The Works of Fumiko Okada（岡田富美子）

 

I never expected to see her name up on television but recently I saw that veteran lyricist Fumiko Okada had received some sort of award for her decades of work via an NHK report. From that, I thought that it would be time to post a Creator article regarding her.

But first a bit of background from her J-Wiki file, Okada hails from Hiroshima Prefecture. When she gradated from university, her parents pressed her to get a job at television broadcaster TBS working as a timekeeper for music programs. However, knowing herself as someone who never really enjoyed the rigors of an average job or career, she was pretty miserable. Also, she developed insomnia but one night, she gained the urge to write poetry and found out that the words flowed out of her surprisingly easily. Then one day, after amassing her poems into a collection and having some faint interest in becoming a songwriter, she was noticed by the manager of a famous arranger at work. Noting how unenthused young Okada looked, he asked her what she really wanted to do for which she replied "I want to become a lyricist". A mere few days later, that manager suggested Okada to a record company as a rookie lyricist. At least, one song with her lyrics got into a music festival and that apparently was all she needed to write...literally. She started getting requests for her words, something that has been continuing for her for close to 55 years.

(1972) Young 101 -- Kaiju no Ballad（怪獣のバラード）

In a desert where the blood-red sun set

A great big monster lived there in peace

One morning when he woke up, he heard a bell from a caravan off in the distance

He suddenly screamed out

I wanna see the ocean! I wanna love people! Monsters have hearts, too, you know!

Let's leave the desert behind and head to where love and the ocean reside

Although I didn't note this in the original KKP article for "Kaiju no Ballad", this was apparently Okada's first work as a professional lyricist. 

(1981) Ruiko Kurahashi -- Glass no Yesterday （ガラスのYesterday)

Yesterday

I danced all night with you

Yesterday, although we can never meet again

We said "See you later" and parted

You're the one who embraced me while saying

I can't love you on mere kindness

Whenever Okada's name is mentioned, I will always first remember Fashion Music specialist Ruiko Kurahashi's（倉橋ルイ子）songs since the lyricist provided a number of her works to her. 

(1986) Shibugakitai -- Sushi Kui ne! （スシ食いねェ！）

This is the No. 1 sushi restaurant in Japan

Gotta eat sushi! Gotta eat sushi! Gotta eat sushi!

Green tea! Green tea! Green tea! Pickled ginger! Picked ginger! Pickled ginger!

In contrast with the elegance of Kurahashi's signature song, the raucous "Sushi kui ne!" comes under the catchphrase of "Okada wrote this one?!". She must love her sushi.

(1987) Kiyomi Suzuki with Rats & Star -- Lonely Chaplin (ロンリー・チャプリン）

Lonely Chaplin

Time passes...and even if you fade away

I will always wait for you

Smile like the little boy you are

You want to come home

Into my arms, don't you?

As long as your dreams are unfulfilled

Oh, do what you wanna do again

Oh, do what you wanna do again

Man, didn't know that Chaplin was that lucky a guy!

(1979) Asami Kado -- Fascination (ファッシネイション）

I love you. Stop it because you make me feel so helpless

Stop it if you're only going to kiss me once

I love you. I got myself all psyched up

I hate you stalling for time

Nothing like pouty coquettishness to spice up a relationship!

Martha and The Muffins -- Echo Beach

Daeva Trac via Wikimedia Commons

 

Welcome to another Reminiscings of Youth for this Thursday. There were times when I was frankly in a dead-end job and often reminisced during the drudgery about an old place where I used to know friends and had fun. For me, that hallowed place was the International Student Centre in Cumberland House at the University of Toronto. It's apparently now known as the Centre for International Experience. Having worked there as well as played there, a lot of the university clubs reserved rooms for activities and for a long while, the Japanese-Canadian Students' Association had an office on the third floor. 

For songwriter and member of the Toronto New Wave band Martha and The Muffins, Mark Gane when he endured his own job from Hell, his hallowed place was Sunnyside Beach along Lake Ontario in our common hometown. And from that came the idea for "Echo Beach" which was released in February 1980. I didn't know about the significance of the lyrics back then but I remember the song as one of the first ones made in Canada that I actually got hooked on when I finally discovered the joys of pop music. The source album "Metro Music" which was also released in February that year has a map of lakeside Toronto with Sunnyside Beach in there somewhere.

I'm not sure anymore but I had assumed that there were two music videos for "Echo Beach", one was of Martha and The Muffins playing on stage (which is above) and a conceptual one where the band members were strangely doing calisthenics in a park late at night somewhere (Sunnyside Beach, perhaps?). Perhaps I'm hallucinating, though. Regardless, although the band enjoyed success in Canada with a lot of their other singles, "Echo Beach" was probably the only single that had any significant fame outside of the country. It scored No. 5 on Canada's RPM and No. 37 on Billboard's Hot Disco (!) singles chart in the USA. It also went Gold in the Great White North and won a Juno for Single of the Year. Martha and The Muffins is also represented through another ROY article on "Black Stations/White Stations".

So, what was also coming out in February 1980 in the record stores in Japan?

