Yumi Seino -- Itte Mon Amour（いってモナムール）

 

Several years ago in 2017, I posted the first article on singer Yumi Seino（清野由美）, and it just happened to be "Katamuku"（傾く）,  a track from her January 1983 album, "Continental". I would later find out from her earlier albums that Seino had been one for the City Pop boom but perhaps within "Continental" and specifically "Katamuku" itself, there was a transitional feeling between that City Pop and a more refined sophisticated pop with a European flair...along the lines of what Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）was doing at around the same time.

A little over a week ago, one commenter was wondering about the rest of "Continental" and I had to answer the person that I didn't know since at the time, there was perhaps only the one example of the album on YouTube, which was "Katamuku", and for some reason, other videos with the tracks simply didn't show up on my recommendations although at least a few of them have been around since 2020. But the commenter did point out that they are up now, and so I've opted to try one more track from "Continental" out.

I should have realized from the Impressionistic art on the cover and the title itself that this wasn't going to be a straight-out City Pop release from Seino. And indeed, the one track "Itte Mon Amour" (Tell Me, Darling) is far away from the streets of Tokyo and probably out somewhere in France, Italy or Spain in some techno cabaret. Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）came up with the lyrics while a number of others including Seino herself had a hand in the composition of the melody which strikes up images of slow dances and tangos on the evening ballroom floor. Yet at the same time, in the chorus of "Itte Mon Amour", there is still something kayo kyoku in its heart since I could hear something like this on some old Japanese music-variety show from the 1950s to the 1970s.

PAO/Mariko Kurata -- Sunset Kiss（サンセット・キッス）

 

Never heard of "A Little Romance" before but this 1979 overseas cinematic rom-com starred Laurence Olivier and a 13-year-old Diane "Save Martha" Lane. Certainly, the trailer above pretty much screams "MEET CUTE!".

Following its initial release in the United States in April of that year, "A Little Romance" got its Japanese debut in July. As is often the custom, an image song specific to Japanese audiences was created for the movie, and much to my surprise, it turned out that the obscure New Music/City Pop trio PAO recorded one for this movie.

But this time, true to the nature and setting of "A Little Romance", PAO went for some of that sweeping exotic kayo instead of City Pop in the arrangement. It was released as a single with Side A providing the English-language version while Side B had the Japanese-language version. Side B was written by Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）and composed/arranged by Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏之）while Side A had PAO member Sabine Marianne Kaneko（サビーネ金子）helping out with the English lyrics.

I've read some rumours that the lead vocalist was Takako Mamiya（間宮貴子）who had been a member of PAO in its very early days. But seeing that name of Sabine featured very prominently in katakana on the lower-right of the cover for the single and remembering that Mamiya had only been involved in PAO's debut single "Say Yes" in 1978, I believe that there is no sign of the mysterious City Pop singer in "Sunset Kiss" although I can understand how many listeners including myself could initially think that Mamiya was behind the microphone. In any case, the above video has the English version while the one below is of the Japanese version.

Later on in November 1979, Mariko Kurata（倉田まり子）would release her debut album "Anata ni Meguri Aete..."（あなたにめぐり逢えて・・・・Encountering You） and it includes her cover version of "Sunset Kiss". With Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）handling the arrangement, the song takes on a much more City Pop flavour with that downtown groove. Sounds as if the setting of the movie had been moved from Italy to Tokyo.

Rumiko Tenma -- Oshiete Kudasai, Kamisama（教えてください、神様）

 

I have a few observations about aidoru Rumiko Tenma's（天馬ルミ子）debut single in January 1978, "Oshiete Kudasai Kamisama" (Please Tell Me, God). One is that considering the Kawasaki-born lass was born in May 1964, her vocals on this song were remarkably solid and self-assured for someone who was still thirteen years of age. They were light and dainty but not really high-pitched like my impressions of most aidoru in the 70s and 80s; they seemed to skip with aplomb despite the tempo of "Oshiete Kudasai Kamisama".

The song was written by Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）and composed by Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）, and for the most part, its rapid pace and breezy arrangement had me thinking that this could be a tune that a singer or duo such as Pink Lady could handle. And of course, Tokura did provide that kick-stepping pair with a number of their hits at around the same time. One other observation is that not only does a certain part of Tokura's melody remind me of the ol' Yuletide classic "Here Comes Santa Claus", the pre-chorus containing the title takes a sudden but temporary right turn into a musical passage that sounds like a romantic fantasy in Disneyland, but again as mentioned, Tenma raced through it just fine as an elementary school Grade 6 student.

