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.
It was exactly a year ago (and also today happens to be the current Emperor's birthday in Japan so it was a national holiday over there) that I posted up "Dance-y Songs for Me (for International Dance Day)". I don't consider myself anything of even being a mediocre dancer but I always enjoy seeing the experts trot their stuff especially when it comes to music I've come to known and love. And yes, International Dance Day is on April 29th but as I mentioned in the original article a year ago, I can't wait until the 29th. I wanna boogie now! So, without further ado:
This was one of commenter Brian Mitchell's suggestions when he spoke on the original dance article, and I see that the dance-oriented video games have agreed as well. Seeing how kayo kyoku has been getting its props around the world, I can also imagine that folks can be strutting their stuff to Pink Lady's classic in the clubs as well as the karaoke boxes.
Hey, the Village People brought it to the disco-crazed masses but Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）also made it his own as a beloved piece of his discography. The danceability is already built in, and as with "UFO" above, I'm sure that both the karaoke boxes and dance clubs felt the love for "Young Man". Certainly, Saijo may be looking at us with a smile.
I don't usually consider the music of Hosono（細野晴臣）, Takahashi（高橋幸宏）and Sakamoto（坂本龍一）something to hit the disco floors for (despite YMO marking itself "the No. 1 dance band in Japan"), but "Tighten Up" can be one exception since as with "Young Man" above, this was a Japanese cover of a song by an American band that liked to get the folks up and moving. I still want that YMO shirt!
I'm surprised that I hadn't included this one in the original article but I guess Labels was pretty stuffed to the gills with entries, so I'm glad that I get to put it the second list. After all. Kingo Hamada's（濱田金吾）classic is a City Pop party favour for big city living. Plus, YouTuber hirokoboogie shows how folks can move to the groove if you refer back to the "midnight cruisin'" article.
This was another one of Brian's recommendations. Having listened to "Say Goodbye" in the years since I posted up the article for the song and got my copy of the 1982 album "Awakenings", I'm wondering if the late great Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）had been channeling his inner Stevie Wonder or Herbie Hancock when he came up with this masterpiece. Shimmy those shoulders away.
Speaking of hirokoboogie, here she is with her friends as they cut up a rug doing Anri's（杏里）"Goodbye Boogie Dance". Not sure if there had been a lot of lockin' when the song first came out in 1983, but I'm sure folks at home were shimmying up a storm. I can't even imagine how the new fans were reacting on the dance floor at the City Pop dance parties several years ago to this one.
PSY-S was another technopop band that burst onto the scene with some great hooks...hooks that could potentially grab onto listeners and force them to boogie, shimmy or however folks tend to move. The two versions of "Woman-S" had their own ways of manipulating people into doing their steps; the original (below), for example, had that booming percussion.
I've got a feeling that "Dance-y songs for Me 3" will be coming out in 2027!
You may have noticed yesterday that I didn't exactly put up a couple of voluminous articles onto "Kayo Kyoku Plus"; it was basically just a Top 10 list and then the APB for Gilbert's mystery song. Well, the reason for that was that I had been preparing for a colonoscopy that took place yesterday afternoon at the local hospital. The procedure itself was as easy as cake but the preparations for it were a bit arduous with me having to glug down the above four litres of PegLyte laxative solution and multiple litres of other fluids within a set amount of time in the day before and the day of the procedure. Mind you, PegLyte wasn't bad taste-wise; it was kinda like a gin cocktail but I had to drink pitchers of the stuff to clean me out.
I was still a tad nervous when I finally faced the procedure and the colonoscopy team including the anesthesiologist plunked me down onto the bed surrounded by doctors and nurses and monitors while I was in that drafty blue gown. The anesthesiologist informed that I wasn't going under a general anesthetic but just something to keep me drowsy so in went the needle, the nurse exposed my bare bottom and the lights went down with only the soothing monitor lights lighting the way. I was feeling like I was going to be seduced. The only thing missing was hearing some Luther Vandro---
OK, sir! You can wake up now. The procedure is over.
Wha...? What the heck?! I was back with the living again which I couldn't believe. When I asked the nurse what time it was, I realized that I was out for 60 minutes but it was like those 60 minutes were completely excised from my memory. And just to emphasize that the procedure was over, there was a huge banner in front of my bed in the recovery bay stating:
YES, YOUR PROCEDURE IS OVER!
Happily, I found out from the doctor that the colonoscopy revealed no signs of cancer and just a couple of polyps that were quickly taken out. After I got dressed, my brother was there in the waiting room to drive me home. My latest medical adventure was over just like that.
