Peter Lendom uploaded this video on one Canadian's love odyssey with the Shonan area west of Tokyo back in 2015 and it still may very well have folks swooning about the surfer dude's life along the coast. In 2014, I walked along the stretch of Kanagawa Prefecture shoreline with a couple of friends and saw a lot of surfers and their boards on the beach. Mind you, it was October but it still looked pretty darn summery although the temperatures were about ten degrees lower by that point.
This must have been the setting that the late Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）had been envisioning when he composed the track "Owaranai Natsu" (The Neverending Summer), a track on his 1982 debut album"Mata Ashita"（また明日...See You Tomorrow） when it was released on the first day of summer. Written by Yoshihiko Ando（安藤芳彦）and arranged by Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）, Murata's vocals are just so enticing backed by a melody that seems to be a mixture of some of those early Resort Pop sounds and precursor music to the sunny song stylings of TUBE which was a few years away from making their debut as a summertime band.
Ando's lyrics talk about a longtime surfing resident who's happily anchored in his life along the coast with his memories of a beautiful woman who used to visit the beach. He also seems to be a pro that has welcomed and said goodbye to a lot of the city crowd who keep coming back to his domain for some summery R&R. Murata sadly left this mortal coil in 2016 but I'd like to think that in spirit, he keeps an eye on the folks looking to take five and hang ten.
A masterpiece of a sumptuous ballad, "Ano Nami wo Tsukamaete" (Get That Wave) was apparently recorded in one shot with the help of five people. Its truly alive performance is certainly comfortable, and for Murata（村田和人）, it's an unusually soulful song that also sounds fresh. Tatsuro Yamashita's（山下達郎）guitar exquisitely intertwined with the song and the "dark" Hammond organ by Yasuharu Nakanishi（中西康晴）evoke a wonderful mood. The nostalgic lyrics gently invite us to the dimly-lit beach just before daybreak.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).
Another gorgeous spring day out there and I've heard that things have been pretty good out in Japan as well outside of the occasional rains and earthquakes.
Last night, as I was writing my final article for Friday which was the weekly Yutaka Kimura Speaks ~ Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100 segment, I noted that I couldn't write about Kimura's No. 5 selection because I hadn't covered it yet (which really shouldn't stop me, but still...), so I jumped over to No. 6 with the late Nobuo Ariga（有賀啓雄）. Well, this is the article for No. 5.
Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）, who himself sadly left this mortal coil back in 2016, had come up with "Ano Nami wo Tsukamaete" (Get That Wave) as a track for his 3rd album"My Crew" in July 1984. With Yoshihiko Ando's（安藤芳彦）lyrics overlaying Murata's melody, "Ano Nami wo Tsukamaete" isn't so much of a City Pop song than it is a song in that subset of City Pop, known as Resort Pop with the thematic feeling that folks from the city will hit those seaside resorts for a weekend before heading back.
It is indeed a relaxing hammock-worthy song with that slow rhythm and Murata's laconic delivery. The above video has Murata giving an English-language version which sounds like its title should be "Veronica". Fine and appropriate visuals for the song.
To remind us that although all of us here in the Greater Toronto Area are done with winter, winter is certainly not done with us (and probably won't be until May as is often the case here), we woke up to a few centimetres of snow this morning. Well, at least, it was neither frigid nor windy out there. Incidentally, the photo above is of the bridge between Tokyu Hands and Kinokuniya Book Store in the Times Square complex in South Shinjuku.
(19:50)
Up until today, I had only the one article regarding 80s aidoru Takako Ohta（太田貴子）on KKP and that was for her cute "Goodbye Mr. Extra" (Goodbye Mr. エキストラ) from late 1984. Today I am upping that number with another song a few years down the line of her discography, "Kanashimi wo Koete" (Farewell to Sorrow).
A track from her 6th album from May 1987"Pop Station", "Kanashimi wo Koete" takes Ohta into a more pop/rock direction perhaps a la Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）and very early Kahoru Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）, and her voice goes a little deeper. I can almost imagine Ohta in leather atop a motorcycle riding down the highways and byways of California as I hear this. The lyrics by Kei Hayakawa（早川渓）proudly declare the endurance of a romance even if their surrounding acquaintances aren't too happy with the association. Rebels to the end!
