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.
The above video is how I first found out about the eclectic band SUPERCAR, and I did mention this fact in the first article about them, "BGM". This time, though, it's going to be about "Yumegiwa Last Boy" whose title has been represented all in romaji with yumegiwa（夢際）translating as "verge of a dream" so the title can be seen as "Last Boy on the Verge of a Dream". Sounds all very "Inception".
However, "Yumegiwa Last Boy" came out several years before that Christopher Nolan classic was released as SUPERCAR's 11th single in November 2001. Created by SUPERCAR guitarist Junji Ishiwatari（石渡淳治）and vocalist Koji Nakamura（中村弘二）, I'm not quite sure what the relatively minimalist lyrics are all about, but the music especially with the drone-like views of various landscapes in the video makes this a very soothing experience. I am curious about one part of the video though in which cash is falling over a snowscape; perhaps it represents an Imperial equivalent of a bank truck exploding over Hoth.
Peaking at No. 43 on Oricon, "Yumegiwa Last Boy" is also included on the band's 4th album"HIGHVISION" which was released in April 2002 and went as high as No. 11 on the album charts. It was also used as the theme song for the live-action movie adaptation of the manga "Ping Pong"（ピンポン）which also came out in the same year.
I've also read that "Yumegiwa Last Boy" and a number of other later creations by SUPERCAR represent the Japanese wing of the genre Futurepop that I don't know too much about. Apparently in Japan, the genre is additionally represented by bands such as The Aprils（エイプリルズ）, Genki Rockets（元気ロケッツ）and Perfume. Marcos V. and I have already written about the last two bands but I've yet to explore the discography of The Aprils and will do so.
This is the second theme song for a TBS drama that I've written about today after Kumi Showji's（障子久美）"Ano Koro no Youni"（あの頃のように）. Whenever I think of Superfly, aka singer-songwriter Shiho Ochi（越智志帆）, I always remember that one student I had over a decade ago in my final school. I've mentioned her in past Superfly articles, but she had the appearance and soul of a free-living hippie, and indeed she's the one who first introduced me to Superfly.
That theme song was for "Edison no Haha"（エジソンの母...Edison's Mother）, a 2008 comedy-drama about an elementary school teacher who has one young man as a student who may be a genius on a par with the legendary Thomas Alva Edison.
Now I've heard "Ai wo Komete Hanataba wo" (Put Love in a Bouquet) before, and it's been treated as the breakthrough song and one of the most successful hits for Superfly. This was the 4th single released in February 2008 and the first single after the composer for the song, Koichi Tabo（多保孝一）, had left the partnership in 2007 although according to the Wikipedia article for Superfly, he still remains "...the group's composer and part-time lyricist". The article for the song itself mentions that Tabo in fact created the melody all the way back in 1997 when he was in his mid-teens and that "Ai wo Komete Hanataba wo" was performed at a number of venues even before Superfly made their official debut in 2006.
Tabo's original lyrics were replaced by ones by Ochi and SUPERCAR member Junji Ishiwatari（いしわたり淳治）for the sake of its use as the theme song for "Edison no Haha". This guitar pop-rock song is beautifully delivered by Ochi and has plenty of heart and hope with an arrangement that is not just contemporary but also brings back a certain 1970s pop nostalgia...perhaps some Janis Joplin? That student who had cottoned me onto Superfly was also a big fan of hers.
I can imagine those opening notes on the piano bringing an applause of recognition whenever the song is played. It's been stated in the article on "Ai wo Komete Hanataba wo" that the song was a new beginning for the now solo member of Superfly, Ochi, and indeed it became a successful restart for her. Although going no higher than No. 13 on Oricon, it did break into the Top 10 on the Billboard Japan Top 100 chart (No. 7) and Billboard Adult Contemporary Airplay chart (No. 9). Moreover, the song was a darling for the cellphones in terms of ringtone downloads as it broke the Million barrier, and it went Triple Platinum and Double Platinum (on J-Wiki) for full-length cellphone downloads and PC downloads respectively (although according to Wikipedia, the PC downloads "only" merited a Platinum). Superfly also got its 2nd of 4 invitations to perform "Ai wo Komete Hanataba wo" on the 2017 edition of NHK's Kohaku Utagassen.
The song also got onto Superfly's self-titled debut album which came out in May 2008 and hit No. 1 as well as end up as the 22nd-ranked release of the year. It shares CD space with "Vancouver" and "Hi-Five".
Happy weekend! We finally got some of that rain that we needed although things are still rather steamy out there if a bit cooler.
