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.
Two aidoru groups of the 1970s: Candies（キャンディーズ）and Pink Lady（ピンクレディー）had the lion's share of rankings during their heyday, but even they had to call it a day so by the end of the decade, they went their separate ways. Some of them had separate singing careers and that included the late Yoshiko Tanaka（田中好子）of Candies who used to go by the name of "Sue".
From what I've read on her article on J-Wiki, her solo discography was very brief: basically one album and one single in 1984 with one more single in 1989. That one album was "Yoshiko"（好子）with one track being "Feel My Love Inside". Seeing that on my backlog bookmarks for the longest time, I had to remind myself about who it was that sang it, but with that title, I figured that it had to be some sort of City Pop or J-AOR tune. And as it turns out, I was right on both counts. A laidback tune written and composed by singer-songwriter Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）, I was delightfully surprised that Tanaka could carry this tune beautifully and tenderly on her own since I only heard her as part of the whole of Candies back in the 1970s.
First off, may I say that is one gorgeous picture of Keiko Maruyama's（丸山圭子）visage there. I only have the one album by the singer-songwriter, "Tasogare Memory"（黄昏めもりい）, and she doesn't smile there so it's nice to see her give the big beautiful grin on the cover. OK, now that I have geeked out, let's move on.
The photo belongs to the March 1981 album of hers, "More Ai"（MORE 愛...More Love）, and there's one track titled "Takai Biru no Mado kara" (From a Window in a Tall Building) which gave me a little bit of an ominous feeling. I know that heartbreak can make people do crazy things, but...
However, the Maruyama-penned song is more melancholy than tragic thankfully. And yep, I think it has to do with a young woman going through a sigh-worthy post-romance moment from her apartment which she may have shared with her now erstwhile paramour. The interesting thing for me about "Takai Biru no Mado kara" is that it doesn't follow the usual bossa nova or City Pop line that I often see Maruyama treading. This sounds like something more Parisian...Fashion Music with a bit of bubbly pop infused, perhaps. It's quite the different tune and I like the harmonies that help the song to fade away at the end. Makes me think about what more intriguing music is there on "More Ai".
Seeing that we started today's Urban Contemporary segment with something light and mellow, it would seem appropriate to end things the same way as well.
"Hatachi no Watashi"(Me at 20) sounds like just the tonic and since the middle part of my articles were all in the 80s with the first article being from the 90s, why not finish up with a song from the 70s? This particular tune was written, composed and performed by Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）, someone that I haven't covered for a little over a year, and it comes from her fourth album"My Point of View" which was released in December 1977.
Feeling like a whimsical 1970s City Pop tune with a touch of bossa nova, a young lady who has just turned that significant age of 20 seems to have experienced a number of things already, some of them with her beau (nudge, nudge, wink, wink)😉. Twenty in Japan was indeed once the age for a teenage to become an adult and a part of working society through things like drinking, smoking and voting, but a few years ago, the legal age of adulthood was brought down to eighteen. Mind you, I have a feeling that a lot of teens were already experiencing some of those things way before the special age.
"Kono Machi e Oide yo"(Come on Over to This Place) is a track on singer-songwriter Keiko Maruyama's（丸山圭子）3rd album "Haru Shigure"（春しぐれ...Spring Showers） which was released in March 1977. Kinda like the various Japanese terms for the word "sunset", I think "machi"（街）also been an oft-used word in many kayo kyoku over the years but I was always wondering about the definition because it can mean either "street" or "town". Even knowing that a town is a rather small urban area, I think that there is quite a difference between a street and a town.
However, considering how invitingly Maruyama says the title, I figured that I would split the difference and go with the neighbourhood. In any case, this "Kono Machi e Oide yo" was written and composed by the singer and it is some wool swaddling of a song as she kittenishly asks a boyfriend to come on over to her place once more, lyrically to listen some of those beloved West Coast AOR tunes; practically, maybe something more physical but I'll leave that to your imagination (personally, I'd hope that there will be food and refreshments included as well). 😝 At the same time though, I can also read from her words that she's actually waiting for her favourite singer to come back onto the radio with that wonderful song.
Overall, "Kono Machi e Oide yo" is a comfy City Pop/AOR tune with a hint of disco and a good dollop of Sunshine Pop that brings back those feelings of nostalgia and relaxation. And since I did mention "twilight", maybe it's also the ideal song for that particular time of the day while wrapping one's fingers around a cocktail.🍸
In the previous article, I described Yoshitaka Mihara's（三原善隆）"Urban Night Cruisin'" as being comparable to some of Henry Mancini's works. Well, when I think of the great composer and conductor vis-à-vis kayo kyoku, I invariably come up with the singer-songwriter Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）. Specifically, my memories go to her most well-known song, "Douzo Kono Mama" (どうぞこのまま）in 1976.
Well, welcome back to the blog, Keiko Maruyama! It's been a while. From her March 1983 album"Dareka ga Watashi wo Aishiteru ~ LADY GOOD"（誰かが私を愛してる〜LADY GOOD...Someone Loves Me）, I offer "Budou Roman" (Grape Story). I'm going to be a little existential here and connect the story with "Urban Night Cruisin'" to this one. After that late-night City Pop drive through Tokyo as part of the tour, we head back to the hotel and there's a nightcap held with "Budou Roman" being the musical accompaniment.
