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.
Japan has yet another long weekend for vacationers to savor during the holiday month of August. Monday August 11th is officially Mountain Day so perhaps citizens can watch in awe at Mt. Fuji or any of the local mountains...or simply climb them, if possible.
I was looking to see if I could find another mountain-themed kayo kyoku and it didn't take long for me to find this one by venerable and venerated bank employee-turned-singer-songwriter Kei Ogura（小椋佳）. If there's one thing that Ogura can do very well, it's wistful and beautiful and he did the same thing with his very short-but-very sweet "Yama ni Dakarete"(Surrounded by Mountains).
Created by Ogura specifically for the 1993 edition of NHK's Kohaku Utagassen, he came in as a special guest to perform his paean to mountains with the entire Red and White teams joining in. In the recorded version, he's accompanied by Algo Gasshoudan（アルゴ合唱団...The Algo Choir）. "Yama ni Dakaraete" would also be the song for the month of June 1994 on the network's "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）series. And then, Ogura would return to the 1994 Kohaku Utagassen to perform it once more...this time as an official White team member.
Those sudden rivulets forming at the peaks that year must have been tears of joy from the mountains. Yep, that's real corny!😛
Yes, indeed. Ladies and gentlemen, this is Hiroko Mita（三田寛子）. And she is an 80s aidoruthat I haven't covered in a few years now, so I have to rectify that situation.
Actually, this is the B-side to her August 1984 8th single"Koi suru Metro" (恋するメトロ...Metro in Love). "Hatachi no Mae de" (Just Before I Turn 20) was written by Yu Kayano（茅野遊）, composed by Kei Ogura（小椋佳）and arranged by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）. Seeing Ogura's name in the songwriting list perked up my senses so giving this a listen, I did get that feeling of something lusher and more poignant in the melody as Mita sings about the usual trials and tribulations of love before turning into an age that was once known in Japan as the official one to become an adult.
In another example of Japanese songwriters borrowing riffs from Western artists, I was going to mention that the intro had reminded me of the opening for Phil Collins and Philip Bailey's hit "Easy Lover" which was indeed released also in 1984. However, that song actually didn't come out until later in November. Things that make you go hmmmmm....😐
As for lyricist Kayano, she's really known as singer-songwriter Mebae Miyahara（宮原芽映）and she's up here on the blog with one of her own songs, "Milky Cat", from 1981.
First off, I heard about the major quake in southern Japan so I'm hoping that folks there are doing OK.
January 13th 2025 has been set aside as the annual Seijin-no-Hi（成人の日）or Coming-of-Age Day in Japan. It's the time when all young people turning 20 this year get the big ceremonial welcome into adulthood (although there has been some recent movement in taking things a couple of years younger). The guys get all decked out in suits while the ladies are dressed meticulously into their kimono. After the speech at the local town or city hall, the freshly-minted adults can finally take that "first official" sip of booze with family and friends...and perhaps experience the exquisite pain of a hangover.
But give the new generation a decade or fifteen years and they may receive those pangs of nostalgia and longing for their salad days in high school...known as seishun（青春）in Japanese. Nostalgia has been a vital ingredient in kayo kyoku so it's not all that of a shock to know that there are also plenty of songs that have seishun in the titles and/or seishun in the feelings. So allow me to give you a few examples.
Well, the usual occupational hazard has happened again on KKP where I mention that I will follow up on something soon enough and actually years go by. Mind you, it's not quite Rip van Winkle time but I wrote up on Side A of the original classic LP "The Stranger" by Billy Joel from September 1977 back in March 2022. Cue ahead almost 26 months later...
"The Stranger" is one of those albums in music history where virtually every track is a winner, loudly or quietly, and I'm happy to finally show off Side B.