Born Rumiko Tenmadate（天間舘）, she studied Japanese dance and piano from a young age and then when she was in Grade 4, she entered the Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃）Music School before making her debut a couple of years later. Tenma was also a regular on television variety shows. During her time with what would eventually become the record company Tokuma Japan Communications, she released four singles between 1978 and 1979, including her debut. There was one more record that came out in 1984 under the CBS/Sony banner before she got married in 1992.

Toru Furuya -- Kanshou（感傷）

 

Knowing about the "Gundam"（ガンダム）franchise for decades but having only seen the first few movies of the original series, thanks to my anime buddy back in pre-COVID civilization, and then just tribute anime such as "Gundam Build Fighters", my impression of the main character, Amuro Ray, is that he really really needs a hug. It's truly amazing that he hasn't ended up in a hospital for all of the emotional ups and downs that he's been through.

Perhaps his seiyuu, veteran Toru Furuya（古谷徹）, has provided therapy through some of his singing. Yep, there have been some surprised folks on the fact that, yes indeed, he has jockeyed a recording microphone as well as the controls of a Gundam in his Ray character. And I only discovered his 1982 album "Sunny Side Street" within the last half-hour via the YouTube channel, New J Channel (and I'm glad that it has returned).

Specifically, there was one song from the album that caught my ear and that was "Kanshou". Only the romaji was up for the title and the Japanese term has a lot of different kanji and meanings attested to it, so it took quite the while to track down what it means. Fortunately, I was able to find an online image of the closeup of the original record with the listing of Side 1, and the kanji is actually 「感傷」which means "sentimentality". 

In any case, "Kanshou" was written by Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）and composed by Masaki Iwamoto（岩本正樹）. The intro has Furuya singing somewhat haltingly as if he was channeling Ray, but then the City Pop melody flows in and for all genre fans, all is right again in the world. Nice touch with the Latin guitar, too. In fact, sometimes I think the song was inspired by Christopher Cross' "Sailing" and maybe Furuya's vocals have that touch of Goro Noguchi（野口五郎）.

Chrysty -- Lonely Queen

 

About a year ago, I introduced a very obscure 1980s band called Chrysty which put out their own self-titled album in 1984 and I featured the standout track "Mysterious Night".

Still haven't had a listen to the entire album but I have taken a gander at the first track "Lonely Queen". Written by Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）and composed by Chrysty vocalist Katsumi Takeichi（竹市克己）, I get that Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）vibe while the vocals remind me of H2O, so an interesting combination that. The lyrics for this particular song aren't up online but from the title and from what I've gleaned from City Pop stories, "Lonely Queen" probably centers on a popular lady of the disco who seems to be the life of the party outside while really not so enamored with the luxury life inside.

Yep, as uploader Marty McFlies pointed out in his assessment of "Chrysty", "Lonely Queen" (and perhaps the other tracks) may not measure up to "Mysterious Night" but all in all, it's not a bad song. If Omega Tribe and H2O can be heard to some extent in a fellow City Pop band's creation, then I'm not complaining too much at all.

Daigoro Jesse Takamiyama -- Super Jesse（スーパー・ジェシー）

 

Commenter James Noah and I had a small conversation on sumo rikishi who haven't only tussled in the dohyo but also sung behind the mike. One famous example is Daishiro Masuiyama（増位山太志郎）but as KKP co-administrator Noelle Tham has written, several wrestlers have also banded together to provide traditionally-arranged songs.

Remembering back to my childhood, the very first sumo wrestler that I had ever seen was actually not even Japanese. He's currently known as Daigoro Takamiyama（高見山大五郎）but was born Jesse James Wailani Kuhaulua in Hawaii. Launching his sumo career in March 1964, his Wikipedia article relates that he achieved a number of firsts in his 20 years as a rikishi such as the first foreign-born wrestler to win a tournament (1972) and the first foreign-born wrestler to get his own stable in 1986...a stable that includes fellow Hawaiian Akebono（曙）who reached the exalted top rank of yokozuna. Takamiyama himself got as high as sekiwake, the third-highest rank in sumo.