As would be the case with Maruyama's melody, it's all relaxing and boozy, and if I have her lyrics correctly, the singer is comparing the path of grape to wine as similar to that of a blossoming relationship. Going back to that nightcap, I will leave it in the hands of you good viewers as to what will happen afterwards. "Budou Roman" can be a good song for that, too. 😏
To their fans all over the world, ABBA's first single in around 40 years, "I Still Have Faith In You", which was released last week, was probably one early and wonderful Xmas present. I've enjoyed my ABBA songs over the years and I have their BEST compilation up on the shelves but I think it'll take a bit of time for me to warm up to this new song.
On today's Reminiscings of Youth though, I'm going to go back even further into the mid-1970s. My memory of the famed Swedish super group begins with those ancient K-Tel LP commercials which featured ABBA's "SOS" hit. However, the one song that I'm going to start the ABBA file here is "Dancing Queen", which according to Wikipedia, is the group's most famous hit worldwide. It is certainly a favourite at the Japanese karaoke joints which is why I chose "Dancing Queen".
The single was released in August 1976 which is a bit earlier than I had expected, and though I had heard it before on radio here in Toronto, it was during my time in Japan that I heard the song over and over again since it seemed to be mandatory singing at places like Shidax and Karaoke Kan. No matter which group I was with, there would always be one person who selected "Dancing Queen"; maybe none of us were hitting the dance floor anymore but there would be some vicarious enjoyment of the disco days via this song, and "Dancing Queen" was all about the enjoyment of dancing back then for the young and fancy-free.
From seeing the world record charts, "Dancing Queen" spun a pirouette right up to the top in many nations including Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, and of course, ABBA's home of Sweden. Now that ABBA has been resurrected, I wonder if a concert tour (or a concert) may now be in order although I realize that the members are well into their seventies.
Anyways, what was coming out during August 1976 according to Showa Pops?
Currently as I write this, the Ontario government is announcing the careful and slow three-step process in reopening the economy, so perhaps there is hope that the summer will be at least salvageable although all of the usual events and festivals have been cancelled this year.
To commemorate a happier summer then, I bring you the full 6th single by aidoru Nozomi Inoue（井上望）, "Shadow Boy" and its B-side"Prima Donna"(both are in the video above at 0:00 and 19:57 respectively) which was, oddly enough, actually released in October 1980. "Shadow Boy" is a pretty jumpy and cheerful song about a girl who has feelings for that titular boy but cannot really confess to him quite yet. In that case, I kinda wonder the tune should have been titled "Shadow Girl" instead, but that's all academic since I like the throw-in of some of that doo-wop and West Coast into this aidoru number. Singer-songwriter Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）provided the lyrics while the composer was Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）and Tadashige Matsui（松井忠重）was the arranger.
"Prima Donna" makes for a fairly solid B-side since it's a song that seems to meander around with its arrangement by Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）. The song by lyricist Kazuya Senke（千家和也）and composer Ben Sasaki（佐々木勉）initially begins with that hint of classy baroque waltz as Inoue sings about a singer hitting the stage for what could be the performance of her life. Then, the refrain seems to melt into something more country-like in melody. It's almost a sudden shift in visual setting from a French castle into a Kentucky field. Considering the more adventurous arrangement, I couldn't really see "Prima Donna" as an A-side.
It's a two-for-one thing on this week's Reminiscings of Youth article and the first one for one of my favourite bands, The Manhattan Transfer. In fact, it's so much one of my favourite bands that for a person like me who doesn't really attend concerts, I actually paid out the yen to get the ticket to see them with my own eyes at The Blue Note in Tokyo, some time in the last few years of my life in Japan.
It was a packed house and as has been the case with a number of other acts over the decades such as The Ventures and Carpenters, The Manhattan Transfer has been a beloved musical guest in Japan. I've known about Tim Hauser, Alan Paul, Laurel Masse (to be replaced by Cheryl Bentyne), and Janis Siegel since I was an elementary school student, and to see Hauser, Paul, Masse and Bentyne a mere four or five metres away from me on the stage at last performing their biggest and most recognizable hits was a singular thrill. I remember one middle-aged fan even closer in front jumping to her feet as either Siegel or Bentyne sang right to her face. Hygiene issues aside, I'm sure that the fan's life was fulfilled. For me, it was also poignant because Hauser would pass away a few years later at the age of 72.
Although I did pick up their "Bodies & Souls" album from 1983 when I was in university, I really didn't go onto the purchasing binge for their discography until my time in Japan. I was in my jazz phase then so being a regular at the various CD stores, I started snatching up a number of their early albums including the two BEST compilations that you see at the top and bottom. The wonderful thing about The Transfer was their ability to tackle not only vocalese jazz, but also urban contemporary, Latin and doo-wop (and others). Their vocal stylings were truly magnificent instruments on their own and although a lot of their songs were covers of earlier numbers, they really made them their own.
