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.
It was less than a week ago when I posted up "Tokyo Songs" which of course would have to include Shogo Hamada's（浜田省吾）"Tokyo"（東京）, a not-so-positive but probably more realistic account of what life in the big city could be like at the time. Maybe it was released as a counterpoint to Kenji Sawada's（沢田研二）hit "TOKIO" which was also out there in the same year.
Well, I was curious then to hear what the B-side of Hamada's "Tokyo" was like, so I came across "Kayaku no You ni"(Like Gunpowder). With that title, I had been expecting something quite hard rock and explosive, but it's actually quite the cordial rock n' roll story about a couple of high school buddies who choose to skip class and hop onto the motorcycle and hit the beach to play music and scope out the ladies. Ahhh...life in 1980 Japan...or maybe even 2026 Japan, I don't know.🤷 Hamada was behind words and music with Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）arranging everything.
Time for a crazy coda for this article. As I was looking over the information on "Kayaku no You ni" on J-Wiki, I found out that the song was actually Hamada's own self-cover of a track that he'd provided aidoru Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）all the way back in August 1977 when her 12th studio album"Golden Flight" was released. It was titled "Ai no Twilight Time" (Twilight Time for Love) at the time, had different lyrics about lost love by Akira Ito（伊藤アキラ）, and though Hiroshi Kato's（加藤ヒロシ）arrangement kept things in rock, it had more of a honky-tonk style with a bit more in the production. "Golden Flight" hit No. 3 on Oricon. Always fascinating to hear a new Momoe tune and this one is no different.
I'm just off by a week here but it was a little over a year ago that I posted "Osaka Songs", a list of Osaka-titled tunes, and crazily enough, in all those 53 weeks since then, I hadn't put up anything called "Tokyo Songs". Little old me had naturally assumed that I'd already done so. Nope, that isn't true. Kinda wild considering that I'd just recently written about Takajin Yashiki's（やしきたかじん）"Tokyo"（東京）. Well, that changes today. Quite the wide range of kayo, too!
(1959) Frank Nagai and Kazuko Matsuo -- Tokyo Nightclub （東京ナイトクラブ）
Listening to this song for the first time, I had automatically assumed that this was something from the early 1980s because of that arrangement of 1950s rock n' roll that was the popular thing to emulate in Japanese music for young people at the time. But I was sadly mistaken.
In fact, this is "Omoide no First Kiss"（The First Kiss I Remember）, Teruyo Mitani's（三谷晃代）October 1977 final single, so I guess that lyricist and composer and singer Shogo Hamada（浜田省吾）may have been ahead of the curve by a few years. I had already posted a previous article with Mitani and that was for her debut single"Zekkou"（絶交）, a little less than a year previously. Again, with that 50s sound in there, I couldn't help but think of the popular diner Arnold's on "Happy Days" with all of those bobbysoxer kids twisting around on the dance floor.
As I mentioned in "Zekkou", the re-release of Mitani's lone album"Omoide no First Kiss" in 2016 sparked the singer to make a comeback after so many years.
Last month, I introduced aidoru Hiroko Ikeda（池田ひろ子）who had a brief career in the recording limelight for a couple of years in the mid-1970s before she finally disappeared into the civilian ether past 1980. For her first article, I posted her debut single"Koi no ABC"（恋のABC）.
Well, her sophomore single was "Seifuku wo Nuidara" (When I Take Off the Uniform) and that was released in March 1976. Written by Kayoko Hayashi（林カヨコ）and composed by rocker Shogo Hamada（浜田省吾）, it isn't quite as salacious as the title might seem. It's actually about a girl who is more than willing to doff the high school uniform and put on the heels and cosmetics to get that guy. Uh...on second thought, that description doesn't sound too wholesome either but it could have been worse. Anyways, the arrangement has that 1950s/1960s rock n' roll feel to it.
Yes, indeed, I realize that we're still eleven days away or so from entering November but I wanted to throw up the above thumbnail because usually for us here, that's when we get one last burst of warm weather here in our province of Ontario before the inevitable months-long run of cold weather. In other words, I'm talking about Indian Summer.
Mind you, though, our summer seemed to have extended a fair bit into the first week of October so perhaps we've already celebrated our Indian Summer. It's always hard to tell with our home where the weather is predictably unpredictable.
Regardless, I'd like to present singer-songwriter Shogo Hamada's （浜田省吾）"Indian Summer" from his 4th studio album "Mind Screen" which was released in May 1979. Composed by Hamada, written by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）and arranged by Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）with strings arrangement by Jun Sato（佐藤準）, "Indian Summer" doesn't strike me as being the typical Shogo rocker. Instead, it's a contemplative pop ballad with a melancholy piano, synthesizer, shimmering strings and a horn accompaniment that has had me thinking of the movie "Love Story", Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）music, 1960s pop and French pianist Richard Clayderman. Quite the musical potpourri there which is always interesting.
