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.
For anyone who grew up in the 60s and 70s and was at least able to catch a little bit of the prime-time police procedurals or detective shows on television (usually it was just the opening credits since my brother and I were told in no uncertain terms to head to bed at the time they began), the name Quinn Martin was a familiar one.
At first, I'd thought that there was a Mr. Quinn and a Mr. Martin producing these cop shows but no, it was really one person named Quinn Martin. And although he didn't apply it to every one of his programs, there was a certain formula to the opening credits. A cool dramatic theme and graphic design intro sequence would start up with the gravitas-laden narrator stating the title of the show and the aforementioned quote at the top. Then, he would continue by introducing the main cast, the guest actors and finally the name of the episode title emblazoned on the screen. This was nicely parodied for the brief comedy series "Police Squad!".
The late great Jerry Goldsmith already has a lengthening file on KKP which includes his majestic theme for "Star Trek: The Motion Picture". And for all of the exciting intros for Quinn Martin shows, my favourite theme song was his contribution to the series "Barnaby Jones". For a detective series regarding an elderly but wise ol' gumshoe played by Buddy Ebsen, this was a pretty kickass theme with the stomping brass and a calm and calculating flute sequence. Ever since I decided to write about this one for Reminiscings of Youth, the theme has been stuck in my head.
The audience must have gone crazy when they were watching the 1993 cinematic redux of "The Beverly Hillbillies" when Barnaby Jones showed up in a cameo. Ebsen was the star of the original TV sitcom which lasted even longer than "Barnaby Jones".
In any case, the detective series premiered on January 28th 1973. Now, what was hitting the top of the Oricon charts the next day afterwards?
1. Shiro Miya & The Pinkara Trio -- Onna no Michi (女のみち）
Another sign that autumn in Toronto is just around the corner: the annual Toronto International Film Festival. Depending on the weather, and they are saying that thunderstorms might be welcoming the stars, cinephiles and media, the first day of TIFF tomorrow may be a very soggy one which is too bad but the second day sounds far more promising. But I'm sure that the autograph hounds will still be out in force, rain or shine.
Under the circumstances, maybe I can put up a list of some of the songs that I heard on the big screen throughout my life.
(1970) Kiyoshi Atsumi -- Otoko wa Tsurai yo (男はつらいよ）from "Otoko wa Tsurai yo"
(1972) Mari Amachi -- Hitori Janaino (ひとりじゃないの）from "Aitte Nandaro?"（愛ってなんだろ）
(1997) Yuji Oda & Maxi Priest -- Love Somebody from "Odoru Dai Sosasen"（踊る大捜査線）
(1997) Akihiko Matsumoto -- Rhythm & Police from "Odoru Dai Sosasen"（踊る大捜査線）
First off, welcome to August 2024! In the course of making this weekly Reminiscings of Youth article, I came to realize how many television shows that I've seen and millions of others have seen that had been produced under the MTM Enterprises banner in the 1970s and 1980s. The production company had been founded in 1969 by the late great entertainer Mary Tyler Moore and her then-husband Grant Tinker to create the former's classic sitcom "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". The theme song "Love is All Around" by Sonny Curtis has already been featured here as a ROY tune along with Steve Carlisle's theme song for "WKRP in Cincinnati", another MTM production. There are many more theme songs of shows under Mary's banner that I can easily put up here on KKP since they are so memorable. But of course, I have to finally mention that the logo is none other than Mimsie the Cat who wasn't actually owned by Mary and Grant but by one of the staffers at MTM.
Now, actually I had originally decided to put up this particular theme song because the star of its show, comedian and actor Bob Newhart, had passed away last week at the age of 94 and I would have posted it then but I already had one other ROY song in the pipe.
The strange thing is that though I had already known about Mary Tyler Moore because of her past famous role on "The Dick Van Dyke Show" as Laura Petrie and even became a great fan of "The Mary Tyler Moore Show", I knew nothing about Bob Newhart at the time. And to be honest, I don't remember having seen a single episode in its entirety (I did come across certain scenes in the reruns) from his own long-running MTM-produced series which ran from 1972 to 1978 (and it usually followed "Mary Tyler Moore"). I just remember that he played the calm but droll Dr. Bob Hartley the psychologist while the fetching Suzanne Pleshette had the role of his wife, Emily. It would be years before I found out in junior high school (via one of his comedy albums in the school library) that he had been a standup comedian with the button-down mind since the late 1950s with his famous series of telephone call routines.
The other thing and it is the biggest thing that I remember from "The Bob Newhart Show" is the theme song by Lorenzo and Henrietta Music; Lorenzo was even the co-creator of the sitcom itself. For a show revolving around a nice but unassuming character, "Home to Emily" was quite the epic musical accompaniment with the swinging jazzy brass as he did his commute home in Chicago from his office. But then, as he approached his apartment, the orchestral boil came down to a soothing simmer thanks to a flugelhorn (I think) as ol' Bob can now think about having a nice dinner and evening with his wife.
Later on, the opening credits opted to reverse the process and have the good doctor head over to work from home. Music's theme song then got a major disco-funk revamping which made me wonder how much cooler did Dr. Hartley get and did that translate into more clients?
Looks like a number of artists entertained the possibilities of "Home to Emily" such as composer and arranger Patrick Williams. The more, the merrier. And also, my condolences to Newhart's family, friends and fans including those who discovered him later on in life as Professor Proton on "The Big Bang Theory".
"The Bob Newhart Show" made its premiere on CBS on September 16th 1972. Well, I managed to find out what the Top 3 singles were on Oricon a couple of days later.
As noted earlier in the first ROY article for today, I was going to put up a second ROY article for the Fourth of July holiday, and if it hadn't been for finding out that Eddie Murphy was back for another round of "Beverly Hills Cop", I would have just focused on this classic ballad instead.