One such example is "Tuxedo Junction" (Buddy Feyne, Erskine Hawkins, Bill Johnson, and Julian Dash) which was originally recorded in 1939 by legendary trombonist and band leader Glenn Miller. However, the first version that I heard was by The Manhattan Transfer for their self-titled 2nd album from April 1975. I'm always going to enjoy that intro with Hauser, Masse, Siegel and Paul (oo-pah, oo-PAH...I think), and the collaboration of those joyous harmonies and the boogie-woogie horns helped me decide that this Tuxedo Junction was truly the happening place in Birmingham, Alabama where folks got together in their finest clothing for a magical night of dance and music.
I very vaguely recall that The Transfer did have a TV show as a summer fill-in which turned out to be in 1975. Perhaps it can be said that Sunday nights on the network back then were indeed the televised Tuxedo Junction. I've known that "Birdland", another landmark song by the quartet, has been considered to be their theme song, but I have to admit that I enjoy "Tuxedo Junction" better as the song by them so it was nice to read on the article for the song itself that it was indeed the theme for them.
I definitely remember the first time that I heard "Chanson D'Amour" which was a track (and a 1977 single) on The Manhattan Transfer's 3rd album"Coming Out" from August 1976. When I was in junior high school, my friends and I were picked up from the school one Friday afternoon by my friend's father. As we were waiting for the last guy to come in, "Chanson D'Amour" was playing on the car radio and along with the Edith Piaf imitation by Siegel, there was the catchy "ra da da da da" chorus to insinuate it deep into my musical memories.
Reading about "Chanson D'Amour" on Wikipedia, I discovered that The Transfer's take on the song was a cover of the 1958 original created by American songwriter Wayne Shanklin and recorded by the husband-and-wife singing duo, Art and Dotty Todd.
As with a lot of the other singers and bands covered in ROY articles, The Manhattan Transfer will get some more of their songs covered here in the months to come. But of course, we have to find out what was being released in Japan when "Tuxedo Junction" and "Chanson D'Amour" made their presence known Stateside.
Well, in April 1975 (although once again, J-Wiki reports that it was March) it was:
Getting a little late in the evening and after having an arduous two-day session of proofing documents that still needed some more TLC than should have been the case, I think that I'm quite ready to head off for bed.
So, why not finish things off with something mellow and lullaby-like? I've got Keiko Maruyama's（丸山圭子） "Anata ni Tsutsumarete" (Wrapped In You) which was the singer-songwriter's 4th single released in April 1977. This particular single was the one right after her breakthrough hit "Douzo Kono Mama" (どうぞこのまま）from July 1976.
I mentioned for "Douzo Kono Mama" that there was some of that Henry Mancini-esque arrangement in there as if it should have been part of a Blake Edwards movie. "Anata ni Tsutsumarete" also has some of that Mancini DNA in those laidback rhythms via the percussion and shimmering strings (which almost take things into Muzak territory). I'd probably say that this time, this Maruyama song, which she wrote and composed, might work well in a 1960s Audrey Hepburn flick.
"Anata ni Tsutsumarete" kinda straddles that line between City Pop and New Music. It doesn't quite bludgeon me over the head with a beefy bass or the sounds of city life but I think that accompanying video of driving on one of the highways in Tokyo helps with the metropolitan mood. Plus, that slightly tipsy delivery by Maruyama and the echoing trumpet give off that feeling of heading back home in the taxi or the boyfriend's sports car after a night of happily painting the town red. Y'know, with a slightly different arrangement although with the same tempo, I think even someone like Akira Terao（寺尾聰）can do a cover of this one.
There is a trope at the "TV Tropes" website which is called "Early Installment Weirdness", and it refers to everything from advertising to TV shows to real life. For television, it talks about the early days of a particularly long-running/famous program when perhaps the cast, crew and writers were still groping for their distinct identity and hadn't quite settled into what the familiar patterns and rhythms are.
For example, in the first couple of years of the American sitcom "Happy Days", it had Fonzie in a light blue jacket instead of his Smithsonian Museum-worthy brown leather jacket and Richie and Joanie actually had a big brother named Chuck before he conveniently disappeared once the show went on before a live audience from Season 3. In the original "Star Trek", Mr. Spock was surprisingly emotional in the first several episodes of that inaugural season (he really needed a Kolinahr back then) and instead of Starfleet, there was the United Earth Space Probe Agency.
When I think of veteran singer Anri（杏里）, and I believe when many of her longtime and newbie fans think of Eiko Kawashima（川島栄子）, the images that percolate through are her R&B/City Pop funky hits that made an 80s aerobics instructor swoon. I'm thinking of "Cat's Eye" (the first Anri song that I ever heard), those amazing and dynamic tunes in the Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）years in the early 1980s through albums including "Timely!!", and then her collaborations with lyricist Yumi Yoshimoto（吉元由美）and arranger Yasuharu Ogura（小倉泰治）in the late 1980s/early 1990s in releases including "Circuit of Rainbow".
