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.
Soulful singer-songwriter Roberta Flack has had representation on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" via Reminiscings of Youth with two songs, her iconic "Killing Me Softly with His Song" and her 1983 duet with Peabo Bryson, "Born to Love". Unfortunately, her third article on KKP in a special ROY today is being posted on the day that she died at the age of 88.
As I mentioned in the ROY article for "Killing Me Softly with His Song", Flack and her ballad were something that I heard as a boy while being driven home from family friends' houses. Her relaxing vocals and the arrangement stuck with me as I was nodding off to sleep in the backseat of the car while watching the street lamps go by.
Her June 10th 1974 single "Feel Like Makin' Love" is another classic that I used to hear all the time on radio in the car and in the apartment. It's become so ubiquitous through cover versions and the like that I had to do some hunting before I found out that it was Flack who had originally recorded it with Eugene McDaniels taking care of the songwriting. Rather than getting images of late-night dark skies, "Feel Like Makin' Love" (without realizing what the title meant at the time) had me thinking of Sunday afternoon strolls in the park because it was such a relaxing and friendly number.
As one commenter put it, Flack's vocals were like warm butter. I'll raise that person's bet and say that they were like warm butter sliding down a stack of fluffy pancakes. "Feel Like Makin' Love" hit No. 1 on both the American and Canadian charts. My condolences go to her family, friends and fans.
Singer-songwriter Miki Imai（今井美樹）covered the Flack classic in her December 1988 album of covers "Fiesta". I remember placing the CD into the Onkyo stereo and although I knew it was a release of her singing other people's major hits, it was still a shock to hear her covering this particular one. Maybe it was because the song went all the way back to my early childhood.
Anyways, what were hitting the Top 3 on the Oricon chart back on June 10th 1974?
As noted earlier in the first ROY article for today, I was going to put up a second ROY article for the Fourth of July holiday, and if it hadn't been for finding out that Eddie Murphy was back for another round of "Beverly Hills Cop", I would have just focused on this classic ballad instead.
Now, Roberta Flack already has representation on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" through a 1983 duet that she did with Peabo Bryson called "Born to Love", but of course, I just had to include what is arguably her most famous song, "Killing Me Softly with His Song". Released on January 22nd 1973, I used to hear this on AM radio as a kid but there was one time when the classic really hit my soul...as cornball as that may sound.
When we were little, it was frequently the case that my family would visit other families for New Year's Day or simply just to socialize. The visits would go fairly far into the night, and if there were other kids involved, we would be playing with them in the basement while the grownups chattered in the living room. My brother and I would get dragged reluctantly back to the car for the drive home. Not surprisingly, we would be getting drowsy in the back seat and the car radio would be on. The radio was usually on CKEY Toronto which used to play music like any other station before it became multicultural CHKT in the early 1990s. In any case, at that time at night, a lot of the romantic ballads would come on, and guess what, one of those ballads was indeed Flack's "Killing Me Softly with His Song". As I was in that twilight zone between wakefulness and sleep, the song hazily entered my ears while the night sky and lights were speeding by and some of the cool breeze was flying through the slightly ajar window. It made for a perfect environment for a soulful lullaby as the singer's dulcet tones gently lay me down to sleep, bracketed by the mellow tones of the DJ. I don't particularly like to remember much from my childhood but that one memory will always stick with me.
"Killing Me Softly with His Song" went to No. 1 in the United States, Canada and Australia, and according to Wikipedia, the ballad spent five non-consecutive weeks at No. 1 in America which beat every other record that year, although Billboard would ultimately rank it at No. 3 for 1973. Once again, I've been left surprised on finding out that the Roberta Flack single was actually a cover for the original by Lori Lieberman who had provided the lyrics with Norman Gimbel with Charles Fox composing the melody. That original was released in 1972 but wasn't successful.
Just by luck, I was able to find the Top 10 on Oricon for January 22nd 1973. Allow me to show you what came into the top 3 slots.
1. Shiro Miya & The Pinkara Trio -- Onna no Michi (女のみち）
With all of the craziness out there these days, including last night's Super Bowl, people may be forgiven if they forgot today is Valentine's Day. Hopefully though, folks are celebrating with romantic dinners, movies and chocolates.
Ah, speaking of the Super Bowl, there will always be the trailers for upcoming blockbuster movies during the broadcast, and along with the ad for the upcoming "Moon Knight", "Dr. Strange and the Multiverse of Madness" was unveiled for everyone's perusal and it basically exploded one Marvel-loving corner of the Internet due to it being more chock-filled with stuff and goodness than a really loaded bowl of minestrone. Well, I guess that May 6th can't come soon enough.
There was also sad news from entertainment. Ivan Reitman, the director of movies including "Ghostbusters", "Dave" and "Stripes" passed away over the weekend at the age of 75. Growing up in Toronto, he'd produced and directed so many flicks, but "Ghostbusters" will always be the movie that I identify him with. It wasn't a perfect movie by any means but it still had plenty of heart among the characters and the situation, and there's a part of me who would love to get a Ghostbuster uniform with a proton pack.
In any case, getting back to the matter at hand, I wanted to start this week off with a special Valentine's Day issue of Reminiscings of Youth since although I have paid tribute to the observed holiday in years past with kayo, I don't quite remember whether I actually recognized February 14th with a ROY article.
Now, in all honesty, I never bought the album "Born to Love", a July 1983 release with Roberta Flack and Peabo Bryson recording duets, but I know two of the tracks there because they were on heavy rotation on the radio back when I was in high school. One is "Tonight I Celebrate My Love" which was released as a single in that same year. Though I am about as romantic as a piece of gneiss during a blizzard, I retain a sweet spot for the romantic ballads of the 1980s filtered through soul and Quiet Storm, and that includes "Tonight I Celebrate My Love" which was created by Gerry Goffin and Michael Masser. Will always love a good Fender Rhodes in this way. It did pretty well on the charts as well, placing in at No. 4 on Canada's RPM and the same rank on Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart.
Another track that I remember is "You're Lookin' Like Love To Me" which, as I mentioned above, is a song by Flack and Bryson that I heard frequently on the FM band at stations like CHFI here in Toronto. Bob Gaudio, Bob Crewe and Jerry Corbetta were responsible for this song which is also filled with lots of juicy love but has a bit more pop in its step. With both songs, the vocals are just top-notch and listening to them again has brought back a lot of nostalgia and memories of cramming away for examinations and the like.
Going to the Oricon chart for July 1983, what were the Top 3 singles back then?
