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.
Singer-songwriter Midori Hara（原みどり）has been a relatively recent addition to the "Kayo Kyoku Plus" family, but she's been making an impression upon me with her willingness to tackle a ton of genres including City Pop, jazz and Latin. She was even in the earliest incarnation of the eclectic SPANK HAPPY band doing some rock along the lines of YUKI from Judy & Mary. You can also take a gander at the Part 1 and Part 2 articles I posted to cover her 1988 album"KO・KO・RO・NOTE".
In 1989, Hara released another album titled "Aamer Jabar to Ieta Hi"（アマロ・ジャバロと言えた日...The Day I Say Aamer Jabar [sic]）. The title track happens to be called "Aamer Jabar" and I had to jump through a few linguistic hoops before I found out that the title originates from Indonesian. Looking through Hara's lyrics of the song, I saw the expressions "Selamat malan!" and "Selamat tinggal!" which are Indonesian for "Good night!" and "Goodbye!" respectively. Assuming that "Aamer Jabar" was also from the same language...I ran it through Google Translate but didn't get anything. However, it then suggested that I try it through Bangla which is actually spoken in Bangladesh and eastern India and I got the translation "I'm going". But if anyone who's fluent in the above languages can confirm or refute what I've found, please let me know. Terima kasih!
Well, it seems like Hara decided to go trilingual including her native Japanese to broadcast her song of heartbreak and death of romance in "Aamer Jabar". Hara's melody at least sounds quite romantic and rather exotic with a bit of R&B balladry and late 80s City Pop stylings. In a way, it's kinda like Junko Yagami's（八神純子）style of music from those late 1980s.
Last Friday, I provided an article featuring Side A of Midori Hara's（原みどり）sophomore album from March 1988, "KO・KO・RO・NOTE"(Heart Note) . It's been a production that's surprised me with the singer tackling some of the more urban contemporary genres such as City Pop. Today, I'm finishing up with the Side B tracks. Unless noted, everything here is by Hara.
This starts with "too young" which was written by Yu Aku（阿久悠）with Hara providing the melody which Masahiro Ikumi（幾見雅博）arranged (and in fact, he arranged all of the tracks). It starts off feeling as if David Foster got his hands on the song and it then continues onto a West Coast AOR vein. If you ever wondered what such a song would sound like if YUKI from Judy & Mary or NOKKO from Rebecca had gotten behind the mike, then today is your lucky day (though it's ironic then that today is Friday the 13th).
"Iro no Nai Movie"（色のない Movie...Colourless Movie） is a wholly Hara creation whose verses are underlaid with a bit of reggae before going into a city strut chorus. The singer herself takes on a slightly more plaintive and sultrier direction with her vocals. There's also some really nice guitar work here in the intro and instrumental bridge.
The penultimate track has a pretty existential title. "Yojigen Kuukan Ryokou"（四次元空間旅行...Trip Through Four-Dimensional Space） has that feeling of a relaxing jazz standard with a wood bass figuring prominently in the arrangement, although the presence of the Fender Rhodes or electric piano keeps things in the contemporary. So, would the title be referring to a regular trip through time and space?
For the final track of "KO・KO・RO・NOTE", "Tsuyoku Dakishimeteite mo Sayonara"（強く抱きしめていてもSa・Yo・Na・Ra...Holding You Tight Even If It's Goodbye）, the poignancy is in the piano as Hara delivers a heartfelt ballad about saying goodbye although the feelings for each other are still there. Just like the final track on Side A, "Itami"（痛み...Pain）, I can get that hint of gospel blues which makes me wonder what would it have been like if an actual organ had been used instead of the piano.
As I've mentioned, "KO・KO・RO・NOTE" is quite the delightful surprise from thirty-eight years ago by Hara. For those who like their 80s City Pop and some more genres, you can give this one the good ol' college try.
The above is the famous gyoza statue just outside of JR Utsunomiya Station in Tochigi Prefecture. Utsunomiya City is one of the big places for the cooking and consumption of those plump and delicious gyoza dumplings. I actually transited through the station on my way to other farther places in Japan at the time, but sadly, I couldn't partake in any of the gyoza places there (although I ate a truck's worth of the dumplings during my 17 years in the nation).
Now, the reason that I started out with one of the big symbols for Utsunomiya is that the lady for this article hails from there. I'm talking about singer-songwriter Midori Hara（原みどり）who has been mentioned twice in the blog. One article featured her 1987 debut (and what a debut!) single"Tsugunai no Hibi"（償いの日々）which was also a debut with Tulip lead singer, Kazuo Zaitsu（財津和夫）. If anyone asked me what an 80s power ballad sung by Japanese artists is like, I would point to this one.