Maybe those 26 months were due to the fact that I'd been waiting for the official music video (only released two weeks ago) for "Vienna" which starts off Side B. It's one of the more unusual songs by Joel because I hadn't heard it as much as I did the title track "The Stranger" and "Just The Way You Are" on the radio, and for the fact that it does have that accordion-like instrument in there to hint at that trip to Vienna which young William had taken years back. In the Wikipedia article for "The Stranger", I noticed that both "Vienna" and "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" were mentioned in the same sentence and that fit for me since the former has that similarly wistful tone as the latter although "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" is on a much larger scale. What I hadn't realized was that "Vienna" was an analogy for Joel's wish as to how the elderly should be allowed to spend their last stage in life, so it's no surprise that the song has gained greater recognition as the years have gone by.
I was surprised to hear that "Only the Good Die Young" had been released as a single in May 1978 since the first time I heard it was as a B-side on one of Joel's other singles, interestingly enough. And the crazier thing is that I swear that I'd actually heard it for the first time as a jingle for some commercial although what the product was I can't remember at all...it probably wasn't one for the Catholic church, though. The concert video above has Joel introducing the song with a bit of snark that the lyrics have something to offend everybody and yep, Catholic groups weren't impressed (which has something in common with last week's ROY tune) by Joel's message that Catholic girls were the party poopers of adolescent oat-sowing. But dang, it's a fun song to listen to.😎
"She's Always a Woman" was yet another single from "The Stranger" and unlike "Vienna", it did get onto the radio quite often. I've paired "Vienna" and "Scenes From An Italian Restaurant" together and so I can do the same with "She's Always a Woman" and "Just The Way You Are" in terms of the ardor that Joel's protagonists express for the women in their lives. However, "She's Always a Woman" has a bit more of a folksier bent as Joel sings about loving a woman not only in spite of but also because of her flaws.
"Get It Right the First Time" is one of the two final songs that never got a single release and never really seemed to get onto the radio. I first heard it years ago when an enterprising radio station finally opted to show off some of Joel's more unknown numbers, and "Get It Right the First Time" is a high-energy pop-rock tune about making sure one's ready for a first-time confrontation which could span between an intra-neighbourhood spat and a presidential debate.
"Everybody Has a Dream" is the final piece in "The Stranger" and it's a gospel pop song that I hadn't heard Joel tackle before. If the entirety of "The Stranger" was used for a concert performance and each track was performed in order, then this is the song to finish things off properly and satisfyingly see off the audience back home. Mind you, encores would be inevitable, though.
Now, for something as legendary as this album, I can only do the comparison with Japanese music by having the Top 3 albums of 1977 via Oricon underneath.
1. Hi-Fi Set Love Collection
2. The Eagles Hotel California
3. Kei Ogura Tosagaru Fuukei（遠ざかる風景）
And how about that? I've made this post just a week shy of The Piano Man's 75th birthday!
For all of those Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）fans as well as any casual purveyors of Japanese pop and rock in the 1980s, do you remember "Remember to Remember"? Yes, I'm partially being a smart aleck here but I am indeed also being serious since the Hokkaido band did come up with their January 1983 first album with that very title. And as the link indicates, I also devoted an article to this debut release especially in the light that this original LP was rather proto in that it had come out before Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二） and his band really hit the big time with "Wine-Red no Kokoro"（ワインレッドの心）later in the year.
As I've mentioned in the past, I've always been fascinated by the early days of any legendary singer or band since it's frequently been the case that they hadn't sounded in the same way that we've known them in their prime. Case in point: Anzen Chitai's 2nd single "I'll Be On My Way" from October 1982 which was also placed onto "Remember to Remember". In my article on the album, I indicated that it didn't quite sound like the Anzen Chitai that a lot of us fans knew.
One other thing that I've mentioned in the past is in the form of a catchphrase: Never forget those B-sides! In the case of "I'll Be On My Way", that was "First Love Twice". The charismatic Tamaki did compose the tune with the band and familiar Anzen Chitai face Katsu Hoshi（星勝）handling the arrangement, but this time, it was singer-songwriter Kei Ogura（小椋佳）who provided the lyrics of getting that second chance at love. "First Love Twice" also has a similar energy to its A-side but over here, there seems to be that feeling of transition from the proto-atypical "I'll Be On My Way" to that famous atmospheric sound of Anzen Chitai that marked "Wine-Red no Kokoro" and their subsequent hit records.