Anyways, to commemorate this event and out of a sense of whimsy, I figured some wake-up exhortation songs wouldn't be too bad. And this time, I'm mixing in a couple of the ROY tunes, too. Just for the record, I'm still feeling a bit tired after all of the exertions of yesterday but otherwise I'm not doing too badly.
I've only found out about existing music by the previous incarnation of synthpop band PSY-S just in the last few months but apparently the lone album and separate tracks have been available for listening on social media for several years.
Playtechs with Masaya Matsuura（松浦雅也）and Mami "CHAKA" Yasunori（安則まみ）existed around 1983 or 1984 and depending which online source you check, its lone album "No Duplicatin'" had supposedly never been released for sale in either of those two years. There is a 16-minute digest form for the album below which you can check out and it's a very interesting album for fans of PSY-S to hear what the duo was up to back in the early 1980s before PSY-S made their official debut in 1985. Playtechs was certainly more experimental although the synthesizers had also been front and centre back then; they were playing around more with reggae, jazz and rap. There's even one track on "No Duplicatin'" that has these multiethnic sounds that the late Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）would have swooned over.
"On the Edge of Cliff" is another intriguing one since it doesn't seem to exist on the album (it isn't on the digest video) and there hasn't been any mention of a single being released by Playtechs with this title. Perhaps it is another outtake but as it is, the song sounds like a premonition of what Matsuura and CHAKA would do as PSY-S with its funky and chrome-lined synthpop and the latter's sweet English vocals.
In terms of the status of "No Duplicatin'" and "On the Edge of Cliff", I'm still not 100% on where they are in terms of sales and availability although I've gotten the impression that it was Matsuura himself who put the album onto Soundcloud. So, if any of you viewers might have some more information on "On the Edge of Cliff" especially, please let us know.
After listening to this song, I couldn't help but reminded of those bizarre Skittles commercials exhorting us to discover and taste rainbows. Despite their demands, I never gave into them and so I didn't become a Skittles fan.
However, I am much more amenable to chasing rainbows on listening to "Chasing the Rainbow" by 80s technopop duo PSY-S. I realize that there are quite a few non-single tracks from Mami "Chaka" Yasunori（安則眞実）and Masaya Matsuura's（松浦雅也）discography that I have yet to explore so it's great to come across a new song this late into the 21st century.
Written by Chaka and composed by Matsuura, "Chasing the Rainbow" is another appealingly quirky tune with all of the bloops and snaps paired with Chaka's child-like vocals. It's quite intrepid sounding for the lack of a better description so its matching with scenes of the 2001 anime adaptation of Osamu Tezuka's（手塚治虫）1949 manga "Metropolis" makes for a good fit, oddly enough. Besides I've had a passing interesting in architecture pertaining to Steampunk, Decopunk and Dieselpunk so the YouTube video by MINA Mirage has been a treat for eyes and ears. "Chasing the Rainbow" was a B-side for PSY-S' 3rd single"Another Diary" from March 1986.
Hmm...it's been a while since I've done anything on the eclectic and amazing duo PSY-S. Since their appearance from the mid-1980s, lyricist/vocalist Chaka and composer/multi-instrumentalist Masaya Matsuura（松浦雅也）were providing their own catchy form of funky and also rock-tinged synthpop that was able to distinguish itself from other similar bands, including Yellow Magic Orchestra.
PSY-S called it a day in 1996 so this particular track is from their later years. From their July 1994 8th album"Window", I bring you "Vision" with lyrics by Yukio Matsuo（松尾由紀夫）instead of Chaka while Matsuura was still on the melody. A lyrical adventure on a search for a happier land together, it's got that bouncy PSY-S synthy touch but there's also a bit of introspection in the arrangement, too.
The catchphrase for the album on the obi was "Sounds with a good view, songs with a good feeling", and yep, I think "Vision" is rather representative of that sentiment.
When I hear a PSY-S song, I look forward to two things usually: CHAKA's high and beautifully resonating voice and Masaya Matsuura's（松浦雅也）synthesizer hooks.
I still get those with "Separate Blue", a track from the duo's 6th album"Signal" released in July 1990. With Matsuura, I get those "thrip, thrip, thrip..." notes from his synth (your onomatopoeia mileage may vary) while CHAKA gives out those plaintive and penetrating vocals. "Separate Blue", along with that ever-present jangly beat, also has some added warmth thanks to a brief interlude in the song which sounds like the melody dropped in at an old-fashioned toy shop in Germany or elsewhere in Europe. It's these little turns in new directions that made PSY-S stand out as a technopop band.