Ryu's lyrics are also a little clever as she calls Indian Summer a mean little trick by the four seasons to have people remember of romantically happier times in the middle of a more desolate reality. As is often the case with the autumn as it pertains to kayo kyoku, the season is the time for love and romance to wither away and die like the brown leaves. In a way, "Indian Summer" reminds me of Hiromi Go's（郷ひろみ）"Aishuu no Casablanca"（哀愁のカサブランカ）.
A little under five years ago in 2018, I posted the second single of aidoru Keiko Nose（能瀬慶子）, "Hadashi de Young Love"（裸足でヤングラブ）. The lass had her very brief time in the singing spotlight with all four of her singles and a lone album coming out in the one year of 1979.
Not the strongest of singers, Nose did have the cuteness and the "Let's win this game for the coach!" gumption though which showed up in "Hadashi no Young Love", and it also showed up in "Bon Voyage". This wasn't a single but a track on that one album by Nose, "Hohoemi Prelude"（ほほえみプレリュード...Smile Prelude）, which was released in June 1979. As was the case with many an aidoru song at the turn of the decade, there is plenty of appropriately breezy and summery vibes in "Bon Voyage", and I'm guessing that the warp-powered electric guitar is being played by rocker Shogo Hamada（浜田省吾）, who composed this song as well as "Hadashi no Young Love". Makoto Kitajo（喜多条忠）was responsible for the lyrics while Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）arranged the tune to sound like it should accompany a nice romantic run down the beachside. The interesting thing is that I could catch the strings playing what sounds like a reprise from Percy Faith's"Theme from a Summer Place".
Hopefully, the emerging (maybe?) romance between Tomo and Jun in "Tomo-chan wa Onna no Ko!"（トモちゃんは女の子！...Tomo-chan is a Girl!）will turn out more successfully than the bittersweet conclusion in the song below.
Still Shogo Hamada's（浜田省吾）melody for his 13th single"Last Show" from August 1981 really is sweet and perfect for the car radio. And there's plenty of mention for that car radio and the surrounding environment as a guy reminisces about an old romance that is truly over. There are memories of her, the beach, her former flame's father's car, their favourite hamburger stand and even a shoutout to Bob Dylan's"Like a Rolling Stone" which could hearken back to those early 80s or even the mid 60s. I swear that Hamada's lyrics could be painting a Hiroshi Nagai（永井博）illustration.
But alas, all good things come to an end and the guy is off in his car to greener and happier pastures with the past falling away quickly in the back mirror. Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）arranged "Last Show" to be a wistful rock n' roll tune that surprisingly only got as high as No. 94 on Oricon. The song was also a track on his 7th studio album"Ai no Sedai no Mae ni"（愛の世代の前に...Before the Love Generation） which was released the month after the single and got to No. 12 on the Oricon weeklies. However, a re-release of the album in June 1990 had new ears listening and liking it to the extent that it hit No. 2 on the charts and ended up as the No. 19 album for 1992.
Summer officially arrived here in Toronto at 5:14am this morning and although it was still pretty fresh this morning, the season really roared in from the afternoon, so the temperatures were up to 28 degrees Celsius with a Humidex close to 40 degrees. I was out with a few friends for lunch today and I did my fair share of walking so I'm aching all over as I type this. I could really use that Peach Banana smoothie that you see above.
Well, since it is the first day of summer and therefore the longest day of the year, let's have something seasonally apt. Last year, I wrote about Shogo Hamada's（浜田省吾）old group from the 1970s,Aido（愛奴）, and their "Natsu no Futari"（夏の二人）. Strangely enough, though, that 1976 song was created by band guitarist Tohru Aoyama（青山徹）following Hamada's departure from Aido.
Today, though, I have Aido's debut single"Futari no Natsu"(Two of Us in Summer) ...yeah, just flip a couple of words around. Released in May 1975, unlike the later mellower and perhaps closer to AOR "Natsu no Futari", "Futari no Natsu" has more of that gentle 1950s Richie-and-Mary Beth romantic melodiousness, thanks to Hamada who wrote and composed it. Indeed, it's all about a couple in love just lying on the beach at night and enjoying the moment. I can hear a lot of Beach Boys and "Theme from A Summer Place".
Hamada would cover his creation as his June 1987 21st single, getting up to No. 25. It was also included in his 2nd mini-album from the same month "CLUB SURFBOUND" that hit No. 1. The above imaginative video has that very song as part of a video collection that Hamada provided titled "SHOGO HAMADA Visual Collection "FLASH&SHADOW"" from August 2005. Man, it's so "American Graffiti"!
