Masayuki Suzuki -- Funky Flag

 

Exactly a month ago, I put up an article on one of Masayuki "Martin" Suzuki's（鈴木雅之）earliest songs as a solo performer, "Tandem Run". Well this time around, I'm getting back to the relative present in his career by covering his March 2019 16th original studio album, "Funky Flag".

Arguably the most famous track for a lot of anime fans is "Love Dramatic"（ラブ・ドラマティック）as the opening theme song for the first season of the hit "Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai ~ Tensai-tachi no Ren'ai Zunousen"（かぐや様は告らせたい〜天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦〜）. Yup, this guy is now 65 years old and as a lot of the comments underneath the video have pointed out, Martin has charisma for kilometres.

I just want to take care of some of my own highlights from "Funky Flag", including the title track, "Ai no Funky Flag"（愛のFunky Flag...Funky Flag of Love） which, not surprisingly, has dollops of funk and even some Motown sprinkled in there. One big observation is that the album has a lot of big songwriters involved in the album and that includes lyricist Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）and composer/musician Tomoyasu Hotei（布袋寅泰）coming up with this quintessentially Martin tune (and yep, Hotei is on the guitar here) as the singer exhorts folks to get ready for a good party night. Martin and Hotei also provide the background vocals along with R&B songbird Harumi Tsuyuzaki（露崎春女）.

Good golly Molly! Suzuki has so much charisma
that he needs five bodies to hold it all!

"Secret Boogie"（シークレット・ブギー）by Kiyoshi Matsuo（松尾潔）and Yoshihiro "Maestro-T" Toyoshima（豊島吉宏）is sultry and snaky as the lyrics go into somebody lusting for that target of desire. To be honest, the first time I heard "Secret Boogie", I almost did a double-take at one of the lyrics (if I'd been drinking water, I would have made Danny Thomas proud) but reading the liner notes for the song, I saw that it was "Funk with me"! Ah.

https://music.apple.com/jp/album/funky-flag/1536275758

(excerpt only)

Not sure whether Martin or anyone else involved saw something at that massive Shibuya intersection, but "Scramble Kousaten"（スクランブル交差点...Scramble Intersection） is pure love across the rain-slicked pavement. I mentioned those famous songwriters and here, we've got Takaki Horigome（堀込高樹）from Kirinji（キリンジ）and Tomita Lab（冨田ラボ）, aka Keiichi Tomita（冨田恵一）, on lyrics and melody respectively. There's something so very 60s Bacharach about the style and arrangement of "Scramble Kousaten" that the joy-filled fellow in the story is willing to do a Fred Astaire pirouette during the crossing.

"Turn off the light" was composed by Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）and written by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）. Abe has been involved in creating a number of songs for Martin over the years such as the 1989 "Kuu na"（くーな）, and here, he and Matsui weave a melancholy mid-tempo song with a bit of bossa nova about how although love can bring a lot of wonderful things, it can also trap someone in a time-stopped room of woe if it's broken. Martin really can wear his heart on his sleeve.

One more song that I'll put up here is "BAZOOKA" which was all created by Gota Nishidera（西寺郷太）of the band NONA REEVES. It also has tons of funk but in the intro, I think that I even heard some New Jack Swing. "BAZOOKA" fairly percolates all throughout as Martin buzzes about getting that first blast of fall-in-love right between the eyes.

Hopefully, I'll take care of the remaining tracks in the months to come but for those who have discovered the wonders of Suzuki as the King of Love Songs through "Kaguya-sama", then have a go at "Funky Flag" which peaked at No. 8 on Oricon. In addition, you can take a gander at his most recent "ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL".

https://music.apple.com/mo/album/funky-flag/id1515074242

The King is holding court.

Nona Reeves -- Love Together

 

Years ago while I was living in Ichikawa, an old friend of mine used to visit the apartment from time to time, and he enjoyed bringing over the various game platforms including the original Sony PlayStation. Of course, I had other friends who also enjoyed playing video games so whenever my friend arrived, they did too. It was often the case that when I had to finally hit the hay, they would just continue playing on in the living room.

One unique game that my friend brought over was "PaRappa the Rapper"（パラッパラッパー）, the 1990s music game produced by PSY-S' Masaya Matsuura（松浦雅也）that actually had the players rapping through the controls. The main character was PaRappa the dog who would do anything to gain the love of Sunny Funny the flower. Yes, realizing that this was all an imaginative flight of fancy, I still can't even imagine what pollination might mean between them. Usually when I think of dogs and flowers, there is another basic bodily function that comes to mind between the two, but since that in the milieu of PaRappa and Sunny Funny, that might take things into a far more disturbing fetishistic situation, I will just leave it there.