The "Early Installment Weirdness" of Anri's career (not to say that Anri is weird, all right?) then comes with her first three albums between 1978 and 1981. I've already written an article on Album No. 3"Kanashimi no Kujaku"（哀しみの孔雀）and will get to her second release "Feelin'" in due time. I want to focus here on her debut album"Apricot Jam" released in November 1978. I found that in all three, it was very much of an exploratory time for Anri and the people around her in terms of what she could and wanted to sing about. There weren't any of that snazzy Kadomatsu or Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）arrangements, and things were more subdued although there was already that sense of summer in a number of the tracks in "Apricot Jam". Anri was just starting out and she was only a high school sophomore at the age of 17 when this was released. This was recorded in Los Angeles, to boot, which awakened her desire to record her albums overseas whenever possible (and apparently she's now living in LA). But I can't even imagine what she must have felt going to a foreign country as a teenager during summer vacation to record non-aidoru material with professional session musicians, so I shouldn't be surprised that things seemed far more sedate on this debut album when compared to her later releases.
Opening "Apricot Jam" is the classic karaoke fan favourite and her debut single"Olivia wo Kikinagara" （オリビアを聴きながら）which was the subject for one of my earliest articles for "Kayo Kyoku Plus". As much as her really uptempo hits later on characterize the singer that is Anri, this first release is also a trademark tune and it fits as a reflection back to her origins with that innocent-sounding keyboard intro and the shy vocals. Incidentally, all of the tracks were arranged by Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）.
Of the tracks for which I could find separate videos on YouTube, one is "So Long", a mellow tropical tune that was actually composed by Anri herself and written by Fumiko Okada（岡田冨美子）. As the title intimates, "So Long" goes into a bit of bittersweet farewell as a summer romance comes to an end. The arrangement had me thinking more of Jamaica rather than Shonan.
Ami Ozaki（尾崎亜美）was responsible for the creation of "Olivia wo Kikinagara" and she also came up with "Chinese Doll"（中国人形）, a mid-tempo song about a young lady possibly comparing herself to the titular porcelain figure: all fragile and looking for someone to love her. This is one of the tracks that made me realize how young Anri was at the time, and her delivery back then seemed rather similar to folk/City Pop singer Sumiko Yamagata（やまがたすみこ）. My other observation is that it must have been a genuine thrill for her to have had a few songs created for her by Ozaki since according to her J-Wiki file, she grew up listening to her along with Yumi Arai（荒井由実）, Takuro Yoshida（吉田拓郎）, Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）and others.
Anri then dives into a bit of the funk and City Pop with "Blue City" by lyricist Okada once more and a composer named Al Hoffman who has no connection with another composer by that name since he passed away in 1960. Perhaps it's a pseudonym...I don't know. In any case, Okada weaves a story of a rather jaded seen-it-all and done-it-all city resident who is just trying to make his way through the metropolis without dying of boredom.
The album ends with "Fade Out"（フェイド・アウト）which was written and composed by singer-songwriter Kuniko Fukushima（福島邦子）, and it's an appropriately elegiac way to end "Apricot Dream" with the 1970s soft rock/country balladry. Perhaps as much as the first track, maybe "Fade Out" also has some tribute given to Olivia Newton-John since I could envisage the Australian singer tackling this one, too.
This video has the entire album so perhaps I can quickly go over the rest of the tracks. For example, at 4:38 is the second track "Rhapsody"（ラプソディー）which is one of the more uptempo songs on "Apricot Jam" with that bouncy electric piano and the City Pop haze. This was written and composed by Tomohiro Kobayashi（小林倫博）and perhaps should go along with a cup of really strong coffee before a shopping spree.
At 12:32 is "Nishibi Usurete"（西日うすれて...Fading Sunset） which is another Okada and Hoffman concoction which has Anri doing a cute vaudeville jazz number that screams for a soft-shoe dance interlude. Her protagonist is playfully wondering about her ideal boyfriend and when she's actually going to go for the gusto and grab him.
Ozaki is back with another uptempo track in "Flying Gozen Juu-ji Hatsu"（Flying 午前10時発...Flying at 10 am） at 19:32, a traveling pop song about a woman who had thought that she would be making her tropical trip from Tokyo with her beau only for a breakup to get in the way. Hate it when that happens. Ozaki's lyrics may come across as rather bittersweet but her melody illustrates that the lass isn't gonna let heartbreak stop a fun vacation.
Finally at 28:18 is "Keyword wo Sagase"（キーワードを探せ...Look For The Keyword）, another playful tune observing a likeable cad and his attempted conquests. This was written and composed by singer-songwriter Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）who had also provided another track from "Apricot Jam" that I've written about in the past, the more City Pop"Sozorosamu"（そぞろ寒）. This time, though, there is some more of that tropical clime feeling with a bit of a reggae beat.
Considering her later success, Anri's"Apricot Jam" may be quite an eye-opening revelation for those who are listening to the album for the first time. It did rather modestly on Oricon, peaking at just No. 51. However, despite the relatively quieter arrangement on her debut album, I think that there were seeds in there for what was to germinate in terms of how her music would be described in her heyday. Still, there were a few more years and albums to explore around for what her musical identity would become.
