Shigeru Suzuki & Hucklebuck -- Great American Funky Girl（グレート・アメリカン・ファンキー・ガール）

 

Of course, I've known about guitarist and songwriter Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）for years as someone who's provided a lot of singers with their material along with his own discography which includes the fine 1976 "Lady Pink Panther". And of course, I know him as being one of the Fab Four in the legendary band Happy End（はっぴいえんど）.

But I don't know very much about the rock band that he was also associated with, Hucklebuck（ハックルバック）, which has apparently come in and out of existence about four times with the first time being the year of 1975. Mind you, it has consisted of some of the best studio musicians including Suzuki, drummer Jun Aoyama（青山純）and the late great keyboardist Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）, and I'm sure that they were busy enough in their solo activities. 

The album "Maboroshi no Hucklebuck"（幻のハックルバック...The Mysterious Hucklebuck） was recorded in the studio in October 1975 but released in 1976, and the first track on Side A is "Great American Funky Girl", an instrumental which was composed by Suzuki. I would like to know who inspired the man to come up with such a funky piece to open the album. I can only think of a particularly sassy young lady from New York but other than that, I know bupkis. But the guys in the band obviously had a great time jamming this short and sweet piece, and it sounds like the ideal theme song for an American sitcom or drama regarding the titular lady in the Big Apple.

Chiemi Kai -- Ite-za no Kare（射手座の彼）

Wikimedia Commons

 

I'd never heard of Chiemi Kai（甲斐智枝美）before but I saw the above video and decided to check it out. "Ite-za no Kare" (Sagittarius Guy) was the B-side to her 7th and penultimate single "Sasotte Runna"（誘って・ルンナ...Invite Me, Runna） which hit the record shelves in January 1982. Written by Kyoko Matsumiya（松宮恭子）, composed by Tetsuya Furumoto（古本鉄也）and arranged by Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）, it's quite the swinging rock n' roll boogie for an aidoru tune. Considering one of the first words in the lyrics is Harajuku, I can guess that there was a shoutout to the whole rock n' roll scene there.

Kai hailed from Fukuoka Prefecture and got into show business by becoming the 29th Grand Champion on the audition show "Star Tanjo!"（スター誕生!...A Star is Born!）in 1979. She had been seen as one of the up-and-coming aidoru alongside other ingenues such as Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）and Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）in the post-Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）era. However, among her three albums and eight singles released between 1980 and 1982, the highest ranking that any of her discography attained was No. 103 on Oricon, although she had her other duties as a tarento and actress.

In 1990, she retired from showbiz and got married to Toru Hasebe（長谷部徹）who was a studio musician and drummer for the fusion band The Square after which they had two boys. She became a housewife and helped out at a flower shop but kept in touch with her senpai, former aidoru and celebrity Ikue Sakaibara（榊原郁恵）. However according to a Daily Shincho article, in July 2006, her eldest son who was in high school at the time discovered her hanging in the second-floor room of their house. It was suspected that Kai had committed suicide due to financial worries and health issues. She was 43 years old.

Shigeru Suzuki -- Kaiyuu（回遊）

 

I know that musician, songwriter and former member of Happy End, Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）, has been continuing to make his way through the music industry to the present day. However, up to now, I'd usually seen him as a fellow making the good stuff in the 1970s such as the song I noted only a few weeks earlier "Brandy Wine".

Only recently have I discovered some of his music following the decade of disco and early City Pop. One such example is his "Kaiyuu" from his 1998 album "Kujira no Umi"（クジラの海〜Living Whales）. "Kaiyuu" can mean "excursion" but it can also be defined as "seasonal migration" for sea life such as fish. Considering the album title, Suzuki could have been referring to the migration of whales themselves. But whatever is moving around out there in the grand blue, Suzuki means it as a very languid and relaxing fusion number that kinda hovers around jazz and pop...maybe it's more accurate to say New Age. Let us lie down in those deck lounge chairs, shall we?