In April 1994, PSY-S released "Home Made", an album of self-covers and they performed a quieter and unplugged take on "Separate Blue". Next to Matsuura's melody, Norie Kanzawa（神沢礼江）provided the lyrics.
Osaka is regarded as Japan's Kitchen or Stomach for good reason. There are a lot of famous delicacies there including takoyaki and okonomiyaki which the Osakans proudly declare are tastier than their equivalents in any other place including Tokyo. However, I've gotta say that no matter which large Japanese city a tourist or citizen may visit, there will always be some sort of foodie-friendly conglomeration ranging from a century-old shopping street to the most modern food floor underneath a department store.
Active Otaku Channel is a YouTube channel that I've subscribed to recently at my anime buddy's suggestion since the fellow running it has an expert's knowledge of the electronics district known as Akihabara in Tokyo. I've been to Akiba many times but I can hardly call myself an expert so I can give this fellow my respect.
The videos are all in Japanese, though, but if you can understand the language then you can appreciate all of the shops and establishments that he has covered in his many creations, and the one above here is all about having breakfast in the area. To my memory, it's only been within the last 15 years that Akiba has gained a ton of places to nosh on stuff. Before then, I can only remember the McDonalds at the northern edge and then the Mansei Building at the border between Akiba and the bookstore district of Kanda as dining places.
The thumbnail photo at the top of the article shows the large restaurant floor near the top of the massive Yodobashi Akiba complex. If memory serves, the expansive floor is above the one with the branch of Tower Records, and I used to go there now and then for everything from ramen to kaiten sushi to tonkatsu.
Well, it's been a while since I've put up a PSY-S song so I've got the thematically appropriate "Big Kitchen" from the technopop duo's debut album "Different View" (May 1985) as vocalist CHAKA happily sings about the wonders about a town as one huge kitchen. The tune cooked up by lyricist Osamu Takahashi（高橋修）and composer/PSY-S keyboardist Masaya Matsuura（松浦雅也）sounds like a kid's adventure in foodie land with all of the sweets and junk food that one can engorge on. Cholesterol be damned!
Active Otaku Channel didn't cover this place in the above video for breakfast nooks in Akihabara, but the franchise Vie de France has been one of my go-to establishments anywhere in Tokyo since it's got a load of buttery pastries and some savory fare in the form of sandwiches, croquettes and mini-hot dogs. In fact, when I was there in 2017, I had an hour to spare before meeting my friend for lunch so I spent that hour noshing on some of V de F's lovely goods while drinking down some java.
Of course, the tonkatsu lunch up on the aforementioned restaurant floor of Yodobashi Akiba wasn't too shabby either. Endless cabbage, rice and miso soup? But of course!
In recent years, the acoustic guitar duo Gontiti（ゴンチチ）has probably become known among anime fans for their work on the score for the relaxing "Amanchu!"（あまんちゅ！）and "Amanchu! Advance"（あまんちゅ！〜あどばんす〜）. My anime buddy might have the soundtrack, and if so, he could probably use it for relaxation purposes. In fact, I would highly recommend getting a hammock just for those purposes.
Back in early 2016, I wrote about PSY-S' collaborative 1987 album"Collection" and lamented that I couldn't feature a full version of one of my favourite tracks on that release by Gontiti themselves. Well, I'm no longer lamenting. About a good 30 years before Masahiko "Gonzalez" Mikami（三上雅彦）and Masahide "Titi" Matsumura（松村正秀）wove their wonderful feel-good music about a couple of high school divers, they contributed to "Collection" with "Honto no Uso" (True Lies).
As I mentioned in the article for the original album, while Gontiti created "Honto no Uso", PSY-S' Masaya Matsuura（松浦雅也）arranged it and vocalist CHAKA added some of her vocals. It's some lovely relaxing bossa nova with some of those Matsuura synths thrown in for good measure. I especially love that one part in there when the duo go into a brief exploratory instrumental with their guitars.
Yesterday, I provided the first part of my Favourite Technopop Tunes, and unlike the straight-ahead list there, this one is going to be slightly different in that there will be two entries per musician/band. You might recall reading from Part 1 that coming up with the choices was muy difficult? Well, the big guns as I call them here are responsible. For these folks, it was very hard even to narrow things down to two choices. But after much thought, here are my 10.
