Marcos V.'s Special Selection: Saki Takaoka

As I’ve written before, Saki Takaoka (高岡早紀) was not the most talented aidoru out there in the vocal department. Sure, the girl was still very young when she ventured into singing, but I think she had better chances as an actress. Anyway, with four studio albums released between 1989 and 1991, it’s interesting to see what she had under her sleeves at the time. Also, since she kept releasing music eventually over the years, I’m going to showcase one of her recent songs as well, which was included in her 30^th anniversary best album.

First, let’s talk about “Dancing in the SUNSET” a little bit. Serving as the opening song to her third album, “Romancero”, which was released in September 1990, this is a curious one. According to the album title, which is in Spanish, we should be expecting some Spanish-sounding songs, which we do get on the album, but this first one is a Middle-Eastern/Arabic-influenced piece full of those amazing yet oppressive strings in the background and a dramatic, haunting delivery by Takaoka.

Maybe the producers were acknowledging the old Moorish cultural heritage that exists in Spain, especially in the Andaluzia region, because it would be strange if they had just dropped an Arabic-sounding song out of nowhere in a Spanish-themed album. In fact, I think I can also hear the Spanish influence as well, but maybe I’m being misled by the album’s overall thematic. Anyway, like J-Canuck pointed out in the comments section, “Dancing in the SUNSET” is a good example of exotic kayo.

The next song I want to talk about is called “Ni-ya-oo”, and it was released by Takaoka as a single in September 1991, on the same day of her fourth and last proper studio album, “S’Wonderful!” (it also made the album cut, by the way).

Unlike the Spanish-sounding “Romancero” from the year before, “S’Wonderful!” is focused on a spy theme. Yeah, spy, for some reason. And it generally works in the album’s context.

I think “Ni-ya-oo”, on the other hand, have nothing to do with spy, but its cabaret big band style surprisingly doesn’t sound out of context on the album. Also, it’s a very sexual song, which I think suits Takaoka well (maybe her character on 2016’s drama “Kenja no Ai” [賢者の愛], in which she co-starts with Miho Nakayama [中山美穂], is still very vivid in my mind). It’s better for her to whisper-sing in this seductive way than to belt songs like a diva (In her defense, I think she never tried something like that, though).

Another one from the “S’Wonderful!” album, and this time with the spy theme, “Spy ni Naritai” (スパイになりたい) truly sounds like a James Bond song, thanks to the gimmicky arrangement. Again, Takaoka’s vocals are sexy here, and I think this was the correct vocal direction for this album.

Besides being a novelty song, I like it very much. This spy theme was probably very creative at the time, since it wasn’t something explored by other aidoru. Unfortunately, Takaoka wasn’t able to make a big impression as a singer, even though composers and producers showcased some creativity and vision towards her music. It doens't help that aidoru was virtually dead by 1991.

Finally, here’s “Ai no Mukou Gawa” (愛のムコウガワ), which was included in Takaoka’s 30^th anniversary best album, “All Time Best Album ~The Other Side of Love~”, released in December 2018. In this song, we can listen to Takaoka as a mature lady, and I can say she has improved a lot over the years.

As for the song, it’s a light disco tune that’s pleasant enough, even if far from the dramatic tunes from the past, like the aforementioned “Dancing in the SUNSET” and “Nemurenu Mori no Bishoujo” (眠れぬ森の美女), or not so daring as “Ni-ya-oo”. What it introduces, though, is a sort of longing, or late-night melancholy, which I think the young Takaoka wouldn’t be able to showcase. Here, though, she just nailed it.

V.A. -- I Love Dance Number [September, 1990]

Recently, I’ve found a compilation called “I Love Dance Number [September, 1990]” in a Brazilian online marketplace. Comprised of singles released in 1989 and 1990 by female pop singers signed to Victor Entertainment (ビクターエンタテインメント), most of them aidoru, I knew right away that I had to buy it… and it was cheap, which is always a good thing.

The artists were quite diverse, ranging from famous aidoru such as Noriko Sakai (酒井法子), Kyoko Koizumi (小泉今日子) and Yoko Oginome (荻野目洋子), passing through some middle ground names like Saki Takaoka (高岡早紀), to a good portion of obscure singers (that’s the fun of these compilations, by the way). Musically, despite the word ‘dance’ in the title, it also offered a good variety of genres, from rock, American pop, aidoru-pop, some exotic stuff and even a more laidback Japanese-style ballad (not enka, but something middle-of-the-road).

