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.
Heck of a time to think of summer nights now that we in Toronto are in our first full day of winter 2023, but we can try to dream of the hot and humid time that we had several months ago and that we will have again in another several months.
Over two years ago, I posted a groovy little number called "Let Yourself Go" from a collaborative album between singer Marlene and fusion band Seawind titled "Summer Nights" from July 1982. Well, this time, I've got the title track from the album, and it's a bit more uptempo with the alternately funky and mellow horns swinging everywhere along with Marlene's velvety vocals. The temperatures may not be too balmy out there but at least we can sweat vicariously to this tune.
"I Wonder What You're Like?". It's something that I've heard in situations preceding blind dates. I've been on a couple of them in the past, and well, let's say the results weren't particularly happy ones. One was actually set up by one of my elderly students in Asakusa, and I discovered that the age gap between me and my date was so great that I got nervous that folks around me were muttering the words "rob" and "cradle". I bought her some ice cream.
"I Wonder What You're Like" is also the title of a track from Marlene's May 1984 album"Looking for Love". The singer's 8th single "I'll Take My Time" is also on the album, and compared to that Melissa Manchester-esque strut, this particular song has got more of a creamy soulful feel to it. Robert Kraft and Larry Carlton composed "I Wonder What You're Like" while Carol Hall provided the lyrics which show that things have progressed far better romantically for the couple in the song than anything that I have been involved in. Nice trumpet solo and Marlene's smoky vocals add that extra classy sheen.
Marlene's song is actually a cover by the aforementioned Robert Kraft through his 1982 album"Retro Active".
I see that title and I get hungry for that old Pizza Hut pizza. It was always the Super Supreme for me and back in my university days, my buddies and I would hit a branch near U of T. They always had those $5 Thursdays deals where every 5~10 minutes or so, the server would offer various slices of pizza. Indeed we let ourselves go to Pizza Hut, and after absorbing all that fat and calories, I definitely let myself go.
Once again, I use a desperate segue to bring us all to another cool urban contemporary number for tonight, "Let Yourself Go", a track from "Summer Nights", the July 1982 album featuring the collaboration between singer Marlene and fusion band Seawind. Usually the main vocalist for Seawind was Pauline Wilson, a name that is known here at "Kayo Kyoku Plus" because of her own collaborations with Yutaka Yamakawa（山川豊）on songs such as "Say You Do".
I was delighted to also find out that along with Wilson, Seawind also had saxophonist Larry Williams and trumpeter Jerry Hey, both of whom have worked with other Japanese singers. Hey is someone that I've especially seen in a number of liner notes on other albums, notably the ones for Anri（杏里）, so whenever I see his name in the list, I know that I'm going to get some fine horns. Certainly, I'm receiving those as I listen to "Let Yourself Go". My internal City Pop meter threw out a big PING when I heard this one for the first time.
When I searched at the JASRAC database about the songwriters behind "Let Yourself Go", I found out that it was a creation by Richard J. Rudolph and Leon Ware. If it is indeed the same Richard J. Rudolph, he's the songwriter and musician who was married to the late great Minnie Riperton of "Lovin' You" fame and later married retired singer Kimiko Kasai（笠井紀美子）. He also happens to be the father of actress/comedian Maya Rudolph, formerly of "Saturday Night Live".
I will start off by giving my kudos to Keir Hardie for providing another wonderful Marlene（マリーン）tune onto YouTube (June 26 2022: Unfortunately, it looks like the powers-that-be may have shut him down, so I found another video above).
"I'll Take My Time" was actually Marlene's 8th single under her current name and her previous one of Marilyn (her first 4 singles). Released in May 1984, there's so much about "I'll Take My Time" that has me reminiscing about afternoon listens to the radio during high school and university. Yup, I do love my AOR, and another singer that Marlene reminds me of here especially is Melissa Manchester. I also enjoy the combination of the guitar and the chorus in the background there. In fact, maybe there's something rather Steely Dan with that guitar.
