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.
In comes March...not like a lion; more like a polar bear. Yes, it's still rather Arctic-looking outside my window but we still have three more weeks of official winter to get through.
Outside of her inclusion in ROY articles and any Author's Picks, Yuki Saito（斉藤由貴）hasn't shown up on KKP for almost a couple of years, so it's nice to begin this third month of 2026 with one of her tunes. And this time, it's a pretty ethereal one. "ONE" launches her 4th studio album"Fuumu"（風夢...Wind Dream） from April 1987.
Sounding like something that should be listened to after having lit up a particularly pungent cone of incense, Saito's voice suits the high-falutin' English lyrics by BANDIT and the near-mystical melody of Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）. She sings about two becoming one in a paradise-like setting. I'm just surprised that no religious figures were mentioned here.
Another track that was on the album was "MAY" but I'd like to clarify my statements there by saying that "MAY" was actually on the CD version of the album, and not on the original LP, according to the J-Wiki article regarding the album. My apologies on any confusion.
One reason that I've come to enjoy the music of Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）and Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）is the delicacy and magical qualities that they imbue into their melodies...as if we listeners were going to be taken on some magic carpet ride.
I think singer-songwriter Hiroko Taniyama（谷山浩子）can be included in such august company. An example I can give is her August 1986 single "Yuuyake Ringo"(Sunset Apple). Although she did provide the lyrics, it was actually fellow singer-songwriter Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）who came up with the magical and wistful melody which makes some wonderful turn of keys through the echoing piano.
According to the YouTube explanation, Taniyama had been inspired to come up with this song through something she observed when she was at a train station somewhere along the Izu Peninsula when she was a kid. She saw two girls there: one who looked sullen while the other had a rather complicated expression. They shared taking bites out of an apple but said nothing to the other. Apparently, Taniyama extrapolated a love triangle out of that awkward situation
I already have several KKP articles in which singer-songwriter Hiroko Taniyama（谷山浩子）is involved either as the main singer or as a contributing songwriter to another singer's work, and so maybe I have already mentioned this. Like Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）, she's someone that I had heard in the wind over the years but didn't really know any of her material. Over the past several years, I've gotten to know Ohnuki very well and I'm now proud to say that I have her first several albums. The same cannot be said about Taniyama; I have yet to own a single album of hers so I'm still getting to know her.
This song, "Glass no Kyojin" (Glass Giant), which started life as a B-side to Taniyama's August 1986 18th single"Yuuyake Ringo"（夕焼けリンゴ...Sunset Apple）, definitely has my attention. Now, there are apparently two different versions of the song, the original B-side and an album version which belongs to her 12th album, "Mizutama Jikan"（水玉時間...Polka-Dot Time）, which was released just a couple of months following the aforementioned single. I don't know which is which but the two versions are bracketing these paragraphs.
The one above, which was set up by YouTuber Avie Yahika well over a dozen years ago, is notable for its rich but lonely piano and a bohemian saxophone. Taniyama's lyrics seem to highlight a theme of deep sadness brought about by the termination (intentional or not) of a relationship (romantic or not) and the wish of becoming a huge skyscraper-like figure towering above all, beyond the need for emotions or companionship.
The one below has a lusher Fashion Music arrangement with strings and oboe or bassoon backing Taniyama, and it made me wonder whether the singer had ever collaborated with Joe Hisaishi（久石譲）or anyone at Studio Ghibli, because this "Glass no Kyojin" seemingly sounds perfect for one of Hayao Miyazaki's（宮崎駿）animated features. The other remarkable point is that Taniyama wasn't responsible for the melody. It was actually Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）, someone that I would usually associate with City Pop. But then again, Hisaishi, someone that I would usually associate with those orchestral Studio Ghibli pieces, has given his own contribution to the urban contemporary.
The other day, I received a comment from YMOfan04 underneath my posting on Yuki Saito's（斉藤由貴）"AXIA" album regarding another song of hers, "Mizu no Haru" (Spring by the Water). It is actually not on the June 1985 "AXIA", but on her third album"Chime"（チャイム）which was released in October 1986.
Even before playing it, I was struck by "Mizu no Haru", which I hadn't heard before because it wasn't part of a single and I never had a chance to listen to "Chime". The composer and arranger for the song was Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）, a singer and songwriter that I usually equated with groovy City Pop, and I had never known Saito to have tried the urban contemporary uber-genre; that was more Momoko Kikuchi's（菊池桃子）realm. Incidentally, Satoshi Takebe（武部聡志）co-arranged "Mizu no Haru" with Shun Taguchi（田口俊）providing the lyrics of a happy girl and her boyfriend enjoying a date along a pond.
