Tamao Koike -- Sexanova

 

Around 5 1/2 years ago, I posted an article regarding "Kanariya"（カナリヤ）by singer-songwriter Tamao Koike（小池玉緒）. I didn't know and frankly still don't know a whole heck of a lot about her aside from the fact that she hails from Tokyo alongside the information that she had released a couple of singles in the early 1980s along with one original album in 1992.

Koike has contributed her fair share of songs though on various compilations with different singers, mostly under the YEN label, a recording company created by Yellow Magic Orchestra's Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）and Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, itself under the aegis of Alfa Records. One of those compilations is "YEN BOX VOL.2"  which is a massive collection of 18 CDs released in December 1996. "Kanariya" itself is a track on Disc 18 which has a mix of previously unreleased songs by Koike and karaoke versions of songs by other artists such as Miharu Koshi（越美晴）.

For this article, I have "Sexanova" which sounds like the perfect title for a punk or post-punk/New Romantic song of the 1980s, and as I mentioned for "Kanariya", perhaps "Sexanova" is something that had been created back in, let's say, 1983 for the sake of argument. Written and composed by the late Toshio Nakanishi（中西俊夫）of the New Wave band The Plastics, the song is actually a light and smooth tropical tune with Koike's vocals nicely bouncing about after having a couple of margaritas. You can even hear some water lapping on the shore along with some ungulate bleating away.

Tamao Koike -- Kanariya（カナリヤ）

Always like getting that pleasant surprise whenever I'm writing on the blog.

The surprise for today has presented itself in the form of Tamao Koike's（小池玉緒）"Kanariya" (Canary) since I found out that it had been the progenitor for a Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）B-side called "Wagamama na Kataomoi"（わがままな片想い）. Until then, I had only known Koike for "Kagami no Naka no Juu-gatsu"（鏡の中の十月）.

In terms of arrangement, it's pretty similar in that "Kanariya" still has as much of that technopop adventure in Toyland feeling as the later "Wagamama". But instead of Takashi Matsumoto's（松本隆）lyrics in the latter, Koike herself provided the words for her "Kanariya" although Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）is still the one behind the creation of the bouncy melody. From the singer's delivery, it sounds like she was having a slightly difficult time maintaining the high notes and as such, she may have achieved a certain New Wave quality with this song.

The other surprising element is that "Kanariya" had never been released in the 1980s. I'm assuming that it was recorded not too long before "Wagamama" so maybe in 1982 or 1983 (but for the sake of argument, I'm going to go with 1983). It finally saw the light of day, so to speak, through a compilation album of 18 discs called "YEN BOX VOL.2" (check Disc 18) which was released in May 1996. Koike herself offered the song to Matsuda soon after recording her version.

Tamao Koike -- Kagami no Naka no Juu-gatsu （鏡の中の十月）

One of the new songs that I was able to hear on that techno kayo album I purchased back around Xmas last year was Tamao Koike's（小池玉緒）"Kagami no Naka no Juu-gatsu" (Automne Dans Un Miroir). It's definitely one of those rare gems since Koike, who was a model, actress and singer, only released one single under her real name, one album under another alias, and a smattering of other songs in various compilations.

"Kagami no Naka no Juu-gatsu" was released in September 1983. While Masao Urino（売野雅勇）provided the lyrics to the breathy vocals of Koike, Yellow Magic Orchestra wove the pensive techno kayo melody in a French pop manner, according to the singer's biography on J-Wiki. Indeed, there is something about her delivery that brought to mind Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）and the New Wave mode of Miharu Koshi（コシミハル）.

As for Koike, the singer was born in Tokyo in 1962 and was scouted as a teenager in 1978 to become a model in magazines. Then in 1982, she provided vocals for the B-side of Haruomi Hosono's（細野晴臣）"Sangokushi Main Theme"（三国志メイン・テーマ）. According to her bio on J-Wiki, it seems that she dabbled just a bit in acting and singing with modeling being her main gig. However, she is currently retired.

The liner jacket for the techno kayo album.
Really, I just bought it for the songs!