Olivia Newton-John -- Twist of Fate

By Alan Light via Wikimedia Commons

The last time I brought Olivia Newton-John into Reminiscings of Youth was a little over a year ago when I wrote about her early 1970s ballad "I Honestly Love You". When I look back on her career from that time forward a decade, it's amazing how much she changed her style. And yes, I'm well aware that we are approaching the 4th anniversary of her passing.

From a well-scrubbed country lass back in those 1970s to a New Wave diva of the early 1980s (and a disco gamine in between...along with her time in "Grease"). Yep, I'm referring to the above music video for her October 1983 hit "Twist of Fate" which I saw a lot on the video shows. I'm not sure whether a lot of folks actually watched the movie that it was attached to, the 1983 "Two of a Kind", starring Newton-John and her old buddy from "Grease", John Travolta, but the song and the video sure were popular. 

As I mentioned, "Twist of Fate" was a synthpop/New Wave-y concoction produced by David Foster and created by Steve Kipner and Peter Beckett that was catchy and pretty much screamed "I'M OF THE 80'S!" in its arrangement. Maybe it could have gotten folks onto the dance floor as well. But it was the music video that got my attention at least with a glammed-up Olivia strutting into a seemingly futuristic court. I swear that she looked halfway to becoming a live-action version of Memphis Group art. I think even the singer mocked herself in a later interview about how much lipstick she spackled onto her mouth for the video, although I thought she looked dang hot to be honest.😉

In Canada, "Twist of Fate" reached No. 5 on RPM while in the United States, the song peaked at No. 5 as well. So, what was up on the Oricon charts on October 24th 1983, a few days after the release of this OJN hit? Just for fun, let's go with Nos. 18-20.

18. Tomio Umezawa -- Yume Shibai （夢芝居）

19. Yuki Katsuragi -- Bohemian （ボヘミアン）

20. H2O -- Omoide ga Ippai （思い出がいっぱい）

Yukihiro Takahashi -- MIRRORMANIC

From YouTube

Considering that I have a face that is perfect for radio, I really should get rid of all of the mirrors, but that would be rather weird. I can't imagine coming out of the shower or brushing my teeth in the bathroom without having that shiny pane of reflective material there. That area of wall would look awfully barren. Plus, we can always use the mirrors to open up the space a bit.

Interestingly enough, on first listen and first sight, I had thought that "MIRRORMANIC" was one of those Yellow Magic Orchestra songs that slipped through the cracks for me. Maybe it was a single B-side that never made it onto an album. However, I was wrong because the song was actually a track on YMO drummer Yukihiro Takahashi's（高橋幸宏）2nd solo album "Ongaku Satsujin"（音楽殺人...Murdered by the Music）from June 1980.

Written by Chris Mosdell and composed by Takahashi, the drummer's two bandmates from YMO, bassist Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）and keyboardist Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）were helping out in the recording along with Kenji Omura（大村憲司）on electric guitar. Despite the familiar faces though and the technopop genre in play here, there is something not quite YMO about this one. I couldn't help but feel that there was something somewhat Davie Bowie-ish here in the arrangement and vocal stylings. And that's a good thing since Takahashi should have been able to distinguish his solo stuff from his work with the main band.

"Ongaku Satsujin" also has the faster-paced and playful "Kanashiki Blue Colour Worker"（悲しきブルーカラーワーカー）so have a listen to that as well.

Bruce Cockburn/Barenaked Ladies -- Lovers in a Dangerous Time

World Atlas via Wikimedia Commons

On this blisteringly hot day, Canada is 159 years old. Happy Birthday to the Great White North! Personally, I'm trying to stay cool in my room with the decades-old electric fan helping me out. 

Of course, being a national holiday and all, Reminiscings of Youth will be having a special article today (along with the regular weekly one tomorrow) to commemorate Canada Day. Glad to read that Ottawa-born singer-songwriter Bruce Cockburn (pronounced KOH-bərn...like James Coburn) is with us at the age of 81. Forty-two years ago in 1984, he released his "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" which became a Top 40 hit here and a long resident on the music video charts on television. There were some contrasts here: 1) the contrast of young teens finding fresh new love during a time when the spectre of the Cold War was still looming large and 2) Cockburn's button-down and soothing pop-rock arrangement meshed with a performance video of what I could describe as something quite avant-garde Cirque du Soleil. 

