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.
"Uta Con"（うたコン）this week started off with a big tribute to the iconic aidoru duo Pink Lady（ピンクレディー） from the 1970s with one-half of the duo, Mitsuyo Nemoto（根本美鶴代）aka Mii（未唯mie）, appearing on stage to perform some of the old hits such as UFO. In place of her partner Keiko "Kei" Masuda（増田啓子）, some of the other guests stepped in to help out with the singing and dancing. The reason for all of the hubbub is that August 25th signified the 50th anniversary of the release of Pink Lady's debut single"Pepper Keibu" (ペッパー・警部) back in 1976.
Now I'd thought that I could do the B-side of "Pepper Keibu" in tribute but alas, I already did "Kanpai! Ojou-san"（乾杯!お嬢さん） last year. So I'm now going with the B-side of Pink Lady's 2nd single"S.O.S." which was released in November 1976. Written by Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composed/arranged by Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）, the duo's go-to songwriters for quite a while, the short-but-sweetly sung "Pink no Ringo"(Pink Apple) sounds like quite the B-side since there is no hint of the disco or the feeling of dynamic limb moves that are part and parcel of a Pink Lady performance. Instead, it's a happy-go-lucky conventional aidoru song about a pink apple being the magical love charm. In real life, I would stay far away from a pink apple.
Not only did I hear "Just One Look" on the radio but I also heard plenty of it as a commercial jingle for cars. I just forgot it was for the Mazda. By the way, the actor speaking in the ad ended up becoming a doctor at "General Hospital". In any case, "Just One Look" renditions by different singers and bands were used in other commercials; that title was just perfect for selling.
But the first time was on radio. Didn't know at the time that this wasn't even an original by Linda Ronstadt but a cover version done by her, but it has been the one that I will always remember. Released as a January 1979 single, it's a tune that starts off country congenially but then becomes progressively buzzier with the rock edge. I also didn't realize that the main chorus is only heard once and at the end of this fairly short song at just a little over three minutes. Ronstadt's cover did modestly well on the Canadian and American charts by posting somewhere in the 40s but in the former's Adult Contemporary chart, "Just One Look" placed in at No. 4 while on the latter's East Listening chart, it had a No. 5 ranking.
The original "Just One Look" was recorded by singer-songwriter Doris Troy for release in May 1963 with Troy and Gregory Carroll creating the song. It's an even shorter tune with the main chorus basically acting as a fadeout coda.
We have here the Top 3 singles of Oricon for January 22nd 1979, a day before Ronstadt's cover was released.
I was watching the local news here when the breaking news hit the screen that singer Bonnie Tyler had passed away at the age of 75 today. Apparently since the information came out regarding her death, her 1983 hit "Total Eclipse of the Heart" has been getting a lot of looks. Tyler already has recognition on this blog for that very song and I'd been thinking of using today's ROY slot to give tribute to her 1984 "Holding Out for a Hero", but then, I realized that when I had posted Miki Asakura's（麻倉未稀）cover of the song, I basically treated the article also as a proto-ROY one.
So, I've gone back several years before her really large feathery hair music video days in those 1980s and back to her 1970s days to listen to her "It's a Heartache". Released on November 4th 1977 as her 5th single, this was created by Ronnie Scott and Steve Wolfe and I remember it as this genteel country ballad that got a lot of airplay on AM radio. And strangely enough, I only heard it on radio and never saw the face behind the song. At the time, I wasn't much for remembering names so I was surprised years later that it was indeed Bonnie Tyler who had sung this one although it should have been recognizable because of her famously husky voice.
"It's a Heartache" was a No. 1 hit in several countries including Canada and France. In the United States, it got as high as No. 3 while in the UK, it reached No. 4.
