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.
Well over a dozen years ago, my good friend and KKP contributor JTM posted one of the most epic articles for the blog regarding the "Sukeban Deka"（スケバン刑事）franchise. Unfortunately, a lot of the links to the music incorporated in the various seasons have gone dead so I'll have to somehow reconnect them.
However, I can provide my take on one of the songs that was included in there, "Shadow Hunter" by actress/aidoru Yuka Onishi（大西結花）. This came out as her 5th single from February 1987 and it was actually an insert song in "Sukeban Deka III". Considering how exciting it sounds, I was surprised that it hadn't been used as an official opening or ending theme. The intro to "Shadow Hunter" sounds like something I would have heard as a theme for a 1970s American suspense-thriller series like the ones that Quinn/Martin used to make...for that matter, maybe it could have been used as the music accompanying a transformation scene for "Sailor Moon". The rest of the song as composed by Daisuke Inoue（井上大輔）and arranged by Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）has that familiar feeling of an oomphed-up late 1980saidoru tune. Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）provided the lyrics. "Shadow Hunter" was Onishi's first song to make it into the Oricon rankings by peaking at No. 17.
Recently, when I was teaching my student, our textbook showed us how to make 6-word descriptions of people to practice adjectives and small phrases. I gather that it's like coming up with an English version of haiku poetry. Well, when it comes to veteran singer-songwriter Anri（杏里）, I feel like saying: beautiful, summery, breezy, city, pop and Hawaii.
So, with that list in mind, perhaps some of us KKP old-timers remember that article I posted of Anri's September 1981 third album"Kanashimi no Kujaku"（哀しみの孔雀）way back in 2013. It was definitely an outlier from how I just described her as the singer tried out some other genres for size. "Kanashimi no Kujaku" will never go down as one of my absolute favourite albums by her, but it's interesting for how she sounded back then.
I did get a used copy of the album a long time ago, so I actually missed out on the remastered version which contained bonus tracks including Anri's 6th single which had never been placed onto an original album. "Kawaii Pauline"(Cute Pauline) from September 1980 was written by Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）and composed by Keiichi Suzuki（鈴木慶一）of The Moonriders and it sounds like a 1960s pop tune filtered somewhat through Paris. The song was used as a promotion for a women's weekly magazine.
I have to say that seeing young Anri on the cover, she looked like a junior high school student happy to be on a holiday vacation. Well, she wasn't a junior high school student at that time but perhaps a college co-ed and she was technically still a teenager at 19.
There are no doubts about where the B-side,"Maui Moon", is located in terms of title and music. It's just a short-and-sweet luau jam session after some poi that was whipped up by the same folks behind the A-side. It only showed up on an Anri BEST compilation from 1982, "Omoikiri American ~ I Love Poping World, Anri"（思いきりアメリカン 〜I Love Poping World, Anri〜）. The lass definitely looked more grown-up on the cover of that one although I'm not sure what that gerund in the title is referring to aside from pop music or the Pontiff.
Lining up with masters like Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, needless to say but the songwriting sense of Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）is the biggest thing to listen for when it comes to the iconic "Long Version" which was contributed to Junichi Inagaki's（稲垣潤一）2nd album"Shylights". Additionally, Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）leaves quite an impression with phrases such as "I'd only wanted a single play, but before I knew it, I got the long version", and Akira Inoue（井上鑑）provides a splendid arrangement which really hits the mark.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
The above is Chikuzen Sato's（佐藤竹善）first foray into his "Cornerstones" set of solo albums which first came out in 1995, so if he's going to be releasing another one next year, the lead singer behind Sing Like Talking will be celebrating his 30th anniversary with his pet project of cover tunes. Unfortunately at this point, I only have his first one.
His eighth album from the series, "radio JAOR ～Cornerstones 8～" was released back in October 2022. I was able to find this one track which is a cover of Junichi Inagaki's（稲垣潤一）1982 debut single"Ame no Regret"(Rainy Regret) which was written by Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）and composed by Off-Course member Kazuhiko Matsuo（松尾一彦）.
The arrangement isn't all that different from the Inagaki original (and I just posted something about him yesterday) aside from some steelier synthesizers, and I think Sato may have tried to emulate Inagaki's delivery to a fault. I've been accustomed to the laidback crooning of Inagaki but Sato is one singer who I've known and admired for his boppier and soulful vocals so to hear him fairly drone out that first verse was a tad jarring, I have to admit. However by the end, it was the good ol' Sato making himself heard again. The album, by the way, reached No. 22 on Oricon.