Actually, I decided to kill two birds with one stone with ZARD's own "Futari no Natsu", but the only similarity is the title. Otherwise, it's a wholly different animal created by lyricist Izumi Sakai（坂井泉水）and composer Seiichiro Kuribayashi（栗林誠一郎）, and it didn't even come out as a single but as the final track on the singer's July 1993 4th original album"Yureru Omoi"（揺れる想い...Shifting Feelings）.
The lyrical content also differs from Aido's "Futari no Natsu" in that ZARD's"Futari no Natsu" is a wistful re-encounter between two former lovers at a bus stop one hot day, with all of the feelings remaining in the lady's side. "Yureru Omoi" hit No. 1 on the Oricon weeklies and became the No. 1 album for the entire year, and it still hung around to become the No. 54 album for 1994.
For everyone out there, Happy Father's Day! Hopefully all of you had some good times today with the old man whether it be through a good meal, a baseball game or a movie. My brother's family came on over last night and we shared some tasty fish n' chips, and this morning, I took my parents to the local diner and treated them to some breakfast.
To be honest, I wasn't sure whether I would find another father-themed kayo out there, but when I put the appropriate words into the search engine, immediately popped out "I am a father" by veteran rocker Shogo Hamada（浜田省吾）. If I'm not mistaken, all of the KKP entries for Hamada are from some decades earlier, but his 36th single here was released in June 2005 (the day before Father's Day incidentally) and it was also included on his 16th album, "My First Love" which came out a month later.
Hamada is in fine fettle here with "I am a father". His lyrics are very self-effacing with them insisting that the guy is no Superman, superstar or any sort of hero, but he is indeed a father. However, the hard-charging music certainly paints the papa in a heroic light especially with all of his responsibilities as a working guy providing for the family. Katsu Hoshi（星勝）was responsible for the arrangement.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find the official music video that starred Hamada's good friend and actor/singer Saburo Tokito（時任三郎）, and I recall that he was once voted onto a Top 10 list of desirable father types. "I am a father" hit No. 5 on Oricon.
To continue on from where I left off with Disc 1 of this special 2-CD compilation album based on Yokohama-themed songs, I'm covering Disc 2 of "Yokohama Fantasy". This time around, it was a little more difficult to track down some of the songs since once again I've covered a few of them already and others don't exist on YouTube. Also, I'd still like to write about at least one of the tracks through its own article. Well, without further ado then:
1. Bay Bridge Serenade -- Shogo Hamada (ベイ・ブリッジ・セレナーデ）
Shogo Hamada's（浜田省吾）"Bay Bridge Serenade" is an acapella ballad with him and the rest of the guys about a fellow taking that long lonely drive in the middle of the night and then stopping on Yokohama Bay Bridge to look at the bright lights and big city. Hamada's lyrics (he also composed the music) give the impression that the poor guy is about to give up on that lady love of his and move on with the rest of his life. But dang, if he's not going to make that final night one big beautiful doo-wop of a song.
"Bay Bridge Serenade" was a track on his September 1993 album"Sono Eien no Ichi Byo ni"（その永遠の一秒に 〜The Moment Of The Moment〜）which hit No. 1 on Oricon and quickly ended up as the 13th-ranked release of the year. By 1996, it had racked up a little over 895,000 copies in sale.
Then we have singer-songwriter Makoto Saito's（斎藤誠）"Yokohama" from his February 2002 album"Careless Memories" which is a very pretty love song. It's solidly in the pop vein and with the strings and Saito's guitar both in the arrangement, "Yokohama" can both take place in a rooftop restaurant or in front of a beach campfire although the instrumental bridge kicks things up a notch into the stratosphere.
One other track that I'll be profiling here is one that I'd already noted back in the article for Disc 1. This is singer-songwriter Tomoko Tane's（種ともこ）own version of the classic kayo "Blue Light Yokohama"as originally done by Ayumi Ishida（いしだあゆみ）back in 1968. I'd already provided another article on a cover of the song recently through former Speed member Takako Uehara（上原多香子）in 2004.
According to the J-Wiki article on "Yokohama Fantasy", Tane had released a couple of her takes on "Blue Light Yokohama" in 1991 with the first being a single version that I don't think I can find on YouTube. Perhaps that was the more straight-ahead version since the one that is included in the 2004 compilation and Tane's September 1991 album"Kiss of Life" is known as the Ambient version. And indeed, it is a pretty chill-out take with its own rearrangement by Yasuharu Konishi（小西康陽）. In fact, next to Konishi's contribution, his other partner from Pizzicato Five, the divine Ms. Maki Nomiya（野宮真貴）, gives an introductory narration of the eventual end of a romance in the port city.