The song was created by Jay Gruska and Paul Howard Gordon. Assuming that "I'll Take My Time" was released only in Japan, I wonder whether this would have also had some sort of recognition if actually recorded in America and for American audiences.
Well, it's the penultimate Friday of the year so let's get to some City Pop!
I'm not such a purveyor of Vaporwave or Future Funk that I've ended up writing my script L I K E T H I S or thinking about the A E S T H E T I C S of it all. But from time to time, I encounter videos by folks such as Macross 82-99 and man, they can introduce me to some fine music such as the one that begins the above video.
Found out that this lively tune belongs to Marlene（マリーン）and those horns (BOOM, BOOM!) just grabbed me by the ears and haven't let go even though I first heard this 24 hours ago. "ESP" is one of those songs that belong in the party area of City Pop. Written by Linda Hennrick and composed by Masanori Sasaji（笹路正徳）, "ESP" is a track on Marlene's September 1983 album"Magic", whose title track I've been well acquainted with for years.
I don't know whether Van Paugam has ever played "ESP" during one of his City Pop parties around the world, but if I had to make a request, I wouldn't mind putting this onto the playlist. Will always enjoy my exploration of the genre.
Well, how about an earworm swirling through my mind?
Now, when it comes to the band Chicago, even though I did come to realize that they had been together since the late 1960s as the Chicago Transit Authority, I only knew them mostly for their 1980s power ballads such as "Hard Habit to Break". Y'know...these were the guys (including Peter Cetera) who were probably responsible for all those love songs that played during various proms during that decade.
However, just in the last few days, my senses have been hit with this song from before all of that Chicago balladry in the 80s. Namely, I discovered "Street Player" from their 1979 album"Chicago 13" on YouTube, and it's been impossible to resist pushing Play on the various videos of the song on the site. And good golly, the album version is nearly 10 minutes long!
To be honest, another thing that was swirling in my mind was how I would be able to someday insert it into this blog since "Street Player" has been so irresistible with those damn fine horns, Cetera's vocals, and the fact that I knew the Japanese would probably have loved this tune as well since they have warmly welcomed Earth Wind & Fire all these years and of course, there is "Ai no Corrida".
I needn't have worried since it looks like the Japanese fusion bandSpectrum（スペクトラム）took care of things very nicely with their own cover of "Street Player". I tried looking on J-Wiki whether the band actually recorded this on one of their early albums, but I couldn't find the song anywhere, so perhaps this video was a one-off extravaganza performance they put together on a TV show back in 1979.
And yowza, what an extravaganza! Not only did Spectrum get their brass in fine fettle for the song, but they had quite the trio of singers helping out: Hatsumi Shibata（しばたはつみ）, Yukari Ito（伊東ゆかり）and Marlene! Moreover, the performance went for those 9 minutes plus just like the first track from "Chicago 13". As for the choreography, though....I just kinda got that thought, "And now, here come the Solid Gold dancers!". Yup, it was indeed the 1970s, wasn't it? That aside, though, I would like to tip my beret to Spectrum.
One of the videos for "Street Player" that have been getting repeat performances on my computer has been this remix version having a whole bunch of street dancers strutting their stuff. And the YouTube channel happens to be called Street Player as well. Now, I really am gonna bid you a good night.
T-Cat's article on Marlene's（マリーン）cover of "Beware Boyfriend" had me thinking about devoting a Marlene article to another cover she did for "Magic", which was originally recorded by great Japanese fusion band The Square (known as T-Square today).
Listening to the original version by The Square which was a single from October 1981, I thought it was somewhat subdued for what I've become accustomed to by the band just according to their BEST album that I have of them (as pictured above), "T-Square Plays The Square". I mean it's got the bounce in there but I think even the vocals were a bit quieter than they should have been. "Magic" was also the title track from their 5th album which came out a month after the single.