Yoshimi Iwasaki -- Aka to Kuro（赤と黒）

Masashi Sada -- Doukeshi no Sonnet（道化師のソネット）

The Chanels -- Runaway

Naked Eyes -- Promises, Promises

 

A little over three years ago, I did a ROY article on Naked Eyes' "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" which was a New Wave version of an old Burt Bacharach and Hal David easy-listening ditty that I used to hear on AM radio all the time. Not only was I surprised but I was actually quite gobsmacked that a song like this could be made into a synthpop example of coolness.

Well, Naked Eyes pulled off another hit several months after that one. On April Fool's Day in 1983, they released "Promises, Promises" which I remember getting a lot of airplay on the radio and plenty of TV play on the music video shows. I will always remember that svelte young woman drying off her hair to the synthy jazz-soul. "Promises, Promises" hit No. 13 on Canada's RPM while in the States, it reached No. 11. On the Wikipedia article for the song, I read that Madonna even provided background vocals for the extended versions of it.

Up at Straw-Wara, I discovered that three hit tunes from Japan were also released on the same day as "Promises, Promises".

Anzen Chitai -- Las Vegas Typhoon（ラスベガス・タイフーン）

Yu Hayami -- Natsu Iro no Nancy (夏色のナンシー）

Rats & Star -- Me Gumi no Hito （め組のひと）

The Eyes Have It!

 

Aliens vs. Anime? I figure that could be one of the last frontiers that the 46-year-old sci-fi-horror franchise could visit. By the way, the photo above was taken in Nakano Broadway.

In any case, the latest in the "Alien" franchise is "Alien: Earth" and in the months and weeks approaching its arrival on screens, we've been getting tidbits about the terrifying yet fascinating new predators going on the attack. Perhaps the one big monster is T. Ocellus that is 50% octopus, 50% eyeball and 100% nightmare. It literally bursts out in its debut as you can see above (or perhaps you don't want to, especially if you love cats).

Well, considering that it's Hump Day today and I want to gently scrub my brain of any of T. Ocellus' work, I'm going with another whimsical Author's Picks consisting of songs that have "eyes" in the title. It'll be a short list today.

(1982) Tatsuro Yamashita -- Your Eyes

(1983) Rats & Star -- Me Gumi no Hito （め組のひと）

(1985) Anzen Chitai -- Aoi Hitomi no Elise（碧い瞳のエリス）

Only Japan could make a comedic commercial involving a Xenomorph. Maybe it could do the same for T. Ocellus. A contract with Kirin perhaps?

Mission: Impossible 1996

 

Well, I'm only putting up one article tonight since I'm getting at this rather late in the day. And that's because earlier today, I caught the latest "Mission: Impossible" movie, "The Final Reckoning" with a good friend. I'd heard that it got somewhat mixed reviews from critics and viewers but when I saw it, I thought it was better than I'd assumed although there were at least a couple of handwaves at physics and physiology to show that Ethan Hunt would have been an Avenger in the Marvel Universe. Still, it had a style and tone that distinguished it from the last few entries as much as those entries were quite different from the very first movie in 1996. To be honest, I thought "The Final Reckoning" probably had more in common with a cinematic adaptation of a Tom Clancy novel.

Is it the best IMF movie? Uh, nope, but it isn't the worst either. And maybe Tom Cruise is going to hand in his IMF ID for the final time but money and ambition will probably have the series coming up again at least once more with a new leader. 

Well, now, I did do a ROY article a few years ago on the famous theme song for "Mission: Impossible" and I also gave my opinions on the original TV series and the movie that started the film franchise. Therefore, I'll just cut to the chase and provide three of the Japanese pop songs that were in the Oricon list around the time that the very first movie premiered on May 22nd 1996. I'll give you Nos. 11, 12 and 13 from May 20th.

11. Namie Amuro -- Don't Wanna Cry

12. Tomomi Kahala -- I'm Proud

13. Rats & Star -- Yume de Aetara （夢で逢えたら）

Oh, Those Camellia Diamonds CM Songs（カメリアダイアモンド）

 

Back in the 2010s, I noted through a couple of articles that there was that series of Parliament Cigarette commercials that popped up late at night. Those were famous for showing off some classy scenes of the high life, a lot of it based in Manhattan where the beautiful people were having the time of their lives at some swanky soiree. Meanwhile, the songs used in the ads were of the Quiet Storm variety: soulful love ballads featuring folks such as Bobby Caldwell and Carl Anderson, both of whom have sadly left this mortal coil. They didn't get me to take up smoking (thankfully), but I still appreciated the commercials for their dreams of the good life.

Well, there has been another series of cool and classy commercials for Camellia Diamonds in Japan over the years, and the thing about these ads is that they have pointedly featured supermodels and female celebrities varying from Lea Thompson to Sharon Stone. The above one is showing off Canada's own Linda Evangelista to the stirring voice of Kahoku Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）. And speaking of that singer, unlike Parliament's use of American singers, Camellia was more than happy to employ Japanese singers and bands with their high-energy goods. You can take a look at the long history of those ads below, thanks to YouTuber pstexe.