Beginning with a boogie rat-a-tat drumming from a marching band, "Mizu no Haru" didn't turn out to be a City Pop tune. It was actually more of a jolly synthpop number that, if I hadn't checked the liner notes, I would have assumed to be something by the winning combo of Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）and Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）. So I'm happy to hear that there were others who could come up with catchy and perky technopop tunes for aidoru singers of the 1980s.
My tradition of openly hoping that Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）is doing well wherever she is has also been transferred to pop chanteuse Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）. Ever since I saw a live performance by her several years ago on television where she didn't look very well at all, I've been quite worried.
Back in May 2003, Takahashi released her 34th single"Mahiru no Wakare" (Breaking Up at High Noon), and it's the sophisticated pop-and-soul mixture song that fans have dreamed about. Written by the singer and composed by Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）, it follows the sad story of a woman realizing the mistake she made in letting her past lover go after playing an old record that they had once enjoyed together. Takahashi's sad lyrics aside, Sakiya's melody is heavenly, hinting at a much more romantic rendezvous at night instead of the high noon setting of the song. There's also something in the song that reminds me of Grover Washington Jr. and Bill Withers' original and iconic "Just the Two of Us". "Mahiru no Wakare" is also included in Takahashi's 26th album"Method" from June 2003.
The soul duo paris match recorded a cover of "Mahiru no Wakare" for their November 2022 album of covers, "OUR FAVOURITE POP Ⅱ ～TOKYO STYLE～". Actually, I discovered this cover first before realizing that it had been a Mariko Takahashi original. To continue on with the old-style soul and AOR comparison, the paris match cover seems to have a bit of Bobby Caldwell"What You Won't Do for Love" feeling in there.
It's been almost seven years since I featured any of the tracks on Kaoru Akimoto's（秋元薫）1986"Cologne", probably seen as one of the pillars for City Pop collectors thanks to "Dress Down". I've already got that covered along with "Narcissist" (ナルシスト).
"Kyou wa Hitorikiri" (Just Me Today) is a track from Side B of the original LP and it's a slightly more contemplative but no less groovy song. Written by Akimoto and composed by Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）, I do love the thrumming from the bass synth and the measured pacing of the tune. It's just like a solo stroll in the city on a Sunday evening.
There are still seven more tracks on "Cologne". I'll have to see about finishing off the rest of the album in one fell swoop soon enough. I'm just realizing that I covered "Dress Down" a few years before the whole City Pop boom around the world started up. Quite ironic considering that I've always considered myself a late bloomer.
Having listened to some of the tracks on VIZION's one and only album"Psychotic Cube" from 1983, I'm now kinda wondering whether this band which included keyboardist Akihiko Matsumoto（松本晃彦）, vocalist Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）and the late bassist Nobuo Ariga（有賀啓雄）were somewhat like Yellow Magic Orchestra but with the synthpop aspect turned way down but not totally off. Discuss.😐
To join the tracks "Dancing Generation" and "Obscure Dance Party", we have here "Gogo no Kokuhaku"(Afternoon Confession) in which the protagonist is really itching to express his love and maybe more to a lady. Written by Rinko Yuuki（有己林子）and composed by Sakiya, instead of the funk with synthesizers for the first two, "Gogo no Kokuhaku" hits me as a bright and happy-go-lucky pop tune with a 50s or maybe even an early Beatles sheen...but still with those synths. It can make for a nice accompaniment to a drive down the highway, especially with that electric guitar solo that pops up near the end.
Ahhh...so that's what the disco scene was like in Tokyo back in the 1980s (this is from YouTuber 80stoa, by the way)! When I visited the city in 1981, I was far too young and shy to enter a Japanese dance emporium but during my days studying in high school and university about the nation, I learned about places like The Lexington Queen in Roppongi. Never managed to get inside there but when I did return to Tokyo in 1989 in those JET orientation days before being shipped out to Gunma Prefecture, some of us did get to a dance place within one of those Western Shinjuku hotels. It was one of the tiniest places to have my feet repeatedly stepped on, perhaps even smaller than Toronto's Sparkles up on the observation deck of the CN Tower.