Now, Roberta Flack already has representation on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" through a 1983 duet that she did with Peabo Bryson called "Born to Love", but of course, I just had to include what is arguably her most famous song, "Killing Me Softly with His Song". Released on January 22nd 1973, I used to hear this on AM radio as a kid but there was one time when the classic really hit my soul...as cornball as that may sound.
When we were little, it was frequently the case that my family would visit other families for New Year's Day or simply just to socialize. The visits would go fairly far into the night, and if there were other kids involved, we would be playing with them in the basement while the grownups chattered in the living room. My brother and I would get dragged reluctantly back to the car for the drive home. Not surprisingly, we would be getting drowsy in the back seat and the car radio would be on. The radio was usually on CKEY Toronto which used to play music like any other station before it became multicultural CHKT in the early 1990s. In any case, at that time at night, a lot of the romantic ballads would come on, and guess what, one of those ballads was indeed Flack's "Killing Me Softly with His Song". As I was in that twilight zone between wakefulness and sleep, the song hazily entered my ears while the night sky and lights were speeding by and some of the cool breeze was flying through the slightly ajar window. It made for a perfect environment for a soulful lullaby as the singer's dulcet tones gently lay me down to sleep, bracketed by the mellow tones of the DJ. I don't particularly like to remember much from my childhood but that one memory will always stick with me.
"Killing Me Softly with His Song" went to No. 1 in the United States, Canada and Australia, and according to Wikipedia, the ballad spent five non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 in America which beat every other record that year, although Billboard would ultimately rank it at No. 3 for 1973. Once again, I've been left surprised on finding out that the Roberta Flack single was actually a cover for the original by Lori Lieberman who had provided the lyrics with Norman Gimbel with Charles Fox composing the melody. That original was released in 1972 but wasn't successful.
Just by luck, I was able to find the Top 10 on Oricon for January 22nd 1973. Allow me to show you what came into the top 3 slots.
1. Shiro Miya & The Pinkara Trio -- Onna no Michi (女のみち）
The above photo is apparently from the SONY website. It's only being used for illustrative purposes.
When I was writing up last week's Reminiscings of Youth entry for Seals and Crofts'"Summer Breeze", I had been tempted to include this song for this article, 70s aidoru Mari Amachi's（天地真理）"Niji wo Watatte" (Crossing the Rainbow), as one of the comparative kayo songs. It was released on September 1st 1972, just a day after the release of "Summer Breeze".
Ah, but then I sheepishly discovered that I had yet to even cover this song, Amachi's 4th single. Oh, goofy me! For the record, "Niji wo Watatte" is the follow-up single to the lass' biggest hit "Hitori Janaino"(ひとりじゃないの）which came out back in May, and with the same composer Koichi Morita（森田公一）and arranger Shunichi Makaino（馬飼野俊一）from that song helping out on "Niji wo Watatte", it's not totally surprising that there is a certain similarity between the two in terms of the rhythm and style.
Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）was the lyricist here as Amachi sings about crossing that rainbow to be with that boyfriend. Strangely enough, my family and I had seen a rom-com movie starring the singer at the old Japanese-Canadian Cultural Centre back in the 1970s. I could recognize "Hitori Janaino" right off the bat being performed in the movie but there was another tune that Amachi sang on screen which may have been "Niji wo Watatte". In any case, the song was another big hit for her as it flew around the Oricon Top 10 for almost three months, hitting the top spot twice during that time. It ended up becoming the 13th-ranked single for 1972, selling a little over half a million records.
Yup, this is a special ROY article today and not because there has been another death in the music world or it's a national holiday. I did notice though that over the last 24 hours, our humble 11-year-and-change blog exceeded six million pageviews, so let's give a mild Yay on that. Yay! Well, y'know, when "Plastic Love" could get seven million views within a few months...
Of course, when a lot of my generation think of six million dollars outside of the weekly lotteries, we usually think of "The Six Million Dollar Man" (1973-1978), the American ABC sci-fi series starring Lee Majors as astronaut-turned-bionic special agent Steve Austin who thrilled us with his telescopic eye, superpowered right arm and legs and super speed. It was amazing (and borderline hilarious) watching Austin going at 60 mph while running in slow motion, especially when we have various versions of The Flash racing around us in pop culture nowadays (hey, his movie is coming out this Friday).
The episode in the video above is one that I remember distinctly for scaring the beejeebers out of me when I first saw it decades ago. Veteran character actor John Saxon was playing the robot. I also remember the time that Austin fought Bigfoot.
Of course, everyone knows the above narration and the opening credits consisting of how Steve ended up a cyborg. The computer graphics of showing all of those special implants in his body always wowed me. And then of course, there was the famous theme song by jazz musician and arranger Oliver Nelson which had the requisite feeling of power, speed and intrigue.
Japan actually landed "The Six Million Dollar Man" through TV Asahi and its affiliates beginning from the summer of 1974 where the title was a direct translation: "Roppyaku-man Doru no Otoko"（600万ドルの男）. I had always thought that its spinoff "The Bionic Woman" starring Lindsay Wagner as Steve's soulmate Jaime Sommers was the only bionic-based series that made it out there. It was known as "Bionic Jaime" on Japanese television sets.
I've kinda wondered how "The Six Million Dollar Man" and "The Bionic Woman" fared over in Japan, the land of tokusatsu heroes with their special powers. Steve and Jaime looked like regular folks without needing to transform into costumes and yet they could go through a concrete wall as if it were paper.
Anyways, years ago I heard that Hollywood had been trying to an epic movie version of "The Six Million Dollar Man" starring Eddie Murphy but that idea fell by the wayside. People probably snickered at the realization that in contemporary times, six million dollars could only afford perhaps a lug nut in the elbow. The title alone would have to be upgraded to "The Six Billion Dollar Man". I actually checked Google to see how much $6,000,000 in 1973 dollars would be worth today. The answer I got was $49,995,000. Maybe to reach a round fifty million dollars, the scientists could throw in a bionic manicure.