So, I've opted to start off this KKP business week with some of my own choices of Camellia Diamonds commercial tunes that I've enjoyed. I hope you do, too.

(1990) Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- Moving Action

(1989) Masayuki Suzuki -- Wakare no Machi (別れの街）

(1993) Keizo Nakanishi -- You And I

(1984) Mariko Takahashi -- Momo Iro Toiki （桃色吐息）

(1987) Kiyomi Suzuki with Rats & Star -- Lonely Chaplin (ロンリー・チャプリン）

I've also put up another Camellia Diamonds song in its own article. Check out Ryoko Moriyama's（森山良子） "Navigation".

Just for Fun...The J-C AI Gallery -- Kiyomi, Ruiko & Mieko

 

Kiyomi Suzuki with Rats & Star -- Lonely Chaplin (ロンリー・チャプリン）

Ruiko Kurahashi -- Last Scene ni Ai wo Komete （ラストシーンに愛をこめて）

Mieko Nishijima -- Gin Lime （ジンライム）

Eiichi Ohtaki -- Christmas Ondo（クリスマス音頭）

 

Yes, I do realize that Christmas ended two weeks ago today but I really couldn't let this one song go, especially I would have to wait another eleven months to activate this one.

To be honest, I only discovered this Xmas oddity a few days after December 25th. The late singer-songwriter Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）showed off his humourous side once more with "Christmas Ondo" (Christmas Folk Song). It was placed suitably as the penultimate track on his Xmas Day-release 1977 concept album "Niagara Calendar". Inspired by Julie London's 1956 "Calendar Girl", Ohtaki's tracks follow along the theme of a calendar from New Year's to New Year's.

"Christmas Ondo" is a fun mélange of Xmas music and Japanese festival melody that includes excerpts from "Silent Night", "White Christmas" and "Jingle Bells". It makes me wonder whether some enterprising folks in Japan ever came up with a Christmas matsuri somewhere in the years since. One bit of trivia that I got from the J-Wiki article on "Niagara Calendar" was that Ohtaki had begged Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）to include and arrange a string section. Tats wasn't too keen on the necessity but Ohtaki insisted and somehow the deed got done.

Interestingly enough, Ohtaki got together with vocal group Chanels (before they became known as Rats and Star) at a Christmas Day 1979 concert and did their version of "Christmas Ondo". Methinks the guys had generous helpings of spiked egg nog to get them through it.

Paul McCartney -- Coming Up

 

Well, after about a year of waiting and occasional updates, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift and her Eras Tour along with a ton of Swifties have descended upon Toronto like an army of Valkyries. She's here for six concerts over the next couple of weeks and Performance No. 1 is tonight. It should be interesting to see how things go with the downtown core pretty much sealed tight for her and security.

I'm not particularly a Swift fan myself although "Shake It Off" and "You Need to Calm Down" are catchy and fun. However, I've read that one of Swift's inspirations has been Sir Paul McCartney. Of course, since the Beatles broke up, Sir Paul hasn't exactly retired from the music business, going full bore with his own band Wings and then his solo work. 

As you all know, my full dive into pop music on either side of the Pacific began around the late 1970s and early 1980s, coincidentally when music videos became this fresh new thing to express songs. One of the first videos that caught my eyes and ears was McCartney's "Coming Up" which was released as a single in April 1980. The funk is there and the affected delivery by the man himself has always had me thinking New Wave. It's all very uptempo and amiably quirky but it was the music video that really grabbed me.

I'd assumed that Wings and a few other studio musicians were behind the former Beatle but as it turned out, it was mostly different versions of him playing and dancing about (his late wife Linda was playing the two backup singers) including a Buddy Holly version, a Sparks' Ron Mael version and even his 1963 persona. I had even thought that his wild drummer version was a riff off of The Muppets' Animal, but actually it was John Bonham of Led Zeppelin. It was quite the stunning presentation. There was a part of me that believed that Swift's video for "Shake It Off" was a spiritual cousin for the "Coming Up" video but Wikipedia let me know that the inspirations for that one were actually Audrey Hepburn, Daft Punk and Toni Basil.

"Coming Up" made it to the top spot on both the Canadian and American charts while it hit No. 2 in McCartney's native UK. Now, what was hitting the top of the Oricon charts at around the same time of the song's release?

1. Kaientai -- Okuru Kotoba (贈る言葉）

2. The Chanels -- Runaway

3. Mariya Takeuchi -- Fushigi na Peach Pie （不思議なピーチ・パイ）

Uta Con: October 1st 2024 ~ Sunakku Songs（スナックソング）

 

During my years at the University of Toronto as I was majoring in Japanese Studies, through my digestion of a lot of books on Japanese culture, I read that the society had something called a "bar culture". Not only can the usual drinking and light noshing be done in drinking establishments, but business negotiations, airing of work grievances and testing out of vocal cords can also be accomplished (mind you, I think the same things happen in my country, too).

