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.
Showing posts with label Masayoshi Takanaka. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Masayoshi Takanaka. Show all posts
Indeed, it has been breezing here today and this is such a relief after the stifling heat and humidity from yesterday. Just kinda wish that I could get some of those breezes here in my room.
This brings me to my next article for today, Masayoshi Takanaka's（高中正義）cover of "Breezin'" from his November 1978 album"ON Guitar". When I was scrolling up and down Takanaka's J-Wiki file for the album, I couldn't find it in the usual place but then I did find it within his brief list of concept albums. "ON Guitar" was Takanaka's instructional album about how to play the guitar (I can only imagine just from hearing "Breezin'" that this is more for the advanced students). Considering how popular the musician has become recently via X/Twitter, perhaps he should consider re-releasing the concept stuff.
Anyways, as I said above, Takanaka is covering "Breezin'" which was originally created by American singer and musician Bobby Womack and then recorded by Hungarian jazz guitarist Gábor Szabó for the latter's 1971 album "High Contrast". Compared to the original, Takanaka wanted to add a bit more of a festival atmosphere to his version. Definitely good for the beach set.
For the album, Yellow Magic Orchestra's drummer Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）and bassist Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）helped as part of the backup band. Interestingly enough, "ON Guitar" was released on the same day as YMO's debut album.
Little Tokyo in Los Angeles has a rich history, and last year, one of its oldest businesses, Mitsuru Sushi & Grill, closed permanently following the retirement of its owner.
I had gotten to know the owner and his family pretty well over the years. Mitsuru may not have been the fanciest or trendiest eatery in Little Tokyo, but to me, it was the most peaceful — and perhaps the most authentic. The walls were decorated with old monochrome photographs of the neighborhood, Japanese movie posters, and vintage Asahi and Suntory beer advertisements. It felt like a place where time had slowed down.
Back in its heyday, Mitsuru operated as both a sit-down diner and a convenience store. In its later years, it had been reduced mostly to the restaurant side, though it still had a sushi bar. During its final weeks of business, I decided to pay it one last visit during one of my usual trips to the record store.
As a goodbye gift, I thanked the owner personally and gave him one of my own records: Sneaker Dancer by Yosui Inoue (井上陽水). He was so grateful for the gift that I ended up taking home ten bottles of sake and two shot glass collections in return. I guess he was a big Inoue fan — or maybe he was just touched by the gesture.
At that point, I had only just begun digging deep into Inoue’s discography, but Sneaker Dancer immediately stood out to me. Part of that was because half of the songs were arranged by legendary guitarist Masayoshi Takanaka, which was already enough to catch my attention. But the song that truly sold me on the album was “Jenny My Love” 「ジェニー My Love」.
Maybe it’s because I’m a hopeless romantic, but I’m a sucker for some good old-fashioned brokenhearted blues. There’s something funny, and strangely moving, about hearing the phrase “singing in the rain” delivered not with the cheerful, happy-go-lucky spirit of Gene Kelly, but as a loud, dramatic cry for help. With Inoue crying in the rain over a sad, one-sided love for Jenny, whoever Jenny may be.
For me is Takanaka’s emotional guitar solo is the glue that holds this song together, cutting right through the track and pairs beautifully with Inoue’s bluesy wailing, giving the song a sense of longing that feels deeply personal.
In my personal opinion this song sounds best when performed live. My favorite being the version sung at NHK Hall on March 7, 1982. This version features singer-songwriter Kōji Tamaki (玉置浩二) , who would become well known as frontman of the rock band Anzen Chitai.
I started off today's batch of urban contemporary tunes with a sultry nocturnal song by Naomi Akimoto（秋本奈緒美）, so why not wrap up things with something conversely lighter and bouncier?
Here's something to go with your margarita. "Palm St." is a track on guitarist Masayoshi Takanaka's（高中正義）6th original album"T-Wave" from June 1980, an album that hit No. 7 on Oricon and ended the year as the 34th-ranked LP. It's quite the spritzer of a song that was composed by Izumi Kobayashi（小林泉美）as a tune to get folks into a conga line out at some Caribbean resort after dinner to shave off the calories. When Takanaka gets on a bender with his guitar, enjoy the ride!