Come to think of it, I have encountered a few strange places to dance during both of my stints in Japan. There was that one place in Numata within Gunma where they had 40 minutes of karaoke and then 20 minutes of dancing with added dry ice fog pumped in during that final one-third in the hour. In the following decade, my friends and I visited a Brazilian churrasco restaurant in Ginza which had all-you-can-eat meat and then enforced dancing during which the wait staff would gently hoist all of the patrons onto the dance floor for several minutes of boogying. Not sure if that was considered to be a crime against humanity considering all of the meat inside us and that couldn't have been good for the staff when they had to clean out the washrooms. I guess that can be called paying one's due-dues.😎
Well, at least they weren't obscure dance parties. But I do have "Obscure Dance Party" by the obscure band VIZION. I mentioned about these funkadelic guys back in the spring with their "Dancing Generation" because of some of the members who are already well represented on their own on the blog: Kenjiro Sakiya （崎谷健次郎）, Akihiko Matsumoto（松本晃彦）and Nobuo Ariga (有賀啓雄) .
Both those songs that I've cited are on VIZION's sole 1983 album"Psychotic Cube". Now in that last article on Sakiya and the band, I also wondered if there were some synthpop influences in "Dancing Generation". Well, I don't think that there is any doubt about it in "Obscure Dance Party"; in fact, next to the funk and boogie, I swear that I hear something that's almost akin to a "Super Mario Kart" soundtrack anchoring things down. Try racing down the track with Mario while listening to this one. Sakiya was responsible for both words and music for this first song on the album.
There must be some sort of kismet going on when I write on a Kaori Kuno（久野かおり）song today and make reference to a past Kuno entry having had a Matt Bianco influence, and then do the exact same thing for singer-songwriter Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）. Yup, his "Lavender no Naka de"（ラベンダーの中で）from his 1988 album"Realism" has those Latin beats nicely infused.
Guess what? I'm going with another track from "Realism", and that would be "7th Ave.". Plus, the same songwriters are involved here with Rinko Yuuki（有木林子）on lyrics and Sakiya on both music and arrangement. The City Pop is back but it has some more funky backing thanks to some boppy synth-bass. "7th Ave." also has good smoke along with the rest of those synthesizers having a fine time in the recording booth.
Yeah, har-de-har-har! I'm going to be profiling a band called VIZION so of course I'm going to add a video featuring The Vision from Marvel. Well, I figure that it's a bit more exciting than putting up the usual 1983 thumbnail photo.
Still, this is a fascinating band not just because of "Dancing Generation", one of the tracks from the band's one-and-only album"Psychotic Cube" which was released in that year of 1983. The intriguing part is that VIZION consisted of at least a few members whose solo work has already been shown on the blog from long ago. For one thing, there is the vocalist, singer-songwriter Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）, bassist Nobuo Ariga (有賀啓雄) who KKP writer nikala first introduced all the way back in 2014 through his "Rain Dolphin", and keyboardist Akihiko Matsumoto（松本晃彦）who would come up with the snazzy soundtracks for the cop show franchise "Odoru Dai Sosasen" (踊る大捜査線）from the late 1990s onwards. The other members were drummer Hisanori Ikuno（生乃久法）, guitarist Jin Ishiyama（石山仁）, and keyboardist Tetsuo Otake（大竹徹夫）.
VIZION, which lasted only between 1981 and 1983, styled itself as a pop unit with some R&B funkiness. And I think with the catchy if mysterious "Dancing Generation", there is plenty of that in there although that intro had me thinking initially of synthpop. Sakiya, who composed the song alongside Rinko Yuuki's（有己林子）lyrics, plays a bit with those vocal effects, too, and come to think of it, the vocalist also reminds me a little of Noriyuki Makihara（槇原敬之）who was still a few years away from his own debut.
That early 1990s City Pop arrangement for "Aikagi" made me wonder whether this could have also been an ideal song for someone like Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）back around the same time.
Martin also enjoyed having the synths around him as much as he did his horn section. However, "Aikagi" (Spare Key) belongs to singer Michiru Kojima（児島未散）. This was the opening track for her 6th album"Yorokobi no Asa no Tame ni"（喜びの朝のために...For A Joyful Morning） which was released in October 1992. I think the title itself springs off all sorts of ideas of intrigue and mystery and that melody by Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）with arrangement by Akihiko Matsumoto（松本晃彦）more than keeps up the pretense. Accuse me of having an overactive imagination but when I hear "Aikagi", I think that this could have been the perfect theme song for a Japanese legal drama in those early 1990s.
