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 Mioko Yamaguchi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Mioko Yamaguchi. Show all posts
I'm just off by a week here but it was a little over a year ago that I posted "Osaka Songs", a list of Osaka-titled tunes, and crazily enough, in all those 53 weeks since then, I hadn't put up anything called "Tokyo Songs". Little old me had naturally assumed that I'd already done so. Nope, that isn't true. Kinda wild considering that I'd just recently written about Takajin Yashiki's（やしきたかじん）"Tokyo"（東京）. Well, that changes today. Quite the wide range of kayo, too!
(1959) Frank Nagai and Kazuko Matsuo -- Tokyo Nightclub （東京ナイトクラブ）
Recently, I have been listening to my various CDs again and one I got to hear once more after a long while was Mioko Yamaguchi's（山口未央子）"Yume Hiko"(Dream Flight) album (pictured lower right) from 1980. Being her debut release, I covered the album and then a couple of songs from the album on their own: the title track and "Itsuka Yurarete Tooi Kuni"（いつかゆられて遠い国）. With the pretty, mysterious and silken Yamaguchi covering the two fresh genres of technopop and City Pop within "Yume Hiko", if I were asked by anyone interested in popular Japanese music of yesteryear for any recommendations, I would definitely suggest this one. Now, I still have four more tracks left to cover from the album so let's get those out of the way.
According to Yamaguchi's 2017 liner notes for the remastered version of the album, "A Dream of Mio" serves as a more organic counterpoint to the earlier and YMO-reminiscent "A Dream of Eμ". As the latter song leads into the next track of "O-Matsuri"（お祭り...Festival）, "A Dream of Mio" leads into the title track. It's only thirty seconds but I couldn't help but feel that there was a bit of Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）whimsy in the arrangement.
Yamaguchi said that she had come up with the words and music for "Aru Yo no Dekigoto"（ある夜の出来事）when she was on the bus for university. And for those old movie fans, she indeed did get the title from the famous Clark Gable flick "It Happened One Night", and just like that classic, Mioko's technopop "Aru Yo no Dekigoto" sounds like a rom-com, and for that matter, it just seems to weave scenes from any anime with a clumsily delivered confession speech. A young lady realizes that she may have blurted out one sentence too much the night before (thanks to some alcohol) and rushes over to the guy's house to confirm. The guy's sly smile says it all.😎
"Waltz"（ワルツ (流舞)）is supposedly one of the fruits of her imagination and labour from attending a course in jazz piano, and it does come across as a most congenial pop waltz which starts off with some of that jazz. Just a personal opinion, but I would like to think that the comical couple from "Aru Yo no Dekigoto", having gotten all their opinions out earlier in the day, are now having their first official date with them dancing to "Waltz" to cap things off. Jake H. Concepcion and Akira Inoue（井上鑑）are helping out on soprano sax and keyboards respectively here.
The final song here and the final track on "Yume Hiko" is the bouncy "Paradise"（パラダイス）. Nice to have some of that City Pop funk in there but there is also some in-and-out of some synthy version of traditional Japanese phrases. In the liner notes, Yamaguchi stated that she had been inspired by Yutaka Yokokura's（横倉裕）1978"Love Light"album which she listened to quite often back in the day, so she wanted to try some of that fusion as well.
Well, it took over eight years but I've finally covered all of "Yume Hiko".
When I was thinking of writing up an article for this particular song, it was due to the fact that the title was quite familiar to me. There is actually a rather tony street going up to the northern edge of the Ginza district with the name Marronier Douri (although the sign is spelled Maronie as you can barely see in the thumbnail) I also remember seeing a big shiny complex called Marronier Gate in the area. I'd assumed that Tokyo lifted the name from a similar avenue in Paris but actually the street was named after the fact that "marronier" is French for "horse chestnuts" and horse chestnut trees line that particular street in Ginza. So, my life is now complete.
I've probably walked on Marronier Douri a number of times as a shortcut between Ginza and Yurakucho and one time, a student was generous enough to take me out for lunch at a Chinese vegetarian restaurant in one of the buildings along the street. It was one of the few culinary experiences that I've had in Ginza that didn't involve a couple of golden arches.
Anyways, allow me to introduce Akie Yoshizawa（吉沢秋絵）to KKP. A member of Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）for a little over a year (August 1985 ~ September 1986), her ID number was 25, and she was even able to become part of the "Sukeban Deka"（スケバン刑事）franchise as an actress. Apparently, actor Tadanobu Asano（浅野忠信）of "Thor" and "Ichi the Killer" fame was a big fan of hers.
During her time with Onyanko Club and afterwards, Yoshizawa released 8 singles and 3 original albums of which her final single was "Marronier Douri"(Marronier Street) which came out in November 1988. Written by Chiroru Yaho（谷穂ちろる）and composed by Mioko Yamaguchi（山口未央子）, the fact that Yamaguchi was behind the melody had me interested immediately. Sure enough, the music is dreamy and wistful as if the titular street had been transplanted into the City of Lights and a boy-meets-girl romance had been taking place there. Considering that the song came out in the middle of the Bubble Era, the boy probably had one heck of a wallet to afford the date in Ginza.
Yoshizawa retired from show business in 1991 but then went into publishing for at least a while.
The description of Sara Hamamoto's（浜本沙良）2nd album"Truth of Lies" goes as follows:
Everything from the goddess of uptown...Sara Hamamoto's second album, full of mild comfort and solid groove.
The YouTube video pegs the album as a 1996 release but three other sources including the "Truth of Lies" article on J-Wiki has this being released in March 1995, so I will go with the earlier year. In any case, the promotional catch copy mentioned above for "Truth of Lies" is nicely encapsulated in the second track "Cool Water".
