Martha and The Muffins -- Echo Beach

Daeva Trac via Wikimedia Commons

 

Welcome to another Reminiscings of Youth for this Thursday. There were times when I was frankly in a dead-end job and often reminisced during the drudgery about an old place where I used to know friends and had fun. For me, that hallowed place was the International Student Centre in Cumberland House at the University of Toronto. It's apparently now known as the Centre for International Experience. Having worked there as well as played there, a lot of the university clubs reserved rooms for activities and for a long while, the Japanese-Canadian Students' Association had an office on the third floor. 

For songwriter and member of the Toronto New Wave band Martha and The Muffins, Mark Gane when he endured his own job from Hell, his hallowed place was Sunnyside Beach along Lake Ontario in our common hometown. And from that came the idea for "Echo Beach" which was released in February 1980. I didn't know about the significance of the lyrics back then but I remember the song as one of the first ones made in Canada that I actually got hooked on when I finally discovered the joys of pop music. The source album "Metro Music" which was also released in February that year has a map of lakeside Toronto with Sunnyside Beach in there somewhere.

I'm not sure anymore but I had assumed that there were two music videos for "Echo Beach", one was of Martha and The Muffins playing on stage (which is above) and a conceptual one where the band members were strangely doing calisthenics in a park late at night somewhere (Sunnyside Beach, perhaps?). Perhaps I'm hallucinating, though. Regardless, although the band enjoyed success in Canada with a lot of their other singles, "Echo Beach" was probably the only single that had any significant fame outside of the country. It scored No. 5 on Canada's RPM and No. 37 on Billboard's Hot Disco (!) singles chart in the USA. It also went Gold in the Great White North and won a Juno for Single of the Year. Martha and The Muffins is also represented through another ROY article on "Black Stations/White Stations".

So, what was also coming out in February 1980 in the record stores in Japan?

Yoshimi Iwasaki -- Aka to Kuro（赤と黒）

Masashi Sada -- Doukeshi no Sonnet（道化師のソネット）

The Chanels -- Runaway

Tomoko Koyano -- Shiawase Modoki（幸わせもどき）

 

It's been a long while since the last Tomoko Koyano（古谷野とも子）article which was back in March 2020, just before COVID shut the world down for a couple of years. That was for "Yorisoi Nareta Ude no Naka de"（寄りそい慣れた腕の中で）and though the Koyano file on KKP is still not all that deep, I've gotten the impression that she's along the lines of fellow singer-songwriters Keiko Maruyama（丸山圭子）and Mieko Nishijima（西島三重子）with their mellow New Music stylings.

I found this track which shares space with "Yorisoi Nareta Ude no Naka de" on her 3rd album "Neutral Tints" from 1978. And "Shiawase Modoki" (Fake Happiness) may not titularly hint at good times within Etsuko Kisugi's（来生えつこ）lyrics, but man, right from the first several notes of the song, I do feel that Koyano's creation strikes me as something ahead of its time. The arrangement comes across as a lot more contemporary especially with the keyboard work (although that Fender Rhodes is a symbol of City Pop music, particularly in the 1970s). I could imagine "Shiawase Modoki" as having been created in the 1980s or 1990s even. Nice to have such a cool and good tune to finish off tonight's slate of postings, especially with that sax solo...gave me some Gerry Rafferty vibes.

Chu Kosaka & Makoto Iwabuchi -- Rainbow

 

Probably would have preferred Kayo Grace and Mr. Calico to have stood a little farther away from the number, but in all of the excitement about writing the 2700th City Pop article on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" a few minutes ago, I completely overlooked the fact that the blog itself surpassed the 20 million view mark some time in the last 24 hours. 

Thank you, Mr. DiCaprio! And congratulations yourself on "One Battle After Another" winning Best Picture although I'm sorry that you didn't get that Best Actor Oscar.