In Canada, "Lovers in a Dangerous Time" reached No. 24 on the RPM charts while on US Billboard, it peaked at No. 56.

Barenaked Ladies was a band born in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough. It's nicknamed Scarberia because of how desolate parts of it can look like during the winter (just look at the music video) but it also has a ton of restaurants of all nationalities that can keep people very happy and fed. Anyways, Barenaked Ladies was the same band behind the theme song for the long-running American sitcom "The Big Bang Theory", and they've been a bunch of good local boys who love to rock with a sense of humour. I first found out about them through a friend's car tape-cassette recorder when he was playing a compilation of their stuff which included their cover of "Lovers in a Dangerous Time". 

It's a friendly, folksy and peppy take on Cockburn's original and watching Ed Robertson and the gang perform from the back of a pickup truck while it drives on the streets of Scarborough in the dead of winter is probably one of the most Canadian things I've ever posted on the blog. Their cover first appeared on the 1991 Cockburn tribute album "Kick at the Darkness" and it was released as the band's debut single in 1992.

The original song peaked on August 18th 1984, so why don't we see what was hitting the top of the Oricon charts a couple of days later? Let's go with a scattering of songs here with Nos. 5, 7 and 10.

5. Mariko Takahashi -- Momo Iro Toiki （桃色吐息）

7. Southern All Stars -- Miss Brand-New Day

10. Mari Iijima -- Ai Oboeteimasuka? （愛・おぼえていますか）

Nik Kershaw -- Wouldn't It Be Good?

 

I hadn't quite understood what the music video for Nik Kershaw's January 1984 hit "Wouldn't It Be Good?" was all about but dang, I really did enjoy the New Wave song. I finally realized that Kershaw had been acting as some alien curious about what humans were like and after having a good tasting, decided that they weren't all that healthy after all and scampered back off to his home planet. 

Still, as I said, "Wouldn't It Be Good?" was a good load of fun to listen to, and just for YMOfan04's benefit, I can explain that the synths used were a PPG Wave 2.2 and a Yamaha DX7. It made for quite an interesting riff, and I was surprised to find out that the cool instrumental bridge in the extended version was actually an "orchestra of electric guitars" rather than a bank of synth-horns which now makes things even cooler. 

I'd probably say that I heard "Wouldn't It Be Good?" more on the radio than saw the video on TV. The radio back then was giving it a whole lot of heavy airplay. In Canada, it hit No. 9 on RPM and in the United States, it only got as high as No. 46. Meanwhile in Kershaw's UK, it peaked at No. 4 on the OCC. 

So, what was occupying the Oricon charts a few days following the release of "Wouldn't It Be Good?" in the world? I have Nos. 5, 6 and 7.

5. Feifei Ouyang -- Love Is Over

6. Anri -- Kanashimi ga Tomaranai (悲しみがとまらない）

7. Jiro Atsumi -- Busan Ko e Kaere (釜山港へ帰れ)

"Good" Songs

Wikimedia Commons

No particularly good reason to do so but I just wanted to post up another Author's Picks with the theme today being "good" songs. That is to say, songs with "good" in the title and they are good songs, to boot. Plus, it is a Sunday so a lot of whimsy to share.

(1980) Plastics -- Good

(1988) Keiko Kimura -- Good Morning

(1995) Kahimi Karie -- Good Morning World

(2001) Kirinji -- Good Day Good Bye（グッデイ・グッバイ）

(2025) Mrs. GREEN APPLE -- Good Day

Madonna -- Material Girl

 

Welcome to the weekly Reminiscings of Youth for this Thursday. I heard that Madonna was coming out with a new album sometime later this year. I went WOW since for a guy like me who's nearing retirement age, I first knew about Ms. Ciccone when I was in my late teens. Man, has this been a career for her!