I know that drinking establishments in Japan can come in a variety of sizes and forms. Of course, there are the Western-style bars up in the hotels with the tuxedo-garbed bartender shaking up cocktails. Then there are the more financially accessible chains of izakaya with plenty of space, libations and dishes. For an English conversation teacher like me on a budget, the izakaya was by far the watering hole that I frequented the most in the country, although I was never much of a drinker. 

On the other hand, the Japanese snack bar, or sunakku（スナック）as they say it over there, is a place that I very barely entered although there were those significantly rare times that I managed to squeeze into one due to friends taking me there. A sunakku is indeed a very cozy place with limited seating and it's usually run by a woman known as the Mama or Mama-san. There is the usual supply of alcohol to wet one's whistle and some light snacks only. One big reason that I rarely went into a sunakku is that it's basically the neighbourhood meeting place for the regulars...kinda like a mini-Cheers, if you remember that American 80s sitcom. Probably depending on the night, which can go really long depending on the energy levels of all those involved, there are dedicated regulars coming in and mixing throughout the week singing karaoke and knocking them back. Maybe there is even that one nightly barfly who gets "NORM!" yelled at him in greeting.

Anyways, a couple of days ago, NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）was televising its usual episode but this time around, the theme of the episode was something that I hadn't heard before: favourite sunakku karaoke songs. According to what I heard, apparently the current demographic frequenting the little bars may mostly be in their 40s. I'm not sure if I even heard any enka (have a look at a past article on what folks in their 60s have enjoyed singing). Regardless, here are three from the "Uta Con" list.

Kiyomi Suzuki with Rats & Star -- Lonely Chaplin (ロンリー・チャプリン）

Sharam Q -- Single Bed（シングルベッド）

Yasushi Nakanishi -- Saigo no Ame （最後の雨）

Freeez -- I.O.U./Southern Freeez

 

Back in the (relatively) innocent 1980s, the afternoon segment of the TV spectrum here in Toronto was often filled with different music video shows. There was one such show on MTV...and no, I'm not referring to the famous music channel in the United States but the multicultural local one here, and for some reason, it semi-specialized in some of the more obscure acts and if the host liked them, they got heavy rotation. 

I don't recall seeing the group Freeez on any of the other shows but for the MTV program, it was pretty much a semi-regular and that was through its June 1983 single "I.O.U.". How many times did I see all that New York hip-hop culture being played out by the kids in the schoolyard in the video? Ironically, "I.O.U" was more of an electro-funk song by this duo who actually came from the UK rather than the US but it did make its mark on several world music charts. It did rather modestly in Canada, only hitting No. 38 here while in America, it reached No. 1 on Billboard's Dance/Disco chart. It also hit the top spot in Iceland (I guess when the band is called Freeez...😅). But getting back to the song, listening to it once more after a long while, I did get my memories of breakdancing and 80s funk into my head again.

Now, I've been aware that bands can undergo stylistic changes over the years and I only found out a couple of days ago that Freeez had been more of a jazz funk group originating in 1978. And I have to admit that I was immediately hooked by their January 1981 debut single "Southern Freeez". According to its Wikipedia article, the title was allegedly formed from a dance move called The Freeze used by folks at The Royalty dance club in Southgate, London. As the years went by, "Southern Freeez" got its fair share of remixes and listening to the original song, I can imagine it being a hit in the early 1990s club scene. There is also something slightly Chaz Jankel about it.

So, what were the Top 3 of Oricon in June 1983?

1. Hiroko Yakushimaru -- Tantei Monogatari (探偵物語）

2. Rats & Star -- Me Gumi no Hito （め組のひと）

3. Akina Nakamori -- Twilight - Yugure Dayori （トワイライト -夕暮れ便り-）

Talking Heads -- Burning Down the House

 

Welcome to another weekly edition of Reminiscings of Youth. When it comes to the rocking New Wave band Talking Heads, the subject of this article wasn't actually the first time that I had heard them. That prize goes to "Once in a Lifetime" from 1981 with that weird video of David Byrne looking like the most unpopular professor on campus while he's repeatedly proclaiming "You may find yourself...". 

I will eventually come to that one for a ROY article later this year but I wanted to begin the Talking Heads file on KKP with their July 1983 single "Burning Down the House". The song wasn't only popular but its music video was in heavy rotation on the local Toronto video show "The CHUM 30 Countdown" and other similar programs. With this one and the one for "Once in a Lifetime", I had assumed that Talking Heads was a British band because my impression was that the really oddball videos came from the UK. Actually, they were from another island altogether: Rhode Island in the United States.

There's something like a "OK...let's get down to business!" beat with "Burning Down the House" which is why I've liked this one for so long. Maybe there was a movie or TV drama that used it during some sort of caper montage but if that were the case, I have yet to see it. The drumming and then the slashing guitar (or is that a keyboard?) in the bridge are my favourite parts of the song along with Byrne's unique vocals. "Burning Down the House" peaked at No. 9 on US Billboard and it was the Heads' highest-charting single there while in Canada, it went a tad higher by placing in at No. 8.