"First Love Twice" didn't make it onto any of the original albums by the band but it would get onto a couple of their BEST compilations: the 2005 "Anzen Chitai Complete Best" and the 1994"Anzen Chitai Another Collection Mishuuroku Kyoku Shuu"（安全地帯 アナザー・コレクション -アルバム未収録曲集-...Album-Excluded Song Collection）.
Yes, I realize that it's hardly the time to think of fireplaces. Toronto is reporting 27 degrees Celsius out there with lots of summery sun, and my room is an entire fireplace right now. The fan is doing its best. By the way, the fireplace above is supplied by Relaxing Fire Sound.
However, I felt the need to introduce yet another track from Hi-Fi Set's（ハイ・ファイ・セット）"The Diary", their September 1977 album which is fast becoming one of those New Music/City Pop releases that needs to be brought into anyone's genre collection. I've already gotten the album's "Koi no Nikki"（恋の日記）and "Memorandum" (メモランダム) onto the blog, and here is "Danro de Marshmallow" (Marshmallows Over a Fire).
Written by the recently retired Kei Ogura（小椋佳）and composed by Kunihiko Murai（村井邦彦）, the intro sounds like the beginning to an Elton John song, but listeners quickly enter a world of completely relaxed and refined jazz. Usually, it's Junko Yamamoto（山本潤子）as the lead vocalist but this time, "Danro de Marshmallow" is sung by who I believe is her husband Toshihiko（山本俊彦）. The wonderful Hi-Fi Set harmonies are there and I would have said that the setting for this swaddling cloth of 1970s City Pop/New Music could have been in any place ranging from a Manhattan penthouse apartment to a well-appointed lodge out in Vermont. However with that sax solo in there, I'm thinking it's more of the former than the latter. In any event, the happy couple is roasting those marshmallows among some soulfulness whether the melody is within New York, Chicago or Philadelphia.
Ah, thanks to Purplesound for uploading this winner. I usually don't pounce on videos that have just been put up because that seems a little unseemly but I couldn't resist "Danro de Marshmallow".
For the second time in as many weeks, NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）was the setting for a major singer to give his farewells. Last week, it was enka singer Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）who waved goodbye for an indeterminate time from his singing, and just tonight it was singer-songwriter Kei Ogura's（小椋佳）turn. I'd mentioned in an earlier article this year that Ogura would be wrapping his career up by the end of 2022, although I found out that he will be giving one last concert in January 2023, perhaps on his birthday on the 18th when he turns 79.
I couldn't find any footage on YouTube of his appearance on the show tonight (and most likely, it would be given the cease-and-desist order by NHK when found out). Ogura has had to sit for his performances in recent times and his voice has become softer and a bit shaky, but I think that has added to the wistfulness of his singing. On "Uta Con", he performed some of his old chestnuts: "Ai San San"(愛燦燦), "Ore tachi no Tabi"（俺たちの旅）and "Saraba Seishun"（さらば青春）.
I wanted to pay tribute to Ogura and sure enough, I was fortunate enough to come across his debut single"Shiosai no Uta"(The Song of the Roar of the Sea) which was released in February 1971. If I'm not mistaken, the Tokyo-born singer was then working as a bank officer so I can only imagine what his fellow workers thought of this unassuming colleague of theirs possessing such an amazing voice and songwriting ability.
Written and composed by Ogura, the lyrics tell of a man standing by the sea. Having gotten old over the decades, he starts staring at the roiling ocean and wonders about the years gone by and perhaps of friends and family gone by as well. It is a poignant song that is powerfully delivered. "Shiosai no Uta" was also included on Ogura's 3rd album"Samayoi"（彷徨...Wandering） which came out in March 1972. Having hit No. 2 on the Oricon weeklies, I think that this is the first example of a song or an album posted on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" that got onto the yearly rankings in multiple consecutive years. "Samayoi" hit No. 10 in 1974, No.3 in 1975, No. 6 in 1976, and No. 34 in 1977.