According to one blog, the CD version of "Pop Station" comes with a bonus 11th track which is the English version of the song under that title of "Farewell to Sorrow", although I'm not sure whether it was Hayakawa behind those as well. The melody was provided by singer-songwriter Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）and the arrangement was taken care of by none other than Sentimental City Romance（センチメンタル・シティ・ロマンス）.
Of course, Santa Claus flies. He's got that sleigh all kitted out by Tony Stark, a TARDIS-like interior fitted by The Doctor through dimensional transcendentalism for all of those packages, and impulse engines sponsored by Starfleet. Yesterday, there was a cute Canadian government-sanctioned commercial of one minister giving St. Nick air clearance to fly over the Great White North in a matter of hours, and I'm sure NORAD has eternal standing orders to always allow the man flight privileges over North America, at least.
There's even a song called "Flying Santa Claus" by the late singer-songwriter Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）who was usually known for his City Pop or summer pop songs. But this time, he's in Xmas mode with this seasonal song about having Kris Kringle cure all that ails folks. "Flying Santa Claus" is a track on his October 1988 album"Go Pop", and it's a pleasant and at times flying number heightened by Murata's vocals and the arrangement of the singer's melody by Masahiro Ikumi（幾見雅博）. Shun Taguchi（田口俊）provided the lyrics.
Let's all hope that Santa has been having a safe trip. I think that he passed Hokkaido hours ago.
Rocket Brown with his Come Along Radio has released his September-themed mix and just in time considering that it's the last day of September. It comes of course with Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"September" leading the way and even a few of her very rare commercial endorsements.
Along with Mariya comes one of her colleagues, singer-songwriter Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）with one of his own September tunes, logically titled "Lady September". The B-side to his 2nd single"Catching the Sun" from August 1982, "Lady September" is a slightly bittersweet farewell to the hot season and I gather that from Yoshihiko Ando's（安藤芳彦）lyrics, a lot of the ninth month has always had plenty of summer weather before and probably even after the 21st. Murata came up with the relaxing melody and it was all arranged by Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）, something that is all very evident to his fans.
"Lady September" and Murata's debut single"Denwa shite mo"（電話しても）are tracks on his debut album"Mata Ashita"（また明日...See You Tomorrow） which came out in June in the same year.
Found another rousing track from "Light Mellow ~ Avenue". In fact, it's the final track on the compilation, Kazuhito Murata's（村田和人）"TRUST".
Originally from Murata's 10th studio album"evergreen" from June 1994, "TRUST" is the one appropriate tune to let those lovers who've hit a bump in the road of love know that everything will be A-OK. Just keep the faith in the relationship.
Written by Yoshihiko Ando（安藤芳彦）and composed by Murata, the music is sunny in the way that I used to remember some of those guitar pop bands such as DEEN from the early and middle 1990s. However, I think that there is also a bit of 1980s in there, too. In any case, nice to have some happy pop going into the weekend. Just for some trivia, Yoshiyuki Sahashi（佐橋佳幸）is in there with the electric guitar and Murata's mentor Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）provides backing vocals.
Yes, it's September and this is "September", the very first Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）song that I ever heard all those years ago. I will always cherish this song (and the Earth Wind and Fire classic), but as I mentioned in the original article for the song, this wasn't actually created by the singer. Instead, it was written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed by Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）all the way back in 1979.
Speaking of that year, it's indeed the 40th anniversary since that record and Mariya herself is celebrating 40 years by releasing her latest BEST compilation in the next couple of days. "Turntable" is a 3-CD extravaganza that consists of songs that she would have placed into her 2008 BEST collection "Expressions", her own covers of tunes that she provided other Japanese singers, and covers of songs by famous Western artists, many of which are Beatles creations. The above video features a quick taste of the songs on Disc 2 called "Mariya's Rarities".
Hearing about the arrival of "Turntable", I thought it was perhaps time to post either a BEST or a Creator article for Ms. Takeuchi. After some thought about it, since I've already got a lot of her hits up on the blog (although that won't stop me from eventually putting up a BEST), I ultimately decided to proceed with the Creator which will be the third such article for this year, to follow the lead of Disc 2 on "Turntable" and put up songs that she provided for other singers. Just to let you know in advance, though, I will be focusing mostly on singers that don't already have a lot of the Takeuchi connection...except for her hubby.
