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.
Showing posts with label Sumiko Yamagata. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Sumiko Yamagata. Show all posts
Singer-songwriter Sumiko Yamagata（やまがたすみこ）is someone that I got to know first from the pages of "Japanese City Pop" and then from her 1977 album"Flying". It was the album that signified the young folk singer's transition into something more adult contemporary.
However, I think the Tokyo native may have already been showing signs of trying out different genres as early as 1974 when she released her third album"Melodies Come From My Heart". It was still considered a folk LP but I think with her track "Murasaki Iro no Kaze" (Purple Wind), I've been getting different genres including folk. I could pick up on some blues guitar and a general feel of New Music. Yamagata was behind both words and music with the story of a woman standing in the midst of a stiff breeze as she tries to forget about that man who's now very much part of the past. There may be some lingering regret but as the last few notes hint, there is also hope around the corner.
Around Christmas last year, a commenter alerted me about the late Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）having a mystery 1982 album "Boy" which had been undeservedly shelved for decades until its unearthing in 2024. So I was happy to listen to the tropical City Pop from "Endless Summer" as one of the tracks on "Boy". One reason that I'm here in this article today is that a good fellow by the name of Ryusei Miyakodori（都鳥流星）let me know of his own English article on the album, so if you can follow this link right here, you can get his own personal take on Takizawa and his history with music from his childhood.
Well, today I'll be starting this session of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" with another track from "Boy", "Morning with Venus". Composed by Takizawa and written by Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）, this takes things more into downtown Tokyo starting with a really attenuated twangy guitar before we have the lovely duo of Takizawa and an especially sultry-voiced Sumiko Yamagata（やまがたすみこ）coming up with a whimsical combination of City Pop and American variety show jazz. I was half-expecting the two to suddenly break into either a tap dance or a soft-shoe on stage during the instrumental bridge. I'd say that is one happy morning with Venus and one more reason that I'm glad for the revelation of "Boy".
"Natsu no Hikari ni"is a song with a bossa rhythm composed by Yamagata（やまがたすみこ）for an album that represented her shift from polished folk singer to pop singer. The usual bossa nova song is sung rather softly but in her case, perhaps it's something left over from her folk days, but her beautiful enunciation and strong vocals have somehow lent a unique attractiveness.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
Ah, yes. I remember that tree. I took that shot at Oazo, a small commercial complex right across from Tokyo Station. Oazo also has one of my favourite browsing places, Maruzen Bookstore. But back to 2022 and reality, unfortunately most of the day has been spent flustering over a clogged kitchen sink pipe and despite all that we've done, I'm still not sure if the clog has been completely flushed out.
In any case, let's get to a more pleasant and seasonal frame of mind instead of pondering what might be clogging the pipe. A few days ago, when I was writing about Jackey Yoshikawa and his Blue Comets（ジャッキー吉川とブルー・コメッツ）and their "Blue Candle", an original J-Xmas tune from 1967, I was noting that there were indeed original Japanese Christmas songs that predated Yumi Matsutoya's（松任谷由実）1978"Lodge de Matsu Christmas"（ロッヂで待つクリスマス）. In fact, here is another Yuletide number that showed up months before Yuming's（ユーミン）classic.
Singer Sumiko Yamagata（やまがたすみこ）was making her transition from folk to a more New Music/City Pop approach going into the late 1970s, which is why I ended up buying her 1977 album"Flying". Unfortunately, I have yet to acquire her follow-up album "Emerald Shower"（エメラルド・シャワー）which was released in February 1978, but I gather that Yamagata was either a tad late or she really wanted to get a jump on any competition to get her Xmas song out early since her "Horoyoi Eve" (Tipsy Christmas Eve) was the track to start the album off.
With cameo appearances by "Jingle Bells", "Joy to the World" and "Silent Night" (and even one other familiar tune at the end) through some strings, composer Yasunori Soryo（惣領泰則）really hits the Xmas button by including those famous tunes with a melody that wavers between City Pop and the larger New Music. The music also ambles congenially between the increasingly commonplace glamour of Tokyo life for everyone and the more intimate alcohol-fueled situation of one woman and one man.