Of course, I will not be leaving Messrs. Hosono, Sakamoto and Takahashi out of this loop. What can I say about "Rydeen"? I see it as the theme song for the early 1980s in Japanese pop, and it's been covered over and over by everyone from The E-Girls to a fictional high school band. The melody by drummer Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）may be relatively simple but almost 40 years after its release, it still has folks squeeing like hyperactive teenagers. I saw so many "Hibike! Euphonium sent me here" comments under YouTube videos of the original song that the comment may have gained memedom. And I'm still hoping against hope that it could be brought into the Opening Ceremonies for the 2020 Olympics.
As for "Behind The Mask" by Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, it was the first track on that YMO BEST compilation tape that you see at the top. That 30-second introduction with the synths and the blasting drums is still incredible. If there were ever a cool song needed to backstop a news feature on the goalie mask exhibit at the Hockey Hall of Fame in downtown Toronto, I would go with this one. Jari provided a complete article on the song with all of the top-flight performers Stateside who covered it, but I will still have my preference with the original, although Greg Philliganes comes awfully close.
I think Yano's happy honeybee approach to singing and technopop were an excellent match. Although there have been the comparisons to Kate Bush (another singer I like), I think Yano is still very much in a class of her own. "Hitotsudake"（ひとつだけ）is so spacey ethereal yet innocent and fun at the same time, it makes planetary invasion as dangerous as being assaulted by Hello Kitty characters high on Ovaltine.
"Harusaki Kobeni"（春咲小紅）was a subject of one of my very early articles on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", and for good reason. It may have been the campaign song for Kanebo Cosmetics but whenever I hear the strings and synths, I think of a very crazy and high-speed traipse through a massive garden...fun, mind you, but caffeine-fueled, all the same.
First coming across the duo of CHAKA and Masaya Matsuura（松浦雅也）when I was on the JET Programme, my impression was that here was a technopop band coming up with some appealing tunes and they were most definitely notYMO. But like the Yellow Magic Orchestra, it was awfully hard to come to a decision on a great pair of songs by them since there are so many of them to opt for. Eventually, I decided on the above two. "Wake Up" is perhaps the alarm clock I don't really need but the one I would love to have. It's quirky but has a drive that can get a sleepyhead out of bed and happily on the commute on Monday morning.
"Woman-S" was the first track on the first album that I ever bought by PSY-S ("Two Hearts"). That newer version had a bit more brass in the synthesizer but I also like the original version from the album "PIC-NIC" (dang, that percussion!). The duo had their fair share of mellow ballads but their uptempo stuff could really perk listeners up that would make squirrels seem sedated in comparison.
OK, whereas PSY-S was the technopop band during my Gunma days, Denki Groove was a similar group when I started residing in Ichikawa from the mid-1990s. And often the wild-&-crazy guys from Denki Groove would stomp hard on either side of the techno/pop fence.
"Nijuu-ichi Seiki mo Motetakute"（２１世紀もモテたくて）, I think, is simply a genius mash-up of a couple of 80s aidoru pop hits that take both songs on a supersonic ride. C-C-B's"Romantic ga Tomaranai"（Romanticが止まらない） and Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）"Tenshi no Wink"（天使のウィンク）are fun songs to listen to on their own and both are part of my mindset into nostalgia, but this techno hybrid is a totally new animal...bionic cheetah, to be exact. "Volcanic Drumbeats" from their "Ace" album is the theme song for the ultimate battle between every Ultraman and every resident on Monster Island. It's kinda like Red Bull but the wings one gets are solar.
Began with YMO so why not finish off with a YMO friend? I was actually listening to Taeko Ohnuki's 1978 "Mignonne"earlier today, and it looks like the album has gotten a lot of new contemporary fans in the past year or two, thanks to YouTube (and I'm hoping that at least a few of the viewers have bought the actual disc or LP). It's been wonderful to see everyone including myself realize how much of a treasure of City Pop/New Music treats "Mignonne" has been loaded with when compared to the relative indifference it had been slapped with when it was first released.
However, the soul-searching that Ohnuki had gone through in the several months since "Mignonne" was able to push her in a new direction that benefited her and us. With a twin approach of a European sound and a technopop one, her next album was the 1980 "Romantique" with the opening track of "Carnaval". As I said in the article for this album, it was pretty gutsy of Ohnuki to not only have this technopop wizardry start things off but also have it released as a single. But it paid off in dividends, and if I had heard "Carnaval" at the time that I discovered Yellow Magic Orchestra, rest assured I would have become an Ohnuki fan years earlier. All those synth sounds in the song have made for a bountiful technopop feast.
