Akiko Nakazato -- Aoi Mona Liza（蒼いモナリザ）

Hope you're having a good start to the weekend. It's relatively cool today although Toronto will be getting a little more residual summer heat next week, before things finally chill down for autumn. Sun worshippers won't be too happy but let's try to enjoy what's left of the summer before the end.

I've noticed that over the past several days or so, a fair number of songs that originated in 1988 have been getting posted on the blog. Nothing intentional about that. It's just that is how these songs have come out from the backlog and not from any crazed desire to show off the kayo from Showa 63.

Anyways, back in early August, I introduced singer Akiko Nakazato（中里あき子）to the blog with her "Do You Wanna Dance?" from 1989. Well, here is a track from her earlier October 1988 2nd album "Mr" (pronounced "Meru"...initially thought that handwritten title on the album cover looked like a couple of wayward worms) titled "Aoi Mona Liza" (Blue Mona Lisa). Just from listening to "Do You Wanna Dance?" and then "Aoi Mona Liza", Nakazato did enjoy singing those thumpy R&B tunes. Maybe she was into some of that New Jack Swing or dance club songs. Ayuko Ishikawa（石川あゆ子）took care of the lyrics while Ritsuko of the sister duo Milk was the composer. City Pop stalwart Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）produced "Mr" and Nakazato's remaining three albums.

Milk (pop duo) -- For a Week Story

 

If I'm not mistaken, the above shot is from one of the Sumida River ferries heading from Asakusa down to Odaiba in Tokyo Bay. Always putting up those condo buildings there.

Let's go further into Urban Contemporary Friday on KKP with "For a Week Story" by the pop duo sister act Milk with Ritsuko and Rie Miyajima（宮島律子・宮島理恵）. This was the first track on their 1987 album "Milk" and it was the A-side for the "For a Week Story" EP which also contained the previous song I posted, "Manazashi ni I feel so love"（視線にI feel so love）.

"For a Week Story" starts the vibe off for Milk's album and it takes off on a cool but also calm and collected strut down the street...kinda like Slow Jack Swing rather than New Jack Swing. I like the boogie beat and the beefy saxophone that accompanies the ladies on their night on the town. Rie Miyajima was in charge of words and music here.

Milk (pop duo) -- Manazashi ni I feel so love（視線にI feel so love）

 

Happy Halloween Eve! It's overcast and the temperatures are much more seasonal than they were at the beginning of October when it seemed like summer really wanted to stick around. Not complaining too much, although I think the kids will need an extra layer or two when they're out trick or treating tomorrow night.

Anyways to start off this transitional week from October to November, for the first time in over a couple of years, I have brought back the obscure sister act known as Milk with the Miyajima sisters, Ritsuko and Rie（宮島律子・宮島理恵）. The last time I posted anything by them, it was for their "HANASANAI", their 1988 contribution to the anime "Earthian"（アーシアン）. And like it, the B-side to Milk's 1987 EP "For A Week Story", "Manazashi ni I feel so love" (I Feel So Much Love in Your Gaze), has a goodly amount of City Pop in there.

I had to search for the original liner sheet from the EP on Google Images but at least I could confirm that Ritsuko was behind words and music; there is another person who helped out with the composition but I am unable to make out the kanji scratches. "Manazashi ni I feel so love" begins with some bopping percussion and rock guitar before a smooth urban arrangement of keyboards, thumping rhythms and the Miyajimas' echoing chorus of "I feel so love" fills the ears. The guy who flies in here and there is apparently singer-songwriter Hideo Saito（斉藤英夫）.

Milk (pop duo) -- HANASANAI

 

I only heard of the manga-turned-anime "Earthian"（アーシアン）from my anime buddy in passing but never saw a single scene from the series. Apparently it's quite the yaoi fantasy story, though.

What caught my ear here regarding "Earthian" is one of the tracks from the first of the three "ORIGINAL ALBUM" soundtracks for the series. There is also a "Complete Vocal Collection" to throw in for the music behind the anime so it is rather reminiscent of the many albums that have been created on behalf of popular shows such as "Kimagure Orange Road"（きまぐれオレンジロード）.

As for that particular track, it's "HANASANAI" (Never Let You Go) by the pop duo Milk. The fact that I could find another song on YouTube by this obscure sister act is one reason that got me to talk about this one. Another reason is that "HANASANAI" is a fine example of late 80s City Pop encircling a major downtown neighbourhood such as Shinjuku...plus it's got a screaming electric guitar solo. That opening synthesizer thrum hooked me right there and then there are the vocals by Ritsuko Miyajima and Rie Miyajima（宮島律子・宮島理恵）. Strangely enough, when they croon out some of the lyrics, the delivery reminds me of future hitmaker Kohmi Hirose（広瀬香美）, although her voice is a fair bit higher.

If I've read the description below the video correctly, Rie Miyajima was behind words and music. I also would like to mention that City Pop singer-songwriter Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）took care of the production for "ORIGINAL ALBUM 1" which supposedly came out in July 1988 according to Discogs.

Milk (pop duo) -- Last dance

Well, it's gotta be something to note when the Japanese music business can say that it had at least two female groups with the same name of Milk. One has already been featured on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", and that was the aidoru trio including a pre-pubescent Yoko Oginome（荻野目洋子）around 1980.

However, there was also a couple of sisters who were also Milk from around the mid-1980s. Singer-songwriters Ritsuko Miyajima and Rie Miyajima（宮島律子・宮島理恵）from Saga Prefecture, the latter who would take on the name M.Rie, got together and put out at least one album "Milk" in 1987. I read in the J-Wiki article for Ritsuko (the original source being her own blog entry) that the two had been part of Naoko Kawai's（河合奈保子）backup band Natural & MILK as backing vocals and that was the inspiration for the sisters to go it alone.

One of the tracks on "Milk" is "Last dance", a pretty snazzy song by the sisters that has some urban sophistication and a feeling of some of that brassy 1960s downtown pop. Just from listening to this one alone, I'm curious as to what the rest of "Milk" sounds like and it's a pity that the sisters may not have extended their singing together to other albums. Again, according to Ritsuko's blog, "Milk" got its re-release last year in the autumn (so maybe I have a chance to acquire it!). She also mentioned that she and Rie had also backed up other singers such as Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）and Tomoko Aran（亜蘭知子）.

On reading that the Miyajimas had been backing Kawai made me realize that perhaps often enough backup vocalists have been in understudy mode until they get their big chance to shine in the limelight. J-R&B singer Harumi Tsuyuzaki（露崎春女）had done her stint as a backup singer when Sing Like Talking was on tour, and Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）had been backing up Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）until they got their big break in the early 1980s.

M.Rie already has a couple of entries up on KKP including the adorable theme song for Pingu the Penguin. In recent years, Ritsuko has composed songs for the alphabet aidoru groups such as AKB48, NMB48 and SDN48.