I think the above was my Rum & Coke made by the robot bartender on the Harmony of the Seas back in 2017. In retrospect, I don't think it was the right cocktail to challenge the robot on since with a Rum & Coke, it's simply rum and Coca-Cola with none of that shaking needed. But on the other hand, I didn't want to look like Jabba the Hutt in front of my own family because I drank something that was way above my punching level.
My memories to you are going to go back even further now when I mention Perez Prado's"Cherry-Pink and Apple Blossom-White" from 1955. It's a familiar song by the King of Mambo because it was on that RCA compilation record collection that we got with our huge stereo. Yup, that trumpet does it for me.
Not sure whether the late singer-songwriter Tadao Inoue（井上忠夫）had found inspiration from Prado's magnum opus to create "Cherry-Pink to Kawaii Olive" (Cherry-Pink and Cute Olive) which was the B-side to his 1980 single"Aa, Kimi wa Subete ga Atarashii"（ああ、君はすべてが新しい...Ahh, Everything About You is New）. At first, I was a little confused when I heard it. It's certainly a happy tropical margarita of a song with Inoue throwing out the cocktails like Tom Cruise's drinks in "Cocktail" (yes, there was a time when he wasn't Ethan Hunt), but Inoue liberally throws out the title of Side A as part of the lyrics in this song, which had me wondering whether YouTuber Crescent Moon had made a mistake in identifying the song. Yes, I had thought it was "Aa, Kimi wa Subete ga Atarashii" and not "Cherry-Pink to Kawaii Olive" but when I checked out the single's original liner sheet on Google, I could confirm that the song I heard was indeed the B-side and not the A-side. Inoue apparently really enjoyed that title "Aa, Kimi wa Subete ga Atarashii" so much that he was more than happy to sling it around on both sides.
The single was recorded as the final one of four releases in 1979 and 1980 under the name of Tadao Inoue & 5110 Band（井上忠夫と5110・BAND）.Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）provided the lyrics for "Cherry-Pink to Kawaii Olive" while Tadashige Matsui（松井忠重）arranged Inoue's melody. This record would be the final one for the singer to record under his real name of Tadao which he had used since his days with the Group Sounds bandJackey Yoshikawa and his Blue Comets（ジャッキー吉川とブルー・コメッツ）. From 1981, he would release his material under the name Daisuke Inoue（井上大輔）.
Well, I could have used this song to talk about the ugly winter storm that we had a couple of days ago, but I used that preamble ramble in yesterday's "Higurashiyama"（日暮山）by Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）. However, we do have another blizzard coming up tomorrow night going into Saturday. This one...hopefully...will be a little "cleaner" with just fluffy white snow coming down.
And sure enough, the song here is "Aoi Blizzard"(Blue Blizzard) by rock singer Saori Saitoh（斉藤さおり）as a track from her September 1986 debut album "Kiss me, Good bye". I'm not sure whether I would imagine furious snowstorms when I listen to this one but there's a good chance that I would enjoy this from a car stereo as the automobile is bombing down the lonesome highway. Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）provided the lyrics for "Aoi Blizzard" and Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）provided the tasty licks on this melody.
This is actually the earliest that I've gone in Saitoh's discography. I first started her KKP file with her 1991 "Yokogao"（横顔）back in December 2021, and I've provided some background information there so feel free to take a gander.
It's been my wont from time to time that I have reported on the local weather so I guess that this will be my first report of 2024. Yesterday, we were going through our first major bout of meteorological instability with an ugly mixture of snow and rain. We survived it of course but for several hours, we had been worried about the power going out. Things are thankfully much improved today but there will be a more regular snowstorm hitting us on the weekend.
Well, after checking out a B-side to a very early Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）single in the previous article, and it's always intriguing to go back and seek out a long-established singer's embryonic works, I decided to take the same approach with another singer...this time, City Pop crooner Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）. It's been several months since I posted one of his songs onto the blog, so I believe he's been due.
And indeed, I went with the B-side for Inagaki's debut single"Ame no Regret"（雨のリグレット）from January 1982 which I posted in the summer of 2013. "Higurashiyama" (Mount Higurashi) is quite the different animal from its accompanying A-side which is a mellow City Pop number. It's made by the same duo behind "Ame no Regret", lyricist Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）and composer Kazuhiko Matsuo（松尾一彦）from Off-Course（オフコース）, but "Higurashiyama" isn't an urban contemporary number at all. In fact, I would say that it's an ethereal love ballad on a true mountain in Hokkaido overlooking Lake Ohnuma and the way that Inagaki delivers it, it sounds as if it could have made for a theme song of some animated fairy tale.
Ironically, when I wrote about "Ame no Regret" back then, there had been a similar major storm in Toronto the day previously although it was a summer deluge.