As for "Chance" which was a track in the following album "Aventure", this was as much about warmth as "Carnaval" was about cool/cold. The technopop was a bit more muted for "Chance", but this is still one happy song which not only expresses a whimsical present but even hints at an amazing and aspirational future during the instrumental bridge. When it came to thinking about which two songs to select from Ohnuki's technopop period, picking that second song was tough but there was no doubt about me going for "Chance" as the first number.
So that is my 2-parter on my favourite technopop tunes. Still, there are plenty of those digital ditties that I have enjoyed over the years and I think there are a lot of songs that I have yet to unearth, along with technopop bands and songwriters that I have to discover. I know about POLYSICS and TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN FUND, but if you folks know of any synth artists out there that you can recommend to me, please let me know.
Well, actually, good Saturday morning from Tokyo...my hotel room in Otsuka, to be exact. Not sure how often I will be able to log in but at least I can put in this first article under the category of "Tokyo 2017".
The R&B Hotel is a pretty spartan business hotel but the complementary breakfast is good.
Anyways, I will just be throwing in some small comments here and there and providing any music that is associated with the tone of the article. For example here is PSY-S'"Asa".
Fairly rough start to this category but hopefully things will smooth out over time.
I had no idea that PSY-S'"Angel Night ~ Tenshi no Iru Basho"(Place of Angels) was used as one of the opening themes for the "City Hunter"（シティーハンター）franchise. It's been on a couple of BEST compilations by the eclectic band but there was no mention of its placement.
In point of fact, "Angel Night" was the first opening theme for Season 2 of "City Hunter" which was followed by Fence of Defence's"SARA". However, the PSY-S contribution to the anime has that energy which starts off another crackling episode. Still, there is no doubt that it is a PSY-S tune. It was composed by Masaya Matsuura（松浦雅也）and written by Yukio Matsuo（松尾由紀夫）, and of course, the amazing CHAKA is on vocals.
"Angel Night" was also PSY-S' 7th single from April 1988. Although it isn't listed on J-Wiki how high the song rated on Oricon, it's difficult to imagine that the song didn't get into the Top 100 during the week somehow. Mind you, I think of the opening and ending themes for "City Hunter" that have been put up so far on the blog, "City Hunter: Ai yo Kienai de"（愛よ消えないで）still comes out on top for me. An album version of "Angel Night" is on their 5th album"Non-Fiction" from August in the same year.
Tarento and illustrator Shoko Nakagawa（中川翔子）brought her own cover of "Angel Night" in 2010 through her album "Shokotan Covers 3 ~ Anison wa Jinrui wo Tsunagu ~"（しょこたん☆かばー3 〜アニソンは人類をつなぐ〜...Anison Will Bring Humanity Together） which peaked at No. 10.
Happy Saturday! However it's pretty darn cold here in my neck of the woods. I think if we are very lucky today, we may just reach a high of -7 degrees Celsius...and that's not taking into consideration the wind chill factor.
It's been a long time since I spoke about PSY-S. I did like the way that the Wikipedia writer for their article described the music of Chaka and Masaya Matsuura（松浦雅也）as progressive pop. It's not an expression that I've ever used for them; I've been content enough to describe their brand of music as a unique and bright form of technopop that set them apart from acts such as Yellow Magic Orchestra. But progressive pop is appropriate since the duo did stand apart from just about every musical act that existed at that time in the late 1980s.
Apparently, PSY-S is most famous among the collective fandom of anime and J-Pop for their 6th single"Lemon no Yuuki" (Lemon Courage). Written by Kenzo Saeki（サエキけんぞう）and composed by Matsuura for release in September 1987, it was made as the image song for the anime OVA that has supposedly become a cult favourite (although the fellow who provided the English translation of the lyrics here wrote a more backhanded compliment), "TO-Y".
In the J-Wiki article for "Lemon no Yuuki", I read that the song was never the official theme song due to some contractual issues (although Matsuura was in charge of the music for the anime) but the official music video was able to use a few scenes from the OVA. However from the opening of the actual movie at the top, about a minute or so of the song is right in there. I did think it kinda strange that something as progressive pop as this tune would be used for an anime about the trials and tribulations of the title character, Toi Fujii（藤井冬威）, trying to get his punk band, GASP, to fame and fortune.
