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.
Ah, yes...the kids are out on summer vacation for the next several weeks. When we were little, we had the same attitude of fun and relaxation, too, and of course, we rued the arrival of Labour Day in September since beyond that was the beginning of another school semester.
I didn't know about this particular song by the 1980s aidoru supergroup Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）titled "Natsu Yasumi wa Owaranai"(Endless Summer Vacation), but it's a pretty funky number by the gang. Written by Onyanko Club (and later AKB48) guru Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）, composed by Ken Takahashi（高橋研）and arranged by Jun Sato（佐藤準）, "Natsu Yasumi wa Owaranai" was a track on the Club's 3rd original album, the Oricon No. 3-ranking"Panic The World" from July 1986. Just for the record, the four members fronting the song were Kazuko Utsumi（内海和子）, Ruriko Nagata（永田ルリ子）, Yukiko Iwai（岩井由紀子）and Marina Watanabe（渡辺満里奈）.
Actually, the first time I did hear of "Natsu Yasumi wa Owaranai" was from a cover insert song version done for the 2012anime "Natsuiro Kiseki"（夏色キセキ...Summer-Coloured Miracle）. This was a mere YouTube discovery by chance; I never caught the show myself and I don't recall my anime buddy ever mentioning it. However, it did have seiyuu who are now veterans of the art: Aki Toyosaki（豊崎愛生）, Ayahi Takagaki（高垣彩陽）, Haruka Tomatsu（戸松遥）and Minako Kotobuki（寿美菜子）. I get the impression from the premise that "Natsuiro Kiseki" was a mix of magic, slice-of-life and "Stand By Me". The animation style has me thinking a PreCure series without the PreCure powers or situations.
Whether it was by lucky happenstance or not, the four main seiyuu also happen to be members of the pop group Sphere（スフィア）and so they apparently handled all of the main songs including "Natsu Yasumi wa Owaranai". This version seems to have more of the dance beats and synthesizers going on full thrusters, thanks to Masaya Yamaguchi's（山口雅也）arrangement. For some reason, the song reminds me somewhat of "Futari no Kimochi no Honto no Himitsu"（ふたりのきもちのほんとのひみつ）, the ending theme for "Kill Me Baby" which was another 2012 anime.
Several months ago, I wrote about a very obscure and short-lived pop duo by the name of SKY and one song by them called "Last Ballad"（ラスト・バラッド）from 1981.
One of the two members of SKY was named Eizo Kitazawa（北沢英三）but once the duo broke up, Kitazawa changed to another name, Masahiro Hatta（八田雅弘）, and pursued a solo career. The result led to four singles and three albums between 1984 and 1986; it was quite the volume in a short period of time.
His second single was "Kanashiki Sherry" released in January 1985 thanks to the furigana although reading the literal kanji will show that it can be directly translated into "Sad Lover". However, the katakana furigana could be read "Sherry" or "Cherie" but just for kicks, I'm going to go with the former reading. In any case, just from the cover of the single, I gather that Hatta wanted to put in a bit more cool dude oomph into his music as a solo artist. And "Kanashiki Sherry" does feel like that AOR rock roadster hitting the big city with a loud horn. Written by Ken Takahashi（高橋研）, composed by Hatta and arranged by Jun Sato（佐藤準）, it definitely has some distinctive keyboard work, too.
Almost a month ago, I wrote about a friend giving me some LPs that he no longer wanted and one of those records was Minako Honda's（本田美奈子）June 1986 2nd album"LIPS". Well, another gift was "KICK OFF", the debut album by the first aidoru supergroup that lyricist Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）created back in the 1980s, Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）. Looks like along with the title, someone really wanted to put in that rugby theme for the album cover and liner notes.
Released in September 1985, just a few months after Onyanko Club's most famous song and debut single, "Sailor Fuku wo Nugasanaide"（セーラー服を脱がさないで）first got sold, "KICK OFF" not only has Single No. 1 in there, but also "Makka na Jitensha"（真赤な自転車）which I've also written about. And regarding "Sailor Fuku", I never mentioned who exactly was singing lead for that number, so I'll mention it here: Eri Nitta, Miharu Nakajima, Satomi Fukunaga and Kazuko Utsumi（新田恵利・中島美春・福永恵規・内海和子）.
Kicking off the album (pun intended) is "Ijiwaru ne, Darlin'"（いじわるねDarlin'...You're Mean, Darlin'） with Akimoto behind the lyrics (as he is for all of the tracks on "KICK OFF") and Kiyonori Matsuo（松尾清憲）on the melody here and one more song. Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）provided the arrangement and keyboard play for "Ijiwaru ne, Darlin'" and yep, it sounds like my image of the typical Onyanko Club song and a happy-go-lucky 60s bubblegum pop tune about all that adolescent lovey-dovey stuff. Along with Nakajima, Mika Nagoya, Ruriko Nagata, Aki Kihara, Harumi Tomikawa, Sanae Jounouchi, Mamiko Takai and Rika Tatsumi（中島美春・名越美香・永田ルリ子・樹原亜紀・富川春美・城之内早苗・高井麻巳子・立見里歌）were behind the mikes.