"The Six Million Dollar Man" made its debut in April 1973, so what Japanese singles were doing the same?
For a Reminiscings of Youth article, this one is a bit more loaded than usual although I had been aware of some of the stuff going on in Japan regarding this ballad.
As with so many of the old songs, I used to hear Gilbert O'Sullivan's"Alone Again (Naturally)" all the time on the radio but never realized the significance of the lyrics until many, many years later. It wasn't until recently that I discovered that the song hadn't been about a guy moping about not having that love in his life, but someone who really needed help since he was about on the verge of suicide, such was the depths of his loneliness. O'Sullivan's music was just so comforting and whimsical that I couldn't really tell.
Released as a single in the UK in February and then in the United States in May 1972, "Alone Again (Naturally)" was an international hit. On America's Billboard chart, it was at No. 1 for six non-consecutive weeks and ended up as the No. 2 single of the year there while in Canada, it also hit the top of the charts but was "only" No. 6 for 1972.
"Alone Again" was a hit that kept on giving in Japan. For one thing, when it was also released in 1972 there, it was No. 1 for 5 straight weeks on Oricon's Western music chart. But as time passed, the song was used for many projects. For one thing, O'Sullivan's arguably most famous song was used as the theme tune for Episode 24 in the famous "Maison Ikkoku"（めぞん一刻）anime series back in 1986. My first impression was that "Alone Again" was being utilized to signify some major incident within the show but instead, I found out via the Maison Ikkoku Wiki that O'Sullivan had been signed to Kitty Records which was associated with Kitty Films which was behind the anime so that it would be a good way to promote him. However, fans didn't go for the out-of-left-field inclusion and it was back to Yuki Saito's（斉藤由貴）much happier "Kanashimi yo Konnichiwa"（悲しみよこんにちは）from Episode 25 (although "Alone Again" would return as an insert song in Episode 27 and then as the theme for the live-action version of the series in 1986). Watching this one-off opening credit sequence above did leave quite an impression, though, and apparently on a lot of YouTube commenters.
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, "Alone Again" attracted attention from at least a couple of products which used it for their commercials, one being JT's brand of cigarettes. A couple of network dramas also used it as their theme song into the 21st century, and I think it was for one of them that I ended up picking up a re-release of the O'Sullivan song at one of the major Tokyo CD shops.
Though I always saw kayo wunderkindShinji Harada（原田真二）as the Japanese version of Gilbert O'Sullivan, I don't think that he ever did a cover of "Alone Again...Naturally". However, vocally speaking, singer-songwriter Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）is quite similar to O'Sullivan, so I did go naruhodo when I heard his rendition of the ballad. The J-Wiki article for it mentions that he's sung "Alone Again...Naturally" in concert but I'm not sure whether the crooner ever released an official version.
Let's go with the American release date of the song when showing what was being released at that time in Japan. I found two famous hits which got released in May 1972.
The male trios had an original Gosanke（御三家...The Big Three） and then a new Gosanke for the next generation, so the same thing happened with the female trios. In the 1950s, there was the Ganso Sannin Musume（元祖三人娘...The Original Three Girls） starring Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）, Chiemi Eri（江利チエミ）and Izumi Yukimura（雪村いづみ）. But then in the early 1970s came the birth of the Shin Sannin Musume (The New Three Girls) featuring aidoru Rumiko Koyanagi（小柳ルミ子）, Mari Amachi（天地真理）and Saori Minami（南沙織）.
Unlike the original Sannin Musume, Koyanagi, Amachi and Minami never appeared in any rom-com movie, but they did have their opportunities to show up in magazines and TV music shows, including the 1972 Kohaku Utagassen. In the article for the Shin Sannin Musume on J-Wiki, I was even able to find the catchphrases for each of them:
Rumiko Koyanagi: Minna no Koibito（みんなの恋人...Everyone's Lover）
Mari Amachi: Anata no Kokoro no Tonari ni Iru Sony no Shirayuki Hime（あなたの心の隣にいるソニーの白雪姫...The Snow White of SONY, Close to Your Heart）
Saori Minami: Minami no Shima kara Kita Cynthia（南の島からきたシンシア...Cynthia from the Southern Islands）
All of them had their singing debut in 1971 with Amachi having the latest one in October.
Yup, I bought "The Best of Henry Mancini" CD when I was still living in Japan. I figured since I enjoyed a lot of his theme songs for movies and television, it would be nuts to miss out on the opportunity. Plus, it didn't cost too much at all.
So, for this week's Reminiscings of Youth, I've decided to piggyback one Mancini onto the other with this one, "Charade", being included although I had yet to be born when the Stanley Donen film was released in 1963. Up to this point, I've only seen certain scenes from this rom-com thriller flick but since it entered the public domain, I've witnessed at least one YouTube channel that has put the entirety of "Charade" onto the platform, so one of these days, I'm going to have to see the whole thing. After all, it has Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant...two of my favourites from old Hollywood.
However, I have to admit that I've seen the opening credits to the movie several times since it is so cool. Just start the whole ball rolling by throwing the first murder victim off a speeding train without so much as a how-do-you-do, and then launch the rotating arrows (by Maurice Binder, the fellow behind 007's gun barrel sequence in those opening credits) and the percussion before Mancini's main theme gloriously rolls in.
"Charade" is described as a sad Parisian waltz, and I think that there was a sung version which reflected that sentiment, but the one used in those opening credits is definitely oomphed-up to a Mancini-esque creation of romance and thrills and adventure, perfect for the movie. The tapping percussion and drums sound like an alert to danger before the French-sounding version of the theme enters the scene with that feeling of danger. Then, the swinging jazz orchestra follows up with its own take on the chorus followed by a soaring romantic sensation. I'm always going to prefer the one used for those opening credits over the single version since the latter makes a definite finish instead of the fadeout of the former as if the theme had been meant for the credits of a TV show.
