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.
If I'm not mistaken, it's Presidents' Day down in the States while up here in Canada, we're celebrating Family Day. Wherever you are, I hope you are having a good day.
Of course, being a holiday today means that we've got a special Reminiscings of Youth article and in keeping with the family theme, I've opted to go with another one of my fondly remembered TV show themes. I'm not sure if I have remembered this correctly but at one point on the ABC Friday night lineup, it was the sitcom trio of "The Partridge Family", "Bewitched" and "The Odd Couple" that kept my eyes on the screen.
Probably out of the three shows, "The Partridge Family"was the one that has filled me with the most nostalgia because the plot did involve a family-based band led by Shirley Partridge (Shirley Jones) and their brand of pop-rock music along with the fashion of those times (bell-bottom pants, flimsy vests and wide lapels). Of course, the theme song, the gently rock-n'-rollin' "Come On Get Happy" by Wes Farrell and Danny Janssen has been the song from "The Partridge Family" to stick with me all these decades.
In fact, "Come On Get Happy" is so iconic in my brain that I was surprised to find out that Early Installment Weirdness (coined as a trope in "TV Tropes") had also settled into "The Partridge Family" starting with the September 1970 pilot episode when "Together (Havin' A Ball)" was used while the clan was actually performing it.
And then for the rest of the first season, "When We're Singin'" was used as the main theme. If it sounds familiar, it is because the Farrell melody would be used for "Come On Get Happy" but the original Diane Hildebrand lyrics would be replaced by Janssen's words. The theme I've always known would be used from the second season forward from September 1971 until the show's cancellation in 1974.
Well, why don't we go with what was on the Oricon chart on September 27th 1971? I've got Nos. 1, 5 and 6.
Encountering this single by Miki Hirayama（平山みき）recently, I couldn't help but feel the similarity between it and her most famous hit from a few years earlier, "Manatsu no Dekigoto" (真夏の出来事）, especially in the intro.
But perhaps this was intentional. Anyways, I'm talking about Hirayama's 10th single from June 1974, "Ureta Kajitsu" (Ripe Fruit) and yep, Jun Hashimoto's（橋本淳）lyrics even include a partial reference to the singer's big hit through "...natsu no dekigoto". Not surprisingly, "Ureta Kajitsu", about another torrid summer romance on the beach, was written and composed by the same duo behind "Manatsu no Dekigoto", the aforementioned Hashimoto and Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）. The arrangement by Tsutsumi is indeed rather similar to the earlier song but I think this particular song is slightly more laidback.
About a week ago, I noted that "Uta Con"（うたコン）was going to have a tribute to composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）who had passed away nearly three years ago. As such, I posted the debut single for Natsumi Shimai（夏海姉妹）, "Hotel Sabaku"（ホテル砂漠）which wasn't only released for the first time last month but it gained life as a long-gestating product of the golden combination of Tsutsumi and lyricist Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）.
Well, tonight, the tribute to Tsutsumi did happen on "Uta Con", so there were the cover performances of his timeless creations such as Judy Ongg's"Miserarete"（魅せられて）and Ayumi Ishida's（いしだあゆみ）"Blue Light Yokohama"（ブルーライト・ヨコハマ）. However, there was the revelation of a previously unrecorded song by Tsutsumi and Hashimoto, but it wasn't "Hotel Sabaku" which may have been a little too raunchy for the show.
Instead, we got a duet by veteran singer Miki Hirayama（平山みき）and Pizzicato Five's Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴）titled "Artist". It was released just today and in contrast with the stripperific Natsumi Shimai song, this one is a lot more palsy-walsy with Hirayama and Nomiya acting like good ol' buddies getting together for an old-fashioned pop tune with enriched beats for some reason. In fact, I'd say that there is a certain senpai-kohai relationship between the two.
I don't quite remember how I found out about this January 2004 2-disc album which features the Yokohama-themed kayo called "Yokohama Fantasy". All I know is that I just had to have it and I did get it as part of my shopping spree recently. Although of course, the album had been released years before I launched "Kayo Kyoku Plus", it still reminds me of that rather little Yokohama-based kayo article that I came up with early in the blog's history.