Lyrics are by former aidoru Mie Takahashi（高橋美枝）under her pseudonym of Miki Fuudo（風堂美起）, and she does weave a story of suspense and possible betrayal by a beau as a woman decides to drop the affair like a bad penny. Both Takahashi and Kojima collaborated on another track on the album "Bayside Blue ~ Yorokobi no Asa no Tame ni"（ベイサイド・ブルー〜喜びの朝のために〜）.
Was happy to see another fresh J Utah driving video and the theme was a night drive through Miami inundated with all of those skyscrapers. No wonder Crockett and Tubbs loved taking out the Ferrari Daytona for a spin in the evenings.
Looks like I found the ideal song to go with the video although it's just five minutes and change compared to the J Utah video's one hour and change. This would be "Shizumi Yuku Diamond" (The Sinking Diamond Ring), a track from singer-songwriter Kenjiro Sakiya's（崎谷健次郎）September 1993 album"Holidays".
When I first heard "Shizumi Yuku Diamond", the arrangement seemed to scream late 1980s or early 1990s City Pop, but at the same time, it and Sakiya's choice of instruments also made the song sound like a jazzy theme for some intriguing romance-suspense flick of the 1960s. It has that feeling of what I would have expected Henry Mancini to come up if he had been asked to score another movie along the lines of "Charade" or "The Thomas Crown Affair". Sure enough, the lyrics lay out the groundwork for some one-night-only passion between perhaps a couple of friends or even a client and contractor with one of the couple tired of the spouse. For that one night at the seaside hotel, the lady is going to conceal that diamond ring. Basically, I gotta be thinking another match up of George Peppard and Audrey Hepburn or Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway.
I did visit Hokkaido years ago but only Sapporo, so I missed out on the famous lavender fields of Furano. As the video above from the YouTube channel, Good Day Hokkaido, shows you, the lavender spreads out like a huge rolling carpet to produce what is probably one of the most famous landscapes in Japan. Since I've missed my opportunity, I think the only lavender that I'll come across in the near future will still be through an aerosol can.
Now, according to Wikipedia, lavender isn't native to South America but man, am I really liking this Latin-spiced song by Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）titled "Lavender no Naka de" (In the Lavender). Originally from his March 1988 album"Realism", that's some nice bossa nova arranged in this peppy number by Sakiya and lyricist Rinko Yuuki（有木林子）. And that arrangement reminds me a bit of 80s group Matt Bianco. I may need to spray the room with lavender after hearing this...well, I may need to spray the room regardless after dinner. All joking aside, this song alone would make me want to purchase "Realism", if available.
However, though, a remastered version of "Realism" was released last year with a healthy number of bonus tracks. Happily, "Lavender no Naka de" is still in there.
Getting that request from commenter Gyo the other day for the lyrics for one of the songs from singer-songwriter Kenjiro Sakiya's（崎谷健次郎）BEST collection, I figured that it was time to give the album another spin. Sure enough, I found another song from the compilation that I hadn't covered there or separately.
That would be "Nijuu-go-ji no Arashi"(Storm at 1:00 am), a pretty uptempo City Pop tune of the 1990s considering the lateness of the hour indicated in the title. Written by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）and composed by Sakiya, the song was originally a track on his April 1991 album"Ambivalence", but unlike that particular title, there isn't anything ambivalent with "Nijuu-go-ji no Arashi" in terms of how much the protagonist loves his romantic partner during a very late-night storm outside.
Strangely enough, the overall melody reminds me of a much more languid version of an old Bananarama song, "I Heard A Rumour", so I wonder if there's even some Eurobeat in this one. In addition, I still marvel at the similarities between Sakiya's delivery and the vocals of Noriyuki Makihara（槇原敬之）who was starting to make it big that year.
According to this entry on "Takehiro Gold Diary"（たけひろゴールド DIARY）via J-Wiki,Kenjiro Sakiya's（崎谷健次郎） 3rd album from April 1989, "Kiss of Life", is one of the first examples of a Japanese singer incorporating house music into an album.
