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 One Step Communicate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label One Step Communicate. Show all posts
I was pretty impressed by the band One Step Communicate which was introduced by KKP's HRLE92 back in February so that I also covered them through a later contribution by the group to the anime franchise "Shinpi no Sekai El-Hazard"（神秘の世界エルハザード...The Magnificent World of El-Hazard）. As the author mentioned, every track on "One Step Communicate" is a banger.
Now I want to return to that original self-titled 1994 album where I had my socks knocked off by the first track. "True Paradise" has got panache, soul and class as a 1990s form of City Pop with the high-falutin' vocals of Kenichi Nakagawa（中川顕一）, the snazzy horn-spiced melody by guitarist Hiroyuki Yano（矢野弘佳）and some nice background chorus. It's indeed the type of song that I would like to hear while walking down one of the main streets of Tokyo on a gorgeous clear night. Ren Takayanagi（高柳恋）was responsible for the lyrics.
I remember some years ago when my anime buddy and I were still doing the biweekly Routine of anime-and-food during which we caught an interesting anime OVA from 1995 titled "Shinpi no Sekai El-Hazard"（神秘の世界エルハザード...The Magnificent World of El-Hazard） about a group of high school students transported into another world of intrigue and mysticism. The opening theme by Seikou Nagaoka（長岡成貢）said as much with a sumptuous overture reminiscent of John Williams.
If you take a look at the KKP file on Nagaoka, you'll find that he later went into producing these club music songs that probably had listeners shimmying on the floor. Try to imagine Johnny Williams with a backwards cap and T-shirt mixing turntables. That of course was just me jesting but intriguingly enough, the immediate sequel to "El-Hazard" actually did go in that direction when it came to the opening theme tune.
My fellow contributor HRLE92 provided an introduction earlier this year to the band One Step Communicate via their 1994 self-titled debut album of decade-specific City Pop and R&B. And here I am to bring vocalist Kenichi Nakagawa（中川顕一）, guitarist Hiroyuki Yano（矢野弘佳）, and bassist Takeshi Kudo（工藤毅）back since they provided the second opening theme for the TV sequel of "El-Hazard" which spanned late 1995 and early 1996. "Atsui Kimochi" (Passionate Feelings) isn't a grand orchestral piece but a 90s City Pop tune of champagne & caviar dimensions. Written by U-DAI and composed by Yano, the characters on the show could easily have been galloping on the streets of West Shinjuku and fighting over who paid the bill in that swanky hotel restaurant rather than battling exotic soldiers and monsters in an isekai.
Nothing wrong with "Atsui Kimochi" at all (I will always appreciate sophisticated pop horns) but I just thought it was a bit odd placing it as a theme song for "El-Hazard". The single came out in January 1996.
One Step Communicate is a group consisting of Kenichi Nakagawa (vocals), Hiroyuki Yano (guitar), and Takeshi Kudo (bass). The group released two albums and disbanded. However, in around 2008 (?), Kenichi Nakagawa and Hiroyuki Yano formed a group called "First Fruits" with another musician known as You-Ju. They released an album called From α which according to a Japanese blog is "reminiscent of Kiyotaka Sugiyama's Omega Tribe".
The latest place I've seen the bassist Takeshi Kudo was in a bass guitar textbook and he was writing about Marcus Miller.
One Step Communicate is one of the two releases from the group of the same name. The other album they released came out in the same year and credits the same recording locations, so I think the two albums are actually one recording session split into two albums.
By the time this album came out, the trend of city pop and funk-based J-pop has already begun its decline. stuff that topped the chart at the time was synth-pop and rock. Artists such as Shizuka Kudo and Zard were replacing 80s idol singers such as Akina Nakamori and Anri. Even on the funky side of things, the Japanese music industry was taking a dramatic turn towards neo-soul, new jack swing, and contemporary R&B. However, obviously the three guys at One Step Communicate couldn't care less. All they wanted to do was produce a banger album that can push the boundary of city pop, a genre that started its decline half a decade ago by the time this album came out.
And boy did they deliver. Every song on this album is a banger on its own. The attempt to innovate their sound is audible. Since it was the 90s, they of course had to experiment with digital and synthesizer instruments, but they eventually decided to keep many instruments analog, such as the horn section and bass. The fusion of synthesizer and analog instruments is one key element that makes this album sounds so good.
The arrangements and compositions are mostly done by Hiroyoshi Yano. In other words, he is responsible for all the bass slaps, elegant synth-string sections, and crazy guitar solos. It is certain that he took J-fusion as a reference when arranging the album, but he didn't take things too far. He found a perfect balance point that is just right between J-fusion and city pop and just let it flow. Except for amazing, I honestly don't know how to describe Yano's work. I really would not be surprised if you say these arrangements are from experienced musicians such as Yuji Toriyama or Masanori Sasaji, but this is not the case. One Step Communicate was actually Yano's debut. It's also sad to see how his career played out. The first album he arranged was a city pop masterpiece, and then he gets like 5 songs to arrange for the rest of his career. He has the talent but sadly no one noticed.
Kenichi Nakagawa is in charge of the vocals. Whoever chose him to fill this role knew what they were doing. For a city pop album, we need a city pop voice, and who sounds more city pop than Kiyotaka Sugiyama? Well, unfortunately, Sugiyama was doing his own rock thing in the 90s, so the management found someone that also has that crystal-clear voice and amazing singing skills. Nakagawa's vocal part is just the cherry on the sundae for the entire album.
The guest musicians feature Japanese fusion veteran Yuji Toriyama as well as the bass legend Tomohito Aoki. The horn section features famous LA studio horn musicians Gary Grant and Jerry Hey, the latter being a frequent collaborator with Japanese musicians.
Overall this is just an amazing album. Great musicians, great sounds, creating a unique vibe you won't hear anywhere else. It is also one of the last city pop albums in the 90s that can make me feel the same vibe Toshiki Kadomatsu, Anri, and Tatsuro Yamashita created a decade earlier.