It's rather amazing that the views are already more than 70,000 deep beyond 20,000,000 so let's get at it with another song. First off, although I have separate articles for Makoto Iwabuchi（岩渕まこと）and the late great Chu Kosaka（小坂忠）, I had no idea that they also worked together as a duo for several years in the 1980s and 1990s, putting out a lot of albums together.

One album, released in 1982, is "Best Friend", and the cover has Iwabuchi and Kosaka looking very chummy. I managed to find one track "Rainbow" which brings in friendly folk and a hint of that Margaritaville AOR into the proceedings. It's just the melodic tonic for a cool and relaxing Sunday drive out in the countryside or the beachside. Not quite ready for that activity here in Toronto yet, but perhaps this time next month, things will have meteorologically improved.

Some "White" Songs for White Day

Amazon.jp

 

Ah...yes. Shiroi Koibito（白い恋人...White Lovers）...commenter Brian Mitchell (who lives in Aomori Prefecture) and a lot of Japanese travelers ought to know the above wafer cookie very well. I even bought some of them myself as souvenirs. It's one of the more famous ones from the Tohoku area and it goes well with coffee or tea.

Now, I realize that it's Urban Contemporary Friday but when I was watching Jme earlier tonight, I was quickly reminded that March 14th is indeed White Day, the day when the guys give their own version of Valentine's Day chocolates to the gals at school or in the office. So it's a bit of a rush job and after looking out for the appropriate songs on this list, I just didn't want to throw all that out and wait until tomorrow, so the fifth slot today will be for songs that have the word "white" or "shiroi" in their titles.

(1969) Betsy & Chris -- Shiroi Iro wa Koibito no Iro （白い色は恋人の色）

(1969) Billy BanBan -- Shiroi Buranko（白いブランコ）

(1978) Mayumi Shibata -- Shiroi Page no Naka ni （白いページの中に）

(1986) Miho Nakayama -- Iro-White Blend （色・ホワイトブレンド）

(1996) Saruganseki -- Shiroi no Kumo no You ni （白い雲のように）

Miyako Chaki -- Bye Bye Blues（バイバイブルース）

By Kentin via Wikimedia Commons

Cafe Renoir...there are a number of places in Tokyo whose interiors seem to transport the customer back into the past by a few decades just from the decor and the furnishings. The Tokyo Prince Hotel up to 2016 and Nakano Broadway come to mind. However, when it comes to coffee houses, Cafe Renoir is the coffee house equivalent of that portal to the past.

I've been to a few branches such as the one in Ueno, although the one in the video above (by kei japantravel) seems to be in Ginza. There are interior decor variations depending on the branch but whenever I enter one, I get the impression that I'm surrounded by something from the 1960s or 1970s complete with that smell of tobacco infused into the chairs and the walls (there was a time when people could happily smoke like chimneys in cafes).

Maybe what I will say next is unfair to singer-songwriter Miyako Chaki（茶木みやこ） (to whom I will apologize profusely) but whenever I hear a lot of her music, I get the impression that this was the type of enjoyably light and melodic tapestry that I could hear accompanying a trip to a place like Cafe Renoir. That was the case when I posted my first article on Chaki, "Chizu douri ni Hashirikitta Anata"（地図どうりに走り切ったあなた）, several years ago.

Well, I have the same vibes for her "Bye Bye Blues" which was composed by the lady herself while Ritsu Iwasawa（岩沢律）took care of the lyrics. A track from her August 1977 album "Rainbow Chaser"（レインボウ・チェイサー）, this feels like the type of music floating over and around a couple of buddies painting the town red on a major shopping excursion and then taking a well-earned break in a chic coffee house somewhere in Tokyo of the 1970s. In fact, some of that keyboard work seems to scream for inclusion in a soundtrack of some detective drama. Not sure whether the title is a declaration of farewell to those bad feelings or the dark miasma following a heartbreak. Chaki's music is cheerful enough but of course, kayo veterans know that happy melodies often come with sad lyrics.