OK, I understand the appeal of having a loved one bringing breakfast to you without you having to get up and making it in the kitchen. However, some delicacy, I think, is required in not letting those crumbs get on the sheets. Bedbugs will bite.😈
Coincidentally enough, this is not only my 2nd City Pop/AOR-themed song in a row, but it's also the second consecutive tune that has some connection with breakfast since I just wrote about Circus'（サーカス）"Petit Dejeuner" a few minutes ago.
"Morning Coffee wa Bed de"(Morning Coffee in Bed) is sung by seiyuu/singer Mami Koyama（小山茉美）who is famously known as the character Arale-chan from "Dr. Slump". But there's no hint of the supremely cheerful "N'Cha!"-yelling android here; instead, it's the rich and mellow voice of Koyama taking care of a relaxing urban contemporary song. I'm not sure if it ever happened, but "Morning Coffee wa Bed de" would have been optimal for a commercial for Coffee-Mate here, Creap over in Japan.
The song was written and composed by Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）. For those who may not know that name, she's the lady who sang the classic "Douzo Kono Mama"（どうぞこのまま）, and so perhaps it's not surprising that "Morning Coffee wa Bed de" has that bossa nova lilt. To finish up, the song was a track on Koyama's 1983 album"Monodrama"（モノドラマ）.
Whenever I think of an hourglass, my memories always dredge up the opening credits from the soap opera "Days of Our Lives". I don't recollect ever seeing a single episode of the show (I was more for "All My Children" and "General Hospital"), but that opener with the narration “Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives.” has remained with me since I was a toddler.
I'm pretty sure that despite all of the imports of American programming onto Japanese television over the decades, soap operas were never on the list. Japanese TV had too much of their own melodramas perpetually being created.
But since I've brought up the topic of hourglasses, allow me to bring in a calming kayo by singer-songwriter Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）titled "Futari no Sunadokei" (Hourglass for Two). Written and composed by the singer, this was her 6th single from September 1977, and it's one of those songs that I couldn't really peg into my favourite genres of AOR, City Pop or New Music. So I've going with regular pop here.
It's plenty sweet like the drinkable pop as a couple of lovers enjoy their time walking through a park and resolving to have many trips there...until the sand inevitably runs out. Very nice sentiment, indeed, and what makes things even creamier are the keyboard work and that insertion of the harmonica. Sunday afternoons should always be like this!
A few days ago, I hinted at providing such a list when I wrote about Lisa Ono's（小野リサ）cover of "One-Note Samba". With the passing of bossa nova legend João Gilberto along with the influence that the genre has had on kayo over many years, I've decided to join my fellow collaborators Marcos and Joana, who have given their own Author's Pick lists in the last few days, and give my own list about some of those Japanese songs with the kiss of Brazilian music.
My awareness of bossa nova has been in existence since I was literally a baby since I do remember hearing the classic "Girl From Ipanema" by Antonio Jobim. However, Ryoko Moriyama's（森山良子）"Ame Agari no Samba" is probably the first time I've heard the bossa nova treatment being given to a kayo kyoku, and that was through the radio program "Sounds of Japan" back in the early 1980s.
2. Gontiti -- Natsu no Riyuu（夏の理由）
Along with songs like the above "Ame Agari no Samba" which have their own articles here on the blog, I'm also inserting some new discoveries such as this one by the acoustic guitar duo Gontiti（ゴンチチ）. I was going to include their "Honto no Uso"（本当の嘘）which is their splendid collaboration with PSY-S, but I knew that Gonzalez and Titi had plenty of more fine bossa/samba in their vast discography, so looking around a bit, I was able to find this pretty lively affair called "Natsu no Riyuu"(Summer Reason) from their 2007 BEST album"gontiti Super Best 2001-2006"（gontitiスーパーベスト2001-2006）from 2007. I just didn't want to put up only the languid songs, and "Natsu no Riyuu" has more of a happy skip down the beach rather than just the gentle swaying of a hammock. Strangely enough, "Natsu no Riyuu" reminds me somewhat of some of the soundtrack from the anime "Amanchu!"（あまんちゅ！）which Gontiti produced.
Couldn't have asked for a better band and better vocalist to really tap into the romantic side of the genre than Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）and Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）. This was the title track from their 1988"Anzen Chitai VI"album, and listening to it after so long, some of those nostalgic vibes of being driven home in my friend's car after another long Friday night extending into Saturday morning returned. Perhaps for other folks, the images might include that trip on the dance floor after a few cocktails.
The above is the long-form version of "LIFE" (2000) and it would be one of the only inspirations that I would have for actually getting up and participating in a samba. However, I do have compassion for sighted people, so I will refrain if asked. All joking aside, "LIFE" through the magnificent tandem of Mondo Grosso and Bird is one fun song, and I can only wish that my life could be as wonderful and happy as the song is expressing.
A touch of Henry Mancini class with this 1976 bossa kayo, "Douzo Kono Mama", that is the most famous song by singer-songwriter Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）. This was another discovery from "Sounds of Japan" all those years ago, and whenever I hear it, I think of a very ritzy but sedate bar serving martinis as their best cocktails. Young Sean Connery, Peter Sellers, and Audrey Hepburn are more than welcome here.