To be honest, when I first heard this version, I did go "Huh?!" but that was more me initially getting all old-fogey about it, but now that I've heard Tane's cover a few times, it's settling in much more nicely now. In any case, if you do get a chance, be a little more ambitious as a tourist and cover even more of Yokohama than I have.
Considering how long I lived in the Tokyo area, I probably had been on every subway and railway line at least once. Perhaps, though, I don't think I was ever on the Seibu-Shinjuku Line all that often since I can't remember the stations on that line too well. If I had been on it, it was probably just to take the line between Seibu-Shinjuku Station and the adjacent one, Takadanobaba, not too far away from Waseda University. So, it was a very short ride...nothing of note.
Over the weekend, Rocket Brown of Come Along Radio fame and I had a conversation about singer-songwriter Shogo Hamada（浜田省吾）and then his old band Aido（愛奴）. I had written one article on the latter and a few of the former on the blog over the years. Just out of curiosity, I went over to the Aido file on J-Wiki and discovered their September 1975 second single with the intriguing title of "Koi no Seibu-Shinjuku Sen" (Seibu-Shinjuku Line of Love).
It's pretty much truth-in-advertising here...a couple having a budding romance on the titular line and then the guy inviting the gal to get off at least a station earlier than expected and take the long stroll home. By the way, the video above has Hamada's own self-cover of the song via his December 1979 5th solo album"Kimi ga Jinsei no Toki..."（君が人生の時…You at the Time of Life） and yes, he wrote and composed it.
Unfortunately, I couldn't find the original version from 1975 on YouTube but did find an excerpt of it at the Apple site, and it sounds like "Koi no Seibu-Shinjuku Sen" back then was more of a doo-wop number. The 1979 cover also has that feeling but it looks like Kimio Mizutani's（水谷公生）arrangement on the album has added a bit more seaside AOR flavour as well. And is that Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）providing the lovely backup (love the guitar solo, too)? "Kimi ga Jinsei no Toki...", by the way, peaked at No. 25 on Oricon.
When it comes to Sylvester Stallone, folks have known him to be the tough-as-nails cop or military maverick who will take down the worst of the worst in various guises whether it's Rambo or the first Judge Dredd or Cobra. He's even shown up in the Marvel Universe in the "Guardians of the Galaxy" sequel a few years ago.
However, despite all those roles and decades in show business going all the way back to the late 1960s, I will always recognize Sly as Rocky Balboa, the local boxing palooka from Philadelphia who gets his miraculous shot at greatness against the world champion Apollo Creed. Even though I never caught the very first "Rocky" as a kid on the big screen, I remember seeing the iconic montage of Rocky training and running up those steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. At the same time, reading the "Cracked" magazine parody of the movie helped me to learn about eating raw eggs, feeding turtles and punching frozen sides of beef. On a more serious note, the movie was one of the first examples that I discovered about a guy winning even though he still lost.
Of course, the theme song for "Rocky", "Gonna Fly Now", was the secret sauce for the greatness of the movie. When it was first created by composer/conductor Bill Conti and performed by his orchestra, it was all about following the epic rise of the boxer through 1970s downtown rock n' soul music (launched by that horn fanfare) as the chorus of DeEtta West and Nelson Pigford kept pushing forward with "Trying hard now", "Getting strong now" and "Gonna fly now". Since then, it's not only been the go-to song for any training montage but also the inspiration number for any tough project.
I hadn't been aware that "Gonna Fly Now" was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song (losing to Barbra Streisand's"Evergreen"), although the movie itself won for Best Picture. Released as a single in November 1976 on the same day that "Rocky" came out, it hit No. 1 on the US Billboard Top 100 and finished the year as the 21st-ranked song.
Canadian trumpeter Maynard Ferguson also put out his own faster and disco take on "Gonna Fly Now" in 1977. I've heard this version as often as I've heard the Conti original.
It's also been mentioned in the Wikipedia article for the song, but although "Gonna Fly Now" has often been used at sports events, especially in Philadelphia, in my Toronto, both the Conti and Ferguson versions have been used for the "Citypulse" news broadcasts on City-TV for years. I gather that there's nothing like this particular song to pump up the reporters. Also in my final year in band class in high school, our class tried to play the song. Let's say that neither Conti nor Ferguson had anything to fear but we had something to fear in the form of Stallone punching us in the side!
Once again, we come to the part in our weekly ROY article where we do the comparative thing and find out what singles were released in Japan at around the same time. As usual, a couple of the songs have some discrepancies in terms of when they were released depending on the source. "Showa Pops" says that all of them were released in November 1976 when the Conti original came out but J-Wiki has stated other months which I will also now include.