"Waver" and "amble" are the verbs of the article here because Etsuko Kisugi's（来生えつこ）lyrics describe a woman getting drunk, maybe for the first time, and although she has been hobbled somewhat by the experience (she even admits to an encroaching hangover), she may have also gotten a bit of liquid courage in terms of her eye on her crush. Having his shoulder while being guided home does give her the advantage. What also adds to the effect is how Yamagata dreamily delivers those words as if she's the one under the influence.
It's rather nice having yet another City Pop J-Xmas song on the books here to join with other tunes like Ruiko Kurahashi's（倉橋ルイ子）"December 24". And I'm happy that I am blogging once more tonight. Just to really finish off, I also would like to add that "Horoyoi Eve" shares track space with "Ame Agari no Samba" (雨上がりのサンバ）which may be the very first Yamagata song that I put up back in 2012.
I guess that this song from Sumiko Yamagata's（やまがたすみこ）1977 album"FLYING" must have taken its sweet time growing on me since I hadn't included it in my article on the album back in 2018 and it hadn't gotten its own article until...well, today.
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And so, today is time for "TODAY" as I exercise my right for Dad Joke Wednesdays. Whatever reason it was that I held back on writing about this track from "FLYING" has been nullified and the tune is now quite catchy. It was written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed by Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）, and it has this intro which sounds quite cheerful and encouraging with a slight reggae hop. Then there is the instrumental bridge with the twangy guitar that comes across like something that Matsumoto's old bandmate from Happy End（はっぴいえんど）, bassist Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, would concoct for his Tiki bar music with Tin Pan Alley（ティン・パン・アレー）back around the same time. But near the end, there is the muskrat-sounding keyboard riff which struck me as being quintessentially Sato.
Keeping in line with kayo traditions, the happy-go-lucky melody underlies Matsumoto's lyrics of a woman just going through her sad daily rut of a routine at the company. She would like to break out of it, but it doesn't look like that's going to be happening too soon whether it be today, tomorrow or the day after that. Can't complain about the music, though, and for that matter, Yamagata's dreamy and almost woozy delivery. "Hello, Miss Gloomy" indeed!
Just in the last month, I have made a couple of references to the Tsukuba Expo in 1985 through Futurepop band The Aprils（エイプリルズ）and enka singer Kouhei Fukuda（福田こうへい）. Never made it to a world exposition; I was too young for Montreal's Expo '67 and there wasn't any way I was going to make it to Tsukuba since even back then, a part-time job wasn't going to pay for my airfare and accommodations to Japan. Perhaps I might make it to the 2025 Expo in Osaka. Who knows?
Anyways, I actually found a song that has a direct connection with the Tsukuba Expo, and there are a couple of big names attached to it and one that is a bit surprising to me. To be specific, the song was the theme for a presentation at the Sumitomo Pavilion within the world's fair.
The Sumitomo Pavilion, which had the overall theme of "Love for Mother Nature, Hope for Humanity", had something called the Fantasium, a complex which showed a 3D movie titled "Daichi no Uta"（大地の詩...Earth Song） featuring a cute girl in overalls with her sheepdog. From looking at the thumbnail above, it seems to have been rather "Heidi".
The theme song was "Sora ni Aou yo" (Let's Meet in the Sky), and as soon as I heard it, I figured that it just had to be a Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）concoction. That adorable technopop arrangement screamed "THE PROFESSOR!" at me, and indeed it was his wife at the time, Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）, behind the lyrics. As for the surprising part, the singer Momo（モモ）turned out to be 1970s folk/New Music singer Sumiko Yamagata（やまがたすみこ）whose vocals would have immediately won her a singing role in a Studio Ghibli movie if one had been offered to her.
Sakamoto has come up with some very interesting stuff over the years, and one observation that I've gotten of his works is that whenever he set to work on songs for the kiddies or light pop singers, The Professor can whip up stuff that is half cool technopop and half toy store fun. It's like listening to computer music at FAO Schwarz. "Sora ni Aou yo" fits that description and I think that he's done the same for "Computer Obaachan"（コンピューターおばあちゃん）and Mari Iijima's（飯島真理）"Blueberry Jam". Back in the 1980s, if you wanted a song about Christmas and robots, Sakamoto was the guy!
Long time, no see for singer-songwriter Sumiko Yamagata（やまがたすみこ）, so I've decided that this article will be a two-for-one, just to show that transition from folk to AOR within a few years.
