Ritsuko Tanaka -- Have A Good Weekend

 

Well, seeing that we here in North America and other places are on the cusp of the Good Friday/Easter Monday long weekend, maybe it's nice that I finish off my contributions for today with something appropriate. For that matter, we're not too far off from the Golden Week holidays in Japan.

Back around Halloween 2018, I posted late 80s/early 90s aidoru Ritsuko Tanaka's（田中律子）November 1990 single "Fried Frustration"（フライドフラストレーション）onto the blog. It was a happily zany little boogie that I've heard on a Halls lozenge commercial featuring the Tokyo native.

The coupling song "Have A Good Weekend" is a more synth-heavy party-hearty sort of song for those who are planning to hit Shibuya or Roppongi. Written by Natsumi Tadano（只野菜摘）and composed by Hiroaki Suzuki（鈴木弘明）, I can imagine Tanaka and her buddies getting all gussied up for a night out on the town. Not sure if this one made it to commercial.

Litz Co. -- Aoi Natsu ni Mi wo Makase（青い夏に身をまかせ）

 

Well, let's see...the unofficial start to summer is here represented by our Victoria Day weekend. It's pretty hot and humid which is perfect weather for storms to form. Guess what? We just got walloped by a major line of boomers that earned us a one-hour power outage. But everything is hunky-dory for now.

On that note then, maybe something appropriately summery can begin today's broadcasting day on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Ritsuko Tanaka（田中律子）already has a previous article on KKP through her 8th single "Fried Frustration"（フライドフラストレーション）from November 1990. Today, we have her 11th and final single to date from August 1993 under the name Litz Co., "Aoi Natsu ni Mi wo Makase" (Surrender to the Blue Summer). 

With lyrics by Tanaka herself, the melody was woven by UNI, who is really Michiya Haruhata（春畑道哉）, one of the members from that really summery band TUBE. Indeed, there is something quite TUBE-like with this samba song which was arranged by Takeshi Hayama（葉山たけし）, a fellow who has had plenty of experience with another summery singer Maki Ohguro（大黒摩季）along with a plethora of Being artists including ZARD, WANDS and REV. Come to think of it, "Aoi Natsu ni Mi wo Makase" also sounds somewhat like an Ohguro tune, too. Actually, a number of those artists helped out in the recording with Hayama on guitar, synthesizer and whistle, and Seiichiro Kuribayashi（栗林誠一郎）and Fusanosuke Kondo（近藤房之助）on chorus.

The song was also the ending theme for a TV Asahi drama "Shonan Joshi Ryou Monogatari"（湘南女子寮物語...The Story of Shonan Girls' Dormitory） which had Tanaka in the cast along with the star Yutaka Mizutani（水谷豊）, years from his most recognized role as the wise and urbane detective on the long-running "Aibou"（相棒...Partners）. Ironically, Tanaka's final single was her first single to chart within the Top 100 at No. 93.

I also have the opening theme: "Shonan Memory"（湘南メモリー）by LEON.

Ritsuko Tanaka -- Fried Frustration（フライドフラストレーション）

Appropriate commercial since we're looking at Halloween tomorrow. Anyways, Ritsuko Tanaka（田中律子）has been a fairly common presence on TV since she has worn the three hats of aidoru, tarento and actress. She appeared on that 1991 drama "Hyaku-ikkai me no Propose"（101回目のプロポーズ...The 101st Proposal）with Tetsuya Takeda（武田鉄矢）and Atsuko Asano（浅野温子）, and was a co-host on a popular Saturday morning variety show on TBS, "Ousama no Brunch"（王様のブランチ...The King's Brunch）in the mid-1990s.

However, the first time that I saw Tanaka was on those Halls Lozenges commercials where she sang some cute little jingle.

I didn't know that this was actually a single by Tanaka. In fact, it kinda surprised that his was her 8th of 11 singles from November 1990 that she released in her relatively brief singing career since this was the only song that I've registered with her. None of her songs ever got anywhere near the Oricon Top 10; the "closest" one ranked in at No. 93. She also put out 5 albums.

"Fried Frustration" is a tune that I would never have imagined with those two words put together. If I've read the lyrics by Natsumi Tadano（只野菜摘）correctly, it's just about the trials and tribulations of trying to get into love. As for the music, that is by Tadashi Uchiyama（内山肇...I hope that I got the first name right）, and it's pretty catchy although the song will never threaten my Top 10 list. However, I do like the synth work and the chorus with their "SHOO-BE-DOO-WOP-BOP!"