As much as there has been a backlog of parcels and mail due to these rotating Canada Post strikes over the past month, I've had somewhat of a backlog of bookmarks for YouTube videos of songs that I have wanted to feature. Slowly but surely, I'm starting to plow through and get them shown on the blog.
One theme that has cropped up in my own backlog is that of the many unsung aidoru who came and went during the 1970s and 1980s. I've shown some of them already and here is another one by the name of Keiko Nose（能瀬慶子）. Born in 1963 in Chiba Prefecture but raised in Bunkyo Ward in Tokyo, according to the Shukan Asahi journal from 1979, she had been selected from 38,700 girls in the Hori Pro Talent Scout Caravan contest in 1978 while she was in high school.
Making her first appearance in show business as an actress, she later made her debut as an aidoru in January 1979 with "Attention, Please"（アテンション・プリーズ）which was composed by Shogo Hamada（浜田省吾）. Then, her second single (and topic of this article), this time written and composed by Hamada, was "Hadashi de Young Love" (Barefoot Young Love) was released just a few months later in April. A typically summery and breezy aidoru tune that is of its time (memories of very early Seiko Matsuda come to mind), "Hadashi de Young Love" has those middling-but-cute aidoru vocals by Nose with some interesting 50s beach party sax thrown in there.
Nose would release two more singles and one album before she retired from the industry at the age of 20 in 1983. She married a musician and raised three children.
When I wrote about Ikue Sakakibara's（榊原郁恵）"Arrangement" back in 2016, I had wondered about whether I would be able to get its originating album "Slow Memory". Well, hooray! I was able to get it along with her 1980 release"C'est Drole" which I have already written about. Along with "Arrangement", I've also gone into the title track.
As I mentioned in the article for the track "Slow Memory", that album cover with a profile shot of Ikue-chan in front of a romantically lit dining room set with the planets peeking in through the window had me thinking of something more urban contemporary rather than my image of her as the ever-smiling aidoru. Certainly, both "Arrangement" and the title track have a more mature pop sound.
Sure enough, the track that I'm starting with is "Yoake no Loneliness"（夜明けのロンリネス）. Written by Sonomi Ari（阿里そのみ）and composed by Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常寛）, the ballad is a torch song about what seems to be a tug-of-war between two women who probably have not met each other but they are vying for the same guy, and the protagonist is the one perhaps on the losing end. It's got quite the epic arrangement including those strings which remind me of songs by Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）at the time.
Having listened to "Slow Memory" the album a couple of times already, I have to say that the standout tracks have been the ones created by songwriter Kyoko Matsumiya（松宮恭子）. For example, here is "Gozen Ni-ji no Good-by"（午前2時のGood-by...Good-by at 2am）. I love Sakakibara's vocals here especially when the refrain of "Stay by my side" comes in and the chorus is just wonderful. This ballad is even more sorrowful since a lady is at home waiting for her paramour in vain.
"Secret"（シークレット）is written by Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）and composed by Shogo Hamada（浜田省吾）, the same tandem behind "Arrangement", and seeing that Kisugi's brother, Takao（来生たかお）, was also involved in the creation of the title track, I had already known beforehand that the album would be filled with some solid pop tunes. There is that old-style breezy feeling to "Secret"which reminds me of some of the earlier discography of Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）and Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）. Interesting adoption of DeBussy at the intro.
My last number is the final track and this is the other Kyoko Matsumiya gem, "Hopelessly", an acetylene torch song with a full-out refrain, an electric guitar solo and an anthemic feeling to the proceedings. I couldn't help but get that memory of "Desperado" when I first listened to this. Also, it's the first time that I have ever heard Sakakibara sing in English. Geez, I'm such a sucker for Japanese love ballads from the early 1980s.
Just before I forget, "Slow Memory" was released in April 1982 as her 12th album. And perhaps true to one word in its title, almost all of the tracks go at their own languid pace. Unlike "C'est Drole" in which Sakakibara took a trip around the genres, "Slow Memory" is basically a solid pop album.
For all of you kayo fans of a certain age, do you remember Kenji Sawada's（沢田研二）"TOKIO"? It was all sorts of musical fun regarding the wonders of the largest city in Japan. With a bit of techno infused into the pop and rock, it just seemed to advertise Tokyo as that dream-like gleaming technopolis.
Well, several months after the release of "TOKIO", rocker Shogo Hamada（浜田省吾）decided to speak up and say "Whoa, dude! It ain't all strawberries and cream here." As a result, he came up with "Tokyo", his 11th single in October 1980.
