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.
The crazy thing about "People!", the final track on PAZZ's 1987"Bananafish" album, is that despite its nearly 6 minutes of song, it doesn't wear out its welcome at all and I'm surprised that it just breezes by as quickly as it does.
I've already written about much of this pretty fine album with the weird name by the one-off band, and certainly I would love to get my hands on my own copy of "Bananafish" once all this COVID stuff is behind me and mail delivery is stabilized once more. But in the meantime, I'll be more than happy to settle for what I can find on YouTube, and with the finale of the album being "People!", I get a warm and soulful mid-tempo song created by lyricist Ichiko Takehana（竹花いち子）and composer/vocalist Masayuki Iwata（岩田雅之）.
There are some nice honeyed synth-horns and a rhythm that hints at a comfortable afternoon drive along the coast. Then at the end, there is even a hopeful get-together collection of voices and claps which hints at some gospel and perhaps some Stevie Wonder. Although I wonder how much better "People!" would have been with real horns, it's a nice way to end "Bananafish".
Back in the early 1980s, there was a quirky and catchy song by singer Matthew Wilder titled "Break My Stride" that tore in all the way from left field to climb up the charts to No. 5 on Billboard. It was probably one of the cutest earworms that I got to hear on radio over and over again, and I think it even made an appearance on an episode in the first season of the FOX show "Glee".
This particular tune's intro reminded me of that synth intro to "Break My Stride", and "Minority" is also a quirky and catchy number on the rare album "Bananafish"(1987) by the group PAZZ. Earlier last fall, I actually wrote about this release and marveled at the AOR-ness of it all. The album apparently is available on Amazon, but it costs a hefty 19,800 yen!
Strangely enough, though, "Minority" stands out from the songs that I did cover on "Bananafish" because it has more of that "Break My Stride"funk-pop strut than those mellow orange mimosa-friendly tracks that seem to dominate the album. I'm not sure if it's indeed Masayuki Iwata（岩田雅之）behind the mike here. Although he doesn't sound anything like Wilder, the vocalist definitely strikes me as being at least a bit closer to the tones of another 80s singer Zappacosta from Canada.
Just to give my greetings on this holiday Monday: Happy Thanksgiving to everyone in Canada, Happy Columbus Day to all those in the United States and Happy Sports Day to the citizens of Japan. For the record, we didn't have any turkey in our household...just some fish n' chips.
Anyways, I've been learning with the advent of Google Maps, potential tourists have been able to prep for any upcoming trips by taking a virtual tour of the destination in foreign lands before they actually do the real thing. I am not planning to go anywhere in the near future, but I have been curious about a lot of these cities so I've also been doing the virtual tour thing. One night last week, I was taking a Google tour of Miami, Florida and as I was doing so, I was simply playing New J Channel and the song of the moment was from an album that I've seen from time to time there. It's titled "Bananafish" by the trio PAZZ and was originally released in 1987.
Aside from the manga with the same title that had been turned into an anime last year, I'd never heard anything about a "Bananafish". But I'll tell you...doing that tour of downtown Miami while listening to one of the tracks, "Distance", I got that rare thrill of ASMR going up my back and neck. That was a huge sign that perhaps this oddly-named album may be worth a hunt for Xmas shopping.
There is no J-Wiki article for PAZZ or "Bananafish". However, there is an article for former member and singer-composer Masayuki Iwata（岩田雅之）. Originally from Aichi Prefecture, that's his heavenly voice on the dreamy "Distance", a mix of bossa nova and soul. With him creating the melody, his two other partners in PAZZ were vocalist Miho Fujiwara（藤原美穂）, formerly of Chocolate Lips, and fellow composer Tatsuya Nishiwaki（西脇辰弥）who also worked with Iwata on the keyboards and computer programming. Although Fujiwara was a veteran, PAZZ was the debut deal for both Iwata and Nishiwaki. The lyricist for "Distance" was Ichiko Takehana（竹花いち子）.
"Empty Heart" is another Iwata and Takehana collaboration which is a nice slice of smooth contemporary funk/soul. Listening to Iwata here and on "Distance", I think that there is a slight vocal resemblance to Michael McDonald and 80s singer Zappacosta. I can really feel the Los Angeles connection here.
One more track that I will show is "Can't You See My Love", once again by Takehana and Iwata, a romantic ballad that truly made my virtual tour among the huge shiny skyscrapers of Miami very worthwhile. Iwata doesn't sound anything like Chikuzen Sato（佐藤竹善）but the whole feeling behind this one reminds me of what Sing Like Talking would also be creating later on. Always love those creamy horns.
Looking at the Japanese overview of the album at Technology Pops 𝝅3.14, PAZZ was backed up by some solid musicians such as Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）, Jun Aoyama（青山純）and Jake H. Concepcion. As I said before, I would love to get my hands on this one and only album by the band. Post-PAZZ, Iwata would create songs for a number of other singers such as SMAP, Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）and Harumi Tsuyuzaki（露崎春女）, although he would also release a solo album in 2000.