It's hard for me to remember when I first heard singer Ann Lewis（アン・ルイス）. It may have been when I heard her sweet 70s aidoru self on an episode of "Sounds of Japan" in the first half of the 1980s but the possibility may exist that the first time was through karaoke at Kuri in downtown Toronto since her hard rock persona's music was quite popular with some of us participants when we went there in the late 80s. In any case, it was quite the drastic change for Lewis between the 1970s and the 1980s...almost on the level of The Doctor on "Doctor Who" regenerating from one form to another. Happy 60th anniversary, by the way!
Anyways, lest I get too geeky, let me get back to Lewis. One of the songs that got performed at Kuri over and over again was her April 1986 27th single"Aah, Mujou" (Ahh, Heartlessness). I think one reason that I haven't posted this one until now is that I kept confusing it for another rocker by the singer, "Roppongi Shinju"（六本木心中）which had come out a few years earlier. But OK, now I can distinguish between the two.
Created by the same duo behind "Roppongi Shinju", lyricist Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）and composer NOBODY, "Aah Mujou" seems to be a rocker relating a tragic tale of betrayals and counter-betrayals between one woman and perhaps a number of other characters in cruel Tokyo, although she has been trying in vain to get out of the vicious circle (maybe she's the Michael Corleone of Roppongi) For those bass addicts, feel happy to listen to a few rounds of the song. Jun Sato（佐藤準）, by the way, was behind the arrangement. "Aah Mujou" reached No. 21 on Oricon.
Happy weekend to all of you and of course, Happy Pride weekend. Almost a decade ago, one of our first contributors, JTM, was kind enough to write up an epic article on the whole "Sukeban Deka"（スケバン刑事） franchise. He not only wrote about the series starring aidoru including Yuki Saito（斉藤由貴）and Yoko Minamino（南野陽子）, but he also provided some of the songs associated with "Sukeban Deka".
One of those songs that he mentioned was Nanno's "Kaze no Madrigal"(Madrigal of the Wind), her 4th single from July 1986 which became the theme song for "Sukeban Deka II" that starred the young aidoru. And to also quote my friend on the definition of a madrigal: "a medieval short lyrical poem". To be honest, I don't know very much at all on music of the Renaissance and early Baroque eras, but as for "Kaze no Madrigal", the song by lyricist Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）, composer Daisuke Inoue（井上大輔）and arranger Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）goes against my assumption of a "Sukeban Deka" theme being a kickass rock n' roll tune. Instead, the song is a fleet-footed number with hints of cowboy justice and Hiromi Ohta's（太田裕美）"Saraba Siberia Tetsudo" (さらばシベリア鉄道）originally created by the late Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）who had his own love for some cowboy Western twang.
The B-side is "Heroine no Densetsu" (Legend of a Heroine), something with some funk and urban contemporary in there that it could almost be a City Pop tune. It is indeed spirited and determined, befitting a song for a heroine. The same songwriters for "Kaze no Madrigal" were responsible for "Heroine no Densetsu" which peaked at No. 5 on Oricon.
Commenter Justin C. cottoned me onto this song by veteran songwriter Keisuke Hama（浜圭介）a few nights ago called "Akogarete" (Longing). This is a special one here in that the Hama file on KKP has had him in the back office, so to speak...just as the composer of enka and Mood Kayo hits such as The Cool Five's"Soshite, Kobe"（そして、神戸）and Aki Yashiro's（八代亜紀）"Ame no Bojou"（雨の慕情）. He also composed Yujiro Ishihara's（石原裕次郎）final single that I only wrote up yesterday "Lonely Night, Lonely Way"（ロンリーナイト･ロンリーウェイ）.
Now, Hama did sing and release singles and albums, mostly in the 1960s (and I'll have to seek a few of those out eventually), but it's the first time for me to include him as a singer in "Kayo Kyoku Plus". And to celebrate his 55th anniversary in music last year, he put out the January 2021"Akogarete" which was by him and longtime lyricist Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）. Justin was also kind enough to give me links to a couple of Japanese-language articles at "Sponichi Annex" and "Pride Japan" talking about this particular single since "Akogarete" may be the first enka to directly relate the story of a man's unrequited love for another man, his senpai, although the target of his affections is involved in a relationship with a woman.
Reading through the "Pride Japan" article, I found out that Yukawa had been looking for a young male enka singer to tackle "Akogarete" but couldn't find anyone. When the lyricist reported this back to Hama, he said that he would sing it and perhaps someday, another singer would cover it.