I do like the album title though. "Rainbow Chaser" could describe how the Japanese were feeling back in those days when the Economic Miracle was finally paying dividends for everyone. People could actually dream of heading off to foreign climes on a vacation or buying something on the luxurious scale.

Yoshitaka Minami -- Crescent Night（クレッセント・ナイト）

 

Ahhh...isn't that sweet? Kayo Grace and her beau walking under that crescent moon in the sky. Too late for Valentine's Day but still a week early for White Day. Well, considering how they are gazing into each other's eyes, I don't think chocolate is on the immediate menu anyways.

I've had friends recommending me to get Yoshitaka Minami's（南義孝）1980 album "Montage", and perhaps, I should finally heed those suggestions. Certainly, a track like "Crescent Sky" may finally seal the deal for me. Written by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）with Minami himself behind the romantic melody, the song has the ideal blend of City Pop, jazz and exotic arrangements. In a way, it reminds me a bit of "Chuo Freeway"（中央フリーウェイ）, Yumi Arai's（荒井由実）classic song of luxurious freedom; there is that footloose and fancy-free atmosphere which floats over both songs. Plus, some of the keyboard work suggests a couple tripping the light fantastic throughout the metropolis.

Ironically enough, my last song regarding Minami also had a moon theme, too.

Kengo Kurozumi -- Tsumibukai Yoru（罪深い夜）

 

Y'know...I think this is the earliest in singer-songwriter Kengo Kurozumi's（黒住憲五）discography that I've ever reached. Usually, I've been going through his 1980s City Pop material but today, I'm taking a tangent here and bringing over his second single from May 1979, "Tsumibukai Yoru" (A Sinful Night). Written by Ray Nakanishi and composed by the singer himself, the title might refer to something rather salacious but Kurozumi's melody comes across as being rather chipper and light-hearted; more a breezy walk in the park rather than a roll in the hay.

On J-Wiki, he's been categorized as a J-AOR singer instead of a City Pop performer and "Tsumibukai Yoru" has that Margaritaville feeling to add to that argument. The song came out some three years following his 1976 debut single and in 1979, he was on a nationwide tour with the band Godiego（ゴダイゴ）when he released his sophomore effort.

Two-Letter Abbreviations

From Dank via Wikimedia Commons

Look at all those abbreviations in the United States. Makes things rather compact, don't they? Well, it's time for a bit of whimsy here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" today as this thought came to my mind for the latest Author's Picks. I think they're rare enough but there are some Japanese songs that have two-letter abbreviations in their titles, so why not give a few out?

(1975) Eikichi Yazawa -- I Love You, OK（アイ・ラヴ・ユー、OK）

(1981) Yellow Magic Orchestra -- U.T.

(1990) Denki Groove -- N.O.

(1990) Pink Sapphire -- P.S. I Love You

(2018) Kirinji -- AI no Touhikou（AIの逃避行）

Mariko Takahashi -- Tea For Memory

 

Personally, I preferred to have my Royal Milk Tea when I was at some cafe in the Tokyo area but I was also fine with lemon tea, albeit it had to have some form of sweetness like honey in there. 

Lemon tea is also the drink of choice in this lovely Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）song called "Tea For Memory" from her March 1981 4th album "Tenderness". Through Etsuko Kisugi's（来生えつこ）lyrics, it's about a couple of old flames who find themselves together again for just one spot of the drink in a cool cafe somewhere as they go over the memories of their past life together. The story and the music are very genteel and there's no bitterness...not even within the tea.

Composer Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）comes up with a classy set of notes on the song sheet which brings to mind some elegant jazz which matches the setting perfectly. At first, I'd thought that it was Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）behind the composition, although I've known that the Kisugi siblings have often come up with the refined stuff. I especially like the very amiable guitar intro after which Mariko's beautifully lilting vocals perfume the ears just so. After writing such florid prose, I'm actually eager to have a cup of tea myself although I won't go as far as sticking my pinkie out when I lift the cup.