Anyways, the game apparently did have its fans and I remember a couple of things the best about "PaRappa the Rapper". One was the above beginning stage featuring PaRappa being trained by Chop Chop Master Onion. I even gave it a shot myself and barely passed...unlike Gene Kelly, I got no rhythm. The other thing was the darn humourous part in the story when PaRappa really needed to hit a washroom and he was making all sorts of grimacing faces which had Sunny Funny mistakenly thinking that her dog buddy was looking especially kakkoii for her.

Well, "PaRappa the Rapper" had its time in the sun before rappers and players decided to move onto games. What I hadn't known was that Fuji-TV actually had an anime version of the game produced and broadcast for almost a year beginning in April 2001. There were some pretty nice opening credits adorned with a catchy theme by the band Nona Reeves（ノーナ・リーヴス）, "Love Together". Hey, bring back that crazy disco beat!

Written and composed by Nona Reeves' vocalist, Gota Nishidera（西寺郷太）, "Love Together ~ PaRappa Mix" was released in May 2001 as their 8th single. It reached No. 67 on the Oricon charts. The results may have been rather modest, but I think the song is still good fun and perhaps it could have been used in a revival of the game.

"Love Together" actually had a prior release as Nona Reeves' 6th single in March 2000 and there isn't too much difference that I heard between the two versions aside from the fact that the DJ scratching was only included in the "PaRappa Mix".

Asako Toki -- Ranhansha Girl（乱反射ガール）

Happy weekend! We finally got some of that rain that we needed although things are still rather steamy out there if a bit cooler.

I'm not quite sure when I first encountered Asako Toki（土岐麻子）and her brand of light pop. Certainly, it was when I was still living in Japan so probably in the late 2000s. Either it was her cover of Yellow Magic Orchestra's "Kimi ni Mune Kyun" （君に、胸キュン）or Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）"Komugi Iro no Mermaid" (小麦色のマーメイド）that I heard at the CD section of a department store in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, not too far away from my city of Ichikawa. Being a fan of both songs helped but it was also that coquettish but not supremely high-toned voice that lured me into her grasp. Eventually, I would get a couple of albums by the Tokyo-born singer, her 2011 BEST album "Light" and then her 2010 original album "Ranhansha Girl" (Girl of Diffuse Reflection).

Both albums have one song that I've already covered, her own cover of "Human Nature" originally by Michael Jackson for the amazing "Thriller" album and performed by her and Sho Wada（和田唱）of the rock band TRICERATOPS.

But today is on "Ranhansha Girl" which is her 4th major studio album from May 2010. It's been categorized on J-Wiki as a rock album but after listening to it a few times, I really don't think so. Case in point: there's the second and title track about a guy who's about ready to give up on the journey of love when he gets hit by the light of a lady who's apparently half-woman and half-extremely polished prism. He doesn't stand a chance. Written by Toki and composed by Daisuke Kawaguchi（川口大輔）, this is very twinkly pop with strings attached for that light sophistication.

That J-Wiki rock label gets further driven away with Track 3, "Nessa no Onna"（熱砂の女...Hot Sand Woman）. The title track had its elements of synthpop but "Nessa no Onna" gets even deeper into the synths with this bouncy and dreamy tune that tries to encourage the title lady to get back onto the romance track again. Toki was behind the lyrics here, too, with G.RINA providing the melody.

"Usubeni no CITY"（薄紅のCITY...Light Pink City） is one of my favourites on "Ranhansha Girl" as it takes on that contemporary form of City Pop while it describes a refreshing view of the life in the metropolis as the shackles of winter finally come off. Provide a romanticized model of your favourite city (Tokyo, Toronto or New York, for example) and "Usubeni no CITY" can be the theme song as you head downstairs to that brunch place for prosciutto-filled croissants and coffee. Junji Ishiwatari（いしわたり淳治）, guitarist for the band SUPERCAR, provided the lyrics while Hidetoshi Sakurai（桜井秀俊）of Magokoro Brothers（真心ブラザーズ）was behind the happy music.