So, what was hitting the Oricon Top 10 for July 1983? Well, we've got Nos. 4, 5 and 7.

4. Kozo Murashita -- Hatsukoi (初恋）

5. Masaki Ueda -- Osaka Bay Blues

7. Rats & Star -- Me Gumi no Hito （め組のひと）

Rats & Star -- Summer Night Train（サマーナイト・トレイン）

 

One of the YouTubers that I'm currently subscribed to, Kuga's Travel, has just put up a new video featuring a new luxury train, the Tobu Railway Spacia X (no, I don't think Elon Musk has anything to do with this one), which runs between Asakusa in Tokyo to Nikko in Tochigi Prefecture. Considering the distance between the two points, it's definitely not an overnighter unless it's running at the speed I was doing my half-marathons when I was a junior high school kid, but hey, it looks really posh. I'm just afraid of the price.

P.S. 3,740 JPY/25 USD total for a 2-hour ride?! 

That preamble ramble is to introduce "Summer Night Train" by Rats & Star（ラッツ&スター）featuring the golden tones of Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）. Not being a Masters student when it comes to the discography of The Chanels before they made the name change to Rats & Star in the mid-1980s, my bet is that the group may have also made a slight stylistic change going from doo-wop onto a more contemporary soulful path, although they didn't leave their roots totally behind. 

The Chanels/Rats & Star have popped up in the last little while via the ROY articles and special features, so the last time they actually popped in a KKP byline was all the way back in June 2014 when I posted their popping April 1983 hit "Me Gumi no Hito" （め組のひと）. "Summer Night Train" is a much mellower animal from their November 1984 album "See Through". The opening verse sounds like a slower version of "Plastic Love" but otherwise it's a groovy soul tune, ideal as an accompaniment for a night ride on the aforementioned Tobu Railway Spacia X (scotch not included). I also like how the rest of the Rats as backup chorus sounds like a train whistle off in the distance. 

Masao Urino（売野雅勇）was responsible for words while Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）provided the music. Goto, along with Suzuki, also produced the entirety of "See Through" which peaked at No. 26 on Oricon.

"Xanadu" Soundtrack

 

I gather that this is my second Reminiscings of Youth dealing with an album after Quincy Jones' "The Dude" a month or so ago, and though I finally did get the soundtrack to "Xanadu" a few years ago, I've only seen the 1980 movie through certain scenes only. Yep, I enjoyed "Grease" with Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta but only heard the bad word-of-mouth for ONJ's other Hollywood movie musical so I ended up skipping it. I may end up seeing it in its entirety someday. Also, I have to note that this is being written just a few weeks following the singer's first anniversary of her passing.

But like a lot of folks, I have appreciated a number of the songs that had been featured in the June 1980 soundtrack more than I have the actual movie, and everyone involved in "Xanadu" went all out on the variety of genres. The Labels section is now occupied by stars that I hadn't expected to see here such as the legendary Gene Kelly, rock band The Tubes, and Cliff Richard.

The title song "Xanadu" has been the one musical remnant that I held onto all these years from the movie. As performed by OJN and Electric Light Orchestra's Jeff Lynne on backup vocals, it's been categorized as post-disco while I'm still hearing it as quite breezy disco. Through a now non-existent YouTube video of an interview with Lynne according to the relevant Wikipedia article, the ELO leader has gone on record to say that "Xanadu" is his least favourite among his own creations. On a personal aside, ELO was one of my targets when I had my Yellow Magic Orchestra-on-the-brain phase thinking that with its initials as a nickname/abbreviation and its eclectic brand of music, I thought that it was also into technopop but such was not the case. Yet, there are at least a couple of ELO tunes that I will eventually cover in ROY articles in the near future. On America's Billboard, "Xanadu" scored a No. 8 while on Canada's RPM chart, it peaked at No. 9 after being released in May 1980.

Arguably, "Magic" is the one standout track on the album that eclipses almost all of the others, and for the longest time, I hadn't been aware that it was actually from "Xanadu". Created by John Farrar, it was another OJN hit that seemed to have permanent residency status on the radio, and from my current viewpoint, it's truly a magical ballad thanks to some of the production effects, the orchestra strings and the feeling of being transported into the night sky while this is playing. I wouldn't be surprised if this had been a popular slow dance tune at the school dances back in the day. Another May 1980 release, "Magic" went to No. 1 in both Canada and the United States.

I had assumed that "Suddenly", another Farrar-penned single from the "Xanadu" soundtrack, was a B-side for another one of Olivia's singles or it was on her "Physical" album from 1981. Regardless, it's another classic love duet, this time with Cliff Richard that was released in October 1980. It also has its magical qualities although it's not quite up there with "Magic". It ranked in at No. 60 on RPM and No. 20 on Billboard.

One of the few non-single tracks on "Xanadu" is "Dancin'" which has Olivia collaborating with The Tubes. OK, maybe the movie "Xanadu" as a whole wasn't the finest piece of cinematic art to ever grace the screen, but this one scene is indeed incredible to the extent (especially at the end) that if it had been performed at the Oscars, it would have brought the house down. I never would have imagined that nightclub jazz and glam rock could ever be mashed up like this, but I guess miracles can occur in "Xanadu". 