I thought that "Natsu no Christmas"（夏のクリスマス...Summer Christmas） was just another coy title really talking about enjoying the summer holiday. However, it looks like Akimoto wanted the narrative for this surprisingly groovy track to cover both summer and winter with the romance beginning on Christmas Eve and spanning into the hot season several months later. Ken Takahashi（高橋研）and Jun Sato（佐藤準）covered composition and arrangement respectively, the same duo behind "Makka na Jitensha". Nitta, Nakajima, Fukunaga, Utsumi, Nagoya and Takai were on deck here.
It's just Fukunaga and Utsumi for the first track on Side B of the original LP, "Ai no Ronri Shakai"（愛の論理社会...Moral Society of Love）, and for me, it's the surprise of "KICK OFF". This isn't only because of Akimoto's hot lyrics about a potentially May-December romance starting from a hotel bar and graduating into the hotel suite (as sung by a couple of teenagers...but then again, didn't we have Momoe Yamaguchi the decade before?), but also because the arrangement and music by Yamakawa really take "Ai no Ronri Shakai" into the realm of evening City Pop. Plus, on guitar is none other than Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）! I think that I'll have that martini right now.
"Hayasugiru Sedai"（早すぎる世代...Too Early Generation） was composed and arranged by Jun Sato and it was the B-side to the "Sailor Fuku wo Nugasanaide" single. Fashioned as some teenage rebellion against the parents for trying to restrict the girls' wants to explore the world in all ways, again I hear some of that cute 60s and the adorably somewhat off-tune vocalization by the Club. The liner notes have the entire group singing but according to J-Wiki, the "front" vocals are provided by Nitta, Nakajima, Fukunaga and Utsumi.
One more tune that I'll throw in is "FEN wo Kikasete"（FENを聴かせて...Let Me Hear Some FEN） sung by Nitta and Nakajima with Matsuo on melody and Yamakawa on arrangement and keyboards. For those who may not know, FEN was known as the Far East Network, a group of American radio and television stations serving the US military in Japan and other areas in the Pacific Ocean (it's now known as American Forces Network Japan). It's indeed a nice-and-light aidoru tune but that intro had me first thinking of something more Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）-friendly synthpop. Akimoto's lyrics weave a story of a romance taking place over a couple of nights at least, and I guess listening to FEN was considered to be a sign of becoming mature and worldly.
"KICK OFF" scored a No. 2 ranking on the Oricon weeklies and it ended up as the 41st-ranked album of 1985, pretty auspicious feat for this large aidoru group. I was pleasantly surprised since I had been expecting just the usual bubbly 80s aidoru fare but instead got a few curve balls as well among the tracks. It certainly sounds like Akimoto wanted to bring in a few different composers and arrangers into the mix.
Uncertain where I took this photo...Japan or Canada? The massive size of those strawberries and waffles would indicate my hometown of Toronto (maybe at Café Demetres) but the date on that photo in the bottom right seems a tad early for my Holiday trips back home. So who knows? I'm sure that it was a delicious dessert.
Anyways, we have singer Naomi Miyanaga（宮永尚美）for her third time on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". In her first two articles on the blog, I featured a couple of her tracks from her 1984 debut album"Moment": "Summer Rain" and "Party ni Furarete"（パーティーにふられて）. Having a listen to those two once more, I found them on the mellower side of City Pop.
Miyanaga's 2nd album (and possibly her final album) was "Che~!"（チェッ!...Tsk!）in 1986, and the cover has the smiling singer looking like she's about to paint the town as red as that background. "Love Collector", a track provided to her by lyricist Ken Takahashi（高橋研）and composer Yuji Toriyama（鳥山雄司）, is definitely more laden with the beats. There seems to be an infusion of Hitomi Toyama（当山ひとみ）dynamism which would imagine some of that American West Coast danceable form of R&B of that decade. As I said, Miyanaga looks ready to party hearty and her voice has taken on some more sultriness.
Usually when it comes to singer-songwriter Ken Takahashi（高橋研）on this blog, I've usually included him as the songwriter behind the scenes but up to this point, I'd only had one article about one of his songs, "Natsukashi no Yon-go Sen"（懐かしの4号線）, in which the Iwate Prefecture-born Takahashi was behind the mike. Well, here is his second KKP article with him actually singing as well as creating the song.
In "Natsukashi no Yon-go Sen", I likened Takahashi to singers such as Motoharu Sano（佐野元春）and Shogo Hamada（浜田省吾）in his good ol' rock-n'-roll approach. Well, I did find a blog posting by someone named Takashi Ikegami in which the singer is compared to Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band. And perhaps there is a particular connection with Dylan here when it comes to this track "Bucket Ippai no Ame" (Buckets of Rain) because the legendary singer-songwriter behind classics including "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'" actually created a song titled "Buckets of Rain" for his January 1975 album"Blood on the Tracks".
Although Takahashi's "Bucket Ippai no Ame" is straight ahead rock-n'-roll (and basically a different animal) compared to Dylan's folk-rock"Buckets of Rain", I can't help but hear a bit of that rhythm from the Dylan song grafted into Takahashi's song as perhaps a tribute (maybe someone can confirm this). In any case, I also hear the Sano and Hamada feelings in Takahashi's creation which was a track on his third album from December 1986, "Freedom". It's definitely a feel-good song as Takahashi sings that every life has its buckets of rain falling down but there is also sun breaking through the clouds, too.