Still it's a typically eclectic PSY-S song with Chaka's high vocals leading an interesting arrangement of guitar, bass, drums, electronics and even flute. There is something contemporary and old-world about it at the same time. Saeki's lyrics are pretty atmospheric but the basic gist is about holding onto love and hopes for the future.
The B-side to "Lemon no Yuuki" is "Cubic Lovers" which is a more introspective ballad about the wonder of waking up in the big city the next day next to your lover. I was half expecting some sort of sad breakup to happen by the end of the song but, nope, it's all quite hopeful. Everyone is content and happy. Apparently, "Cubic Lovers" is also present at the end of "TO-Y" with Matsuura taking care of the music here while Yukio Matsuo（松尾由紀夫）provided the lyrics.
Both songs originally appeared on PSY-S' 3rd album"Mint-Electric" from August 1987 but I first heard both of them on the BEST compilation, "Two Hearts" from 1991.
This was a pretty interesting album to pick up just on the cover alone which looked like something from one of my old science textbooks. And it was rather outside of the range of the usual PSY-S album covers so it was a done deal with my wallet. "Collection" or perhaps the proper title is "PSY-S Presents 'Collection'" was released in February 1987 as a collaborative effort between the technohappy duo of CHAKA and Masaya Matsuura（松浦雅也）and a whole number of other musicians based on an old NHK radio show called "Sound Street".
The song that starts things off is "Wake Up" which I already wrote about all the way back in 2012. I realized that I got my yen's worth just on hearing this OJ of a song. CHAKA and Matsuura concocted the tune with a whole melange of instruments including electric guitar, bombing drums and chirpy synths seemingly hell-bent on waking the listener up.
When I came across the video of Track 2 "Dream Soup"（ドリーム・スープ）, that was my impetus for getting this article together. As the title may imply, the song seems to be a combination of a cute kid's song and something more psychedelic. I especially enjoyed the weird synths employed throughout the song. Written by the lead vocalist of the all-girl rock band ZELDA, Sayoko Takahashi（高橋佐代子）, and composed by Matsuura and the Moonriders' keyboardist/vocalist Toru Okada（岡田徹）, Takahashi, CHAKA and cute little Natsumi Shimazaki performed this one.
Another reason that I purchased "Collection" was for the presence of one of my favourite songs by PSY-S,"Woman-S". Again like "Wake Up", I have already given my two cents about the song in the past. This is yet another version of "Woman-S",bossa nova, to be exact. At first, I was disappointed in this version since it didn't have all of that excitement from the very first take that I had heard on PSY-S' first BEST compilation, "Two Hearts", but since I have become somewhat of a convert to the Brazilian genre over the past couple of decades, I'm now much more accepting of it. The video above also has one more track from "Collection", "Silent Song" but I think it deserves its own article which I will do in the near future.
One track from the album that unfortunately couldn't be found anywhere online is "Honto no Uso"（本当の嘘...True Lies）. It's also another relaxing bossa nova number by acoustic guitar duo GonTiti（ゴンチチ）which is one of the highlights. Although Gonzalez Mikami and Titi Matsumura（ゴンザレス三上・チチ松村）wrote, composed and sang the number, Matsuura provided arrangement and keyboards while CHAKA was on backup chorus. (November 18 2018: Found it!)
Ahhh...80s music video sensibilities with added Chromakey! It's time to bring back some of that PSY-S technopop via their 2nd single from November 1985, "Brand-New Menu". I hadn't known that it was an actual single from the duo; I actually found out about it through a slightly different version of the song on their 1st BEST compilation, "Two Hearts" from April 1991 that I purchased in Chinatown one day.
Written by Kenzo Saeki（サエキけんぞう）and composed by PSY-S instrumentalist Masaya Matsuura（松浦雅也）, it's a tinkly and twinkly tune that sounds somewhat like a jingle for some new service:
You will see my L-O-V-E I will make you L-O-V-E Can we save your V-I-R-G-I-N-I-T-Y?
That must be some service. Anyways, the original single version is portrayed in the video above. Powerhouse vocalist CHAKA doesn't push her voice too hard here but she and Matsuura did seem to enjoy hamming it up in the video as two mad scientists trying to corrupt two young souls in a supermarket.
"Brand-New Menu" also showed up as a track in PSY-S' 2nd album"Pic-Nic" from July 1986 in its "folk rock" version with a strummy guitar replacing one of the synths. Actually for me, I prefer the new version in "Two Hearts".