Iruka -- Juu-Nen Mae no Kimi no Machi（10年前の君の街）

From Wikipedia

Sad to say, but it's been a little over eleven years since I've visited my old residential neighbourhood surrounding the Tozai Line's Minami-Gyotoku Station（南行徳駅）. I dropped by there back in the fall of 2014 but didn't do the same for my most recent trip there in 2017. I wonder if there has been much change in the past decade in terms of stores and restaurants. I hope that the Tonki tonkatsu place is still there; that was always one of my favourites when I didn't particularly want to cook anything for dinner but wasn't in the mood for konbini bento. There was also the patisserie just down the subway mall that I often frequented.

The old neighbourhood in Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture was what I was thinking of as I was listening to singer-songwriter Iruka's（イルカ）adorable "Juu-Nen Mae no Kimi no Machi" (Your Old Town of Ten Years Ago). It's the folksy B-side to the City Pop A-side of her November 1980 15th single "Yoake no Goodbye"（夜明けのグッドバイ）. I figure that I first heard this most cordial country waltz on an episode of "Sounds of Japan" as Iruka reminisces about the ol' hometown and what/who has changed over the decade. The song also strikes me as one where the flute got a cracking solo.

The song was used for a commercial involving Sincol, a company specializing in indoor furnishings. However, the video above features the company using another Iruka song from a year later.

Rumiko Tanaka -- Furui Miyako no Onna no You ni（古い都の女のように）

 

When it comes to anyone named Rumiko on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", we have a few of them but usually my mind goes straight to singer/actress Rumiko Koyanagi（小柳ルミ子）.

But then some months ago, I discovered this song by singer-songwriter Rumiko Tanaka（田中ルミ子）and I just went "Why have I not ever heard of this lady before?!". She's got one of those ethereal clear-as-a-bell beauty voices and the song here has one of my favourite instrumental combinations of strings and piano. "Furui Miyako no Onna no You ni" (Like a Woman from the Old City) is a track on her 1979 album "Up and Fly" and it's got a wonderfully lush intro that leads into a song that makes one want to stop and smell the flowers. Plus, it's got a brief electric guitar solo that reminds me why I got into Japanese pop music in the first place. The melody was provided by her while the lyrics were written by Masatoshi Hayashi（林まさとし）. 

I was able to find some information on Tanaka on her website. She was born in Kure City, Hiroshima Prefecture and first showed her musical prowess publicly by providing a song for a 1977 NHK  documentary. Her official debut came in 1979 so I assume that "Up and Fly" was her first album. Since then, she has been teaching vocals and composition at a music school.

Happy Lunar New Year!/Naoko Kawai -- Chinatown Rhapsody（チャイナタウン・ラプソディ）/Koji Tamaki -- Hong Kong

                                                               From Alexandra Sigrit2323

via Wikimedia Commons

 

I realize that I should have done this yesterday when the Lunar New Year began but it was getting late into the night and I was just too tired. Anyways, perhaps it's just as well that I'm doing this today on Hump Day when I need to get some energy expended especially on a dreary stormy day. So, allow me to give my Happy Lunar New Year greetings to everyone who's celebrating it this week and they include some of my friends and some of my brother's in-laws. Hopefully, you have eaten very well so far. 

To be frank, I'm kinda surprised that I hadn't done an Author's Picks based on the Lunar New Year before but that simply means that I get to do it today when folks are celebrating the Year of the Horse. My picks here don't have any significantly deep meaning aside from the fact that they include song titles connected to areas whose populations would celebrate the holiday. Among the five I'm listing here, three of them already have their own articles on KKP, while the last two are newbies, so I guess this article is a hybridization of an Author's Picks and a regular posting.

