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 Keizo Nakanishi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Keizo Nakanishi. Show all posts
It is a whimsical Wednesday here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", so to alleviate the usual things about Hump Day, the windmills of my mind rotated rather furiously. As a result, in addition to the internal hemorrhaging, I was able to realize that a fair number of the songs of note in our humble little blog often have titles containing variations of personal pronouns whether in English or Japanese or other languages. Here are just a few of them.
Back in the 2010s, I noted through a couple of articles that there was that series of Parliament Cigarette commercials that popped up late at night. Those were famous for showing off some classy scenes of the high life, a lot of it based in Manhattan where the beautiful people were having the time of their lives at some swanky soiree. Meanwhile, the songs used in the ads were of the Quiet Storm variety: soulful love ballads featuring folks such as Bobby Caldwell and Carl Anderson, both of whom have sadly left this mortal coil. They didn't get me to take up smoking (thankfully), but I still appreciated the commercials for their dreams of the good life.
Well, there has been another series of cool and classy commercials for Camellia Diamonds in Japan over the years, and the thing about these ads is that they have pointedly featured supermodels and female celebrities varying from Lea Thompson to Sharon Stone. The above one is showing off Canada's own Linda Evangelista to the stirring voice of Kahoku Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）. And speaking of that singer, unlike Parliament's use of American singers, Camellia was more than happy to employ Japanese singers and bands with their high-energy goods. You can take a look at the long history of those ads below, thanks to YouTuber pstexe.
So, I've opted to start off this KKP business week with some of my own choices of Camellia Diamonds commercial tunes that I've enjoyed. I hope you do, too.
My friend Rob took me to this curry restaurant near his family's condo in Musashi-Kosugi when I last visited Tokyo. I'm always a sucker for butter chicken and I've been able to find out about different kinds of curry outside of the usual S&B stuff from the store. Over the years, I've had Thai, Indian and Pakistani varieties and some of them were enough to keep me warm for most of the winter. My gastrointestinal tract has complained to the brain a few times but overall, it's been a fine culinary experience.
I've got to admit that whenever actor Ken Matsudaira（松平健）does his novelty songs, he doesn't hold back on the showmanship. His "MatsuKen Samba"（マツケンサンバ）has been a favourite whenever he shows up on "Uta Con"（うたコン）and the Kohaku Utagassen. When Matsudaira celebrates with the world, the world celebrates with him.
Admittedly, until a few minutes ago, I hadn't even known that the actor not only gave his all to Brazil but also contributed his energies to India via a 2011 single titled "MatsuKen Maharajah". Written by Kyoko Yoshimine（吉峯暁子）and composed by singer-songwriter Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三）, the song begins and ends with a "Rocky"-like trumpet fanfare before the familiar rhythms flow in and MatsuKen, now in Indian royal garb, dances and sings up a storm.
The coupling song is "MatsuKen Curry" which has Nakanishi back as composer while this time, it's Ayumi Tamura（田村歩美）behind the lyrics. This is more of a three-for-one song as Matsudaira sings a trio of mini-tunes based on Indian, European and Thai curries. And all of his was for a collaboration between him and the company Oriental and their limited series of Ken Matsudaira curries on sale. Not sure how they did in stores, but the single peaked at No. 109 on Oricon. Speaking of which, the original recorded version has a somewhat different arrangement.
Not surprisingly, NHK has taken down the footage videos of the 74th edition of the Kohaku Utagassen including the return of Pocket Biscuits and Black Biscuits but at least we have the above video showing the latter team coming together on TV. It was especially good seeing the latter band performing "Timing" once more after so long.
Also, in the "not surprising" department is the fact that the infectious "Timing", originally created by lyricist Hiromi Mori（森浩美）and composer Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三）back in 1998, has been covered a few times. In fact, I was listening to the usual Weathernews Live broadcast on YouTube when their Weather Music segment came on and this time, I heard Klang Ruler's version of "Timing" which actually had come out as a digital single on Christmas Eve 2021.
I've written about the alternative pop band before and they seem to enjoy covering the old stuff such as Linda Yamamoto's（山本リンダ）"Dounimo Tomaranai"（どうにもとまらない）. I have also enjoyed them covering the old stuff and "Timing" is no exception. It's probably going to be the most chill cover of the song that I will ever hear and I especially like that synthesizer playing during the chorus. The video was also nice to watch especially after they had wrapped up and then tucked into a sumptuous Chinese dinner. Incidentally, it looks like there was a fad of dancing to Klang Ruler's version.
