Chu Kosaka & Makoto Iwabuchi -- Rainbow

 

Probably would have preferred Kayo Grace and Mr. Calico to have stood a little farther away from the number, but in all of the excitement about writing the 2700th City Pop article on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" a few minutes ago, I completely overlooked the fact that the blog itself surpassed the 20 million view mark some time in the last 24 hours. 

Thank you, Mr. DiCaprio! And congratulations yourself on "One Battle After Another" winning Best Picture although I'm sorry that you didn't get that Best Actor Oscar.

It's rather amazing that the views are already more than 70,000 deep beyond 20,000,000 so let's get at it with another song. First off, although I have separate articles for Makoto Iwabuchi（岩渕まこと）and the late great Chu Kosaka（小坂忠）, I had no idea that they also worked together as a duo for several years in the 1980s and 1990s, putting out a lot of albums together.

One album, released in 1982, is "Best Friend", and the cover has Iwabuchi and Kosaka looking very chummy. I managed to find one track "Rainbow" which brings in friendly folk and a hint of that Margaritaville AOR into the proceedings. It's just the melodic tonic for a cool and relaxing Sunday drive out in the countryside or the beachside. Not quite ready for that activity here in Toronto yet, but perhaps this time next month, things will have meteorologically improved.

Yutaka Kimura Speaks ~ Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100: Makoto Iwabuchi -- Moonlight Flight（ムーンライト・フライト）

 

Number: 085

Lyricist: Makoto Iwabuchi

Composer: Makoto Iwabuchi

Arranger: Shigeru Suzuki

From Iwabuchi's 1977 album: "Super Moon"

As the title says, "Moonlight Flight" is a nice floating tune that promises a flight on a moonlit night. There is a world of city mellowness that infuses Shigeru Suzuki's (who was also responsible for this song's arrangement) masterpiece 2nd album "Lagoon", but this can also be enjoyed here, too. Makoto Iwabuchi's（岩淵まこと）voice seems to take on some of the quirks of Keiichi Suzuki（鈴木慶一）, and it's great how well his smooth vocals fit with the overall sound.

The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).

Makoto Iwabuchi -- Moonlight Flight（ムーンライト・フライト）

 

OK...I couldn't (and still can't as of this writing) embed Yasuhiro Abe's（安部恭弘）video into my article regarding his song a few minutes ago, but I'm fine here with singer-songwriter Makoto Iwabuchi（岩淵まこと）. Go figure on TGIF.

In any case, whereas Abe's "Kanojo ni Dry na Martini wo"（彼女にドライなマティーニを）is the equivalent of high and mighty and frenetic painting of the town red in Bubble Era Tokyo, Iwabuchi's "Moonlight Flight" is much more laidback and Margaritaville relaxing. The flute and the strings hint at that literal ride in the sky as the singer serenades listeners like a mix of lonesome cowboy and Hawaiian crooner.

"Moonlight Flight" is a track on his October 1977 debut album "Super Moon" which also shares space with "Whiskey Drive"（ウィスキー・ドライブ） which I wrote back in August. Interestingly enough, the song also came out as a single much later...in 1995. This year has been quite the good discovery of Iwabuchi.

Makoto Iwabuchi -- Whiskey Drive（ウィスキー・ドライブ）

Via aucfree.com

 

There's one segment of YouTube which specializes in showing scalp massages all over the world such as Japan, India and South Korea. Yup, I'll say it right now...I've enjoyed watching them for the vicarious ASMR effect, and it looks like the fellow above may have inadvertently pioneered it on the cover of his single.

The lucky fellow is singer-songwriter and current gospel singer Makoto Iwabuchi（岩渕まこと）. I introduced him a little over two months ago through his 1978 song "Yuuhi ni Sarawarete"（夕陽にさらわれて）. He was a good friend of the late Chu Kosaka（小坂忠）who introduced him to Christianity decades ago. Though my knowledge and experience of his music are still very nascent, my initial impression has been that in the early years of his career, he had been into New Music, perhaps centering upon AOR.

Well, judging from his October 1977 debut single "Whiskey Drive", the New Music is there but with this happy-go-lucky tune, my feeling is that he's gotten some influence from Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）and Tin Pan Alley at around the same time. There is that honky-tonk piano dancing around on the keys along with those honey-toned horns and the funky electric piano. It really does sound like the perfect accompaniment for Miller Time in Japan back in the 1970s or sitting in on a session with the "Saturday Night Live" band back then.

Makoto Iwabuchi -- Yuuhi ni Sarawarete（夕陽にさらわれて）

 

Here's something very nice for a Sunday afternoon. It even has a bit of country near the end as I hear it, but maybe that's because I've always associated Sundays with country music. The music show "Hee Haw" used to be on those days.

Anyways, "Yuuhi ni Sarawarete" (Swept Away by the Setting Sun) by singer-songwriter Makoto Iwabuchi（岩渕まこと）sounds like a good driving song on a road trip in the countryside and/or along the coast. It's got the electric guitar and the piano chugging away at a nice pace, plus I'm always a sucker for a good background chorus. The track comes from his July 1978 album "Air Pocket".

Iwabuchi hails from Sendai City, Miyagi Prefecture and has been a gospel singer and YouTuber for many years. He converted to Christianity in 1980 thanks to his friend, the late great Chu Kosaka（小坂忠）and has worked with him and singer-songwriter Saki Kubota (久保田早紀）. Those projects include a number of albums related to religion.