(I'm sorry but the video has been taken down.)
Up to this point, I had two entries on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for Naomi Nomoto（野本直美）including her "Kanashimi Doori"（かなしみ通り）, and my impression was that she was into the folk/New Music genres. Well, with her 1987 "The Fire" album, Nomoto decided to check out her own inner rock-n'-roll as well. In fact, the above-mentioned Ikegami has likened her to an Osakan version of pop-rock singer Ayumi Nakamura（中村あゆみ）, and strangely enough, Nakamura's big hit from 1985, "Tsubasa no Oreta Angel"（翼の折れたエンジェル）was created by Takahashi.
Nomoto did a cover of Takahashi's "Bucket Ippai no Ame" for "The Fire" and it actually leads off the album. It's got that same motorcycle-on-the-road-friendly arrangement although it doesn't have that brassy E Street Band sensation from the original. However, Nomoto makes it quite clear that she can also provide the good ol' rock-n'-roll chops.
Made a slight (well, maybe a little more than that) boo-boo when I was writing up the ROY article for Anita Baker's"Sweet Love" (May 27th 1986) the other night because I ended up placing the Oricon Top 3 of June 1985 instead of the correct Top 3 of June 1986. Luckily, heyheypolice was true to his/her name and quickly informed me of my mistake for which I'm very thankful. The corrections have been done.
Also, one nice development is that at No. 3 on that June 1986 list was Satomi Fukunaga's（福永恵規）"Kaze no Invitation" (Windy Invitation). I had already put up an article on her 2nd single"Heart no Ignition"（ハートのIgnition）back in 2019, but "Kaze no Invitation" is her debut single as a soloist away from Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）.
Released in May 1986, it looks like arranger Jun Sato（佐藤準）was going for some of that ol' rock-n-roll feeling for Fukunaga's first, although that rolling intro kinda reminded me of Laura Branigan's"Gloria". Ken Takahashi（高橋研）came up with the music with Yasushi Akimoto's（秋元康）lyrics weaving the lovely image of a pair of young lovers walking the sunset path after an afternoon at the movies.
"Kaze no Invitation" was Fukunaga's only No. 1 although her next two singles would reach No. 2. The single was also a track on her debut album"Splash" from November 1986 which peaked at No. 5.
Rock singer-songwriter Kaori Kawamura（川村かおり）left this Earth way too early at the age of 38 back in 2009 due to cancer. Although she didn't burn up the Oricon charts like some other singers or bands, she remains one of the musical touchstones for me when I was living in Gunma Prefecture between 1989 and 1991 because before I arrived in Japan at the end of the decade, it was unusual to see a female Japanese singer who wasn't bouncing around in a white frilly dress or singing enka in a formal kimono on stage. However, the turn of that decade had a lot of diversification going on in the new format of J-Pop and one of the new wings that unfurled in the mainstream was the female rocker either through bands like Princess Princess and solo singers such as Kawamura.
I got to know Kawamura basically in 1991 via "Kamisama ga Oritekuru Yoru"（神様が降りてくる夜), a catchy number that I used to hear often because it was used as the theme song for a segment on the extremely popular Fuji-TV Wednesday night variety show "Kuni-chan no Yamada Katsutenai Terebi"（邦ちゃんのやまだかつてないテレビ）. And then there was her cover of "Tsubasa wo Kudasai"（翼をください）, a 1970s folk song that has become a standard in those high school chorus competitions.
When I first caught this music video, I was initially a little confused. My image of Kawamura had been that of the singer with that close-cropped haircut in the leather outfit who felt that it wasn't too cool to smile. But here she was with slightly longer (but not long) hair in pretty casual wear and actually beaming a bit more.
My assumption was that this one of her later efforts on the basis that perhaps Kawamura had mellowed out, but it was actually the video for an earlier 4th single"Merry-go-Round ni Notteru Kimi no Koto ga Suki da yo" (I Love Ya on the Merry-go-Round) that had been released in September 1989. A rolling and jangling pop/rock tune, this was written by Kawamura and Ken Takahashi（高橋研）with Takahashi handling the melody and arrangement. The lyrics are all about some fellow asking a young lady for a fun afternoon at the amusement park. My compliments on the guitar work.
"Merry-go-Round" was also used as the theme song for an anime motion picture, the boxing-based "Eiji"（エイジ）in 1990 at the request of the creator of the original manga, Hisashi Eguchi（江口寿史）. The song was also Kawamura's first to get into the Top 100 of the Oricon charts by placing in at No. 90.
Well, I found out some of Eguchi's work through a Denny's commercial.
Over five years ago, I wrote about Izumi Kato（加藤いづみ）, a singer whose voice I first heard in the main Tower Records in Shibuya and likened to Chisato Moritaka（森高千里）, although Kato's music tended toward more into the dreamy pop vein.
As I also mentioned, Kato's discography probably consists of songs that I would like to listen in a small but stylish café in one of the many neighbourhoods in Tokyo. One such song is her 9th single from March 1994, "Sakamichi" (The Street on the Hill).
I think there probably have been many kayo with that title or titles which contain that word of sakamichi since pop music was a thing in Japan. Obviously, Japan being a mountainous nation, hilly streets there are about as common as ants on an abandoned sugar cube, but I think pop culture has imbued those sloping roads with a certain amount of emotion whether it be wistful nostalgia or grand pride about seeing an overview of the ol' hometown.