Shigeru Suzuki -- Brandy Wine

 

I can't say that I'm a great purveyor of brandy though perhaps I may have imbibed it as part of a cocktail. But I am certain that brandy has been a favourite of Japanese palates for decades and its disposition in the various containers above is rather handsome.

Now I can say that I have a second "brandy" Japanese song to add to Yujiro Ishihara's（石原裕次郎）classic "Brandy Glass" (ブランデーグラス）. Alongside his "Hachibu Onpu no Uta"（８分音符の詩）and "Lady Pink Panther", I can also post Shigeru Suzuki's（鈴木茂）"Brandy Wine" from his December 1976 album "Lagoon". Aside from the fact that this is an instrumental, so no Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）as the lyricist here, "Brandy Wine" is a cousin to "Lady Pink Panther" in that it is something in the City Pop/New Music genres with that bossa nova. It even has some jazziness. 

Its afternoon upbeat nature may not exactly match the atmosphere that a brandy may engender (relaxation, nocturnal) but there's no denying that it's another Suzuki success. Plus, that meshing of the flute and the scatting woman is amazing!

Hiroaki Igarashi & Rajie -- Futari dake no X'mas（二人だけのX'mas ）

 

A few days ago, I posted a 1989 Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）Xmas song titled "Futari dake no Christmas" (A Christmas Just For Two) that came across as this rather holy cherished Xmas experience for the loving couple. Maybe the only thing that was missing was a priest.

Well, when I found Seiko-chan's song, I also found another one with the same title (basically). But this "Futari dake no X'mas" was actually released as a B-side to singer-songwriter Hiroaki Igarashi's（五十嵐浩晃）11th single "Summer Twilight"（サマー・トワイライト）in October 1988, and in terms of tone, it's quite the lighthearted and jolly City Pop duet featuring Igarashi and Rajie, neither of them newbies to City Pop.

Written by both Igarashi and Kazuko Kobayashi（小林和子）with Igarashi's melody being arranged by Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）, the song seems to surround a couple at a Xmas party at a mutual friend's residence (don't be shy...plenty of KFC to munch on) and the lovebirds, who may have yet to announce their relationship, are trying to find some alone time in a niche to at least clink a couple of glasses of champagne. That's gotta be one big house the friend has, but then again, this was released during the Bubble (or bubbly) Era. Anyways, I can also hear this "Futari dake no X'mas" accompanying a breezy montage of the couple having a great day together window shopping, sipping hot chocolate at a trendy cafe in Tokyo and even shooting snowballs at each other to much laughter.

According to the thumbnail for the video and what I found on J-Wiki, "Futari dake no X'mas" is included on Igarashi's 7th original album "Distance" which was also released in October 1988. 

The Aoyama Roll

Nope, not Aoyama but a sushi place in Akasaka

As I mentioned in the previous ROY article, my family had gone for sushi for dinner over the weekend, and it was at a favored restaurant called Aoyama. We've usually gone there on New Year's night since it's perhaps the only Japanese eatery that's open on January 1st in Toronto, but this time, we decided to try it out over the Canadian Thanksgiving long weekend.

The restaurant has a rather interesting setup. There is the main restaurant which isn't too big inside so some years ago, the owner managed to secure space a few doors down and that is now called the VIP Lounge for Aoyama. And so whenever I make the reservation, we get to dine in VIP...the only time in my life thus far that I've been able to boast anything like that.

It used to be the thing that when our family went to Japanese restaurants decades ago, the usual koto classic "Sakura" was playing on the speakers. You might say that it was the theme song for Japanese restaurants everywhere. Nowadays though, and this was also true of Aoyama a few nights back, such places are now playing all kinds of Japanese pop and/or kayo kyoku (and playing ancient Japanese commercials on the TV screens), including some City Pop. Kuri, my old karaoke haunt during my university years in the 1980s, did the same but that wasn't a restaurant but truly a lounge to sing out those hits.