Speaking of composer Mimi, the musician did a self-cover of "Palm St." the following year when she released her first solo album"Coconuts High" in December 1981. This slightly longer version has Kobayashi showing off some layered scatting, more steel pan and her own virtuoso performance on the keyboards in an arrangement that invites some good old jamming. Incidentally, I covered the final track on "Coconuts High" a few years ago, "Mr. Cool".
I only read this on Reuters' Twitter account some minutes ago and just in case the tweet gets deleted (I doubt that), I'll quote it here:
Seventy-three-year-old Japanese guitarist Masayoshi Takanaka is selling out venues worldwide, riding a surge of Gen‑Z enthusiasm that has propelled him back onto international stages — and back to London for the first time in five decades.
Despite it being April Fool's Day, I don't think this is some cruel hoax so let me give my heartfelt congratulations to Mr. Takanaka（高中正義）. Of course, on reading this, I'm going to take full advantage of the opportunity.
Yes, it is April 1st but it's also a Wednesday and therefore Hump Day as usual. Folks are sighing about the fun that is now past history from last weekend and the fun that they have to wait another few days for this weekend. So, let's have Takanaka himself bring a little cheeky happiness to everyone with his own tribute to the original "Star Wars". Indeed, his third single from July 1977 is "Star Wars Samba". I had to blink twice when I saw his J-Wiki discography but he did arrange John Williams'classic theme to sound like a samba to have caipirinhas with. So, perhaps Japanese fans could not only enjoy MECO's disco version but also Takanaka's elastic Brazilian take at the same time. Apparently, it was also placed into his fourth album "Brasilian Skies" which was released in the same month as the single.
I think the one time that I had bad chicken was when I was back in Ichikawa. For dinner, I decided to make my own chicken katsu so I did the usual thing with the chicken breasts and dredged them in flour, egg and panko. They went into the microwave oven for some minutes (yup, I didn't use a fryer...followed my friend's style) and I chowed them down with rice. Well, I was glad that this all happened on a Friday since my weekend was pretty much a goner. I had the worst stomachache; whether it was due to not cooking the chicken enough or there was something in the egg wash, I'll never know. The horror of that gastrointestinal disaster was enough for me never to make chicken katsu ever again.
Hopefully, master musician Masayoshi Takanaka's（高中正義）only approach to bad chicken was actually through his creation "Bad Chicken" from his June 1987 14th original album"RENDEZ-VOUS". Takanaka was responsible for the funk and rock but Daryl Canada took care of the lyrics. Yes, this is a better way to shake that body around instead of wincing and twisting in agony. "Bad Chicken" wasn't necessarily used for the dance floor, though. It was actually used as a campaign song for a Toshiba product and none other than Hiroko Yakushimaru（薬師丸ひろ子）was in the commercial. I guess she liked hugging electric poles; I'm not judging.🤷
I didn't realize how poignant this song by Atsuko Nina（二名敦子）would be. The reason I say this is that the towns of Kaimū and Kalapana on the Big Island of Hawaii were destroyed by a lava flow erupting from the Kīlauea volcano in 1990. The towns are buried under 50 ft. of lava and a new black sand beach has formed over the old one which was once seen as one of the most beautiful examples of its type in the world. From what I've read, the new beach is really only good for volcanologists now.
Going back to Nina's song, "Kalapana Black Sand Beach" is the opening track from her May 1984 album "Loco Island". Written by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composed by Masayoshi Takanaka（高中正義）, the way Nina sings this jolly and laidback song, the beach, pre-volcano, was one heck of a place to get together and get surfing. A little bit of that jazzy piano goes a long way, too. Hopefully, the area will return to its former glory.
As a kid, when I was reading through my copy of "The World of Star Trek" by David Gerrold, I discovered that the Great Bird of the Galaxy, Gene Roddenberry, had tried to sell producers on his magnum opus as a "Wagon Train to the Stars". There had been an NBC country-western TV series called "Wagon Train" in the early 1960s which was a No. 1 hit that lasted the better part of a decade. It's never a bad thing for a salesman to compare a new product as a similar version to an established product.
Maybe musician extraordinaire Masayoshi Takanaka（高中正義）had some "Star Trek" on the brain when he came up with not only the title but the arrangement of this eight-minute-and-change opening track on his September 1980 mini-album, "Finger Dancin'". "Space Wagon" can be an analogue for "Star Ship" and of course, "Wagon Train to the Stars" enters my Trek-addled brain when I hear that title. Even the opening measures of "Space Wagon" had me thinking a bit of Alexander Courage'soriginal theme for "Star Trek" when it premiered in the 1960s.