I also found out that she had been the first female vocalist for the long-running eclectic band SPANK HAPPY from the early 1990s. And in those days, the band took on a rock flavour with Hara taking on a katakana-ized form of her name（ハラミドリ）and a certain timbre that reminded me of another rock vocalist, YUKI from the band Judy & Mary. And it was then that I assumed that Hara was really about that pop-rock sound.
Well, how wrong I was. I had a bit of a taste of her debut album from June 1987, "MiDo", and the songs sounded like a playful funk-pop. And then for the Holidays, I was able to pick up a few albums, one of which was her second album"KO・KO・RO・NOTE" (Heart Note) which was released in March 1988. If I'm not mistaken, Hara took care of all of the songs' words and music while both Hara and Masahiro Ikumi（幾見雅博）were the album arrangers.
"KO・KO・RO・NOTE" is quite the revelation. If the aforementioned YUKI had been asked to tackle a City Pop or generally adult contemporary project, this album would be what I had envisioned. It all starts with "Pajama no Mama de STEP!"（ぱじゃまのままでStep!...Dance About In Your Pajamas!）which has a battery of synths and horns coming together to provide some of that Bubble Era champagne-and-caviar urban sound. The singer even sounds a bit like Janis Joplin having some real vocal fun with the breathy and propulsive delivery and scatting. I can imagine her dancing in her PJs when she was a teen...and getting yelled at by her parents.
"Uchuu Kuukan Yuuei"（宇宙空間遊泳...Spacewalk） is the second track and this one hit me very hard when I first heard it because of the really smooth City Pop vibes here. The groove and romantic sax solo provided by arranger Ikumi rolls in like a large ripple of velvety-smooth chocolate syrup. There are some big names of the genre helping out as well such as Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）on flugelhorn, Shuichi "PONTA" Murakami（村上ポンタ秀一）on drums, and Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）on piano (you can see the full list underneath the video at YouTube). It's been a while since I've heard something this City Pop and at the same time, I also got those early 80s Manhattan Transfer vibes.
Track 3 is "Kannazuki no Omoi"（神無月の想ひ...October Memories） which is even more laidback and languid than "Uchuu Kuukan Yuuei" but this is more of a Latin-tinged pop ballad. Time for a twirl around the dance floor at 10 pm here.
"Kokoro no Juunan Taisou"（Ko・Ko・Roの柔軟体操...Calisthenics of the Heart） has her bringing more of the old-timey-wimey jazz although the song is more of a fusion effort between it and pop...nice to bring this in when we've completed the first century of the American-born genre. I don't get to hear clarinets so much in jazz anymore so it's nice to have the ol' licorice stick back, especially I used to bring that home almost every night during junior high school.
The last one for Side A and the last one for Part 1 is "Itami"（痛み...Pain） which is a gently lilting ballad with a bit of a gospel blues touch. It makes for a nice contemplative cool-down track to end the side. Speaking of which, I'll bring Part 2 next Friday.
A week ago, I wrote on an article featuring a duet between folk group Tulip（チューリップ）vocalistKazuo Zaitsu（財津和夫）and new singer Midori Hara（原みどり）titled "Tsugunai no Hibi"（償いの日々）. It was the second link in an interesting chain down the rabbit hole which began from listening to Scott's "Holly Jolly X'masu" podcast last week. Well, I'm going further down the hole since I found out that Hara would later help form a band with the intriguing name of SPANK HAPPY.
Of course, the slightly naughty part of my mind wondered if the origins of the band name came from some sort of S&M flick (the safe word is apples), but according to their fairly detailed J-Wiki biography, SPANK HAPPY, which first began in 1992, adapted their name from 1970s German avant-pop group Slapp Happy. I will let that matter rest then.😏
SPANK HAPPY has had a long history which can be divided into three phases. What has been called Old SPANK HAPPY consisted of vocalist Hara, saxophonist Naruyoshi Kikuchi（菊地成孔）and keyboardist Shin Kouno（河野伸）. In terms of the genres that they covered, once again according to J-Wiki, the band has covered technopop, dance pop, disco, electronica, House and electroclash but the phase that Old SPANK HAPPY covered between 1992 and 1998, seemed to be more about psychedelic rock and perhaps even the avant-pop that Slapp Happy had been aiming for.