Compared to the cute and slightly technopoppy "TOKIO", Hamada's answer song (which he wrote and composed) is its brassy and brawling cousin from Kabukicho. The singer-songwriter puts in a goodly amount of reasons for folks living out in the countryside to sigh relief that they are not living in Tokyo: prostitution, exhausted commuters coming home on packed trains and some other sordidness in the big city. But Hamada doesn't frame this in a slow and downbeat melody. On the contrary, the music is as upbeat as the one for "TOKIO" but with a darker side, and drivers bombing down the highway will like to rock their heads and sing to it. Especially love the horns and drumming.
The above video has a Hamada copy band, J. Club, providing a cover of "Tokyo". I don't know how the single did on J-Wiki but the album that it also came on, "Home Bound", from October 1980, peaked at No. 20. It was released in the same month as the single.
The impetus for the article and my interest in the song is from commenter Arc who has started getting into Hamada's music. And as per Arc's request, I've provided a translation of the lyrics.
Some girl is selling her body in the back alley Kids are making gangs and searching for prey Sprawled out poolside, full of money, and looking for work on the midsummer streets People just hanging out...oooh Oooh, how long can you hold out? A bed is creaking beyond the wall The TV is shouting out at full volume below the floor, Tokyo Don't twist me around, Tokyo Don't tear that girl apart, born under the expressway Dying over the subway, Tokyo Don't go overboard with yesterday, Tokyo Don't paint over tomorrow, Tokyo The exhausted faces on a packed train Children are getting crushed in school Loneliness is being bartered under the neon, the old people Say nothing in the middle of their despair....oooh Oooh, how long can you hold out? Engines are roaring beyond the window Ultra-low jets are flying over our heads, Tokyo Don't come after me, Tokyo Don't shake that girl, falling in love with her at the disco, making love to her in the hotel Saying goodbye to her at the drive-in, Tokyo Don't blame it on the times, Tokyo Find the light, Tokyo
Need to wind down a bit after that last episode of "Gotham"...things are starting to wind up for the end of another season.
After writing that last article on Ikue Sakakibara's（榊原郁恵）"Arrangement" which was composed by Shogo Hamada（浜田省吾）, I managed to come across one of his own songs on YouTube called "Asa no Silhouette" (Morning Silhouette). Written and composed by the man himself, this was originally a track on his 4th official album"Mind Screen" from May 1979. Against the backdrop of some mellow horns and morning-appropriate keyboards, Hamada waxes philosophical about love as the hero of the story muses about the end of a one-night tryst while nursing a gin hangover. I'm not sure how it will end although the music hints that if there is a separation between the two partners, then it will probably be sad but amicable. Just hope the breakfast is good.
"Mind Screen" peaked at No. 63 on Oricon.
Hamada re-visited "Asa no Silhouette" for his album of ballads "Sand Castle" in December 1983. No horns in this version but the arrangement still has that breezy feeling...perhaps this time, the setting is at a resort hotel rather than the more urban accommodations in the original version. This album did far better by hitting No. 6 on the charts.
Happy Monday to you all. Late last year, I had put up an article based on the title track of Ikue Sakakibara's（榊原郁恵）1982 album"Slow Memory" but unfortunately since the only recorded sample of the song got taken down, I had to put the article back into draft status (well, happily that's been rectified).
But I could find another track from the album to spotlight tonight. That would be "Arrangement", which like the title track and presumably the other songs on "Slow Memory", has more of a straight contemporary pop feeling. I had always presumed the pixie-like Ikue to be all about the happy-go-lucky aidoru music so it was a revelation to come across the music from this particular album.
"Arrangement" has the singer sounding less like her super-cheerful self and more along the lines of Mizue Takada（高田みづえ）or Yoshie Kashiwabara（柏原芳恵）in ballad mode. With Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）providing the lyrics, singer-songwriter Shogo Hamada（浜田省吾）composed the music that skirts on the edge of City Pop and has a certain mystique about it. In particular, there is that ghost-like twangy guitar off in the background that keeps things interesting.
It's another one of those discoveries that has me "Hmmm..." when it comes to potential shopping choices...provided that the album exists online somewhere.
My knowledge of rocker Shogo Hamada（浜田省吾）is limited to what nikala and I have contributed to the blog. However, I recently became aware of one of his very early singles as a solo performer (he started his career as the drummer for short-lived rock band Aido「愛奴」in the early 1970s). "Ai no Kakehiki"(Haggling Over Love), which was written and composed by Hamada, is a breezy feel-good-sounding song with some great guitar although the lyrics have a frustrated guy venting about what his ex-girlfriend had really wanted from him.