A few years earlier in 2018, singer/dancer/model Meik gave her own cover of "Timing" which sounds closer to the original disco arrangement from 1998.
My Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三）phase focused on his early years between the early and mid-1990s so my knowledge on his work from then on is extremely sparse unfortunately.
Therefore, coming across this song for the first time not too long ago was a pretty good find. "Snowy Sun" is on his December 1999 album "Sunshine Groove". The groovy beats are there along with that amazing Keizo voice although I thought at the start of the song that his vocals and the rhythm didn't quite match up solidly. With that title, I thought that "Snowy Sun" must have been used as a commercial tune for ski wear or even a ski resort. However, it was actually used for Attenir Cosmetics.
Nakanishi composed the groovy and funky melody while Kanata Asamizu（朝水彼方）provided the lyrics. Meanwhile, Nobuo Ariga（有賀啓雄）was responsible for the overall arrangement. I'm not sure what Nakanishi has been up to over the past few years, but according to J-Wiki, it appears that he's still active performing at concerts.
Doing the ol' maintenance again, I re-encountered my article for Keizo Nakanishi's（中西圭三）March 1994 album"Starting Over" which was my first time getting to know one of the finest voices in Japanese popular music in the 1990s, thanks to a taped copy of the album that I received from a relative. At one point, I thought my tape was going to wear out since I was playing it so often on the machine.
One of the tracks on "Starting Over" was "Nemurenu Omoi"(眠れぬ想い...Sleepless Feelings [or Memories]) and it was an orchestral version that I'd compared in the article for the album to one of the more tenderhearted aspects on the soundtrack from "Moonlighting", the mid-1980s detective sitcom starring Cybill Shepherd and Bruce Willis (it was the harmonica that sealed the deal). Since then, I've also come to think of that version as something that could have come out of a soundtrack for a 1950s romance film starring Cary Grant, thanks to those wonderful strings.
However, I realized that I hadn't written anything on the original single of "Nemurenu Omoi" which was Nakanishi's 9th from July 1993. If push came to shove, I'd probably go with the orchestral album version, but the original "Nemurenu Omoi" is still a lovely ballad as a pop/light soul number. The song also has a lot of big names in its creation beginning with Nakanishi composing the melody while Kanata Asamizu（朝水彼方）took care of the lyrics, Takao Konishi（小西貴雄）handled overall arrangement, Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）arranged the strings and Kunio Muramatsu（村松邦男）from Sugar Babe（シュガーベイブ）handled the chorus arrangement.
Singer-songwriter Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）is someone that I've usually associated with City Pop of the 1970s and 1980s, but happily it looks like he was also delving into the music as the 1990s arrived as well.
Case in point: he released a classy City Pop tune of that decade called "Kanashimi no memory" (Sad Memory) in May 1992. With lyrics by Kanata Asamizu（朝水彼方）, Hayashi not only brought the melody but also the arrangement with singer-songwriter Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三）. Asamizu's lyrics may be contrasting the different feelings of two people who have just broken up, but Hayashi's music makes for a nice accompaniment to a freeing drive throughout the big city with that certain keyboard and the shimmering strings (synth or not).
Maybe there's even a faint echo of Kazumasa Oda's（小田和正）"Love Story wa Totsuzen ni"（ラブ・ストーリーは突然にー）in there. It made me wonder whether "Kanashimi no memory" had been used as a theme for a J-Drama, but instead it was actually the theme song for a Beat Takeshi variety show "Kitano Fan Club"（北野ファンクラブ）on Fuji-TV.
Why this particular song didn't make it as a jingle for a Camellia Diamonds commercial is beyond me.
"Love Again" is from the golden-voiced singer-songwriter Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三）early in his career. It served as the coupling song to his debut single"Tangerine Eyes"（タンジェリン・アイズ）from March 1991 and it was written by Masumi Kawamura（川村真澄）against Nakanishi's and Takao Konishi's（小西貴雄）melody. It's a cool and groovy ballad about second chances at love when a man meets his old flame by chance on the stairs leading into the subway. Just hearing the singer's voice soar in the refrain is enough to give me some of the chills that the couple must have felt on those stairs during the rainy evening.
Both "Love Again" and "Tangerine Eyes" are also on Nakanishi's May 1991 debut album"KEIZO ~ Kanawanai Yume mo Atta"（かなわない夢もあった...There Were Also Unfulfilled Dreams） which peaked at No. 57. I'll have to cover "Tangerine Eyes" sometime soon.