In Kato's "Sakamichi", I believe it's the former. Ken Takahashi（高橋研）wrote and composed this sweet ballad about a woman returning to her hometown and taking a walk on one of those hilly streets. As she does so, she sees the street where a former flame used to live and starts reminiscing about the past romance (and perhaps regretting the breakup). From the mention of trams in the lyrics, I wonder if Takahashi had written them specifically for Kato since she was born and raised in the city of Matsuyama in Ehime Prefecture, a place where trams do exist. To add to the tenderness is some poignant piano and a cello.
"Sakamichi" was also included in Kato's 4th album"skinny" which came out a couple of months after the single. In my time in Gunma, my town of Tsukiyono (now part of Minakami City) was in a rather hilly area as a hub point for the number of ski resorts in the region. I didn't particularly catch the feelings associated with a hilly street back then but if I ever do return to Tsukiyono, I will appreciate the sentiment far more now since time has flown at the speed of a starship.
Ahhh, yes...along with that well-worn romantic trope of sharing the same umbrella heading home from school, anime also possesses the one about a boy riding his bike while the girl is on the back being taken home. I gather that sort of thing happens in Japan in real life. Cute little Chiyo-chan in "Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun"（月刊少女野崎くん）had always dreamed of that situation but romantically inept Nozaki-kun destroys that meme in a second.
Not sure about the choreography for "Makka na Jitensha" (The Red Bicycle) which appears as if things were practiced in a very relaxed fashion in the dance studio but I think that was the point of lyricist Yasushi Akimoto's（秋元康）first aidoru mega-group Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）. The girls were supposed to look adorkably amateurish. But I can't complain too much about the song itself which was a track on the group's first album"KICK OFF" released in September 1985.
Composed by Ken Takahashi（高橋研）and arranged by Jun Sato（佐藤準）, Akimoto tells the delectable trauma of riding the back of that bike while the boy of one's dreams is pedaling away while the brassy saxes and the doo-wopping back singers included in the song give it that 1950s rock n' roll beat that I've usually associated with Onyanko Club. As for "KICK OFF", the album peaked at No. 2 on the Oricon weeklies. Just FYI, the lead singers for "Makka na Jitensha" were Eri Nitta（新田恵利）, Miharu Nakajima（中島美春）, Satomi Fukunaga（福永恵規）and Kazuko Utsumi（内海和子）.
BaBe may have had a brief time in the spotlight as singing duos go and the baton was passed over to Wink from the late 1980s into the early 1990s, but Tomoko Kondo（近藤智子）and Yukari Nikaido（二階堂ゆかり）left a still-recognizable and memorable sound in my head, thanks to singles like their Eurobeat-y "I Don't Know!".
In total, BaBe released 8 singles and 5 original albums between 1987 and 1990, and as I mentioned, whenever I think of any of their songs, I remember that Kondo and Nikaido were the pre-Wink Eurobeat aidoru duo. However, listening to their final single "She has a dream" which was released in March 1989, try as I might, I didn't really hear any of that familiar Eurobeat.
Written by Ken Takahashi（高橋研）and composed by Mayumi Horikawa（堀川まゆみ）, I think BaBe and the powers-that-be behind them were trying to retool their sound somewhat into something more urban contemporary and sophisticated with "She has a dream". I certainly like the melody here and it was hoped that they would smash a hit out of the park. The song was even adopted as the official theme for the 1989 World Sports Fairtaking place in Japan; the annual event lasted between 1983 and 1992 and included introducing various sports from around the globe.
Alas, "She has a dream" did just OK by peaking at No. 37 and sold around 14,000 copies. The song was also included on BaBe's 4th album from April 1989, "Brand-new". However, about a year later in March 1990, it was decided that BaBe would disband.
Didn't touch the blog all yesterday. I was swamped with work and then later on in the evening, the other translators and I had a seasonal get-together at a nice pub with a patio closer to downtown. Pretty nice place, too. It boasts some of the best hamburgers in Toronto, and after having one of their baconburgers, I can absolutely agree. There was also a chocolate Guinness cake for dessert that was very delicious and dense. Even with my colleagues' assistance, I didn't quite finish that.
The important thing, though, is that for the first time, it actually felt like Toronto was finally approaching the hot season. It was sunny and pleasantly cool out there. After what has seemed like an extended winter running over spring to get to summer, all Torontonians are looking forward to a more positive change in the weather.
That's just the introduction I needed to segue into Stardust Revue's（スターダストレビュー）"In The Sun, In The Shade". Although this long-running band has shown its dexterity in providing fun music covering a lot of genres such as pop, AOR and rock, I have to sheepishly admit that the only evidence of Stardust Revue on my shelves until last week was a CD single of their "Kimi no Subete ga Kanashii"（君のすべてが悲しい）that I had bought about 30 years ago.
Ironically enough, that's when "In The Sun, In The Shade" was released as their 7th studio album, back in July 1989. I finally decided to atone for my sins of neglect by purchasing this release on the strength of the thoroughly enjoyable track "Natsu no Jou"（夏の女王）as performed by (now-former) Stardust Revue keyboardist Yasuhiro Mitani（三谷泰弘）. My article for that one has a video of "Natsu no Jou" being performed in concert, but here is the original recording.