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I think it's a soprano saxophone which launches the calming "Ashita Anata ni" (You, Tomorrow), the B-side to Yamagata's 2nd single"Natsu ni Nattara"（夏になったら）released in June 1973. Written by the singer and composed by fellow folk singer Ryoko Moriyama（森山良子）, "Ashita Anata ni" is not quite as brisk as the A-side but it still has plenty of wistfulness as Yamagata sings about wishing to meet the guy she likes but probably not being able to pull it off due to the usual shyness issues. Somehow, I can picture Yamagata singing this while sitting by her window in her room. "Ashita Anata ni" is also a track on Yamagata's 2nd album"Ano Hi no Koto wa"（あの日のことは...The Event That Day） from September of that same year.
A few years later in 1976 through her 6th album, "Summer Shade"（サマー・シェイド）, Yamagata came up with an AOR-friendly number called "Ame no Nichiyoubi" (Rainy Sunday), and it has that melodic trope of the keyboard Haze effect which adorned many a 1970s City Pop/AOR number along with a nice jazzy guitar solo. The singer came up with the lyrics about enjoying that precipitation on her day off while heading over to her beau's house and pouring him a cappuccino (Wow! Did they have those back then too?). Toshiyuki Watanabe（渡辺俊幸）provided the music here.
Especially listening to "Ame no Nichiyoubi", I rather thought that 80s aidoru Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）sounds just like Yamagata in her own mellower works. Indeed, I recall Kawai has also contributed to the AORgenre.
Earlier this morning, all of the telecommunications for the home and, I assume, the neighbourhood went out for about 4 hours or so. In this second decade of the 21st century, it feels rather weird when there is no Internet or phone access, and your television is frozen on the last image before cutting out. That last image, by the way, was of a reporter talking of the latest on Hurricane Florence via CNN.
As such, I had my ramen and fake croissant and milk lunch rather silently (no worries...no running toward the washroom this time), but with the empty time, I realized that I could use it to go over a few CDs. Actually, I just listened to a 45" and then put in the above CD into the stereo...Sumiko Yamagata's（やまがたすみこ）7th studio album, "FLYING" from July 1977.
I've actually written on a couple of other tracks from "FLYING": "Moonlight Jitterbug"（ムーンライト・ジルバ）and "Peppermint Morning"（ペッパーミント・モーニング）with the former being written up in the first several months of this blog's existence. But since I listened to the whole album again today and there are a few of the tracks represented on YouTube, I've decided to go cover the album as a whole.
Track 3 is "Anata ni Teleport"（あなたにテレポート...Teleporting to You）with Ken Sato（佐藤健）providing the jazzy City Pop-lite music of sax and horns, and Takashi Matsumoto (松本隆...who takes care of all of the lyrics in the album) writing the lyrics about what seems to be a first date at a stylish cafe.
Track 8 is the mellow strut of "Yume Iro Glider"（夢色グライダー...Dream-Coloured Glider）with Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）composing the equivalent of a fun little jaunt down the street. Blogger kaz-shin of "Music Avenue" pointed out that "Yume Iro Glider" sounds just like a Hosono production, but I also think that there is a feeling of Yumi Arai（荒井由美）in this one as well.
"Tasogare Yuuei"（黄昏遊泳...Sunset Swim）is an interesting one for its kinda Tex-Mex arrangement, and I'm not talking about the food (which I do love, incidentally). There is a bit of that country but also the trumpets from south of the American border adorning this song of having a good time down at the sea. Guitarist Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）handled the music and arrangement here.
Suzuki also took care of "GOOD-BYE Graffiti"（GOOD-BYE・グラフィティ）which has that mix of 1950s jukebox and 1970s mirror ball. I would have said that perhaps "Grease" had indeed been the word for this song, but the movie at least was still a year away, so maybe Matsumoto and Suzuki were inspired by the original play or even George Lucas'"American Graffiti".
The final song here is a bonus track that was added to the CD release of "FLYING", "Plastic Love"（プラスティック・ラブ）. Now, before some of you City Pop folks get yourselves all in a lather, it's not that "Plastic Love", and I'm not playing games here. This is Yamagata's own composition with Suzuki writing the lyrics about a woman catching her boyfriend in a possibly relationship-ending lie. It's a sad story wrapped in a lovely melody, and I think that Yamagata is at her most comfortable singing this particular ballad.