The very first song that I had ever heard from City Pop/J-AOR crooner Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）was "Natsu no Claxon", this very relaxing end-of-summer ballad that I saw performed by the Sendai-born singer-songwriter on an early morning episode of Fuji-TV's"19xx" while I was shivering in my futon in snowbound Gunma Prefecture. Listening to this one was enough for me to get my first Inagaki album which turned out to be "TRANSIT", his 2-CD BEST compilation released in December 1990. "TRANSIT" was actually his 6th collection of his best stuff and it hit No. 7 on the Oricon weeklies.
Seeing that cover of him in the cool pale clothing and the tasteful silhouette, I figured that Inagaki was going to be about the classy urban contemporary. But as I gradually discovered over repeated playings of the discs, within that particular genre, the singer touched upon a number of influences whether it be Doobie Bros. AOR, some light doo-wop or down-home City Pop.
In any case, because of the number of total tracks involved, I've decided to do this first entry for "TRANSIT" by focusing on the entries for Disc 1 only today. Several of those have already gotten their own articles so you can click on the links. By the way, all of the tracks featured here were arranged by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）.
First off is "Aoi Tsuioku" (Blue Recollections) which was the B-side to Inagaki's 3rd single"Dramatic Rain" released in October 1982. Written by Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）and composed by Akira Mitake（見岳章）, as the title hints, it's a minor-key mid-tempo song about picking up the pieces after a breakup and realizing that there so many pieces remaining on the wet ground. It's got all of the feeling of a modern film noir in 1980s Tokyo but there is one passage near the end which actually shows a melodic beam of light shining in through the clouds for some reason. "Aoi Tsuioku" also ended up on Inagaki's debut album"246:3AM".
The opening notes for "Getsuyoubi ni wa Bara wo" (Monday Rose) struck me as being so Boz Scaggs or Bobby Caldwell. Also a track from "246:3AM", this is a gentle ballad over what seems to be a disagreement in the philosophy of love with one believing that love is nothing but a fleeting little game while the other feels that their relationship should be taken with the seriousness it needs. With lyrics by Yoshiaki Sagara（さがらよしあき）and music by Toyonobu Ito（伊藤豊昇）, I especially like the part near the end where Inagaki stretches out the title phrase of "Monday Rose".
"MARIA" is West Coast AOR concocted by lyricist Masao Urino（売野政男）and composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）and the message is clear as a bell...a guy is in love with a lass named Maria. Hopefully the lucky fellow and Maria are in that convertible bombing down the Ventura Freeway. "MARIA" was a track on Inagaki's 1983 3rd album"J.I.".
When I hear "Natsu no Yukue"(Summer Whereabouts) which followed "MARIA" on "J.I." and is the B-side to "Long Version", I gather that Inagaki had wanted to infuse some of that 1950s/1960s balladry into the music, thereby joining the likes of singers like Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）. Once again, that oft-traveled theme of the end of summer meaning the end of romance is parlayed again as a man stands alone at the countryside cottage after his paramour has gone back home to the city. Maybe they'll have that tryst again next year or maybe not. AKB48 Svengali and lyricist Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）provided the words while Kazuhiko Matsuo（松尾一彦）came up with the sweetly lilting melody.
This time, it was Akimoto and Hayashi working together to create "Iidasenakute" (Can't Say It) for "J.I.". A breakup doesn't sound much more bittersweet than this one, and with the shimmering strings and the electric guitar solo working with Inagaki's high-toned and resonant vocals, I wouldn't be tremendously surprised if there were quite a few fans who grabbed the nearest box of Kleenex. There are also some similarities between this one and "Long After Midnight".
From Inagaki's May 1984 4th album"Personally" comes "Kanashiki Diamond Ring" (Melancholy Diamond Ring) which has the singer returning to some of that old-fashioned vocal group pop. This song starts off the album and though it can be called bittersweet, there is more of the sweet rather than the bitter in this one written by Urino and composed by Hayashi. A man returns to his hometown to see an old flame getting married to another fellow and the wedding has him thinking about opportunities lost but well wishes given out all the same.
I really love the epic intro and the rich piano behind "Dare ga Tame ni..." (For Whom...) as Inagaki takes on a slightly more measured delivery and he sings about a happy relationship going through the usual things before the vows are taken. Also, a track on "Personally", Sagara was the lyricist with Hayashi on music. I think among the ones that I've covered on this Disc 1, "Dare ga Tame ni..." is about as straight-ahead pop as I've heard so far.
But then we come to "J no Kanojo" (J's Girl) which is an upbeat pop number which launches his May 1985 5th album"No Strings". In fact, there is one frantic instrumental bridge that almost takes things into New Wave...and maybe a bit of Dire Straits thanks to the guitar. However, generally speaking, this is a good-time pop tune about having some risky thoughts for J's girl on the dance floor. I have no idea who this J is. Is it Junichi himself or is it someone with a scarier name like Jaws or Jack the Knife? It was lyricist Akimoto and composer Yasuhiro Kido（木戸やすひろ）on this one.
