Junko Ohashi -- Kokoro ni Sumenai Onna（心に住めない女）

 

The above picture is that of a quiet intersection in the Tameike-Sanno（溜池山王）area not too far away from the ritzy Akasaka neighbourhood. Tamaike-Sanno was one of the newer stations on the Ginza Line that got opened during my time in Tokyo and on street level, you can see that it is another heavily commercial district of companies sprinkled with some cafés, restaurants and convenience stores.

Indeed, I do get that downtown feeling when I listen to Junko Ohashi's（大橋純子）"Kokoro ni Sumenai Onna" (Heartless Woman). A track from her May 1976 2nd album "Paper Moon", there's some nice soul coming out of Ohashi's vocal cords although the message from Namiko Saki's（崎南海子）lyrics is that the titular lady is more than happy to squash hearts into blood, atria and ventricles all over the Tokyo pavement (ooh, maybe that's a little too Eli Roth). Getting into less gory information, Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）was the man behind the melody and arrangement including the cool piano and the wah-wah guitar. For sure, this is one strut-worthy song in the big city.

Anzen Chitai -- Ichido dake（一度だけ）

 

Well, I'm obviously still here after those ominous warnings I gave in my final article last night about that huge Holiday storm, but how long I stay up today is still up in the air. The heavy rains have subsided but we're still awaiting the dreaded winds and snow which may take down the power lines, so Toronto and the surrounding vicinity are still not in the clear by any means. However, I will try to get my four in.

And it's on that note that I deliver yet another case of sad news from Japanese music. Before I turned in last night, I read on the Yahoo Japan news feed and J-Wiki that drummer Yuuji Tanaka（田中裕二）of the pop/rock band Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）had passed away at the age of 65 on November 17th 2022 according to a December 23rd (Japan time) announcement on the band's website. Tanaka had been undergoing treatment since November 8th for a cerebral hemorrhage.  On the same day as that announcement came word that Anzen Chitai would be appearing on the upcoming 73rd edition of the Kohaku Utagassen as a special guest so there will be some poignancy to this performance.

On that point, I wanted to start off today's urban contemporary session on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" with an Anzen Chitai song in tribute to Tanaka. A few years ago, I put up an article regarding the band's first single from February 1982, "Moegiiro no Snap"（萠黄色のスナップ）, and so today, I'm tackling the B-side, "Ichido dake" (Just Once).

I have taken an instant liking to "Ichido dake" although the protagonist within the lyrics written by the band and Namiko Saki（崎南海子）seems to be a rather persistent and maybe odious or strangely charming fellow bothering a young lady for a few minutes (and if successful with the "courtship", more) of her time. I've seen scenes of those young guys in real life and in anime going on the girl-hunting. For all I know, the guy in "Ichido dake" could be a smiling Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）himself. The music by vocalist Tamaki and arrangement by Katsu Hoshi（星勝）is a cool button-down strut on the pavements of the metropolis with a mixture of City Pop and rock.

As I mentioned in last night's final article regarding Original Love's "X'mas NO HI", it's always interesting to hear the very early days of a long-existing band or singer. Maybe it's just me but there is something a bit different to "Ichido dake" compared to the hits that Anzen Chitai would come up with going further into the 1980s with that distinctive band sound. Still, I can hear some of that here, too, along with Tamaki's amazing vocals. Incidentally, "Ichido dake" never showed up on any of the band's original albums but is present on their September 1994 BEST compilation, "Anzen Chitai ~ Another Collection: Album Mishuuroku Kyokushuu"（安全地帯 アナザー・コレクション -アルバム未収録曲集-... Non-Album Song Collection） which includes a lot of their B-sides.

To finish off, I found this performance from a 1997 concert featuring Anzen Chitai singing a more unplugged rendition of "I Love You Kara Hajimeyou"（I Love Youからはじめよう...Let's Begin With I Love You) . This time, though, instead of Tamaki, it's Tanaka doing the vocals. The band will be performing this very song on the Kohaku in a little over a week. My condolences to Tanaka's family, friends and fans.