Perhaps so, but not knowing too much about the various types of dance music from that time onwards, I will simply say that one of the tracks "Sen no Tobira" (A Thousand Doors) is still a percolating piece of late 1980s urban pop. With some rat-a-tat percussion launching things, the keyboards and bass come in fast and furious as singer and composer Sakiya relates the tale of a guy going through Heaven and Earth to find the love of his life, even opening a thousand doors, if need be (hence the title).
Lyricist Rinko Yuuki（有木林子）, who seems to have provided a lot of her work specifically for Sakiya, also gave the words to "Sen no Tobira" to form this epic story of search. Yuuki has been a friend of Sakiya's since high school which would explain the long relationship. Methinks that this could have been made into a TV show or perhaps an intense music video. As for "Kiss of Life", it peaked at No. 21 on the charts.
Well, considering that we'll be going into over-40-degree Humidex weather in the next few days, I think that I ought to bring in something blatantly summery.
"Natsu no Gogo" (Summer Afternoon) by singer-songwriter Kenjiro Sakiya（﨑谷健次郎）had me thinking for the duration that the song was playing. I was wondering if I should categorize it as a City Pop or an AOR or a straight ahead pop song, but in the end, my gut told me the pretty effervescent melody and arrangement by Sakiya and Yuji Toriyama（鳥山雄司）could be all three.
Rinko Yuuki（有木林子）was responsible for the lyrics about a man making some observations of his table mate at what I'm assuming is a restaurant with a patio. On a summer afternoon, people would probably want to be outside (although admittedly considering the heat and humidity in Tokyo, perhaps air-conditioned comfort takes priority), but getting back to what the words are all about, I'm wondering whether the pair share a cordial friendship with the male half hoping for something a bit more romantic or whether they are now an ex-couple and the guy is silently thinking whether a second chance is possible.
Despite the uncertainty of the story, I like "Natsu no Gogo" for the light and mellow funky beat overlaid with those sparkling keyboards, and then there is that lovely brief horn solo near the end. Although both artists wouldn't hit the hit status for a few years yet, the song sounds like a combination of Noriyuki Makihara（槇原敬之）vocals and Sing Like Talking sounds. "Natsu no Gogo" is a track on Sakiya's 2nd album"Realism" from March 1988 which peaked at No. 12 on Oricon.
I'm putting up my fourth article tonight partially because I felt the need to get down a City Pop song since it is Friday night after all. Just me, I guess.
Every time I see this cover from singer-songwriter Kenjiro Sakiya's（崎谷健次郎）debut album"Difference" (1987), I wonder whether the designer was inspired by the fellow who had come up with the designs for Bobby Caldwell's albums. Silhouettes and soothing pastel colours...couldn't get more City Pop than that.
Anyways, I've got another song from there since there are two more from "Difference" that have been featured through my BEST article on Sakiya. This would be "Aisarete mo Inai ~ Harlem no Tenshi-tachi" (Unloved ~ Angels of Harlem). Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）came up with the lyrics while the singer came up with the rumbling melody describing the tough life on the streets in the New York neighbourhood.
Launching with some Dazz Band funk, there is that layer of smooth City Pop keyboard as well. I like Sakiya's vocals as well especially when they soar at certain points in the song, and I may have mentioned this before, but it's interesting how he sounds like Noriyuki Makihara（槇原敬之）years before Mackey even debuted. "Aisarete mo Inai", with all that bass (synth and guitar) and grinding guitar, tries to keep that toughness but I think the singer's high-flying voice, that City Pop keyboard and then the jazzy piano riff in the middle tend to pull things down south to 5th Avenue and the rest of midtown Manhattan. There's even a bit of a surprise two-thirds of the way through when the listener can be forgiven for assuming "Aisarete mo Inai" ends at a full stop only for the rumbling to return to continue for almost another couple of minutes. This is Sakiya going downtown.
Forgive me...just sorting out my geek thoughts after watching the season premiere of "Doctor Who" with Jodie Whittaker and the first episode of "Short Treks", a series of vignettes before Season 2 of "Star Trek: Discovery". The feeling is not unlike that of a post-regenerative crisis.
Anyways to get a bit grounded again, I'm here at the blog and yesterday commenter RideZeLitenin mentioned that the 2nd and final album of Aru Takamura（高村亜留）, "Ta Ta Ya My Love〜ARU 2nd.〜" has been put up on YouTube. I certainly hope that the powers-that-be will keep this one up for a good long while since it's probable that this January 1986 release hasn't been remastered yet. It's not available at Tower Records or CD Japan and the one copy at Amazon.jp is selling for about a nosebleed 8000 yen!
