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.
It's been nearly four years since I've posted anything on 80s aidoru Noriko Matsumoto（松本典子）. Ironically enough, the day that I did post my last article on the Tokyo-born singer was on KKP's 8th birthday on January 30th and we're fast approaching No. 12.
For the record, I think the original "Kanashii Kotori"(Sad Little Bird) by fellow 80s aidoru Yuki Saito（斉藤由貴）with its particular arrangement will always be the best one for me. However, having said that, Matsumoto's cover of that 1985 song isn't too bad either. A track on her 3rd album"Jasmin" from October 1990, this version of "Kanashii Kotori", which was written and composed by the poet and photographer Natsuo Giniro（銀色夏生）, sounds somewhat more mature under the selection of synthesizers including one that sounds like an accordion from Paris and the slightly more measured singing by Matsumoto.
When I first heard this song, the first words of "Gomen ne..."（ごめんね...I'm sorry） suddenly sparked an engram of recognition within me. I hadn't quite remembered the title of Saito's signature song but as it went along, I finally could get my memories in order.
I'm not so familiar with Hiromi Ohta's（太田裕美）history that I know every move she's made in terms of her discography. However in 1983, she did want to jump onto the technopop bandwagon that a lot of her contemporaries had been trying out thus far. And the result was the October album "I do, You do ~ Anata Rashiku Watashi Rashiku"（I do, You do あなたらしく、わたしらしく...Just Like You, Just Like Me） which has been categorized as a New Music and Techno Kayo creation.
One of the tracks from "I do, You do", "Mangetsu no Yoru Kimichi e Itta"(I Went Over to Your Place on the Night of the Full Moon) was also released as Ohta's 23rd single in November 1983. Sounding like a synthesizer salsa number performed at a techno cabaret in an alt-universe Dieselpunk city of the 1950s, it still doesn't sound quite as technopop as I'd been expecting but perhaps the other tracks show some harder synth work.
Arranger Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）took care of Ohta's basic melody with poet Natsuo Giniro（銀色夏生）handling the lyrics of a guy giddily sneaking over to his lady love's house (not sure whether Daddy came out with a shotgun) under the pen name of Mikiko Yamamoto（山本みき子）. The single itself did only modestly, peaking at No. 108.
A couple of hours ago, I wrote up a Shoko Nakagawa（中川翔子）article so I decided that it was time to also write about her father, the late Katsuhiko Nakagawa（中川勝彦）who was also a singer and a TV personality along with being an actor, a musician and a seiyuu.
I don't know as much about Katsuhiko Nakagawa as I do his daughter but he was born in 1962 in Tokyo's Bunkyo Ward and made his debut in 1980 halfway during time as a Keio University student. His J-Wiki biography indicates that he may have been one of the first visual-kei rock pioneers, and I consider Kenji Sawada（沢田研二）to have had some influence on that genre as well.
For Nakagawa's first article on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I found "Ryusenjou de" (On the Streamline) which is a track on his February 1984 debut album"Shitemitai"（してみたい...Wanna Give it a Try）. Written by poet, essayist and lyricist Natsuo Giniro（銀色夏生）and composed by Toshio Kamei（亀井登志夫）, "Ryusenjou de" seems to be about a song of longing for that lost love but when I hear that melody which includes an oboe, I can easily imagine Nakagawa sporting a very New Wave-y foppish outfit and attitude. There just seems to be an air of British pop from that period of time in the arrangement.
I have to admit that listening to Nakagawa's vocals took some getting used to. It is a very affected way of singing that I realize rather fits that somewhat foppish manner, and as such, has me thinking of Sawada during that same time. Dropping into analogy, I would compare it with entering a pretty hot onsen and having to gingerly enter the steaming waters before finally soaking and feeling at ease. Also with the arrangement and again with Nakagawa's singing, I also get some Ippu-Do vibes but without the synthesizers.
As his Wikipedia article states, Nakagawa released 10 singles and 9 albums including a posthumously released album in October 1995. He had passed away at the age of 32 on September 17, 1994 due to leukemia.
Not sure what the most popular dance emporium was in the early 1980s. I think Juliana's was more in the late 80s or early 90s since it seemed to be the disco of the Bubble Era. Perhaps it was still the Lexington Queen in Roppongi? In any case, as a high school kid, it was still way too early for me.
However, Yoshiyuki Osawa's（大澤誉志幸）distinctive "Slow Dance" gets me thinking of some of those dance halls, although the setting here in this song isn't really the Lexington Queen, I think. The sultriness of Osawa's music and the silkiness of his vocals have me assuming someplace more intimate in one of the side streets of Roppongi or Shinjuku where the drinks are still cold, the lights are low and the dancing is hot.
And before I further lapse into my faux-Spillane or faux-Chandler, let me say that "Slow Dance" was written by poet Natsuo Giniro（銀色夏生）, who had also provided lyrics for Osawa's "Soshite Boku wa Tohou ni Kureru"（そして僕は途方に暮れる）. The song does have that urban contemporary feeling (with some Prince-ly riffs) but as I indicated above, the site is not the bright lights on the main street but an area that is necessarily darker. "Slow Dance" is a track on the singer-songwriter's 2nd album"Scoop" from 1984.
Sometime last month when I went on my semi-annual spending binge on CDs, I was asked by my good friend if I could pick up an album from Amazon.jp. I was initially hesitant since I've had some problems with the Japanese branch involving some disagreements with my credit card (I insist that my cards are fine) which resulted in cancellations of orders. But according to my anime buddy who has also undergone some frustrations as well, as long as the orders aren't all that costly, they should get processed just fine.
