Spinach Power -- Popeye the Sailor Man

 

Over the time of the blog, I believe I've mentioned that I grew up watching cartoons such as anything from Disney, Peanuts and Warner Brothers. I also have to say that "Popeye the Sailor Man" can be included. Even before I could actually eat the iron-rich vegetable, I got to know Popeye and his love for spinach along with the rest of his gang including Olive Oyl and Wimpy. And of course, there is that famous theme song by Sammy Lerner and Danny Long.

In the disco era of the 1970s, I knew that some of the older songs were getting disco-fied such as the "Star Wars" theme and Beethoven's "Symphony No. 5". So it was no surprise to find out that the "Popeye" theme got its treatment of boppy bass and silky strings. But this time, it was on the Japanese side of things that a disco version of Popeye's theme was made.

You can thank Spinach Power（スピニッヂ・パワー）for the disco take on that theme, and what better group to take that on but a band whose name exemplifies everything the sailor stands for. Released as the band's first single in September 1978, of course, the main chorus is in there but there is also a driving disco part which had me wondering how people danced to that. 

Tetsuo Nishihama（西濱哲男）was on vocals while fellow Spinach Power member Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）and City Pop singer Yumi Murata（村田有美）were helping out on chorus. Apparently, veteran producer Daiko Nagato's（長戸大幸）introduction to the legendary comic book character was the impetus behind the making of the song, according to J-Wiki.

Spinach Power -- Funky Disco Princess

 

About this time last month, I introduced a band called Spinach Power and their "Style". The band was notable for having certain individual members who were already quite well-known or would become well-known in their own right, and they include Tetsuo Nishihama（西濱哲男）from the band Tranzam（トランザム）, singer-songwriter Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）and rock singer Kyosuke Himuro（氷室京介）.

Now, as I noted in the article for "Style", Spinach Power was seen as a disco group although "Style" itself didn't fit that genre. It was more of a guitar pop tune for the most part. However, I have found an earlier single from their discography that absolutely reflects good ol' disco. Their 3rd single "Funky Disco Princess" released in January 1979 was provided by lyricist Tomoko Aran（亜蘭知子）, as she did for "Style", and composer Daiko Nagato（長戸大幸）. The vocals were sung by Oda in a way that had me thinking of Tiny Tim for some reason...at least until the end when Oda just went nuts on the microphone. Not sure whether Aran was doing backup vocals. "Funky Disco Princess" was most likely the band's best showing on Oricon as it hit No. 86.

Spinach Power -- Style

 

Happy Sunday! It's another hot one in the city.

Found this one only some minutes ago but the back story behind this band was fascinating enough that I've decided to start today's round of KKP with them. Never heard of Spinach Power (and yep, Popeye was an inspiration) which lasted between 1978 and 1981 and according to their J-Wiki profile, they never came up with the hits which would explain their brevity of existence. Part of the fascination lies in the series of main vocalists they had. The first one was Tetsuo Nishihama（西濱哲男）who had been the lead vocalist for the band Tranzam（トランザム）. Then came famed singer-songwriter Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）who naturally handled the song creation. And the third and final vocalist was a fellow named Shuuichi Teranishi（寺西修一）who would later become Kyosuke Himuro（氷室京介）, the singer for the band BOOWY in the late 1980s and a soloist with the hit "KISS ME" in 1992. There was never any mention of this in Himuro's own article in either J-Wiki or Wikipedia.

Also, according to the profile, Spinach Power released seven singles and three albums with the magazines identifying the band as a disco group, although it was seen that only half of their discography was really in that genre. Certainly, the song "Style" in their third and final album "In and Out" from September 1980 doesn't come across as a disco song at all. And despite the cover of the album showing the members looking all New Wave (well, aside from the 70s rock hairdos on most of them...it's more the outfits), "Style" sounds more like a congenial guitar pop tune with some rock at the end. The other part of the fascination is that "Style" was written by Tomoko Aran（亜蘭知子）and composed by the aforementioned Oda; those two would later work together to create songs for the summertime band TUBE.

If, by chance, anyone else has any other information on Spinach Power, let me know. As well, one more bit of trivia I can leave with you is that the band's drummer Mamoru Kimura（木村マモル）would become the first drummer for BOOWY.