In any case, some of us were playing "Name That Tune" for the songs that came through the speakers at Aoyama. My brother and I did pretty well; if I hadn't done well, I would have had to turn in my blog in shame. Moving forward, this is some of what I heard that night. It's quite the mix.

(1976) Eigo Kawashima -- Sake to Namida to Otoko to Onna （酒と泪と男と女）

(1976) Shigeru Suzuki -- Lady Pink Panther

(1979) Judy Ongg -- Miserarete （魅せられて）

(1984) Hiromi Go -- Ni-Oku Yon-Sen-Man no Hitomi (２億４千万の瞳）

(1988) Shizuka Kudo -- Mugon Iroppoi (ＭＵＧＯ・ん　色っぽい）

Anri -- Umibe kara（海辺から）

 

Anri（杏里）has got another birthday coming up at the end of this month so I would like to wish her Happy Birthday in advance.

I've always believed that Anri was very photogenic right from the get-go in those late 1970s but just around the turn of the decade, those photographers really knew how to get the right shots for those covers of albums and singles. Anyways, I'll try and stop panting (but it is really hot inside and out today, y'know) and provide another B-side from her early singles.

Anri's third single "Namida wo Umi ni Kaeshitai"（涙を海に返したい）was an elegant but pretty powerful heartbreak tune that was released in April 1979. The B-side is no slouch either. "Umibe kara" (From the Seashore) is another song about the aftermath of a lost relationship but it's more laidback and grounded with an arrangement by Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）of Anri's own melody and Yoshiko Miura's（三浦徳子）lyrics that is reminiscent of some of those love songs by artists such as Carole King and Carly Simon. But with Anri's vocals, "Umibe kara" has some more innocence imbued. Of course, she was still seventeen when she recorded the single.

"Namida wo Umi ni Kaeshitai" was one song that never got placed onto an original album by Anri although it eventually did get put onto her "MY FAVORITE SONGS" compilation in 1988. "Umibe kara" finally got onto an album which was the 1986 CD version of "Feelin'", the singer's 2nd album from June 1979.

Chie Kobayashi -- Kimagure My Love（気まぐれマイ・ラブ）

 

In the last several weeks, I've been able to introduce singer-songwriter Maimi Tanaka（田中マイミ）and singer-actress Chie Kobayashi（小林千絵）onto KKP. Tanaka, as I've mentioned before, is famous for coming up with the Don Quixote jingle while Kobayashi is an Osaka celebrity who I debuted onto the blog with her folksy "Hotel Osaka"（ホテルOSAKA）. It's just too bad that my most recent article for Tanaka, the only video showing off her 1981 "Namida no Lonely Boy"（涙のロンリー・ボーイ）has been taken offline for the usual copyright reasons.

Still, I can show off a project that involved both Tanaka and Kobayashi. The latter's follow-up single to "Hotel Osaka" is "Kimagure My Love" (My Capricious Love) was released in July 1986 and it was written and composed by Tanaka. With arrangement by Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）, this is a more lighthearted tune in comparison to the slightly heavier "Hotel Osaka"; in fact, I think it almost approaches an aidoru tone although Kobayashi was never treated as such.

Chiemi Hori -- Manatsu no Shojo（真夏の少女）

 

Heck of a photo from "Myojo"（明星）that I picked for this Chiemi Hori（堀ちえみ）article, and it's been almost three years since the 80s aidoru has been back on the KKP byline. It's definitely wintry in the picture but when I woke up this morning, the temperature was only entertaining one lonely degree Celsius out there with a wind chill factor of -5 degrees. Nope, we're still far away from summer.