Listening to "In The Sun, In The Shade", there is that warm feeling of summer approaching and the first track seals the deal. "Brand-New Wind" is some seasonal AOR/pop created by lyricist Shun Taguchi（田口俊）and composer Mitani with some natsukashii synths leading a car drive into southern and warmer climes. And it sounds like Mitani really enjoyed those synths in recording.
"Gekko Ressha"（月光列車...Moonlight Locomotion）takes things back into 50s rock n' roll in feeling if not in instrumentation. I was rather reminded of an old Uniroyal Tire commercial as I was listening to it. Hitoshi Shinohara（篠原仁志）was the lyricist while bassist Kiyoshi Kakinuma（柿沼清史）took care of the music. I like the chorus work here as a couple goes on the train ride of their lifetime.
Vocalist Kaname Nemoto
Vocalist Kaname Nemoto's（根本要）sweet voice comes to the fore with "Be My Lady" which sounds like it was made as a serenade for that sweetheart in the window. This was one of three singles included in the album with "Be My Lady" being the 17th (July 1989) for the band. Nemoto and Mitani composed and arranged this one also as a bit of a 50s/60s tune with Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）providing the words. That arrangement even gives me hints of Eiichi Ohtaki（大瀧詠一）.
For a bit of City Pop, there is also "Triste" which was performed and composed by Mitani. Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）, who has had some experience with the urban contemporary side of kayo, wrote the words for love in the metropolis. As Meme Man would say, "Triste" is cool and good. The requisite boppy bass is in there, too.
"Northern Lights ~ Kagayaku Kimi ni"（輝く君に...To Shining You）was Stardust Revue's 15th single from February 1989. Vocalist Nemoto was once again behind the music which reminds me somewhat of the proud rock/pop that Motoharu Sano（佐野元春）was providing in the early1980s. Ken Takahashi（高橋研）, who wrote lyrics for a number of ALFEE songs at around the same time, gave his contributions here about a fellow who's heading up north to convey his feelings for that woman. It sounds like a more proactive and hopeful song about love getting back together than the aforementioned "Kimi no Subete ga Kanashii" ballad of woe.
"In The Sun, In The Shade" managed to break into the Oricon Top 10 by hitting No. 5 on the charts. I'm now happy to say that I finally have my Stardust Revue album, and perhaps next I will go for a general BEST compilation by the band. But even this particular 1989 release gives a fine description of what Nemoto and company have been capable of all these years.
Well, the project took a few days and some e-mails between my friend in Manhattan and myself but a couple of hours ago, I received a pretty large box filled with a lot of ancient LPs and 45s. They are mostly kayo kyoku which I will be taking some time to peruse before I start tracking down any presence of them on YouTube and writing about them on the blog. However, I would like to thank Steve for his generosity in sending this most culturally bountiful shipment. Plus I re-discovered that 12 kg is not too heavy for me; am I glad that I've been lifting weights at night.
Now I haven't written about ALFEE recently and I think I ought to shed a light on the band again sometime soon. However, what I wanted to do here today was provide some attention to the singer-songwriter who helped come up with some of ALFEE's best hits including "Marie-Anne"（メリーアン）and "Hoshizora no Distance"（星空のディスタンス）in the 1980s.
That would be Ken Takahashi（高橋研）who I hadn't known was a singer in his own right. Coming from Morioka City in Iwate Prefecture, he graduated from Waseda University's Faculty of Law before he debuted in March 1979 with his first single, "Natsukashi no Yon-go Sen" (That Old No. 4 Line).
From some of the other songs that I've heard from him on YouTube, I think he's quite similar in tone to folks like Motoharu Sano（佐野元春）and Shogo Hamada（浜田省吾）...that brand of life-on-the-road rock and pop. Certainly "Natsukashi no Yon-go Sen" fits the bill as Takahashi reminisces about making his way down to Tokyo from snow-capped Iwate by train to start a new life whereas his old buddies Joji and Yukio head off to Osaka and Sapporo respectively. The whole feeling is of optimism and giddiness, and the only thing missing in the song is the motorcycle but I guess that would be too cold for him to ride from the Tohoku.
For his own material, Takahashi released 5 singles between 1979 and 1987 and 6 albums including one that came out in 2005.
I put this photo up before showing a small temple of sorts to the band ALFEE when my anime buddy, our benefactor and I visited a traditional restaurant in Yoyogi a few years ago. Called Uogashi（魚がし）, it not only serves sushi but also a lot of the comfort food the Japanese love such as miso soup, grilled mackerel and tons of rice. And the owners are apparently huge fans of ALFEE.
"Cinderella wa Nemurenai"(Cinderella Can't Sleep) was the band's 20th single from February 1985. I've been a casual fan of ALFEE so I didn't pick up on the following until I read about it, but perhaps the die-hard fans did notice that with this rocker, this had been the first time in 8 years that the folksy-looking Konosuke Sakazaki（坂崎幸之助）was the lead vocalist. Also, there was apparently some surprise at seeing Sakazaki handling a set of syn-drums on stage instead of holding his usual guitar like his two compadres, Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦）and Masaru Sakurai（桜井賢）.