I'm not quite sure when I first encountered Asako Toki（土岐麻子）and her brand of light pop. Certainly, it was when I was still living in Japan so probably in the late 2000s. Either it was her cover of Yellow Magic Orchestra's"Kimi ni Mune Kyun"（君に、胸キュン）or Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）"Komugi Iro no Mermaid" (小麦色のマーメイド）that I heard at the CD section of a department store in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, not too far away from my city of Ichikawa. Being a fan of both songs helped but it was also that coquettish but not supremely high-toned voice that lured me into her grasp. Eventually, I would get a couple of albums by the Tokyo-born singer, her 2011 BEST album"Light" and then her 2010 original album"Ranhansha Girl"(Girl of Diffuse Reflection).
Both albums have one song that I've already covered, her own cover of "Human Nature" originally by Michael Jackson for the amazing "Thriller" album and performed by her and Sho Wada（和田唱）of the rock band TRICERATOPS.
But today is on "Ranhansha Girl" which is her 4th major studio album from May 2010. It's been categorized on J-Wiki as a rock album but after listening to it a few times, I really don't think so. Case in point: there's the second and title track about a guy who's about ready to give up on the journey of love when he gets hit by the light of a lady who's apparently half-woman and half-extremely polished prism. He doesn't stand a chance. Written by Toki and composed by Daisuke Kawaguchi（川口大輔）, this is very twinkly pop with strings attached for that light sophistication.
That J-Wiki rock label gets further driven away with Track 3, "Nessa no Onna"（熱砂の女...Hot Sand Woman）. The title track had its elements of synthpop but "Nessa no Onna" gets even deeper into the synths with this bouncy and dreamy tune that tries to encourage the title lady to get back onto the romance track again. Toki was behind the lyrics here, too, with G.RINA providing the melody.
"Usubeni no CITY"（薄紅のCITY...Light Pink City） is one of my favourites on "Ranhansha Girl" as it takes on that contemporary form of City Pop while it describes a refreshing view of the life in the metropolis as the shackles of winter finally come off. Provide a romanticized model of your favourite city (Tokyo, Toronto or New York, for example) and "Usubeni no CITY" can be the theme song as you head downstairs to that brunch place for prosciutto-filled croissants and coffee. Junji Ishiwatari（いしわたり淳治）, guitarist for the band SUPERCAR, provided the lyrics while Hidetoshi Sakurai（桜井秀俊）of Magokoro Brothers（真心ブラザーズ）was behind the happy music.
Along with Michael Jackson's"Human Nature", Toki has also provided another cover of a song by a legend. This time, it's The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" with that mix of Toki mellow pop and friendly small-town feeling. Kazumasa Hashimoto（カズマサ・ハシモト）arranged it, and I remember it well since it was used as the commercial song for docomo. Incidentally "All You Need Is Love" is the very first song by The Fab Four that I had ever heard...maybe it was because of my viewing of "Yellow Submarine" on CBS when I was a toddler.
My final song for the article today is "Sentimental" which is also another winner in my books. With lyrics by Toki and music by Kensuke Okuda（奥田健介）, guitarist/keyboardist of Nona Reeves, I love it for the sunny soulful groove. When I saw its involvement by someone from a band like Nona Reeves, I figured that it would get my aural stamp of approval. In addition to that groove, I also like the crystalline sound of the synthesizer that takes things into a more futuristic environment; I'm pushing it a tad far here, admittedly, but "Sentimental" almost sounds like the return of 70s/80s R&B in the 22nd century.
"Ranhansha Girl" had been another one of those albums that I let stew a while after my first listening to it but returning to it, I'm happy that I can appreciate it even more now. The album peaked at No. 32 on Oricon.
Nope, not exactly a supercar but it's a nice little Suzuki that I came across during my travels in Japan, and for privacy reasons, I have covered up the license plate.
As for the band SUPERCAR, I never got to know them that well during their run between 1995 and 2005, but from seeing one of their videos on the Viewsic music channel when I was living in Ichikawa, my impression was that this was an indie technopop band.
From what I found out from their Wikipedia page, though, was that they had started out as an alternative rock group but midway, the members introduced some more electronica for the duration of their time together.
I came across this video by SUPERCAR for their 14th single"BGM" released in November 2003, and it does have that mixture of alternative and analog synths that take me back to my high school days. Perhaps they were even inspired a bit by "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". Watching the video, I was wondering that wouldn't it be nice if there were a flowing ribbon of water in the sky throughout Tokyo. Fresh water right outside of your window.
The song, which was written by guitarist Junji Ishiwatari（石渡淳治）and composed by vocalist/keyboardist Koji Nakamura（中村弘二）, is hypnotic and spooky at the same time with Nakamura intoning the lyrics at times like a New Age priest of sorts. It peaked at No. 38 on Oricon and also belongs to SUPERCAR's 5th and final album"Answer" from February 2004. That release went as high as No. 18.
Along with Ishiwatari and Nakamura, SUPERCAR also had Miki Furukawa（古川美季）as bassist and Kodai Tazawa（田沢公大）on drums.