Since hearing her for the first time back in 1983 for "Holiday", it was pretty much Madonna everywhere for the rest of the 1980s. I'm not sure how many nicknames she's picked up during that time, but one of them was The Material Girl because of that January 1985 single, "Material Girl", and it's the nickname that I usually associate with her (I just read that she hasn't been too fond of that one, though).

As with a lot of her hits, "Material Girl" was all over the airwaves and the music video was on heavy rotation on the local video shows with her going all Marilyn Monroe. Songwriters Peter Brown and Robert Rans wrote the lyrics to show that Madonna was all about the glam and goodies but the music video impressed upon the viewers that she was quite the opposite. The melody itself hit me as a synthy and slightly sinful song for Madonna done up in a cutesy yet sly fashion, and it was quite the change to see the lady done up in a totally different fashion compared to her previous videos. I also forgot that there were a couple of other celebs involved in the video: Keith Carradine and Robert Wuhl.

"Material Girl" reached No. 2 on America's Billboard and No. 4 on Canada's RPM. So, what else was hitting the record stores in Japan in January 1985?

Yutaka Ozaki -- Sotsugyo （卒業）

Yoshie Kashiwabara -- Lonely Canary （ロンリー・カナリア）

Seiko Matsuda -- Tenshi no Wink （天使のウィンク）

Miwako Saito -- Koibito wa Itsudemo（恋人はいつでも）

 

Hope you're having a good Sunday after getting filled up with your bacon, eggs and pancakes. I'm still digesting mine so forgive the post-breakfast drowsiness.

Singer-songwriter Miwako Saito（斉藤美和子）first came to my knowledge through Scott's "Holly Jolly X'masu" podcast when she performed a cover of Kaoru Sudo's（須藤薫）"Anata dake I Love You"（あなただけ I LOVE YOU） on the 1997 compilation album "Winter Gift Pops". My curiosity peaked by the song and her vocals, I dug a little deeper and found out that Saito had her own bands from the 1980s including Tango Europe（タンゴ・ヨーロッパ）which kinda struck me as a prototype of Princess Princess.

Saito also had her solo career and this is where a contact from a fellow named Koki Matsumura reminded me of that. He introduced me to "Koibito wa Itsudemo" (Lover Always Do) which was the singer's debut single from 1986. With Saito and Chuuji Akagi（赤城忠治）providing the lyrics and the latter also composing the tune, it's a fun and quirky pop song with a bit of New Wave in there. And in a way, the song might have heralded the coming wave of sunny Girl Pop which would come within a half-decade through singers such as Mariko Nagai（永井真理子）. It's definitely its own song in terms of an intro that takes its sweet time and the overall length which goes over six minutes.

Saito would release three more singles up to 1988 along with a combination of albums and mini-albums from 1988 to 1999.

Propaganda -- Duel

 

As I mentioned in the first article for today's (April 3rd 2026) batch of KKP articles, it is Good Friday. Being a national holiday, it is also my tradition to bring in a special Holiday edition of Reminiscings of Youth which will be smack dab in the middle of the usual Urban Contemporary Friday songs.

When it comes to my image of German pop songs, I think of the glacial beauty of Kraftwerk and the whole "Sprockets" thing on "Saturday Night Live" with Dieter where all German pop culture was seen as being angular and bizarre. So, in retrospect, listening to the very listenable "Duel" by the German synthpop band Propaganda, I feel that this is probably one of the most approachable pop songs that I'd ever heard. Mind you, the cover for the April 1985 single featuring fierce expressions by vocalists Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag would be enough for me to duck and cover but "Duel" itself is mighty fine right from the fantastical opening notes to the happy-go-lucky synth-y intro to the chorus which strikes me as a bit reminiscent of the 60s heyday of Herb Alpert. And Claudia has this voice which is truly wonderfully unique in pop music.

Well, if anyone is willing to make a music video of European spy intrigue, shouldn't it be a German synthpop band? I don't know how "Duel" did in Canada or the United States, but it scored a No. 2 ranking in Italy and No. 30 in the then-West Germany.

