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 Kiyoshiro Imawano. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kiyoshiro Imawano. Show all posts
One of the big differences between Japanese prime-time TV and its equivalent in Canada and the United States is that in the former, the zany comedy-variety program has continued in large amounts long after that format had basically ended in the latter nations some decades ago (not counting shows such as "Saturday Night Live"). Not only that, the comedy duos and trios that used to populate those Canadian and American programs from long ago have continued to exist in goodly numbers in Japan. Those groups don't only put on their usual schtick but they also heartily participate in the overall show or quiz program.
So, I've gotten to know acts including Downtown, Utchan-Nanchan, Neptune and the like during my time living in Japan. Another comedy group that has been a frequent presence on many a variety show is Dacho Club（ダチョウ俱楽部）. Consisting of Katsuhiro Higo（肥後克広）, Jimon Terakado（寺門ジモン）and Ryuhei Ueshima（上島竜兵）, they formed up in 1985, initially with a fourth member who was the first leader before leaving. As they did their sometimes painful gags, I was able to distinguish the three from their body types: Higo was the tall one, Terakado was the medium one while Ueshima was the stout one wearing the cap; and he was usually the one that got victimized.
Although the news had been out for a few days already, I didn't find out until earlier this morning through NHK News that Ueshima had passed away at the age of 61, possibly from suicide, according to J-Wiki and news reports that I've seen on YouTube. The Dacho Club member had also been involved separately in other projects as an actor, so his passing has left a lot of his fans, fellow celebrities and certainly his two partners in shock and grief.
In the 1990s, Dacho Club put out a few comical songs into the CD stores, one of which is "Vegetarian Rumba" which was released in June 1994. A laidback ditty about pining for love while making a whole bunch of vegetable puns, I can hear the essence of the late rocker Kiyoshiro Imawano（忌野清志郎）who composed the song while Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）took care of the lyrics.
My condolences go to Ueshima's family, friends, fans and the remaining members of Dacho Club.
Ironic when I consider it. I've known Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）since 1981 when I first really got into kayo kyoku due to his dynamic appearance as the young man about town on that year's Kohaku Utagassen performing "Oyome Samba"（お嫁サンバ）. He's done quite a few more appearances on the NHK special since then, and he was a fairly regular presence on the CHIN-FM radio show "Sounds of Japan" with his hits. But this month, when I got his April 1983 album"Hiromi-kyo no Hanzai", this was actually the very first Go album that I ever purchased in my life after close to 40 years listening to kayo and J-Pop. I had been expecting to get a BEST compilation as my first purchase but never got around to it, so it was pretty special to get this particular original album.
Doing the blog over the past 8 years, I realized that despite his very uptempo material that he provided on the Kohaku and other music shows during the 1980s, he was also exploring some other genres, most notably City Pop. Come to think of it, though, he would have been a natural fit for the Japanese amalgam of Latin, soul, disco and other urban contemporary-themed tunes since coming out from his aidoru1970s, his music as a young man of the 1980s tended to go that way.
But what got me to buy "Hiromi-kyo no Hanzai"? Well, it was that City Pop-themed "Kimi no Na wa Psycho"（君の名はサイコ）from the album, and there was something about that rather dramatic album cover which made young Go truly look like some court noble of intrigue.
Then I heard the title track on YouTube. "Hiromi-kyo no Hanzai" starts off with what sounds like a first scene from a film noir threatening to go into a lot of flashbacks as Hiromi very haltingly but coolly describes his presumably guilty partner-in-crime, a mystery woman who has flown the coop leaving poor Hiromi in the interrogation room. Mind you, he doesn't sound too panicky with the third degree on him.
Following that comes the music...and it soars. No sign of any street-level 1940s jazz. Instead the frenetic soundscape conjures up images of a Jetsons-style saucer flying through the spires of a future utopian city but with perhaps that level of Mickey Spillane suspense following it and perhaps Go inside. So, suddenly we've got three different settings here: 1) the cover for the album which, by the way, means "Lord Hiromi's Crime" with the image of court intrigue, 2) the film noir narration by him at the intro and in the middle, and 3) that future utopia.