I've taken a listen to most of the tracks and enjoyed it as a Japanese singer's voyage through what I was listening to in the genre of R&B throughout the 1980s here in Toronto. There is soul, funk and dance stuff in there. Case in point: the first track above, which is a cover of Tomoko Aran's（亜蘭知子）"I'm In Love" (interesting to point out that Takamura also sang a different "I'm In Love" on her debut album). It's got that American dance remix arrangement, and although I will still go with Aran's original City Pop take, Takamura has got a stronger handle on the vocals.
Track 2 is the deliciously smoky "Saigo no Tenderness"（最後のTenderness...Last Tenderness）. Written by Takamura herself and composed by pianist/arranger Yoshinobu Kojima（小島良喜）, there is definitely something urban and spacey at the same time here. Dancing in the clouds is an image that comes to mind.
Here is "Kaigi Gesshoku"（皆既月食...Total Lunar Eclipse）, another winner. This time, it's soul that Takamura is expressing here with some guitar licks which had me thinking of George Benson. Cosmic phenomena couldn't sound cooler. Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）, who had handled Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）early hits, came up with the mellowness here while Kazunori Sonobe（園部和範）who provided the lyrics to Anri's（杏里）fun "Innocent Time", wrote the words.
"Ta Ta Ya My Love", the title track is a trip through the dance-funk of an 80s disco. For some reason, I couldn't help but think up of many a dance scene in an action movie starring Sylvester Stallone or Arnold Schwarzenegger while I was listening to this. Takamura once again wrote the lyrics with Masatoshi Nishimura（西村麻聡）, the same fellow behind Aran's "I'm In Love", taking care of the music. The guitarist here was Takahiro Matsumoto（松本孝弘）, i.e. one-half of the future B'z.
The final track is "Good Luck Again", a nice mellow way to finish things up. Sonobe was the lyricist here with Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）weaving a pop/AOR melody similar to many a ballad that I used to hear on radio back in my high school and university days.
It's too bad that "Ta Ta Ya My Love" is not readily available right now, but since Takamura's first albumis out at Tower Records and CD Japan, here's hoping that the 2nd album may not be too far away from getting its re-introduction. The album is not just for City Pop fans but also for anyone who has enjoyed the R&B from America in the 1980s.
I hadn't heard of singer-songwriter Yumi Tanimura（谷村有美）until I entered Tower Records in Shibuya and heard her "Tomodachi" on the speakers. As I mentioned in that article, the gentle balladry and the Burt Bacharach horns kinda got me right here (❤), so I ended up picking up Tanimura's 2nd BEST compilation"with II" from the shelves. The album was released back in August 1994, and it was still a few months before I made it back to Japan at that point, so I think it was kismet that I managed to hear that song although the album was probably no longer being campaigned for.
As has been the case with many an album that I've heard, my first time hearing "with II" and Tanimura's brand of mellow mid-tempo pop didn't leave me with an awesome impression (aside from "Tomodachi"). Her songs struck me as being fine but nothing particularly supremely catchy, and considering how often I was snatching up CDs at the time, it was all too easy to give them a listen and then put the album back on the shelf for the next several years. I think it was basically how I treated my food at the time: it was more about the quantity than the quality. So, I did love my all-you-can-eat buffets.
Well, buffets are no longer my thing anymore and over the past few years during the existence of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I've been revisiting some of those initially abandoned albums, including "with II".
"with II" includes her songs ranging over the time of her 6th to 18th singles. Unless specifically mentioned, Tanimura wrote and composed these songs.
1. Genki Dashite yo（元気だしてよ）re-mix 2. Ichiban Daisuki datta（いちばん大好きだった） 3. Issho ni Kurasou（一緒に暮らそう） 4. Parade, Parade（パレード・パレード） 5. Hitotsu Tsubu Namida（ひとつぶの涙）Single version 6. Roku-gatsu no Ame（6月の雨） 7. Tomodachi（友達） 8. Tokimeki wo Believe（ときめきをBelieve） 9. Taikutsu na Gogo（たいくつな午後） 10. Ima ga Suki（今が好き） 11. Saigo no Kiss（最後のKISS） 12. Shiawase no Namida（しあわせの涙） 13. Kon'ya Anata ni Furaretai（今夜あなたにフラれたい） 14. Ai suru Yuuki（愛する勇気）
(cover version)
"Genki Dashite yo"(Cheer Up) is a coupling song on her 17th single, the aforementioned "Shiawase no Namida" (Happy Tears) from May 1994. It has that sunny 60s feeling to it and is a nice way to start off this BEST album.