6. Taeko Ohnuki -- Voce é Bossanova
This is another new entry here and it's a really nice bossa nova number by singer-songwriter Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）. Ohnuki has created and recorded Latin-influenced songs in the past but I recently found "Voce é Bossanova" from her 1988 album"PURISSIMA" and felt that I needed to put it here. I find that her vocals became a little more whispery and more halting from around the mid-1980s, and as such, they became more fitting for the genre.
7. Shoko Aida -- Mezamemashou（目覚めましょう）
My final entry for the article is yet another song that hasn't seen the light of KKP before but it comes from my lone Shoko Aida（相田翔子）album "luz" from 1997. "Mezamemashou" (Let's Open Our Eyes) was well-titled since it was an eye-opening revelation for me as someone who was in Japan when Aida and Sachiko Suzuki（鈴木早智子）had their heyday as the successful aidoru duo Wink. I and probably most of Japan had no idea that Aida was a huge bossa nova fan, but she created most of the tracks on "luz" including "Mezamemashou" with Hiroyo Watanabe（渡邉浩世）helping out in the composition. The singer has that pleasant lightness in her voice perfect for bossa nova ballads.
My fellow collaborator and administrator, Marcos V., placed his own Aida bossa tune, "Jóia" from her previous solo album of the same title. In fact, the article was his first as a contributor on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" all the way back in early 2013.
Of course, there are many more bossa/samba-influenced kayo that I've covered in other articles, so this is just a sampling.
It's been a good 4.5 years since I've written up any article on Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）. For those who may not know her, this singer-songwriter is probably most famous among kayo fans for her 1976 hit "Douzo Kono Mama"（どうぞこのまま）, a bossa nova-influenced ballad that brings back memories of Henry Mancini and Antonio Jobim.
The other articles that I've written about Maruyama were on songs that she recorded back in the 1970s, so I'm quite happy to introduce one that she created and sang in the following decade. This would be "Glass no Mori"(Glass Woods), her 1983 single that was also placed in her album of the same year "Lady Good".
Of course, with the length of time passed since "Douzo Kono Mama", I wouldn't think that she would have stayed with the bossa nova, and the melancholy "Glass no Mori" has that contemporary sound which brings to mind that small genre of Fashion Music sung by singers like Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）and Asami Kado（門あさみ）. Maruyama's lovely voice, those strings and the piano really stand out to me as the protagonist wonders in her darkened room (or plane cabin as you can see above) whether love will ever come to her. The overall sound makes me feel that the ideal setting would be some place in Tokyo which is why I gave it the City Pop tag.
Earlier this year, I wrote about Keiko Maruyama's（丸山圭子）arguably most famous album, "Tasogare Memory"（黄昏めもりい）, and how it was different from my expectations. I'd assumed that it would be in the light bossa vein since Maruyama's most famous song, "Douzo Kono Mama"（どうぞこのまま）was in there, but I should have smacked myself in the back of my head with a CD case for making such a guess. Instead, there was a bit more of the cordial country swing and some City Pop imbued into the album which actually made things more interesting and ultimately more satisfying for me.
"Hitori Ne no Lullaby"(Lullaby for One) is one such example. When I wrote up the article for "Tasogare Memory" back in February 2014, there wasn't any YouTube video for it but a few months later, a kind soul uploaded one. As I mentioned briefly in that other article, "Hitori Ne no Lullaby" which Maruyama wrote and composed has some of that country music twang and some old-style music from early in the 20th century.
Whenever I walked through the Tower Records branch beside Shinjuku Station, I always noticed that there was a section which held a not-insignificant amount of CDs which covered a lot of that American traveling honky-tonk music. I think there is some of that flavour in "Hitori Ne no Lullaby" which seems to describes a garrulous and increasingly sleepy-headed woman going through the drinks at that dilapidated bar somewhere in the US Midwest. It could even describe a typical scene of a Japanese OL doing pretty much the same thing at a nomiya near midnight....something that I've seen my fair share of in many a TV drama. There is also a mention of Janis Joplin in the lyrics and that had my brain sparking about similarly arranged music that I used to hear on the old car AM radio back in the 1970s.
As nikala commented, "Tasogare Memory" is indeed a keeper and "Hitori Ne no Lullaby" is one of the reasons. I think it was truly a fascinating time for inspiration during those days of New Music.
Considering all of the summery pop and then R&B that has illustrated the career of Anri （杏里）for decades, I thought it was time to once again go all the way back to her beginnings. So, I went to her very first album, "Apricot Jam" from November 1978 and gave that another listen after so long. Of course, the first song on the album was the original version of the classic "Olivia wo Kikinagara"（オリビアを聴きながら）, by far the most well-known track.