The various genres listed in the Labels section on the right side, I confess, aren't a totally comprehensive group of the different kinds of Japanese popular music. Some days ago, I wrote about Quiet Storm being that blend of 1950s cool jazz and soul groove; it's a sub-genre of R&B that I adore but I've never bothered to make a Quiet Storm section in Labels since I think R&B is good enough. The same goes for the sub-genre of Fashion Music within kayo kyoku because the impression that I've gotten is that the term was something concocted by the media describing a mix of sophisticated pop and Japanese New Music with a bit of Leon Russell.
I think that I encountered an example of another type of fusion kayoyears ago and wrote about it, but for the life of me, because of the size of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" now, I can't seem to remember either the singer or the title of the tune. 😩 But I do remember that sub-genre heading of New Adult Music which strikes me as being enka or updated Mood Kayo swirled with a cool New Music or maybe even City Pop arrangement.
And it seems to be the type of song that would be ideal as contemporary kakoii theme songs for samurai dramas...such as this one. Singer-songwriter Takao Horiuchi（堀内孝雄）, one-half of the folk duo Alice（アリス）, has been listed as one such example of a New Adult Music artist, and as such, his "Itoshiki Hibi" (Beloved Days) has been categorized by that sub-genre. His October 1986 single, this was indeed used as the theme for a two-night chanbara NTV special titled "Byakko-tai"（白虎隊）, the story of several hundred teenage samurai who fought in the Boshin War. With lyrics by Kei Ogura（小椋佳）which hint at a lonely but mandatory journey, something very enka-like for a masterless samurai, Horiuchi's mellow and elegant melody is solemn and contemporary as if it could even describe a 1980s corporate warrior roaming the concrete jungle, wondering desperately how to get that next client.
New Adult Music had a lot of fans since "Itoshiki Hibi" hit No. 4 on the Oricon weeklies and became the 27th-ranked single for 1987, getting Horiuchi a Japan Music Award for Best Composer. It sold about 400,000 records and had the singer perform the song three times on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen in 1991, 1997 and 2006. Some of those other singers that have been considered to be New Adult Music artists include Kye Eunsook（桂銀淑）and a solo Kiyoshi Maekawa（前川清）, but you can give the J-Wiki list a look-see.
Just a little over a year ago, I introduced singer and host Marie Igarashi（五十嵐麻利江）who I encountered through a snazzy City Pop number titled "Juu-roku-sai no Aki"（16才の秋）from her 1979 album"Umi wo Kanjiru Toki"（海を感じる時...When I Feel the Sea）. Eventually, Igarashi would direct her musical talents toward opera in the middle of the 1980s.
But before her training in Italy, she had a couple of pop albums to get through. One song from her 1981 album"Daydream" was "Kibouhou made" (Up to the Cape of Good Hope) which comes across as a breezy and optimistic pop number providing a romantic travelogue through South Africa. The tour is definitely at a brisk pace. Igarashi, Masato Kai（甲斐正人）and Takayuki Inoue（井上尭之）were behind the melody while Takashi Nakahata（仲畑貴志）and Kazuko Katagiri（片桐和子）took care of the lyrics.
Speaking of "Umi wo Kanjiru Toki", I also found this basically short instrumental "Mujin Ressha"(Empty Train) which has some chorus-like vocals. Written and composed by Kei Ogura（小椋佳）, it's dominated by electric guitar and hard-hitting piano as I get some Linda Ronstadt rock vibes in the arrangement.
A couple of years ago, I wrote about Flying Kitty Band (フライング・キティ・バンド）, a trio which consisted of singer-songwriter Kei Ogura (小椋佳）, Hiromi Yasuda (安田裕美）and Katsu Hoshi (星勝）. I mentioned that I had known Ogura especially as this writer of tenderhearted kayo for singers such as Hibari Misora（美空ひばり） before realizing that he was once a member of this New Music group which released just one album, "5･4･3･2･1･0", in September 1977. The concept for the album was about a kid and his dreams to head for space.
For that first article for Flying Kitty Band, the song was "Boseki wo Sora ni"(墓石を空に）, a 1970s AOR tune whose cheeriness belies that rather morose title which can be translated as "Tombstone to the Sky". However, there were two other songs, "Boku wa Uchuu Hikoushi" (I'm An Astronaut), Parts 1 and 2 which were Tracks 2 and 5 respectively on the album.