Released in October 1976, Hamada sounded like a reedy-voiced teenager although he was already close to being 24 when his 2nd single came out. He could've been busking near one of the major Tokyo stations with this one and I'm sure he would have drawn a fair-sized crowd. It's just a nice song to listen to, and according to the J-Wiki article on "Ai no Kakehiki", he based the lyrics on his own time at Kanagawa University. The single was also a track on his 2nd album, "Love Train" which was released in May 1977.
The first version of the song I heard, though, was his own cover version on his September 1991 album"Edge of the Knife", his 3rd disc of covers. And to be honest, this is the one that still gets me happy. Hamada's voice is back to his familiar depth and there's a lusher arrangement although the essence of the original version is still there. In fact, when I first heard this version, I thought this was the original from the mid-70s.
There was a whole lot more love for "Ai no Kakehiki" and the rest of the songs on "Edge of the Knife" as it hit No. 1 and then quickly became the 15th-ranked album for 1991. It also sold close to 800,000 copies.
Simply one of the coolest guys around, Shogo Hamada (浜田省吾) has had a solid career during the 40+ years he's been in the industry, and has been steadily popular in terms of sales since the early 80's. HMV Japan, for instance, lists him as No.59 on its Top 100 Japanese Pop Artists list. He's also had a significant influence on other popular Japanese male songwriters, especially in the lyrics department, such as Yutaka Ozaki, Masaharu Fukuyama, and Kazutoshi Sakurai from Mr.Children. I actually decided to give him a try after finding out that he's one of Sakurai's musical heroes...a strong selling point for me. And I'm so glad I did, since his music is a pleasure to listen to. He's a rock star with a big heart. English Wikipedia provides a pretty comprehensive profile on him, so I'll just focus on the song at hand so we can get a glimpse of what this singer is about.
"J.Boy" (i.e. Japanese Boy) was a title track from his 11th studio album released in September 1986. He headed overseas to the US to do the mixing part of the production, where he worked with two artists he wanted to meet for a long time: Jackson Browne and Don Henley. The album peaked at No.1 on Oricon weeklies and became the 21st-ranked album of the year with 419,000 copies sold for the first issue. The two CD re-issues have also charted well thanks to Hamada's new-found surge in popularity during the early-90's. He couldn't have picked a better title track to headline the album, as "J.Boy" is a fantastic number of grand proportions that is meant to be played in an arena concert. It's also got striking lyrics which go hand-in-hand with the music. Huge thanks to J-Canuck for providing the following translation for "J.Boy" and helping me magnify the content. I must say, we're doing pretty well with J-names here.
At the bell at the end of work
The stolen heart and body are returned in the evening
The human wave that sets off for home
I unloosen my tie
Sometimes I wanna scream in anger for no reason
J.Boy …the ideals I set forth are also far away now
J.Boy…I also lose the pride I should protect
I run myself ragged in the endless rat race
And throw out my home and throw out my work, the
friends that left me
Then I try to plug the hole in my heart
I endure the mountain of work I bear
J.Boy…in this country of plenty and distrust
J.Boy…What do I gamble on? What do I dream about?
J.Boy…I’m a J.Boy
Several things are going on here. For one thing, the song is a critique of the Japanese working society during the bubble economy and describes the lifeless state of mind of many white-collar workers during that period. At least that's what Hamada's intention was according to J-Wiki, but one could certainly universalize the theme to apply to the youth of today who are trying to make ends meet in the midst of an unstable global economy. You can just feel the protagonist's despair through Hamada's delivery during the verses. No normal human being wants to be just another bolt in the machine. But at the same time, it's a song about pride and freedom, which the protagonist regains by riding away from his prison into the dawn on a motorcycle. Try listening to part where the instruments quiet down with the "4 in the morning..." lyrics in mind. After you get to the line "I wanna break through the sun...", a blast of horns and guitars will come your way, giving off an effect of liberty rushing into the hero's veins.
4 in the morning, can’t sleep
Leave my girl in bed
I stick the key into the motorcycle
In the dark, I slide in
And until everything fades away
I race the wind and ride
J.Boy
Show me your way!
I wanna break through the sun rising over the horizon
J.Boy…smash through the everyday
Overtake the sadness
J.Boy…stop the loneliness
Blow away the isolation
J.Boy…J.Boy
According to J-Wiki, Hamada designed the title to mean "not yet grown Japan". Hence the "boy" part. The protagonist of this song and the album is the same figure that appeared in Hamada's previous album Down By The Mainstreet (1984) as much younger boy, and now he was undergoing a transition towards adulthood as he was figuring out his purpose in life while dealing with all the surrounding mess. This transformation would be more-or-less complete in the following album Father's Son (1988). As for the "Japan" part, Hamada just seemed skeptical about Japan's bubble economy, which he thought was expanding too fast for its own good, especially within such a small territory. I'll let you interpret that comment however you wish. Or you can just simply appreciate the song for its introspective message about finding freedom within oneself.
