Rie Ida & 42nd Street -- Koi no Arashi（恋の嵐）

 

Looking over the file for Rie Ida（井田リエ）& 42nd Street, I was somewhat shocked to see that all of the six songs that I've featured on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" have been from 1980 such as "Star"（スター）. I'm not sure if I'd had some sort of fixation on that year.

Allow me to expand on her discography, temporally speaking, by going back to their 1977 debut album "Street Talk". The track that starts it off is the wistful "Koi no Arashi" (Love Storm). Written by Hikari or Kou Kurashiki（倉敷光）and composed by Yoshihiro Yonekura（米倉良広）, it's a pleasant slow simmer of disco and soul which certainly doesn't come across as something that Ida was trepidatious about. Her breathy vocals, the silvery strings and the sax solo give a good sign about the next few years in 42nd Street's career. I will always appreciate a song which brings images of enjoying a beer at the top of a New York brownstone at the end of a day.

Rie Ida & 42nd Street -- Star（スター）

 

The first time I ever landed in the Big Apple was in 1993, so I was several years too late for disco and certainly as a minor (and a very uncool one, at that), I would never have gotten past the entrance into Studio 54 in Manhattan in those 1970s. But somehow, even as a kid in elementary school and then junior high school, I heard about this club which attracted all sorts including the celebs.

I was reminded of that haven of hedonism as I was listening to Rie Ida（井田リエ）& 42nd Street's single "Star" from 1980. Yep, by that year, disco was already becoming a music pariah although acts such as Earth Wind & Fire were still holding the torch and apparently, Japan never got the memo. Drummer and R&B singer Hiro Tsunoda（つのだ☆ひろ）was responsible for words and music for this one that sounds like the aforementioned EWF and ABBA's love child as the lady in the song wants to become a star...maybe of the dance floor. The arrangement is such that she could have grabbed that brass ring simply on the melody alone.

Rie Ida & 42nd Street -- Kaーkeーhiーki

 

It's been a while since I last put up an article for Rie Ida（井田リエ）& 42nd Street and I've got this relatively quieter song by her and the band. This song is "Kaーkeーhiーki" (Bargaining) from their November 1980 album "Step In My Heart" and though a number of definitions exist for this term which is written in kanji as「駆け引き」, I gather that Kayako Taiji's*（太地夏夜子）lyrics describe about the give-and-take of love in a relationship which can unfortunately snap like an overstretched cord. 

Mitsuhiro Sonoyama's（園山光博）melody is a laidback one, heard as a slow strut as if one of the partners in the relationship is taking a cooling-off walk in a que sera sera way. It's some nice old-fashioned soul for the good ol' soul. Love the Latin guitar solo here.

*I tried tracking down the correct way to say the lyricist's family name but couldn't confirm it here, and Jisho has given a number of readings for it. If anyone is able to inform me of the proper reading, I would appreciate it.

Rie Ida & 42nd Street -- Blue Harbor Street（ブルー・ハーバー・ストリート）

 

It's been well over a decade since I was last in Yokohama. Would still love to take a stroll through the city at night (or day), especially through Chinatown and the Minato Mirai area once more. I still remember the all-garlic restaurant that my friend and I patronized in the Landmark Mall in Landmark Tower. Good stuff and we were "guaranteed" empty subway seats when we were on our way home.🧄

I also remember the last time that I posted a song by Rie Ida（井田リエ）& 42nd Street back in late 2020, lamenting that more than a year had gone by since the previous entry for this City Pop band. Well...I was even worse this time out at nearly three years. 😓 Therefore with plenty of sheepishness in my heart, I bring you "Blue Harbor Street", Ida's single from December 1980.

Some of my guilt is being assuaged by the soothing urban and urbane City Pop vibe of that turn of the decade. I've usually reserved my "caviar-and-champagne" expression for the Bubble Era variety of City Pop at the end of the 80s, but "Blue Harbor Street" which is all about Yokohama simply has that feeling, too and that was all the way back over forty years ago. As I said, I would love to walk through the area again someday. "Blue Harbor Street" was written by Naoko Nishio（西尾尚子）and composed by Yoshihiro Yonekura（米倉良広）, the same songwriters behind that previous Ida song that I'd written about, "Silver Airline", also from 1980. 

Anyways, enjoy the top video, courtesy of Virtual Japan.