Yup, "Hiromi-kyo no Hanzai" the opening track has really done a number on me. And as it turns out, Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）was the person behind the sound production. In fact, The Professor's bandmates from Yellow Magic Orchestra were helping out with Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）on bass and Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）on drums. Immediately, I started wondering whether this album was a cousin of sorts to Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）comeback release of sorts "Romantique" from 1980. The guys from YMO were on hand to help her, too. With "Romantique", I remember reading either the liner notes or the information on J-Wiki and Ohnuki saying that she really didn't want to have "Romantique" sounding simply like a YMO album featuring her. And it wasn't...the synthpop was definitely in there, especially in its opening track "Carnaval", but Ohnuki was most definitely calling the shots with the creation of the songs.
Not sure what the circumstances were with YMO and Go when this project was launched. I haven't known the latter to write his own songs (although the final track on the original release was indeed created by him), and as I said, "Hiromi-kyo no Hanzai" is my first Go purchase, so I can't make any comparisons about the overall sound for this album. But I do figure that Sakamoto's distinct sound is imbued into this one, just like it was for "Romantique".
Indeed, Sakamoto composed the title track and Miyuki Nakajima（中島みゆき）was behind the lyrics about the mystery woman enticing Go into her web and then taking off. In a way, the story reminds me of the original "The Thomas Crown Affair" with Steve McQueen and Faye Dunaway, except that the roles are reversed. Considering how much I've already written on this one track, it and "Kimi no Na wa Psycho" finally had me pulling the trigger on my money.
Making another comparison with Ohnuki, both "Romantique" and the preceding album "Mignonne" were not total immediate hits with me. It took some time for me to embrace all the tracks but I eventually got there. I'm hoping that this will be the case here since I'm not completely on board with all of the songs on "Hiromi-kyo" just yet.
Case in point: "Ai no Kuuchuu Buranko"（愛の空中ブランコ...Mid-Air Swing of Love）which was composed by Sakamoto and written by Shigesato Itoi（糸井重里）. When I listened to this one for the first time, I kinda twisted my face since I wasn't sure whether they and Go were aiming for a really dramatic polka as a tango. However, Itoi's lyrics also speak of some sort of spy activity, perhaps a dead drop. All in all, though, the song is starting to grow on me, and the interesting thing is that Jake H. Concepcion is on the clarinet this instead of his saxophone!
"Bibou no Miyako"（美貌の都...City of Beauty） just happens to be Go's 45th single released in March 1983. The album version has that air of mystery as if the story were taking place in a postwar European city. There's a lot of class and honour among the spies but when something has got to be done, the weaponry will come out...but have at least a glass of the finest champagne. And yet, Sakamoto has arranged it so that there's that sort of techno-jazz along similar lines as Kazuhiro Nishimatsu's（西松一博）"Bouekifu Monogatari"（貿易風物語）. Nakajima provided lyrics for Kyohei Tsutsumi's（筒美京平）melody. The original single peaked at No. 18.
(full album)
"Muchuu"（夢中...I'm Into You） at 13:34 is a creative collaboration between Sakamoto and the late rocker Kiyoshiro Imawano（忌野清志郎）, and it sounds like something that Imawano would handle even better than Go. I can get the New Wave feeling from it as Go plays a sleazy Lothario putting his sights on his next target. Maybe there's even a bit of Elvis Costello?
As I mentioned earlier, Go did write and compose the original final track on "Hiromi-kyo", "Dakara Spectacle"（だからスペクタクル...So It's Spectacular） which begins like something almost Vangelis in its dreamy and haunting intro, but then it progresses into some cool City Pop funk as the singer invites his potential partner for a more exciting life. From the arrangement, I'd say that there will be a fast car and rich food involved. Not too bad, Hiromi.
Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）wrote and composed "Mainichi Boku wo Aishite"（毎日僕を愛して...Love Me Everyday）, a happy-go-lucky number about once again going after that young lady. From those bright and bouncy opening bars, I could feel that this is indeed a Yano creation...and she does come in at the end to back up Go. But at one point, it almost crosses the border into Steely Dan territory.
The last song that I will put up here is the single version of "Bibou no Miyako" which, for the lack of a better word, sounds more kayo without the Sakamoto influence. I think it's those fast strings. And the original even has an accordion for more of that French effect.
My overall impression of "Hiromi-kyo no Hanzai" is that all of these bigwigs in the Japanese music industry got together to craft an album that seemed to fit the Hiromi esthetic: the young and cocky bon vivant who's searching for love everywhere and usually finds it. In addition to the people that I've already mentioned, Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）, Tsuyoshi Kon（今剛）and Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹）also contributed their instruments to the cause. But when it comes right down to it, I did get the album because I saw that headline in my head: "YMO and Go work together!"
I first wrote about my first Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）album "D404ME" (1985) all the way back in 2013. As is usually the case with me, I don't talk about all of the tracks in an album article, preferring to focus on some of the stragglers in individual reports. So, tonight I've come to this one high-powered track.
"Star Pilot" is not my favourite track on "D404ME"; I think that distinction goes to either "Allegro Vivace" and the first song "Endless". However, "Star Pilot" is still plenty fun as Akina-chan pours her heart out for that titular space jockey and hoping for a ride in his warp ship. To be honest, the music already hints that the ride has already launched and Akina is heading out to the nearest nebula somewhere. Moreover, the singer's chant of the title has always stayed in my head all these decades. It's good ol' hot rod rock-n-roll courtesy of elementary school buddies-turned-rockers Kiyoshiro Imawano（忌野清志郎）and Kazuo Kobayashi（小林和生）with Tetsuya Chiaki（ちあき哲也）behind the lyrics.
Among some of the musicians in the recording booth for "Star Pilot" are Jun Aoyama（青山純）on drums, Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）on bass and EVE as the backing chorus.
I mentioned in yesterday's article on that collaboration between Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）and Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）"Stardust Rendezvous" that there were a number of songs sung that deserved their own entries on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Well, I'm making good my promise from today.
The one song from that 1986 album between Inoue and Anzen Chitai that stood out for me was the wonderful ballad "Kaerenai Futari" (The Couple That Doesn't Go Home). As I remarked in the article, it was the Side B to Inoue's 9th single from September 1973, "Kokoro Moyo"（心もよう...Pattern of a Heart）, but although Side A seems to have earned a ton of respect over the decades by its covers by many an artist, I have yet to hear it myself and will in the near future. However for the meantime, I am falling for the charms of "Kaerenai Futari".
Jointly created by Inoue and the late firebrand rocker Kiyoshiro Imawano（忌野清志郎）, the original recorded version has plenty of power in spots that I didn't pick up on during the performance by Inoue and Koji Tamaki in "Stardust Rendezvous". But I'm still going with the label that it is at its very heart, a romantic folk ballad. Looking at the title, I thought the song was rather sad but listening and reading the lyrics, I've come to the realization that it is actually quite hopeful. The words relate the story of a boy and girl or a man and woman who are apparently just on the cusp of a romantic relationship. Even though it's the dead of night as Inoue sings that even "...the stars are getting ready to go home...", the couple still doesn't want to call it a night quite yet...they simply want to spend every waking moment together until sleep finally does beckon.
"Kokoro Moyo" peaked at No. 7 on Oricon and ended up as the 39th-ranked single of 1974. Both sides of the single were also tracks on Inoue's acclaimed 3rd album"Kōri no Sekai"（氷の世界...World of Ice）which was released in December 1973. The album not only hit No. 1 on the Oricon weeklies but was the No. 1 album of the year for 2 years in a row for 1974 and 1975. And it still did very well in 1976 as it was the 23rd-ranked album for that year.
