Ushiroyubi Sasaregumi -- Banana no Namida（バナナの涙）

 

Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）, as Marcos V. and I have been explaining all throughout the past decade, was the first massive aidoru conglomeration that songwriter and producer Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）created, years before the alphabet aidoru groups such as AKB 48. As such, there were going to be offshoots from the mother group in the form of individual teenyboppers and small units coming up with their own tunes. Marcos wrote on one trio, Ushirogami Hikaretai（うしろ髪ひかれ隊）which had Shizuka Kudo (工藤静香) , Akiko Ikuina (生稲晃子) and Makiko Saito (斉藤満喜子) and their contribution, "Anata wo Shiritai" (あなたを知りたい). That unit had their time between May 1987 and July 1988 with five singles and two original albums under their belt.

Well, there was another unit in the form of a duo, Yukiko Iwai and Mamiko Takai（岩井由紀子・高井麻巳子）, called Ushiroyubi Sasaregumi（うしろゆびさされ組）, which began even earlier in the era of the Onyanko Club and had a longer time at it from October 1985 to February 1987. They released a total of six singles and two original albums, all of which broke into the Top 10. 

Their second single, "Banana no Namida" (Banana Tears), was released in January 1986 and it served as the second ending theme for the Fuji-TV anime adaptation of the manga "High School! Kimengumi"（ハイスクール!奇面組...High School! Funny Face Club） which had a long run paralleling Ushiroyubi Sasaregumi's career. In fact, some of their singles and non-single tracks were tied at the hip with the show.

From the synopsis of "High School! Kimengumi", it seems as if the series may have been the grand ancestor of all those secondary school-based anime crazy comedies with misfit students in a club. "Banana no Namida" is itself a fun and light-hearted tune with a tropical beat thrown into the mix. With Akimoto behind the lyrics and Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）composing and arranging everything, the song hit No. 1 on Oricon and later became the 17th-ranked single for 1986. "Banana no Namida" was also a track on Ushiroyubi Sasaregumi's first studio album "Fu-Wa-Fu-Ra"（ふ・わ・ふ・ら）which came out in June that year and peaked at No. 2.

If this scene is typical of an episode, then I think the high school club was well-named.

Mamiko Takai -- Cinderella-tachi e no Dengon（シンデレラたちへの伝言）

About as dreamy as an aidoru song can get, the future Mrs. Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）, aka Mamiko Takai（高井麻巳子）started her solo career, apart from the mother group of Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）, with "Cinderella-tachi e no Dengon" (A Word to All You Cinderellas).

Takai's debut single of June 1986 was written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）and composed by Masahiro Hatta（八田雅弘）seems to be more a description of herself as a Cinderella rather than a message for other potential Cinderellas, as how a fantasy world can burst forth into being just from one kiss. Being in a slightly snarky mood tonight (my new laptop has been getting a little naughty on me already), I was gonna say that it was the medication having too much of an effect.

The arrangement is what I would expect from an aidoru tune of the 1980s but I noticed that cello in there to give the song a bit more depth. "Cinderella-tachi e no Dengon" was actually used as a theme song for Onyanko Club's variety show, "Yuyake Nyan Nyan"（夕やけニャンニャン）, and it was a hit out of the home park immediately for Takai as it reached No. 1 and became the 41st-ranked single of the year. It was also a track on her debut album "Itoguchi"（いとぐち）which was released in January 1987. According to Jisho.org, itoguchi could be defined as either the beginning or a clue.

Mari Wilson, Marlene Lim, Mamiko Takai, Etsuko Yamakawa -- Beware Boyfriend / Umbrella Angel (アンブレラ・エンジェル)

In a post on Etsuko Yamakawa by J-C, I commented on how she had worked her magic for a particular Onyanko Club song.  Curious as to how it had all gone down, I went  back in time in order to come forward into the past ...

Mari Wilson was a British pop singer in the early 80's who eventually moved into jazz (and still performs).  While a teenager she spent some years in New York and fell under the spell of Motown and Philly soul, styling her music and look as  60's retro.  Her 1982 song "Beware Boyfriend" was composed by Teddy Johns and arranged by Tony Mansfield, reached #51 on the UK charts, and released in 1983 as an EP in Japan.

Japan ?  Mari had been discovered in the UK by Tot Taylor, whose band Advertising had flopped there but was "big in Japan".  He also headed a highly-regarded indie label - The Compact Organization - and Tot was referred to as the "British Eiichi Otaki" ( イギリスの大瀧詠一 ).  During the early 80's his jazz and techno-inspired offerings were popular in the Aoyama import record shop Pied Piper  (   パイド・パイパー  ); where fans included members of the Moonriders, Sandii and the Sunsetz, Yukihiro Takahashi (YMO), and the Pizzicato 5 (Tot's influence can be heard in what was to become Shibuya-kei). He released "Beware Boyfriend" into the Japanese market on his label.