I had heard "Cinderella wa Nemurenai" before but, come to think of it, there is a bit more of that synth sound in this particular ALFEE outing when compared with some of their other 80s hits. Although Takamizawa was not the main mike this time, he and Ken Takahashi（高橋研）took care of the lyrics about a guy pining for his little Cinderella while Takamizawa also provided the music.
The song became the 2nd No. 1 for the band immediately after their first chart-topper, the epic "Koibito Tachi no Pavement"（恋人達のぺイヴメント）from October 1984. It also ended up as the 15th-ranked single for 1985. It was also placed on ALFEE's"THE BEST SONGS" which was released in December that year. That compilation peaked at No. 5 on the Oricon weeklies.
Well, it's almost been a year since I've written an article on ALFEE. Welcome back! I think the last one I did about them was their debut "Natsu Shigure"（夏しぐれ）from all the way back in 1974 when they were known as ALFIE.
"Kiri no Sophia"(Sophia in the Fog) is ALFEE from their full-throated glory days in the 80s. It was their 21st single from October 1985, and it's actually the first time I've heard it. Written and composed by the dandy member of the trio, Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦）, with Ken Takahashi（高橋研）co-writing the lyrics, it's Takamizawa singing and mourning about the loss of his beloved Sophia as he still can't let go of her while remembering about their last dance together on that foggy night.
The music shifts slightly between urgent and wistful as ALFEE does what it does best and provides some power pop/rock to the concert masses. Whenever I hear one of their epics from this decade, I always envision some sort of sword n' sorcery video game for some reason. The single peaked at No. 2 on Oricon, and was first placed on their 1985 BEST compilation "The Best Songs".
Back in the 1980s, it was all about getting albums by Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）, Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）, Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）, etc....the singers I knew and was comfortable with since living in Toronto made things rather hard in terms of logistics and finances to get adventurous. Also, Wah Yueh and some of the other shops in Chinatown were thinking the same thing since they also sold basically the LPs and cassette tapes of the superstars. We were all happy for that.
But when I started living in Japan from the mid-90s, accessibility was a whole lot easier obviously and I could now afford to look around for some new blood, so to speak. There was the intriguing UA, the cool and funky Sing Like Talking and the romantic Toko Furuuchi（古内東子）. Somewhere along my forays into the various CD shops, I also discovered a singer by the name of Izumi Kato（加藤いづみ）.
It just so happened that while I was browsing in one of the shops, probably Tower Records, I heard this melodic voice softly singing a ballad with a slight bossa nova touch. It was called "French Kiss" and it was the title track to Kato's 5th album from July 1995. Strange for me to say, but I was enchanted by Kato's whisperiness (yes, I fully realize that this isn't a real word) and bought the album. In fact, I've bought a couple of more albums by her since then.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find "French Kiss" anywhere on the Net for listening but I did find one of her earlier songs that brought her prominence. "Suki ni natte, Yokatta" (I'm Happy That You Love Me) was Kato's 6th single from July 1993 which also got onto a BEST album that I managed to purchase, "Izumi - Singles & More" from 1994.
Watching the video above and hearing the song, I realized that the way she sang and the way she even enunciated the lyrics reminded me of Chisato Moritaka（森高千里）to a small extent. However, Kato's songs always struck me as being the soft cafe-friendly types. They were songs that would be listened to by folks who didn't necessarily want to be known as always going for the Top 10 stuff. It's quietly cool to listen to Izumi Kato.
"Suki ni natte, Yokatta" was written and composed by Ken Takahashi（高橋研）who had worked on a number of ALFEE's hits back in the 80s such as "Marie Anne"（メリーアン）and "STARSHIP" and composed tunes for many aidoru in the same decade. So it was a bit of a revelation to find out that it was Takahashi who was behind this ballad which has Kato not going into a major emotional tear but instead sing about the discovery of love quietly and with some relief.
As for Kato, she was born in Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku in 1968, and made her debut in 1991 with the single, "Zero" (although she had released a previous single, "Kaze no Fantasia" the year before under the name Sherry). A couple of years later, the subject song for this article was used in the 1993 Fuji-TV drama "Akuma no Kiss"（悪魔のキッス...Devil's Kiss）which gained her a breakthrough. Up to now, she has released 19 singles and 13 original albums. Kato has also helped as a backup singer on tours for fellow singers like Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）and Kazumasa Oda（小田和正）.
I couldn't quite believe the background story behind singer-songwriter Ayumi Nakamura（中村あゆみ）when I read it on J-Wiki. All these years, I'd thought that the Osaka-born singer was hitting the drums or the guitar from an early age. Well, what I found out was that once she graduated from high school, the singer-songwriter had been an office worker and then a road construction worker by day and a disco queen at night. But the kicker was the following incident. One night when a burglar had entered her home, she fled to an acquaintance's drinking establishment where she met music producer Ken Takahashi（高橋研）, and he found out (as I have now) that until that fateful meeting, Nakamura had never really listened to music or hadn't even owned a single record in her entire life.
And yet, she apparently had earned enough of a reputation (probably at the discos) that some big talent agencies asked her if she would join them. She didn't bite. It took that home invasion and a run into Takahashi to change her life permanently...such is the stuff that trendy dramas are made of. In September 1984, she made her debut with "Midnight Kids".