Kumiko Hara -- Sentimental Balance（狂ってるハカリ）

 

Earlier this year, my last Kumiko Hara（原久美子）article was based on one of the tracks, "Chance", from her 1981 album "Unhappy Birthday". Well, I've got another track from the album to show you.

This time, we have "Sentimental Balance" which launches with some beefy bass and a cool keyboard intro. Plus, there's a hint of reggae in there, too. The title is interesting since the kanji title (which I had to search through a few websites until I came across it on Tacto so that I could track the songwriters down on JASRAC) has a fairly different meaning: "Crazy Balance". Maybe there's something of a split personality. 

Written by Namiko Saki（﨑南海子）and composed by Makoto Yano（矢野誠）, "Sentimental Balance" is quite a button-down City Pop tune with Hara exhorting those lyrics in relatively bite-sized pieces like a mantra. Aside from the 80s instrumentation, there's something of a 1970s Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）vibe within this one.

Kumiko Hara -- Hidamari no Pierrot（陽だまりのピエロ）

 

Would love to get my hands on the late Kumiko Hara's（原久美子）2nd album "Neppu"（熱風...Tropical Wind） from 1978 but perhaps it's one of the rarest of the rare. For her file on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I've covered a couple of tracks from the album: the jaunty City Pop of "Magic Night" and then the tenderhearted Fashion Music-oriented "Ku-gatsu no Kaigara"（九月の貝がら）. Looks like there might be some good variety in there. Heck, I would love to get it for the album cover alone.

The second track on "Neppu" is "Hidamari no Pierrot" (Clown in the Sun) which is written by Namiko Saki（﨑南海子）, who has already given lyrics to those other Hara tracks, and composed by guitarist and composer Hiromi Yasuda（安田裕美）, the husband of folk/pop singer-songwriter Hako Yamasaki（山崎ハコ）. Regrettably, he passed away last July at the age of 72.

"Hidamari no Pierrot" starts off with some of that crystalline keyboard before launching into some fine funky groove. I couldn't find the lyrics for the song but I can imagine that the love relationship is going well by that City Pop melody, although with that mention of the clown in the title, I wonder if Hara is gleefully singing about having a bunch of guys tied around her pinkie. Still, the sunny riffs that the song is putting out has me remembering all those walks through West Shinjuku on a nice day.

Kumiko Hara -- Ku-gatsu no Kaigara（九月の貝がら）

A few years ago, I featured a jazz singer Kumiko Hara（原久美子）with her City Pop "Magic Night". Originating from her 1978 2nd album "Neppu"（熱風...Tropical Wind）, it was a rollicking and funky piece that showed what an enjoyable evening in Tokyo could be like back in the day.

Well, today's article focuses on the track that immediately followed "Magic Night" on "Neppu". Beginning with a light jazz piano intro and populated with silky strings, "Ku-gatsu no Kaigara", which translates directly as "September Seashell" but has the English subtitle of "Fading Love", is quite the different animal. It's much more of an introspective and melancholy ballad that takes things into the chaise lounge-friendly Fashion Music area. As soon as I heard it for the first time, I was reminded of singers such as Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）and Mayumi Itsuwa（五輪真弓）. It makes for quite the contrast with the preceding "Magic Night". Perhaps "Ku-gatsu no Kaigara" acts as the regretful requiem sequel for a bit too much of that magic night.

The ballad was composed by Hiroki Inui（乾裕樹）and written by Namiko Saki（崎南海子）, who may actually be a poet. "Neppu" is another rare album that I may have my eye on.

Anzen Chitai -- Moegiiro no Snap（萠黄色のスナップ）

As I mentioned in my article for Anzen Chitai's（安全地帯）very first album "Remember to Remember" (1982) back in 2014, my history with the band led by golden-toned Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）basically started with their breakthrough hit 1983 single "Wine-Red no Kokoro"（ワインレッドの心）which was also in their second album "Anzen Chitai II". But I did find that 1982 album "Remember to Remember" and realized that there had been a past discography before "Wine-Red no Kokoro".