However, I was too young and didn't have ready access to Japanese television to have ever seen Takamiyama actually perform in his chosen profession back in those days. In fact, I only got to know him in his second career as adorable commercial pitchman, something that he was doing even while he was still doing his yorikiri and oshidashi to defeat competitors. The things that stood out to me were his enormity and those sideburns which were big enough to deserve their own postal codes.

I had kinda figured that it was so but I didn't confirm it until yesterday that Takamiyama put out some singles. At the time, anyone who was that popular in Japanese pop culture was bound to be gently persuaded to cut a few records. Sure enough, the big lug did put out a couple of singles and a couple of albums.

Judging from the abrupt cuts of different songs, I gather that the person involved wanted to bring an aural summary of "Super Jesse" the album from 1977 under the Toshiba label. I think that it's the single "Super Jesse", also from that year, that launches the album with Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）and Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏之）as lyricist and composer respectively. Instead of either an enka/Mood Kayo or an ondo style, Takamiyama and his group decided to go for some disco and funk with the big man himself not taking himself too seriously as he approached singing in the same way that he approached his opponents...just get the words out as fast and hard as possible in that familiar rasp.

If I recall, Akebono himself has starred in his fair share of commercials.

Chika Takami -- Triple Date（トリプル･デイト）

 

As noted several years earlier, aidoru Chika Takami's（高見知佳）most successful single wouldn't come out until February 1984 with the EPO-penned "Kuchibiru Nude"（くちびるヌード）.

(26:24)

Still, on hearing one of the tracks of her debut album "First Date"（ファースト・デイト）from March 1979, there is something that is appealingly turn-of-the-decade aidoru, and images of the streets of Tokyo that I witnessed back in 1981 come back to mind. This would be the song titled "Triple Date" .

Written by Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）and composed by Juichi Sase（佐瀬寿一）, the reason that "Triple Date" has tugged on my nostalgia strings so hard is not only the feathery vocals by Takami but also the alternately soaring-and-cutting strings, the wailing guitar, and the twinkly keyboard action that adds a certain urban feeling to the proceedings. It brings out the old days of Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）, Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）and Yoshie Kashiwabara（柏原芳恵）, some of the first singers which I encountered when I first fell for the charms of kayo kyoku in earnest.

Tatsuhiko Yamamoto -- Matenro Blues（摩天楼ブルース）

 

Another nice and relaxing ballad by singer-songwriter Tatsuhiko Yamamoto（山本達彦）who I think is one of the relatively hidden treasures for J-AOR and City Pop. I believe that I've noted this before but his delivery seems to mix in some of the vocals of his contemporaries, Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）and Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）.

From his February 1982 album "I Love You So" is the final track "Matenro Blues" (Skyscraper Blues) which indeed has that bluesy feel replete with soft keyboards, harmonica and of course Yamamoto's soothing voice. Accompanying his melody is Masami Sugiyama's（杉山政美）lyrics which are happily not a downer at all and actually show an emerging romance in the big city. Perhaps in reflection of the title, the couple is up at the top of those tall buildings in the West Shinjuku area during the evening.

The video below is a live performance of "Matenro Blues" by Yamamoto from his 1987 album "Alive and Well". Hopefully, all of you are, too.

Tatsuhiko Yamamoto -- Imitation Tale

Haven't picked up on Tatsuhiko Yamamoto（山本達彦）in a while and since it is City Pop Friday after all, I think it's time to feature him again. Naturally, there are several Princes of the genre and I would put Yamamoto next to Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）and perhaps Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）in terms of overall tone.

Sure enough, listening to his "Imitation Tale" from his June 1984 album "Music", I could pick up that electric guitar being filtered through the Doobie Brothers as something that I've heard on a number of Inagaki songs. As for Yamamoto's vocals, I peg him closer to Abe's voicing since Inagaki has that higher and more nasal pitch. "Imitation Tale" has got that nice sweeping flow throughout the metropolis with the guitar reminding me for some reason of a Rick Springfield song. Speaking of weird images, when I hear this one, I can only imagine Yamamoto sporting something like an outfit out of Sonny Crockett's wardrobe on "Miami Vice".

Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）was behind the lyrics while Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）provided the music. Finally, Jun Sato（佐藤準）brought everything together in arrangement. "Music" peaked at No. 6 on Oricon.

Ayako Sawada -- Michinori（径程）/Air Pocket（エア・ポケット）

For a long time, I had known about the actress Ayumi Ishida（いしだあゆみ）on television but didn't realize that she was a singer, and certainly I was surprised to find out that it was her vocals that graced the classic Mood Kayo "Blue Light Yokohama"（ブルーライト・ヨコハマ）. Since that realization and my creation of the blog, I've been paying more attention to her hitherto unknown discography.

Currently, I'm having the same experience with actress, TV personality and singer Ayako Sawada（沢田亜矢子）. She was another presence that I used to see in dramas and commercials for years on Japanese TV, and I have just read that she used to be one of the first co-hosts of the NTV morning talk-variety show "Look Look Konnichiwa"（ルックルックこんにちは）.

Well, I've also learned the fact that she also had spent her time as a singer for nearly a decade between 1973 and 1982. In fact, according to a 1973 issue of "Heibon Punch"（平凡パンチ）via J-Wiki, Sawada was drawn into show business at the age of 23 when she had been scouted while playing piano in a bar at the Takanawa Prince Hotel in Tokyo as a part-time job.

Though her first two singles came out in 1973 in short order, it would be about four more years before her 3rd single was released in May 1977. That was "Michinori" (Limits of the Journey[?]), a slightly melancholy kayo with strings and horns sung beautifully by Sawada. Written by Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）and composed by Kantaro Yamamoto（山本寛太郎）with arrangement by Katsuhisa Hattori（服部克久）, I wasn't able to find the lyrics online but from the sad but seemingly never-give-up beat, I can only imagine that it's about someone getting on with life despite a setback, romantic or otherwise. The song was also the opening theme for a drama that had Sawada in the cast, "Sasurai no Tabiji"（さすらいの旅路...Wandering Journey）.

Strangely enough, though, the very first time that I heard an Ayako Sawada song was through my recent purchase of a CD from the "Light Mellow" series. In "Wing", I found an example where she had jumped on board the City Pop bandwagon originally through the B-side of her 7th single "Dance ni Muchuu"（ダンスに夢中...In Love with Dancing） from 1981. Titled "Air Pocket", I'm not surprised that this had been welcomed into the "Light Mellow" series since those two words describe "Air Pocket" to a T. It has that summery saunter to it including a nice guitar solo. Tsuzuru Nakasato（中里綴）wrote the lyrics of enjoying that City Pop life in which there is even a quick shoutout to Boz Scaggs. Junichi Kamiyama（神山純一）took care of the lightly bouncy music. Both A and B sides were also on her 2nd album from 1981, "Silky Night Sawada Ayako First Album" （Silky Night 沢田亜矢子ファーストアルバム）. I gather that the "First Album" naming was due to that this was not only her inaugural release for Crown Records but it was also her first album in nine years since her debut album in 1973 for RCA Victor.

P.S. Her daughter, Kaori Sawada（澤田かおり）, is a singer-songwriter as well, and you can take a look at one of her songs.

Yosuke Tagawa -- Yo-yo（ヨーヨー）

I first talked about 70s aidoru Yosuke Tagawa（太川陽介）over a couple of years ago when I wrote about his big hit, the dynamic "Lui-Lui" from 1977.

This time, the song is "Yo-Yo", Tagawa's 6th single which was released in April 1978. Written by Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）and composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, there is something country and disco in this one, and I keep getting reminders of Boney M. As the protagonist describes his perhaps on-again/off-again girlfriend as a yo-yo, I wonder if the fellow might actually be one himself as well. No idea how well it did on the charts.

Apparently, according to J-Wiki, the actual toy yo-yo had their respective booms in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s after first coming over in the early 1930s.

Yumi Seino -- Katamuku （傾く）

I've seen this singer Yumi Seino（清野由美）on YouTube for the past number of months but did not notice her within the pages of "Japanese City Pop". And although she's not profiled on J-Wiki, she has received some acknowledgement on a Japanese-language music blog that I've referred to in the past, "Music Avenue". Even the writer there has stated that considering her low profile, it would be surprising if any of her presumably 3 albums ever got converted to CD. Well, that article was written over 10 years ago, and apparently someone in the recording industry had a heart and did have at least two of the albums turned into CDs according to what I saw at CD Japan.