However, it was with her 3rd single from April 1985 that she hit pay dirt with "Tsubasa no Oreta Angel"(Angel with Broken Wings), a pop/rock concoction created by Takahashi himself that is reminiscent of early Kahoru Kohiruimaki （小比類巻かほる）and Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）. Like those two singers, she had the husky voice to match although her appearance from the video above had her looking a bit more cutesy pop than rock. I found out about Nakamura via this very song through one of the compilation tapes, and listening to the good old-fashioned rock n' roll beat, I later wondered if there had been inspiration from Motoharu Sano（佐野元春）.
"Tsubasa no Oreta Angel" became Nakamura's biggest hit which sold close to 400,000 records. It peaked at No. 4 on Oricon (although her 6th single peaked at the higher rank of 2) and became the 12th-ranked single of the year.
I heard Onyanko Club's（おニャン子クラブ）"Jaa Ne"(See Ya) on "Sounds of Japan", and the music was so adorably catchy that the co-host was overheard singing to it on air. In fact, I had to catch myself from shimmying to it.
The 80s precursor to the behemoth that is AKB 48 (and its sister groups within and without Japan), Onyanko Club, released "Jaa Ne" as its 3rd single in February 1986 and eventually became the group's biggest hit. It was their first song to hit No. 1 on Oricon. Written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康） and composed by Ken Takahashi（高橋研）, it's got a cute jingly beat with that 50s saxophone, and has lyrics that are much less suggestive than those from their debut single, "Sailor Fuku wo Nugasanaide". After all, the song is about graduation, an adolescent event that is held in even greater esteem in Japan. I mean, the ceremony of classmates parting after years together can get so emotionally draining. Believe me, I've witnessed it.
Originally, "Jaa Ne" was to be released under "Miharu Nakajima and Onyanko Club" since the lead vocal was the girl herself, but she asked that her name not be included since she was a real trouper about it. Incidentally, Nakajima（中島美春） did indeed graduate from the club just a month after the song's release, and retired from show business altogether. However, she has often shown up at the club's reunion events and even married the guy who manages the comedy duo, The Tunnels.
I listened to it again after so long tonight, and I'm still shimmying to it. "Jaa Ne" managed to become the 23rd-ranked song of the year.
Thanks to my good buddy of over a quarter of a century's standing, I got introduced to a lot of what was called at the time Japanimation during my time at the University of Toronto. He had anime presentations of "Akira", "Patlabor" "Lodoss Wars" and the like for all of the engineering geeks and anyone else who was into the genre. I saw high school girls sitting next to truck drivers in the audience waiting to watch the movie version of "3X3 Eyes".
Another movie that was in the programme was the anime adaptation of E.E. Smith's"Lensman", known in Japan as "SF Shinseiki Lensman"（ＳＦ新世紀レンズマン....SF Lensman of the New Century）. Unfortunately, although I was in the auditorium for that showing as well, I really only saw a part of it; you see, being midterms, I was pretty much spent due to all of the cramming, and as a result, I was dead on my feet and in my seat. So, the only scene I really remember was the one that resembled the Cantina Scene from the original "Star Wars" (I think it was actually some space disco thing).
And then there were the end credits (yep, I was truly exhausted). I heard this ethereal male chorus whisper out "Starship....ride on with me, oh my little girl...." while this playfully introspective piano tinkled away. Then, the music literally tumbled into this heroic pop/rock anthem with the guys from ALFEE at the fore. I didn't exactly vault out of my seat but my eyes were a lot more open.
Sometimes, when I remember the very first time I saw ALFEE on the 1983 Kohaku Utagassen playing "Marie-Anne",I think it was kinda too bad that the guys couldn't come back for the 1984 edition playing "STARSHIP - Hikari wo Motomete"(Seek The Light). It did quite well in the rankings, hitting No. 5 on the Oricon weeklies and then finishing the year as the 30th-ranked song of the year. It had that sweeping epic flavour that would've fit quite nicely into the young pop section of the Kohaku proceedings. In a way, "STARSHIP" reminds me of Queen's theme for "Flash Gordon" in terms of the overall style.
ALFEE's 18th single released in May 1984 was written and composed by co-vocal Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦）with Ken Takahashi（高橋研）helping out on the lyrics. It was the band's first stab at an anime theme song. I may not remember much of the movie, but at least, the theme song still establishes that link to it so that I may repent my viewing sins and finally get to watch it in its entirety.
I'd known about Alfee since the 1983 Kohaku Utagassen when Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦） (the rocker), Masaru Sakurai（桜井賢） (the cool dude) and Konosuke Sakazaki（坂崎幸之助） (the folkie) performed "Marie Anne", and heard it and a few more of their hits on "Sounds of Japan". But "Hoshizora no Distance" (Distance of a Starry Sky) was a song that I first heard while I was living in Gunma while watching an episode of "Music Fair" late one Sunday night. Alfee and aidoru Yu Hayami（早見優）were on the show, and the final segment had the band along with Hayami and a huge chorus and a full orchestra performing classical versions of their hits, partially to promote an upcoming album, "The Alfee Classics with the London Symphony Orchestra" (which I promptly got).
The arrangement so smoothly melded the classical version of "Hoshizora" with the "Jupiter" movement of Gustav Holst's amazing suite, "The Planets" that I thought for many years somehow that the Takamizawa-penned song had been adapted from the Holst classic. Of course, I was wrong.
