Kuchiroro -- Itsuka Dokoka de（いつかどこかで）

I remember reading the liner notes in Chaz Jankel's self-titled first solo album from 1980 in which his bandmate Ian Dury from Ian Dury and The Blockheads had a listen to some of his tracks. He remarked bluntly about one of the songs, most likely "Ai no Corrida"（愛のコリーダ）, "Dude, this is like 10 minutes long!". Not sure how Jankel responded but I certainly had no problems with it. To be honest, I still prefer Quincy Jones' epic post-disco cover which is also pretty long at a little over 6 minutes, but Jankel's original clocks in at around 9:10. Plus, there is the even longer "Am I Honest With Myself Really?" at nearly 15 minutes (with the inclusion of the prelude "Fuse")! So those two tracks together make up more than half the total album running time of about 45 minutes.

Perhaps then I must have lucked out really well when it comes to those long songs since "Chaz Jankel" the album has been a heavy-rotation CD for me ever since I was able to get my hands on it years ago at the RecoFan in Shibuya. Especially with "Am I Honest With Myself Really?", it has never gotten arduous in the listening because it just takes me to so many entertaining places or genres such as synthpop, jazz and disco all within that quarter hour.

I think that's the case with pop unit Kuchiroro's（口ロロ）"Itsuka Dokoka de" (Sometime, Somewhere) which was a track in their March 2012 8th album "Manpower"（マンパワー）. Kuchiroro made its first appearance in "Kayo Kyoku Plus" through their collaboration with Bird on their cover of Sambomaster's "Sekai wa Sore wo Ai to Yobundaze"（世界はそれを愛と呼ぶんだぜ）back around Xmas last year. The group started up in 1998 and then had their major debut in 2007. It currently consists of Koushi Miura（三浦康嗣）, Shige Murata（村田シゲ）and Seikou Ito（いとうせいこう）who consider themselves the "permanent staff" while Kuchiroro also has its "contract workers" of 9 singing and songwriting members including actress Yuni Akino（秋乃ゆに）.

"Itsuka Dokoka de" doesn't quite reach Jankel's "Am I Honest With Myself Really?", but it's also a marathon runner of a song at almost 14 minutes. Kuchiroro has been categorized as a band dabbling in hip-hop, City Pop, Shibuya-kei, experimental and just regular J-Pop, and I think this particular epic makes use of three of the genres; as I write about this while listening to it for the third time, the permanent staff and the contract workers keep things majorly interesting. Their quarter hour seems to be a musical analog of various young people downtown making their everyday in life (accompanied by the usual slang and delivery) with things weaving wildly between rapping/sampling and truly anthemic. There are also smooth and rough parts along with layers of big production and just the guys providing their stream-of-consciousness desires for dinner and romance. Try listening to this while walking briskly through Shibuya on a Friday night...you may not need to enter a club for that night to be entertained.

Sambomaster/Bird feat. Kuchiroro -- Sekai wa Sore o Ai to Yobundaze（世界はそれを愛と呼ぶんだぜ）

Over 10 years ago, there was the story of "Densha Otoko"（電車男...Train Man）about an Akihabara otaku and young lady who get into an unlikely romance when the former rescues the latter from a drunken idiot on the train. The Train Man is shocked and delighted to perceive some possible interest from the woman code-named Hermes and has to consult with his fellow geeks via 2channel about how to handle the situation.

The story was intriguing enough that it was adapted into both a movie and a TV series. I'd heard all about "Densha Otoko" when I was living in Japan, but by that point, the petals had fallen off the flower long ago when it came to my interest in the local TV dramas, so I never bothered watching.

It's only been recently that I discovered that the ending theme for the TV series was rock band Sambomaster's 5th single "Sekai wa Sore o Ai to Yobundaze" (That's What the World Calls Love). I had also heard about the band before since the vocalist Takashi Yamaguchi（山口隆）has had a penchant for going from soft vocalization to throat-shredding screams.

With "Sekai wa Sore o Ai to Yobundaze", which was written and composed by Yamaguchi, I think that the downtrodden corporate cog may have found his/her rallying anthem to get that second wind and go for something bigger and better. At the very least, the average salaried worker now had another song at the karaoke boxes to mightily de-stress. As for me, along with that feeling of getting off one's duff and becoming a hero to someone special, I've also enjoyed those key shifts in the refrain. Not sure if I could ever sing the song but I wouldn't certainly mind hearing someone sing it at karaoke.

Coming out in August 2005, the song went Gold, reaching No. 7 on Oricon and becoming the 76th-ranked single of the year. The single also ended up on Sambomaster's "Boku to Kimi no Subete o Rock 'n Roll to Yobe"（僕と君の全てをロックンロールと呼べ...Call Everything About You and Me Rock 'n Roll）, their 3rd album from April 2006, which peaked at No. 8.

"Sekai wa Sore o Ai to Yobundaze" has been covered by a number of singers over the years including Bird who performed her version with the pop unit Kuchiroro（□□□）in 2007 on her "BIRDSONG EP-cover BEATS for the party-". Her take is also pretty cool with that familiar Latin/club treatment that I've known her for.

I was surprised that "Densha Otoko" didn't quite get the interest of Hollywood since they were more than happy to adapt all those horror stories like "Ringu" along with heartwarming tales such as "Shall We Dance?" and "Hachiko". But then again, maybe something similar happened on TV instead.😁