Personally I find this song to be ponderous, flat, and the vocals rather ominous - beware indeed, boyfriend.  There are some interesting instrumental flourishes but on the whole, not quite my cup of Earl Grey.  However ...

https://www.sonymusicshop.jp/m/item/itemShw.php?site=S&cd=MHCL000000625

In 1983 Marlene Pena Lim ( マリーン・ペーニャ・リム ) covered "Beware Boyfriend" ( ボーイフレンド ) as an EP and on her album Deja vu ( CBS Sony ).  J-C has already dipped into Marlene's career and though much of her work is still up on YouTube, the mp3 for this song was pulled (not before I grabbed it).  The lyrics stay the same and are entirely in English, but the arrangement is now credited to Masanori Sasaji ( 笹路正徳 ) who styled it for Marlene's more jazzy delivery.  The entire song is brighter and more upbeat with a very clean production, the vocals swing, and while we're not yet in aidoru-land we're on our way.  Some of the distinctive instrumental riffs have been kept and the EP cover screams sultry tsundere.  Still beware, boyfriend.

(J-Canuck here: actually found an excerpt of Marlene's cover via the Sony Music Shop above.)

Her version was used in a CM for Hakushika (White Deer) Sake, making a third go-round for "Beware Boyfriend".  But like a cat it had multiple lives ...

Spring of 1986 found Onyanko Club preparing for their first longitudinal tour (and graduation for Nakaji (#5) and Sonoko Kawaii (#12) ).  March 1986 saw the release of the second album "Yume Catalogue" ( 夢カタログ ) and on side B was: "Umbrella Angel"  ( アンブレラ・エンジェル )

( Note: the video has nothing to do with the song; the poster used a section of the 4-DVD set "Onyanko Club - Backstage Pass" that documents the spring tour from behind the scenes).

Yes, it's almost "Beware Boyfriend".  New lyrics by Yasushi Akimoto; vocals by Mamiko Takai (#16) with backing from Mako Shiraishi (#22), Susan Yamamoto (#32), and Minayo Watanabe (#29); and arrangement / keyboards by Etsuko Yamakawa.
Etsuko was responsible for arranging 4 of the 10 songs on Yume Catalogue (and 15 total for the 5 canonical Onyanko Club albums).  The new lyrics are from a male point of view - the young man is caught in a sudden downpour when a strange girl suddenly appears to give him shelter under her umbrella - his Umbrella Angel (and all the romance a shared umbrella implies).  She gets on her bus and rides away, but as he watches wistfully a rainbow appears to connect them.  Beware, no more.
The music is full of trademark Yamakawa-isms: the song bounces, muted crisp drum rolls kick it along like running through the rain.  Soft voices are layered to build up to a snazzy jazz break that rides on cymbals and flugelhorn, then rolls seamlessly back to the vocals.  The upward-chiming instrumental rideout is pure Yamakawa-Onyanko.  (Interesting that the original vinyl album insert uses English for production, writing, arranging, and instrumentation credits - everything else is in Japanese).

And while Mamiko had a brief solo career before becoming Mrs. Aki-P, when she graduated on Yuuyake Nyan Nyan in April 1987:

Fu fu fu .................

Mamiko Takai -- Yakusoku（約束）

I've chatted a few times here and there on the blog with folks like Marcos V. on the point that aidoru in the late 1980s had the interesting benefit of having some rather lush arrangements granted on their singles which elevated things a good bit despite perhaps some of these ladies not possessing the strongest of vocals. Added to that fact is that back in that same decade, I was able to listen to a number of aidoru tunes through borrowed tapes or even through the radio program "Sounds of Japan" without ever finding out the lasses' names or even the titles.

Well, that got me started in trying to track some of those "lost" tunes down. So where do I begin? I figured that I would launch my trek through the largest source of aidoru in that particular time frame: Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）. This great ancestor to all of the current alphabet aidoru groups such as AKB48 and NGT48 was quite the modular teenybopper organization since a number of the members had their own solo careers with others forming smaller sub-units. Therefore, I think it is quite the mother lode to search for these aidoru and their songs.

It didn't take me too long to make a catch...or a re-catch, if you catch my drift. As soon as I heard this on YouTube, my Spidey Sense of nostalgia and recognition lit up like a flare at night. Let me introduce Onyanko Club Member No. 16, aka Mamiko Takai（高井麻巳子）and her 3rd single "Yakusoku" (Promises) from December 1986.

Wowsers! As soon as I heard those urgent strings and classy keyboards start "Yakusoku" off, the hair on my arms stood up at attention. How long has it been since I heard this one? Takai's vocals don't sound too bad here but it's that sweeping arrangement by Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）of Masahiro Hatta's（八田雅弘）melody and Masao Urino's（売野雅勇）lyrics that had me hooked on this song. The beat keeps things moving along at a pretty fast clip, too.

"Yakusoku" hit No. 1 on Oricon and ended up as the 55th-ranked single of 1987. The song also made it onto Takai's 2nd album "Kokoro Biyori"（こころ日和...The State of Affairs of the Heart）, released in July 1987. Between 1986 and 1988, the aidoru would release 8 singles and 4 original albums. In May 1988, she retired from show business for a good while after getting married to songwriter Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）. So did that make her a den mother of sorts to all of the ladies in AKB48 and beyond?