It's been over a couple of years since I posted a Hamamoto song and "Cool Water" is a nice way to make a reunion. It is indeed comfortable and quite groovy...bringing in some of that 1970s soul through the guitar and keyboards. Strangely enough, it does feel like a sunset swim in the pool. Give thanks to lyricist Seriko Natsuno（夏野芹子）, composer Mioko Yamaguchi（山口未央子）and arranger Nobuo Ariga（有賀啓雄）. I've also read in J-Wiki that Natsuno tends to provide lyrics for aidoru tunes, but "Cool Water" is definitely not one of those, and it's nice to realize that Yamaguchi has also created really groovy stuff in comparison to the early technopop and somewhat avant-garde material that she was singing around fifteen years prior to her contribution to Hamamoto. I always love a laidback Fender Rhodes.
Cold and wet like a dog's nose out there. Not sure if we're gonna get any snow in the next 24 to 48 hours but it certainly feels like winter is finally around the corner.
Anyways, I feel like I need to make a course correction in terms one of singer-songwriter Mioko Yamaguchi's（山口未央子）songs. Back in 2018, I devoted time and space to her debut album"Yume Hiko"（夢飛行）from November 1980 and one of the tracks that I covered within that release was her "Tokyo Lover". Not realizing it at the time, the album version and the single version of that very song are quite different.
The album version of "Tokyo Lover" on "Yume Hiko" was written and composed by Yamaguchi with arrangement by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）, and that was more of a technopop number. However, Jun Sato（佐藤準）arranged the single version from April 1981 (her 2nd) and it's definitely got a very different feel. Very proud and brassy, the new version sounds as if it's making the declaration that it is now morning in Tokyo and what a wonderful morning it is and what a wonderful city it is. It's City Pop alright and I can even hear some Doobie Brothers in there as well.
For me, the peak decade for female aidoru in the age before the Hello Project and the AKB48 girls poured in from the late 1990s was the 1980s in terms of quantity and popularity. So, I've had a curiosity about the individual aidoru and aidoru groups that came once the Showa Era ended in early 1989 and the Heisei Era began thereafter since by the middle of the 1990s, an aidoru desert had apparently been reached.
Qlair was a name that I had heard bandied about when talking about those final aidoru groups along with CoCo and Wink, but I never got to know them. They were a trio consisting of Sachiko Imai（今井佐知子）, Hiroko Inobe（井ノ部裕子）and Aki Yoshida（吉田亜紀）who graduated from a Fuji-TV-managed tarento training facility called Otome Juku（乙女塾...Teen Girl Cram School）. Qlair had a short run between 1991 and 1994 with 7 singles and 3 original albums under their belt.
Their 3rd single was "Sayonara no Chime" (The Goodbye Chime), released in January 1992. Sounding like a mix between the aidoru arrangements of those early 1990s thanks to the certain keyboards being used at the time and a summery Being song, "Sayonara no Chime" was written by Saeko Nishio（西尾佐栄子）and composed by Mioko Yamaguchi（山口美央子）. The story was all about reminiscing about that high school where a young girl missed out on an opportunity to make her feelings known to a boy she liked. Of course, it's bittersweet but the happy music gives a big hint that she has moved on to better pastures.
"Sayonara no Chime" was actually their lowest-ranking single in the Top 100 of Oricon, peaking at just No. 72. Now, as for the origin of the name, Qlair was derived from the song "Clair" by Gilbert O'Sullivan who I actually wrote about earlier today for his even more famous "Alone Again (Naturally)". In fact, during any of their live events, "Clair" would be played at the beginning while "Alone Again" would finish the proceedings.
Well, as you can see in the photo, this actually was from nearly three years ago but it does reflect the reality in Toronto today since overnight we did get our first major snowfall. It's looking rather pure, clean and Xmas-y out there...for now. Once the snow lingers around for several more days, it'll all coalesce into black disgusting lumps.
OK, now that I got my Scrooge out in that last sentence, let's look a bit more up here. I did find another Christmas-themed J-Pop tune by actress Isako Washio（鷲尾いさ子）. Now, the only other presence that she has on the blog is "Tekkotsu Musume"（鉄骨娘）, the catchy jingle that she provided for the vitamin drink Tekkotsu Inryo（鉄骨飲料）.
From her 1991 3rd and final album to date, "Yuki"（雪...Snow）, is "Mou Ichido Merry Christmas"(Merry Christmas One More Time), a song that only has light jingling in the refrain along with the title to signify that it's a Xmas tune. It's an interesting entry since it has that certain urgency in the rhythm reminiscent of the far more well-known "Christmas Carol no Koro ni wa"（クリスマスキャロルの頃には）by Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）, and there are some chord changes which strike me as being somewhat Taeko Ohnuki-esque（大貫妙子）. However, the music was actually by singer-songwriter Mioko Yamaguchi（山口未央子）with lyrics by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）. I couldn't find the lyrics but I guess that "Mou Ichido Merry Christmas" is more along the complicated romance side of J-Xmas tunes.
I was listening to singer-songwriter Mioko Yamaguchi's（山口未央子）latest album"Floma", and the last three tracks happened to be her own covers of songs that she had provided to other singers. One such cover was for "Owari no Kehai"（終わりの気配）originally sung by 80s aidoru Yuki Saito（斉藤由貴）.
The other was "Jane Birkin no you ni Nakeba Ii"(Cry Like Jane Birkin) which was first recorded by late 80s and 90s aidoru Miwa Kawagoe（川越美和）. Marcos V. recently provided an article for her 1989 4th single, "Yume Dake Miteru"（夢だけ見てる）so have a look at that one when you can.