One of the tunes that is included on Disc 2 is "Hey! Baby" which was originally performed by singer-songwriter Eri Morishita（森下恵理）. To be honest, I had never heard of Morishita's material until some days ago when I was trying to figure out which songs to include here, but hey, I really do like "Hey! Baby" which was both written and composed by Takeuchi. This was Morishita's 3rd single from February 1986, and it's got oodles of that 50s/60s bubbly pop sensation that Mariya herself swam in especially in the early part of her career. The single itself peaked at No. 55.
The one big surprise is finding out that Takeuchi even provided a song for Masahiko Kondo（近藤真彦）. I'd always seen Matchy as a singer who was into raising hell and being misunderstood in his music, but his Mariya-penned "Eve no Kokuhaku"（イブの告白...Eve Confession） from his December 1986 album"Dream" takes things into a 180-degree turn. That intro especially had me thinking of a tuxedo-sporting Matchy congenially welcoming everyone into Tokyo Disneyland on Christmas Eve. However, the lyrics are a lot more intimate in the invitation. Mark Davis, who is really Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）, was responsible for the epic Yuletide melody.
For this article, I tried to find out the earliest song that Mariya had written and/or composed for anyone but wasn't successful. However, I did find this tune back in October 1982 that she had done both for former Pink LadyKeiko Masuda（増田恵子）as her 3rd single. "Rasen Kaidan"（らせん階段...Spiral Staircase）. Masuda's vocals aren't quite as strong but listening to the melody, I could easily peg this as a Takeuchi creation simply because it is so pop-bouncy. Whenever I think of many of the songs that Mariya has performed and created, I can easily envisage some sort of stage performance with male and female dancers happily skipping about with straw hats and wooden canes just like on the old TV music-variety shows. "Rasen Kaidan" is one of those songs. It was also included in Masuda's 2nd album"Koi suru O-Tomodachi"（恋するお友達...Friends In Love） which came out a month after the single.
As nikala wrote down for the first Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）entry, "Ippon no Ongaku" (一本の音楽) in "Kayo Kyoku Plus" back in 2015, Takeuchi's husband, Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）helped launch the mellow Murata's career, and I've always thought that the late singer-songwriter was a protégé of sorts to Tats because of the similarity in singing styles. So, perhaps it's no wonder that Takeuchi helped Murata out in a few songs such as the second track from his debut album "Mata Ashita"（また明日...See You Tomorrow） in 1982, "Whisky Boy". Takeuchi provided only the lyrics here with Satoshi/Satoru Ono（小野敏）, a fellow member of Murata's amateur band, creating the original music with some additions by Murata. Still, Ono's melody sounds like the type of song that Takeuchi would create on her own.
Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）76th single from November 2011, "Tokubetsu na Koibito"（特別な恋人...A Special Lover） is supposedly the first time that Seiko and Mariya, who wrote and composed the song, have ever collaborated together. It was released to commemorate Matsuda's 30th anniversary in the music business. If I'm not mistaken, that might be both Mariya and Tats' voices as backup. Of course, it's definitely Seiko's vocals but the song is gentle Mariya style. The lyrics are also very upbeat as a woman relates getting another chance with an old flame. "Tokubetsu na Koibito" reached as high as No. 14 on Oricon.
My final entry for these works by Takeuchi is one of the numbers she's done with Tatsuro Yamashita. In this case, it's "Samui Natsu"（寒い夏...Cold Summer） with Takeuchi providing the melancholy lyrics of someone who's missing an old love dearly while Yamashita composed the music that has some hits-me-right-there string arrangement by Katsuhisa Hattori（服部克久）. The whole song has that feeling of the summer coming to a close as those first hints of cool winds are coming in. Perhaps the person in the song is near the dock just staring sadly away at the horizon over the ocean.
Anyways, this article just reflects a mere fraction of the music that Takeuchi has provided for herself and other musicians, and of course, I've already written about a lot of other songs that she's created for them on the blog. If I were to describe the Mariya style of songwriting in a few words, I could say something like "wistful, lovelorn and bouncy", and it seems like that there is still a place in Japanese popular music for that type of music, I'm happy to say.
I hope that some of you do get your copy of "Turntable" in the coming months. For me, I will probably get it as Xmas starts approaching. She's pretty good with those Yuletide tunes, too.
Still loving those surprises while working on the blog. One of those surprises involved the realization that Canada's own David Foster had a hand in helping out a few Japanese singers in the 1980s such as Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）, Ami Ozaki（尾崎亜美）and Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）. Plus, it was indirectly through "Kayo Kyoku Plus" that I found out that Foster had even been one-half of the duo Airplay, about as AOR as a band could be.