Ironically, neither Hiroshi Itsuki's（五木ひろし）"Yokohama Tasogare"（よこはま・たそがれ）nor Ayumi Ishida's（いしだあゆみ）"Blue Light Yokohama"（ブルーライト・ヨコハマ）shows up in this collection although both of them can be considered to be the crème de la crème of Yokohama kayo. Rocket Brown posited that copyrights may have come into play while I think perhaps that those two had been assumed to be just a bit too obvious (however, there's a very rearranged version of the latter song by singer-songwriter Tomoko Tane（種ともこ）on Disc 2).
One thing that I noticed was that the booklet inside the CD case seemed unusually thick, but as it turned out, the reason for that was the presence of a map of Yokohama centering upon the famous Yokohama Bay. That's rather magnanimous of Sony and especially now when international tourism is rather vital for Japan, it gives me some inspiration to definitely visit the Japanese port city again and maybe even spend a few days there on my next trip.
Without further ado then, I would like to feature a few tunes from Disc 1 today because I'd never heard them before. Still, it's quite evident that Yokohama kayohas made for a good part of KKP since I have already covered them in the past, although I've also noticed that there isn't any Mood Kayo on either disc. I gather then that Sony was going more for the pops part of the kayo. As for the tracks on Disc 1:
15 Beautiful Yokohama -- IN THE GROOVE (ビューティフル・ヨコハマ)
You may have noticed that there are two songs by 70s aidoru Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）in the mix but I'll be doing those as a twofer in the near future. For that matter, I'll be doing the same for the remaining tracks aside from the three that I'll be covering here today.
Let me start with Hiromi Ohta's（太田裕美）12th single "Doll" from July 1978. Created by the songwriting dream team of lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, Ohta sings this smooth if jaunty song of slightly melancholy intent in the setting of Yokohama.
If I've interpreted Matsumoto's lyrics correctly, the young lady here may be recovering from a broken romance while feeling somewhat out-of-sorts just like a doll without any strings or owner to love her. I was a little confused by the repeated statements of celluloid initially; was she referring to her life being like a film (melodrama is part and parcel of the kayo experience, after all)? However, I figured out that celluloid in katakana refers actually refers to a certain type of doll as pictured on J-Wiki.
"Doll" peaked at No. 21 on Oricon and has been included on Ohta's 8th studio album"Elegance" from August 1978 which went as high as No. 13. The singer also performed this particular tune on the Kohaku Utagassen at the end of the year.
From the brassy Miki Hirayama（平山三紀）, I have the just-as-brassy "Beautiful Yokohama", and this one is an especially auspicious tune because the song happened to be Hirayama's debut tune released in November 1970. Tsutsumi was once again the composer but back at that time, his lyrics-writing partner was Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）, and as I recall from doing other articles, those two were quite the tandem, too.
Hirayama was all of 21 with that husky voice of hers when she recorded it as this worldly young woman who made Yokohama her oyster and her men her pets tightly wound around her finger (two of the many men's names that she mentions happen to be the songwriters' sons). According to the J-Wiki article on this song, Hirayama had been attending the Takarajima Music Office for singing lessons at the Hotel New Japan. It just so happened that both Hashimoto and Tsutsumi had founded the organization and offered her "Beautiful Yokohama" as her first original tune. The cover of the single was also photographed with Hirayama at Yamashita Park right by Yokohama Bay. Ranking at No. 64 on the singles chart, the song was placed in her debut album"Beautiful Album"（ビューティフル・アルバム）from November 1971.
My final example is Machiko Watanabe's（渡辺真知子）"Minato Scope"(Port Telescope). When I saw that katakana for the second word in the title, I'd first thought that it was the translation for "scoop" which didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. But then on reading Akira Ito's（伊藤アキラ）lyrics, I realized that Watanabe's protagonist was looking through a telescope on a cruise ship entering the harbour in Yokohama to see if she could improbably spot her old flame and probably her memories with the guy. Watanabe came up with the City Pop melody punctuated by the buzzy electric guitar.