I was going to call it a night with just two articles for the daily dose of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but then I happily discovered, or I should say re-discovered, this gem after a long while.
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Not certain whether the other contributors such as Noelle, Marcos or HRLE92 have been in this situation but in my case, there have been songs that I have wanted to talk about on the blog for years and years. However, of course, that all depends on whether they can be found on YouTube, any similar sites and if worse comes to worst, iTunes. If there is no possibility of tracking it down, then I'm just out of luck.
I've had my own CD of golden-voiced Keizo Nakanishi's（中西圭三）September 1995 album"graffiti" for over a quarter-century and it's one great acquisition. Over the past decade of KKP, I've been able to speak on a couple of tracks on the album, the funky "So Bad" and the love ballad "Why Goodbye". The album overall is wonderful but there is one track that I'd always wanted to devote time and space to, but never had the opportunity since it didn't have any representation on YouTube...at least until now. So I am grateful to the uploader who brought up the entirety of "graffiti" and hope that it'll stay up for a good long while.
Anyways, the track is "Round Midnight", and nope, it isn't a cover of the jazz standard by legendary pianist Thelonius Monk. This is a totally different animal by lyricist Kanata Asamizu（朝水彼方）and composers Nakanishi and Yoshiyuki Sahashi（佐橋佳幸）that is, just like "graffiti", a real banger. Right from Note One, it's a song that is one happy cocktail mixing in sunny 70s soul, light funk, Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers in one big shaker. The cherry on top is an electric guitar-and-harmonica solo that seems to paint a picture of a marvelous sunset over the metropolis. Of course, what else can I say about Nakanishi's vocals and those horns? A splendid way to finish my KKP broadcasting day!😁
Good heavens, it's been a while since I've written about singer-songwriter Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三）so I'm glad that I could find another song by him on YouTube. His heyday was in the 1990s and I think that he was up there with The King of Love Songs Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）himself when it came to Japanese soul singers. One thing about Nakanishi is that he often also added a touch of Motown to his creations.
This particular song, "Precious Love", finishes up his third original album"Steps" from March 1993, but I first heard it as part of a mix tape that my cousin had sent me decades ago. With lyrics by prolific Masao Urino（売野政男）, music by Nakanishi and arrangement by Takao Konishi（小西貴雄）, "Precious Love" is another quintessential Keizo tune with the percolating beats, the upbeat melody and of course the singer's soulful tones. Along with those beats, I think another highlight is the sax solo; I can be an absolute sucker for them.
"Steps" was a No. 1 hit for Nakanishi and the album also contains another supremely catchy track, "Ticket to Paradise".
Whenever I have leafed through my old "Myojo"（明星）magazines, I usually notice this one-page poster heralding a single or an album by a singer named Mayo Nagata（永田真代）called "Sexism" with the singer looking quite devilish.
It turns out that "Sexism" was Nagata's third and final album to date released in October 1991. However, her debut album in March 1990 was "Pathos" and from it, I have "Through the Night", a slightly smoky R&B strut delivered in a similarly sultry and smoky manner by the singer herself. The background chorus is echoed out by someone that sounds really familiar, and it turns out that it is singer-songwriter Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三）who along with Takao Konishi（小西貴雄）also created the music while Eiko Kyo（許瑛子）provided the lyrics. This was about a year before Nakanishi himself would debut behind the microphone himself and then in 1992, he would have his first big hit with "Woman".
As for Nagata, she released a total of 5 singles and those 3 albums up to 1993. Since then, the Kagoshima Prefecture-born singer has also done some radio and is apparently active mostly in the Fukuoka area under her stage name of MAYO.
Friday nights on TV Japan are split between Arashi's quiz variety show "Vs. Arashi" and the tarento-driven "Sekai no Hate made Itte-Q!"（世界の果てまでイッテQ!...Going to the Ends of the Earth） adventure variety series. With the latter NTV program, it has its cadre of tarento go all over the planet to search for famous and not-so-famous sites and experience the weird and wonderful with the emphasis on hilarity.
We were watching an episode from "Itte-Q!" last night which had been broadcast originally last year in which veteran member Ayako Imoto（イモトアヤコ）visited some exotic locales in China, and at one point, as you can see above (unfortunately that video has been taken down), the lass, who is known for her thickly painted eyebrows and school uniform, professed her famous love for recently retired singer Namie Amuro（安室奈美恵）. In fact, she even performed one of Amuro's early songs, "Paradise Train".
