Mizuki Koyama -- Oh! Daddy

 

It's been a couple of years since singer Mizuki Koyama（小山水城）has been up here so it's about time to bring in another song of hers.

The first couple of entries for Koyama both came from her November 1985 album "Angel's Dream": "River Side Cafe" and "Kare ni wa Kanawanai"（彼にはかなわない）. Now, we have her "Oh! Daddy" track. It seems that her songs had some pretty big names behind them, and this particular song is no different. Casey Rankin from SHOGUN provided the lyrics while a young Toshinobu Kubota（久保田利伸）, who was just about to break on the scene around this time, composed the song.

I have to say though that the first several bars of "Oh! Daddy" threw me for a loop since it sounds like "Dance on Your Knees", that segment which prefaced Hall & Oates' hit "Out of Touch" in the music video. However, the rest of the song is some sparkly disco R&B/City Pop punctuated with horns and Koyama's seductive vocals. According to Mizuki's website, "Angel's Dream" also had some big names in the recording booth including Jun Aoyama（青山純）on drums, Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹）on guitar and saxophonist Jake H. Concepcion. 

Mizuki Koyama -- Kare ni wa Kanawanai（彼にはかなわない）

The first time that I wrote about Mizuki Koyama（小山水城）was through her track, "River Side Café" from her 1985 debut album "Angel's Dream". That particular song was reminiscent of the softer side of City Pop or AOR a la Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）who served as a mentor to Koyama.

Another track is "Kare ni wa Kanawanai" which was also Koyama's single (maybe her only one). Tried to find the translation...according to Google, it came out as "Can't Beat Him", but I'm wondering if it might be more along the lines of "Can't Satisfy Him" or "Can't Meet His Demands". Penned by lyricist Masumi Kawamura（川村真澄）and composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, "Kare ni wa Kanawanai" contrasts with "River Side Café" in that it sounds more like an 80s R&B-tinged dance-pop number with Sheila E. helping out on percussion. If I were to compare her with a singer, perhaps Cindy is the one.

When things get back to normal, I will have to see about getting "Angel's Dream" if it's still available.

Mizuki Koyama -- River Side Cafe

Yes, nothing like a rich and smooth slice of cheesecake with a hot cup of coffee in a stylish cafe. I do have a soft spot for Timmies here but sometimes I miss those much more prolific mom-&-pop coffeehouses in Japan.

When I was first trying to search for some information on this singer Mizuki Koyama, I went with the kanji「小山美月」that had been served on the above video. Couldn't find a thing about her online and so I had presumed that an unfortunate precedent was about to be set. However, thankfully, she does have an entry in my "Japanese City Pop" and found out that her kanji is actually「小山水城」. In fact, she's even represented in J-Wiki.

Born and raised in Gifu Prefecture, Koyama had studied piano from a young age and got some education in classical music, pop and enka. She later attended Sophia University in Tokyo and during that time, she got into the swing (no pun intended) of things with jazz piano and vocal. Impressed by the works of Barbra Streisand, she apprenticed under artists such as singer Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）and songwriter Yusuke Honma（本間勇輔）. According to her J-Wiki bio, she also loves people such as Sam Cooke, Diana Krall and Quincy Jones.

In 1985, she released her first album "Angel's dream" and from it, here is "River Side Cafe", a mellow and indeed cafe-friendly urban contemporary number that was at least composed by Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）. I couldn't pin down who had taken care of the lyrics although it could have been Koyama or Abe. I do love that trombone solo in the middle and the dawn/dusk breeziness of it all (Daemonskald rescue: The lyricist is Kei or Megumi Yokoyama/横山恵).

Just for pure trivia purposes, her elder son happens to be a professional soccer player for Giravanz Kitakyushu, Akira Disaro（ディサロ 燦）. Along with her singing and songwriting, Koyama is also a vocal trainer and vocal arranger.