It certainly comes across as another fresh City Pop discovery and Watanabe's vocals sound as wonderfully resonant as ever. "Minato Scope" was the B-side to her 12th single from February 1982, "Suki to Itte"（好きと言って...Tell Me You Love Me）. Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）arranged everything.
As mentioned, I'll take a look at some of the other tracks in individual articles in the coming weeks and months, but otherwise, I'll see if I can get Disc 2 up here in March.
I have to say that I never got a chance to visit Yokosuka. Therefore, my only knowledge of this city southwest of Tokyo is the fact that there is an American military base and that one of Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）greatest hits has her hometown in there: "Yokosuka Story"（横須賀ストーリー）. My initial and very wrong impression was with that US base, it was a municipality of bars and other drinking establishments to service not just the regular salarymen but also the American soldiers. However, looking at the above video supplied by japan view neth, Yokosuka seems like any regular small city, albeit it looks like the ratio of servicemen is quite a bit higher.
Recently, I discovered another Yokosuka-titled kayo called "Yokosuka Madonna" by veteran singer Miki Hirayama（平山みき）. Not quite sure on what the lyrics by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）are about on first and second listens, but through that sultry and slightly growly voice of hers, my imagination leads me to think that she's playing the role of one seen-it-all and done-it-all hostess, perhaps on the level of a Diamond Lil, in a Yokosuka nightclub. There's a certain vibe of that spider trying to lure the fly into her lair.
The music by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）has some light influences of funk and City Pop but I think in the end, it's still a straight pop tune. "Yokosuka Madonna" is a track on Hirayama's September 1984 album"Emission" and it was also the B-side to the singer's 16th single, "Siren Girl", from April of that year. The introduction under the video has Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and Hirayama (under the name of Miki Chang) providing the lyrics, and they indeed provide songwriting for some of the other tracks but looking through the JASRAC database and even the shots of the actual record near the end of the video, yup, it's actually Urino.
One last observation through Tsutsumi's melody and Masahide Sakuma's（佐久間正英）arrangement is that it reminds me of Laura Branigan's"Self Control" which also came out the same year. So maybe "Yokosuka Madonna" might be a form of Italo disco according to the Wikipedia entry for "Self Control"?
I did forget that Masakazu Tamura（田村正和）also had his fun in commercials as well. Anyways, I promised in my first tribute to the actor whose passing had been announced within the last few days that I would come up with a further tribute through the theme songs that adorned some of his 1980s and 1990s dramas. They all have their own articles on the blog so I will just treat as a hub to get in touch with those pages. However, I will mention the song, singer, drama and year of broadcast.
I've been watching "WandaVision" over the past few weeks and although the series is now over with all of the spoilers thrown out there and such, the show, now that I can watch full episodes, is still very enjoyable. And I'm not even binge-watching; I am viewing one episode per week as originally shown so I've just completed Episode 3 when Wanda and Vision are in the 1970s sitcom world. The jokes are appropriately cornball and as someone who grew up seeing the sitcoms that "WandaVision" has been lovingly parodying, it's been great fun admiring the set design and fashion. Plus, to see the two main characters being able to show themselves much more fully has been good fun especially when they were more in the role of supporting cast in the main Marvel movies.
Of course, the fly in the ointment has been Agatha Harkness all along, and her emergence as the ultimate (?) baddie in the show was punctuated with her own theme song. It was a wonderful riff on the jazzier version of "The Munsters" theme song, the version that I've always preferred.
In a way, Kathryn Hahn's portrayal of Agnes/Agatha comes to mind when I listen to this particular song by chanteuse Miki Hirayama（平山みき）, "Joyū Ni Narenai" (I'm No Actress) from her November 1987 album"Chess". The lyrics by Ren Takayanagi（高柳恋）depict a rather wicked and manipulative woman who seems to have had her cover blown but hasn't regretted one sin in the big bad city. The only thing missing is the cackle that Agatha burst out after admitting to killing Sparky.