"Jane Birkin" was the title track for her 3rd and final original album released in March 1992, and in addition to Yamaguchi's input, the lyrics were provided by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）. That arrangement of the original song had me thinking the City Pop of the early part of that decade and it's all very posh as I envisage the late Kawagoe heading out for a classy night out on the town. Her vocals even take on a slightly more whispery quality as if she were trying to emulate a kittenish French pop singer of the 1960s (the refrain also goes a bit French as well). As Marcos had pointed out in his article, it is sad to know that her career couldn't extend that much further since I think her singing ability was pretty solid, and indeed it was even sadder to discover that her life had been tragically cut short.
Because I hadn't been aware of who singer-songwriter Mioko Yamaguchi（山口美央子）was until this blog was well under way, I didn't know about her contributions to Yuki Saito's（斉藤由貴）10th album "LOVE" from 1991 when I bought the audiotape version decades ago.
(6:00)
I've now further found out that the Yamaguchi/Saito connection went back even further when the two of them worked together as composer and lyricist respectively on a track from the latter's 6th album"PANT" released in March 1988. The song, "Owari no Kehai" (The Sign of the End) was the lead track and was even used for the above NEC commercial featuring Saito herself. "PANT", by the way, peaked at No. 4 on Oricon.
"Owari no Kehai" is about the end of romance and yet Yamaguchi's melody sounds very innocent and child-like, further enhanced by Saito's near-whispery vocals. The overall feeling is of fragility as if Saito is representing someone all rolled up into a fetal position after having to go through a breakup that she hadn't wanted at all. At some points, the lass' voice almost threatens to vaporize, perhaps triggering the listener to want to pat her head and go "There, there...plenty of other fish in the sea". Then, there is the melancholy piano which takes up the last minute of the song that finishes off the effect; if I were a video director, the camera would be pulling away from Saito in that ball as the room she is gets bigger and bigger making her look even lonelier.
(excerpt only at 8:24)
What got me to write about the song in the first place was due to the fact that Yamaguchi had covered it in her latest album "FLOMA" which I took a look at last week. With the singer's deeper vocals and the somewhat more pensive arrangement, my image of "Owari no Kehai" here and now is that of an older version of Saito just going back through her memories of that long-ago romance with a little regret but also with more wisdom and distance.
Well, let me tell you a story about getting Mioko Yamaguchi's（山口美央子）latest album"FLOMA" which was released back in July this year. Toshi from the LOGIC STORE was kind enough in sending it over to me via registered mail with a tracking number about a month ago. Usually that would mean I would be able to see its progress online and in all likelihood, it would arrive about a week after posting from Japan.
Unfortunately this time, that wouldn't quite be the case. I was able to find out that it did leave Japan but after that for the next few weeks, there would be nothing. And at one point, I had to tell Toshi that there was a good chance that it got lost somewhere in time and space...perhaps getting stuck in a machine out in Mississauga. But there was a surprisingly happy ending in that on Sunday while I was out with my anime buddy, the postman actually dropped by and left the package. It must have been a rather sheepish error since I hardly ever hear of Canada Post making Sunday deliveries. In any case, I told Toshi the good news and I had my first crack at "FLOMA" last night.
Mind you, back when "FLOMA" had been in limbo somewhere, I felt rather compelled to jump the gun and write about one of the tracks that got re-recorded for this new album.
"FLOMA" is an album of self-covers by Yamaguchi and according to the J-Wiki article on her, three songs each from her first three albums, "Yume Hiko"（夢飛行）, "Nirvana" and "Tsukihime"（月姫）were given new arrangements. Plus, three bonus tracks have been added which are Yamaguchi's own takes on songs that she had originally provided other singers.
One of the very first songs that had gotten me hooked on the oeuvre of Yamaguchi was "Satemo Appare Yume Zakura"（さても天晴れ 夢桜）from her 3rd album, "Tsukihime"(1983). And here it is in "FLOMA" as well, under a different arrangement no less bouncy than the original and perhaps a bit more mesmerizing for me due to some more sound effects including a slightly Gatling gun version of a koto. Plus, near the end, there is some cool rumbling which sounds like a massive wave of horses.
"O-Matsuri"（お祭り）, originally from the first album"Yume Hiko"(1980), was this most appealing technopop tune for a summer festival that had me thinking of androids in yukata trying to scoop up goldfish and buying yakitori skewers (y'know it could happen in the next couple of centuries). The new version in "FLOMA" starts off faster and more intense (George Lucas would love this version) with a matsuri band on Red Bull, and my compliments especially go to the taiko drummer. This is no longer the congenial walk on the festival streets...everyone's gotten involved in a mass dance to this song!
I remember "Itsumo Takaramono"（いつも宝物）as this very cheerful and punchy New Wave track from Yamaguchi's 2nd album"Nirvana"(1981). The Takarajima version as stated in the new album isn't quite New Wave like The Buggles; in fact, I would say that it kinda tilts toward either Yellow Magic Orchestra or even PSY-S. Again, my compliments this time toward the relentless beats propelling things along.
My final track here is "Itsuka Yurarete Tooi Kuni"（いつかゆられて遠い国）, a jovial track from "Yume Hiko" that seems to have feet in both the City Pop and technopop fields. The new take launches with some nifty beats and is now firmly planted in synth territory. Strangely enough, I feel like that this version deserves a conga line on a holodeck somewhere.
As I mentioned above, there are three additional tracks of Yamaguchi covering songs that were originally performed by other artists. I can take care of one of them immediately but first I actually want to include that original singer since that she and that particular song haven't been brought onto the blog as of yet. But overall, I'm glad that "FLOMA" finally made it to me after what could have been an odyssey throughout my home and native land.