And yet, we are talking about Hori's sophomore single "Manatsu no Shojo" (Midsummer Girl) released on the first day of summer 1982. Written by Tsuzuru Nakazato（中里綴） and composed/arranged by Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）, it certainly feels summery with some intriguing key changes worthy of Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）. It sounds as bright and happy as the titular lass who is ready to greet the summer day with lots of brio. However, I've awoken to plenty of summer days in Japan, and I know that I was never ever anywhere near as fresh as her. I gobbled down my orange juice like a ragged man coming out of a desert. Needed a morning shower, too.😖

In any case, Hori's single peaked at No. 26 on Oricon. It's also available as a track on her 2nd album "Yume Nikki"（夢日記...Dream Diary） which came out in November 1982.

Shigeru Suzuki -- Hashire Rabbit（走れラビット）

 

Happy Easter! I posted up the latest Yutaka Kimura Speaks a couple of days ago, and it was about singer-songwriter and musician Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）. In doing so, I was able to listen to what I am realizing is one of the seminal albums for City Pop and New Music, his "Lagoon" from 1976.

I've already posted on a couple of tracks from "Lagoon": the charming "Lady Pink Panther" and the jazzy "Hachibu Onpu no Uta"（８分音符の詩）, but seeing that this is Easter, I've decided to take a riff on the holiday's official animal, and post yet another track from the album called "Hashire Rabbit" (Run Rabbit). Of course, this has nothing to do with Miharu Koshi's（コシミハル）1985  "Hashire Usagi" （走れウサギ）though the translation is the same.

"Hashire Rabbit" was written by his old Happy End bandmate Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed by Suzuki as this very welcoming Caribbean tune that greets you as you disembark from the cruise ship. Apparently on this island of rabbits, it's all about the jazz, the tropical and the dancing/hopping around. Enjoy the rum punch!🍹

Yutaka Kimura Speaks: Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）

 

Shigeru Suzuki, among the Happy End/Tin Pan Alley family, is the musician closest to refined music that includes bossa nova, easy listening, jazz and AOR. What can't be definitely ignored is how his solo albums beginning from "Lagoon" (1976) have influenced artists from the 1980s onwards such as Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）and Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）. For City Pop fans, the projects that he was involved in as a sound producer including Sumiko Yamagata's（やまがたすみこ）"Flying" and Makoto Iwabuchi's（岩渕まこと）"Super Moon" have to be checked out.

The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).

Yutaka Kimura Speaks ~ Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100: Ken Tamura -- A Little Bit Easier

 

Number: 091

Lyricist: Ken Tamura

Composer: Ken Tamura

Arranger: Shigeru Suzuki

From the 1982 album "Fly by Night"

"A Little Bit Easier" is a refreshing medium-tempo tune that fits a summer sunset perfectly. Shigeru Suzuki's（鈴木茂）arrangement can be said to have that classic City Pop approach so he made a lot of wonderful songs just within that time where he had hit his stride by working with people like Hiroaki Igarashi（五十嵐浩晃）and Kazuhito Murata（村田和人）. He has that characteristic sharp touch and even within this song, that appeal is evident throughout. The effective use of the flute is also the epitome of coolness.

The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).

Hiroaki Igarashi -- Fuyuko no Asa（冬子の朝）

 

It was over a dozen years ago on the blog when I posted singer-songwriter Hiroaki Igarashi's（五十嵐浩晃）hit single "Pegasus no Asa"（ペガサスの朝）from November 1980. The song has been notable for being one of my musical signposts of the decade with its up-and-at-'em arrangement and the feeling that it could have been used as a theme tune for any of the American adventure-thriller TV shows back then.

(cover version)

Well, on the flip side of this No. 3-ranking song is "Fuyuko no Asa" (Fuyuko's Morning) which is about as different as one can get from the A-side in terms of tone. A ballad of impending loss, it begins with a very contemplative piano and an eerie synthesizer before an acoustic guitar and Igarashi's plaintive vocals attempt to reassure us about the loss of romance due to death or other reasons. Written and composed by Igarashi with Minoru Ohsugi（大杉実）helping out on the lyrics and former Happy End band member Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）as the arranger, it's a lovely if melancholy love song with an appealingly twangy guitar solo. Here's hoping that Fuyuko recovers.