To be honest, I had never heard of the song before and frankly Imoto's rendition didn't particularly give me any great impression, so I decided to search for the original. Over a year ago, I wrote about the debut single by Amuro and the future dance-and-singing unit MAX when they were together as Super Monkey's, "Mister U.S.A."（ミスターU.S.A.）in the latter half of 1992, and it was this cute teenybopper Eurobeat number.
"Paradise Train" came out as their 4th single in July 1994 and their first single under the new unit name of Namie Amuro with Super Monkey's. It was by no means a hit since it peaked at just No. 137 on Oricon, but it's still a fresh-sounding uptempo song with young Amuro. There was no Eurobeat in there and this had been before Amuro and company took on the dance beats of Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）. Instead, it was the happy-feels music of Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三）with Masao Urino（売野雅勇）behind the lyrics, the same fellow who wrote "Mister U.S.A." a couple of years earlier. And yes, that is indeed Nakanishi on backing vocals.
I'm not quite sure, but I wonder half-jokingly whether "Paradise Train" could have been the love child of Nakanishi's other creations "Choo Choo Train" and "Ticket to Paradise". Anyways, "Paradise Train" was also included as a track on "DANCE TRACKS VOL.1" which did hit No. 1, after its release in October 1995 and ended up as the 21st-ranked album for that year.
My answer has been given. Imoto and Amuro finally had that get-together, and of course, plenty of happy tears were shed.
Happy Monday! It's somewhat harder for me to keep tabs on what is current in Japanese music these days without watching "Uta Kon"（うたコン）, and for whatever reason, TV Japan likes to throw on "Music Station" in the wee hours. However, I have an inkling that funk and soul aren't in the ascendant these days, and I do miss those genres.
Which is why I always cherish a lot of the singers and music from the past such as sweet-singing Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三）. I found another soulful ballad from his 3rd album"Steps" from March 1993.
Titled "Yoru ni Hi wo Tsukete"(Light the Night), it fades in rather gently for the first several seconds before a bass or a bass synth joins the melody followed by a wailing guitar and some wistful chords. Then Nakanishi starts his heartfelt message, imploring a woman who may have left him to reconsider and bring back some light into his life. I enjoy that nighttime Latin soul.
As far as I'm concerned, Nakanishi could sing the first hundred pages of a phone directory and he would have a hit on his hands. Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）provided the lyrics while the singer and Takao Konishi（小西貴雄）composed the song. "Steps" hit No. 1 on the charts.
The coupling song to the addictive "Ticket to Paradise", Keizo Nakanishi's（中西圭三）5th single from July 1992,"Kanashimi no Storm" (Storm of Grief) is also very uptempo but has the singer-songwriter begging for his girlfriend to give him one more chance, lest he drowns in an ocean of his own tears.
Instead of the Motown spirit that has gone into a lot of Nakanishi's songs in the 1990s, "Kanashimi no Storm" has got more of the R&B including funk from that particular time period. Of course, Nakanishi's voice propels it forward as much as the beat does. Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）provided the lyrics while Nakanishi and Takao Konishi（小西貴雄）came up with the musical goods. This particular song didn't get onto any original album but is included in the singer's first BEST compilation "SINGLES" from 1994.
Although the day has already passed in Japan, March 14th is White Day in my former home where this time, the ladies come up with the chocolates and other sweets to give over to the guys. So I'm sure shops such as Godiva and Fujiya were pulling some overtime to sell those bags and boxes. Along with the romantically-inspired giving of the chocolates, there is (or was?) the custom of giri-choco (obligatory chocolate) in which female staffers would bring the sweet stuff for their fellow male colleagues out of some feeling of commitment and amity.
I did get my fair share of giri-choco but way back in my Gunma JET days, some student who improbably had some sort of crush on me (still reeling that I can actually type this down) left a bag of chocolates in my geta-bako (shoe box) at my school sometime in the morning. Of course, when I discovered them in the afternoon, they all had that wonderful scent of chocolate...and feet, specifically mine, of course. Never did find out who that student was...just as well.
So for something appropriate, I give you Keizo Nakanishi's（中西圭三）"Koi wa Heart of Fire"(Love is a Heart of Fire), the lead track on the singer-songwriter's 2nd album"Steps" from March 1992. Written by Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）and composed by Nakanishi himself, it's all about that amazing date to come with that amazing woman. The lad is simply head-over-heels in L-U-V!
Always loved the fact that Nakanishi had that admiration for that ol' Motown soul. "Koi wa Heart of Fire" obviously sparks joy in its arrangement...a bit of a KonMari shoutout there. Believe it or not, those shoebox feet chocolates did spark a certain joy in me, too.