Now I've realized that there was that debut single that never got onto that first album. It was titled "Moegiiro no Snap" (Light Green Snap) and it was written by the band and composed by Tamaki himself. The lyrics were also co-written by Namiko Saki（崎南海子）.

But getting back to Anzen Chitai's first single, I wasn't quite sure what the title was referring to, and it hasn't helped that when I think of "snap", a big purple megalomaniac (no, not Barney) comes to mind..at least for this year. However, combing through the lyrics, I think what Anzen Chitai was trying to convey was a message of contented realization about finding that special someone and that happy place which I think is Hokkaido, the home of the band. The music is appropriately mellow despite the thumping drum beat and Tamaki's vocals are hauntingly beautiful. Perhaps the snap here means the snap of realization?

As I said, "Moegiiro no Snap" didn't get onto "Remember to Remember". However, it did get onto a BEST compilation by Anzen Chitai, "Anzen Chitai Best 2 ~ Hitoribocchi no Yell"（安全地帯ベスト2 〜ひとりぼっちのエール〜...A Lonely Yell）which was released in August 1993. That album peaked at No. 10 but the original single apparently didn't place anywhere on the charts.

Ironically enough, the J-Wiki article for "Moegiiro no Snap" didn't give too much insight on the single itself, but it did devote a lot of it to the origins of Anzen Chitai. I thought that all of that should have ended up on the article for the band itself, but it was educational.

The source was a 2006 book by Ayumi Shida（志田歩）on what seems to be a biography on Tamaki titled "Tamaki Koji: Shiawase ni naru tame ni Umaretekitan dakara"（玉置浩二 幸せになるために生まれてきたんだから...Koji Tamaki: Because I Was Born to Become Happy）. Although Anzen Chitai's history has been stated to have begun from 1982, apparently the prototype for the band started in the early 1970s when Tamaki and guitarist Yutaka Takezawa（武沢豊）had met in junior high school and created the band Invader（インベーダー）. At the time, Tamaki was listening to kayo kyoku and Group Sounds music while Takezawa was into Western music including the Beatles. Later on, when there was talk within the band to change the name, a classmate who had joined Invader as a bassist took a look through a traffic manual and saw the words "anzen chitai" meaning "safety zone". At the time, the peace sign was popular and the symbol for "anzen chitai" according to the traffic rules happened to be a "V" sign, and with the fact that there were popular Japanese bands at the time with four kanji characters making up their names such as Zunou Keisatsu（頭脳警察...The Brain Police）and Yonin-Bayashi（四人囃子）, Tamaki's group was officially renamed Anzen Chitai.

Kumiko Hara -- Magic Night

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Kumiko Hara's "No Smoking"

Apparently, there were two Kumiko Haras（原久美子）in the geinokai, neither of whom I know very well. One is a tarento/actress who I may have seen on TV when I was back in Japan. The other Kumiko Hara was a jazz singer who I saw in the pages of "Japanese City Pop" but never heard. Unfortunately, she passed away over a decade ago because of a brain tumour at the age of 50.

Singer Hara debuted in 1977 with her album "No Smoking" which showed her on the cover as a bit of a rebel. The following year, Hara came out with her 2nd album, "Neppu"（熱風...Tropical Wind）, and on YouTube, I was able to discover one of the songs from that album. Starting off with some nice bass and keyboard work, the singer launches into breezy tropical fun to be enjoyed with a mai tai.

I've never listened to her jazz work so listening to "Magic Night", my impression is that Hara was still vocally finding her feet. There are power and enthusiasm in her delivery but there is also a bit of "nervousness" there, too just according to what I've picked up so far. It's still some fine nostalgic City Pop/New Music from that decade, though. Plus, it has some pedigree as well since Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）composed the song with Namiko Saki（﨑南海子）providing the lyrics.