Speaking of her husky voice, that all came about from a surgical procedure earlier to remove some nodules from her vocal cords. "It's a Heartache" was one of her first recordings following that surgery and from what I've read on the article for the song, her "new" voice made the song and most likely her entire career from that point onwards. Of course, I was interested in how Tyler had sounded in her first few singles before surgery so I pulled out her debut single"My! My! Honeycomb" from 1976. To be honest, I find her voice here to be a smoother version without the extra burr.
The Oricon rankings had their weekly report on November 7th 1977. So, what was up at the top of the list? Also, my condolences go out to Tyler's family, friends and fans throughout the world.
The disco/R&B band A Taste of Honey has had residency on KKP since the blog was three weeks old. I was tackling one of the great kayo classics in "Ue wo Muite Arukou"(上を向いて歩こう）, aka "Sukiyaki", when I also mentioned that A Taste of Honey provided their own cover on the song in the early 1980s...which proved to be their second and final hit in their career thus far.
However, as commendable as their elegant cover of the iconic Kyu Sakamoto（坂本九）song was, their first big hit has been the one that has been usually recognized when it comes to A Taste of Honey. The strange thing is that when I first heard their 1978 debut single"Boogie Oogie Oogie", it was through a TV performance of this song by then-teen sibling stars Kristy and Jimmy McNichol on some sort of nighttime special. With the whole mainstream disco craze, the McNichols' popularity at the time, and the novelty song-esque nature of that title, I actually did assume that this was the McNichols' tune, front and centre.
And yes, the above has Kristy and Jimmy, but no, it isn't for "Boogie Oogie Oogie".
So, it was actually many years later that I found out the truth that "Boogie Oogie Oogie" was by A Taste of Honey, and yeah as performed by Janice-Marie Johnson (and Hazel Payne) while slapping that bass hard and wearing those heels, maybe even the folks who were thinking that disco started to suck would have been willing to give a reprieve to this one. Heck, if I had been born a decade earlier, I probably would have been rarin' to run to my nearest disco and hit the dance floor. My dancing would have sucked for sure but I would have had oodles of fun doing so.
"Boogie Oogie Oogie" was not only a hit on the dance floor but also a hit outside of it as well. It hit No. 1 on Billboard's pop, disco and soul charts in September 1978, and according to the Wikipedia article for the song, it also became the first certified Platinum single in the history of Capitol Records by selling over 2 million records. I would probably posit that the chairman's office became a disco dance floor in celebration.
So, we've got one of the primo disco songs coming out in 1978. What else was winning at the Japan Record Awards that year?
As I noted in my previous article, due to Wednesday the 29th being Showa Day in Japan (and thus the official start to Golden Week), NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）devoted a good chunk of its broadcast tonight to some of the Showa Erakayo kyoku which I was plenty grateful about. After all, this is what we're all here for when it comes to this blog.
I recollect that I may have done something in the past to commemorate Showa Day via an Author's Picks but I decided to still go ahead with another try at a list. Initially, I'd thought about bringing over some of a list of most popular Showa Erakaraoke songs but when I realized that most of those songs originated in the years 1985 to 1987, I jettisoned that idea for being a little too centralized, time-wise. Then, after some more thought, I blurted out "Oh, what the heck!". I'll just let my memories pick out one song that immediately comes to mind when I think of a certain decade or period within Showa (1926-1989) and let the chips fall where they may.
The list below only consists of five songs...yes, very inadequate (I've left out City Pop and Group Sounds, for instance) but take this as an opportunity for folks to chime in with their representative kayo choices. Anyways, anything that would seem adequate would probably force me to make a new blog. Plus, Labels would throw a major tantrum at me. Still, allow me to mention the Blue Comets'"Blue Chateau"（ブルー・シャトウ）from 1967 and Miki Matsubara's（松原みき）"Mayonaka no Door"（真夜中のドアー）from 1979.
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!
Interestingly for Reminiscings of Youth this week, this particular ballad had been mentioned years before I even decided to start the ROY series. When I wrote up Saburo Tokito's（時任三郎）"Kawa no Nagare wo Daite Nemuritai"(川の流れを抱いて眠りたい）back in 2012, I noted that it sounded just like Michael Johnson's "Bluer Than Blue".