"Steps" also includes the just-as-joyful "Kataomoi no Birthday"（片想いのバースデー）and the spicy "Woman". The album got as high as No. 4.
As a lot of the readers for the blog have probably figured out, I have a pretty wide spectrum of singers and songs that I like. However, there are few artists whose general body of work have provided joy. I mean, every singer or band that has been covered on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" have given joyful songs but I can count on one hand the number of performers whose discography I usually equate with that happy emotion. Kohmi Hirose（広瀬香美）, Sing Like Talking and PSY-S are on three of my fingers.
The one other finger has Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三）on it. Of course, he has done melancholy ballads in his career but generally speaking, when I think of this singer-songwriter, his works provide a fine cheer-up. Case in point, this track from his 2nd album"Yell" (March 1992) titled "Diamond Rain".
It was never placed on the BEST compilation that I have for him, "Singles", and that's too bad. It simply comes across as one gloriously happy tune...which is ironic, since Masao Urino's（売野雅勇）lyrics have Nakanishi singing about the woman who not only got away but sent the poor fellow an invitation to her wedding. I don't think this is a consolation prize. Thank heavens I'm more of a melody guy to begin with. And believe me, I tend to believe in the joyful music with the happy soul and horns along with Keizo's great voice. He and Takao Konishi（小西貴雄）were responsible for that.
Been some months since I listened to Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三）so it's nice to hear his golden tones yet again.
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When I was first recommended to give Nakanishi a try back in the early 1990s, I (naively) thought that there was a certain resemblance to Toshinobu Kubota（久保田利伸）, both in their looks and genre of music. But listening to both fellows over a long period of time, I've come to realize that there are distinct differences.
For one thing, whereas Kubota has proceeded a lot more into funk, I think Nakanishi presented himself initially more as the old-fashioned Motown showman. I could envision him leading a doo-wop group onstage on the old Ed Sullivan show. And I think his "Glory Days" has that updated Motown sound.
A track on his 3rd album"Steps" from March 1993 (it hit No. 1 on Oricon), Nakanishi took care of the rousing music while Masao Urino（売野雅勇）came up with the lyrics about a student falling for a young female student of mystery from afar. His description of the inner glow within her coming to the fore in his eyes reminded me of that famous speech by Jimmy Stewart to Kate Hepburn in "The Philadelphia Story" about her own incredible internal luminescence threatening to blind all others. Kinda too bad though that the protagonist may not get a chance to finally pour our his feelings to the lass before she graduates. Not sure if the glory days of the title refers to Nakanishi reminiscing about his time in school or about the time to come for his lady love.
Still "Glory Days" is another one of his peppy and happy tunes whose sound always says "Nakanishi" to me.
A couple of weeks ago, I was asked by one commenter about what my favourite albums in Japanese popular music were. I had to admit that I hadn't really given it much thought, weirdly enough. Yet, we have all these lists categorized into Author's Picks with me giving my favourite songs by decade and genre.
One reason that I hadn't given out such a list up to now is that there haven't been any albums in many years that I consider to be go-to heavy-rotation releases. My collection is so large now that my attention has been pulled into so many directions in terms of what I would like to listen to. Plus, I was never one of those guys who would play a record or CD several times a day over and over again. In fact, when one of my high school buddies played his album three times in a row on my stereo, I got annoyed (good golly, dude, let the record breathe!).
Still, I can say that there are albums and tapes (bought from Wah Yueh) that I did listen to frequently back in my university days as I pulled off an all-nighter. And in recent years, there have been albums that I've purchased which bring to mind the statement "Yeah, that is an overall excellent album! Not a poor track to be found."
So as such, I've scrounged around my mind to think of some of my favourites over the past 30+ years. All of them have their own articles on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" so I won't say much more over here since I will leave the usual links. I just want to acknowledge them as some of my well-liked touchstones.
Akina fans have their own opinion about which Akina album is their personal favourite. Mine is this one and I think "Bitter and Sweet" is the album that finally put her over the top from popular aidoru to pop superstar. Her voice and the work of several amazing songwriters can be thanked here.
Along with "Bitter and Sweet" above, Kobayashi's 2nd album was the tonic to help me stay up at night while ripping through textbooks and theses. Aside from one track that hasn't dated well, this is one fine release that could answer the question of "If Karen Carpenter learned now to speak Japanese really well and decided to record an album, what would she make?"