Like I mentioned previously, "J.Boy" demands to be performed live, and it certainly became one of Hamada's setlist staples since 1986. The above performance comes from a 2001 concert (unfortunately, that video has been taken down). It's a real treat. The song was also used as a rooting anthem for the Japanese team during the 2006 FIFA World Cup, where it was rearranged under the title "J.Boy remix for J athletes".
Unfortunately, this is still someone that I have yet to know really well, and considering his long years in the music business and how many singers he has written for (Momoe Yamaguchi, Akiko Wada, etc.), I think I should. So, if there are any Shogo Hamada（浜田省吾） fans out there, I'm open to suggestion.
At this point, I have just this one wonderful song by him. And although "Midnight Flight: Hitori Bocchi no Christmas Eve"(A Lonely Christmas Eve) is, as the title suggests, a bittersweet ballad of someone having to separate from a loved one by thousands of kilometres over air on December 24th, there seems to be a feeling of some pride and hope throughout, especially in the refrain, as if the separation will not be a permanent one. There will be more Christmas Eves to spend together. And the arrangement of the song seems to hint at a long voyage ahead.
The song was never a released single but a track on his 11th album, "Club Surf & Snowbound" released in June 1987 with a peak ranking of No. 2 on Oricon. However, the version I know is from his 2nd album of all ballads titled "Wasted Tears" released in September 1989 which hit the top spot on the Oricon weeklies and became the 16th-ranked album of the year.
For all those J-Pop fans who are gonna be hitting the skies in a few days, pop this one into your ears.
Friday May 23, 2014
I received a comment from Faruk Ahmet about the song recently, and so I went into the lyrics once more. After going through them, I realized that my earlier statements about them were perhaps somewhat optimistic and slightly inaccurate since it looks like the woman that Hamada sings about has taken off for The Big Apple for perhaps a good amount of time, and the poor man at the airport assumes that the relationship is as good as dead. I felt like picking that guy up at Narita or Haneda and taking him out for a good stiff drink at a nomiya. However, he might be being a bit too morose (after all, he got dumped on Xmas Eve) and perhaps the next year may find some happier times for him and her.
In any case, here are the translated lyrics for "Midnight Flight":
The flight that I put my girl on disappears into the night sky There's not even a shadow in the airport parking lot If only I had stopped her and said "Don't go" The two of us would've been flying down the highway toward the heart of the city What I've lost is so big I still can't even feel the pain A lonely Christmas Eve A freezing Silent Night Where do I go from here? I can't see anything below the sky She'll be living with her sister in New York for a while I can't bear to be in Tokyo by myself She'll call only when she wants to see me I'll only eat, drive and hit the hay You, who came to believe in only a love without any meaning You're only scared of truly loving A lonely Christmas Eve A freezing Silent Night The city lights where we thrived together are receding The rain mixed in with the falling drizzle Is changing to snow Nobody is going back to the waiting place for the people in love (these last two lines I'm not totally sure about)
The golden ring in my pocket that I was planning to give my girl I'm still clutching it in the palm of my hand even now A lonely Christmas Eve A freezing Silent Night I can't find anyone to take care of....no one at all
Tuesday May 27 2014
And the following is the romaji version of the song:
Ano ko noseta tsubasa, yozora e kiete yuku Kuukou no chuushajo, mou hitokage mo nai "Yuku na" to hikitomereba, imagoro futari Kousoku wo toshin e to hasshiteita hazu Nakushita mono ga amari ni ooki sugite Itami wo kanjiru koto sae mo dekinai mama sa Hitori bocchi no Christmas Eve Hiesou na Silent Night Koko kara doko e ikou mou nani mo mienai sora no shita Imouto to kurasu tsumori shibaraku New York de Hitori kiri Tokyo de mou ikite yukenai Aitai toki ni dake denwa kakete kite Shokuji shite, doraibu shite, beddo ni hairu dake Katachi no nai ai dake wo shinjite kita anata wa Honki de ai suru koto osoreteiru dake Hitori bocchi no Christmas Eve Hiesou na Silent Night Futari de ikite kita tokai no akari ga touzakaru Furidashita mizore majiri no Ame ga yuki ni kawatte yuku Dare mo minna aisuru hito no Matsu basho e to kaette yuku Poketto no naka ano ko ni okurou to shita Golden Ring Ima demo te no hira ni nigiri shimeta mama Hitori bocchi no Christmas Eve Hiesou na Silent Night Mou mamoru mono nante mitsukerarenai nani hitotsu