Actually, the first time I had heard "Magic" was through Marlene's cover on one of my Wah Yueh-bought compilation tapes. In fact, it was the first time that I had even heard of Marlene herself. Her take came out as a single in September 1983 and it had a whole lot more of a kick through a fine horn section and Marlene's more forward vocals. Plus there were those virtuoso strings. Her version really stood out from the rest of the tracks on that tape since it first struck me as being so disco. It was almost to the point that I wondered why it was included on this particular tape.
In fact, all these years, I had assumed that Marlene's "Magic" was the original so when I heard T-Square performing it on the above mentioned "T-Square Plays The Square", I was slightly taken aback at hearing this instrumental version so I did some checking out and found out the actual story.
Of course, you gotta have both The Square and Marlene get together to make some "Magic". Incidentally, Linda Hennrick provided the lyrics while The Square's leader, Masahiro Ando（安藤正容）, took care of the melody.
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" wascomposed 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 - TheCompact 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 ...
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:
That was quite the game, wasn't it? Pundits have been saying over the past few days that the final game of the 2016 Major League Baseball season will go down as one of the best Game 7s ever played. I will one up that opinion and say it may be one of the best games, period. As much as it was a pity that the Blue Jays didn't make it past the ALCS, I was rooting for the Chicago Cubs since they needed to get that 108-year-old albatross off their necks. And they did it!
So I was thinking of some baseball-themed kayo that would have been appropriate for the situation. However, I had already taken care of yakyuu songs such as the anison "Touch" and even "Rokko Oroshi"（六甲おろし）, the theme song for the lovable losers of Osaka, the Hanshin Tigers. But try as I might, I couldn't find anything out there.
However last night out of the blue (& white...Cubs' colours), I came across the above video on YouTube. It turned out to be the Japanese theme song for the brief American sitcom version of "The Bad News Bears" (more ursine coincidence). The custom, I think, still continues today where J-Pop tunes are created specifically as promotion songs for imported foreign TV shows (heck, I think there was even one for "Space 1999").
Anyways, I remember watching the original movie from the mid-1970s with Walter Matthau as the suffering manager and Tatum O'Neal as the fireballing pitcher. There was even a sequel "The Bad News Bears Go To Japan", before the TV version came on via NTV with veteran actor Jack Weston in the Matthau role. I'd forgotten when the series aired but according to Wikipedia, it was 1979-1980. Apparently, that TV version did make it over to Japan but instead of the familiar strains of Bizet's "Carmen" greeting viewers there, it was a jaunty country music pop song that framed the opening credits.
Marlene Pena Lim is a jazz singer based in Japan who I first found out about when one of her disco songs got onto a compilation tape of 80s Japanese music that I got at Wah Yueh in Chinatown back in my university days. Going by her nom de guerreMarlene by that point, that particular song was called "Magic".
Born in Manila, The Philippines in 1960, she made her professional debut as a singer in 1975 at the age of 15 and made her way to Japan in 1979. Her debut single under the name of Marilyn (and that was the case for her next 3 singles) was "Seishun Carnival"(Carnival of Youth), a happy-go-lucky ditty about trying one's best and not giving up the fight while making a very short shoutout to the Bears. It sounded all very "ABC's After School Special". Nobuko Tanaka（田中のぶ子）wrote the lyrics while Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）came up with the hay wagon ride of a melody. While "Seishun Carnival" covered the A-side of the single, the B-side had an arranged version of "Carmen".
Finding this song was providence. Imagine writing about a song for a group of a fictional baseball team of lovable losers in tribute to a real baseball team of (now former) lovable losers. And I've always enjoyed finding the obscure and interesting Japanese kayo as much as I've savored writing about the hits.
Bill Murray has been one of my favourite comedic actors ever since "Caddyshack" and right through "Ghostbusters" to "Groundhog Day". I've known him for his deadpan sense of humour and sometimes downright dour demeanor. So it was well worth repeatedly watching his truly joyous reaction when the Cubs finally won.