(1977) Masataka Matsutoya -- Hong Kong Night Sight

(1980) Takashi Sato -- Peking de Choshoku wo （北京で朝食を）

(1981) Yasuha -- Fly-Day Chinatown (フライディ・チャイナタウン)

(1985) Naoko Kawai -- Chinatown Rhapsody 

The entries above and below are the newbies as I mentioned at the top and they're being included now since I had been looking for these songs on YouTube for years (and giving up) before they finally popped up. I actually borrowed Naoko Kawai's （河合奈保子）March 1985 11th studio album "Stardust Garden ~ Sennen Teien"（STARDUST GARDEN -千・年・庭・園-...Millennium Garden） from a friend back in my university days but never got my own copy, and the one song that I remember from it is "Chinatown Rhapsody" which also has the English subtitle of "Missin' Girl" which hints at some sort of neighbourhood intrigue. Written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, the song goes at a good clip with a certain mysterious aura imbued throughout. I do like that twanging instrument in the intro.

(1987) Koji Tamaki -- Hong Kong

Honestly speaking, I hadn't gotten a great impression of Koji Tamaki's（玉木浩二) "Hong Kong" in the intro which sounded like a combination of a soundtrack from an episode of "Doctor Who" deep into the 1980s when the show was frankly going downhill and a little smidgen of a Pet Shop Boys tune. Now that I've gotten to hear it for the first time in many years, "Hong Kong" still won't enter my Top 5 Tamaki songs but it's a pretty tight and sexy song thanks to his considerable vocals and the simmering arrangement by Chris Cameron. Tamaki was responsible for melody while Goro Matsui（松井五郎）provided the lyrics. 

I'd never seen the music video for "Hong Kong" before and it appears that the director was going for a Neo-Noir look in the titular city with Tamaki cutting quite the figure as someone reminiscent of the late actor Yusaku Matsuda（松田優作）. Tamaki's naturally saturnine looks can have viewers wondering about which side he's working for. "Hong Kong" is a part of his debut solo album "All I Do" which was released in August 1987 and peaked at No. 2 on Oricon.

Nanako Sato -- Cheap Dance（チープ・ダンス）

From Apple

It was almost a couple of months ago when I posted Nanako Sato's（佐藤奈々子）"Muse no Koibito"（ミューズの恋人）and I got quite a few complimentary comments about the cover for the source album, her December 1977 "Sweet Swingin'". To use an old phrase: hubba-hubba.💓

Well, remembering all that, I've decided to post an article on another track from "Sweet Swingin'" and that would be her "Cheap Dance". Like "Muse no Koibito", this was also written by Sato and composed by Motoharu Sano（佐野元春）but this time, I wouldn't say that this was a City Pop tune per se. It's more of a good ol' honky-tonk rock n' roll number and I could actually imagine young Sato dancing and singing it up in a farm-fresh summer dress at some dive bar in either America or Japan with those hard-working horns behind her. 

On a PS note, I finally got to throw the YouTube link into Sonoteller AI after a few failed attempts, and what I got was rather interesting, to say the least:

LYRICS ANALYSIS:

The lyrics depict a scene of waking up in the afternoon surrounded by a swirling vortex. The imagery is vivid, with references to bright lights and summer activities. The language used is Japanese. The emotions conveyed are energetic and playful. There is no explicit content in the lyrics.

MUSIC ANALYSIS:

Genres

Pop (80), Rock (70), Indie (60), Electronic (50), Dance (40)

Subgenres

Pop rock (80), Indie pop (70), Electronic rock (60), Dance-pop (50), Indie rock (40)

Personal Pronouns

Vi.gomez via Wikimedia Commons

 

It is a whimsical Wednesday here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", so to alleviate the usual things about Hump Day, the windmills of my mind rotated rather furiously. As a result, in addition to the internal hemorrhaging, I was able to realize that a fair number of the songs of note in our humble little blog often have titles containing variations of personal pronouns whether in English or Japanese or other languages. Here are just a few of them.

(1973)  Akiko Kosaka -- Anata （あなた）

(1975) Hiromi Iwasaki -- Watashi Tachi （私たち）

(1980) Kenji Sawada -- I am I

(1986) 1986 Omega Tribe -- Kimi wa 1000% （君は1000％）

(1993) Keizo Nakanishi -- You And I

Piper -- Dance

 

In the dozen years since I first posted about the City Pop band Piper, there's been more information about this group which started up in 1980 including a J-Wiki article at last. I've learned that vocalist Keisuke Yamamoto （山本圭右）and company did release five singles between 1980 and 1986 and seven albums including a live album that came out in April 2024.