On the flip side of the single is "Jewel (Cut Rough)" which is handled this time by Freytag and it's basically "Duel" being thrown into a punk industrial blender with the vocalist accidentally falling into the machine as well. It also has one of the coolest percussion sequences that I've ever heard. Enjoy headbanging, everyone!

Then, depending on which form of "Duel" you purchase, you can also hear "Duel (Bitter Sweet)" which is an extended version. 

April 22nd 1985 was the release date for "Duel" so what was up on the charts on that day exactly? I have Nos. 3, 5 and 6.

3. Akina Nakamori -- Meu Amor e （ミ・アモーレ）

5. Kiyotaka Sugiyama & Omega Tribe -- Futari no Natsu Monogatari （ふたりの夏物語）

6. C-C-B -- Romantic ga Tomaranai （Romanticが止まらない）

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

Kenji Sawada -- Minna Ii Ko（みんないい娘）

 

Apparently, there have been a few songs known as "Minna Ii Ko". One is the Japanese title for rockabilly singer Carl Perkins' "Everybody's Trying to Be My Baby" from 1956, and the other is the Beatles' cover of said tune.

Well, this "Minna Ii Ko" isn't that "Minna Ii Ko". For one thing, it's a perfectly homegrown song with lyricist Shigesato Itoi（糸井重里）and composer Kunihiko Kase（加瀬邦彦）having created it for Kenji Sawada's（沢田研二）14th original album "BAD TUNING" released in July 1980. Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）took care of its arrangement as a somewhat New Wave piece. Not sure if the original Perkins' song title would apply for this "Minna Ii Ko". Perhaps we can go with "Everyone's A Good Girl" since although I couldn't track down any lyrics online, I get the impression that this one lass out of the usual flock that the song's protagonist runs around with is not only the one who doesn't fall for his charms, but she's the one that he's most interested in. Such is life and love. Maybe I ought to extend my translation to "Everyone's A Good Girl (Except You)".

Blondie -- Rapture

 

I can't quite remember how records and tapes by the big artists were being distributed back in my teenage years, and the reason I'm starting out this way is that the first time that I'd heard Blondie's "Rapture" was actually through one of those K-Tel compilation records in which there was one quick cut of the music video where Debbie Harry was holding her head while she purred the title. Now, I would think by that point, the song had long been released as a single and as part of an album, and so I was wondering why I hadn't heard of this one before. Blondie was already big in the world so I should have heard this one already on the radio or television.

Well, in any case, I eventually did hear the totality of the song and caught the video after it had been released in January 1981. "Rapture" was basically the first time that I ever heard rap in any form. Harry was talking in some rhythmic pattern about eating Cadillacs and entire bars which struck me as being some sort of weird New Wave-y thing. I think the only time that I heard anything similar to that was when I was watching a segment on "Sesame Street" featuring a cartoon bear pattering the first five numbers to a beatnik jazz beat.

In any case, Harry apparently had two parts to the song: the first part had her singing in those fluffy light vocals which reminded me of "Heart of Glass" and then the rap part in the latter half had her utilizing those richer and lower tones from "The Tide is High". Looking back at the song after so many years, "Rapture" certainly doesn't strike me as the usual rap tune with the tubular bells and the disco rhythms in there. Plus, I'm sure when the video was first shown, maybe there had been a disclaimer stating that one shouldn't be under the influence while watching it. Aside from Harry, the one other character that I still remember is the so-called "Man from Mars" in his white suit and top hat.

"Rapture" hit No. 1 in the United States while it reached No. 3 in Canada. I also recently found out through the YouTube comments for the song that it had become part of the lore in "The Boys" with Soldier Boy doing a cover on "Solid Gold". Personally, I wouldn't mind seeing Captain America trying it out himself.

Anyways, right on the day that "Rapture" was released, these three songs were at the top of the Oricon chart.