The melody by Akira Mitake（見岳章）is of that jazzy sophisti-pop of the caviar-and-champagne variety that I've often mentioned for the latter half of the 1980s. Moreover, the synth bass is good and boppy against the slick horns, and the former instrument reminds me of the material from Matt Bianco. I'm glad that I could write about Hirayama again "just" nine months after my last article on her, "Joudan janai Asa"（冗談じゃない朝）, which is also included in "Chess", because there were a good eight years between that article and the very first article that I had written about her.
Anyways, looking forward to Episode 4 of "WandaVision" next week.
Before actor Masakazu Tamura（田村正和）became famous as Japan's version of Columbo, aka master detective Ninzaburo Furuhata（古畑任三郎）, he was quite the head-turner in a number of those late 1980s trendy dramas on TV, including one such rom-com called "Atsuku naru made Matte!"（熱くなるまで待って!...Wait Til It's Hot!）. From what I've read on J-Wiki, it sounds a bit like "The Odd Couple" as his character, a widower manga artist who's been isolated in his urban condo, is invited by his cousin who's recently separated to share a mansion in the ritzy Den'en-Chofu area of Tokyo.
My student used to live there and when I was teaching him in person a decade ago, he drove me from Den'en-Chofu Station to his place and vice versa. Yup, indeed, there were some nice palatial estates there although I'm sure that they still pale against the celeb homes of Beverly Hills.
Generally speaking, I don't know the gamut of theme songs for these trendy dramas and their characters of leisure. The one that I know off the top of my atama is Carlos Toshiki & Omega Tribe's"Aquamarine no Mama de ite" (アクアマリンのままでいて), the Resort Pop theme song for "Dakishimetai!"（抱きしめたい!...I Wanna Hold Your Hand） starring the Asanos, Yuko and Atsuko（浅野ゆう子・浅野温子）.
However for "Atsuku naru made Matte!", the theme song went more into a flirtatious and snazzy direction with "Joudan janai Asa" (No Joke Morning). Plus it was recorded by Miki Hirayama（平山みき）, who up until this point was only represented on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" by her trademark tune "Manatsu no Dekigoto" (真夏の出来事）from 1971. Underlaid with a contemporary rhythm track, "Joudan janai Asa" floats above with some old-time jazz arrangement provided by the brass and Hirayama's vocals. I think it's safe to say that the song fulfills both the romance and the comedy aspects for the show. Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）provided the lyrics while Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）composed the song.
Just to show that not all summer J-Pop came from the 80s, here is another kayo kyoku classic from 1971 with Miki Hirayama（平山みき）. "Manatsu no Dekigoto" (Midsummer Happening) has Hirayama weaving her thoughts of an ideal date involving a car and a beach. Released in May 1971, this was just Hirayama's 2nd single after debuting with "Beautiful Yokohama"a year earlier. The second time was the charm since this would become Hirayama's biggest hit.
Written by Jun Hashimoto（橋本淳）and composed by the prolific Kyohei Tsutsumi『筒美京平』 (Kiyohiko Ozaki, Hiromi Iwasaki and Yu Hayami were just a small fraction of his clientele), the song won an award for composition at the 1971 Japan Record Awards. It went as high as No. 5 on the Oricon weeklies, and finished the year as the 37th-ranked single.
Strangely enough, the first time I had heard this song was actually through its cover version in 1982. Singer Yaeko Kojima（小島八重子）, later to be known as Yaya（やや）, became Miki Himalaya(ﾋﾏﾗﾔﾐｷ), and with a unit called MODOKEES, gave a somewhat techno-ized and sped-up version of the song. At the time, with the Yellow Magic Orchestra being at the top of the charts and my interest in them, I was quite keen on this version, having never been aware of the original for several more years. Amazing what some imagination and a good synthesizer can do.