(I'm sorry but the video has been taken down.)
At 1:04:40, there is "Traces" which ends Disc 1 on "TRANSIT". It is not only the B-side to Inagaki's April 1987 11th single"Omoide no Beach Club"（思い出のビーチクラブ...Beach Club of My Memories）, but it's a cover of the original 1968 ballad by the American band Classics IV that ended up becoming its biggest hit.
Hopefully I'll get Disc 2up and running sometime in August.
It's always nice to have an Akiko Kobayashi（小林明子）song on board after so long especially during these trying times. Her creamy voice and the oh-so-mellow arrangements can offer some aural relaxation.
Back in 2014, I wrote about her September 1989 album"Bon Voyage" first via the track "Perfect Love" and then the album itself some months later. As I said back then, "Bon Voyage" had this sensation of a new fresh beginning for the pop singer-songwriter, and the cover illustrated that with her posing on some precipice and looking out at the invitingly bright blue sky. Of course, with that title there, I easily thought of ocean cruises which is why I put up the photo of that afternoon view from the Odyssey of the Seas that we took back in 2017.
I'm finally happy that I could put up the first track from "Bon Voyage", "My Precious Friend". There is a sense from Reiko Yukawa's（湯川れい子）lyrics that the lady here is actually off on a cruise to gather her thoughts after a romantic breakup. If I did read them correctly, she and he have downgraded their relationship back to best friends from a romantic couple. Although "My Precious Friend" is very much a J-Pop song, the theme is rather reminiscent of that kayo trope of going on a trip to forget about a failed romance.
However, as Kobayashi's breezy melody makes clear, there is nothing maudlin at all about this post-breakup voyage. In fact, it's all very bright and hopeful as the woman in the lyrics feels that everything is back on the right track. "My Precious Friend" is a great track to start "Bon Voyage" with that just-as-bright keyboard play, the guitar solo and of course, Kobayashi's warm and honeyed vocals.
Another one of my purchases in the last few weeks from CD Japan has been Masayuki Suzuki's（鈴木雅之）triple-CD package commemorating his 40th anniversary in the music business, "ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL". Released earlier in April, I wanted to get this primarily because of his more recent material all put onto CD 3, but unlike "Martini" and "Martini II", his earliest BEST albums as a solo artist, the first two discs are a celebration of his doo-wop days as the lead vocalist of Chanels （シャネルズ）later to be known as Rats and Star.
Now I mention that I got the 3-disc album. The first-issue version of "ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL" has an extra 4th CD which has mostly karaoke versions of those Chanels hits but also a few live recordings that hadn't been released. I think that special first-release package is still available but I didn't bother paying the extra cash for that since I have never and never will perform karaoke at home.
Irasshaimase, baby!
Usually for a BEST article, I would put down the list of the tracks but considering the overwhelming amount of tracks for this one, I've decided to put up the link to a website that has them written down in romaji.
Disc 1
Disc 1, titled "Mr. Black 2nd" consists of new re-recordings of some of those Chanels/Rats And Star hits along with some of the songs that probably inspired young Martin. First off, the CD starts with "Ultra Chu Chu Medley", Suzuki's 41st single which was released in July 2020 and includes "Hurricane", "Machikado Twilight", "Akogare no Slender Girl"（憧れのスレンダー・ガール）and "Shuumatsu Dynamite"（週末ダイナマイト）. Given an added dance beat by Pizzicato Five's Yasuharu Konishi（小西康陽）, it's an invitation by Suzuki saying "Hey, this is where I came from!".
When I first looked down on the playlist for "ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL", I noticed "Tears On My Pillow". The 1958 classic by Little Anthony and the Imperials was a song that I used to hear all the time on those K-Tel compilation LP commercials back in the 1970s; probably at the time, there was some of that returning love for the oldies thanks to George Lucas' "American Graffiti" and then TV's "Happy Days". I don't think even Suzuki can eclipse The Imperials but dang, he's pretty close with this one which is the coupling song to "Ultra Chu Chu Medley".
Another one that caught my eyes and ears was Suzuki's cover of "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" originally by Queen. When I was first discovering the band, this was one of the songs that helped me in their introduction to my memories and senses. It's not just the doo-wop for this version but an extra dollop of rockabilly jazz with added thanks from rock n' roll band The Shaolin Brothers（少林兄弟）and Chanels member Yoshio Sato（佐藤善雄）. Lots of fun to be had here.