Let's see...at the beginning of the 1980s, there were at least a few female singers who embraced their technopop, and each with their own styles. I saw Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）taking a New Wave direction and then there was Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）who injected her form of French-ness into the proceedings. Most recently, I found about singer-songwriter Mioko Yamaguchi（山口美央子）who took a somewhat more ethereal and fantastical Japanese approach.
Back in February 2018, I wrote my article on Yamaguchi's November 1980 debut album"Yume Hiko"(Dream Flight) and though I gave my thoughts on a few of the tracks, I neglected to cover the title track itself. Well, I gave myself a Gibbs slap and I'm getting on with redemption.
The title track "Yume Hiko" was actually Yamaguchi's debut single and not "Arabian Rhapsody"（アラビアン・ラプソディー）as I had erroneously written in the original article (another Gibbs slap and since corrected). Writing, composing and arranging it, the technopop is indeed real but as I mentioned above, there is also that feeling of venturing back into the Edo era a few hundred years ago. The first 50 seconds sound like an uncertain walk in a fogbound bamboo wood trying to find a village, and then when the synths roar in, the village is indeed found as a fascinating bustle of merchants and craftsmen going about their everyday business while the visitors stare with a mix of elation and surprise. Yes, I realize...a tad florid in my description.
Now, one of the other reasons that I decided to put up "Yume Hiko" the song today was that I also wanted to feature its self-cover by Yamaguchi in her most recent album"FLOMA" which had been released earlier this summer. Her 5th album consists of cover versions of songs from her first three albums in the 1980s and bonus tracks which are covers of other singers' tunes.
The new version of "Yume Hiko" sounds even more ethereal and ominous but noble as if the original was the main theme song for a movie and the new take was created during a scene of crisis before the ultimate resolution for the heroes. It'll be interesting to try out some of the other tracks on "FLOMA".
When I was translating a lot of small travel articles for a company over a few years previously, I encountered a term called shinrin-yoku（森林浴）. It translates as "forest bathing", and of course initially, yours truly had a few seconds of rather suspicious lewd thoughts until I found out that the concept actually refers to "forest therapy". Now shinrin-yoku has been said to provide health benefits just by folks simply existing among the trees, whether they be deciduous, coniferous or bamboo.
Seeing the cover of Mioko Yamaguchi's（山口美央子）latest album,her first in 35 years, "Tokisakashima" (you can take a look at the article for the title track to find out the derivation of the title), reading about the overall sound and themes in the album, and then finally listening to the songs themselves, I kinda felt that there was a shinrin-yoku effect being effected on me. Given general release a few weeks ago in January, I got my copy from The Logic Store a few days ago and have listened to it twice.
As I've mentioned, I've already written about the title track. I'm sure that more insights will come to me as I listen to "Tokisakashima" further but my overall reaction is that Yamaguchi's 4th original album is something to be savored on a cool spring/autumn day. The singer-songwriter herself has provided her own liner notes, and she has said that "Tokisakashima" is actually a sequel of sorts to her 3rd album"Tsukihime"（月姫）from all the way back in 1983. I can certainly agree with her assessment, because as I stated in the article for the title track, her voice hasn't really changed at all in those 35 years, and there is that dreamscape feeling in this album that was suffused in "Tsukihime". However, this time, there is also some of that joviality added that I heard in her first two albums "Yume Hiko"（夢飛行）and "Nirvana". Indeed, some form of synthesis has been achieved.
Unfortunately, the first track is not available on YouTube but "Seirei no Mori"（精霊の森...Spirit Woods）is the representative song for that shinrin-yoku effect. It has a very calming feel for listeners although it does abruptly go into some musical action as if it were reflecting the sudden darting of deer through the woods. I had to check the track and time to make sure that this was still the same song. Yamaguchi herself noted in the album that she truly realized the power of life through a group of woods that she now lives close to.
I could only find two more new tracks (all tracks were written and composed by the singer) dedicated to "Tokisakashima" at the time of writing but both are very interesting. "Koi wa Karageshi Natsu no Yoi / Ton-Ten-Syan"（恋はからげし夏の宵 / Ton-Ten-Syan...Love is Embers of a Summer Evening）, according to Yamaguchi, is based on a kabuki story and features Japanese instruments that have also popped up in songs such as "Satemo Appare Yume Zakura"（さても天晴れ 夢桜）and "O-Matsuri"（お祭り）from that debut album "Yume Hiko". Starting with those instruments, the song has an adventurous spirit, definitely based in Japan, but also has some nice grounding with those synthesizers making out as low strings. An odyssey is afoot here. Incidentally, if anyone from Logic Store can confirm my English translation of the title, that would be much appreciated.
"Ikoku Choucho"（異国蝶々...Butterfly from a Foreign Land）also starts out with that Japanesque feeling but then it just bursts into a frenetic technopop-ska beat that kinda made me want to bop my head around. There is a joint collaboration of the elegant melody punctuated by the ska and even a few computer bleeps here and there. Yamaguchi points out that the song is based on "Madame Butterfly", but looking at the lyrics, I also thought that they could have been referring to the increasing number of international marriages in Japan.
Contrasting with the natural therapy of the eight tracks of "Tokisakashima", there is the final 9th track which is actually Yamaguchi's original 2nd single, "Tokyo Lover"（東京LOVER）from 1981. The album version is on "Yume Hiko" but unlike the happy technopop there, the original single version, arranged by Jun Sato（佐藤準）, has got a light City Pop touch along the lines of Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）and EPO of the early 1980s, thanks in part to some gorgeous brassy horns. I gotta admit that though I like both versions, those horns have rather dragged me to the single version's side.