Now, it's time for some Mancini magic when I was in existence. NBC's "Sunday Mystery Movie" was one signal to me and my brother that the beloved weekend was once again coming to an end, and so at the time, we weren't too fond of it. But the sequence was memorable for the desert-setting mystery man off in the distance walking toward the camera as various photos of the detectives involved in this wheel series popped up.
One of those detectives was "Columbo", a fictional hero who has enduring popularity here in North America as well as in Japan despite the fact that actor Peter Falk passed away over a decade ago. Although some of the other detectives on "Sunday Mystery Movie" had their own theme tunes such as "McCloud", "Columbo" never did but I think that a lot of folks on either side of the Pacific have pretty much accepted the "Sunday Mystery Movie" theme as the theme for "Columbo", especially on the Japanese side because those famous opening credits never showed up; the broadcasting Japanese network simply went directly into the latest episode of "Columbo" and then had the ending credits roll by as the "Sunday Mystery Movie" theme played.
And for me, whenever that lovely Mancini theme plays, I'm always going to think of "Columbo", not "McCloud", "Banacek", "McMillan and Wife" or "Hec Ramsey". This is even though it's hard to imagine a self-effacing and shuffling police lieutenant with a Noo Yawk accent being given such a grand song with a bit of country-western and romance accompanied by a whistling synthesizer (apparently a Yamaha CS-80 according to this exchange on "Film Score Monthly").
Come to think of it, I guess Mancini was a composer who just loved to insert a bit of sex appeal and romance into many if not all of his theme songs. They couldn't be all about the intrigue and derring-do.
Well, although the Wikipedia entry for "Sunday Mystery Movie" just listed the premiere year as 1971, I can assume that it could have started in September because back then, the advent of autumn meant the advent of new TV shows. As such, what kayo was being released at that time?
Now that we are all looking toward the final days of 2020, I was wondering what I could do in terms of a special KKP article, so of course, I was thinking about an Author's Pick. Then I remembered about the category of The First which had centered around 2017 and 2018 and invited some of the blog collaborators to write about what the first song to bring them into the world of kayo kyoku/J-Pop was.
Therefore, I've decided to combine the two categories of The First and Author's Picks together to provide a quick list of firsts so that you good folks can find out what some of the seminal songs in my kayo life have been. I have covered them individually over the past 9 years, so you can get a fuller picture through the links to them but here, I'm just gonna provide the bare bones. As well, you can get a look at my original The First article which has what I first heard during my summer trip in 1981, my first City Pop song and the first song that I'd heard on the radio program "Sounds of Japan".
Both in their own ways are melancholy and both have stuck in my heads for the past several decades. I also remember being right in front of the RCA stereo speaker as they were played. Not sure if sitting by something with a big magnet affected my brain.😱
Such a cute and schmaltzy song thanks to those muted trumpets. Too bad when I first heard this, I was in the process of barfing all over my good clothing in the taxi on the way from Haneda Airport in Tokyo. The driver seemed rather nonplussed...true professionalism.
Yes, it just had to be Seiko-chan that I first heard on landing in Tokyo for the 1981 summer trip, and what better ambassador to introduce me to the world of Japanese teenyboppers. I have to thank that Suntory commercial and that appearance on the 1981 Kohaku Utagassen to sear the image of idolatry into my brain forever.
Had to represent my country on the JET Programme and my pride in the karaoke bar so I went all Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and combined the two concepts to choose "Yukiguni" as my go-to karaoke song. Considering the number of times that I've sung this all over Gunma and Tokyo and all places in-between, the singer should have gotten quite a healthy royalty cheque from me.
My third landing in Japan at the end of the 1980s would be for my first post-university job as an English teacher in the Japanese educational system. The song that would line my welcome into Gunma was by a couple of newfangled aidoru at the time that had the distinction of presenting themselves as human porcelain dolls on a rotating stand with expressions that the Vulcan Science Academy would actually praise highly.
6. First J-Pop song while on my 17-year stint: "Try Me" by Namie Amuro with Super Monkey's
I arrived for my fourth landing to work at NOVA, once the English-teaching corporate beast of Japan, in early November 1994. This song didn't come out until January 1995. I can only assume that I was so focused and stressed out from my new job that I didn't really pay much attention to J-Pop for those two months. However, I do remember that rather racy commercial plugging the song and thinking "Well, there goes the kinjo".
7. First enka/Mood Kayo that I truly enjoyed: "Brandy Glass" by Yujiro Ishihara
Before this slice of traditional Japanese pop, I merely listened to the genres of enka and Mood Kayo simply because my parents were playing it on the stereo but after having returned from that 1981 trip, I somehow gained the ability to actually enjoy these genres. "Brandy Glass" by the Big Man was one of a string of genre kayo that I would begin to cherish from the early 1980s. I didn't particularly become a drinker even in drink-friendly Japan but the music was good enough for me to savor.
8. First Technopop song: "Firecracker" by Yellow Magic Orchestra
KKP readers might assume that it was "Rydeen" which was my first when it came to the music of YMO, but it was actually "Firecracker", and for that I would have to thank the local show "Japanese Panorama" for introducing the music video one night. I had heard "computer music" before through a record that I listened to in the junior high school library, but it was all an avant-garde mish-mash of bleeps and bloops. "Firecracker" proved to me that synthesizers and other musical technology named with a combination of letters and numbers (and the musicians behind them) could produce some truly magical and catchy songs.
Well, those are my eight Firsts. If any of you have your Firsts that you would like to share, I'm all eyes and ears.
This afternoon, as I was plowing through some translation work, I decided to listen to one of the CDs from the "Good Times Diva" series for the first time in a long while. Specifically the disc of choice was Volume 2 which you can see at the bottom with the Cameron Diaz-looking figure in blue. There was one haunting ballad from the 1970s which got me interested enough to write an article about it.