Welcome to KKP ROY, Mr. Gene Kelly! If I hadn't ever been aware of "Xanadu", and someone threw out his name and Olivia Newton-John at me, I would have assumed that we were playing the advanced level of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. But there they were in the above scene dancing to their duet "Whenever You're Away from Me", a throwback to those musical dance extravaganzas that Kelly had excelled at back in the 1940s and 1950s. Not surprisingly from what I've read of the comments, the master dancer made sure that the choreographed scene would meet his tough and exacting standards. No pressure on OJN at all. One of the things that stuck in my head about the movie was that his Danny McGuire character was the final film role that he ever played although he did appear as himself in a couple of film documentaries on the world of entertainment in his final years before his death in 1996.

It's rather ironic when I write of Kelly being in his one final musical in 1980 since a year before, I recollect watching an episode of the original TV series "Battlestar Galactica" where Kelly's old hoofing buddy, Fred Astaire, had a role as an elderly man who may have been Lt. Starbuck's father. 

My last words on the soundtrack will deal with ELO's "All Over the World", another single that I hadn't associated with the movie but knew about due to its presence on the radio. Via the Wikipedia article, one magazine felt that the song was "souped-up '50s and '60s pop at its best" while I feel that it was uplifting disco about getting the whole globe to sing. Of course, I had to include the scene in "Xanadu" where "All Over the World" was played since it's got Gene and company dancing about on roller skates. It ranked in at No. 16 on RPM while in America, it got as high as No. 13.

"Xanadu" the soundtrack may have won the day, the month and the year over "Xanadu" the movie, but from what I've read from some of the other commenters on YouTube, the latter isn't too shabby at all, provided that viewers can take a little more cheese than usual. In any case, the soundtrack hit No. 2 on RPM and No. 4 on Billboard.

So, after all that, what was scoring as the Top 3 on Oricon in June 1980?

1. Monta & Brothers -- Dancing All Night

2. Shinji Tanimura -- Subaru （昴）

3. The Chanels (later Rats & Star) -- Runaway

The Go-Gos -- Our Lips Are Sealed

 

One of the first ROY articles that I had done in 2019 was even before I officially came up with Reminiscings of Youth as a KKP Label. Basically, I did some retrofitting with The Go-Gos' "Vacation" which had been just something that I really wanted to write about as also a fan of the 80s music in my neck of the woods. It wasn't the first ROY though; I think that honour goes to Captain & Tennille's "Love Will Keep Us Together".

Anyways, I felt that it was time to bring back The Go-Gos after nearly four years and I'm feeling a little sheepish right now since this California band was a group that was one of my first attractions getting into pop music in earnest and perhaps I should have brought it up a whole lot earlier. I'm unsure whether it was the official music video above or one of their performances on shows like "Solid Gold" or passing by the local department store's record section where I first heard "Our Lips Are Sealed" which was the 2nd single by the band and their first single from their debut album "Beauty and the Beat" from July 1981. Its cover of the ladies wearing just bath towels and face packs was quite daunting at the time and I was tempted to buy it but I was wondering how I was going to explain that to my parents.

Hearing it again for the first time in a while, "Our Lips Are Sealed", which was released in June, has had me swooning once more for the heady days of musical discovery. It was all about Belinda Carlisle's slightly Valley Girl delivery, the jangly guitars and Jane Wiedlin's soft and adorable vocals in the bridge. All that nostalgic goodness crammed into less than three minutes. "Our Lips Are Sealed" went all the way up to No. 3 on Canada's RPM while in the United States, it reached No. 20 on Billboard.

So, according to Oricon, what was hitting the top three ranks for June 1981?

1. Seiko Matsuda -- Natsu no Tobira （夏の扉）

2. The Chanels -- Hurricane （ハリケーン）

3. Akira Terao -- Ruby no Yubiwa (ルビーの指輪)

Lindsey Buckingham -- Holiday Road

 

In a special holiday edition of Reminiscings of Youth...

I've had to remind myself that this is a long weekend, the Victoria Day long weekend to be specific, and in Canada, it's seen as the first summer vacation opportunity although of course, summer is not due here for another month. The main reason for my forgetfulness is that we really no longer do the family vacation. It's more of the staycation now and I'm good with that...no added stress.

Well, after all, folks can just watch "National Lampoon's Vacation" from 1983 to see how un-relaxing a family vacation can be although they can laugh their guts out at the plight of the Griswolds. The success of Chevy Chase's movie begat an entire franchise right into the next generation. Surprisingly, I never saw that first movie in its entirety; I've seen key scenes though.

However, I have shown more loyalty toward the theme song for the movie and the franchise, "Holiday Road" by Lindsey Buckingham from Fleetwood Mac. It has gone down as one of the more enduring and beloved movie theme songs of the 1980s despite its very short play time at a little over two minutes, but that's OK. Like guests staying at friends' places, no one or thing should overstay their welcome. I will always cherish the chorus and the barking dog at the end.