30 years ago as a university student, I was witness to the above scene when the Toronto Blue Jays clinched their very first American League East title. Yup, it was quite the magical moment, and then of course, some years later, we had those glory years of 1992 and 1993 when the team did it all and grabbed a couple of World Series championships. Then there was a long period of 22 years of not even making the playoffs. I guess it was as a good time as any to head to Japan for a couple of decades, eh?
But I'm glad I'm back now. The Jays did it again and just clinched the American League East about half an hour ago.
30 minutes ago, I probably wouldn't have been able to put up this article since my fingers would have been way too twitchy with excitement. But things have settled down so I can place something nice and soothing and inspiring. How about PSY-S'"Hana no Yo ni" (Like A Flower)? Written by Yukio Matsuo（松尾由紀夫）and PSY-S' Masaya Matsuura（松浦雅也）as the duo's 21st and 2nd-last single in February 1994, I think it's the ideal song for my current state of mind since it talks about making it through all of the ups and downs to a happy conclusion...just like my baseball team. And compared to some of their past high-energy material, "Hana no Yo ni" is a nice little cool-down tune vocalized wonderfully by CHAKA. This is kinda like meeting PSY-S at a cafe somewhere on a side street in Harajuku, although I think for most Jays fans downtown right now, they are most likely revving it up at the local watering holes. Not quite for me, though...I'll take a cup of that chamomile tea right by my laptop as I type this.
Ah, the song, by the way, was also a track on their final album to date, "Emotional Engine" from December 1994.
I was having a nice conversation with a fellow PSY-S fan by the name of Skye Tronn the other day when I realized that it was time to put up another song by the unique band. Well, I'm gonna go with "Parachute Limit" which was their 9th single from October 1988.
I did not know that there was an actual music video that went with "Parachute Limit", so I'm indebted to my commenter since it was indeed Skye that found the video. I first came across the song on PSY-S' BEST album,"Two Hearts" from 1991. Composed by Masaya Matsuura（松浦雅也）and written by Seira Asakura（あさくらせいら）, I'm unsure what the inspiration was for the title, but it is a soaring tune that doesn't let up for a minute, powered by CHAKA's blockbuster vocals.
The lyrics are quite imaginative as well: cellophane skies, glass deserts and gold & silver trees. I wonder if Asakura was thinking about Gallifrey when he/she was coming up with the lyrics, but the gist of the song seems to be a couple trying to have as much fun as possible as quickly as possible before gravity-laden reality sets in. Unlike the title, I don't think these kids want parachutes.
Not quite sure whether "Parachute Limit" was ever a theme song for an anime but I wouldn't be surprised if it had been so. It would make for quite the heroic and inspirational theme for the main character. Along with the relentless melody, I simply love CHAKA's delivery of the lyrics and the slight echo during the refrain which makes me think of that couple finally escaping gravity (and the bad guys) and heading into space.
I may have found "Parachute Limit" on a BEST album, but the song was originally on PSY-S' 4th album, "Non-Fiction" also from 1988.
It's been several months since I put up a PSY-S article, so allow me to make up for lost time. I first heard "Friends or Lovers" when I got my first CD by the band at another shop in Chinatown after returning from Japan in 1991. If I remember correctly, I think Wah Yueh may have closed up shop by that point, so I went to this place around the corner going south on Spadina Avenue...expensive prices, but hey it was the Japanese yen against the Canadian dollar, so what could anyone do?
Anyways, that CD was their BEST compilation, "Two Hearts" released in April 1991. And when I heard the catchy "Friends or Lovers", I had initially mistaken it for "Kisses" which was probably the second PSY-S song I had ever heard. But no worries since even though "Friends or Lovers" has been superseded in my personal popularity department by a number of other of the band's contributions, it still has that fun Masaya Matsuura（松浦雅也）technobop that always set this band apart from other groups, even YMO. Of course, CHAKA's vocals are another particular trait for the PSY-S sound. The single was their 15th from February 1991.
Yukio Matsuo（松尾由紀夫）was responsible for the lyrics about that boy and girl who are at that dreaded/exciting moment when they have to decide whether they will stay buddies or take their relationship to the next level. Never easy that.
Last summer when I posted my first article on J-R&B songstress Harumi Tsuyuzaki（露崎春女）, I mentioned about this song that I loved from her 4th studio album, "Believe Yourself" but couldn't find any sign of it on the Net. Well, my search is over as you can check above.