Even since my first posting, I don't consider myself a Piper expert by any means, but I did read that there had been some Early Installment Weirdness in their 1981 debut album "I'm Not In Love" in that there was a whole lot more singing there when compared to their later efforts which had a lot of instrumentals. Still, one of the tracks "Dance" is very pleasant on the ears. Written by George Hikidashi（疋田ジョージ）and composed by the aforementioned Yamamoto, it's about as comfy as a warm woolen blanket on a cold winter's day with that arrangement of City Pop from the late 1970s going into the early 1980s. Yamamoto's vocals sound a little reminiscent of 60s doo-wop and it may be the first time I heard both the Haze effect of the 1970s and the Evian bottled water effect of the 1980s in one tune. A baton being passed?

The Works of Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）

Wikimedia Commons via the Agency for Cultural Affairs

 

Since going into the 21st century, NHK's Kohaku Utagassen has undergone a number of key changes in its format, but one thing that has been retained is everyone's singing of "Auld Lang Syne" or as it is known in Japanese, "Hotaru no Hikari" (蛍の光）. The orchestra goes into its rendition at the end of the broadcast with a brief glimpse of the man who's conducting them. In the past, that has been singer Ichiro Fujiyama（藤山一郎）and singer-songwriter Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃）. For the past several years, though, it's been singer-songwriter Shunichi Tokura.

Well, since it's been several months since I've written up a Creator article (the last one was for Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロー）back last August), I've decided to whip one up tonight for one of the more prolific songwriters. Tokura has come up with some of the biggest hits in the late kayo kyoku period including those for some of the most famous aidoru of the 1970s: Pink Lady and Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）.

Born in Tokyo in June 1948, Tokura got into music pretty early in life by picking up the violin at the age of 4. His father was a diplomat so for several years, their family was living in West Germany where he started studying the basics of music. Returning to Japan at the age of 12, some of his junior high school classmates included future officials in government and business. He then returned to Germany for high school (where he joined a band called The Beat Cats) before making his way back to his home country.

During his sophomore year in university, Tokura became the vocalist for the folk group The Panic Men which came out with a 1968 single called "Omoide no Komichi"（思い出の小径...Path of Memories）. This was also the time when he took up his future career as a composer and one of his first creations was Chinatsu Nakayama's（中山千夏）"Anata no Kokoro ni" (あなたの心に) in 1969.

A few years later in 1971, Tokura would compose "Tenshi ni Narenai"（天使になれない...Can't Be An Angel） with lyrics by Yu Aku（阿久悠）, a heartfelt 8th single for Akiko Wada（和田アキ子）that became her first Top 10 hit, coming in at No. 8. It was also Wada's ticket for her 2nd appearance on the Kohaku Utagassen that year.

Tokura currently has 60 articles, not including this one but including one which shows his own solo song "I'm Just a Man". I was pretty surprised and happy to get his name on the byline as a performer. But let's show some of the ones that he has composed for other big-time acts. Along with other composers such as Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, there is a bit of a "He made that one?!" buzz around Tokura.

(1977) Pink Lady -- UFO

(1974) Momoe Yamaguchi -- Hito Natsu no Keiken（ひと夏経験）

(1979) Tomoko Kuwae -- Watashi no Heart wa Stop Motion （私のハートはストップモーション）

(1972) Linda Yamamoto -- Dounimo Tomaranai （どうにもとまらない）

(1977) Karyudo -- Azusa Ni-go （あずさ２号）

(1973) Pedro & Capricious -- Johnny e no Dengon （ジョニイへの伝言）

Along with his many accolades over the decades, he was the JASRAC chairman and currently Tokura is the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Not bad for a guy who once whipped up a melody about an alien-human love affair.