However, another track on "Apricot Jam" also stood out. "Sozorosamu"(Biting Cold) was written and composed by singer-songwriter Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）, and it tells a tale about a relationship that has perhaps gone a bit cold from the woman's point of view as the couple, nominally hand-in-hand, take a walk during late fall. Despite the melancholy lyrics, the music struck me as being a laid-back mix of Yumi Matsutoya （松任谷由実）from that period and the Bee Gees. I think anyone who started out as a fan of Anri from the 80s as I did may find listening to the light disco-pop and the more low-key vocals of a teenaged Eiko Kawashima（川嶋栄子）on this song quite interesting. And certainly, I'm now also more interested in finding about some of Maruyama's arrangements for other singers.
Fortunately for a guy who loves the oldies, the various recording companies kinda got rather nostalgic at the turn of the century and started releasing kayo kyoku galore from as far back as the 50s via compilation albums, and then they began to re-issue actual re-mastered albums by specific singers such as Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）, Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）, etc. Hiromi Iwasaki's （岩崎宏美）collection also got the same treatment and since she was one of the first Japanese singers that I fell in love with, as soon as I saw her soft-cover (as I like to call them) jacket versions of her 70s and 80s albums hitting the shelves, I went on the hunt.
One of the first re-issued albums I bought was Iwasaki's"Hatachi Mae..." (Before 20...),her 6th album from April 1978. Aside from the title track, I hadn't known any of the other songs on it but I decided to buy this one solely because of the cover photo of the then-19-year-old lass standing in front of the mixing board at the studio. She just looked so young and quite different from my image of her with the long, long hair and the formal dresses; according to her comments in the liner notes, everything she was wearing in the photo was all bought by her without any stylist calling the shots. She could've just been shopping at the local supermarket.
The album starts off with her 12th single, "Hatachi Mae", a song that I'd actually heard from years back when Mom got me a BEST tape of hers. Now in Japan, the age of 20 is one of the big ones since the teens legally become adults and there seems to be this romanticism surrounding the big 2-0. Written by Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composed by Yusuke Hoguchi（補口雄右）, the intro and Iwasaki's sung prelude strikes me as being the innocent and nostalgic end to adolescence as the singer elegantly makes a written greeting to a certain young man about how he's doing and if it isn't too much trouble if he could meet her. Then the song ramps up into a light bouncy disco trot as she looks forward to life beyond 20 although she hopes to get that answer from her Romeo before the big birthday.
I think that "Hatachi Mae" probably strikes a chord with a lot of people in my age range with the music and lyrics. However, according to those liner notes from the album, it was memorable for Iwasaki in that it was exceedingly difficult for her and the orchestra to tackle during recording due to the arrangement and the tempo shift. It also didn't help that the lass was in the throes of a bad cold at the same time, so an initial version of that recording has also been included in my softcover album along with the official one. To be honest, I couldn't really tell much of a difference....Iwasaki handled herself with aplomb....and tissues.
"Hatachi Mae" was released as a single in February 1978 and got as high as No. 10 on the charts, and eventually placed No. 76 in the annual singles charts.
Also on the album is her 10th single from July 1977, "Nettaigyo"（熱帯魚...Tropical Fish）. What struck me about this song was that the Aku-penned lyrics already had Iwasaki growing up even faster than the innocent in "Hatachi Mae" as she sings about hanging around that bar in a melancholy state while nursing that cocktail and refusing to go home due to guy trouble. Makoto Kawaguchi（川口真） provides a jaunty aidoru kayo melody that reminds me a bit of Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵） discography to a certain extent. The single peaked at No. 4 and ended the year as the 44th-ranked song.
However, the one song from the album that got my attention was "The Man"（ザ・マン）. The same fellows behind the more famous "Hatachi Mae" were responsible for a song that I think would have made a cool theme for a 70s Japanese detective show. The cool staccato horns and the guitars just give "The Man" a really nice City Pop beat for that decade. And lyrically, Iwasaki takes on the role of that manly man and the woman who doesn't quite know what to do with him by alternating the masculine and feminine speaking styles. Not that I would have noticed the difference on first listen since she sounds so beautiful either way. The song was the B-side to the "Hatachi Mae" single.
Two of the songs on the album were written and composed by singer-songwriter Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子） which also got my attention. The one above is "Imayo Tsuzuri"（今様つづり）, the type of wonderful ballad that Iwasaki has done so well for so many years, and listening to it, I immediately had images of a young couple in ancient Japan walking discreetly on a country lane since the lyrics referred to floating cherry blossom petals, castles and old tiled roofs. I'm not all that confident of my translation of the title but it may mean "Heian Style Writing" or "Modern Style Writing" (If my Anonymous Iwasaki fan commenter can clear this up, I would appreciate it).
As for the album, "Hatachi Mae..." peaked at No. 10 on Oricon.
Keiko Maruyama's（丸山圭子） smooth-as-silk hit from 1976, "Douzo Kono Mama", was something that was firmly implanted in my memories since I had first heard it on an episode of "Sounds of Japan", so it was nice to see that the album that it was on, "Tasogare Memory"(Twilight Memory), was listed in "Japanese City Pop". The jacket cover was pretty intriguing to me. It had Maruyama sitting casually on an old wooden chair; the photography and her fashion struck me as being somewhat early 20th-century. I'd had an opportunity to get the re-mastered album about a year before I left Japan for good at a CD shop in the original Kinokuniya bookstore in East Shinjuku, but never got around to it. Late last year, I made amends by purchasing it on Amazon.