"Bluer Than Blue" hit the record shelves and radio stations back in April 1978 and it's one of the first songs to stick in my head as perhaps a prelude to my opening up to music in general going into the 1980s. I hadn't heard of Johnson before and I haven't really listened to anything else by him since but "Bluer Than Blue" contains this beautiful combination of gently rolling piano and shimmering strings that frankly entranced the heck out of me any time I heard it at home or in the car. Randy Goodrum was the one who created this quiet masterpiece and perhaps I can thank him for planting the seed to enjoy AOR/soft rock ballads. I didn't really pay much attention to the lyrics but I'm rather glad that I'm putting this one up this week rather than next week which gets really close to Valentine's Day as a man tries and fails to rationalize his new existence without his old love.
As I said, I used to hear this on the radio all the time so I was surprised to realize that there had been a music video. In fact, this wasthe eighteenth videoplayed on MTV on its opening day of August 1st 1981. Wow! I know it was the debut day but I hadn't even thought that a video of a 1970s AOR tune would ever appear on the music channel. In Canada, "Bluer Than Blue" hit No. 6 while in the United States, it reached No. 12.
Well, let's see. What was up at the top of the charts on April 3rd 1978?
Since going into the 21st century, NHK's Kohaku Utagassen has undergone a number of key changes in its format, but one thing that has been retained is everyone's singing of "Auld Lang Syne" or as it is known in Japanese, "Hotaru no Hikari" (蛍の光）. The orchestra goes into its rendition at the end of the broadcast with a brief glimpse of the man who's conducting them. In the past, that has been singerIchiro Fujiyama（藤山一郎）and singer-songwriterMasaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃）. For the past several years, though, it's been singer-songwriter Shunichi Tokura.
Well, since it's been several months since I've written up a Creator article (the last one was for Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロー）back last August), I've decided to whip one up tonight for one of the more prolific songwriters. Tokura has come up with some of the biggest hits in the late kayo kyoku period including those for some of the most famous aidoru of the 1970s: Pink Lady and Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）.
Born in Tokyo in June 1948, Tokura got into music pretty early in life by picking up the violin at the age of 4. His father was a diplomat so for several years, their family was living in West Germany where he started studying the basics of music. Returning to Japan at the age of 12, some of his junior high school classmates included future officials in government and business. He then returned to Germany for high school (where he joined a band called The Beat Cats) before making his way back to his home country.
During his sophomore year in university, Tokura became the vocalist for the folk group The Panic Men which came out with a 1968 single called "Omoide no Komichi"（思い出の小径...Path of Memories）. This was also the time when he took up his future career as a composer and one of his first creations was Chinatsu Nakayama's（中山千夏）"Anata no Kokoro ni" (あなたの心に) in 1969.
A few years later in 1971, Tokura would compose "Tenshi ni Narenai"（天使になれない...Can't Be An Angel） with lyrics by Yu Aku（阿久悠）, a heartfelt 8th single for Akiko Wada（和田アキ子）that became her first Top 10 hit, coming in at No. 8. It was also Wada's ticket for her 2nd appearance on the Kohaku Utagassen that year.
Tokura currently has 60 articles, not including this one but including one which shows his own solo song "I'm Just a Man". I was pretty surprised and happy to get his name on the byline as a performer. But let's show some of the ones that he has composed for other big-time acts. Along with other composers such as Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, there is a bit of a "He made that one?!" buzz around Tokura.
Along with his many accolades over the decades, he was the JASRAC chairman and currently Tokura is the Commissioner of the Agency for Cultural Affairs. Not bad for a guy who once whipped up a melody about an alien-human love affair.
