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.
Showing posts with label Olivia Newton-John. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Olivia Newton-John. Show all posts
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.
We're not too far away from the third anniversary of the passing of Olivia Newton-John who left this mortal coil in August 2022. It's hard for me to think of her as anyone else other than that pretty young blonde woman with the softest vocals imaginable, although she died at the age of 73.
For a lot of her file under Reminiscings of Youth, I've covered her discography going from the 1970s into the 1980s when she was tackling pop and dance music such as "Physical". And yet, my earliest memories of her go to the pink SONY radio when she was releasing the softer ballads and country music from the early 1970s. One of her most memorable songs from that period was "I Honestly Love You" which was released in August 1974, and created by Jeff Barry and Peter Allen.
I guarantee if they had played this ballad at her funeral, there probably wasn't a single dry eye in the place. It is one of the most tenderhearted love songs that I ever heard and if I did listen to this one on the day that the media announced her death, I probably wouldn't have been too dry-eyed either. As I recall, this got plenty of airplay, and not surprisingly, "I Honestly Love You" was a huge hit around the planet, hitting No. 1 in both America and Canada among other places. It also won Record of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female at the 1975 Grammys.
Couldn't find an exact date for the release of "I Honestly Love You" aside from that month of August in 1974 so why not go with what was part of the Top 10 on Oricon on August 5ththat year? I've got Nos. 1, 5 and 8.
Welcome to another weekly edition of Reminiscings of Youth where I show off another non-Japanese song that I remember and reminisce fondly about from my far younger years. Today, I'm writing about Olivia Newton-John's big hit "Physical" from September 1981. According to the Wikipedia article for the song, "Physical" was seen as the song that marked the new persona of OJN as a sexy beast, although personally, I think she had already gone in that direction a few years earlier with that final scene from "Grease" and then her role in "Xanadu".
I remember one of my friends coming over to my place with his copy of the album "Physical" with the title track and playing the album over and over again to annoying levels. I mean, "Physical" and the other tracks were fine but repeated listenings weren't and aren't really my thing. Having said that, I also remember the music video, probably one of the first ones in history to get heavy rotation air play, and it may have helped in starting up the whole aerobics craze of the 1980s. Getting overweight people to the gym? Not too sure about that one, though. Strangely enough as we all look at it now, the video and the song stirred up quite a bit of controversy with even the line "Let me hear your body talk" getting the latter banned from some radio stations.
"Physical" hit No. 1 in Canada and the United States and a few more countries including Australia. Billboard has even placed it at No. 6 on its All-Time 100 list.
So, what were the Top 3 hits onOricon in September 1981?
I gather that this is my second Reminiscings of Youth dealing with an album after Quincy Jones' "The Dude" a month or so ago, and though I finally did get the soundtrack to "Xanadu" a few years ago, I've only seen the 1980 movie through certain scenes only. Yep, I enjoyed "Grease" with Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta but only heard the bad word-of-mouth for ONJ's other Hollywood movie musical so I ended up skipping it. I may end up seeing it in its entirety someday. Also, I have to note that this is being written just a few weeks following the singer's first anniversary of her passing.
But like a lot of folks, I have appreciated a number of the songs that had been featured in the June 1980 soundtrack more than I have the actual movie, and everyone involved in "Xanadu" went all out on the variety of genres. The Labels section is now occupied by stars that I hadn't expected to see here such as the legendary Gene Kelly, rock band The Tubes, and Cliff Richard.
The title song "Xanadu" has been the one musical remnant that I held onto all these years from the movie. As performed by OJN and Electric Light Orchestra's Jeff Lynne on backup vocals, it's been categorized as post-disco while I'm still hearing it as quite breezy disco. Through a now non-existent YouTube video of an interview with Lynne according to the relevant Wikipedia article, the ELO leader has gone on record to say that "Xanadu" is his least favourite among his own creations. On a personal aside, ELO was one of my targets when I had my Yellow Magic Orchestra-on-the-brain phase thinking that with its initials as a nickname/abbreviation and its eclectic brand of music, I thought that it was also into technopop but such was not the case. Yet, there are at least a couple of ELO tunes that I will eventually cover in ROY articles in the near future. On America's Billboard, "Xanadu" scored a No. 8 while on Canada's RPM chart, it peaked at No. 9 after being released in May 1980.
Arguably, "Magic" is the one standout track on the album that eclipses almost all of the others, and for the longest time, I hadn't been aware that it was actually from "Xanadu". Created by John Farrar, it was another OJN hit that seemed to have permanent residency status on the radio, and from my current viewpoint, it's truly a magical ballad thanks to some of the production effects, the orchestra strings and the feeling of being transported into the night sky while this is playing. I wouldn't be surprised if this had been a popular slow dance tune at the school dances back in the day. Another May 1980 release, "Magic" went to No. 1 in both Canada and the United States.