Along with Michael Jackson's "Human Nature", Toki has also provided another cover of a song by a legend. This time, it's The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" with that mix of Toki mellow pop and friendly small-town feeling. Kazumasa Hashimoto（カズマサ・ハシモト）arranged it, and I remember it well since it was used as the commercial song for docomo. Incidentally "All You Need Is Love" is the very first song by The Fab Four that I had ever heard...maybe it was because of my viewing of "Yellow Submarine" on CBS when I was a toddler.

My final song for the article today is "Sentimental" which is also another winner in my books. With lyrics by Toki and music by Kensuke Okuda（奥田健介）, guitarist/keyboardist of Nona Reeves, I love it for the sunny soulful groove. When I saw its involvement by someone from a band like Nona Reeves, I figured that it would get my aural stamp of approval. In addition to that groove, I also like the crystalline sound of the synthesizer that takes things into a more futuristic environment; I'm pushing it a tad far here, admittedly, but "Sentimental" almost sounds like the return of 70s/80s R&B in the 22nd century.

"Ranhansha Girl" had been another one of those albums that I let stew a while after my first listening to it but returning to it, I'm happy that I can appreciate it even more now. The album peaked at No. 32 on Oricon.

Nona Reeves -- Sannen（三年）

During my last spending binge on Japanese music albums, I did pick up another one in the series of "Light Mellow". This one is "Drive" and it has a few familiar tunes that I've written about at one time or another: Anri's（杏里）Vaporwave darling "Windy Summer", So Nice's "Kousoku Douro"（光速道路）and Michiru Kojima's（児島未散）"Best Friend".

But there are also a number of appealing songs on "Drive" that I hadn't heard before so I will be talking about those in the coming days. One is Nona Reeves' beautiful and bittersweet "Sannen" (Three Years) from the band's "Pop Station" album released in March 2013.

It's a nicely acoustic ballad with a touch of bossa nova about a man reminiscing over a past romance that ended thirty-six months earlier with the possible trigger being the discovery that the former couple's favourite restaurant in front of the train station is slated to be closed down permanently. Although I'm sure that the fellow must have some photographs of happier days, the big physical symbol of their relationship is about to come down literally like a ton of bricks, and he's unfortunately not quite ready to say goodbye, although the lyrics hint that they are still friends.

Written and composed by Nona Reeves' vocalist Gota Nishidera（西寺郷太）, "Sannen" was the first track on "Drive" that really caught my attention because of its mellowness pushed forward by the percussion. I especially love how the chords get further richness during the refrain. It's almost as if the realization of the impending destruction of the restaurant is like a gut punch to the soul.

I've also got another track from "Pop Station" already represented and it just so happens that it was the last time that I had written about Nona Reeves, "Yasumou, ONCE MORE"（休もう、ONCE MORE）. It looks like "Pop Station" may be worth getting sometime down the line.

Nona Reeves -- Yasumou, ONCE MORE （休もう、ONCE MORE）

Tokyo is a great walking city...provided you don't do the walking during the dog days of summer (at that time, you would most likely be melting). Neighbourhoods of many types abound such as ritzy Ginza and Akasaka, the older town of Sugamo, the Teen Mecca of Shibuya, and trendy Harajuku among others. Plus, there are smaller dense sections where I believe, due to looser zoning restrictions, establishments such as a coin laundromat can be squeezed between a Gundam figure shop and a convenience store. It's kinda like the Forrest Gump theory of that box of chocolates.

About 10 years ago, during Golden Week, I even decided to walk above ground along the length of the Ginza Line from Asakusa all the way to Shibuya. The subway would take 30 minutes to traverse from end to end; it took me close to 6 hours. My feet were reduced to stubs somewhere around Akasaka-Mitsuke, and they loudly vented their anger at me for the next couple of days of the holiday. But before the pain set in, it was a glorious sunny walk through many different areas of Tokyo.

I think in a way that is what the band Nona Reeves（ノーナ・リーヴス）is also espousing through their sunny tune, "Yasumou, ONCE MORE" (Let's Take A Break Once More). The fellow in the lyrics has kinda reached the end of his rope and wants to refresh his body, spirit and perhaps his relationship with his girlfriend. It's one of those happy ditties that encourages folks to stop and smell the roses once in a while. It surely sounds like something that would make a fine musical companion during a walk through someplace in the big city.

