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
Monday, March 10, 2025
Duke Aces/Pizzicato Five -- Atarashii Uta(新しい歌)
Wednesday, October 30, 2024
Pizzicato Five feat. Hisashi Kato -- Nagame no Ii Heya(眺めのいい部屋)
This is the view that I had from my room in the R&B Hotel in Otsuka, Tokyo back in 2017. Nope, I wouldn't call it panoramic either but it was still glorious from my point of view because I was back in my old stomping grounds once more. Nice cool draft wafted in, too.😙
It's Wednesday...Hump Day once more...the peak of the week's doldrums so why not bring in something to bring up happiness levels a little. I offer "Nagame no Ii Heya" (A Room with a View) which comes from Pizzicato Five's November 1999 12th album "Pizzicato Five".
The album has been categorized on J-Wiki as a mere pop and rock album and perhaps P5 at this point had been fading away from its Shibuya-kei heyday, but "Nagame no Ii Heya" still sounds like the cool Japanese genre of the 1990s was still coursing through its veins. From the groovy rhythms to the over-the-top horns to the DeVol arpeggios to the vocals of the Divine Ms. Maki Nomiya(野宮真貴), I manage to get that feeling of yesteryear. Written and composed by Yasuharu Konishi(小西康陽), Nomiya is joined by the leader of the rock band The Collectors, Hisashi Kato(加藤ひさし), in this fun tete-a-tete. I've mentioned the band once before almost a couple of years ago when I wrote about their "Christmas Song".
Saturday, December 24, 2022
The Collectors -- Christmas Song
Well, I managed to get my family's gifts all wrapped up so I'm good to get a bit more blogging before I make the transition from Christmas Eve to Christmas Day.
Along with Original Love's "X'mas NO HI", another track that I found appealing on "Mint Sound's X'mas Album" from 1987 via Scott's "Holly Jolly X'masu" podcast was "Christmas Song" by the rock band The Collectors(ザ・コレクターズ). In addition to hearing it above at 3:37, you can also listen to it from 10:32 of Scott's podcast and you will also get a description of who The Collectors are. From their J-Wiki article, vocalist and leader Hisashi Kato(加藤ひさし)was influenced by British rock and the Mod subculture and incorporated those elements into his band which was formed in 1986.
"Christmas Song" has some of those jingle bells but there is no supreme flourish of Christmas music production in it which is refreshing. It's just straight ahead jangly rock delivered clearly and forcefully by Kato, and although I and Scott did mention about those influences of British rock and Mod, I couldn't help but also hear a bit of Kiyoshiro Imawano(忌野清志郎)and RC Succession(RCサクセション)in the song.
The Collectors have continued to release singles and albums right up to 2022. In fact, their latest album came out last month, "Juicy Marmalade"(ジューシーマーマレード).