I had assumed that "Suddenly", another Farrar-penned single from the "Xanadu" soundtrack, was a B-side for another one of Olivia's singles or it was on her "Physical" album from 1981. Regardless, it's another classic love duet, this time with Cliff Richard that was released in October 1980. It also has its magical qualities although it's not quite up there with "Magic". It ranked in at No. 60 on RPM and No. 20 on Billboard.
One of the few non-single tracks on "Xanadu" is "Dancin'" which has Olivia collaborating with The Tubes. OK, maybe the movie "Xanadu" as a whole wasn't the finest piece of cinematic art to ever grace the screen, but this one scene is indeed incredible to the extent (especially at the end) that if it had been performed at the Oscars, it would have brought the house down. I never would have imagined that nightclub jazz and glam rock could ever be mashed up like this, but I guess miracles can occur in "Xanadu".
Welcome to KKP ROY, Mr. Gene Kelly! If I hadn't ever been aware of "Xanadu", and someone threw out his name and Olivia Newton-John at me, I would have assumed that we were playing the advanced level of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. But there they were in the above scene dancing to their duet "Whenever You're Away from Me", a throwback to those musical dance extravaganzas that Kelly had excelled at back in the 1940s and 1950s. Not surprisingly from what I've read of the comments, the master dancer made sure that the choreographed scene would meet his tough and exacting standards. No pressure on OJN at all. One of the things that stuck in my head about the movie was that his Danny McGuire character was the final film role that he ever played although he did appear as himself in a couple of film documentaries on the world of entertainment in his final years before his death in 1996.
It's rather ironic when I write of Kelly being in his one final musical in 1980 since a year before, I recollect watching an episode of the original TV series "Battlestar Galactica" where Kelly's old hoofing buddy, Fred Astaire, had a role as an elderly man who may have been Lt. Starbuck's father.
My last words on the soundtrack will deal with ELO's"All Over the World", another single that I hadn't associated with the movie but knew about due to its presence on the radio. Via the Wikipedia article, one magazine felt that the song was "souped-up '50s and '60s pop at its best" while I feel that it was uplifting disco about getting the whole globe to sing. Of course, I had to include the scene in "Xanadu" where "All Over the World" was played since it's got Gene and company dancing about on roller skates. It ranked in at No. 16 on RPM while in America, it got as high as No. 13.
"Xanadu" the soundtrack may have won the day, the month and the year over "Xanadu" the movie, but from what I've read from some of the other commenters on YouTube, the latter isn't too shabby at all, provided that viewers can take a little more cheese than usual. In any case, the soundtrack hit No. 2 on RPM and No. 4 on Billboard.
Well, I knew that Dame Olivia Newton-John had been battling cancer for some time but it was still a shock to read on the news ticker tape on my local channel here in Toronto that she finally succumbed at the age of 73 earlier today. Not surprisingly, the televised tributes have been hitting the airwaves for the past few hours and all of them have featured "You're the One That I Want", her duet with John Travolta in "Grease"(1978).
For this article, I'm pretty much combining the personal Creator, Author's Picks and Reminiscings of Youth labels for Newton-John who had first stepped into show business a couple of years before I was even born. But it was on the radio in the early 1970s that I first heard about her. When I think about her discography, I have to say that I was never a big fan of her country music but there was that one ballad which stood out, "Have You Never Been Mellow" from January 1975.
I think that it could have been one of the big crossover hits from that time period...not just country but also soft rock or baroque pop. Written and composed by John Farrar who created many of Newton-John's hits, there was something of the Carpenters in "Have You Never Been Mellow". Listening to it again after so long while typing these two paragraphs has kinda put a thrill up my back since there isn't only the obvious softness in the vocals and arrangement, but when the refrain arrives, I also sense some strength and optimism emerging. "Have You Never Been Mellow" not only hit No. 1 in the United States and Canada but it was also nominated for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female at the Grammys. The single was also released in Japan under the title "Soyokaze no Yuuwaku"（そよ風の誘惑...Temptation of a Breeze） and it also did decently on Oricon by placing in at No. 26.
The first OJN Reminiscings of Youth article I did was for the beautiful 50s ballad"Hopelessly Devoted to You" from "Grease" and since I have already mentioned "You're the One That I Want", I'll bypass the movie and go further ahead into her discography (plus I can mention it in a future ROY). It was at this time that Newton-John jumped over to the pop and disco circuit, and one of my favourites by her was "Magic",her May 1980 single from the movie "Xanadu". Despite how badly the movie fared, this song, another Farrar creation, has stuck with me all these decades because it actually brings together the disco and the sentimentality of a pop love song. I can actually imagine someone soaring into the night sky like Peter Pan as I listen to this.
