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.
Welcome to Monday! When I first listened to Kojiro Shimizu's（清水宏次朗）"Love Affair" which was his October 1988 single, there was something about that boogie beat which sounded rather familiar. Then, I saw who was behind the songwriting...none other Ryo Aska（飛鳥涼）of Chage & Aska fame. That beat in their upbeat songs has been similarly transferred to Shimizu's original take of hustling, shuffling and strutting down the street as a desperate cad is truly hoping that he can steal a lady from another guy. The single was also included in his album "Night Dive" which came out in November.
I gather that Aska liked his work so much that he and partner Chage covered it in their 11th original album"Energy" which also came out in November 1988. The boogie has been amped up to Big Band jazz levels via synthesizer. "Energy" peaked at No. 6 on Oricon.
Several months ago, I wrote about actor/singer Kojiro Shimizu's（清水宏次朗）"Merry Go Round", a track from his December 1991 album"Mind Breeze". It was quite the snazzy City Pop tune with all of the tight horns and the like and I got all sorts of Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）and Anri（杏里）vibes from it.
Now, let's go all the way back to his October 1984 debut album, "Abandon", under that name of Kojiro Shimizu which is actually his real name (he'd recorded two albums previously in 1981 under the name Koji Take). One of the tracks there is "Stormy Love", a somewhat more laidback and groovier City Pop tune. I think hearing his vocals here has me comparing them to those of a male aidoru, and a talented one, to boot. "Stormy Love" also comes armed with some big songwriters: lyricist and R&B queen Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）and composer Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロ）.
In a way, I've heard two examples from opposite ends of his music spectrum, so it would be interesting to hear his progression in this area. Quite a few albums to explore between 1984 and 1991.
I'm kinda wondering whether City Pop enjoys a good carousel in its lineup. I recollect that Akira Terao（寺尾聰）had sung a mid-tempo tune of that nature titled "Merry Go Round" back in 1981.
Well, I found this considerably more uptempo song, also titled "Merry Go Round", complete with some snazzy horns, piano, saxophone and snappy percussion sung by actor/singer Kojiro Shimizu（清水宏次朗）for his December 1991 album"Mind Breeze". I saw this on YouTube and as soon as I saw the thumbnail with the album cover, I figured with that title, there had to be something urban contemporary about this release.
Sure enough, there is something of the Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）flair and Resort Pop in "Merry Go Round" which was actually written by Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）, composed by Kazuhiro Hara（原一博）and arranged by Masahiro Ikumi（幾見雅博）. In an interesting turn of coincidence, Arikawa was also the lyricist behind Terao's "Merry Go Round" a decade prior (things that make me go Hmmmm). Anyways, both songs with the same title but totally different melodies hit me just fine.
Shimizu hails from Tokyo and was scouted right in Harajuku where he was hoofing it up as a member of the famous Takenoko-zoku dance group. He made his debut as an aidoru in 1981 under the stage name of Koji Take（竹宏治）. After taking a short break from the industry, he returned to show business in 1984 under his real name with the single "Billy Joel wa Niawanai"（ビリー・ジョエルは似合わない...Billy Joel Doesn't Fit Me） which earned him the Grand Prize at the 13th Tokyo Music Festival. A whole barrage of singles and albums came out following that. At the same time, Shimizu walked the acting path which included a role as one of the pompadoured young toughs, Hiroshi Kato（加藤浩志）, in the "Be-Bop High School"（ビー・バップ・ハイスクール）series.