Excerpt of the original on Apple Music.

Yutaka Kimura Speaks ~ Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100: Makoto Iwabuchi -- Moonlight Flight（ムーンライト・フライト）

 

Number: 085

Lyricist: Makoto Iwabuchi

Composer: Makoto Iwabuchi

Arranger: Shigeru Suzuki

From Iwabuchi's 1977 album: "Super Moon"

As the title says, "Moonlight Flight" is a nice floating tune that promises a flight on a moonlit night. There is a world of city mellowness that infuses Shigeru Suzuki's (who was also responsible for this song's arrangement) masterpiece 2nd album "Lagoon", but this can also be enjoyed here, too. Makoto Iwabuchi's（岩淵まこと）voice seems to take on some of the quirks of Keiichi Suzuki（鈴木慶一）, and it's great how well his smooth vocals fit with the overall sound.

The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).

Yutaka Kimura Speaks ~ Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100: Shigeru Suzuki -- Binetsu Shonen（微熱少年）

 

Number: 068

Lyricist: Takashi Matsumoto

Composer: Shigeru Suzuki

Arranger: Shigeru Suzuki

From Suzuki's 1975 album: "Band Wagon"

Within this greatly acclaimed album, these two tracks really stand out: "Suna no Onna"（砂の女）and "Binetsu Shonen" (Feverish Boy). On top of that, "Binetsu no Shonen", which incidentally was used as titles for a novel and a movie, has become emblematic of a boy living in a city of change, so the combination of Takashi Matsumoto's（松本隆）sense of revealing this boy wrestling with fever (...the tram is floating away/off to the galaxy...) and Suzuki's（鈴木茂）own hot and feverish sliding guitar play also invites us to head off to the galaxy.

The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).

Hello, J-Canuck here. I usually end the Urban Contemporary Friday with Yutaka Kimura Speaks but today I've chosen to actually start with it today since I might be distracted by the Opening Ceremonies of the Paris Games in a few hours. 

Looks like I've encountered another instance of a song on the Yutaka Kimura list that had yet to be covered by me or any of the other writers on KKP. So, allow me my comments here along with Yutaka's. Well, I gotta say that there is a goodly amount of funk and Steely Dan especially with Suzuki with that aforementioned sliding technique on his guitar. For a kid who's wrangling with a high temperature, I'm wondering whether he's actually come down with a disease or he's in thrall to the big city or someone special in his life. 

Incidentally, that November 1985 novel that Kimura mentions in his review originated from an original essay penned by Matsumoto in January 1975. The movie adaptation would come out in June 1987.

Ah...one more by-the-way here, but this is Article No. 11,000 for the blog!

Shigeru Suzuki -- Summer Wine（サマー・ワイン）

 

Considering the lush goodness of this song, I should be forgiven if I were to think that singer-songwriter and musician Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）held a monopoly on summery songs of the 1970s. I had just provided a Yutaka Kimura Speaks article based on his "Hachibu Onpu no Uta"（８分音符の詩）last Friday, but I couldn't resist here and after all, since we're now all in the hot season (well, those of us in the Northern Hemisphere), why not?

"Summer Wine" is a classy and elegant track from his January 1978 album "Caution!", and considering that release date, this particular song by him and lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, his old bandmate from Happy End（はっぴいえんど）, must have been a good tonic for fans to realize that summer would come eventually once more. It can have many labels added to it, and indeed I did do that in Labels...I can hear some bossa nova, Resort Pop, sophisticated pop and soft rock. With the lyrics including one fellow deciding to take a step romantically by using the tactic of offering to read his partner's palm over a bottle of that titular wine, I can imagine this being played out in some 1960s exotic romance filmed in Panavision.