Well, something similar has happened with someone that I had thought was a popular 90s singer with an appealingly chirpy and perky pop style. Eri Hiramatsu（平松愛理）is a singer that has some representation on my shelves because of her velvety vocals and fun music, and I think she is arguably most well-known for "Heya to Y-Shatsu to Watashi"（部屋とＹシャツと私）whose music video could get folks into a tearful mood.
Perhaps then I should read the fine print a bit more in detail when it comes to J-Wiki articles. All this time I had assumed that Hiramatsu had always been a solo singer starting in the final decade of the 20th century, when actually she did participate in a couple of bands back in the 1980s. For instance, she got together with three other people to form an amateur group, ERI & WONDERLAST in 1982.
Once that band broke up in 1986, Hiramatsu made her way up to Tokyo and while working part-time, she created songs which led to her going to record companies twice a week to sell them on her works (according to the journal "Daigaku Jihou"「大学時報...University Newsletter」 in their November 2007 edition). The following year, she got together with AOR singer-songwriter Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）, another singer-songwriter from Wakayama PrefectureTsukasa Nishi（西司）, and Keisuke Yamamoto（山本圭右）, the leader of the band Piper to start the band Honey & B-Boys. The group recorded one album "Back To Frisco" for release in March 1987; the album also signified Hiramatsu's first record.
From the link in the previous paragraph for "Back To Frisco", you can see the cover of the album which looks like a picture of some pastoral scene (Napa Valley, perhaps? Sorry, I don't know the geography for California very well.). Considering that I've heard that residents of San Francisco don't like their city being called "Frisco", I would like to get Larry's opinion on this since he does live in the area.
I first discovered the sign of Honey & B-Boys' existence on YouTube when I saw the video for one of the songs off to the right side of the screen. "Wine Light" is a pop song that starts off dreamy with a synthesizer sound flitting around like a butterfly before the bass and drums come in for the refrain. It's interesting for Hiramatsu's vocals which stay dreamy without some of that lower purr that I would associate with her 90s hits. Moreover the overall arrangement has "Wine Light" sounding like a Piper tune with Murata and Yamamoto providing backing vocals. Yamamoto did compose the song while Emi Kanda（神田エミ）wrote the lyrics.
"Juu-go-fun Matte Blue Sky"（15分待ってBlue Sky...Wait 15 Minutes, Blue Sky）strikes me as being rather New Music in the sense of another band for that genre in the 1970s, Sugar Babe. Hiramatsu, and I think Yamamoto, handle this duet. It's a very sunny and mellow and Sunday afternoon sort of tune. Written by Ikki Matsumoto（松本一起）and composed by former Sugar Babe member Kunio Muramatsu（村松邦男）, "Juu-go-fun Matte Blue Sky" is another part of my coalescing theory on whether the raison d'etre for Honey & B-Boys was as a sorta tribute to Sugar Babe (the final track is a cover of Sugar Babe's "Ame wa Te no Hira ni Ippai"「雨は手のひらにいっぱい」from their 1975 album"SONGS"). Also, this particular track had me thinking of the genre of California's sunshine pop that had its day in the 1960s with groups such as The Mamas & The Papas. There is that album title and cover that I've mentioned.
My final song here is "My Wish" which has Hiramatsu showing some of that voice that I've long known her for. Lyricist Kanda once again took care of things here but this time, it's Murata who composed this song and it does start off like one of his tunes. With the use of synths here and the arrangement for the tune to go at a more calming pace, though, it does have a different vibe compared to the first two tracks. In fact, I would say that "My Wish" sounds so intriguing that I can relate it to some of the material by the eclectic PSY-S.
As far as I know, Honey & B-Boys only released this one album, and though I searched, "Back To Frisco" no longer seems to exist online for sale. A pity, since this would be one release that I would like to get to know better. It's a fascinating find, to be sure, with this pop chanteuse of the 1990s joining forces with two artists from the 1980s AOR genre.
For me, there are two types of fatigue. There's the one that comes about from going through some hell, whether it be cramming for exams or trying to plow through useless mounds of paperwork or dealing with someone you simply don't like. I've experienced all three. Then, there's the one that follows the successful completion of a project; you may be tired but it's a good type of tired. You put your energies into something worthwhile and you can now heal that fatigue with a party or your solo glass of libation. I've gone through that, too.