Welcome to the regular weekly Reminiscings of Youth session where I post about songs that I used to hear in my youth (toddlerhood, young adulthood). This time around, I'm also including this one since it's been reported that the late great Donna Summer (who had passed away in 2012) was just inducted into The Songwriters' Hall of Fame.
It's kinda too bad that the only trailers I could find of the movie "Thank God It's Friday" from 1978 are pretty darn murky, but I guess that they reflect how dark the interior of the discos were back in the day, aside from the blinding lights. As a kid, I barely remember that there was a movie with that title during the Age of Disco. I had no idea that it had starred Jeff Goldblum, Debra Winger (her first appearance in a motion picture) and Terri Nunn who would become the lead singer of the 80s New Wave band Berlin. Last but not least, it also had Summer with a pretty meaty role.
Ah, someone turned on the lights a bit more. Thank you! And on a great song, too, as Summer let loose a disco classic in the movie "Last Dance". I heard "Last Dance" here and there over the years through the radio and TV and more recently via YouTube. Nope, never danced to it which for sighted people was just as well. I think the Torch Lady (the Columbia Pictures logo) in the movie cut up the rug a whole lot better than I ever could.
Created by Paul Jabara, "Last Dance" was released in July 1978, some weeks following the release of the movie. It starts off with a ballad-like opening before the gates open and the joy of disco floods the floor. For those of a certain age, the song has probably evoked some good-time memories. It hit No. 10 on Canada's RPM and then No. 3 on America's Billboard. It won the Oscar for Best Original Song and a Grammy for Best R&B Song for Jabara and then a Grammy for Summer for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Female.
Just a day after the release of "Last Dance", Oricon put up its weekly single rankings. Here are Nos. 1-3.
I'm providing this week's Reminiscings of Youth under false pretenses since this song by Steely Dan, unlike "Peg" and "Time Out of Mind", isn't something from my youth. I never heard this on the radio while I was growing up although I was certainly alive at the time of its release in 1978. In fact, I didn't hear it for the first time until I was well within my odyssey in Japan between 1994 and 2011 when I picked up that Steely Dan BEST compilation.
As well, I had never seen nor heard of the April 1978 film "FM" with its eclectic cast which included two stars from Mel Brooks' classic "Blazing Saddles": Alex Karras and Cleavon Little. It wasn't particularly well reviewed but looking at the trailer, I'd be interested in taking a gander at it.
However, it's the theme song by Steely Dan, "FM (No Static at All)", that has managed to grab me by the wide lapels of my leisure suit of the 1970s. But I'm a huge Steely Dan fan so that's no surprise. What's also no surprise is that Wikipedia has provided a rather lengthy article on the song itself so please peruse that for that analysis that I could never create.
For me, "FM" is this heady combination of jazz, rock, R&B and romantic sophisticated pop that hits all the right places. The first three genres drive me on the nocturnal and perhaps not-so-safe streets of the metropolis while the final genre manages to lift me up into the clouds and penthouses thanks to those really silky strings. And once again, it seems as if Donald Fagen and Walter Becker managed to attract some of the best of the best in studio musicians and jazz greats such as drummer Jeff Porcaro of TOTO and saxophonist Pete Christlieb. Plus, I only found out recently that some of The Eagles had helped out as background singers. The contrasts and comparisons even extend into the relationship between the song and the movie with the lyrics condemning FM radio while the John A. Alonzo project wants to save it. As a kid who only really knew about AM radio at the time, this whole argument was lost on me. But I'll be more than happy to take "FM" for my own now. I'd also say that this would be one song that I'd play on my own radio broadcast that I mentioned some months ago.
"FM" the single was released on May 19, 1978. A few days prior, there was the Oricon Top 10 list for May 15. Let's see what was up at Nos. 1, 3 and 5.
I have mentioned Gloria Gaynor and her definitive "I Will Survive" for one of the regular articles somewhere in KKP but I can't remember which one. However, this time, the song is getting the ROY treatment.