1. Masahiko Kondo -- Sneaker Blues (スニーカーぶるーす）

2. Harumi Miyako -- Osaka Shigure （大阪しぐれ）

3. Mayumi Itsuwa -- Koibito yo （恋人よ）

Naked Eyes -- Promises, Promises

 

A little over three years ago, I did a ROY article on Naked Eyes' "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" which was a New Wave version of an old Burt Bacharach and Hal David easy-listening ditty that I used to hear on AM radio all the time. Not only was I surprised but I was actually quite gobsmacked that a song like this could be made into a synthpop example of coolness.

Well, Naked Eyes pulled off another hit several months after that one. On April Fool's Day in 1983, they released "Promises, Promises" which I remember getting a lot of airplay on the radio and plenty of TV play on the music video shows. I will always remember that svelte young woman drying off her hair to the synthy jazz-soul. "Promises, Promises" hit No. 13 on Canada's RPM while in the States, it reached No. 11. On the Wikipedia article for the song, I read that Madonna even provided background vocals for the extended versions of it.

Up at Straw-Wara, I discovered that three hit tunes from Japan were also released on the same day as "Promises, Promises".

Anzen Chitai -- Las Vegas Typhoon（ラスベガス・タイフーン）

Yu Hayami -- Natsu Iro no Nancy (夏色のナンシー）

Rats & Star -- Me Gumi no Hito （め組のひと）

David Bowie -- Ashes to Ashes

By Redeytraveler via Wikimedia Commons

It's hard to believe that it's been ten years since music icon David Bowie left this mortal coil. Perhaps it's a mere guess from me, but I think fans and people who are just discovering Bowie are probably going through his discography and perhaps even his filmography right now to view his creations.

As I mentioned in my first ROY article on Bowie, "Ashes to Ashes" was the first time I'd seen him in a music video, following my first ever sighting and listening to him on the Martin Sheen-hosted "Saturday Night Live" episode. Bowie Boy, did he make an impression! Music videos were just at the beginning of their lifetime as a pop culture force and this one for "Ashes to Ashes" was kinda like one of my dreams if I had a little too much spicy food the night before. 

I will leave the interpretation of the song to better people at Genius and Wikipedia, but suffice it to say, it was something that left me somewhat shaken considering that I'd seen it on some video show late at night and it was something that I'd never seen before with all of those special effects and Bowie taking on multiple characters. I also read that "Ashes to Ashes" has been lauded for its distinct structure and I could attest to that with the melodic shifts in direction knocking me around for an absolute loop. Art pop and art rock were the right labels for this one, along with New Wave. At the time, I was ready to use avant-garde.

 "Ashes to Ashes" was released on August 1st 1980. It did OK in Canada by scoring a No. 35 ranking on RPM and in the United States, it actually hit No. 21 on the Billboard Disco chart, but it reached No. 1 in the UK and France. Let's see what was up at the top of the Oricon charts a few days later on August 4th.

1. Monta & Brothers -- Dancing All Night

2. Toshihiko Tahara -- Aishuu Date （哀愁でいと）

I just wanted to leave things off with Jason Shulman's wonderful paean through his video for Bowie's 1972 "Starman". The song wouldn't fit for ROY because I frankly didn't hear it for the first time until much later into my adulthood but this video probably has had fans weeping for joy.

Re-Flex -- The Politics of Dancing

 

I had never heard of the British band Re-Flex before this song and I never heard from them again. But this one song by them, "The Politics of Dancing", has gone down as one of my favourite dance-pop tunes of any decade. I mean, this one could actually induce me to hit the dance floor and make an unrepentant fool out of myself once I heard those familiar opening notes. 

Released in February 1983, I first discovered Re-Flex's debut single when their music video appeared on one of the local shows here, and its theme of the little guy going up against the evil authorities is a well-worn one but one that fits the lyrics here. And why not let it all go and just have a grand ol' time flailing away in the disco once in a while? That's especially true with the extended version.

Burbling bass synthesizer, simmering jangly electric guitar and relentless percussion...what's not to love? In Canada, "The Politics of Dancing" reached No. 13 on RPM and then No. 24 on Billboard in the US. I had actually been thinking of posting this as a second ROY article last week on New Year's Day to signify all of that dancing that must have been done the night before, but I figure that today is as good a day as any.