Before talking about some of the songs, here's the complete tracklist:

01) ダイヤモンド☆ブルー (酒井法子)

02) 好きだから (久我陽子)

03) La La La… (小泉今日子)

04) ギャラリー (荻野目洋子)

05) Wet Wet (葉山レイコ)

06) 独立戦争 (鈴木彩子)

07) ボクはパワー (相原勇)

08) フリフリ天国 (高岡早紀)

09) 恋のハレルヤ (渡辺めぐみ)

10) アプローチ (深津絵里)

11) 微笑みを見つけた (酒井法子)

12) 見逃してくれよ! (小泉今日子)

13) 悲しくてやりきれない (松本伊代)

14) イフ・ウィ・ホールド・オン・トゥゲザー (長山洋子)

15) ユア・マイ・ライフ(荻野目洋子)

The compilation starts in a good note with the summery “Diamond Blue” (ダイヤモンド☆ブルー) by Noriko Sakai, a song I could totally see AKB48 recording nowadays, or maybe five years ago. Following, there’s the obscure “Suki Dakara” (好きだから) by Yoko Kuga (久我陽子), which, as a friend pointed out to me earlier, could have been the ending theme to a shoujo/magical girl anime at the time, thanks to its overall dreamy and romantic feeling. Unfortunately, though, the video above only showcases a small bit of the song.

Like I mentioned earlier, besides Noriko Sakai, the other two big stars on this compilation are Kyoko Koizumi and Yoko Oginome. While Nori-P was still a relatively new aidoru in 1990 and, therefore, still seeking her true big break (it would eventually come in the form of her many acting roles in trendy dramas and, musically, “Aoi Usagi” [碧いうさぎ]), Kyon Kyon and Oginome were already past their prime (both girls also branched out into acting, but I think they were bigger as aidoru singers in the 80s). In the case of Yoko Oginome, even if the edgy “Gallery” (ギャラリー) wasn’t something completely fresh or different from her 80s streak of Euro-oriented singles, I think it was still able to showcase a more mature side of her.

One of the things I liked the most in this compilation was how adventurous a couple of the songs sounded, even if the ending result came out as a little awkward at times. Like Yoko Kuga’s “Suki Dakara” before, it’s unfortunate that just some seconds of “Wet Wet” are available on YouTube, since this song by sexy aidoru Reiko Hayama (葉山レイコ), with its heavy sexual mood, is one of the most unique songs compiled here (the song begins in the 1:47 mark, by the way). The other strange song is the lysergic and almost psychedelic “Furifuri Tengoku” (フリフリ天国) by another sexy aidoru, this time our beloved Saki Takaoka. The link for this song is not available to me here in Brazil, but maybe it’s open to other countries.

Between “Wet Wet” and “Furifuri Tengoku”, one can listen to “Dokuritsu Sensou” (独立戦争), the anthemic arena-rock style debut single released by Saiko Suzuki (鈴木彩子), and, while I wouldn’t rank it as one of my favorites, it’s nice to have something like that in the compilation, since those were the days when Pink Sapphire, Princess Princess (プリンセス・プリンセス) and other all-female rock bands were booming in Japan.

Like I said earlier, even though there’s ‘dance’ in the title, the compilation also offers some slower songs, like Eri Fukatsu’s (深津絵里) beautifully arranged “Approach” (アプローチ) and Iyo Matsumoto’s (松本伊代) “Kanashikute Yarikirenai” (悲しくてやりきれない), which could be seem as something close to a more traditional Kayo song (it’s actually a cover of a song of the same name by The Folk Crusaders [ザ・フォーク・クルセダーズ]). Regarding Matsumoto, long gone were the “Sentimental Journey” (センチメンタル・ジャーニー) days, so she was also way past her prime here, and “Kanashikute Yarikirenai”, one of her final singles, wasn’t even released in 1990, but in the year before, 1989.

“Hohoemi wo Mitsuketa” (微笑みを見つけた) is Noriko Sakai’s second offer, and I like how it comes later on the CD, since it goes well with other mellower songs, like the two mentioned before. Besides Nori P’s cute vocals, I think the nostalgic arrangement combined with the melody results in this type of warm song that connects well with the heart. Unfortunately, though, I can’t give much praise to Kyoko Koizumi’s “Minogashitekure yo!” (見逃してくれよ!), even if acknowledge its quirkiness and fun style. It’s an okay song, but not one of favorites here. In fact, Kyon Kyon got the short end of the stick, since her two featured songs, the other being the slow reggae “La La La…”, were quite weak, in my opinion.

Our final song is “You’re My Life” (ユア・マイ・ライフ) by Yoko Oginome, and I think it’s a good way to end the compilation. Next to Yoko Nagayama’s (長山洋子) “If We Hold On Together” (a cover of a Diana Ross’ song of the same name), which I didn’t include, “You’re My Life” is the most direct American-style song here, and that’s basically because it was composed by an American rock musician called James Christian. Other than that, it does sound like your typical watered down FM rock ballad, and while I have nothing against it, it’s funny to see Oginome pull something like that off. Also, it’s another song that was originally released in 1989, and not in 1990.