The late singer-songwriter Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）may have introduced a variation on the second one through his song "Shiawase ni Tsukarete" (Getting Tired Happily) which came from his 5th album"Boy's Life" released in May 1987. Murata wrote and composed this AOR tune with a good dollop of Latin; Ronnie Foster also co-composed the song while AB'S keyboardist Yoshihiko Ando（安藤芳彦）co-wrote the lyrics.
Within those lyrics, Murata relates the story of a man who has finished a romantic relationship and though there is that tinge of regret, there's also that feeling of wisdom (and perhaps even relief) that he learned from his experience via his ex-partner. It may not have worked out ultimately but he feels that he got something good out of it. Now that I think of it, perhaps this fatigue may actually be a hybrid of the two that I explained above. In any case, "Shiawase ni Tsukarete" is worthy of listening while knocking back a Corona.
Well, nikala beat me by over three years, but I finally got my own copy of the late Kazuhito Murata's（村田和人）"Hitokakera no Natsu"(Fragments of Summer), his second album released in June 1983, from the good folks at Tower Records. She was the one who brought Murata onto the blog through his sunny 3rd single"Ippon no Ongaku"（一本の音楽）.
After hearing some of his other material on YouTube, I had decided to get one of Murata's albums and I had been thinking of getting his BEST compilation to get an overall taste. However, his BEST was sold out so, remembering nikala's article, I made the order for "Hitokakera no Natsu". Certainly haven't regretted getting it.
Overall impressions from the first listen? Well, Murata owes a lot to Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）in terms of his singing and the arrangement. As nikala pointed out, Yamashita was the one who launched Murata's career in 1978, and in fact, Mr. Summer City Pop took care of the arrangement for many of the tracks on "Hitokakera no Natsu", including "So Long, Mrs.".
Murata took care of the 70s Margaritaville melody while keyboardist Yoshihiko Ando（安藤芳彦）came up with the lyrics weaving the bittersweet story of a fellow giving his good wishes to a former flame on her wedding day. The setting might be a church but all I'm getting is beach umbrella-and-Corona vibes...a nice place to be these days. The above live version, which was recorded in 1988, is included in the re-released album and Murata even pays a cute tribute to his mentor Tats near the end. The original version also included Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）as one of the chorus and Yamashita working a number of the instruments.
"Catching The Sun" might sound from the title like more of the sunny beachside AOR but Murata's 2nd single from August 1982 is a jazzy little number for the most part, although a bit of that AOR sound comes in somewhere in the middle. Murata took care of everything here. The above video is the original single version that has also been added as a bonus track to the album, but I prefer the album version since it has a genuine jazz group helping out.
Ando and Murata teamed up again for "Yasashisa ni Good-bye"（やさしさにGood-bye...Good-bye to Kindness）, and this is about as close to Yamashita that I've heard so far on the album. Perhaps I can even call this a "Mura-shita" effort? Tats once again provides a lot of instruments as he handles not only the electric guitar, but also a 12-string guitar, an auto harp and percussion. The song is once again about Murata reminiscing over a past romance and one of their summer days together.
I guess Murata really liked those lovelorn ballads. "Illusion"（幻影）was once again composed by him but this particular number was written by Mariya Takeuchi with her husband arranging it and on most of the instruments in the original version.
To finish up, I would like to quote Yamashita himself when it comes to Murata's "Hitokakera no Natsu" (which is a keeper): We've got summer right here in our hearts (from "The Theme From Big Wave").
I am grateful to nikala for writing about singer-songwriter Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）all the way back in 2015. As she wrote in "Ippon no Ongaku"（一本の音楽）, Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）acted as a mentor to him when Murata came on the scene in the late 1970s, and there is indeed a bit of that Tats in how he performs. But I think the Tokyo native seems to have been more focused in the laidback J-AOR scene; I could forever see Murata in an Aloha shirt performing on the sands of Waikiki Beach.
Murata debuted with "Denwa shite mo" (Even If I Call) in April 1982, a sunny and mellow number punctuated with a really plucky guitar. Written and composed by the singer, if I've gotten an accurate reading of his lyrics, he gives a whimsical account of someone who kinda wonders whether his romance can last only to state that he and his significant other will meet again tomorrow. Strangely enough, I can envision a blissful couple listening to this on the beach so the protagonist's worries are probably more tongue-in-cheek than anything else. But even a solo unit like myself is enjoying "Denwa shite mo"; I especially like how the song shifts gear in the middle.