So, which singles were coming out in Japan in that month? Here are three of them.

Hiromi Iwasaki -- Suteki na Kimochi （素敵な気持ち）

Takashi Hosokawa -- Yagiri no Watashi (矢切の渡し)

Akina Nakamori -- Ni-bun no Ichi no Shinwa （1/2の神話）

Hikashu -- Nijuu Seiki no Owari ni（20世紀の終りに）

 

Maybe I'm a little late at 25 years putting this one up onto the blog. "Nijuu Seiki no Owari ni" (At the End of the 20th Century) is the debut single for rock and technopop band Hikashu（ヒカシュー）. Released in October 1979, it's quite the jangly New Wave number by leader Koichi Makigami（巻上公一）. According to his lyrics, apparently love demanded quite a lot at the end of 1999. Luckily, we were all consumed with Y2K to worry about that one.

There is a fellow Blogspot blog titled "Hikashu Appreciation Society" which has a post dedicated to "Nijuu Seiki no Owari ni", and it has the English translation of the lyrics along with a very brief excerpt of an interview done by singer-songwriter and producer Haruo Chikada（近田春夫）who contributed his expertise to the production of the early Hikashu material. From it, I gleaned that the band was trying for something quite different from other outfits such as Yellow Magic Orchestra, and I would say that Makigami and company succeeded.

Yukihiro Takahashi -- Disposable Love

From Teepublic

 

For the longest time up to around university, I was a regular purchaser of "MAD" and "Cracked" satirical magazines since I enjoyed especially reading the parodies of TV shows and movies. Of course, the mascot for "MAD" was Alfred E. Neuman, the redhead goofball with his favourite saying "What, me worry?".

It does make me wonder whether Yellow Magic Orchestra drummer, singer and songwriter Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）had been a "MAD" fan himself since his 4th album from June 1982 was titled "What, Me Worry?". However, his visage on the cover looks far more serious and less fancy (or thought) free.

The last time I had Takahashi up on the byline by himself was back in 2023 when I posted his giddy "Kanashiki Blue Colour Worker"（悲しきブルーカラーワーカー）. That was just after hearing of his untimely death on January 11th that year. This time around, I have his track "Disposable Love" from "What, Me Worry?" which is more contemplative yet whimsical at the same time. Written and composed by Takahashi with Peter Barakan also helping out on the lyrics, it seems the man in this story is wrestling in his mind whether the ardor he's had for someone was real or imagined. Sounds like the premise for a sci-fi flick.

On vocals, Takahashi is helped out by singer and producer Tony Mansfield. On the Wikipedia article for the album, he's been listed for his backup vocals, but I think his contribution was more than that, so I'm treating "Disposable Love" as a duet. As for the album itself, it reached No. 35 on Oricon.

Kei Ishiguro -- Ame no Freeway（雨のフリーウェイ）

 

I took one look at that cover of Kei Ishiguro's（石黒ケイ）1985 album "Mont Saint-Michel no Kodoku"（モン・サン・ミッシェルの孤独...The Solitude of Mont Saint-Michel ）along with the singer's very artistic appearance, and figured that this was going to be a different animal compared to my usual impression of her as a jazzy City Pop singer through songs such as "Hearty" and "Misty Night"（ミスティ・ナイト）. Even the title hints at the Gallic-ness of it all and when it's produced in the mid-1980s, it's just gotta be somewhat avant-garde and/or New Wave.

And yep, the first track on "Mont Saint-Michel", "Ame no Freeway" (Rainy Freeway), strikes me quite different for an Ishiguro song, but not so much that I consider it to be way out from left field. Written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composed by Masahiro Ikumi（幾見雅博）, there are the synthesizers and syn-drums that remind me a bit of Asami Kobayashi's（小林麻美）"Ame Oto wa Chopin no Shirabe"（雨音はショパンの調べ）along with the breezy je ne sais quoi arrangement. Still, even with Ishiguro's vocals that hint at a certain feeling of chaise lounge behaviour, I can pick up on some of the old urban contemporary and sophisticated pop.