"Yasumou, ONCE MORE" is a track on Nona Reeves' 12th album "POP STATION" from March 2013 with vocalist Gota Nishidera（西寺郷太）and Naohisa Taniguchi（谷口尚久）taking care of words and music. Usually, I've heard the band go more into the funky side or a neo-City Pop mode but this one is just a pleasant straight-ahead pop song, and this time, each of the three members has his time behind the mike, so it is a nice thing that it was placed as the finale for the album. The album itself only got as high as No. 80 on Oricon, and the highest-ranking album that Nona Reeves has had to date is their most recent BEST compilation from this year at No. 46. It would be nice if the band could receive a little more love.

Then again, the Oricon rankings are one thing. Having a small but faithful fan base is another. So, as the band espouses in the song, let's not sweat things too much and just handle things as they come. It's a philosophy that I've been adopting for a few years now.

Nona Reeves -- Sweetness

A couple of days ago, I got my periodic delivery of CDs from CD Japan once more, and one of the purchases was from the "Light Mellow" series of City Pop/AOR songs. This time, the latest entry is labeled "Travellin'" and the primary reason I got it was for one particular track from guitarist Makoto Saito（斎藤誠）with his cool and groovy "Aru Gray na Koi no Baai "（或るグレイな恋の場合）.

https://itunes.apple.com/jp/album/sweet-reaction/1363827135

However and happily, I was able to hear some other nice tunes from "Travellin'" such as this one from Nona Reeves (ノーナ・リーヴス), the band that seems to wear a number of hats: pop, rock, Shibuya-kei and disco soul according to their J-Wiki article. But I have always seen Gota Nishidera（西寺郷太）and his crew as that group fulfilling that last genre, much to my satisfaction.

And Nona Reeves came through again on "Travellin'" with "Sweetness" which was originally a track on their 5th album from July 2003, "Sweet Reaction". Starting with that piano riff and then launching into a sunny weekend groove, it's all good for "Sweetness". Nishidera himself wrote and composed this ode to the beginning of a wonderful relationship, probably with a pleasant stroll through a park during the summer.

The album itself peaked at just No. 128 unfortunately but I think Nona Reeves has amassed enough of an audience over the years that they don't have to worry about such things as rankings.

Now, this article has also come about due to an announcement that I read just in the last hour or so. In this year, when it seems as if so many folks in the music industry have left this mortal coil already, it's sad to read that Rod Temperton, the master songwriter responsible for so many funky songs and some of the biggest hits for Michael Jackson such as "Rock With You" has also passed away at the age of 66.

For me, it had been just the song and the singer behind the mike that I was interested in but Rod Temperton was one of the first songwriters that became a beacon to me when I was identifying and searching for the the stuff that I liked. And although I don't think he ever created anything specifically for any of the Japanese artists along the lines of David Foster and Burt Bacharach, I'd say that his influence was felt on the music created by groups such as Nona Reeves.

This is another Rod Temperton piece for the Manhattan Transfer, "Mystery" that was also covered by Anita Baker in her debut album.

Nona Reeves -- Daydream Park

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm289533

Another track I enjoyed from the City Pop/J-AOR compilation album "Light & Mellow - Moment" along with Mariko Tone's（刀根麻理子）"Just A Moment" was Nona Reeves' "Daydream Park". There are already a few other entries in the blog by this cool band but "Daydream Park" comes about 8 years after those disco songs, and this one is more for the Prince funk. Written and composed by vocalist Gota Nishidera（西寺郷太）as the title track for their 8th album from February 2007, Nishidera goes into sexy growl mode as he swoons about the woman of his dreams who he promptly labels as his daydream park.

"Daydream Park" keeps on the insistent funk beat and then Nishidera has even more fun with the chorus as he leads them into a merry call-and-back chase. He even uses the slang expression "crackalackin" or something close to it....a word that's probably quite dead now or only used by late-night talk show hosts in America trying to be post-ironically funny.

Nona Reeves -- Bad Girl

About 10 months ago, nikala wrote about a groovy band by the name of Nona Reeves which I had thought was some American who had struck it big in Japan until the article straightened me out. Putting on my music video sommelier cap for "Stop Me", I could see Dick Tracy, The Monkees and Jamiroquai of which the last band also had its popularity in Japan during the mid-to-late 90s, judging from some of the conversations I've had with students back then.