As opposed to the AOR for "Boseki wo Sora ni", the totality of "Boku wa Uchuu Hikoushi", which is provided by k kaz in the video above, is about the kid and his buddies' desire to go to all of the nearby stars and constellations such as Sirius and Pegasus within a folksy and swinging French jazz milieu (although I really hope that the capsule doesn't have any boxes of Gitanes laying around...children shouldn't be smoking those!). It's quite the happy way to send off the junior astronauts and it ought to take the edge off during launch.
Ogura was responsible for the lyrics while Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）brought the happy melody and Hoshi arranged everything.
Over the years, I've heard of folk singers and aidoru getting their opportunities to sing under that huge musical umbrella called City Pop...but opera singers?
Well, that wouldn't be quite accurate. In fact, it's quite the opposite. Marie Igarashi（五十嵐麻利江）, the daughter of tenor Kiyoshi Igarashi（五十嵐喜芳）, would eventually become an opera soprano from the middle of the 1980s onwards through her studies in Italy, but before then, she had her time in the limelight through activities such as co-hosting an NHK variety show in the late 1970s titled "Dassen Mondou"（脱線問答...Tangent Q&A）.
Moreover, during that same time, Igarashi had put out some of her own pop albums...at least two of them. Case in point: there is her 1979 release "Umi wo Kanjiru Toki"（海を感じる時...When I Feel the Sea） and I found this one track "Juu-roku-sai no Aki" (Autumn at 16). Written and composed by soon-to-retire songsmith Kei Ogura（小椋佳）, it's an intriguing number which starts with some snappy bass and percussion before some twangy Steely Dan vibes and then this settled-down mixture of baroque pop strings and bouncy City Pop come into the big picture. Igarashi's vocals are quite light but smoky and they remind me of the tones of another singer, Naomi Sugimura（杉村尚美）, the lead vocalist for the folk/City Pop group Higurashi（日暮し）.
This could be one of the rarest of the rare to acquire but just judging from "Juu-roku-sai no Aki", I would be tempted to seek out and buy "Umi wo Kanjiru Toki". As for that other album, it's known as "Daydream" and it was released in 1981.
I was reading on one Ameblo blog where the author believed that this track from Makiko Takada's（高田真樹子）1977 2nd album"Fukigen na Tenshi"（不機嫌な天使...Moody Angel） had been ahead of its time, and if it had been released later in the 1980s, it probably would have garnered a bigger response.
Not quite sure if I agree with that opinion since I think "Okuri Kaze" (The Blowing Wind) sounds just right for its time. The chorus, the electric guitar and the keyboards make the song a pretty quintessential 1970s light and mellow number, perfect for a stroll along the sunny beach. However, now that the comparison has presented itself, I wonder what an 80s-arranged version of the song would have sounded like.
I just talked about him a couple of days ago since he's due to retire at the end of 2021, but lyricist Kei Ogura（小椋佳）was responsible for the words for "Okuri Kaze" while Katsu Hoshi（星勝）took care of the music. According to that same blog, Hoshi was also helping out on backing chorus. By the way, I also wrote about another track from "Fukigen na Tenshi" a couple of years back, the cool "Yuutsu Denwa"（憂鬱電話）.
On a recent "Uta Kon"（うたコン）, both enka singer Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）and veteran singer-songwriter Kei Ogura（小椋佳）appeared with the latter announcing his retirement from singing as of the end of this year. It would mark 50 years since Ogura's beginnings in the music industry and so he leaves behind a legacy of oft-tenderhearted music.
One such song with Ogura's lyrics and Takao Horiuchi's（堀内孝雄）music is "Sanga" (The Mountains and Rivers) which was released as Itsuki's 109th single in April 2000. An enka song in the epic tradition of describing the might and grandeur of nature and how all of us are all bound together, I'd been thinking about all of the emotions that are brought to bear in this genre, and sure enough, "Sanga" is one prime example.
Ogura doesn't appear nearly as often to perform but when he does, he can potentially outdo the singers that he writes songs for, and I think he does this with his own cover of "Sanga". There is a warmth and vulnerability whenever he sings, and for many of his admirers, it'll be a sad if grateful day when he does retire at the end of the year.