Anyways, thanks to Jazm for giving me the nudge on "Tokisakashima" and to Toshi for sending over the album from the Logic Store!
Good heavens...when did I first hear about Mioko Yamaguchi（山口美央子）? As I was frying up those Friday steaks for the family, I was scouring through my brain and realized that it was "Kayo Kyoku Plus" collaborator nikala back in February 2014 who had first introduced me to her work as a singer. I mentioned to her that I had seen her name bandied about on various liner notes as a songwriter but hadn't known about her time as a singer. So it was with great gratitude that I found out about Yamaguchi and her brand of pop which in the 1980s ranged from technopop to City Pop to dreamy pop.
Then just last year, I found more of her material on YouTube including the catchy "Satemo Appare Yume Zakura"（さても天晴れ 夢桜）from her 1983 album "Tsukihime" when Toshi let me know of his establishment Logic Store and that all of her albums recorded up during those high-flying 80s were now available on CD. Was very happy to have gotten them!
Several weeks ago, I did find out that Yamaguchi was putting out a new album for the first time in over 30 years but with all that was going in terms of the backlog on the blog and the usual Holiday stuff, I had put things on the back burner as far as the Yamaguchi file was concerned. Luckily, Jazm gave me a friendly nudge about this new album "Tokisakashima",her 4th, that had been released for download in December last year but has been available on CD for the past couple of days.
I've decided to go write about the title track from this album which had Yamaguchi and songwriter and synthesizer programmer Hideki Matsutake（松武秀樹）working together once more. "Tokisakashima" starts off with some neighbourhood sounds on a sunny day before things take a left turn into a seemingly palate-cleansing (I would have said ear-cleansing but that sounds a bit gross) soundscape of Yamaguchi's voice and somewhat spiritual ominousness.
Then just at the point when it sounds like things are getting a little too long in the soundscape, like a door opening, we come into this lovely piece of introspection with the familiar vocals of Yamaguchi. Most likely it's not the neighbourhood anymore but somewhere deep in the forest next to a mysterious pond as can be seen in the thumbnail above (would actually like to know where that shot was taken).
The music is rich and organic (quite earthy) even though according to the Japanese-language interview with Yamaguchi at Real Sound, it's basically all synthesizers as the instruments outside of the singer and some sampling. Indeed, she has maintained her title as the Synth-Diva. In fact, Jazm and I came to the same observation in that her vocal delivery hasn't changed one iota despite the three decades-and-change that have passed since her last album. It's almost as if she stepped into a TARDIS (Google it, any of you non-SF fans) in 1983 and then hopped over to 2018!
One question that I had was with the title itself. What and where was Tokisakashima? Well, in the interview, Yamaguchi answers that the word simply means "Time is reversing". I found out that she was quite the fan of the RPG "Chrono Trigger" (which surprised and delighted Jazm and myself; I think she was blushing a bit at the confession), and then while she was knocking her head to come up with the title for the album, she saw a book on the shelf by 19th-century French author Joris-Karl Huysmans titled "À rebours". The title is translated into English as "Against Nature" and "Sakashima" in Japanese. After that, it was a matter of pulling off aReese's Peanut Butter Cup maneuver with the ideas to come up with "Tokisakashima".
At this point, I will stop it right here and once I purchase my copy of the album, I will talk about some of the other tunes on it. But let me end it by stating that I'm glad that Yamaguchi is back in town, so to speak. Furthermore, I can state that this is the first article on a 2019 number!
Late last week, I received an e-mail from Eamonn at the University of Glasgow who hosts "chOOn!!" on Subcity Radio. His monthly program covers a wide variety of music from all over the planet including some of the more eclectic material from Japan, and so he wanted to let me know how much he enjoyed the works by singer-songwriter Mioko Yamaguchi（山口美央子）. His next show, incidentally, will be broadcast this Saturday (October 6th, 11-1pm GMT) and then available for streaming afterwards.
Eamonn's message reminded me of Ms. Yamaguchi, so I wanted to put up another song by her once more, and I'm going with one of her tracks on her debut album"Yume Hiko"（夢飛行）which I had written about in February this year. And as I had remarked for that 1980 release, Yamaguchi was trying all sorts of genres, which has been a boon for me, certainly, and I hope for the rest of her fans.
A track that I didn't cover in the "Yume Hiko" article is "Itsuka Yurarete Tooi Kuni" (A Distant Country to be Shaken Someday) which starts off right from Note 1 with a pleasant synthesizer hook. It's happily trippy and skippy and rather takes me off to YMO land to a certain extent, and there's indeed an underlying layer of being taken to some futuristic place in Asia for a whirlwind tour. The song definitely doesn't overstay its welcome at a shade over three minutes. In fact, I would say that it almost acts like a song for a montage scene of exploring the megalopolis in some cute Tokyo-based sci-fi/adventure movie.
Back in early March, I proudly crowed that I was covering the second album of Mioko Yamaguchi's（山口美央子）trio of releases, "Nirvana" when she was actively singing in the 1980s. That is still true but in the past few days, I did receive from the LOGIC STORE one more creation from the singer-songwriter.
"ANJU" was Yamaguchi's BEST album from November 1985 with all of her selections from the previous three albums plus two new songs. Now, since the original albums have come out as remastered CDs in one big bang along with this particular release, the feeling was that there probably wasn't any need to release the totality of that 1985 BEST compilation so the new "ANJU" has come out as a "single" of sorts with just the two new songs. I was fortunate to get from Toshi of the LOGIC STORE not only the CD but also a commemorative 45" with those two songs (many thanks, Toshi). Getting a donut-ban like that would make it the first time in over 30 years that I actually received a fresh vinyl record.