Yutaka Kimura Speaks ~ Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100: Shigeru Suzuki -- Hachibu Onpu no Uta （８分音符の詩）

 

Number: 066

Lyricist: Takashi Matsumoto

Composer: Shigeru Suzuki

Arranger: Shigeru Suzuki

From Suzuki's 1976 album: "Lagoon"

"Hachibu Onpu no Uta" is the famous ballad that was covered by a pre-debut Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）. Takashi Matsumoto's（松本隆）lyrics which bring together the sentimental feelings of a musician go particularly well with that silence of a stage after everything has been wrapped up following a performance. Incidentally, speaking of Mariya, the Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）-penned "Gosenshi"（五線紙） (which was also written by Matsumoto) has a lineage with "Hachibu Onpu no Uta" with the lyrics of the former perhaps having a connection with those of the latter.

The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).

Kazuko Ishibashi -- Koi no Wasuremono（恋の忘れもの）

 

Kazuko Ishibashi（石橋和子）is probably one of the more obscure singer-songwriters that I've encountered in the annals of Yutaka Kimura's "Japanese City Pop" guidebook, but that album cover for her 1981 "Nice to Meet You" is likely to be one of the most genre-friendly when it comes to everything from the iconography to the fashion that Ms. Ishibashi is sporting in the picture. Maybe the only thing she's missing is a bottle of Perrier.

I've already covered a few tracks from "Nice to Meet You" including the jazzy "Gin no Cigarette Case"（銀のシガレット・ケース）, and from listening to some of the other tracks on YouTube, the album isn't strictly City Pop as Ishibashi actually covers a few other genres. For example, here we have "Koi no Wasuremono" (Lost Item of Love) which was written and composed by the singer with arrangement by Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）. This is definitely south-of-the-Equator stuff with some good ol' samba in the mix here. Interestingly, as I continued to listen to "Koi no Wasuremono" right to the end, I got the impression that Ishibashi and band could have performed this in some sort of hotel Tiki bar as the headliner with the lady bantering in a most friendly manner with the guests afterward. Nice to meet you, indeed.😀

Yutaka Kimura Speaks ~ Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100: Bread & Butter -- Nagisa ni Ikou （渚に行こう）

 

Number: 059

Lyricist: Ayumi Date

Composer: Fuyumi Iwasawa

Arrangers: Shigeru Suzuki and Haruomi Hosono

From Bread & Butter's 1979 album: "Late, Late Summer"

"Nagisa ni Ikou" is a wonderful melodious song infused with Fuyumi Iwasawa's（岩沢二弓）distinctive flavour. With the combination of Haruomi Hosono's（細野晴臣）rhythm arrangement and Shigeru Suzuki's（鈴木茂）arrangement with the strings, there is that whole connection of Tin Pan Alley taking part in the song, and in terms of the sound, there is an impeccable finish. This is a hidden masterpiece among the Bread & Butter classics which can be fully enjoyed for its comforting vibe that feels just like being enveloped in the sea breezes of Shonan.

The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).

Yutaka Kimura Speaks ~ Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100: Shigeru Suzuki (Tin Pan Alley) -- Sobakasu no Aru Shojo（ソバカスのある少女）

 

Number: 048

Lyricist: Takashi Matsumoto

Composer: Shigeru Suzuki

Arranger: Shigeru Suzuki

From Tin Pan Alley's 1975 album: "Caramel Mama"

"Sobakasu no Aru Shojo" (The Girl with the Freckles) is a signature masterpiece that really brings out Suzuki's（鈴木茂）melodious side, and I'm absolutely in love with this duet with Yoshitaka Minami（南佳孝）. The ARP Odyssey that Suzuki himself uses to good effect adds an effective accent. In the world of Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）which has songs including "Saraba Siberia Tetsudo"（さらばシベリア鉄道）and "Fjord no Shojo"（フィヨルドの少女...Fjord Girl）, the impression has been that the woman's escape destination is "the northern towns", so it's reminiscent of a fleeting image of a young girl.

The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).