Thanks to my cousin sending an audiotape containing this album, I was stoked enough to get the full CD a few years later. I found out about this in the 90s so this was never an all-nighter album but I do remember listening to "Starting Over" over and over again. The title track was quite the impetus.
As I explained in the original article, "Discovery" was initially a case of mistaken identity that truly became a wonderful discovery. This is how I found out about the wonders of Sing Like Talking as they covered genres such as R&B, AOR and perhaps some 90s City Pop.
I've mentioned this before but Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）was one of the first singers to make me realize that Japanese popular music wasn't all about enka and aidoru. For contemporary pop of that time, "Dear" is one of the albums to get. I also realized that she has had one of the best sets of vocal cords in the nation.
This was a tough call to make since I think basically all of Ohnuki's solo albums from "Sunshower" to "Signifie" (and beyond) are all entirely listenable. However, I've decided to go with "Aventure" since she seemed to go into all sorts of directions whether it be technopop, Latin and French pop. It really is an adventure.
Again, another difficult choice to make due to the vast discography that Yuming（ユーミン） possesses although for me, her best work was in the 70s and 80s. Ultimately I went with "No Side" since pretty much every track on the album is great and the emotions range from sad and introspective to fun and perky.
Another all-nighter album, Anzen Chitai had me right from the opening track "Yume no Tsuzuki"（夢のつづき）right to the end. Plus I can say that half of the album got heavy rotation on the karaoke circuit at my old haunt of Kuri back in those 80s. I don't doubt that the ballads on "IV" probably had listeners melting and mewing like kittens (not me, though, since I was too busy writing my thesis on Japanese politics...yeah, that's the ticket).
My final choice is just one representative from the wealth of City Pop albums I've encountered over the past several years but it is basically the first that I truly wanted as one of the rarest of the rare although it's been getting much love on YouTube recently. The tracks all range from pretty good to dreamy, and the title track has that arrangement that can have an 80s AOR fan swooning. As I stated from the top, I've never been much for playing a disc repeatedly ad nauseum, but with Takako Mamiya, whenever I come across the album while working, I'm more than happy to give it a spin to the end.
Well, those are my favourites. Of course, given time and money, the list can all change next year. But as you can see from my nine above, I am hovering over the urban contemporary genre as my type. What are yours?
I haven't heard much from songsmith Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三）although I have heard that he's still out there performing. However, I think his best days were in the 1990s and so I'm happy that I've got what I think is his best work with his 4th album"Starting Over" from March 1994 which I had a chance to write about back in 2013.
One of the tracks from "Starting Over" that I didn't get to talk about at that time was "Eien no Namae" (Eternal Name). It's not particularly a ballad nor is it a really uptempo tune; it's just a simple mid-tempo love song. But although it probably won't go down as one of the most notable examples of Nakanishi's discography, his vocals and the calming arrangement by Shingo Kobayashi（小林信吾）still make it a very pleasant song to listen to.
Kanata Asamizu（朝水彼方）provided the lyrics while Nakanishi came up with the music which has that feeling of springtime...something that a lot of us here are still waiting for although the season has officially been here for almost a week.
Well, it looks like the Force is with me today. I had just finished writing one old kayo with the word "hoshi" in it to commemorate in that "Kayo Kyoku Plus" way the 50th anniversary of "Star Trek". Then, I realized that I hadn't written about smooth crooner Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三）in many months and as soon as I turned to YouTube, the first song that popped out was his 7th single, conveniently titled "Kimi no iru Hoshi"(The Planet You Are On).
I gave it my first listen in a very long time and found myself enjoying it immensely once more again. As singers, I've always compared Nakanishi with Toshinobu Kubota（久保田利伸）and realized that while the latter R&B fellow has been into the funk and dance, Nakanishi has been all about the good ol' Motown days. And "Kimi no Iru Hoshi" is one of those examples which had me reminding myself of my very early toddler days when I remember (just barely) seeing acts such as The Four Tops and Smokey Robinson.
"Kimi no iru Hoshi" was released in October 1992 with Nakanishi creating the music imbued with that feeling of the 1960s while Masao Urino（売野雅勇）provided the lyrics. I particularly love the strings in there and that instrumental bridge when the horns come roaring in. Unfortunately I'm not sure how well the single did on the charts but it was a track on his 3rd album, "Steps", from March 1993 which went all the way to No. 1. Plus, Nakanishi was given his only appearance to date on the 1992 Kohaku Utagassen singing this song. It was kinda too bad that he was just doing a solo on the stage; considering the rhythm of the tune, it would have been nice to have had a group of four backup singers with him shimmying away.