The first song is "Koi Suru Butterfly" (Butterfly In Love) and the second is "ANJU". Both are pretty sparkly technopop numbers written and composed by Yamaguchi.
"Koi Suru Butterfly" has a protagonist who is just as fluttery as that titular butterfly because she has butterflies in her stomach about falling in love with a friend. The melody is also as fluttery with a nice touch of techno steel drums. Yamaguchi did note on the cover that she had wanted to create something with a calypso beat.
Meanwhile "ANJU" is just a tad darker although the boppy technopop is still in there to such an extent that both songs could almost be considered to be siblings. Yamaguchi's lyrics for "ANJU" perhaps relate the aftermath of a fight between a couple with one dealing with the inevitable regrets. The percolating melody reminds me of something slightly New Wave and I could imagine an aidoru of that time singing this one on a show like "The Best 10".
The other notable thing about the two songs is that they were also produced and arranged by none other than Joe Hisaishi（久石譲）who would become famous for all of his creations for those Studio Ghibli movies.
By the way, I gotta say that I love the type face for the title! Sophisticated and 80s at the same time.
Time to finish the trifecta of the Mioko Yamaguchi（山口美央子）albums I got from the LOGIC STORE back in January. I've covered the introspective "Tsukihime"（月姫）from 1983 and then her debut album"Yume Hiko"（夢飛行）from 1980. Now, I'm going to cover the middle release "Nirvana" which came out in 1981.
Akira Inoue（井上鑑）produced "Nirvana" as he did Yamaguchi's "Yume Hiko", and once again, the album is another mix of mellow AOR/City Pop tunes with jumpy technopop treats. The latter genre starts things off here with "Itsumo Takaramono"（いつも宝物...Always A Jewel）. Happily, Yamaguchi again provides commentary on the liner notes for the CD and she points out that she based this on the music by The Buggles (who were responsible for the immortal "Video Killed The Radio Star"). I think the frenetic synths confirmed that statement.
The second track is "Chord C no Kibun"（コードCの気分...C-Chord Feeling） which sounds like a bit of that Billy Joel pop/rock from around the same time. The notable thing about this song is that it has that Japanesque intro which also had me thinking of "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus".
"Lonely Dreamer" at 12:11 had the singer-songwriter stating "This is America, isn't it?" in the liner notes. Yup, I would say from the West Coast of the late 1970s. According to her, she infused the ballad with that air of the Eagles'"Desperado", but instead of getting that feeling of being out in the prairie, I felt like that it was still solidly in the city.
Inoue himself provides some vocal support for "Telephone Game" which, like the title intimates, seems to have a trans-Atlantic back-and-forth in terms of genres. British New Wave and American Billboard pop/rock of the time are having a table tennis match here, and I especially like the outro with the keyboards and guitar.
There are a few more tracks but I will cover them individually. Of course, I already covered one back in 2014, "Kaze ni Dakarete"（風に抱かれて）. The charm of "Nirvana" is that it does cover a number of genres so I haven't gotten bored from musical monotony when it comes to this album.
A little over a week ago, I did my first article on Mioko Yamaguchi's（山口美央子）third and final original album"Tsukihime ~ Moonlight Princess"（月姫）from 1983. Tonight, I will be devoting this space to her debut album from 1980, "Yume Hiko" (Dream Flight).
Comparisons are inevitable, of course, and I think they can make for some good discussion, so allow me here. The one difference right off the bat between "Yume Hiko" and "Tsukihime" can be seen right at the bottom of the two articles where I always place my categories. And from there you can see that the latter album is more of a technopop album and an introspective one for the most part. On the other hand, "Yume Hiko" is not so much of a flight through different areas of the world as it is Yamaguchi's flight through a number of musical styles, and that is indeed reflected in the categories I've put down. The technopop is definitely in there as you'll soon hear, and according to the J-Wiki article for her, Yamaguchi was even referred to as The Diva of Synthesizers.
"Yume Hiko" starts off with "Arabian Rhapsody"（アラビアン・ラプソディー）. After having listened to "Tsukihime", it was a bit of a surprise that I got on hearing this pretty darn skippy song that had that atmosphere of the exotic kayothat was fairly popular in Japanese music in the late 1970s. One interesting thing that I got from Yamaguchi's commentary in the liner notes was that the singer-songwriter had originally wanted "Arabian Rhapsody" to have more of a reggae rhythm; in fact, she mentioned a few times in the notes about tracks in "Yume Hiko" where she wanted to put the reggae in, only to have the songs morph into different forms over the course of production. By the way, I have to say that I enjoy the vocal syncopation that she puts into the song.
"Tokyo Lover"（東京LOVER）is her 2nd single which came out in 1981. The album version is a nice and mellow technopop tune with a bit of that Asian taste and it has a really pleasantly creamy synth solo in the middle. Then the synths get rather busy at the end with their riffs. Meanwhile, the original single tends more toward City Pop.
If I were to describe Mioko Yamaguchi and her works through analogy and other Japanese singers, I would say that her voice has the mellow depth of Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）and that her music has that hint of Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）and Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）combined. But her voice itself is all its own. It isn't sexy but it still has appeal. Her third track, "Hidamari no Naka de"（陽だまりの中で...In A Sunny Spot）is a creation that Yamaguchi says is the gentlest among the tracks, and it was the first song to really come out and grab me on first listen.