Saki Takaoka -- Yabanna Yuutsu (野蛮な憂鬱)

Recently, I watched a special drama comprised of four episodes called “Kenja no Ai” (賢者の愛), starring two 80s stars, the almighty aidoru Miho Nakayama (中山美穂) and the not so famous Saki Takaoka (高岡早紀). Both of them were great in their respective roles, but Takaoka just conquered my heart with her envious, spoiled, psycho, middle-aged woman role. She just nailed it and even overshadowed Nakayama, in my opinion. Based on that, my next step was to revisit her discography, which I kind of did, starting with the debut album “Sabrina”, from June 1989.

Right from the start, the album caught my attention with “Yabanna Yuutsu”, an Euro-infused song full of dated synths and Takaoka’s very thin vocals. In fact, since the singer is quite weak, production and composition are everything here, and I like both, with a special nod to the production for being typical of its time. The song can be quite long in its 5 minutes plus form, but I like the instrumental sections, especially when it adds a little bit of drama to it (we can’t rely on Takaoka for this, so the synths have to work hard).

Unfortunately, besides this first song, the single “Nemurenu Mori no Bishoujo” (眠れぬ森の美女) and a tune called “SLEEP WALKER”, the album didn’t quite succeed in maintaining my interest. Personally, I wanted the album to be full of late 80s Eurobeat, but there are some pretentiously laidback songs and quite a few ballads, which I think are weak spots thanks to Takaoka’s vocals. In my opinion, for this type of (not so talented) singer, the production must be big and ear-grabbing. Fans seems to like it, as I could see in the Amazon.co.jp comment section, but the album is not for me. I’m pretty satisfied with “Yabanna Yuutsu”, “SLEEP WALKER” and “Nemurenu Mori no Bishoujo”, though. And now I want to see more of Takaoka’s acting, because that’s what she does better.

Lyrics for “Yabanna Yuutsu” were written by Yukinojo Mori (森雪之丞), while music was composed by Nobuyuki Shimizu (清水信之).

Source: Amazon.co.jp

Aiko Hirano/Kazuko Matsuo/Saki Takaoka -- Kimi Mate Domo （君待てども）

During last week's NHK-broadcast special charity concert in Shizuoka Prefecture, I did hear a lovely bluesy ballad called "Kimi Mate Domo" which was originally sung by Aiko Hirano（平野愛子）in 1948. Written and composed by Tatsuzo Azuma（東辰三）, it was a torch song about pining for that special someone who would probably never come or come back. The original recorded version has that old-fashioned stateliness.

However, to be honest, I have much preferred the later versions of "Kimi Mate Domo" since they have possessed more of that good time swing. And apparently it has been covered a number of times by a lot of different folks. Kazuko Matsuo（松尾和子）, for example, gave her cover of the song in 1963. And that picture of her above sums her stylings on the song perfectly: as someone who is by herself for another night at the bar while sucking back on that cigarette. Plenty of atmosphere there as she seems happily resigned to her fate.

The big surprise for me is that actress Saki Takaoka（高岡早紀）has given her own sultry take on the song with the added English title "I'm Waiting For You". When I first knew her, it was as the buxom tarento on the variety show circuit, and Marcos V. has written about one of her early tunes as an aidoru, "Nemurenu Mori no Bishoujo"（眠れぬ森の美女）from 1988.

But it's been many since that song. And in 2013, she performed "Kimi Mate Domo" as the ending theme for one of her movies from that year, "Monster" where she played a woman who had undergone serious plastic surgery to escape from a horrific childhood of being bullied due to her facial deformities. I'm actually quite impressed with her vocals here. The song itself was a track on her album of standards, "Sings-Bedtime Stories" from October 2014.

Saki Takaoka -- Nemurenu Mori no Bishoujo (眠れぬ森の美女)

Saki Takaoka (高岡早紀) was a strange type of sexy aidoru who debuted in the late 80s. Her sound, although not far from the dance style that was popular at the time, had a mystical and classical vibe mixed with pop melodies.

Even though Saki was a very weak singer, I like her early material a lot. In the case of “Nemurenu Mori no Bishoujo”, which was released in November 1988, it’s interesting to notice how it manages to fuse the eurobeat bass line with a cold/dark fairytale vibe. Like I said, Saki was a weak vocalist, but this weakness also provides a vulnerable feel that combines well with the song. As for the soaring strings, they’re very grandiose.

After a poor received career as an aidoru singer, Saki started to pose nude for photos and also did some movies, as well as commercials, during the mid 90s. Like many other “not so talented” aidoru singers, she still had her beauty, and that’s how she, somehow, managed to continue in the entertainment industry.

“Nemurenu Mori no Bishoujo”, reached #21 on the Oricon charts, selling around 28,000 copies (source: http://www.interq.or.jp/silver/you/1980/1988/saki.htm). The song was written by Anju Mana (真名 杏樹) and composed by Kazuhiko Kato (加藤 和彦).