Released in June 1983, it only hit No. 82 on Billboard but again time told the tale of "Holiday Road" as a popular tune. I can only imagine how it's received at any of Buckingham's concerts. But I found its usage again in the opening credits of "Vacation" (2015), the most recent entry in the franchise with the second generation of the Griswolds in the driver's seat, absolutely hilarious.

What was hitting the Top 3 of Oricon in June 1983?

1. Hiroko Yakushimaru -- Tantei Monogatari (探偵物語）

2. Rats & Star -- Me Gumi no Hito （め組のひと）

3. Akina Nakamori -- Twilight - Yugure Dayori （トワイライト -夕暮れ便り-）

Sheena Easton -- 9 to 5 (Morning Train)

 

For this week's regular Reminiscings of Youth episode, I think that it may have been Oscar-winning Ang Lee who once pointed out in an interview that he and his fellow directors were probably the most miserable employees within the production crew of any movie. For me, I would see his bet and raise him another 50 in the form of saying that perhaps it's the professional critic who might be even more angst-ridden. Case in point: Stereogum's Tom Breihan absolutely tears apart Sheena Easton's "9 to 5 (Morning Train)" on a number of fronts and for reasons that the fans actually love the song (although he is much kinder with her later tunes). I'm trying to imagine his residence with a sizable hole in the wall where he daily smashes his head from frustration.

Kinda like Don Music above here. He must have a line in his budget that simply says "TYLENOL".

Well, luckily, I'm on the side where I actually do like Easton's "Morning Train". The song was released in May 1980 in the UK and then nearly a year later in America. I can vouch for that latter release date since it's one of those signpost songs of my memories of the decade. "Morning Train" hit me like the...well, proverbial morning train when I first heard it on the radio. 

On Wikipedia, it's been categorized as both pop and music hall. I don't quite know what constitutes a music hall song but perhaps it's that bossy saxophone or synthesizer sounding like a bossy saxophone. In any case, it was indeed that intro that drew me in. There was something about that Florrie Palmer la-dee-dah melody that simply hit right and gently helped me up into the pop music bandwagon that I would now inhabit. It was no wonder that I was repeatedly listening to "Morning Train" when I was on that morning plane heading to Japan from Toronto on that Summer 1981 Japanese language graduation trip; I needed something to take the edge off on my first trip without my family accompanying me.

A few years later, I found out that there actually had been a music video for "Morning Train". Easton looked fabulous but I think it was a bit odd for her to be slinking about in a suit that looked more appropriate for a disco than a small railroad town. Regardless, it hit No. 1 in both Canada and the US while it "only" peaked at No. 3 in the UK.

Well, let's go with the UK release month of May 1980. What was at the top of the Oricon charts back then?

1. The Chanels -- Runaway

2. Crystal King -- Shinkirou（蜃気楼）

3. Kaientai -- Okuru Kotoba (贈る言葉）

Kate Bush -- Babooshka

 

To be honest, when I decided to bring in Kate Bush for this week's Reminiscings of Youth, I had planned to talk about "Running Up That Hill" since the 80s hit received a new lease of life due to its use in an episode of "Stranger Things" last year.

But then, I came upon "Babooshka", her single from June 1980 and my mind was set. The image of Bush in that Valkyrie costume has forever remained with me since I first saw the music video decades ago. And watching it once more last night, I remember being rather flabbergasted at not only how pretty (and terrifying) she looked but also at the whole thing about her in a black bodysuit interacting with a contrabass as she switched scenes between that and her Valkyrie self.

Still trying to gain my bearings with all sorts of music at that time, I couldn't quite understand the genre of "Babooshka", although it's been described in Wikipedia as a rock song. However, my feeling is that it was either Art Pop or Baroque New Wave Pop (which could be one and the same). Regardless, the video and the song and her vocal style stand out very clearly, and isn't that what any singer wants? Bush definitely succeeded, and the chorus was playing out in my head repeatedly when I went to bed last night and when I woke up this morning. 

To further emphasize that I've always been more of a melody man than someone who is into the lyrics, I had never paid attention to the straight-ahead story of the titular embittered wife Babooshka putting on the guise of a younger woman through correspondence as a test to see if her husband would stray away from the marriage. In fact, I'd thought "Babooshka" that was simply a play on the singer-songwriter's name because of that second syllable in the title.

Although there's no information on how the song did on the charts in either America or Canada, "Babooshka" was Bush's 2nd Top 5 single in the UK by hitting No. 5 according to the relevant Wikipedia article. I will have to do "Running Up That Hill" sometime in March. Anyways, what was at the top of Oricon in June 1980?

1. Monta & Brothers -- Dancing All Night

2. Shinji Tanimura -- Subaru （昴）

3. The Chanels -- Runaway

Steely Dan -- Time Out of Mind

 

Time for another weekly ROY article. Steely Dan made their presence known on the radio when I was a kid through multiple songs with arguably the most famous one for me being "Peg" from their famous 1977 album "Aja".