Horiuchi also performed "Sanga" with his own vocal flourishes, as the song peaked at No. 43 on Oricon. And the song has been featured at least twice on the Kohaku Utagassen, once in 2000 and then just last year.
I bookmarked this particular song by aidoru Junko Sakurada（桜田淳子）not only because "Mayuzukiyo" (Crescent Moon Night) is her 38th and final single to date, but the arrangement is also rather intriguing to me.
"Mayuzukiyo" was released in September 1983, and by that point, Sakurada had basically made a full transition into acting as her days at the top of the Oricon charts had long passed by. Her last three singles going back to 1981 including this one didn't even get onto the charts. Furthermore, she didn't even make any TV appearances to perform the song and there were no other filmed examples of her ever singing "Mayuzukiyo".
Still, it's interesting in that the song and the singer together make this recording sound like something that was created by Miyuki Nakajima（中島みゆき）, although it was actually written by Mebae Miyahara（宮原芽映）under the pseudonym Yuu Kayano（茅野遊）and composed by Kei Ogura（小椋佳）with arrangement handled by Keiichi Oku（奥慶一）. There is something very fresh and open-air about "Mayuzukiyo" as its lyrics deal with a woman's own handling of sudden heartbreak while at the same time sounding a bit like a 1950s puppy love ballad. I can even imagine someone like Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）covering the song as well.
The song was also included on Sakurada's 15th album released in the same month, "Naturally"（ナチュラリー）. It would remain her final album until February 2018 when that 16th album"My Idology"（マイ・アイドロジー）was released in commemoration of her 45 years since her debut. "My Idology" contains a new song and covers of four of her own hits among the 8-song album.
This week, while updating some of my 80s aidoru files, and doing some research on the internet, I discovered that aidoru Miwa Kawagoe (川越美和) died in 2008, but it wasn’t until 2017 that it became public. Well, I’ve never been the biggest of her fans, and only knew some songs through the years, yet it was a sad surprise to discover that her death at a young age, more than a decade ago, was unknown to the public until very recently. It made me even sadder to know that, apparently, she was impoverished and with problems ranging from drinking to eating disorders at the time of her death. Anyway, after hearing such awful news, the one song from her that got stuck on my mind was “Yume Dake Miteru”.
Released in September 1989 as her
fourth single, “Yume Dake Miteru” is a sad tune with a very timeless and down
to earth arrangement, almost sounding like a folk song at times. Alongside the
beautiful melody, Miwa did an excellent job here with her vocals, showcasing
the vulnerability that is required from every aidoru when singing these types
of ballads. I think this style truly suited her, and that’s probably why,
according to generasia, she won the “Rookie of the Year” award at the “31st
Annual Nihon Record Taishou” with this song.
Despite winning an award, “Yume Dake Miteru” wasn’t a big hit, reaching only #29 on the Oricon charts. It ended being the highest charting single in Kawagoe’s career, but not near a true hit, if you ask me. Lyrics were written by Kei Ogura (小椋佳), while music was composed by Koji Tamaki (玉置浩二). As for the arrangement, Katsu Hoshi (星勝) was the responsible.
As a side note, I was lucky enough
to buy one of her compilations, called “MIWA Best Selection” (1991), for a fair
price here in Brazil last December. That was quite a find, since Kawagoe was
never one of Japan’s major aidoru singers.
Grand summer day for those who love it hot and humid out there.
Up to now, I had always thought of bank employee-and-respected songwriter/singer Kei Ogura (小椋佳）as the fellow behind folk and enka songs such as the hit "Ai San San" (愛燦燦）for the late Hibari Misora. (美空ひばり） But recently, I discovered that he along with guitarist-songwriter Hiromi Yasuda (安田裕美）and former member of 60s rock band The Mops, Katsu Hoshi (星勝）got together as a trio called Flying Kitty Band (フライング・キティ・バンド）. Hoshi is someone that I've known to be associated with 80s band Anzen Chitai (安全地帯）and as a songwriting contributor to Takako Mamiya's (間宮貴子）lone album "Love Trip" in 1982.