Kuniko Fukushima -- Magical House（マジカルハウス）

 

Welcome to the penultimate Sunday in November. Over here, we know the Holidays are just around the corner when American Thanksgiving is a few days away and the Santa Claus parade is taking place in downtown Toronto as I type this. Mind you, the stores and malls have already been playing Christmas music for a few weeks. 

Nothing Xmas-y here since I won't be starting anything of the Yuletide variety until November 25th. In fact, even for singer-songwriter Kuniko Fukushima（福島邦子）, this is something out of the ordinary. I've already put up a fair number of her songs over the years onto KKP and they've usually been of bluesy City Pop. 

This time, though, I bring you to her track "Magical House" from her October 1982 fourth album "Mugen"（夢幻...Visions）. And this time, Fukushima's creation is more New Wave peppy with a hint of Asian exoticism as if we're being treated to a whirlwind tour of Hong Kong or Taipei. Plus, Kuniko herself sings "Magical House" as if she's the sultry mistress of the residence. And that's as far as I will go with my insights.

Yuriko Ohmori -- Mahou（魔法）/Night Train

 

Back in 2022 and 2023, I wrote up a couple of articles on the singer Yuriko Ohmori's（大森有里子）1981 single "Rai Rai Mirai"（来・来・未来）along with its B-side "Fuyu no Hito"（冬の人）. I could quickly realize that Ohmori was trying for something different with her two songs that skirted with Fashion Music and exotic kayo territory.

Well, the former NHK announcer only released two singles with the second and final one being "Mahou" (Magic) in 1982. For it and its B-side "Night Train", Ohmori was responsible for composition, while Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）took care of the lyrics and Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）arranged everything. By the way, just from what I've heard in the lyrics, it sounds like "Night Train" starts off the YouTube video with "Mahou" starting up at 3:18.

"Night Train" is a bit of old-fashioned sophisticated Latin-tinged pop mixing in some New Wave. Think of a tropical nightclub on an island that was partially designed by Syd Mead...anyways, that's what I envisage here. As for "Mahou", there is some tango in the urgent arrangement with some of those sound effects thrown in.

One more PS...I mentioned about the website idol.ne.jp in the article for "Fuyu no Hito". I'd been using that as a reference for some of the more obscure aidoru and other female singers over the years. However, it seems as if it's been taken down for some reason.

The Go-Gos -- We Got the Beat

Wikimedia Commons

Welcome to another Reminiscings of Youth where I go for some of the songs from my adolescence. The Go-Gos were just one of the many acts that awakened my interest in pop music. As I mentioned in the ROY for their "Vacation", I was awfully tempted to get their 1981 album "Beauty and the Beat" when it was playing over the speakers at the record corner of the local Hudson's Bay department store back in my high school days. Strangely enough, I was passing by the now-closed down Bay store earlier today as it was being prepared as a liquidation base for another store. I could see the old LP corner off in the back.

Along with "Our Lips Are Sealed", "We Got the Beat" was another Go-Gos hit that hit hard with Gina Schock's drumming rolling in like a Mac truck at full speed. Until Belinda Carlisle and company suddenly showed up on television screens everywhere, I hadn't known any girl bands before armed with full instruments, so listening to these two songs were a revelation as they rocked it out. And apparently, they partied as hard as they worked. I saw one YouTube comment stating that even Ozzy Osbourne had dropped his jaw at how the Go-Gos went medieval on his tour bus (not sure how they would have met, but the band was punk back in those days).

Speaking of punk, I didn't know until yesterday that there had been an original version of "We Got the Beat" that came out as a single in May 1980. From the few times I've listened to this one, the rock and punk roots show more prominently here. The 1982 single version hit No. 2 on US Billboard for three weeks while in Canada, it peaked at No. 3.

Well, for some reason, I ended up putting up the Top 10 Oricon singles chart for September 8th 1980 instead of the one for May 9th and I've already gone to the trouble of getting the relevant Top 3 postings for the comparative Japanese singles. Ah, heck...too tired to change back.

1. Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi -- Junko （順子）

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

3. Toshihiko Tahara -- Aishuu Date （哀愁でいと）