As with any jazz/fusion musician, Takanaka allows "Space Wagon" to go on its own wayward adventures during its eight minutes, considering all of the genres that I've thrown at it in Labels. Overall, though, it kinda combines the spacy with some down-home feeling. Sounds like Masayoshi and Jim Kirk were able to share a raktajino somewhere on Earth.
I've heard my fair share of music from the Caribbean, Mexico and Brazil and have enjoyed it all. That also includes Perez Prado's"Mambo No. 5", even if I had never heard of the title until quite recently. As soon as I hear the song, I immediately think of swivel hips and feet trying to trace a complicated series of steps on the dance floor.
Thanks to that multi-record collection "50 Years Of Hits In Stereo" by RCA our family had, I was able to get my education in Prado's music early in life but "Mambo No. 5" wasn't one of the lessons. Still, this particular song is one of the most well-known instrumentals from Cuba that I know. Man, just watching those folks above has got me winded. OK, I'm going back to the buffet table.
Of course, something this catchy will always have cover versions. One from Japan was handled by musician Masayoshi Takanaka（高中正義）as his 2nd single. His even more peppery take on "Mambo No. 5" was released in February 1977 and was also a part of his 2nd album"TAKANAKA" which came out a month later. With the subtitle of "Disco Dango" (ahh...um, no), Takanaka's "Mambo No. 5" indeed has that disco sheen (and his signature guitar riffing) in his arrangement and Chris Mosdell even added some lyrics.
Takanaka must have enjoyed "Mambo No. 5" so much that a few years later, he even created his own "Mambo No. 6" for his 6th original album"T-WAVE" for release in June 1980. Created solely by the musician, this doesn't have the disco anymore but it does have more of a fusion approach.
Well, being a Friday and all, I gather that a lot of folks are heavily thinking of hitting the nearest bar or hole-in-the-wall to celebrate the end of the work week with plenty of drink and hearty food. For some reason, I also muse about plenty of Latin jazz.
Guitarist and producer Masayoshi Takanaka（高中正義）has been serving his fair share of tonic since the 1970s. Within his 5th studio album"Jolly Jive" (December 1979), I have "Bamboo Vender" which has songwriter Takanaka also helping out not only on the guitar but also the steel drums while Izumi Kobayashi（小林泉）is on the keyboards. I don't really think of anyone selling bamboo poles while getting into "Bamboo Vender", but it's very pleasant hearing that rumbling Cuban jazz rhythm (if I'm wrong with my geography here, please let me know). My image is more of beach chairs, white sands and sipping cocktails.
With that December 1979 release date, I can only figure that those who had bought the original LP of "Jolly Jive" had some mighty big ideas about flying out of the cold and over to more tropical climes. I can certainly sympathize although as I'm typing this out, it's been unusually warm here in Toronto with the heat index in the low 20s Celsius.
I've put this photo up a few times already as the thumbnail, but just to let folks know once more, this is the old Akasaka Prince Hotel. It had served its time proudly for many years but several years ago, it was finally demolished.
Time to put in another Masayoshi Takanaka（高中正義）track "Tokyo Reggie" from his debut album"Seychelles" released in July 1976.
With Yukihiro Takahashi's（高橋ユキヒロ）lyrics, Takanaka, perhaps with the assistance of singer Tan Tan and Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）as backup chorus, has provided "Tokyo Reggie" with the inviting ticket for some happy Resort Pop in a summery environment. In fact, on repeated listenings, there is something quite Tin Pan Alley but with a faster disco beat. Along with Takanaka's guitar, "Seychelles" is also given some more oomph from Tsugutoshi Goto's（後藤次利）bass, Motoya Hamaguchi's（浜口茂外也）percussion and Jake H. Concepcion's sax, although Concepcion doesn't seem to be around for "Tokyo Reggie".
I've got a fair wind coming along right now. It's the fan going on behind me. Yup, I've actually put on the fan during a December afternoon, a week before Xmas Eve! My room has always been the warmest in my home and frankly it does need some airflow, so it goes on. Having said that, it is more seasonal out there with a high temperature of 5 degrees Celsius and there's even some chance of snow over the weekend.