For that "Music Avenue" blog entry, the writer kaz-shin mentioned that the first album "U-TA-GE" which came out in 1981 had a sound reminiscent of Akira Terao's（寺尾聡）City Pop classic "Reflections". However, with today's article, I'm going with a track from Seino's 3rd album "Continental" titled "Katamuku" (Leaning In) which was written by Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）and composed by Seino herself.

Released in January 1983, I found out on another page which gave a short review of the album that her sound had changed. And listening to "Katamuku", I did get the impression that although that City Pop feeling was there, there was also some of that blippity-bloppity technopop sound so my overall impression of the song was something closer to Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）poppier tunes from around the same time. Maybe there is even a certain amount of EPO tossed in as well.

Also listening to "Katamuku", I wasn't quite sure whether the YouTube video had gotten a good recording especially with the saxophone solo which sounded kinda wobbly. It almost sounded like something from a weird dreamy burlesque show directed by David Bowie. Basically, I could compare the version I've heard here to pineapple on pizza....I can take it just fine (I fully realize that others won't go near the stuff) but there's something a tad odd about a fruit so tangy sweet on an Italian classic. For the record, my favourite slice is pepperoni, although at Pizza Hut, I always like to grab a Meat Lovers'.

I would be interested in getting "Continental" someday in the near future just to listen to it as originally recorded. As for that matter, I want to get that debut album by Seino as well since that reportedly hewed toward the full City Pop. And frankly, if it has been compared to "Reflections", then it has gotten my attention.

Tatsuhiko Yamamoto -- Summer Holiday

Amazon.jp

It may have been "Martini Hour" on the cover but boy, the guy looks like he missed out on it by about a minute. All dressed up and now nowhere to go is how Tatsu looks.

https://music.apple.com/jp/album/martini-hour/724968560

(excerpt only)

But I digress. City Popster Tatsuhiko Yamamoto（山本達彦）, who I first introduced in the annals of this blog last month with his debut single "Last Good-Bye", is really pulling on his inner Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）with this peppy tune from his 2nd album "Martini Hour" from 1983 (which peaked at No. 3). In fact, I hope I'm not offending him, if in the unlikely event that he ever comes across "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but he sounds like he's doing his own version of Inagaki with "Summer Holiday".

With a melody by Yamamoto in there that seems to have popped in from "Hey Nineteen", Masami Sugiyama's（杉山政美）lyrics talk about a couple spending that wonderful and romantic time at some seaside bar with those martinis in hand. The only thing missing from this City Pop tune is the iconic plane jetting off into the sky. Considering how hot today was here in Toronto, I think "Summer Holiday" is the ideal song in the blog to commemorate the first day of the season, but the high temperature is dropping about ten degrees tomorrow. Predictably unpredictable, Toronto weather is.

Ruiko Kurahashi/Yoko Nishigori -- Kono Ai ni Ikite （この愛に生きて）

Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）has often looked so ennui-ridden and downcast on her album covers that it's always a surprise (and a pleasure) when I see her actually smiling. And she looks pretty Hollywood on the cover of her 9th single from October 1985, "Kono Ai ni Ikite" (Live Through This Love). This was not a major Kurahashi song but from listening to certain phrases from it, I could recognize it pretty easily and it is a pleasant enough ballad that has that European air which often characterizes a Kurahashi ballad. It's nice to hear in that study on a rainy Sunday.

However, I just found out that Kurahashi's ballad was actually a cover version. The original "Kono Ai ni Ikite" was sung by Yoko Nishigori（西郡よう子）who hails from Fukuoka Prefecture. Debuting in 1976 after becoming known in her area as a folk singer, her version of this song was released in 1978 as her 3rd of 4 singles. I've listened to it twice and Nishigori sounds similar to another singer from that time, Machiko Watanabe（渡辺真知子）. In addition, the arrangement here also has that jaunty exotic feeling that was being imbued in a number of pop songs in the late 70s such as Saki Kubota's "Ihoujin"（異邦人）. Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏之）came up with the music while Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）provided the words.

Nishigori left show business soon afterward in 1980 but returned in 2004 as a jazz singer under the name of Kei Hoshino（星乃けい）.