Indeed, that is what happened. My friend asked me to get an old soundtrack for a movie called "Mirai no Omoide ~ Last Christmas"（未来の思い出...Future Memories）which was released in 1992 and starred Shizuka Kudo（工藤静香）and Misa Shimizu（清水美砂）. The soundtrack cost the equivalent of a regular cup of coffee so even when I threw in my own personal purchase of a disc, the total turned out to be the lowest that I have ever paid for a package of Japanese albums.
The thing is that I remember seeing some of that movie during my three years back in Toronto between Japan odysseys. "Mirai no Omoide", I think, was another one of my other friends' pet subtitling projects, and my impression was that it was some sort of sci-fi/fantasy-based Xmas romance flick (talk about crossing your genres!). Obviously, from what I've just written, it didn't leave me with too many omoide.
Still, looking at the soundtrack before I gave it to my friend, I was surprised to see the jumble of songs that were used in the film. There was a mix of Western and Japanese standards including Earth Wind & Fire's"Let's Groove" and Julio Iglesias' cover of "Begin The Beguine" along with Kome Kome Club's（米米クラブ）"Roman Hiko"（浪漫飛行）and Saki Kubota's（久保田早紀）"Ihojin"（異邦人）. Of course, WHAM!'s "Last Christmas" was in there as well.
However, I did find one track that was unfamiliar to me and that was Yoshiyuki Osawa's（大沢誉志幸）"Soshite Boku wa Tohou ni Kureru" (And Then I Was Left Speechless). Originally, this was Osawa's 5th single from September 1984. A mid-tempo ballad about what seems to be the aftermath of a supposedly amiable romantic breakup between a fellow and more well-to-do lady, I enjoyed that rather nostalgic melody by Osawa that had that certain arrangement which lasted into the 1990s. I guess I could call it 80s urban contemporary wistful. The lyrics were provided by poet Natsuo Giniro（銀色夏生）.
According to the J-Wiki article (via an article in the June 2016 publication of "Showa Yon-juu-nen Otoko"[昭和40年男...1965 Man]) on the song, Osawa had initially offered "Soshite Boku wa Tohou ni Kureru" to a number of singers including Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）. However, none of the singers bit so the song came back and Osawa decided to record it by himself. The rejection turned out to be a lucky thing for him since it broke into the Top 10 by peaking at No. 6. It eventually became the 37th-ranked single of 1985 and sold a little more than 280,000 records. The song was also included on Osawa's 3rd studio album "Confusion" which was released in July 1984.
Well, my education on Kenji Sawada（沢田研二）was primarily through his appearances on the Kohaku Utagassen starting with the 1981 show and then listening to him occasionally on "Sounds of Japan". And yep, he did leave quite the impression via "Stripper"（ス・ト・リ・ッ・パ・ー）and then his New Wave-y"Rokuban no Yuutsu"（６番目のユ・ウ・ウ・ツ）on the 1982 Kohaku. I could only imagine dropped jaws and perhaps a few calls to the NHK switchboard.
So I was wondering what he would bring to the 1983 Kohaku when I read in the local Japanese-Canadian newspaper, "The Nikka Times" that he would once again be returning to the NHK Hall stage on New Year's Eve. Glam rock, New Wave...would he go full Punk or go into Rockabilly this time?
Well, with his 39th single from May 1983, "Hare Nochi BLUE BOY"(Sunny and BLUE BOY), it seemed to be a bit of both Glam and New Wave. There was that usual Julie sullen and sultry look as he strutted about to a boppy bass and an alien horn arrangement that could have come from that cantina in Mos Eisley. I picked up some familiarity from the melody composed by singer-songwriter Yoshiyuki Osawa（大澤誉志幸）as it sounded a bit like Adam Ant's"Goody Two-Shoes". I wasn't quite sure how the audience in Shibuya took the song although perhaps a lot of the older generation used the time to check on how the osechi ryori was doing in the kitchen or to hit the washroom. And no, it isn't one of my favourite Julie songs but it's still not something to be forgotten. The lyrics were written by poet and essayist Natsuo Giniro（銀色夏生）.
"Hare Nochi BLUE BOY" peaked at No. 11 on Oricon and became the 98th-ranked song for 1983.
Here is Osawa with his own more rock-tinged take on his creation which was also a track on his 1994 album, "Collage". In the same year that he composed "Hare Nochi BLUE BOY", he was also responsible for Akina Nakamori's（中森明菜）fierce song of defiance and regret "Ni-bun no Shinwa"（1/2の神話）.
And this is Yasuyuki Okamura（岡村靖幸）with his own 2010 cover of the song. When I discovered that he had also sung the tune, I kinda figured that this was right up his alley.
I dug out some more tapes from the dusty recesses of my shelves, including one from an old friend of mine from university who taped a number of 80s aidoru tunes. One of those tunes happened to be Yuki Saito's（斉藤由貴）"AXIA - Kanashii Kotori" (Sad Little Bird). I hadn't heard it for years and as soon as the adorable melody flowed out from the headphones and Saito's cutesy-as-all-get-out voice started trilling away, images of puppy dogs and all of the characters from a Lucky Charms cereal floated above my head....and nothing was being imbibed at the time. Amazing! Nice use of the synth-organ in there, too.
Unbelievably, "AXIA" was never made into an official single but was the title track on Saito'sdebut album which came out in June 1985. It made it as high as No. 3 on the Oricon album charts and contained two of her hits, "Sotsugyo"（卒業） and "Shiroi Honoo"（白い炎）. As for the song "AXIA" itself, it was written and composed by the poet and photographer Natsuo Giniro（銀色夏生）.
At the time, there was an audio tape brand called Axia of which I was a regular purchaser, so I always wondered whether Saito or someone on her team wanted to pay tribute to it. Well, it turned out that perhaps both tape brand and those producers named their respected products after the Greek word for "royal thing".