The above paragraph is just another one of my segues into "A Fair Wind", the first track on guitarist Masayoshi Takanaka's（高中正義）September 1982 9th album"Saudade". Looking through the comments for the YouTube video, it indeed sounds like something appealing to listen to while on some sort of vehicle such as a car or even a jet-ski. Created by Takanaka and arranged by Narada Michael Walden, it is one cheerful and funky tune to have you enjoy a drive along the Ventura Freeway or a ride in a speedboat as Takanaka takes his flights of fancy on the guitar.
"Saudade" was actually recorded at The Automatt, a recording studio in San Francisco which had its time between 1976 and 1984. Plus, it also hit No. 1 on Oricon and came with the catchphrase of "Moving your body, moving your soul". "A Fair Wind" was able to do that just on its own.
In terms of weather today, it's a bit damp and gloomy out there. Also, some of that cold air is wafting into my room but it's not too uncomfortable for the moment as I type this in.
Moreover, it seems to be the ideal atmosphere for this beautiful folk song by singer-songwriter Itsuro Shimoda（下田逸郎）. In all honesty, I'd never heard of this Miyazaki Prefecture-born folk singer before but he possesses this wonderful character in his voice which relates profound sadness and wistfulness.
Shimoda has been active since 1967 but his first record didn't come out until the early 1970s. His third single, and the topic of this article, is "Odoriko" (Dancing Girl) in October 1974, which was also arranged by Masayoshi Takanaka（高中正義）. A melancholy ballad that comes across as regret over a failed relationship as each partner is now looking for someone else, the melody by Shimoda has a very woodsy and ancient sensation. I'd say that it's even more fantastical than the average J-Folk song since I can easily imagine dwarves, elves and Orcs in this setting than I can Tokyo rivers, ordinary young folk and tiny tatami apartments.
His career in entertainment continued into the mid-1980s with singles and albums being released. But the singer then took a break of sorts for several years within Japan and outside of the country before returning to singing sometime in his 40s. Although he stopped putting out singles in the 1980s, he has been releasing albums up to 2018. His J-Wiki article stated that he was influenced by fellow folk singer-songwriter Chiharu Matsuyama（松山千春）, and sure enough, Matsuyama below is covering "Odoriko".
Not quite sure where I took this picture but it definitely is a very cute one of a Japanese rice omelet. I don't recall having been to any Maid Café in Toronto (recently) although I think there is still that one down in Chinatown.
Speaking of Heart of Hearts, here is a nice one from guitarist/composer Masayoshi Takanaka（高中正義）,"Straight From Your Heart", a track from his 10th album "Can I Sing?" released in October 1983. Quite the sunny stroll on the pier, music-wise, this Takanaka treat seems to infuse some Margaritaville with a bit of Tin Pan Alley. I get images of cocktails served in pineapple shells while sitting in some Tiki bar.
Keeping on with the connections, "Straight From Your Heart" was given lyrics by Chris Mosdell who had a working link with Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）during their Yellow Magic Orchestra days in the late 1970s going into the 1980s. Hosono was also a member of Tin Pan Alley back in the 1970s. Then again, I think Takanaka also had his own relationships with that band as well.
I don't think that I ever mentioned Takanaka's choice in guitars but since I've got my anime buddy who's also a hardcore guitar enthusiast, I can relate that he has an affinity for the Yamaha SG, the Fender Stratocaster and the Mosrite, according to hisJ-Wikiprofile.
Can't quite believe it's been over a year since I put up that first Masayoshi Takanaka（高中正義）article for his epic "An Insatiable High", the title track for his 1977 album.
Well, I've got another track from "An Insatiable High" called simply "E.S.P.". It's not quite on the same level as the title song, but it's a happy and brisk 4 minutes and change of Latin-infused fusion that would make for a nice accompaniment for that jogger on the cover of the album, if he were sporting a Sony Walkman (not sure if they were actually already out in 1977).
I'm just going with what kaz-shin said on his review of the album at "Music Avenue", but it looks like Jim Gilstrap was handling the main vocals with Maxine Anderson, Julia Tillman Waters, and Maxine Willard Waters as the backup, and maybe it was indeed Lee Ritenour noodling on the guitar with Patrice Rushen on the keyboards. The Tower of Power horns are also in there as well.
Gilstrap is stating that the titular special power has been responsible for that special connection with that special someone. I can just imagine some nightclub Lothario trying that line with an unimpressed woman back in the 1970s; it probably had as much success as "What's your sign?".