Lili Iwabuchi（岩渕リリ）was the singer on Volume 2 who tackled "Salvia no Hana" (Salvia Flowers), a sad song about a man devastated from losing the love of his life to another man. However, Iwabuchi's version is not up on YouTube (although she is represented by her other songs); incidentally, "Salvia no Hana" was her 2nd single released in April 1972. There isn't much on her J-Wiki article except for a brief discography that only has 4 singles and 1 album for the years of 1972 and 1973.
There's no J-Wiki article at all for the folk trio Motomaro（もとまろ）and that is because they even had less of a presence in the kayo kyoku world than Iwabuchi. I actually had to look for their biography on a Japanese site called "Folk Song Cafe", and basically, after being encouraged to enter a folk song contest on a TBS program "Young 720"（ヤング７２０）while they were still at school, they ended up winning for 5 weeks and getting a recording contract. The record they made was their own cover of "Salvia no Hana" which came out in the same year. But since none of the three members had any interest in pursuing a professional singing career, that one song was it and Motomaro broke up.
A couple of years later, 70s aidoru Mari Amachi（天地真理）gave her own take on "Salvia no Hana" as a track on her 8th album"Koi to Umi to T-Shirt to/Koibito-tachi no Minato"（恋と海とTシャツと／恋人たちの港...Love and The Sea and A T-Shirt）which came out in June 1974. Clear-voiced as ever, Amachi's "Salvia no Hana" is a straight pop version with a melancholy trumpet that also stood out in Iwabuchi's cover.
Investigating this song more deeply, I found out that the original was by far the most affecting and effective in terms of the melody and the singer behind it. Yoshio Hayakawa（早川義夫）, who composed and performed "Salvia no Hana", was a member of a psychedelic rock band called Jacks（ジャックス）, and I heard some of their stuff a few hours ago, so I'm gonna have to talk about their "Marianne"（マリアンヌ）sometime soon.
Hayakawa released his first solo album in November 1969, "Kakkoii koto wa nante Kakkowarui daro"（かっこいいことはなんてかっこ悪いんだろう...Cool Things Are Uncool）, which included the original "Salvia no Hana" with lyrics by Yasuko Aizawa（相沢靖子）. Listening to his "Salvia no Hana", you would almost think that he was the poor guy whose girlfriend had left him. No screeching or wailing from him, though. He's just a forlorn palooka resigned to his single fate as he is tinkling on that piano in a nearly deserted bar while whoever's left is using the song to nurse their drinks and troubles. That piano makes the whole song.
Since then, Motomaro and Amachi are just two of the many artists who have covered "Salvia no Hana". I've glanced them on YouTube but apparently there have been covers by Aming（あみん）, Yoshihiro Kai（甲斐よしひろ）, and Rumiko Koyanagi（小柳ルミ子）.
I will be honest with you. Considering the kana reading of the title, I had thought that it referred to the nation of Serbia and had initially written a lot of the article with that in the title. I was rather wondering what flowers from this particular European country had to do with a romantic breakup in Japan. It turns out they never did. Just in case, you can get this little briefer on this plant from the mint family.
Meanwhile, I shall see about getting something up for Lili Iwabuchi and Jacks.
The above is Den'en-Chofu Station which is on a Tokyu Railway line going west of Shibuya. I used to come here biweekly on Sundays to teach a student who lives in the neighbourhood. It's one of the tonier areas of Tokyo with quite a lot of nice houses although they are not nearly as big as the mansions of Beverly Hills. In fact, when my student picked me up and drove me over to his home, we sometimes passed the house of then-Prime Minister Hatoyama and depending on the level of the crisis hitting the Diet, there could be anything from one to a handful of security officers in front of his house.
It is rather interesting comparing my biweekly Sundays now and then. Over 5 years ago, it was my student and me as the duo of the day taking care of a private English lesson; now it's my buddy and me taking care of private anime viewings.
All that prelude to present early 1970s darling, Mari Amachi（天地真理）, and her 5th single from December 1972, "Futari no Nichiyoubi" (Sunday For Two). Another characteristically jaunty outing from Amachi about going out with that special someone on that Sunday, it seems to be more fit for spring or summer than the technically autumn release but I gather that when meeting the one you love, any Sunday of any season is a grand one.
Masaaki Hirao's（平尾昌晃）bouncy melody seems to fit the mood of the young lady or perhaps the entire couple walking down that park lane, supporting the cheerful delivery of Michio Yamagami's（山上路夫）lyrics. It was the lone No. 3 hit in the middle of a series of No. 1s for Amachi and it became the 13th-ranked single of the year, ultimately selling a million records. The song also spearheaded her 4th album "Ashita e no Melody"（明日へのメロディー...Melody for Tomorrow） which did hit No. 1 on the album chart.
Hopefully, that nice sunny Sunday will come up this weekend, but knowing Toronto weather, it could be anything approaching early summer weather or a snowstorm.
Enjoying your Sunday, I hope. There's nothing like weather in Toronto...a mere few weeks ago, the forecasters were giving us heat warnings but there has just been a frost advisory issued for tonight! It will be a properly chilly Canadian Thanksgiving tomorrow. However, my family no longer does the turkey thing for Thanksgiving but since my darling niece's birthday is imminent, we will be having some Japanese fare outside tonight.
For this article, I have three aidorus from two eras performing one song. It was another happy happenstance that I was able to encounter "Omoide no Serenade"(Serenade of Reminiscences) on YouTube by aidoru Juri Hamada（浜田朱里）who had a relatively brief singing career at a little over 4 years in the early 80s before focusing more on acting for several more years.