It is a cute and romantic song but it also has that City Pop vibe with those opening chords. In fact, I couldn't help but be reminded of Akira Terao's（寺尾聡）songs from "Reflections". The technopop is virtually non-existent and with that guitar near the end, I think Yamaguchi fully embraced her urban contemporary. "Hidamari no Naka de" seems to be about the aftermath of a fight between two lovers with the lady stalking off but still realizing that her now-sparring partner is still a decent man despite his moments of jerkdom.
Tracks 4 and 5 are "A Dream of Eμ" and "O-Matsuri"（お祭り...Festival）. This is another eye-opener in that "A Dream of Eμ" is a brief introduction into the next song with Yamaguchi fully embracing her Yellow Magic Orchestra this time. If I had been drinking something at the moment this tune came on, I would have spit it up since it sounds so YMO! I'm not sure if she has met the members of the famous technopop band but on meeting Hideki Matsutake（松武秀樹）who worked with both them and her, she was suitably impressed according to her notes.
Anyways, "O-Matsuri" was another song that Yamaguchi had meant to be a reggae-influenced number but it turned out to become this whimsical technopoppy visit to a summer festival. Somehow, I could have seen this tune used in some of futuristic anime.
The final song I will show here for tonight is "Koi no Airplay"（恋のエアプレイ...Airplay of Love）which Yamaguchi based on the works of the band Airplay (David Foster and Jay Graydon). Well done, Mioko! I think Airplay would have been quite happy at her first try at Yacht Rock.
To be honest, I didn't even know about Airplay or even the fact that Foster had even been in a band until I read the liner notes. Well, I just heard "Nothin' You Can Do About It" and now I even want to get that album. Thanks, Mioko!
But getting back to "Yume Hiko", it has been quite an interesting ride with Yamaguchi's debut release, and with Akira Inoue's（井上鑑）production, I got to hear a few different styles from this singer. There are a few more tracks that I would like to cover but I will do those individually including the title track.
Happy Hump Day to you and yours. Yesterday, I was happy to get my package from Logic Store fairly quickly and in it was indeed the rare 1983 album "Tsukihime" by singer-songwriter Mioko Yamaguchi（山口美央子）. Buoyed from nikala's original 2014 article on two of the tracks from the album, the title song and "Koi wa Shunkan"（恋は春感）, and then my own discovery of the wonderfully techno-Japanesque "Satemo Appare Yume Zakura"（さても天晴れ 夢桜）, I stated my desire to purchase it and sure enough, Toshi from Logic Store assured me that CDs of her albums could be bought there. So first off, many thanks to him for the tip.
All of the tracks were written and composed by Yamaguchi. I will be referring to some of the liner notes given by the singer herself regarding some of the tracks.
The first track is "Yugao ~ Aware"（夕顔 -あはれ-...Yugao ~ Sorrow）which starts off the album contemplatively and according to Yamaguchi, the song is based on the character of Yugao from the legendary Tale of Genji from Japanese literature. Now, the University of Toronto did offer an entire course to the epic story but I never took it despite my major in Japanese Studies since I frankly wasn't a huge literature fan although I had to read my Mishima and Natsume. So the Tale of Genji is unknown to me but Yugao was one of the ladies that Genji encountered and apparently although her appearance in the story was relatively brief and sad, her consequential appeal to the protagonist was very far-lasting.
Unfortunately the lyrics sheet in the album was too small for me to read (my eyes aren't all that strong) but I enjoyed the song which, now that I have read a little about the character, seems to frame her story. Plus, the overall Japanesque tone for the album starts with the ringing of one of the quintessential summer symbols in the country, the fuurin（風鈴...wind chimes）.
"Yugao" was also the B-side to the single version of "Satemo Appare Yume Zakura".
Track No. 2,"Natsu"（夏...Summer）, mixes in some more of the technopop. It has more of a Chinese influence, I think, in terms of the melody. Speaking of Mishima, Yamaguchi noted that her lyrics were inspired partially from "The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea" and from another one of his creations. My favourite part of this tune was how the horn-sounding synths suddenly went on a crescendo as if something rose from that very ocean. "Natsu" was Yamaguchi's 3rd single from 1982.
"Hakuchuumu"（白昼夢...Daydreaming） fulfills its title with a dreamy melody. Usually when it comes to daydreams, I often associate kids in their classrooms after lunch to which annoyed teachers would throw chalk or even a textbook if they're particularly unhappy. This "Hakuchuumu" is more for the adults who may not be in an especially happy point in their lives. The thing here is, though, that the grownups know how to conceal their daydreaming better in their cubicles or offices which may not be a good thing in this case.
(9:57)
"Shizumi Yuku"（沈みゆく...Sinking Down） is a short song with only a piano and a Roland TR-808 as her musical accompaniment, so the nostalgia factor may be imbued right in every note since according to Wikipedia, since the pioneering drum machine was discontinued in 1983. Again, I was unable to read the lyrics but the slowly undulating melody reminded me of waves while someone is right in the middle of them...perhaps trying not to do what the title is saying. For some reason, I think Yamaguchi's voice really comes to the fore here.
As you may have guessed, the "Tsukihime" album is an overall introspective album that I think would be ideal to listen to on a slow summer day or perhaps even a rainy Sunday over some chamomile tea. However, the final track "Koi wa Shunkan"（恋は春感...Love is the Feeling of Spring） is a pretty upbeat, even skippy, way to finish off the album.
Coming out as Yamaguchi's 4th single in 1983, the song has already been featured in nikala's article but I wanted to give my two (non-existent Canadian) cents about the number since it is pretty reminiscent of some of Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）fun little technopop singles from around the same time. Not surprisingly, it was crafted for a Kose cosmetics commercial.