There was a cool new song that I hadn't heard before titled "Tamashii no Brother"（魂のブラザー...Soul Brother） but I will cover that on its own sometime next month since there is the new version in "ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL" and then the original version during the Chanels' days.
Disc 2
Disc 2 is "the year of RATS best" and is for all of those die-hard Chanels/Rats And Star fans out there. The longest of the 3 discs by far at around 74 minutes, it has a lot of the band's original material. To be honest, I realized that I'm probably going to be more of the Masayuki Suzuki fan than a fan of Chanels unless the disc's contents grow on me some more since I think having over an hour of doo-wop going through my head is a tad much.
However, having said that, listening to the tracks on Disc 2 piecemeal has been more enjoyable. For example, there is "Akogare no Slender Girl"（憧れのスレンダー・ガール...Slender Girl of My Dreams）, Chanels' 6th single from March 1982. Written by Chanels' member Masashi Tashiro（田代マサシ）and composed by Martin with arrangement by the band and Kunio Muramatsu（村松邦夫）, "Akogare no Slender Girl" stands out for some of those horns which sound like the Tijuana Brass with Herb Alpert. The original single peaked at No. 13 on Oricon.
Yes, I now have to insist that it's good for me to appreciate the Chanels discography on a slowly, slowly basis since I really like their 5th single"Namida no Sweet Cherry"（涙のスウィート・チェリー...Sweet Cherry of Tears） from September 1981 on its own instead of being sandwiched between tracks like sweet cherry jam between Wonder bread. It's so doo-wop 50s that names like Richie and Mary Beth and things like jukeboxes, bobby socks and slow dances came immediately to mind (though I wouldn't be born for another decade after that era). This actually hit No. 12. Lyricist Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）and composer/arranger Daisuke Inoue（井上大輔）were responsible for this ballad for all you lovers out there.
The last one I'm gonna cover from Disc 2 is "Madonna wa Omae dake"（マドンナはお前だけ...You're The Only Madonna For Me）, Rats And Star's penultimate 16th single (including the Chanels' singles) from their original run together released in April 1985. It's still got that band swagger with a bit of Latin incorporated into the doo-wop. Yukawa was once again behind words while this time Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）provided the music. The song was perfectly fine for Rats And Star fans but I think from the No. 57 ranking, music tastes were moving on from the doo-wop craze at the turn of the decade. Of course, the disc also includes hits like "Runaway" and "Me Gumi no Hito"（め組のひと）.
Disc 3
"Perfect Vision" is the title given to the third disc which is half-filled with Martin's 5 new releases and half-filled with the karaoke versions. Of course, "DADDY! DADDY! DO!", "Motivation" and "Tatoe Sekai ga Soppo Muite mo"（たとえ世界がそっぽ向いても）are included. The first track, though, is "Iki mo Dekinai Gurai"（息もできないくらい...Can't Even Breathe）, a swing stomp perpetrated by the singer and rock band Kishidan's（氣志團）Sho Ayanokoji（綾小路翔）. As someone mentioned in the comments for the above video, this would probably have been ideal as an opening theme for another fun anime although I don't think it quite fits the "Kaguya-sama" franchise. Ayanokoji and Takeshi Kiuchi（木内健）came up with the song.
The final sung track is "Polaris"（ポラリス）, a bluesy ballad with a touch of gospel written, composed and co-sung by Angela Aki（アンジェラ・アキ）. It was used as the theme song for the 2019 NHK drama"Banjou no Himawari"（盤上の向日葵...Sunflower on the Board）. After all of the action within this CD alone, it's nice to finish off with something relatively quiet.
"ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL", I'm happy to say, broke into the Top 10 and hit its high of No. 4. My congratulations to Martin and the production staff for another wonderful BEST album. Also I missed his big day by a few days, but Happy Birthday to him on his 64th which he celebrated on September 22nd. The Kohaku Utagassen won't be the same this year but I do hope that he will get selected, if only to perform "DADDY! DADDY! DO!".
Commenter Jim Laker reminded me of this song on the last article I did on 80s aidoru Yoko Oginome（荻野目洋子）, and it was good that I got to hear this one again after so long.
"Natsu no Stage Light" (Summer Stage Light) was another track on Oginome's 4th album"Raspberry no Kaze"（ラズベリーの風...Raspberry Wind） released in April 1986. I first heard this one in my U of T days while I was watching an ancient VHS tape of her adventures in Los Angeles during some sort of concert montage.