I gotta say that I like the cover for Hamada's 7th single from February 1982. Nice lighting and that certain uncertain expression on her face which seemed to be one of a few default expressions used in photographing single covers. "Omoide no Serenade" was created by a couple of veterans, Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）for the lyrics and Koichi Morita（森田公一）for the melody.
The J-Wiki bio for the Tokyo-born Hamada, who made her debut in 1980, stated that she stood out for her unique and husky voice despite her cute aidoru looks although I don't think her vocals on "Omoide no Serenade" were particularly un-aidoru-like. Perhaps compared to teenyboppers like Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）or Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）but otherwise...
Melodically, the song has that arrangement by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）which stamped a lot of aidoru ballads from that time: a lot of wistful strings and an overall feeling of meruhen or fantasy as if the singer was meant to be waltzing around in that huge ballroom of a palace somewhere in Lichtenstein. In terms of the lyrics, Hamada sings about remembering a romance which is now very much in the past although the heroine most likely harbours that torch for her old flame.
"Omoide no Serenade" turned out to be Hamada's most successful single, peaking at No. 51 on Oricon with around 43,000 records sold. In all, she released 4 original albums and 11 singles. Her hit single was placed onto her final album as the title track in 1983.
When Hamada first entered the scene in 1980, it had been reported that she had an aura similar to that of imminently retiring Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）which had her staff grooming her to be the "Post-Momoe". Unfortunately, it didn't quite take although she came onto the scene alongside Naoko Kawai, Yoshie Kashiwabara（柏原芳恵）, Yoshimi Iwasaki（岩崎良美）and Seiko Matsuda, the last one who became a close friend of Hamada. According to the J-Wiki article, Hamada herself even implied that she really didn't like singing all that much and preferred to head into the acting field. Still apparently, she has her own dedicated legion of fans. After getting married in 1995, she decided to retire from show business to start raising a family.
I found out a bit later that Hamada actually sang a cover of the original "Omoide no Serenade" by 1970s aidoru Mari Amachi（天地真理）. Her 11th single from September 1974, it was interesting to compare the arrangements between Hamada's cover and Amachi's "Serenade". There are indeed those strings and that light touch in there but the arrangement by Koji Ryuzaki（竜崎孝路）included some hints of rollicking drums which brought a bit of that city and go-go boots feeling that I've often associated with 1970s kayo kyoku. Of course, there is Amachi's breathy high-tone voice that automatically brings up memories of my first ever trip to Japan in 1972.
"Omoide no Serenade" was Amachi's 11th and final Top 10 hit, getting as high as No. 8, selling 340,000 records. It was also the 41st-ranked single for 1974. The song also punched her ticket into the Kohaku Utagassen for the 3rd and final time in her career.
Several days ago, I noted through an article that 70s/80saidoru Hitomi Ishikawa（石川ひとみ）had provided an audiotape in the year of her debut, 1978, which is most likely the rarest of the rare for kayo collectors. Titled "Kurumiwari Ningyo/Migimuke Migi=Watashi wa Hi-to-mi="（くるみ割り人形・右向け右 =わたしはひ・と・み=...The Nutcracker/Right-Turning Right=My Hi-to-mi=）, the B-side has covers of a number of other songs including that of "Omoide no Serenade" arranged by Akio Araki（荒木圭男）. Ishikawa's version sounds a bit more laid-back with her vocals also being high but perhaps a bit sharper for the lack of a better term.
Last week, 78-year-old singer-composerMasaaki Hirao appeared on "Kayo Concert". Unlike some of his contemporaries, he has popped up fairly often on a number of programs including the weekly Tuesday night NHK music show including as the current conductor of the NHK Orchestra who leads everyone in the customary round of "Hotaru no Hikari"（蛍の光）at the end of every Kohaku Utagassen on December 31st.
When the host of "Kayo Concert", Tetsuya Takayama（高山哲哉）, remarked that Hirao has composed over 1,600 songs throughout his career of over half a century, I figured that it was time to highlight at least a small fraction of his output.
The one big song that I have associated Hirao with is "Yokohama Tasogare"（よこはま・たそがれ）from 1971 which was the breakthrough hit for Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）. Itsuki was also a guest performer on last week's "Kayo Concert" and I can echo and paraphrase the veteran singer's sentiments about Hirao: "No him, no me". As for me, although I've been hearing enka and Mood Kayo since I was a toddler, this was the one song that finally hooked me into those two genres.
Another song that I've always equated with Hirao is "Canada kara no Tegami"（カナダからの手紙）from 1978. His duet with Yoko Hatanaka（畑中葉子）has become a karaoke staple since my Kuri days.
But let's go way back. Masaaki Hirao was born Yu Hirao（平尾勇）in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo in 1937 but grew up in Chigasaki City, Kanagawa Prefecture. He attended jazz classes as a boy and then after dropping out of high school, he joined a country & western band, The Chuck Wagon Boys. In 1957, he was scouted by Watanabe Productions at a jazz cafe where he was performing and released his first solo single the next year which was a Japanese-language cover version of "Little Darlin'" by the Diamonds. Soon after, the media dubbed Hirao, and fellow singers Mickey Curtis（ミッキー・カーチス） and Keijiro Yamashita（山下敬二郎）as the Rockabilly Three for which they all gained superstar status.
Hirao continued singing into the 1960s even with the end of the rockabilly boom but seemed to have caught the bug for songwriting later in the decade. With him creating songs for young up-and-comers Hiroshi Itsuki,Rumiko Koyanagi（小柳ルミ子）and Agnes Chan（アグネス・チャン）, a professional partnership with lyricist Yoko Yamaguchi（山口洋子）created a good amount of success which earned them the moniker The Golden Combo. Hirao was the one who introduced Chan to Japan with hits such as "Sougen no Kagayaki"（草原の輝き）. The above video is for another Hirao/Chan collaboration "Hoshi ni Negai wo"（星に願いを...Wish Upon A Star）, her 5th single from February 1974 which was another Top 10 hit for her with Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）behind the lyrics.