I didn't bother giving any information about Maruyama in the article for "Douzo Kono Mama", so I'll give it here. She was born in what is now Minami Ward in Saitama City in 1954. In 1972, she debuted with the single "Kokoro no Naka no"（心の中の...Inside My Heart） and album "Sotto Watashi wa"（そっと私は...Gently, I）, and then joined a folk band by the name of Pee-Pee and Kot（ピピ＆コット）. For you readers who can read German, yep, it is referring to "Urine and Feces"; apparently, a couple of the male members liked to head to the washroom together a lot, thereby the name for the group (the stuff you learn on J-Wiki, I'll tell ya). Once the band broke up in 1975, Maruyama was back on her own again and soon produced "Tasogare Memory" as her 2nd album.
The remastered "Tasogare Memory" contained the singer's reflections through the liner notes. As for my notes on her most recognized song, "Douzo Kono Mama", I think the article I already wrote about it will suffice, but Maruyama commented that she looked back at the recording date of the song (December 17, 1975) as a fateful day in terms of her career and a turning point in her life. She also perceived her creation as that infusion of bossa nova with a touch of European.
(cover version)
And so I had thought that despite the old-fashioned-style photo of Maruyama on that chair, "Tasogare Memory" would be in some sort of Latin/bossa vein. But after listening to the whole album, I realized that "Douzo Kono Mama" was the only bossa nova track. The singer actually produced an album which I would probably say is generally more New Music with perhaps even a bit more of a Country Music influence. Case in point, the first track is "Machi Kaze Dayori"（街風便り...Town Wind Tidings）, a relaxing ballad with harmonica and steel pedal guitar. Maruyama wrote and composed this track about going on a long journey out of town, searching (literally or emotionally) for that lost love. Crystal Gayle and early Olivia Newton-John came to mind when listening to this tune.
One of the surprising bits of information I got while reading the liner notes was that for "Machi Kaze Dayori", the final track of "Bye-Bye" and this 2nd song, "Sky Lounge", (4:40 on the above video) the backup vocals were provided by none other than Sugar Babe (Tatsuro Yamashita, Taeko Ohnuki and Kunio Muramatsu) with Yamashita handling the chorus arrangement. Within the album, "Sky Lounge" is the most City Pop-sounding of the songs as Maruyama, who once again took care of the lyrics and melody, sings about waiting for a friend in that hotel/office building lobby on their way to the rooftop bar. According to the notes, the singer did a quick rough copy of the lyrics while waiting for her buddy in the lobby of a bayside Yokohama hotel. I think for those back in the mid-70s who wanted to live the large life in Tokyo or Yokohama, "Sky Lounge" provided that little City Pop window.
Another observation of the album is that although Maruyama keeps that soft voice going throughout the songs, she also likes to put a bit of Method into her delivery. For "Sky Lounge", she seems to take on the voice of that young office lady (she was 22 at the time) while for "Douzo Kono Mama", her vocals take on a breathier quality (perhaps in emulation of Astrud Gilberto). Unfortunately, there is no video of it on YouTube, but Track 7 (and her 2nd single), "Hitori Ne no Lullaby"（ひとり寝のララバイ...Lullaby for One）, as Maruyama sings about knocking back the booze as if there was no tomorrow, she acts like that same OL from "Sky Lounge" after a bottle of the good stuff and pretends to be a comically tipsy if belligerent woman.
The above video is actually someone doing a karaoke version with his guitar, but I just wanted to showcase the last track, "Bye-Bye", a Country Swing song for which Maruyama remarks that there is a bit of Chet Atkins in the guitar thanks to guitarist Chuei Yoshikawa（吉川忠英）. Another reason that I liked this track was that the chorus of Sugar Babe seems to sound like a train whistle going off in the distance....I'm not sure if that was intentional and the singer never says anything about it in the liner notes, but the effect is remarkable.
"Tasogare Memory" was quite an interesting album for me in terms of the different types of songs that I came across. As I said before, there is that Country feeling in some of the tracks, but I also thought there was some 70s folksy pop (banjo, tuba) in there as well which reminded me of some of the AM radio I listened to in Dad's car.
After listening to this atmospheric 1976 song by Keiko Maruyama (丸山圭子）, you might think that "Douzo Kono Mama"(Please Keep It So) belongs in a 1960s Peter Sellers movie scored by Henry Mancini (The Pink Panther, The Party). It's led by a bossa nova-playing FenderRhodes piano and strings that just kinda makes one head for that cocktail bar on the top of the Waldorf-Astoria. But actually, the song was composed and written by Maruyama herself at the age of 22. It became her biggest hit and peaked at No. 5 on the Oricon weeklies (I had to get this info from the liner notes of a compilation album).
"Douzo Kono Mama"has gotten onto a number of kayo kyoku compilation albums, but it originally got onto Maruyama's 2nd album, "Tasogare Memory"（黄昏めもりい....Twilight Memory), also released in 1976.