Rie Ida & 42nd Street -- Silver Airline（シルバー・エアライン）

 

Well, this time around, the gap has been considerably longer but allow me to welcome back Rie Ida（井田リエ）& 42nd Street once more to the files of "Kayo Kyoku Plus". I provided a couple of their tunes back in 2019: "Party wo Nukedashite"（パーティーを抜け出して）and "Love Time Good Time"（ラブ・タイム・グッド・タイム）.

Ida and her band provided some of that old-fashioned American soul music via City Pop, and this time I bring you "Silver Airline", the first track on 42nd Street's 1980 album "Step In My Heart". Written by Naoko Nishio（西尾尚子）and composed by Yoshihiro Yonekura（米倉良広）, compared to the already mentioned and bouncy "Love Time Good Time", which was the 2nd track on this release, "Silver Airline" is a more contemplative and beautiful piece talking of someone's perhaps bittersweet departure from the Big Apple. I would have thought that this would have taken up the third spot in the Side A lineup or even the final track on Side B...not that I'm complaining, mind you.

When I first saw the title of the song, "Silver Airline", my mind immediately thought of what I think is the unofficial logo of the genre of City Pop, that airplane taking off for places exotic and unknown (although I usually conjure up California or Hawaii). It's a bit ironic then that this particular starter for "Step In My Heart" is about actually leaving one of those dream cities in the City Pop realm. Anyways, those stirring strings and bluesy sax make for a fine accompaniment as the titular plane leaves LaGuardia or JFK.

Rie Ida & 42nd Street -- Love Time Good Time（ラブ・タイム・グッド・タイム）

Strangely enough, while I was listening to this song, my memories returned to this photo from my 2014 Tokyo trip. This is a shot of traffic in the Daimon neighbourhood somewhere between JR Shimbashi Station and the Tokyo Prince Hotel, and it's one of the photographs in the collection that I enjoy the most because of the buildings in the background and how the late afternoon sunlight strikes their windows just so.

The song is "Love Time Good Time" by Rie Ida & 42nd Street（井田リエ＆ 42nd STREET）which is placed as the 2nd track on one of the band's three albums "Step in My Heart" (1980). I wrote my first article on Ida earlier this year in April since another song of theirs, "Party wo Nukedashite"（パーティーを抜け出して）got placed on one of the many "Light Mellow" compilation CDs.

Unlike "Party wo Nukedashite", "Love Time Good Time" isn't quite as groovy in the arrangement but indeed it's got an upbeat skip and strut in its shoes. However, like that song, Ida demonstrates some fine and hearty vocals (reminds me of Hitomi Tohyama/当山ひとみ) and there is also some nice punchy brass. In addition, I think the reason that I've associated it with that photo of Daimon up above is that it sounds like the type of song that I would like playing on the car radio while driving in that very area. It kinda fulfills what City Pop is all about...a good car drive of a song.

Naoko Nishio（西尾尚子）took care of the lyrics while 42nd Street guitarist Yoshihiro Yonekura（米倉良広）provided the bouncy music. As I mentioned, the original LP had been released back in 1980, but it looks like it got the re-release earlier this year at Tower Records.

Rie Ida & 42nd Street -- Party wo Nukedashite（パーティーを抜け出して）

Found another winner on the "Light Mellow ~ Highway" disc that I would like to feature here for all of you City Pop fans on "Kayo Kyoku Plus".

Weirdly enough, this lady and her band weren't featured in "Japanese City Pop" but Rie Ida & 42nd Street（井田リエ＆ 42nd STREET）were able to get some of their songs onto the "Light Mellow" series including this track from their 2nd of three albums, "Star" from 1980. Titled "Party wo Nukedashite" (Get Me Out of the Party), it has that nice set of warm honeyed horns and mellow keyboards backing up the light and soulful vocals of Ida.

Unfortunately there isn't much else written up on Ida and 42nd Street but unlike Takako Mamiya（間宮貴子）and her lone album, at least Ida was able to get that total of three LPs out. "Party wo Nukedashite" was written by Hiroko Hagita（萩田寛子）and composed by 42nd Street guitarist, Yoshihiro Yonekura（米倉良弘）, who would later create some other genre songs for folks such as Hitomi Tohyama（当山ひとみ）. Hiro Tsunoda（つのだ☆ひろ）of "Mary Jane"（メリー・ジェーン）fame was on drums here.

In the song, Rie is begging someone to take her out of this stuffy party for much more fun outside in the fresher and healthier air. Considering how smoking must have been back in those days, I wouldn't blame her, although if she had truly been wearing that leopard-skin outfit on the cover of "Star", I would have given her a heavy coat.