Released on October 23rd 1978, and yep, it is a total coincidence that I'm putting up this disco classic on its 47th anniversary today, I used to first hear this as a track being touted on one of those disco LP compilations that I saw on television all the time. And the first time I heard it in its entirety, it wasn't by Gaynor herself but actress Marilu Henner from the "Taxi" comedy series when she performed it on some TV special. In fact, I have to say that last night was the first time I got to see the entire music video with Gaynor and roller-skating dancers.
It was also interesting to find out that "I Will Survive" is the culmination of folks truly getting over some bad stuff in their lives. For example, according to the Wikipedia article for the song, co-songwriter Dino Fekaris came up with the song after having been suddenly fired from Motown Records following steady work there for many years. Gaynor herself recorded "I Will Survive" while wearing a back brace due to an injury on stage and having gone through the loss of a loved one. This is truly the anthem for defiance and overcoming adversity.
"I Will Survive" managed to reach No. 3 on Canada's RPM and No. 1 on America's Billboard chart where it kept popping up over non-consecutive weeks. Also, coincidentally enough, I managed to find the Top 10 Oricon chart for October 23rd 1978. What was up in the Top 3?
Welcome to another Holiday edition of Reminiscings of Youth.
Of course, being the long weekend, our entire family got together for dinner. No Thanksgiving turkey for 2025...we opted for sushi instead and after coming back to our place for rest and dessert, I noticed that my niece had a book on the coffee table which looked rather old and ornate. I didn't see the title on the cover so I asked her what she was reading.
Well, she answered "Wuthering Heights" from 1847. And I was rather surprised and impressed. I'm not sure whether the Emily Bronte classic was ever considered mandatory reading in high schools; it wasn't in mine but I did hear of the novel and its many adaptations for the big screen and small over the decades. Mind you, the only name I remember from the story is Heathcliff. Plus, my imagination whenever I hear the title is of two lovers from a century and a half ago in full embrace on a windy grassy plain on top of a cliff while a storm is surrounding them. I gather that the weather was really reaching the heights of wuthering at the time.
The above is the 1967 BBC adaptation of "Wuthering Heights" starring a very young Ian McShane. Wow! The earliest I remember the future manager of that hotel with assassins galore was that rather tragic episode of "Space: 1999" in the early 1970s.
Well, according to the relevant Wikipedia article, that 1967 adaptation inspired one young teenager in the UK and quickly wrote a song about it. She also decided to read the original novel and discovered that she even shared a birthday with Bronte. The lass was Kate Bush and so impressed she was with "Wuthering Heights" that she simply had to call what would be her classic song, "Wuthering Heights".
Released in January 1978 as her debut song,"Wuthering Heights" wasn't the first song by Bush that I had ever heard. There was a weird music video that I saw many years later (can't even remember the title or the song) with her and a bunch of costumed characters in a slow mass dance which would be my introduction to the ethereal and beautiful singer. However, listening to "Wuthering Heights" and seeing the two music videos attached to it, I can say that it is the Kate Bushiest Kate Bush song that I've ever encountered and that's even after coming across "Babooshka".
In both videos, she appears as this ghostly sprite on a performance art binge while this gentle art pop melody rolls away and her vocals soar above in the heavens in a way that I would describe as either godly or witch-ly. If I were to make any comparisons between her and Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）, it's always through "Wuthering Heights".
The song hit No. 1 in her native UK and even spent four weeks up at the top. Australia, Ireland, Italy, New Zealand, and Portugal also gave "Wuthering Heights" their No. 1 ranking. Strangely enough, in Japan where the single was known as "Arashigaoka"（嵐が丘）, the song was known as the theme for an NTV late-night Saturday variety program "Koi no Karasawagi" (恋のから騒ぎ...Much Ado About Love).
So, just a few days before the release of "Wuthering Heights", what Oricon songs were also at the height of the chart?