The late Kiyoshiro Imawano （忌野清志郎）was a figure that I'd seen off and on over the 30-or-so years that I've been involved with Japanese pop music. I didn't get into his music when he was fronting RC Succession or his solo efforts, but he was one that stood out whenever he showed up on television. In his later years, he appeared as a mix between a Japanese Doctor Who and a retired glam rocker, but I also knew him for one excerpt from an old 80s performance that has been the video piece to show whenever 80s Japanese music or his music is discussed. The excerpt was him in Full New Wave mode prancing about the stage and kissing keyboardist Ryuichi Sakamoto （坂本龍一）while he was performing "I-ke-na-i Rouge Magic"(Taboo Rouge Magic). Those particular seconds have been shown so often that I wondered whether Imawano was tempted to strangle the host or the director of the show.
Imawano was born Kiyoshi Kurihara（栗原 清志） in Tokyo in 1951 and has worn many hats in the entertainment industry as rock singer, songwriter, producer and actor. Starting a band called The Clovers back in his high school days, that band later turned into RC Succession in 1968 with their official debut in 1970.
"I-ke-nai-i Rouge Magic" was born from a desire from both Imawano and Sakamoto to work together. And with Imawano taking care of the lyrics and Sakamoto creating the music, their New Wave-y love child was born on Valentine's Day in 1982. The two of them embraced their inner New Romanticism for the official music video above by wrapping themselves in what looked like shapeless quilts and putting on the full lip gloss, eye shadow and foundation. What also made the video stand out was all that money that was literally bursting out of their clothes. Supposedly, those were real 10,000-yen bills that were billowing out of them and then off the roof of a tall building one night. And then there was the kiss near the end. It certainly wasn't a boring presentation.
Here is that famous TV performance I was telling you about earlier. Y'know, I'm not surprised that the excerpt was perennially shown during any retrospectives of the old Showa era music. Looking at the video, the music and the performers reminded me of all things 80s: New Wave, MTV and British musicians. Although growing up in Canada, I fully absorbed all of the above from the US and the UK, I don't think they became too mainstream in Japan, so I'm pretty sure several hundred folks at home probably choked on their food or drink when they first caught the scene of Imawano raggedly singing and skipping about like Mick Jagger and planting that big wet one on Sakamoto (along with several licks on his cheek). But that's why he has been called "Japan's King of Rock". I'm not a rock person but my impression of an ultimate rock singer is one who pokes holes in the conventional whether it's singing or stage performing without giving one care to what anyone thinks. I'd say that performance was one example of that.
With the word "rouge" in the title and a No. 1 ranking on the charts, it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that Shiseido would come knocking and use the song as the campaign jingle. It became the 20th-ranked song of 1982.
I remember when the media announced his passing away due to cancer in 2009. The following days had a lot of time on TV devoted to Imawano...more than what I had usually seen for departed celebrities in recent years. His funeral apparently attracted as many mourners as those for the late Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）, perhaps the most beloved kayo kyoku singer in the early postwar period. A tribute concert was also held at the annual Fuji Rock Festival a few months later with artists such as Chara, UA, Tortoise Matsumoto from Ulfuls and Hiroto Komoto from the Blue Hearts performing.
Going back to the official music video for "I-ke-na-i Rouge Magic", whatever happened to all those 10,000-yen bills being thrown off the building? Who knows? Apparently a good chunk of them disappeared forever, which goes to show that the Japanese may be some of the most generally law-abiding folks but they also don't ignore it when opportunity knocks.
In 2011, Asako Toki （土岐麻子）gave her own cute cover of "I-ke-na-i Rouge Magic" via her album, "Light". There's a lot less of the rock and some more of the AOR feeling here.