Shigeru Suzuki -- Brandy Wine

 

I can't say that I'm a great purveyor of brandy though perhaps I may have imbibed it as part of a cocktail. But I am certain that brandy has been a favourite of Japanese palates for decades and its disposition in the various containers above is rather handsome.

Now I can say that I have a second "brandy" Japanese song to add to Yujiro Ishihara's（石原裕次郎）classic "Brandy Glass" (ブランデーグラス）. Alongside his "Hachibu Onpu no Uta"（８分音符の詩）and "Lady Pink Panther", I can also post Shigeru Suzuki's（鈴木茂）"Brandy Wine" from his December 1976 album "Lagoon". Aside from the fact that this is an instrumental, so no Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）as the lyricist here, "Brandy Wine" is a cousin to "Lady Pink Panther" in that it is something in the City Pop/New Music genres with that bossa nova. It even has some jazziness. 

Its afternoon upbeat nature may not exactly match the atmosphere that a brandy may engender (relaxation, nocturnal) but there's no denying that it's another Suzuki success. Plus, that meshing of the flute and the scatting woman is amazing!

Hako Yamasaki/Miyuki Kosaka -- Sayonara no Kane（サヨナラの鐘）

 

From what I've read of folk singer Hako Yamasaki's（山崎ハコ）debut album "Tobimasu"（飛・び・ま・す...I Can Fly） from October 1975 on J-Wiki, she was only 17 years old when she released it and it sold 50,000 copies which was quite the miraculous achievement especially when it came out without any special promotions. It managed to reach No. 51 on Oricon.

One of the tracks, "Sayonara no Kane" (The Goodbye Bell), which was written and composed by Yamasaki and arranged by Jun Sato（佐藤準）, must have left quite the impression on listeners. At over five minutes long, it is a bittersweet summary on a romance that has ended with a pealing bell on the hill being used as the symbol of the completion of the relationship. Through the lyrics and Yamasaki's delivery, there is a feeling of weeping over the death of what is perhaps the first love of that person. Maybe as the person grows older and more experienced with all those romantic entanglements, there is not so much drama but that first one which goes awry will always hurt. The melody is an interweaving of blues, folk and pop brought together as a contemplative piece on emotional pain and release.

Quite a few famous musicians were in the recording studio for "Sayonara no Kane": guitarists Char and Chuei Yoshikawa（吉川忠英）with the aforementioned arranger Sato also on keyboards.

A synthpop opening begins the cover version of "Sayonara no Kane" by Miyuki Kosaka（香坂みゆき）. The song was released as her 16th single in April 1984. Sato also arranged this one with those synths coming in. It's more than a minute shorter than the Yamasaki original but the bluesy feeling of melancholy and loss is still there. 

Yuko Shibuya -- Yoru no Ushio（夜の潮）

By edwin.11 via Wikimedia Commons

It's been a good long while since I've mentioned singer-songwriter Yuko Shibuya（渋谷祐子）. I remember posting my first article of her back in 2016 for her "Konya dake Koibito"（今夜だけ恋人） which is a cover of "C'est Un Dernier Nuage" by Jean-Jacques Debout. At the time, I was rather begging for information on Shibuya so I gather that since 2016, her data has increased somewhat significantly including her own J-Wiki page at last. I can now say that "Konya dake Koibito" is her third single from February 1979.

I can also mention that the song launches Shibuya's 2nd album "Pop Lady II" which was released a month later. Also on the album is "Yoru no Ushio" (Night Tide) whose melody was crafted by the singer with Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）handling the lyrics and Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）arranging it. As I noted above, it's been a while since I've heard Shibuya so I'm getting to realize once more how soulful her vocals are, especially enhanced with this ballad seasoned with a languid Latin guitar and the keyboards which once again bring out that quintessential 70s City Pop sound: the haze effect. Plus for a bit of refinement, there are some wonderful strings and a harp. It really does feel and sound like a couple walking along the beach at night barefoot while carrying their shoes. 