I had another song (album, actually) ready to go for this week's Reminiscings of Youth but on hearing about Supertramp's Rick Davies passing away on September 6th, I decided to devote a ROY in his memory. The band's music was indeed part of my experience growing up.
As I mentioned in my first ROY for Supertramp, the band's music was something that I heard a lot on the AM radio from the late 1970s going into the 1980s starting with "The Logical Song". Moreover, it was there that I got the impression that the band was a pretty happy-go-lucky pop group from the UK, not knowing that they had started all the way back in the early 1970s presenting a mixture of pop and progressive rock.
Little did I know that a particular excerpt from one of their prog rock/pop creations from the late 1970s would be used for one of the better known shows on CTV. "W5" has been a news analysis show that's been around for decades and for a time, their theme used this excerpt, and as a result, I thought that "W5" had one of the coolest theme songs around. Usually when I thought about newsmagazine shows, sounds of typewriters or stopwatches came into my head...not something synthy that made the reporters look like intrepid counterspies on their own adventures.
It was only in the last couple of years that I realized that at around the 3-minute mark of "Fool's Overture", the final track from Supertramp's April 1977 album "Even in the Quietest Moments...", that "W5" theme plays like a boss; something mysterious and catchy before breaking into major chord resolution. As for why it took me so long to realize this, well, songs like "The Logical Song" are short enough to be played happily on AM radio which I was listening to as a kid. FM radio didn't touch my ears until I was in my senior years of high school and even then, I didn't listen to CFNY or Q107, the only FM stations in Toronto that would play something like the 11-minute "Fool's Overture" in its entirety. I have to say though that for Roger Hodsgon's overture for a fool, the piece does sound rather cool. Now, having heard it a few times, I'd probably point to this song if someone asked me to identify a prog pop/rock tune.
April 8th 1977 was the release date for "Even in the Quietest Moments...", so what was up in the Top 10 of Oricon a few days later on April 11th? I give you Nos. 1, 4 and 5.
I figure that with me seeing the new "Superman" last week and then "Fantastic Four" coming out in the next several hours, I should bring this particular work onto KKP as a ROY entry.
As I have probably mentioned in the past, "Superman II" was the first in the franchise that I caught in 1981. It certainly started with a bang with the most epic Reader's Digest version of an opening credits montage sequence reviewing the first movie that I had ever seen. I never caught the first "Superman" in 1978 on the big screen due to various reasons including the fact that my family was never all that much of a moviegoing family.
Along with the first "Back to the Future", that was one of my big regrets: not catching "Superman" at the theatre. The Christopher Reeve part of the franchise may have gradually ended up going over a cliff but that first movie for the most part was a magical experience. After having seen "Superman II"five times at the theatre (I really did love those credits and the final battle between Supes and General Zod), I finally got to see the original "Superman" on CTV separated into two parts over one weekend, and when I saw those soaring jaw-dropping opening credits (including the Superman logo) with John Williams handling the iconic theme, I realized I missed out on something special, especially with the intro by that kid at the beginning.
The weird thing is that the first time I had ever heard of Williams'"Superman" theme in its entirety, it wasn't on anything connected with the movie but on an episode of "Battle of the Network Stars" which involved television celebrities from various shows competing with each other through events including obstacle courses. The director apparently decided to bring in the theme, and at first, I wasn't all that impressed because I thought it just sounded as if Williams had opted to copy "Star Wars" and its amazing overture.
But of course, the pure epicness of "Superman" with its mashing of the fanfare (that rises to Sousa levels by the end), the march and the love theme into one big overture finally won me over and it got me to buy the original soundtrack whose cover you see at the top. And at this point, among all of those amazing Williams soundtrack themes including those for "Star Wars" and "Jaws", I have to say that the "Superman" theme is my favourite, and I had expressed a bit of disappointment even when the composers for the new "Superman" score brought in just that tiny smidgen of Williams' work although I realize that the original theme was for Reeves and that John Murphy and David Fleming had the prerogative to bring in something new to musically reflect the new Man of Steel.