Now, I wrote about the title track from the album, and it, along with the other single release from it, "Feel So Real", were fine enough songs, but my favourite song from "Believe Yourself" has got to be "Tender Trap". I'm being very biased here but I wondered why this one didn't get its own release. From Tsuyuzaki's explosive intro (I can understand the comparison to Mariah Carey) to the horns to the contagiously fun music, it's one of my favourite songs of the genre, period.
And what a pedigree, too. The music is by Satoru Shionoya （塩谷哲）who was the pianist from the amazing salsa band, Orquesta De La Luz and has worked with Chikuzen Sato （佐藤竹善）of Sing Like Talking numerous times (as has Tsuyuzaki). And the lyrics are by CHAKA from PSY-S, someone who also carries a set of vocal cords like a sonic weapon. I'd always thought that Shionoya's melody here would've been fine as a theme for some sort of romantic comedy (the title helps), but CHAKA's lyrics also read like a script from such a show....about someone who can't seem to shake off a particular suitor but may not really want to, either. Mind you, this sort of plot probably has been recycled for about half the dramas that have been seen on Japanese TV since the mid-80s, but hey, it's the song that I'm talking about. And I hope that it was just as fun for the singer as it has been for my ears.
The music video (unfortunately it's been taken down) for PSY-S' 13th single"Asobi ni Kite ne"(Come on Over) was the first time I had ever seen or heard anything about this fun and eclectic duo. Watching it on "MTV Japan" on TBS back in Gunma, my first impression was.... yep...this was what I imagined about Japanese music videos after having seen the few examples back in Canada via Yellow Magic Orchestra, The Plastics and what clips I could see on that special on Japan on "The New Music".
The video had that eerie fuzziness about it and then to see CHAKA singing in that high bright tone with a melody by her partner Masaya Matsuura （松浦雅也）that I had never heard before in a Japanese pop song. When I first heard it, it sounded/didn't sound like something from European New Wave...maybe something I would expect from The Style Council or even Scritti Politti.
With lyrics by Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）, as the title says, CHAKA is more than happy to invite that special someone over, no matter how he/she may be feeling; as long as they are together, they'll be fine. The title itself has been one of those fine expressions I used to hear a lot as a resident back in Japan. It came out from friends as "Mata, asobi ni kite ne"（また、遊びにきてね）. It's kinda like the expression "Now, y'all come back again now" that I heard on the old cornball country-and-western TV show "Hee Haw" when I was a toddler.
For me, the vocals and the music were the factors that had me keep an eye and ear on PSY-S for the next number of years until I finally got that BEST album of theirs at a CD shop in Chinatown after I moved back to Toronto once my JET session was done.
"Asobi ni Kite ne" was released in May 1990 and it was also a track on PSY-S' 6th album, "Signal" from July 1990.
One of my favourite songs by the 80s technopop duo, PSY-S, happens to be "Keshiki" (Scene). It was never released as a single by the band, but I think in its subtle way, it has made me think about married life.
In any case, the above is the original version from PSY-S' first album, "Different View" from 1985. Since I have yet to get this album, I never heard this version before. It's a straight-ahead technopop piece with CHAKA jumping right into the vocals (both the words and music were provided by her partner, Masaya Matsuura/松浦雅也) about what seems to be the ideal life between husband and wife in that apartment or prefab house. However, as the song progresses, things get a little more sinister especially when she starts singing about hubby bleating out the daily chores in a robotic way in both English and Japanese. Trouble in paradise....or boredom?
A new and better version of "Keshiki" was released on PSY-S BEST album, "Two Hearts" in 1991. This is the version that I've been familiar with for years, and perhaps there is a bias from me since my ears have become more accustomed to this take. However, the melody is richer and more varied, and therefore better illustrates the crumbling of the ideal wedded bliss. Matsuura, through his synths, starts off with a classical-sounding riff...perhaps to have the listener imagine the wife seeing off her rushing husband at the door, before the music goes into this warm soft bossa style and then into a roller-coaster-like rise to the robotic delivery by CHAKA. And finally, the song seems to want to illustrate an entire world crumbling down through the dissonance that Matsuura throws in. The original sounds like a beta version in comparison. And although I love CHAKA's voice, I think having her la-la-la's in that 1985 take replaced by the warning synth in the 1991 version was an improvement.
I'm happy that "Keshiki" got its due in "Two Hearts" but perhaps it could have used a bit more representation. Then again, perhaps PSY-S didn't want to make too many couples in the audience too uncomfortable (heh, heh).