Case in point: their December 1994 single"Boku wa Gakki"(I am a Musical Instrument). Written and composed by the band, it definitely doesn't sound anything that I've heard in Japanese pop music at the time. In fact, I'd say that the song hearkens back to the aforementioned psychedelic rock and some of that Beatles late-60s music. For the pop ballad with Zaitsu, Hara may have sounded like she was auditioning for a David Foster love song, but here she sounds like the second coming of Yuki from Judy & Mary with a bit of Chaka from PSY-S.
"Boku wa Gakki" might come across as rebellious and raucous but the lyrics are pretty poignant as they describe the night as being melancholy music with all of the people acting as the musical instruments interpreting what they are feeling. And to keep on that 60s thing, there is a part of that song which reminds me of "MacArthur Park" by actor Richard Harris.
Another song from the early phase of SPANK HAPPY is their maxi-single from earlier in August 1994, "Hashiri Naku Otome"(The Running and Crying Maiden). The Judy & Mary feeling comes even harder here through the song and Hara's vocals, and it's all about a spat playing out downtown as a woman runs off from her boyfriend's car with the usual anger, despair and melodrama being flung about like mortar attacks. "Hashiri Naku Otome" also has plenty of energy with help from some boss horns so this time, I feel that this is straight-up pop/rock approaching that Judy & Mary sound along with a bit of Original Love thrown in. Maybe even a soupcon of 80s David Bowie?
In their live performances, SPANK HAPPY was joined by musicians including trombonist Yoichi Murata（村田陽一）, guitarist Tsuneo Imahori（今堀恒雄）and percussionist Asa-Chang.
Near the end of 1997, Kouno left the band. Then in 1998, Kikuchi had to be hospitalized for a time due to serious illness, and then later in the year, Hara herself left which meant that the first phase of Old SPANK HAPPY was at an end. A year later, Kikuchi would return and be joined by a new partner to begin New SPANK HAPPY which had a new sound. I'll cover a song during that phase soon enough and then eventually, I'll get to their third incarnation known as Final SPANK HAPPY which started up in 2018.
Last night, I listened to Scott's latest episode for his podcast "Holly Jolly X'masu" which features the great wealth of Japanese Christmas songs. The 1988 compilation album “The Night Before Christmas” was the target and it's a pretty good one with entries by Masaki Ueda（上田正樹）, Kazuo Zaitsu（財津和夫）and Hitomi "Penny" Toyama（当山ひとみ）among others. Zaitsu provided two Xmas tunes, one of which I will definitely cover in a few months when KKP's annual Xmas season is upon us, but there was another one by a singer that I had never heard of before by the name of Midori Hara（原みどり）, and her Xmas tune was "Very Merry Christmas To You" which is a sad and somewhat bitter ballad about ending up alone during the Yuletide. As I mentioned to Scott, Japanese singers seem to enjoy singing about very blue Christmases to a near-masochistic degree.
Alas, I couldn't find "Very Merry Christmas to You" on YouTube, but hearing Hara's fine vocals, I decided to make another dive into the rabbit hole. Such dives have unearthed an aural treasure of riches in the past, and happily, this one is no different. Incidentally, Hara hails from Utsunomiya City in Tochigi Prefecture, a metropolis that has been known for its plethora of gyoza restaurants and its gyoza statue by the main train station. The singer-songwriter got a kickstart to her career when she won the Grand Prize at a Nippon Columbia audition in 1986.
Man, what a payday she received. Her very first single released in January 1987 had her paired up with the veteran lead singer of Tulip（チューリップ）, the aforementioned Zaitsu, and was written/composed by none other than Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）. Now, just as a brief aside, J-Wiki and even Hara's own website haven't been able to decide definitively whether "Tsugunai no Hibi" (Days of Atonement) came out in 1987 or 1989. But for the sake of argument, let's go with 1987 (and I was right...finally).
Getting back on track, soulful Hara's duet with Zaitsu, "Tsugunai no Hibi", is a most interesting and lovely 80s power ballad. Perhaps it's because the arrangement was by Zaitsu and Seiichi Kyoda（京田誠一）, but it doesn't sound like the usual Yuming（ユーミン）tune. I think it sounds more like something that David Foster had created for the band Chicago when they were in their love song phase back in the early 1980s. Those keyboards were really key there.
Scott goes into detail about Hara's career on the podcast when he plays "Very Merry Christmas to You", but I can also let you know that she joined up with the pop group Spank Happyin the 1990s when it was first formed though she left in 1998. According to her J-Wiki article, she is also a narrator for commercials as well as a vocal trainer. I'll definitely have to talk about Spank Happy in a separate article shortly.