Still, I recall seeing one comment under one of Alfee's YouTube videos stating (cheekily or not), "Freddie Mercury?" And thinking back to Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody", I've wondered if Takamizawa and company had kept the classics in mind when coming up with their songs. "Koibito Tachi no Pavement"（恋人たちのペイヴメント） is another one of their hits that had me thinking about this point. But that's just my opinion...you can listen to "Hoshizora" and "Koibito Tachi" and come up with some of your own. Both songs, as I said, were written and composed by Takamizawa with Ken Takahashi（高橋研）helping out on the composition duties.
"Hoshizora no Distance" has this atmosphere of constant urgent pursuit, and the lyrics talk of a perhaps star-crossed couple trying, despite the distance (the 500 miles of the song), to bridge the gap with their love. Both lyrics and music take on this epic, heroic tone right from the get-go:
A furious wind now whips through my heart Is "Goodbye" merely a one-time mistake? Even separated by 500 miles When the night comes, once again the heart is in pursuit The distance under a starry sky Burst into flames! Love's resistance Conquer the night in the way Once again, to my heart. Baby come back!
(Thanks to uta-net.com for the lyrics)
I can envisage that man with a heart as big as anything making a Paul Revere ride on his trusty steed over hard rock and through thick forest to have that reunion with his one love as the song rocks away. My golly....it's the Harlequin romance ofJapanese pop!
Released in January 1984, Alfee's 17th single had actually been created back in 1974 and performed during the band's live house era before its official debut onto vinyl. It peaked at No. 2 on Oricon and became the 11th-ranked song of the year, selling a little over 500,000 copies. The song has been included in any of Alfee's BEST albums, but it had originally been part of their 8th album, "The Renaissance" which came out in July 1984 and also peaked at No. 2. It ended up as the 27th-ranked album. "Hoshizora no Distance" was also the theme song for a TBS drama, "Mujaki na Kankei"(無邪気な関係...An Innocent Relationship).
Kuniko Yamada（山田邦子）, a homely but hilariously cheeky comedienne, first found fame on the Fuji-TV Saturday night comedy-variety show, "Oretachi Hyokinzoku"（オレたちひょうきん族...We Are The Funny Guys) which pretty much ran for the entire decade of the 1980s. Her specialty was impersonating singers, but I recall seeing her in a segment in which she drew some surprisingly racy stuff in front of the kids. But with her own star rising, Yamada eventually got her own variety show on the same network from October 1989 titled "Kuni-chan no Yamada Katsutenai Terebi"(やまだかつてないテレビ....Kuni's Yamada Unprecedented TV) every Wednesday night. It was part of my weekly viewing routine during my years in Gunma. The comedienne was her usual hammy self in various skits and segments with other regulars, but a number of musicians also achieved a form of semi-regular status on the show.
So, in March 1991, a double-CD pack which resembled one of those cubic watermelons that Japanese scientists had concocted some years back was released titled "Yamada Katsutenai CD"（やまだかつてないＣＤ....Yamada Unprecedented CD). Being a fan of the show, of course, I just had to purchase my own copy. CD 1 has all of the original songs while CD 2 contains the karaoke versions of those songs. Almost half of them have already been profiled: Kan -- "Ai wa Katsu", Mariko Nagai -- "ZUTTO" and the late Kaori Kawamura -- "Tsubasa wo Kudasai".
Kawamura also had another contribution to the show in the form of "Kamisama ga Oritekuru Yoru"（神様が降りてくる夜...The Night The Gods Come Down), a pop-rock tune which was used as the theme for one of the recurring segments: a parodic feature on medieval Japanese court life. The song was created by Ken Takahashi（高橋研）.
During the turn of this decade, the singing duo Wink had become one of the big acts in show business. Of course, Kuniko Yamada, whose talent lay in impersonating singers, just couldn't resist and decided that she needed to impersonate them. So, she incorporated another segment in 1990 titled "Nihon Zenkoku Sachiko Sagase"(日本全国早智子探せ.... Find A Sachiko All Over Japan) in which her Shoko Aida would find the right Sachiko Suzuki. She found her.... Chie Yokoyama（横山知枝）, a high school student from Hiroshima Prefecture. Together they formed the unit, Yamadakatsutenai Wink（やまだかつてないWink), and their first single was "T-Intersection -- Anata ni Modorenai"(T-Intersection -- あなたに戻れない...I Can't Return to You), an uptempo Eurobeat piece whose lyrics were written by Yamada herself and composed by saxophonist MALTA.
In the following year, the ersatz Wink came up with a ballad titled "Sayonara dakedo Sayonara janai"（さよならだけどさよならじゃない...It is and It Isn't Goodbye), which was also written by Yamada and composed by regular guest KAN. It was created partially as a tribute to Yokoyama who was on her way to graduating from high school and onto college. However, it's become a graduation song for just about everyone. It did become a hit, peaking at No. 2 and ending up as the 49th-ranked song of 1991. The entire disc set itself was able to hit the top spot on Oricon as well.
There is also a Xmas song by the duo on the CD, but let's save that for a more appropriate time.
Yamada Katsutenai CD
Discs to help me remember the late 80s and early 90s
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