Another coupling song that got onto the album is "Issho ni Kurasou" (Let's Live Together) from her 16th single released in November 1993, "Somebody Loves You". This was one of the songs that got me to re-think my initial thoughts about Tanimura's work. It's pop but it also has a small infusion of soul in there; that soul and the use of synthesizers even reminded me of some of the cooler stuff by PSY-S. Of course, when I read that title, I naturally assumed that it was a guy trying to convince his girlfriend to take the next big step of co-habitation, but apparently, according to the hosts of "Music Station" above, it doesn't necessarily mean so, with one of the hosts stating that Tanimura had been living with her mother at that time.
Her 12th single from June 1992 is "Tokimeki wo Believe". It's one of those recovery songs in which Tanimura sings about finally getting on with her life after the end of a romance. I think it's the one ballad that I felt was rather indicative of the love ballads of that time which were performed by singers such as Mariko Nagai（永井真理子）and Miki Imai（今井美樹）. With the help of jisho.org, the direct translation of the song came out to "Believe in Your Palpitations" or "Believe in Your Throbbing", but one sounded too medical and the other was simply not right, so I went with "Believe in Your Heartbeat". "Tokimeki wo Believe" was written by Kazuko Sakata（坂田和子）and composed by Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）.
I kinda had to inflict the Gibbs slap onto myself since I had completely forgotten about "Ima ga Suki"(I Love You Now) which is actually a track from Tanimura's 5th album"Ai wa Genki desu"（愛は元気です...Love is Fine） from May 1991. It's got some pretty cool AOR-type funk in there, and that guitar reminded me of Billy Joel's "Movin' Out". Norie Kanzawa and Hiromasa Ijichi（神沢礼江・伊秩弘将）created this one for the singer, and both of them also had a hand with some of Misato Watanabe's（渡辺美里）songs.
"Saigo no Kiss"(The Final Kiss) is a Tanimura creation which has some of that nice light funk action in there, and it's the other song that I kinda remembered from my initial listening to "with II" along with "Tomodachi". This was her 14th single from June 1993. I'm such a sucker for a good sax (no snickering, please). Perhaps I should actually translate the title as "The Kiss-Off" since Tanimura's lyrics state about not having to see the guy's toothbrush, frying pan and ashtray anymore. Well, being a lifelong non-smoker, I certainly could sympathize with that last item.
The final song that I will be showing tonight is "Kon'ya Anata ni Furaretai"(I Want to Be Dumped by You Tonight). Also not exactly the happiest lyrics as a woman wants to get out of a toxic relationship, but Tanimura's melody has got a bit more of a rock beat in there. This was her 18th single from July 1994.
Well, I've had "with II" all these years, so why not see if "with" is available?
Happy Monday! Recently, I've come across some more of the works of singer Atsuko Nina（二名敦子）after hearing about her "Soldier Fish" song, and I found them eminently listenable and varied. As a result, I've decided to cover a couple of them in one article today.
The first song is "Communication" from her 1983 album"Play Room ~ Tawamure ~"（PLAY ROOM ～戯れ～...Fun）. The album represented a re-birth of the singer's career under this new stage name (her real name is Atsuko Iwai/岩井敦子), following her first start under the name Eri Hayakawa（早川英梨）in 1979.
Now, if "Communication" sounds awfully familiar, it is because that it is a cover of the Latin standard "One-Note Samba". Apparently, a number of tracks in "Play Room" are covers of famous Western tunes but under different titles. Unfortunately, I couldn't find out who provided the Japanese lyrics but I have to give Nina and the arranger for "Communication" some kudos for a slick and assured version, especially with that slightly City Pop feel to the proceedings.
In 1986, Nina released a single which sounds as sweet and bright and refreshing as a glass of orange juice in the morning. And sure enough, her "Orange Basket" was used for TV ads plugging Kirin Orange Juice.
Written by Shun Taguchi（田口俊）and composed by Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）, "Orange Basket" does come across as plucky and catchy (thanks to those synthesizers) as any commercial jingle should, but the full version couldn't help but include that cool soaring guitar solo. The single also got onto Nina's 5th album from September 1986, "him".
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