"Stop Me" was Nona Reeves' 4th single and a track on their 4th album from 1999, "Friday Night". Well, my contribution to the band is also from the same album, so now I'm also putting a bead on the CD. The 3rd single, "Bad Girl" was released in August 1999, and as soon as I heard the opening notes, I started thinking about the aforementioned Jamiroquai, Michael Jackson's classic "Rock With You" and even Hikaru Utada's （宇多田ヒカル）"Automatic" which had come out the year before.

I actually came across "Bad Girl" via that groovy compilation that I purchased recently, "Light Mellow Breeze" from which I also wrote about Fumiya Sashida's （指田郁也）"Parallel". In the liner notes on the disc for this particular song, the author refers to the genre of Northern Soul, so I started remembering British bands such as The Communards and Fine Young Cannibals. The video for "Bad Girl" even has a slight resemblance to the former band's cover of "Never Can Say Goodbye", with some additional light effects to bring back those memories of the shiny disco era. Considering some of the horrors I've been hearing about the news tonight internationally, I could use a bit of the happy, happy from Nona Reeves.

And here is a bit more of the groove via The Communards.

Tatsuro Yamashita/Nona Reeves -- Doyoubi no Koibito （土曜日の恋人）

I didn't know about this one by singer-songwriter Tatsuro Yamashita （山下達郎）but immediately enjoyed it as soon as gave it a try on YouTube last night. "Doyoubi no Koibito" (Saturday is for Lovers) is another one of his 80s City Pop tunes that usually brings images of summer, beaches and driving with the top down. Released in November 1985 (I'm sure a lot of the working class were pining for the hot season again by that release date), his 15th single was used as the ending theme song for the comedy-variety show "Oretachi Hyokinzoku"（オレたちひょうきん族...We Are The Wild and Crazy Guys） starring Beat Takeshi. Earlier in the show's run, the Princess of City Pop, EPO, contributed a couple of her songs to the show, the classic "Downtown" and "Doyou no Yoru wa Paradise"（土曜の夜はパラダイス）. Saturday was the night for Takeshi's show, and from what I've heard of its popularity, a lot of people actually were willing to stay in front of the tube instead of following Tats' and EPO's advice and having a fun time on the town.

The song underwent a few title changes before settling on the final, and arguably more mundane, one of "Doyoubi no Koibito". Initially, Yamashita had something of the Mardi Gras in mind when he got down to work on the song, so "Eien no Mardi Gras" （永遠のマルディグラ...Mardi Gras Forever） was the original title. It then became "Kayoubi no Mardi Gras" （火曜日のマルディグラ...Tuesday Mardi Gras）and "Doyoubi no Ame no Uta" （土曜日の雨の歌...Saturday Rainy Day） before the singer finally chose on the side of the weekend and made one final name change (Thanks, J-Wiki).

"Doyoubi no Koibito" got as high as No. 22 on the Oricon weeklies. It was also a track on Yamashita's 8th album, "Pocket Music" which hit the top spot soon after its release in April 1986.

Saturday in Shibuya

http://nicoviewer.net/sm3032221

Miku also takes the mike to give her version of "Doyoubi no Koibito".

And here is another version by Nona Reeves.

Nona Reeves -- Stop Me

Though formed in 1995, the band Nona Reeves (ノーナ・リーヴス) really sounds like they belong in the late 70's. Comprised of Gota Nishidera (西寺郷太), Kensuke Okuda (奥田健介) and Shigeru Komatsu (小松シゲル), the trio officially debuted in 1996 through an independent label Under Flower Records before going major with Warner Music Japan the following year. I've heard people refer to them as the Japanese Jackson 5, but then again, the leader and the vocalist Nishidera was part of the MJ mania back in the day. He was also the one who wrote and composed this addictive funky tune with a touch of disco, "Stop Me", which became the band's fourth single in November 1999. If you listen to it without the video, you might think he sounds hip and stylish, but once you open your eyes, all the cheesiness just blinds you. These guys have a long history of not taking themselves too seriously. Having a soft spot for nice bass and horns lines, I obviously ate this one up and even bought the album it's included on, "Friday Night".

Apparently the band's name is a mishmash between the first name of Marvin Gaye's daughter Nona Gaye and the surname of Martha Reeves from the classic group Martha and the Vandellas. According to J-Wiki, the members liked the sound of African-American women's names so they adapted some from a couple they were fans of.

Nona Reeves is still going strong into the third decade of their career. Their latest album is "Pop Station", which was released in March 2013. Not much disco these days though.

Source: amazon.jp