"Denwa shite mo" has something in common with tunes such as microstar's "Yuugure Girl"（夕暮れガール）and Cindy's "Watashi Tachi wo Shinjiteite"（私達を信じていて）in that it's also been given the Vaporwave/Future Funk treatment through Artzie Music. But you know, I will always go with the original.
I wish I had caught this information much earlier since I wrote my first article on Murata late in 2016, but I only found out tonight through a condolence message given by the uploader for the "Denwa shite mo" video above that the singer had passed away on February 22nd 2016 from cancer at the age of 62. I read his blog in which he wrote up to about a week before his death after which his son made the announcement on the 23rd. Truly sad but at the very least, he has provided a legacy through his discography and songs that he had created for other singers.
A little over a year ago, nikala introduced us "Kayo Kyoku Plus" readers to Kazuhito Murata's（村田和人）relaxing and summery "Ippon no Ongaku"（一本の音楽）. For a fellow who received his musical epiphany from The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, my impression from that song was that he was more along the lines of Rupert Holmes and Jimmy Buffett.
Well, summer is back and so is Murata with more of his beach sandals-and-umbrella sound via "Summer Vacation". Like "Ippon no Ongaku", it was composed by Murata and written by Yoshihiko Ando（安藤芳彦）as a track on his 3rd album from July 1984, "My Crew", and I'm guessing that everyone involved must have been inspired by Shonan Beach when they came up with this Perrier-friendly number. Nikala mentioned that Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）helped out in the arrangement of "Ippon no Ongaku", and with "Summer Vacation", there was further assistance from the Yamashita family via Tats' wife, Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）, who does the duet with Murata.
Originally, though, "Summer Vacation" had been provided for the late Naomi Kawashima（川島なお美）in her 1983 album"Shower no Ato de"（シャワーの後で...After Takin' Shower）.
Then in 1993, the song was covered once more by sweet-sounding Yukiko Tanaka（田中友紀子）for her album "Kimitachi no Kureta Natsu"（君たちのくれた夏...The Summer All of You Gave Me）. She's another singer that I had never heard of before but would be interested in hearing some more of her material. As for this cover, I can still imagine myself somewhere in Izu or Okinawa.
To finish off, here is a live performance by Murata. Let's let go of the work today, shall we? And if you want to see what the covers for all of those aforementioned albums looked like, you can check out this Japanese link.
Can you feel that warm breeze in your hair? It’s the humid climate of tropical islands calling you. Man, what a perfect beach song. If “Ippon no Ongaku” (一本の音楽) reminds you of Tatsuro Yamashita (山下達郎), you’re definitely correct, since Mr. Summer himself arranged it. His familiar AOR sound, combined with Beach Boys-esque chorus harmony in the refrain and Kazuhito Murata’s (村田和人) soaring powerful vocals probably sent the listeners into a frenzy of packing their bags and booking an instant flight to someplace hot. It definitely brings the much-needed warmth to my chilly room. Thanks to Yamashita’s bold guitar riff, it also works as a perfect soundtrack for a speedy drive down a clear highway, preferably in a convertible.
In 1978, Yamashita launched the career of then 24-year old Murata after the promising singer-songwriter submitted his demo tape to RCA Records. He started off as a backing singer for Yamashita and in 1982 debuted as a soloist. Like his mentor, Murata has also been influenced by popular American music of the 60’s, though a number of his other songs also showcase his rock roots since he's been a fan on Cream and Led Zeppelin since junior high school. I can hear that side of him through the vocals in some parts of “Ippon no Ongaku”, particularly the bridge leading up to the refrain, though the song itself is largely a pop piece. As for the rest of the credits, it was written by Yoshihiko Ando (安藤芳彦) and composed by Murata.
“Ippon no Ongaku” is the song Murata is best known for since it always pops up whenever I look up his name. It became a minor hit in March 1983 when it was used as a CM tune for Hitachi Maxell. It was included in his second studio album from June that year, “Hitokakera no Natsu” (ひとかけらの夏). I don’t have the sales data for the single, but the album peaked at No.25 on Oricon weeklies. I first came across that one through the pages of Japanese City Pop, where Yutaka Kimura writes that he’s a big fan of it like numerous other followers of the genre.
Speaking of City Pop, the above-mentioned book highlights a number of Murata’s albums through the “Featured Artists” section. So far, he’s been the only artist from that chapter without a profile on KKPlus, so I took care of that matter with this entry.