The aforementioned kaz-shin at "Music Avenue" had a pretty major beef about "FLYING" in that he felt that Yamagata was the square peg being hammered into the round hole of non-folk genres. Basically, he thought that Yamagata's vocals didn't quite fit a lot of the songs that she was singing in this album. Admittedly, I also thought that there was something off-kilter about her voice with some of the tracks...maybe a little uncomfortable with the material?
"FLYING" will not be a heavy-rotation CD in my stereo but I think Yamagata does a pretty good job overall, and I will never complain about the 1970s light and mellow arrangement. It's still quite comfy to me.
Almost the middle of May and not too far away from summer. Still a bit cool but not unpleasantly so. Considering the ice storm that we had a few weeks ago, I wouldn't trade the weather today for anything previously.
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Therefore, let's start the week off right with something relaxing, right along the same meteorological tones. Managed to find this calming song on YouTube after listening to it on one of the "Light Mellow" series of discs. Titled "Natsu no Hikari ni" (In The Summer Light), this was Sumiko Yamagata's（やまがたすみこ）9th single from July 1976, perhaps when she first made that transition from folk to AOR.
Composed by Yamagata and written by Makoto Kitajo（喜多條忠）, it's a languid and light tune about the time period surrounding a romantic breakup. The singer sounds so comforting and smooth and that keyboard just flows like spring water. Very nice combination. "Natsu no Hikari ni" was also a track on her 6th album"Summer Shade"（サマー・シェイド）which was released in July of that same year.
Long time, no see Sumiko Yamagata（やまがたすみこ）. Welcome back to the blog! I was kinda looking for something City Pop and thought that I could find an entry in Yamagata's discography since she had her period of urban contemporary starting from the late 1970s.
However, I ended up making a detour when I found this interesting and lovely song by her. It's titled "Kumorizora" (Overcast Sky) and was a track on her 5th album"Orgel"（オルゴール...Music Box）from August 1975. Before Yamagata made that right turn into New Music/City Pop, she had been known as a young folk singer. But I think there is more of a drama in this song that was composed by her and written by Tadashi Akai（赤井正...I hope that's how the name is pronounced）so that the arrangement takes things into a more New Music area. Perhaps, there are other tracks in "Orgel" that may have been slowly convincing her that she could make a crossing between genres.
In any case, the lyrics by Akai have a woman silently pining for someone she's fallen for under that titular overcast sky and exhorting him to notice her, especially since there is a hint that he may have just broken up with someone else and is mourning that loss. I do love that guitar, that piano and Yamagata's voice here.
Long time, no see, Yamagata-san! The last time an article was written up about Sumiko Yamagata（やまがたすみこ）was back in January 2014 by nikala for her 2nd single"Natsu ni Nattara"（夏になったら）.
I started the other way around with my approach on the singer-songwriter from Tokyo. Because I first saw her in the annals of "Japanese City Pop", I encountered her music when she made the switch over from folk to City Pop through songs like "Moonlight Jitterbug"(ムーンライト・ジルバ) in the late 1970s. But listening to "Natsu ni Nattara" again, I realized that she had that comfortable voice for folk.
So, I went back to the beginning with her debut single"Kaze ni Fukarete Ikou" (Let's Go With The Wind At Our Backs), another breezy and summery song written and composed by Yamagata. Released in February 1973, images of kids out in the fields trying to catch butterflies with their nets materialized in my head as I listened to this comfy tune with the recorder intro which came out when she was still just 16. That high voice and her baby face made her look even younger as an elementary school student.
And that innocence was also in play in Yamagata's lyrics which reassured the listener that love doesn't have to get in the way of a friendship. Just enjoy the good times together as a best-friend duo. I wonder if that wisdom came from personal experience...then again, doesn't all wisdom?
The Miku Hatsune（初音ミク）cover has pictures of Yamagata as she grew up from a teenage folk singer-songwriter into a young and slightly more glammed-up New Music singer. "Kaze ni Fukarete Ikou" also appeared in her debut album from March 1973, "Kaze, Sora, Soshite Ai"（風・空・そして愛...Wind, Sky and then Love）.
I came across the YouTube advertising video for the "Light Mellow" CD compilation of Yamagata's works from that latter half of her career.