Written by Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）and composed by singer-songwriter Yoshiyuki Osawa（大沢誉志幸）with arrangement by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, "Natsu no Stage Light" is maybe one of the most upbeat lullabies that I have heard. That's not a bad thing at all. The upbeat aspect is obvious...some of that guitar work has made me wonder whether "Natsu no Stage Light" was a prototype of a Being song, and there's even some hints of "Georgy Girl" in there. I think the lullaby part comes in through Oginome's softer vocals as if she were reassuring some nervous kids that everything was going to be all right.
I think the above is actually from that concert montage itself. As for Yukawa's lyrics, I had first thought that "Natsu no Stage Light" was about the usual innocent romance during the hot season. However, I now believe that it's more of the "romance" between Oginome and her die-hard fans whenever they attend her concerts. It would make for a wonderful way to end each of her shows.
It seems as if those first two singles by 80s aidoru Iyo Matsumoto（松本伊代）were quite happy with "used" song titles from the past. There is, of course, her debut single and arguably her most famous song, "Sentimental Journey"（センチメンタルジャーニー）whose namesake happens to belong to one of the jazz classics from yesteryear.
Then, there is her follow-up single released in February 1982, "Love Me Tender". Of course, there was a 1956 ballad with that very title by the King of Rock and Roll that has become a common selection at the karaoke bars and boxes for decades.
Iyo-chan's"Love Me Tender" is neither rock n' roll nor a ballad, to say the least. It is a cute little aidoru ditty that seems to have incorporated a bit of that Doobie Bounce and a background chorus that had me thinking of the Manhattan Transfer or the Norman Luboff Choir from the 1960s. Written by Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）and composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, it's a fun and smooth teenybopper song that can go with her "Sentimental Journey", which had also been created by the tandem of Yukawa and Tsutsumi. "Love Me Tender" just missed out on another Top 10 ranking by peaking at No. 11 and it finished 1982 as the No. 89 single of the year. According to J-Wiki, it stands as her 3rd-most successful single, selling a little over 160,000 records.
I guess that I can say now that there is something called the Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）sound. But this sound is rather time-locked in that it is most likely applicable just to the early-mid 1980s when Ohnuki herself was weaving tunes that not only had a touch of European class but also some of that technopop flair thanks also to her collaborator, Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）.
(15:58)
Case in point: it was only three days ago when I could detect that composing signature in Jennifer Connelly's"Ai no Monologue"（愛のモノローグ）even before I confirmed that it was Ohnuki who composed that particular tune. For this particular song here, I actually listened to Ritsuko Kazami's（風見律子）"Onna Tomodachi: Reira no Baai" (Female Friend: Reira's Case) a few weeks ago, and after I'd finished the video, that Eureka moment flashed in my head and exclaimed "Yes, that's an Ohnuki!" as if it were some vintage car.
In fact, I had it pegged even before the 30-second mark with Kazami's way of delivering the vocals: high and slightly halting. Plus, there's that certain melody line which is rich but playful and quirky with the busy keyboards. It's classy City Pop with a French twist going into the late 1980s but with that Sakamoto/Ohnukitechnopop arrangement. Along with Ohnuki, Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）provided the lyrics.
"Onna Tomodachi" shares the Kazamialbum"Aventurier"(1986) with the title track, also a City Pop number with a venturesome streak but with a different feeling. At this rate, I'm going to have to seriously think about investing in this album.
Coming in on the JET Programme at the turn of the decade between the 1980s and the 1990s, I was witness to a number of changes in Japanese popular music, including the appearance of hard rock bands, or at least pop bands with a bit more of a guitar edge to them. It was also the time that female pop/rock bands like Princess Princess and Pink Sapphire hit the scene.
Another all-female band that I had heard about was SHOW-YA. And this band has been around since about 1981 so it's also one of the pioneers. However, they didn't put out their debut single until 1985, which turned out to be a new jingle for Coca-Cola.
Their second single, "Shidokenaku Emotion", came out in February 1986, and listening to it, I got that pop/rock feeling of Styx to a certain extent which was a bit surprising since they've been classified as a hard rock/glam metal/heavy metal (!) band. Apparently, according to their history in J-Wiki, when they were about to break out, the powers-that-be and SHOW-YA were playing some tug-of-war in terms of their image. The latter really wanted to rock out but the former preferred to market them as an aidoru group...a pretty wide chasm. Perhaps that may have filtered down to how their early singles were arranged, although I'm surely no SHOW-YA expert (so, once again, I ask for some help here). Still, watching their performances in the videos above and below, it looks like the band struck a more positive compromise in terms of their looks. They definitely did not look anything like an Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）clone, although remembering at least one of their later music videos, they were yet to appear as ferocious.