That's the response that I've usually received from friends whenever I tell them a bit about my past. Yup, considering how I look now, I can understand why they may look like they want to do a spit take, but indeed, when I was in junior high school, I actually did run a few kilometres most mornings in the area of my school. Crazily enough, I actually was thin once upon a time but that had just as much to do with those sudden growth spurts of adolescence as it did with my running. Even crazier was I also entered a half-marathon at the Toronto Zoo...and actually finished without spurting out my internal organs like a defensive sea cucumber.
All that preamble just to introduce one scintillating song by guitarist/songwriter Masayoshi Takanaka（高中正義）. Seeing that cover for his 3rd solo album, "An Insatiable High" (1977), I wonder whether he caught onto jogging a few years before the activity got as huge as it did. That title also makes me ponder whether he had also been aware of that phenomenon known as "a runner's high". Yes, I also did experience that when I was running at the zoo...wondering through my huffing and puffing whether I would last much longer when I suddenly hit the perfect stride and things looked and felt a whole lot better.
That's what I thought when I heard the title track from the album. "An Insatiable High" actually goes for over 10 minutes, and its trip sounds and feels like Takanaka is relating a condensed melodic version of a marathon on a sunny day through some great countryside. And perhaps like the perfect run, he has buddies on his journey...some pretty famous ones. According to the article for the album on "Music Avenue", guitarist Lee Ritenour is jamming in there with Takanaka as Steve Forman, Paulinho Da Costa and Motoya Hamaguchi（浜口茂外也）are helping out on percussion with Jun Fukamachi（深町純）providing that nostalgic synthesizer sound. The one surprise is that pianist Patrice Rushen is handling a solo in "An Insatiable High"; I still remember her for "Forget Me Nots".
Considering the easy but fun run that Takanaka and friends take us, perhaps the song already has us in that zone or runner's high. Interestingly at about the 7-minute mark of this 10-minute odyssey, all of the heart-racing activity suddenly slows down into something far more mellow. Maybe it's here that Takanaka has crossed the finish line and we are experiencing the happy relieved collapse and the cool down. To be honest, the first time I heard this, I was a bit disappointed that the jamming suddenly came to an end with three minutes left to go but I think I will actually start appreciating the relaxation coda in time.
As for Takanaka himself, the Tokyo native debuted in 1971 and has straddled the rock and fusion worlds with this guitar. He apparently first participated in the band Strawberry Pass（ストロベリー・パス）with Hiro Tsunoda（つのだ☆ひろ）before getting together with others to form Fried Egg（フライド・エッグ）, and isn't that the perfect name for a rock band of the early 1970s? He also took part in the Sadistic Mika Band（サディスティック・ミカ・バンド）before going solo with his first album"Seychelles" coming out in 1976. His most recent release was his 30th original album"Yonjuu Nenme no Niji"（40年目の虹...40th-Year Rainbow）in 2011.
Now this is a real palate cleanser for yours truly! Listening to the various hits of the much-loved 80's aidoru Akina Nakamori (中森明菜) on an episode of 'NHK SONGS' last Saturday night, I came across a few that have been introduced to me via monomane talent Korokke's (コロッケ) crazy shenanigans. The first ever being 'Desire', then subsequently 'Jukkai (1984)' when he was a guest on The Drifters' 'Dorifu daibakusho' (ドリフ大爆笑).
The hilarity of seeing Ken Shimura (志村けん) and Korokke in dresses at a cabaret club aside, I had eventually succumbed to the catchy-ness of 'Jukkai (1984)'. Like most aidoru songs I know, it's got the synthesizers loud and clear at throughout - something I miss from 80's pop - as well as the electric guitar in the background that makes it all the more cool. Then we have a bouncy Nakamori dancing and twirling away as she sings with that low and powerful (for an aidoru) voice of hers. That really breaks my stereotype of female pop idols singing at a pitch that drives me up the wall, by the way.
Anyway, just like in the title the song was released in July 1984 as Nakamori's 9th single. Written by Masao Urino (売野雅勇) and composed by Masayoshi Takanaka (高中正義), 'Jukkai (1984)' received half a dozen accolades... literally. Some examples include 'Best broadcasting music award' (I have no idea what kind of award that is, but okay) at the 15th Nihon Kayo taisho and 'Best song Award' at the 13th FNS Music Festival. It did really well on the Oricon charts as well, peaking at 1st place and settling at 6th by the end of the year. And she sang it once at the 35th Kohaku. As expected from a song during her time at the top.