Another song that managed to filter into my brain through heavy rotation over the airwaves was "Time Out of Mind" from Donald Fagen & Walter Becker's 1980 album "Gaucho". I've got "Aja" but I have to admit that "Gaucho" is not up on my shelves as of yet, although it and "Aja" have vied among the Dan fans to be the best album that they've ever put up.

"Time Out of Mind" actually came out as a single from the album in March 1981, and when I was listening to it on the strawberry milk-pink Sony, I never knew that the lyrics were referring to drug use (then again, I also didn't pick up on the lyrical content of "Peg" until many years later), and little did I know that Dire Straits' Mark Knopfler handled the guitar solo.. As I've said a number of times on the blog in the past, I was far more of the melody persuasion than I was for lyrics (although "perfection and grace" did enter my brain), and "Time Out of Mind" was another one of the funky and cool shuffles by Steely Dan alongside "Peg".  If I only had appreciated them back then as I do now.

So, who was in the Top 3 of Oricon for March 1981?

1. Chanels -- Machikado Twilight （街角トワイライト）

2. Akira Terao -- Ruby no Yubiwa (ルビーの指輪)

3. THE CRAZY RIDER Yokohama Ginbae ROLLING SPECIAL -- Tsuppari High School Rock n' Roll（ツッパリHigh School Rock' n Roll）

J-Canuck's Taxi Songs

 

It's a good Good Friday Friday! I'm gonna be beginning with something more whimsical today, starting with an old and popular American sitcom that was broadcast on ABC from the late 1970s into the early 1980s. "Taxi" was a show that I dipped into now and then, although I never became a dedicated fan. Being one of the classic ensemble TV comedies, I marvel at the cast since almost all of them have gone onto even bigger and perhaps better projects including sci-fi phenomena such as "Star Trek", "Babylon 5" and "Independence Day".

However, one of the things associated with "Taxi" that has stuck with me all these years is that theme song "Angela" by jazz keyboardist and record producer Bob James (according to Wikipedia, a lot of the material on his first several albums were sampled, leading to the formation of hip hop). I mean, my impression was that a theme for a New York-based show called "Taxi" would be all brassy and/or funky and in-your-face, but instead the producers opted for this much slower and calming fusion tune featuring sax, Fender Rhodes and what sounds like an innocent ocarina. I gather that it was this juxtaposition that has enabled me to remember and cherish the sitcom a lot better.

Well, I've decided then that I would come up with this article on the various taxi-based Japanese pop songs that I had already written about over the decade of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", just as a summary and a reflection of how there are probably plenty of other cab kayo out there (including ones that I've completely forgotten about but exist on the blog).

Yuiko Tsubokura -- Taxi Driver (1990)

(Night Tempo remix)

Getting this one up onto the blog a few nights ago was the impetus for this particular article. As I mentioned in that one, Tsubokura's cover of the Aran original is a fair bit mellower, although of course, Night Tempo's version jazzes it up some more. Good for that night time drive home.

Tomoko Aran -- Taxi Driver (1985)

I thought having the original just below Tsubokura's cover would make it easier for comparative listening. Good for that night time drive into town.

Miho Nakayama -- Midnight Taxi (1990)

When I was thinking about putting up this list, I knew that I had to get Miporin's "Midnight Taxi" up here because of its overall sophisti-pop feeling. This is the night taxi ride with class.

Kiyomi Suzuki with Rats & Star -- TAXI (1987)

Along with Nakayama's "Midnight Taxi", Kiyomi Suzuki's "TAXI" with her brother's group also has its class but it comes with some additional soulful goodness.

Yurie Kokubu -- Tobashite Taxi Man（とばしてTaxi Man）(1983)

As with Aran's "Taxi Driver", "Tobashite Taxi Man" has more of that feeling of heading giddily into Party Central rather than sleepily heading home in the metal chariot.

Yumi Arai -- Chuo Freeway（中央フリーウェイ）(1976)

I would consider Arai's classic "Chuo Freeway" more of an honourary member of the taxi list since according to her lyrics, it's pretty obvious that the ride home is a personal one with a couple of lovers in the front of the car. But the whole idea for "Chuo Freeway" came from Yuming's feeling of freedom and quiet satisfaction of being driven home when work got a little too late...something that I can relate to as well. Perhaps it was a staffer driving her back or even that cab.

Because when compared to the usual more inexpensive subway or train fare, I didn't take the taxi all that frequently during my time in the Tokyo area. It was only when I missed that last train home that I would brave the lineup to catch a cab. I never had a particularly thrilling or terrifying taxi ride home but that was due to the fact that taxi service was extremely professional with the uniformed drivers providing the same reassuring ride anywhere in town. Maybe that's why the songs that I've mentioned on the taxi list here have that seemingly extra-thick layer of romanticism and anticipation swaddling listeners/riders. However with the relatively recent rise in the love for Japanese City Pop around the planet, I can imagine that tourists may come with that layer as they ride from Haneda or Narita into Tokyo, although the price might turn them off if they arrive at the latter airport. Meanwhile, the drivers might end up wondering why their fares are so excited over a simple taxi ride.😁