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 Kenichi Fujimoto. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kenichi Fujimoto. Show all posts
It appears that we may be having one of those KKP situations in which one singer or band's file is basically based on one album.
And yep, I'm talking about Kenichi Fujimoto's（藤本健一）"Aperitif" album from 1986. But it does say lots about the album especially if one's a City Pop or sophisticated pop fan. This time, the track is "Alone", and for a track titled "Alone", it sure doesn't feel alone. As written by Akira Ohtsu（大津あきら）and composed by the singer himself, it's the equivalent of a fancy dinner out in Aoyama...crisp white linen, sparkling champagne flutes and bone-white china, and all that. Fujimoto may have been channeling some of his inner Henry Mancini when he came up with this one. Those strings approach a near-boogie level of emanation and of course, the sax is cooking up some richness.
It's certainly sounding like Kenichi Fujimoto's（藤本健一）1986 "Aperitif" album is one of those secret City Pop masterpieces. I haven't written about him since 2020 when I posted the article for one of its tracks, "Memories".
Not too long ago, I encountered another one of the tracks, "Moon Light", which was written and composed by Fujimoto with co-lyricist credits also going to Mike Dunn. There's nothing like a bluesy urban sax to start things off and then a nice nocturnal Fender Rhodes leading the way along with Fujimoto's crooning vocals.
Over a year ago, I introduced a fellow by the name of Kenichi Fujimoto（藤本健一）with his "Asa no Wakare"（朝の別れ）, a very Doobie Brothers-esque pop song with a nice bounce to it. I'm not sure if this had ever been a single release, but it does launch his one and only "Aperitif" album from 1986.
When I was looking for some further information on the singer-songwriter, I also found out that Fujimoto had come out with a ballad single composed by him that would be used by children's apparel shop, Miki House (a place that an old friend used to work at), for its campaign song. Also the second track on "Aperitif", "Memories" struck me initially as being surprisingly mature considering that it was a Miki House jingle.
Then, I saw the ad which used "Memories" and it shows a bunch of kids in their Miki House clothing on some sort of desert island adventure. Frankly, I'm not sure if I should be feeling poignant or slightly discomfited at the sight of elementary school-aged children potentially being stranded on the island. But perhaps with the help of Akira Ohtsu's（大津あきら）lyrics and Fujimoto's crooning reassurances, the song and the commercial were meant to bring back those memories of a past dalliance with the sea (still...😟).
Commenter Dio notified me in the comments for "Asa no Wakare" that some kind soul has put up a video of the entire album on YouTube. Hopefully, it'll stay up for a good long time. If I have a chance, I wouldn't mind getting my own copy of the album...if it's still available.
Found this gem in my copy of "Beams" from the "Light Mellow" series. Let me introduce you to "Asa no Wakare"(Mornin' Good-bye) which is the first track from Kenichi Fujimoto's（藤本健一）one and only album "Aperitif" from 1986.
I mean, this is another one of those AOR/City Pop tunes that would get some appreciative applause from The Doobie Brothers including Michael McDonald, right from Note One. The familiar keyboard riff is there, supplied by the amazing Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）who also provided backing vocals, and there's a pleasant sax solo by Akio Suzuki（鈴木明男）. Fujimoto was the one behind the music while Masanori Matsuo（松尾正徳）took care of the lyrics. Considering the influences involved and how often I've heard them in other genre-specific songs over the years, I am now wondering whether there should be a sub-genre called J-Doobie.
All kidding aside, it was hard to find out much about the singer-songwriter himself. In fact, although there is a J-Wiki entry for Kenichi Fujimoto, it's actually about the drummer for the 90s band ZYYG who simply has the same name, right down to the kanji characters. However, what I could glean from reading the liner notes in "Beams" and one website is that Fujimoto was born in Hyogo Prefecture in 1959. He apparently became a songwriter thanks to an encounter with his high school sempai, bluesy singer Masaki Ueda（上田正樹）, and first gained some fame in the Kansai area for "Memories", a single that became a campaign song for the kids' apparel shop Miki House at around the same time.
To finish off, I have to say that I was impressed by this brief review of the album "Aperitif" from another site. To translate and paraphrase, this is the type of album that one wants to listen to either on a linoleum floor or in a car with a sunroof rather than a tatami room. Well, not to disagree with the author, but I started my City Pop love in my old Ichikawa apartment, and yep, there was a well-worn tatami floor.