With all those hundreds and hundreds of songs under his belt, it didn't surprise me that Hirao dabbled through all of the Great Japanese Songbook, and that included anison. For instance, he composed the theme songs for the "Ginga Tetsudo 999"（銀河鉄道999）TV series, both sung by the legendary Isao Sasaki（ささきいさお）.
With his breadth of songwriting, it would be impossible to pin down a specific genre or style to Hirao. Let's just say that he is the master of all things kayo. In December 1972, he and Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）created a sprightly tune for aidoru Mari Amachi（天地真理）titled "Futari no Nichiyoubi"（ふたりの日曜日...Sunday For Two）which hit No. 3 on Oricon and became the 13th-ranked song for 1973.
Speaking of aidoru, Hirao even composed a song for Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）in 1980 called "Eighteen" with lyrics by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）as one-half of a double-A-side single with "Kaze wa Aki Iro"（風は秋色）. The song is definitely very aidoru-ish but there is some of that rockabilly feel in the arrangement, thanks to Hirao no doubt.
As with any of the Creators articles that I've put up over the past few years, there is no way that I would be able to put up a comprehensive account of Hirao's works without making this a full-time job. So I will end the article with one of his more recent compositions. The Golden Combo was back with him and Yamaguchi penning "America Bashi"（アメリカ橋...America Bridge）for enka crooner Yutaka Yamaguchi（山川豊）in February 1998. It's quite the classy melody that Hirao created here, sounding like a Mood Kayo waltz about the Ebisu Minami Bridge located between Meguro and Ebisu Stations on the Yamanote Line in Tokyo. Nicknamed America Bashi since it was modeled after a similar bridge built for the 1904 St. Louis World's Fair, in terms of the song, the bridge was the setting for a reunion between two past lovers.
Allow me to finish then with Hirao singing another old chestnut, "Diana" which was originally sung by good ol' Canadian Paul Anka. Another Canadian connection for the veteran.
I've always associated early 70s aidoru Mari Amachi （天地真理）with her 3rd single, "Hitori Janaino"（ひとりじゃないの）, and it was one of the earliest articles I've written for "Kayo Kyoku Plus". I mentioned in that article about the nostalgic horns and strings which backed Amachi on that big hit for her.
Well, there are no horns in her very first single, "Mizuiro no Koi" (Water-Coloured Love), but it also brings the sepia-toned memories with the strings, guitar and marimba. Released in October 1971, the song is the type of tune that I would love to hear while sitting on the bank of one of the rivers in Katsushika Ward, Tokyo...the same one where iconic salesman Tora-san used to nap in his series of movies. I was never there in my 1972 visit as a kid but the "Otoka wa Tsurai yo"（男はつらいよ） movies has remained my cinematic ambassador to the early part of that decade. It's a sweet innocent ballad with Amachi singing about her sad feelings as a beau heads off into the horizon forever. My highlight is when both the singer's vocals and the strings soar in the refrain.
Right from the get-go, Amachi was a hit with the public. "Mizuiro no Koi" went straight up to No. 3 on the Oricon weeklies and became the 29th-ranked song for 1972. It would sell 800,000 records in total and would become the first of 11 straight top ten singles. The song was written and created by two sisters and amateur songwriters, Eri and Midori Tagami（田上えり・みどり...there are a few readings for that family name but I've gone with Tagami）, whose work on it attracted Amachi greatly to the extent that she was singing it often even before her debut as she was taking lessons at the Yamaha Music School.
On the J-Wiki article for "Mizuiro no Koi", I noticed, though, that there were two other names attached to the Tagami sisters: Carlos Pesce and Feliciano Latasa. I did a bit of digging to satisfy my curiosity and found out that they had created a tango piece by the title of"Gran Hotel Victoria" back in 1932. Supposedly, "Mizuiro no Koi" was based enough on this tango that as of 2006, their names are now also part of the credits.
Strangely enough, I found a YouTube video where a very young Ayumi Hamasaki （浜崎あゆみ）can be seen singing the Amachi debut.
Perhaps because of the fact that Eri Tagami's lyrics included the famous character, at the time of her debut, Amachi was given the moniker of Snow White. One of the earliest Japanese children's books that I had read as a child contained several pages in which the singer actually took on the Snow White persona through photographs with popular comedy group The Drifters as the Seven Dwarves.
Well, it's been a little over 6 months since I wrote up my 80s Playlist. That whole thing went up on New Year's Eve 2013, just a week after one of the worst ice storms in Toronto's history literally brought a good chunk of my hometown to a halt for several days. I put up a picture of my wintry neighbourhood on that playlist, so I decided to put up something considerably greener and warmer for this one, my 70s Playlist.
Now, my criterion here for my choices between 1970 and 1979 inclusive is exactly the same as was the case forthe 80s Playlist. These are songs that I've always liked to listen to and they happened to be the ones that always popped up in my head the most when it came to that decade. Once again, it was one of those things where I feverishly jotted singers and titles down on a piece of paper and then I had to start cutting here and there. And so, simply for the sake of time, space and that other dimension which we humans all share, laziness, the list will have 11 entries. Yes....11. There was that one song and singer that I had to include, partially out of guilt since I ended up not putting in any of her work in the 80s Playlist.
Therefore, let's all dive in...
1. Hiroshi Itsuki -- Yokohama Tasogare (1971): I have to make some recompense here since I didn't really give this song its due in terms of information when I wrote quite briefly about it a couple of years ago. Itsuki's first big hit was written by Yoko Yamaguchi （山口洋子）and Masaaki Hirao （平尾昌晃）for release in March 1971. The singer's career had been on a precipice when Itsuki took a chance on this one after 6 years of no hits and, like all fairy tales, the happy ending (and beginning) came true. It hit No. 1 and was the 6th-ranked single of the year, getting a prize at the Japan Record Awards and an invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen.
