Miho Yonemitsu & Yuko Anai (from Tokyo Performance Doll) -- Akiiro Concerto（秋色協奏曲）

 

Happy Labour Day to all involved countries, and no, I realize that we're still almost two months away from Halloween, but I couldn't find any other picture on short notice to depict the autumn season. And this song does signify the season in its title.

Actually "Akiiro Concerto" (Fall Colour Concerto) as performed by two members of the aidoru group Tokyo Performance Doll（東京パフォーマンスドール）, Miho Yonemitsu & Yuko Anai（米光美保・穴井夕子）, was ably covered several years ago by my friend and co-administrator of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", Marcos V. in 2016. I usually don't do follow-ups of fellow contributors' articles since they have always spoken for themselves without the need for added insights from me. However, I was so charmed by Yonemitsu & Anai's work here that I wanted to write something.

For one thing, I'm always going to be a sucker for some swinging Burt Bacharach-esque horn arrangements since that ties in with the whole Shibuya-kei thing in the 1990s. Indeed, I know that it's the synthesizer providing the horns (kinda PSY-S-like) and there's a part of me that would have preferred the real horns for "Akiiro Concerto", but I'm just whining a tad here. Still, the song created by lyricist Nonoko Jin（神野々子）and composer Kazuhito Fujiki（藤木和人）has got a good beat and the ladies behind the mike give some fine harmonies.

As Marcos mentioned in his article for the song, "Akiiro Concerto" first saw the light of day on the group’s third album, “Cha-Dance Party Vol. 3", in November 1991. I've already provided a few articles regarding Yonemitsu's solo career following her TPD days including her cover of the City Pop classic "Koi wa Ryuusei" (恋は流星）, originally by Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）.

Miho Yonemitsu -- Orange（オレンジ）

 

It's no longer the case but whenever the year was on the verge of ending, my parents used to bring home a box of those Mandarin oranges, aka mikan, from the downtown Japanese food shop. My brother and I always looked forward to those since they were almost always sweet and darn easy to peel. What I wouldn't find out for a few decades is that the mikan was also the staple fruit to nosh on during those early days of the New Year while dug in deep under the kotatsu in Japan.

Not that the above video signifies anything remotely related to New Year's Day. In fact, I'd say that the music video for Miho Yonemitsu's（米光美保）"Orange" is more for the summery days that probably a lot of us in the northern hemisphere are already longing for. It was -4 degrees Celsius this morning but with the wind it was feeling more like -11! Talk about wanting to dive under the kotatsu.

"Orange" is indeed a nice slice of groovy pop which was released as Yonemitsu's 17th single in August 1998. Along with her creamy vocals, the accompanying guitar and, well, just the overall arrangement of the music are very relaxing and reassuring. Singer-songwriter and current sake brewmaster Caoli Cano（かの香織）helped create "Orange" with Yonemitsu. It may be getting cold out there but perhaps something like this song can help with the warmth.

Miho Yonemitsu -- Fall in Love, It's Forever

I first spoke about former 90s aidoru Miho Yonemitsu（米光美保）from Tokyo Performance Doll when she gave her lovely cover of Minako Yoshida's（吉田美奈子）"Koi wa Ryuusei" (恋は流星）in her October 1995 album "Forever".

As such, I'm still hoping that I can get a copy of that album, especially on hearing this other track from "Forever", "Fall in Love, It's Forever" which is, I gather, the title track. Written by Yumi Kadoya（門屋祐美）, it's composed by one of the princes of City Pop, Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）, but despite the beats in there, I don't quite think that the song itself is quite a member of that particular urban contemporary genre, although there is a feeling of contemporized 60s pop and even some sophisti-pop. But may I say that it has a lovely Fender Rhodes intro thanks to Shingo Kobayashi（小林信吾）and a trumpet solo to die for by Masahiro Kobayashi（小林正弘）?