But with John Williams'"Superman", I could believe that a superhero theme could truly fly!
As crazy as this may sound, "Superman" in 1978 wasn't a summer blockbuster, it was a Christmas one. Released on December 15th in the United States, that must have been some present for superhero fans, and it could explain why the version of the love theme used during the Kal-El-and-Lois flying sequence sounded so Yuletide. In any case, what was up at the top of the charts in Japan a few days later on the 18th?
As is the case in English, the Japanese language is chock-filled with portmanteaus. There is kopipe（コピペ）for "copy-and-paste" and the now-extinct pokeberu（ポケベル）which used to represent the pre-cellphone technology of a pocket bell or as it was properly called, the pager. This morning, I learned a new Japanese portmanteau via NHK: supepa（スぺパ）which stands for space performance...along the same lines as cost performance. Basically, it's the economization and more efficient use of limited space in the big cities of Japan due to the lack of it in houses and apartments. The above video by the YouTube channel "Never Too Small" gives a fine example.
The video is actually a couple of years old and I don't think the concept of supepa is a new one since cities like Tokyo have always had a battle within for space for domiciles. Plus, a few years ago, I used to subscribe to a Japanese YouTube channel which focused on the more unusual residences for rent within the nation, so I used to see my fair share of supepa places. By the way, supepa can also extend to the furnishings and appliances that could go into such a residence. I used to have a rather cute and petite fridge for my own Ichikawa 2K apartment although in comparison to some of these supepa apartments, my abode was absolutely massive.
Anyways, being a perverted fan of the terrible pun in both English and Japanese, I would have taken this opportunity to segue masterfully to the Pink Lady hit "Pepper Keibu"(ペッパー・警部) by referring to a supepa advisor as a "supepa keibu", but I will save you from that monstrosity because I had already written about "Pepper Keibu" all the way back in May 2012. In fact, it was the second Pink Lady KKP article that I posted.
However, I can go on ahead with the B-side to this No. 4-ranking success for Mie and Kei, "Kanpai! Ojou-san" (Here's To You, My Lady!). Created by the same duo behind "Pepper Keibu", lyricist Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composer Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）, the melody and arrangement have that very familiar Pink Lady disco aidorusheen but Aku's lyrics are notable in that they actually treat the autumn as the perfect opportunity for love to bloom and continue forth. Usually in the kayo kyoku realm, the fall is the time for love to fall and break into a thousand pieces, but apparently such isn't the case in the Pink Lady universe. Good for them!
A snow day has been declared for the Toronto area after getting the heaviest snowstorm in a couple of years. So I figure that the kids are either gleefully sleeping in or hitting the hills with their sleds. In addition, it is Valentine's Eve rather than Valentine's Day and I had already been planning to put this Reminiscings of Youth chestnut up even without the Valentine's Day reference, but the timing couldn't have been better regardless.
Last summer, I finally got around to welcome the late singer Nicolette Larson onto the pages of "Kayo Kyoku Plus". A number of her songs were recurring tunes on AM radio here in Canada and at one point, I thought that she was actually as Canadian as maple syrup, only to find out many years later that she hailed from the state of Montana in the United States. One of those songs of hers was the cool and urban "Lotta Love" which was created by Neil Young.
Another song that hailed from her September 1978 debut album "Nicolette" was "French Waltz" which is about as different as can be from "Lotta Love". One reason that I had assumed that Larson was Canadian was the fact that she sang some of the song in French and that there was something rather Canadian and folksy about it. If it had been written and composed in Japan, I would have immediately pegged it as a Fashion Music tune. Anyways, "French Waltz" was another popular song on the AM airwaves for years and even before "Lotta Love", the song had become a favourite of mine to listen to and remember the old days by.