While most of my 70's music listening leans towards the mid-late 70's, coming back to these folksy pop tunes from the earlier part in the decade definitely feels refreshing. Sumiko Yamagata's (やまがたすみこ) second single"Natsu ni Nattara" (夏になったら...When Summer Comes), which she released in June 1973, is one of those evergreen pieces that just oozes nostalgia with the old arrangement of acoustic guitars, brass and strings accompanied by that pure melodic voice of hers. I cannot help but smile when she hits those high notes. This song is warmer than three layers of blankets, which is fitting since the lyrics talk about spending summer, admiring the blue sea and singing songs with that special someone. Love and happiness everywhere. Hey, Valentine's Day is coming up...
J-Canuck has posted a few entries covering the second half of Yamagata's career as she delved into New Music, so here's an example from her early folksy days. The song was written and composed by the 16-year old singer herself, something that she would abandon later on. It's no masterpiece, but it has all the right elements of soothing kayokyoku that evokes fond memories of the good old days.
Going along with the theme of the arrival of summer, I've decided to go with this quiet breezy number from Folk/New Music singer Sumiko Yamagata（やまがたすみこ）."Peppermint Morning", as the title suggests, has that refreshing AM feeling as Yamagata sings about getting up on a Sunday morning in Tokyo. I can almost hear that coffee brewing in the kitchen. It is the first track on Yamagata's "Flying", her foray into a more adult contemporary vein, released in July 1977. The song was written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆） and composed by Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）. Compared to the one official single from the album, "Moonlight Jitterbug","Peppermint Morning" is a bit more laid-back, and in a way, with Yamagata's vocals and the arrangements, it sounds even a bit 80s aidoru-ish. Perhaps a bit ahead of its time?
One of the loveliest folk singers to ever grace the Japanese stage, Ryoko Moriyama（森山良子）was born in 1948 to a 2nd-generation Japanese-American jazz trumpeter and a former jazz singer, so the genes for a life in music were there. Her most famous song is the epic "Sato Kibi Batake"（さとうきび畑....The Sugar Cane Fields）, which dealt with the sugar cane fields of Okinawa under which the dead from World War II's Battle of Okinawa are buried.
However, my first experience of Moriyama came via "Ame Agari no Samba"(Samba After the Rain), a wonderful bossa nova tune to finish off a Friday night (like tonight). I first heard it on the radio program "The Sounds of Japan"years ago and spent a long time searching for the actual song until YouTube came along to help out. Moriyama may be famous for her folk music, but she can also give a wonderful Latin lilt. I would love to hear it by her in concert. The song was actually a B-side to "Chiisana Kaigara"(小さな貝がら....A Little Shell) released in May 1968.
"Ame Agari no Samba"was originally written by Michio Yamagami (山上路夫） and composed by Kunihiko Murai（村井邦彦）. A decade after Moriyama's version, folk singer-turned-New Musician Sumiko Yamagata（やまがたすみこ） also did a fine cover version as part of her 1978 album, "Emerald Shower". Yamagata's version has a bit more Latin flavour thrown in.
Sumiko Yamagata（やまがたすみこ） is another singer who I only discovered from "Japanese City Pop" (profiled under Media) a couple of years back. The Tokyo native started writing songs from the 6th grade in elementary school, and was eventually recruited by Japan Columbia in 1972. She started writing and singing folk songs but in the mid-70s, Yamagata moved over to New Music. When the move happened, she left the writing and composing duties to others for the most part.
Her 10th single, "Moonlight Jitterbug", released in July 1977, isn't a jitterbug at all but an easygoing bossa nova song. It was also part of her 7th studio album, "FLYING"which was also released in the same month. I decided to get that album just on the looks of the jacket alone. In the video above (not any more since that video got taken down), there are images of her former folkie look before she took on a more dramatic appearance in her New Music era. Strangely enough, the song was written and composed by one-half of the rock band, Happy End, Takashi Matsumoto and Shigeru Suzuki（松本隆・鈴木茂）.
I've heard "Moonlight Jitterbug" a couple of times now. She's not exactly the second coming of Astrud Gilberto but I still want to absorb as much of "FLYING"as I can before rendering a final decision. Actually, for the longest time, I'd been trying to figure out what "jiruba"(ジルバ）meant before finally finding out that it stood for "jitterbug". A number of kayo kyoku songs use that word in the title.