Flying Kitty Band has been labeled as a rock group but from listening to the penultimate track, "Boseki wo Sora ni" on their lone album, 1977's"5･4･3･2･1･0", I thought that there was something very West Coast AOR to them. Given the English title of "Tombstone to the Sky", despite any possible negative connotations of that gravestone in the title, it gets introduced sweetly with a thrilling chorus by all three members and a soft rock guitar, and the song sorta progresses like an anticipated rocket launch from Cape Canaveral. Supposedly the album's concept was about a boy's dream of heading into space.
"5･4･3･2･1･0" was recorded in Los Angeles and there were some big names helping out in the recording. Along with guitarists Masayoshi Takanaka (高中正義）and Kazuo Shiina, (椎名和夫）other guitarists such as Jay Graydon and David T. Walker, The Attitudes' Jim Keltner and David Foster, and percussionist Paulinho Da Costa were in the booth. For additional trivia, Yasuda's wife happens to be singer-songwriter Hako Yamasaki. (山崎ハコ）
With the works of singer-songwriter Kei Ogura（小椋佳）, the words "heartfelt" and "emotional" come to mind. The ballad "Ai San San"（愛燦燦）for the late Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）is one representative example that he had created, and listeners can be forgiven if they suddenly have the urge to look out the window into the sky or pull out an old photo album.
Ogura appeared as a guest on a recent episode of NHK's morning wide show "Asaichi"（あさイチ）, and he just seemed like the most unassuming and humble person that has ever graced the program. During his segment, it was revealed that for the first five years of his music career, it was not his face that graced the record single covers but that of a handsome model. Although I think the cat had already been out of the bag about that revelation by the time Ogura had his first performance, he still felt the need to apologize for his much plainer appearance to the audience. But I think the fans were not there to admire his physique but to love his wonderful voice. There's something about the way that he sings that acts like a balm to the day's trials and tribulations.
Also, during the segment, a brief montage of Ogura's songs was shown on screen, including a brisk but mellow number titled "Saraba Seishun"(So Long, Salad Days). I found out that this was actually the B-side to his debut single, "Shiosai no Uta"（しおさいの詩...The Song of the Roar of the Sea） which came out in February 1971. Not surprisingly, his lyrics speak about looking back but not lingering on the old days...something that might be easier said than done for a number of folks.
It took Ogura 23 years, but he finally made it onto the Kohaku Utagassen in 1994 by performing this particular song. My only memory of that New Year's Eve special was that I didn't pay too much attention to it although it was on my telly since a bunch of us were having a good ol' nabe party in my then-new apartment. It would seem that I helped to perpetuate the Kohaku's reputation as being video wallpaper on December 31st. Still, I could imagine that Ogura's long-awaited appearance on the NHK stage was warmly welcomed by the audience there.
I used to hear excerpts of this song a fair bit over the years on TV but didn't hear the whole thing until just recently. Masatoshi Nakamura's（中村雅俊）4th single"Ore tachi no Tabi" (Our Voyage) came out in October 1975 and was the theme song for a 1-year-long drama of the same name about a trio of buddies who have to make that hard transition from the good ol' days of hanging out in school to the everyday of corporate life (which they hate) to starting up their own company.
When I found out that "Ore tachi no Tabi" had been written and composed by Kei Ogura（小椋佳）, I simply uttered "naruhodo". The ballad just has that distinctive Ogura wistfulness which would force any singer to look longingly up at the ceiling with moist eyes. Nakamura's vocals have that laconic "shuffling-introspectively-on-the-pavement" feel which is perfect for the song. It's quite soothing for the soul, just as any cup of chamomile would.