"Fall in Love, It's Forever" is quite the classy uplifting tune, true to that feeling of the title and I still love those tender and flying vocals by Yonemitsu. As kaz-shin remarks in "Music Avenue" in the review of the album, the song has that refreshing feeling of morning although that buzz saw guitar at the end is a bit jarring. Interestingly enough, once it's done, it then goes into that cover of "Koi wa Ryuusei".

Ah, just noticed that I passed the 5 million view mark! Thank you very much, folks!

Miho Yonemitsu & Yuko Anai -- Akiiro Concerto (秋色協奏曲)

It’s been a while since I listened to a gorgeous melody, and I’d never guess a group like Tokyo Performance Doll (東京パフォーマンスドール), famous for their professional dance routines in the early 90s, was going to grace me with one these days.

“Akiiro Concerto” is a song recorded by two TPD members, Miho Yonemitsu (米光美保) and Yuko Anai (穴井夕子), which was first included in the group’s third album, “Cha-Dance Party Vol. 3, in november 1991. However, I only discovered it in Yuko Anai’s solo album, “Yuko from Tokyo Performance Doll”, released in January 1993.

About the song, the only thing I know is that every time they start singing the melodic “aki iro concerto” line, I just melt. And it gets even better when it interpolates with the orchestral synths in the arrangement near the ending. Noteworthy, everything here, from the second voice in the aforementioned “aki iro concerto” line to the lively arrangement, is well executed. In all honesty, I could never think something like that could come from TPD’s factory.

Recently, the song has been performed by Fumi Oto (大藤史), also from TPD, in a piano ballad version. The focus of this version is the strong melody, but also Oto’s beautiful vocals. I’d love a studio version of this one as well.

Now, this last thing has nothing to do with the proper article, but I’ve been listening to this song a lot in the past few days. It’s a Latin/Brazilian-styled Italo Disco from Italian singer/composer/producer/keyboardist Stefano Pulga (from Italo Disco band Kano) called “Welcome To Brasilia” (Brasilia is actually Brazil’s capital, even though Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo are the most known major cities). I’ve been in love with all the synths and the song’s groovy nature, so that’s why I’m sharing it here... without any purpose.

(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)

Back to “Akiiro Concerto”, lyrics were written by Nonoko Jin (神野々子), while music was composed by Kazuhito Fujiki (藤木和人). As for the arrangement, Thousand sketcheS was the responsible.

Minako Yoshida/Miho Yonemitsu -- Koi wa Ryuusei (恋は流星）

Man, was I impressed when I bought Minako Yoshida's（吉田美奈子）"Light'n Up" (1982), and heard some of the wonderful tracks on that album, including the gorgeous "Hoho ni Yoru no Akari"（頬に夜の灯）. This lady has soul!

Then I came across this earlier masterpiece, her 3rd single, that was part of her 7th album, "Twilight Zone". Both single and album were released on the same day in March 1977. Listening to it, I couldn't help but start shifting my shoulders and bobbing my head like a deranged pigeon. I only wondered if she and "Koi no Ryuusei"(Shooting Star of Love) had ever made it to Don Cornelius' "Soul Train". Yoshida wrote and composed the song in 2 parts. Part 1 is above with Yoshida wailing away at the night....perfect time to listen to this song.

(6:46)

Part 2 is the instrumental jam session of the song with Yoshida riffing a bit at the beginning before she lets the band go to do their thing. And according to the writeup on J-Wiki for the song, she probably had to reserve at least an entire izakaya for the wrap party. Strings, trombones, saxes, bass, electric guitar....they're all in there. Old buddies Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）and Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）are in there helping, too. And Yoshida anchors everything with those cool piano chords.

Wouldn't mind getting my own copy of the single someday.

October 10 2013: And I finally did....in fact, I got all of "Twilight Zone". Too bad, it didn't come with Part 2, though.

I also want to add to this update by showing you a lovely cover of "Koi wa Ryuusei" by former Tokyo Performance Doll member, Miho Yonemitsu（米光美保）. She gives a light and clear-as-a-bell delivery in this clubbier version of the City Pop classic. It wasn't released as an official single, but it is on her 3rd album, "Forever" which was released in October 1995.