The members of SHOW-YA are vocalist Keiko Terada（寺田恵子）, keyboardist/leader Miki Nakamura（中村美紀）, guitarist Miki Igarashi（五十嵐美貴）, drummer Miki Tsunoda（角田美喜）and bassist Satomi Senba（仙波さとみ）. With the plethora of Mikis in the band, nicknames were given so that Nakamura was known as the Captain, Igarashi was Sun-Go, and Tsunoda was mittan. The Captain was the composer of "Shidokenaku Emotion" with Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）being the lyricist. I was kinda wondering how to translate the title into English since I could only find the one definition on Jisho.org as being "slovenly" which didn't quite fit my image. Perhaps "Ragged Emotions" might be a better interpretation?
One question about the band was on how they had come up with the name. Well, half the answer was how I figured that it would turn out and the other was a complete revelation. When Nakamura and Terada were working together on the preceding version of the band, known as Medusa（メデューサ）back then, the band hadn't been doing too well in the various contests, and they both agreed that "Medusa" was a bit of a pox on them.
Well, the ladies decided to change the name to SHOW-YA, based on the izakaya chain they used to drink at all the time, Syoya (庄や...I think my friends and I have visited a few branches, too). As for the altered romaji spelling, they realized that the words were also an expression of defiance as in "I'LL SHOW YA!".
Between 1985 and 1992, SHOW-YA released 12 singles and 8 albums with two changes in vocalists after Terada had left the band in early 1991. Steffanie Borges took over as the 2nd vocalist between 1991 and 1997, and then Yoshino took over as the 3rd vocalist for the final year until SHOW-YA called it a day in 1998. However in 2005, about 20 years after releasing that first single, Terada returned to get the band together and release at least one more single and a few more albums since then, on top of going back on the road.
Happy Monday! It's somewhat harder for me to keep tabs on what is current in Japanese music these days without watching "Uta Kon"（うたコン）, and for whatever reason, TV Japan likes to throw on "Music Station" in the wee hours. However, I have an inkling that funk and soul aren't in the ascendant these days, and I do miss those genres.
Which is why I always cherish a lot of the singers and music from the past such as sweet-singing Keizo Nakanishi（中西圭三）. I found another soulful ballad from his 3rd album"Steps" from March 1993.
Titled "Yoru ni Hi wo Tsukete"(Light the Night), it fades in rather gently for the first several seconds before a bass or a bass synth joins the melody followed by a wailing guitar and some wistful chords. Then Nakanishi starts his heartfelt message, imploring a woman who may have left him to reconsider and bring back some light into his life. I enjoy that nighttime Latin soul.
As far as I'm concerned, Nakanishi could sing the first hundred pages of a phone directory and he would have a hit on his hands. Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）provided the lyrics while the singer and Takao Konishi（小西貴雄）composed the song. "Steps" hit No. 1 on the charts.
This is an interesting entry by the band Juicy Fruits（ジューシィ・フルーツ）. I've long known this group, fronted by guitarist Atsuko "Ilya" Okuno（奥野敦子）, as this New Wave-y unit with one foot in good ol' rock n' roll and the other foot in technopop.
However, with their 7th May 1984 album"Come On Swing", though the title track starts off with a familiar quirky keyboard tap-tap-tapping that continues to pop up here and there, the whole song takes things into a different arena. Even Okuno's voice, which I had always heard as high and chirpy, comes down lower in this song that's not a jazz tune despite the title, but a tune that takes a right turn into something akin to Fashion Music with Asami Kado（門あさ美）and Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）. With that keyboard work, I also thought of early 1980s Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）as well. Juicy Fruits guitarist Toshihiko Shibaya（柴矢俊彦）composed this classy melody (there's even a warm sax solo), while prolific lyricist Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）came up with the words which set up an environment for a final night of romance in high style with glasses of Kir Royale and lamé heels. If you break it off with someone, do so with an American Express Platinum card on hand!
I haven't been able to find any other tracks from "Come On Swing" on YouTube, but I would be interested in hearing what they do sound like. By the way, this album was their final album to date.
The coupling song to the addictive "Ticket to Paradise", Keizo Nakanishi's（中西圭三）5th single from July 1992,"Kanashimi no Storm" (Storm of Grief) is also very uptempo but has the singer-songwriter begging for his girlfriend to give him one more chance, lest he drowns in an ocean of his own tears.
Instead of the Motown spirit that has gone into a lot of Nakanishi's songs in the 1990s, "Kanashimi no Storm" has got more of the R&B including funk from that particular time period. Of course, Nakanishi's voice propels it forward as much as the beat does. Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）provided the lyrics while Nakanishi and Takao Konishi（小西貴雄）came up with the musical goods. This particular song didn't get onto any original album but is included in the singer's first BEST compilation "SINGLES" from 1994.