For me, "Yokohama Tasogare" was the first enka song that I had actually listened to (instead of merely hearing it) after getting fully interested in kayo kyoku in 1981. In fact, I used to listen to just the karaoke music and enjoyed it. It's one of those songs that straddles the line nicely between enka and Mood Kayo.
2. Mari Amachi -- Hitori Janaino (1972): I already made mention of this song and an unfortunate incident in a taxi riding away from Haneda Airport in the original article, so you can take a look there. But let it be said that compared to the later glamourous aidoru of Momoe Yamaguchi and Pink Lady, Amachi will always be the girl-next-door to me....although she would later appear in some racy V-Cinema type videos about a decade later. And "Hitori Janaino" will always be the quintessential early 70s aidoru song reminding me of my very first time in Japan.
3. Isao Sasaki -- Uchusenkan Yamato (1974): Dang nab it! I listen to this song 40 years later and I still get goosebumps and a lump in my throat. And so, that's why it just had to be on the list. The mighty theme for the mighty Yamato alone had a bunch of us kids running home from school at 3:10 just so that we could watch it at 3:30 under its Americanized title of "Star Blazers". It had and still has the same effect that any episode with the firing of the Wave Motion Gun! Yeah, I'm geeking out here....sorry....
4. Hiromi Ohta -- Momen no Handkerchief (1975): This was another song that immediately came to mind when I thought about doing the 70s Playlist. "Momen no Handkerchief" proudly declares sunny summer weather (although it was released around Xmas). No need to worry about work or study...just get out and enjoy the day with friends. But considering the brutal heat and humidity of Tokyo, that cotton handkerchief will be a must.
5. Hiromi Iwasaki -- Romance (1975): Although I've put down "Romance" as the No. 5 entry here, the early Iwasaki hit was my 11th choice. Reviewing the 10 that I had put down as my 80s Playlist, I realized far too late that Iwasaki wasn't represented at all there, so feeling like a downright heel, I just had to include her on the 70s Playlist. And why not? She may have been an aidoru performing it, but that amazing voice had already been there.
6. Yumi Arai -- Sazanami (1976): I also had a need to put down this song by The Queen of New Music. There have been many earlier examples of the Yuming-dubbed genre, but "Sazanami" possesses that refreshing breeze of bombing down the highway in a convertible from the big city down to the beach. And the tune fulfills the one City Pop condition of sounding like a journey outside of Japan to places unknown and exciting.
7. Pink Lady -- UFO (1977): I can still head back to Japan, mention this Pink Ladyhit to anyone from junior high school age and up, and be guaranteed that a handful of those folks will respond by doing the first few moves from Mie and Kei's choreography. And then I can probably entice them to do a few more moves from some of their other songs. However, "UFO" is the one song that arguably represents the ladies at their absolute peak. With those outfits and the crazed dancing, Pink Lady added a goodly amount of dynamism into the aidoru genre. Perhaps Morning Musume and AKB 48 may still be obliged to send Christmas and New Year's cards to the duo every year.
8. Off-Course -- Aki no Kehai (1977): One of the earliest songs that I discovered on "Sounds of Japan" that I really fell in love with. As I mentioned in the article for "Aki no Kehai", this is the equivalent of sitting down on a park bench in late September and simply enjoy the surroundings. Kazumasa Oda （小田和正）did do a cover version many years later as a solo artist, but nothing beats the Off-Course original with the lead vocals and the strings. Because of the beauty of this classic, I had wondered about why Oda had chosen the odd name of Off-Course for the band.
9. Junko Yagami -- Mizuiro no Ame (1978): This was another "Sounds of Japan" hit in my book. The Latin beat in "Mizuiro no Ame" and Yagami's soaring vocals were two of the many reasons that I continued to stick with her and Japanese popular music in general. There was nothing like this in Western music when I also started getting into the US/UK pop scene at around the same time, and it illustrated to me over time that Japanese singers were more than willing to dabble in a number of genres like bossa nova, jazz and AOR. To finish up, there has been a Pavlovian response imprinted in me from this contribution by Junko. When I was listening to the recording of "Mizuiro no Ame", I was simultaneously watching tennis players go at it at Wimbledon. So, now whenever the annual tournament gets mentioned or broadcast on the telly, guess which song pops in my head?
10. Momoe Yamaguchi -- Ii Hi Tabidachi (1978): This still stands as one of my favourite Momoe songs, and it's ironic since by the late 70s, the singer had already been singing in a tougher, more cynical style. But "Ii Hi Tabidachi" had Yamaguchi in a more vulnerable state as she sang about taking that lonely trip after a relationship going sour. That trumpet at the intro and in between verses was one of the wonderful things about it. If the singer ever decided to return to the limelight, even for a one-off performance, I hope it will be to sing this ballad.
11. Yellow Magic Orchestra -- Technopolis (1979): Well, I made one screw-up when I stated in the 80s Playlist that I couldn't put up any of my favourite YMO songs because they were all in the late 70s. There was "Rydeen" which was a 1980 single, so yes, I will be more than happy to take that Moog III-C upside my head, Professor. In any case, I'm happy to say that another one of my favourites, "Technopolis"was released as the technopop band's debut single in October 1979 and managed to get as high as No. 9 on Oricon. The YMO hit has been such an earworm for so many years that whenever I see some sort of futuristic building in Tokyo, out it comes into my head. I wouldn't put it past any broadcaster that it will play the song on a future documentary about Japan's capital as the 2020 Olympics draw near.
Well, there you have it....from enka to technopop. Quite the list. As usual, there were so many others that I had wanted to put up but that's the way it goes. Maybe by New Year's Eve this year, I'll get started on the 90s Playlist. In the meantime, perhaps you readers can let me know some of your favourites here or at any of the other lists in the "Author's Picks" category on the side.