"Magic" was another chart-topper in the USA and Canada, and it didn't too badly in Japan either as it peaked at No. 43. The song was the trigger for me to finally pick up that "Xanadu" soundtrack.
I'd like to make two quips here: Sandy is all grown-up and horny now! Welcome to the MTV generation, Olivia! Yeah, I guess that music video for "Physical" was perhaps controversial for its day although now it just seems like the goofiest and most 80s media phenomenon. But there's no doubt that "Physical" was another hit and another touchstone OJN tune for me.
This came out as a massive hit single in September 1981 which may not have garnered any music awards nominations but "Physical" was another chart-topper in America and Canada, spending 10 weeks straight at No. 1 in the USA and breaking the 2-million barrier in sales there. It ultimately became Newton-John's biggest hit. I remember my high school mates coming over to my place since one of them had just bought the album "Physical", and he just played it over and over again until I threatened to get physical with him...in a damaging way.😖 I mean, the song was catchy, but even so...
One more song that I'll mention is the New Wave"Twist of Fate", another hit song from a soundtrack to a failed movie "Two of a Kind". OJN and John Travolta joined up once more for the flick but I remember the music video far more than "Two of a Kind" to the extent that the first few times that I watched the former, I'd assumed that the scenes from the movie were actually just part of the heavy-rotation video with Travolta coming in as a special guest performer. I also remember the video for the fact that the singer had apparently decided to go full bore into 1980s supermodel cosmetics and even she mentioned in an interview that the lip gloss was fairly troweled on.
David Foster was the producer for "Twist of Fate" which was an October 1983 single that hit No. 4 and No. 5 in Canada and the USA respectively. In Japan, it was released under the title "Unmei no Itazura"（運命のいたずら）which is a direct translation. It peaked at No. 73 on Oricon.
The music world lost one lovely lady today. My condolences to her family and friends.
Oh, man, the nostalgia this movie evoked even back in its release of 1978. Just imagine now then ...seeing a very young John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John cutting a rug on the gymnasium floor and hearing that weirdly disco opening theme by Frankie Valli. Indeed, in a couple of months it will be 44 years since the cinematic adaptation of this 1971 musical hit the screens.
I have some very vivid memories of "Grease" the movie. The main reason is that it was the birthday movie that my brother's friend had invited all of us to go see with his father as the chaperone, followed by a Pizza Hut dinner and a sleepover at his apartment. Those last two events didn't gibe too well, though, but I won't get into that. Anyways, I'd never expected that I would ever catch "Grease" but we were thoroughly entertained right from "Summer Nights" which had us giggling at the pelvic thrusts. Of course, there were "Greased Lightnin'", "Look at Me, I'm Sandra Dee" and "Beauty School Dropout" with the epic sets. Who would have thought that Travolta could sing after first knowing him on "Welcome Back, Mr. Kotter" and "Saturday Night Fever" (by the way, this article will be the third ROY item to involve Travolta)?
Well, we all knew that Olivia could sing for years in the country music genre. She had already been a regular presence on radio since the early 1970s, but apparently, she wanted to make that crossover into pop music and acting. So, getting into "Grease", she came up with "Hopelessly Devoted to You", a movie-original song with that familiar country twang and 50s love balladry created by songwriter-producer John Farrar.
To quote Farrar's feelings on making the song from the Wikipedia article for "Hopelessly Devoted to You": "I spent the longest period writing the lyrics of any song I've ever written. Every thesaurus and every rhyming dictionary I had, just trying to really make it work properly". As a translator, editor and someone who used to go through a pile of kids' English essays in Japan, I can feel Farrar's pain.
Olivia's single came out in August 1978 although the "Grease" soundtrack which also contained the song had been released several months earlier, and even a couple of months before the movie came out. Although I hadn't been aware of it at the time, I now gather that "Hopelessly Devoted to You" was the showstopper entry since it was later nominated for a Best Original Song Oscar. It also hit the top of the charts here in Canada and went as far as No. 3 on US Billboard. This song was yet another OJN hit that was a regular on the radio, and I think that I have even heard Muzak versions of it as well.
Although OJN had come out with plenty of love songs in the past before "Grease" was the word, I wonder if "Hopelessly Devoted to You" was one of the inspirations at least for the debut tune of Anri（杏里）who's had a long and distinguished career. Interestingly enough, "Olivia wo Kikinagara"（オリビアを聴きながら）was put out on the record shop shelves later in 1978 in November. As well, I could imagine a young Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）covering this one, too. I don't know if she ever has, though. But for these reasons, I am happy to have Olivia here on the blog at last, and I know that it won't be the only time.
So, what were three singles that came out in August 1978 according to Showa Pops? Well, the three that I have here supposedly got released in July actually according to my original articles on them, but in any case, here goes.
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