"Ore tachi no Tabi" managed to peak at No. 2 on Oricon and became the 6th-ranked single for 1976,
To commemorate Hibari Misora's (美空ひばり) passing 26 years ago, the "Kayo Concert" episode a couple of days ago had just featured some of this veteran singer's songs, and I enjoyed it a lot more than last year's one (my introduction to the show). I suppose it's because most of the guests on board were recognizable by yours truly, like Hiroshi Itsuki (五木ひろし), Aki Yashiro (八代亜紀), Yoshimi Tendo (天童よしみ), etc. and I've already been exposed to the different sorts of enka/kayokyoku that MadamMisora had been known to cover in the past year. But I have to admit, there are still some of her hits that I have yet to be agreeable with, most notably, the heartbreaking and extremely melancholic "Kanashii Sake" (悲しい酒).
Anyway, Itsuki and Yashiro started the ball rolling with one of Misora's tunes from later in her career in 1986, "Ai San San", and although Yashiro nailed the sadness in "Kanashii Sake" near the end of the show, I felt that her vocal delivery was a little out of place when she sang half of this before passing the baton on to Itsuki. And Mom, who's a pretty big fan of Misora by now (I'm genuinely surprised), was less than happy to hear this rendition. Tendo or Natsuko Godai (伍代夏子) would've been a better choice, in my opinion.
Now about the original, "Ai San San" is a really delicate song especially in terms of its music since most of it just has the acoustic guitar tinkling away, and the strings at the later part add elegance to it. I guess you could say that its kind of like Madam Misora, who seems to be singing each word with such deliberation in a voice bigger than herself. And it just reminds me of rainy days where the rain has slowed to a drizzle, and the sun rays are slowly streaming through the dark clouds. This, including its lyrics, was brought to you by singer-songwriter, Kei Ogura (小椋佳). I don't really understand "Ai San San" lyrics-wise, but so far, I'm able to fully agree with these lines:
Jinsei te Fushigi na mono desu ne Life is a strange thing, isn't it?
and Jinsei te Ureshii mono desu ne Life is a happy thing, isn't it?
"Ai San San" did fairly alright on the charts, peaking at 69th place, and there have been quite a number of covers over the years. It was sung twice on the Kohaku, but not by Misora though. It was first sung by fellow Sannin Musume (三人娘... female version of Sannin no Kai) member, Izumi Yukimura (雪村いづみ) on the 40th Kohaku in 1989 in honor of the Queen of Kayokyoku. And then it was sung again many years later in 2007 during the 58th edition of the year end competition by Ogura with "Misora" - video version of her.
Here's Ogura's own take of "Ai San San". He actually sounds pretty good!
I've heard this haunting song off and on for years but only made the connection between "Cyclamen no Kaori"(Cyclamen Kaori) and grand balladeer Akira Fuse（布施明）relatively recently. Released as Fuse's 34th single in April 1975, I had wanted to finally hear the song in its entirety and got that chance when I bought the "Seishun Uta Nenkan"（青春歌年鑑）disc for 1975 several years ago.
The song became one of the biggest hits for Fuse, who had debuted all the way back in 1965, and with those deep, resonant vocals, it probably had quite a few fans reaching for their hankies as those vocals were paired with a lone guitar and violin. Quite a fine match between song and singer.
"Cyclamen no Kaori" was written and composed by Kei Ogura（小椋佳）, an unassuming fellow with a wonderful voice who has made occasional appearances on television. His adult working life had involved a stint at the Akasaka branch of The Dai-Ichi Kangyo Bank, and when he was taking a breather while visiting a client company, he received some inspiration for the song when he caught sight of the titular cyclamen as part of the interior decor. The song was a love ballad of sorts for this lady by the name of Kaori, and according to J-Wiki, Ogura also gained some insight for the first couple of lines from the lyrics of Al Martino's words for Elvis Presley's"Mary in the Morning", another ode to a beloved one.
In further trivia that makes me go "Hmmmmm....", the wife of Kei Ogura also has the name with the spelling given in the title, although it is actually pronounced Kahori. Apparently though, when the singer-songwriter was asked whether "Cyclamen no Kaori" was named after the missus during a newspaper interview, he answered that if this were true, she'd kill him. He finished his answer by stating that the rumour was purely a myth.
What wasn't a myth, though, was how successful the song was. It stayed at No. 1 for about a month between May and June 1975, and was the No. 2 song for the entire year. It won a slew of awards including the Grand Prize at the Japan Record Awards.