According to J-Wiki, "Tsukihime" was the only album by Yamaguchi to get onto the Oricon charts, getting as high as No. 64. However for the singer, this would be her final release. Afterwards, she would continue her career as just a songwriter for a number of other singers. All of the arrangements were by Masami Tsuchiya（土屋昌巳）from the New Wave group Ippu-Do（一風堂）. Supposedly her earlier albums were arranged by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）so will be looking forward to hearing those as well.
This does bring me to my disclosure. I did purchase "Tsukihime" from Logic Store thanks to Toshi. He was also very magnanimous in sending me Yamaguchi's first two albums"Yume Hiko"（夢飛行）and "Nirvana" as free samples for which I'm grateful. I will be talking about those releases in future articles in February. If you are interested in any of the albums after reading this or coming across the videos on YouTube, you can check them out here.
Back in February 2014, almost 4 years ago, nikala gave some of us an introduction to singer-songwriter Mioko Yamaguchi（山口美央子）through her most successful album"Tsukihime"（月姫...Moonlight Princess） from March 1983. I had never heard of her before but was struck by not only her gentle yet catchy tunes but her striking appearance on the album cover. As nikala wrote it, the singer part of her career was regrettably short but she has gone on as a songwriter for a number of pop singers in the years since.
Last night, I encountered another track from that same album, and boy is it an earworm! In fact, among the three songs that I have now heard from "Tsukihime", Track 7 "Satemo Appare Yume Zakura"(Wow! Bravo, Dream Cherry Blossoms) is the most attractive song yet. It was also released as her 5th single in the same year.
As with the other two I've heard, the title track and "Koi wa Shunkan"（恋は春感）, "Satemo Appare Yume Zakura" is this intriguing technopop with traditional Japanese leanings but it also possesses this steady bouncy beat and the repeated "Ha, ha, ha..." that inexorably drills into the brain. nikala mentioned it as well in her article but there is this Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）vibe to "Satemo Appare Yume Zakura" especially in the technopop but I also think about Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）and her music at around the same time.
nikala also stated that the original LP only sold 5000 copies. I've tried looking for it and although none of her albums are available at my usual two sources of CD Japan and Tower Records, the record and perhaps the CD seem to be sold at some other private shops. After hearing "Satemo Appare Yume Zakura", I wouldn't mind getting my own copy somehow.
January 16 2018: Well, someone has been looking favourably upon me...and his name is Hideki Matsutake. I received a tweet through his Logic Store that the three original albums by Yamaguchi are now available on CD. So if you are interested, have a look! I'll provide the copy of the tweet below. And by the way, I just purchased "Tsukihime" there. We have reissued Mioko's three albums. Available in CD for the first time! https://mttk-logicstore.com/ This online store is curated by Hideki Matsutake who participated in Mioko's Albums as a synthesizer programmer.
Much like I did for Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）"Romantique" a couple of months ago, I've decided to do a follow-up on an article I did on another favourite album. This time, it's "Retour" by Miki Imai（今井美樹）from 1990. As I mentioned in the original article back in 2012, Imai's 5th album to me is the quintessential album by the lithe singer with the wide-as-the-Mississippi smile. All of the songs are wonderful concoctions of uptempo fun tunes and mellow ballads, and a few of the tracks that weren't included in the "Retour" article got their own entries: "Ame ni Kiss no Hanataba wo"（雨にキッスの花束を）, "Nakitakatta"（泣きたかった）and "Motto Motto Motto"（もっと、もっと、もっと）.
"Kakehiki 27" (カ・ケ・ヒ・キ 27...Strategy 27) is another one of the playful tracks written by Imai and composed by Jun Sato（佐藤準）. It's nice and brassy and seemingly fit as the theme song for a trendy drama on Japanese TV that could have easily starred the singer herself when she was acting fairly regularly. The lyrics by Imai themselves paint a scene from such a comedy-drama as two friends just chat away at a restaurant or cafe while one of them is wondering how she can get her significant other to promote themselves up to a level above merely buddies. Considering the number of strategies in the title, the guy might be as dense as a brick.
(cover version)
"Kyonen wa Hachi-gatsu datta"(去年は、8月だった...Last Year, It Was August) by Keiko Aso（麻生圭子）and MAYUMI is a soulful number with Imai singing about a relationship a year in with the protagonist making an assessment about how things have gone and how might they go. I wonder if this might have been a sequel to "Kakehiki 27".
"Hansode"（半袖...Short Sleeves）is hopefully not a further sequel to the two songs above since the sad ballad is about life after the end of a relationship...perhaps due to the death of that significant other. Yuuho Iwasato and Chika Ueda（岩里祐穂・上田知華）were responsible for this 3-Kleenex song.
The final track, "Atarashii Machi de"（新しい街で...In A New Town）is one of the truly memorable songs on "Retour" and makes for a fine finale to the album as well as a fine finale to any Miki Imai concert. There's very much a sunset feeling to KAN's melody and Iwasato's lyrics talk about a new start. The piano that starts things off and that saxophone during the bridge are the highlights for me.
The remaining two songs are "Fuyu no Market"（冬のマーケット...Winter Market）with Akemi Kakihara（柿原朱美）providing the melody to Iwasato's lyrics and "Kagayaku Hoshi ni Natte"（輝く星になって...Shining Star）by Imai and Mioko Yamaguchi（山口美央子）couldn't be found except through excerpts on the Amazon site selling the CD but they are also just fine to listen to, especially the former. If either or both of them pop up on YouTube someday, I would be happy to cover them as well.
Knowing that I would be writing about the album tonight, I decided to pop the CD into the player again earlier this afternoon. No change...still just as wonderful as when I had bought it back over a quarter-century ago.