By the way, the number of this Single in the Labels is 11111. Enjoy the sight while you can since this will change in the next few hours.

Perrey and Kingsley -- Strangers in the Night

 

I don't consider myself a particularly lucky man. I've never won a lottery nor did I ever find the love of my life. However, where I did score some luck was growing up at a very interesting time in Toronto. I finally got some freedom in staying up late at night around the late 1970s going into the 1980s: music videos were just coming into their own and there were some rather intriguing TV shows popping up on the tube in my area.

I mentioned this in last week's Reminiscings of Youth when I wrote about the late Lalo Schifrin's theme for "T.H.E. Cat" suspense series. I got to (re-)acquaint myself with a number of these old TV shows and even some musical interludes through the lone season of a 1980 program called "The All-Night Show" on the local multicultural channel, CFMT-47 (popularly known as MTV just before a certain music channel down south grabbed the call letters forever). This aired most nights (so about 300 episodes) for about four to five hours overnight...a time when most channels would actually sign off and go to test patterns.

"The All-Night Show" starred comedian Chas Lawther as Chuck The Security Guard, the overnight guardian of MTV, who, out of a sense of boredom and curiosity, would basically take over operation at the station and with some drop-in buddies, engage the viewing audience in conversation and show off some of those old TV shows such as "The Twilight Zone", "The Beverly Hillbillies", the aforementioned "T.H.E. Cat" and other chestnuts. Obviously, even with my newfound nocturnal liberty, I didn't get to watch "The All-Night Show" every night. It was more like Friday and/or Saturday nights past 1 am and that wasn't even for the entire show (I don't think my parents would have been too thrilled to wake up to see that I hadn't gone to sleep).

One of the most bizarre moments on the show that I still remember to this day is when Chuck showed a washed-out video of a man outside somewhere who confessed on camera that he no longer had the will to live and would blow himself up with a homemade bomb right in front of the camera. He took his clothes off right then and there and blew himself up, although there didn't seem to be any gore. I think even Chas/Chuck looked very rattled by the sight and in the next several minutes, "WTF?!" phone calls came pouring in.  Another number of minutes passed by before a woman phoned in to reassure everyone that her husband had survived his own suicide attempt of several years prior with surprisingly few injuries and that he was feeling much better with therapy and love but that he would not be willing to provide any further comment. I'm not sure if this had been an elaborate (and unfunny) hoax by the show but from Chuck's expression, it sure didn't look like it.

Along with watching some of the spookier episodes of "The Twilight Zone", one other thing that stuck with me was the de facto theme song for "The All-Night Show" which played after a few minutes of a Chuck intro. I'd heard "Strangers in the Night" before, notably with Frank Sinatra, so the song was recognizable but this version was about as spacey and bizarre and un-jazzy as it could get as it usually played over a montage of clips from B-movies and old TV episodes.

This version was provided by French composer Jean-Jacques Perrey and German-American composer Gershon Kingsley, known popularly known as Perrey and Kingsley, who were known as two pioneers of electronic music in the 1960s. In fact, their take on "Strangers in the Night" can be found in their 1967 album "Kaleidoscopic Vibrations: Electronic Pop Music From Way Out", and yeah, it was way out, man! 

As I stated above, "The All-Night Show" lasted just a month shy of one year between September 1980 and August 1981. It was a good run and I've seen YouTube comments wondering whimsically if there could be another program like that to pop up in the overnight hours once more, but then again, I have to observe that YouTube is probably doing something like that right now.

Anyways, just for comparison's sake, here is Ol' Blue Eyes' version of "Strangers in the Night" from 1966. But let's go with the starting date of "The All-Night Show" which was late September 1980. What was at the top of the Oricon charts on September 22nd that year?

1. Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi -- Junko （順子）

2. Seiko Matsuda -- Aoi Sangoshou （青い珊瑚礁）

3. Junko Yagami -- Purpletown (パープルタウン）