Interestingly enough, "French Waltz" had been created by Adam Mitchell. He had been born in Scotland but ended up in Toronto along with the rest of his family as a teenager, and it looks like at least the earlier years of his music career were spent in the Toronto area, so perhaps the Canadiana did seep into "French Waltz" after all.
As with "Lotta Love" as a ROY topic, I'm going to hit the September 29th issue of the Oricon charts to delve into what was popular at around the same time that "Nicolette" had come out. But I've already done the Top 3 there so let's go with the bottom three of that Top 20 chart.
In last week's ROY article, I gave tribute to Teri Garr, the offbeat comic actress who had been in movies such as "Young Frankenstein" and "Tootsie". I'd also been aware that a singer passed away back on October 23rd and this morning, I discovered that one of America's greatest record producers and composers had left this mortal coil yesterday. The coincidence here is that both men had the same last name.
A few decades before our own family would partake in a few cruises ourselves, we used to watch ABC's "The Love Boat", an hour-long comedy-drama involving the cast and passengers aboard the Pacific Princess and any romantic hijinks which ensued. Every week, we would see a fairly long lineup of entertainers from old and new Hollywood make their way onto the Lido Deck.
There had been the first couple of made-for-TV movies before the series began its nine-season run from September 1977. Of course, when it became a regular weekly series, a theme song was needed and so Charles Fox and Paul Williams came up with this frothy, adventurous and optimistic song called "Love Boat", to be sung by pop and jazz singer Jack Jones whose career started in the late 1950s.
Jones will always be tied to the "Love Boat" theme for most people. Although the show started in the fall of 1977, the single version of the song wasn't released until 1979. If anything, this single version goes even more disco with that wacka-wacka guitar (I can see Isaac the bartender hitting the floor hard now). There have apparently been many covers of the song over the years, but for me, it'll always be Jones inviting listeners to come aboard. He may have even performed the song on a real cruise liner.
As I mentioned above, a lot of stars passed through the Pacific Princess, including one very young Tom Hanks. The other man in the scene, purser Gopher Smith was played by Fred Grandy who would gain further stature by becoming a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Iowa. My condolences to Jones' family, friends and fans.
So, when "Love Boat" hit TV screens in September 1977, what was hitting the Top 3 on September 26th that year?
Happy Thanksgiving, Canada! We've already had our turkey but I hope that many of you will enjoy yours tonight. Since it is a national holiday, as KKP custom would dictate, we will have a special Holiday edition of Reminiscings of Youth to start our broadcast day.
Ronstadt on the cover of "Cash Box" (1976) from Asylum via Wikimedia Commons
Linda Ronstadt has actually been on the pages of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for about nine years, but strangely enough, it wasn't through a ROY article (it was several years before that series would start up). I had been writing an article on "Kokoro no Honoo"（こころの炎）, Akiko Kobayashi's（小林明子）cover of Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram's "Somewhere Out There", the theme song for "An American Tail" in 1986. Of course, I had to include the original.
Therefore, technically speaking, this is Ronstadt's first (but definitely not last) foray into a ROY article. "It's So Easy", coincidentally enough, was also covered by Kobayashi on one of her live albums, and I'd heard this cheerful and happy-go-lucky rock (with a bit of country) song a number of times during my childhood and adolescence...not just through Ronstadt but also through its use in commercials.
"It's So Easy" was released in September 1977 as a single and as a track on her album "Simple Dreams". The single hit No. 5 on America's Billboard chart and No. 9 on Canada's RPM. Once again, as a running theme on ROY, "It's So Easy" has surprised me in that Ronstadt wasn't the original recording artist behind it.
That honour goes to the one-and-only Buddy Holly when he was with The Crickets. Coming with an exclamation mark, "It's So Easy!"was released back in September 1958 with Holly and Norman Petty as songwriters. Unfortunately, it didn't chart.
So, what were hitting the Oricon charts on September 19th 1977, just a day before one of Ronstadt's most famous songs hit the shelves? Here are No. 1, No. 2 and No. 4.
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