Tomoko Soryo -- Kirameita Hibi（きらめいた日々）

 

Happy Monday! Although the temperatures are back below freezing again, the skies are brilliant out there, so can't complain too much. It does go to show that there is a sage piece of advice for Torontonians and that is to never put away your winter tires or clothing until May. I have personally seen snow falling in May but that was decades ago.

There has been a lot going on out there in the world and that includes a fairly powerful earthquake that rocked Hokkaido and the Tohoku area earlier today. I woke up and turned on Jme to see that there had been ongoing NHK coverage of the quake and the ensuing tsunami warning and watches for several hours. Hopefully, everyone there is hanging in there OK.

Perhaps we can start with something a little calming and cosmopolitan, and this would be singer-songwriter Tomoko Soryo's（惣領智子）3rd single from 1977, "Kirameita Hibi" (Sparkling Days). I can feel the City Pop in there but Soryo's creation is quite subtle so that I can also place it as a calm blue ocean of a New Music lullaby. Perhaps the soulful "Kirameita Hibi" can be an example of how folks born in the 21st century feel that strange sense of nostalgia for 1970s or 1980s City Pop. The single was also included in the singer's "City Lights by the Moonlight" album from the same year.

Tomoko Soryo -- Whisky Lullaby（ウイスキー・ララバイ）

 

Though I've yet to garner my own copy of Tomoko Soryo's（惣領智子）1977 "City Lights by the Moonlight" as one  of the albums for City Pop, I've managed to write up on at least a few of the tracks over the years. The last one from that release I wrote about was "Mezamashi Dokei"（めざまし時計）back in 2023.

However, I've come across another track which has a very different bent although I think jazz is included under that City Pop or New Music umbrella. Starting with the clinking of tumblers and ice, her "Whisky Lullaby" is something reflective of jazz from a century ago with a swinging clarinetist leading the way like the Pied Piper of Hamelin. This track doesn't herald sake or shochu; it's more Old Parr or Suntory Tris in a very oaken bar. Soryo's husband at the time, Yasunori Soryo（惣領泰則）, was the composer and arranger here while Kyozo Nishioka（西岡恭三）and his wife Kuro were the lyricists.

Moon Songs

 

It was just last night when I posted Issei Okamoto's（岡本一生）"Moon Magic"（ムーン・マジック） as part of the Urban Contemporary lineup for Friday. And then, today I noticed that it was September 13th. For anyone who's into science-fiction, that date should be notable since it was on that day in 1999 when the Moon was blasted out of its orbit through magnetic radiation via the show "Space: 1999". Heck, I even devoted one ROY article to the theme song!

Well, in honour of September 13th 1999 (and thank heavens, we still have the Moon out there [although no Moonbase Alpha😢]) and the fact that all those moon-based traditions are happening this month, I've got another Author's Picks...this time, honouring all those songs that have something to do with the moon, and these definitely only represent the merest of a fraction because as I recall, kayo kyoku do love their moon tunes.

(1977) Tomoko Soryo -- City Lights by the Moonlight

(1981) Shozo Ise -- Moonlight

(1992) Dali -- Moonlight Densetsu (ムーンライト伝説）

(1997) Elephant Kashimashi -- Koyoi no Tsuki no You ni（今宵の月のように）

(2002) Ayaka -- Mikazuki （三日月）

I've come up with a Moon Songs 2.

Tomoko Soryo -- Juu-Ichi-ji no Samba（11時のサンバ）

 

The title of "Juu-Ichi-ji no Samba" (Samba at 11 o'clock) doesn't particularly specify whether it is AM or PM, but I can't really see a samba being danced about in the late morning or late night. And to be honest, despite the title along with the Latin whoops and percussion, I don't really get the feeling that the song follows a samba path.

Regardless, Tomoko Soryo's（惣領智子）first track on the B-side of her 1976 debut album "Yasashiku Aishite"（やさしく愛して...Love Me Gently） is a playful New Music tune which is light and airy, and it does reflect how the singer is looking on the cover of the album. It was written and composed by her with her then-husband Yasunori Soryo（惣領泰則）taking care of the arrangement.

Tomoko Soryo -- Owari no nai Uta（終わりのない歌）

 

Tomoko Soryo（惣領智子）may have started becoming more well known with the City Pop boom worldwide in the late 2010s and certainly on this blog, her material covered has been along those urban contemporary lines. However, I did find one song by her recently which has nothing to do with skyscrapers and cocktail-serving bars.

In fact, I'd say that her July 1978 single "Owari no nai Uta" (A Song with No End) is more like a breath of cold and refreshing country air. Written by Kohei Oikawa（及川恒平）and composed/arranged by her then-husband Yasunori Soryo（惣領泰則）is a proud folksy ballad that brings to mind some of those grand love songs by female singers that I used to hear on AM radio when I was an elementary school kid. Not sure if it had ever been used for a commercial, but if it had been used for an ad, I could imagine it being for a car driving those long distances in the countryside. As it is, though, "Owari no nai Uta" was Soryo's biggest hit as a solo singer, peaking at No. 21 on Oricon.

Yutaka Kimura Speaks ~ Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100: Tomoko Soryo -- City Lights by the Moonlight

 

Number: 037

Lyricist: Kuro & Kyozo

Composer/Arranger: Yasunori Soryo

From Soryo's 1977 album "City Lights by the Moonlight"

"City Lights by the Moonlight" took me by surprise once more in light of the fact that it had first made its appearance about 40 years ago. Its timeless sophistication makes it stand out within the history of City Pop and this is a masterpiece starlight tune showing off the ability of composer and arranger Yasunori Soryo（惣領泰則）. He may have created something that was a little ahead of its time.

The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).

Tomoko Soryo -- Mezamashi Dokei（めざまし時計）

From aliexpress.com

 

The last time I wrote about singer-songwriter Tomoko Soryo（惣領智子）was back in December and for the traditional article thumbnail, I had put up a photo of a massive drain snake to illustrate a major clog too far for mere mortals to destroy which plagued our household for several days. It took a figurative python to finally break the probable fatberg and give us control of our sinks again. Well, another issue occurred a couple of days ago when a supposedly routine water pipe maintenance assignment turned into a lousy 15-hour odyssey of no H2O because of miscommunication and damaged valves. The water finally returned at several minutes past midnight on Thursday morning.

Well, my apologies to Ms. Soryo since now her name may end up becoming associated with plumbing  problems. However, I will write right here and now that she officially has nothing to do with the pipe ailments affecting our aging building.

As was the case with my last Soryo article dealing with "Futari no Asa"（ふたりの朝）, "Mezamashi Dokei" (Alarm Clock) is also a track on her 1977 "City Lights by the Moonlight", and I think that I've covered enough of the tracks from that album so that I really ought to invest my yen on getting a copy. In any case, "Mezamashi Dokei" was written and composed by her with her then-husband Yasunori Soryo（惣領泰則）arranging everything. It's a Junko Yagami-esque（八神純子）City Pop song with a slight lemon twist that gradually turns into something more sinister by the very end in the last few dozen seconds thanks to those scary strings. I was expecting Alfred Hitchcock to appear with his characteristically drawn-out "G-O-O-D E-V-E-N-I-N-G...". Do those city lights suddenly shut off with a bloodcurdling scream by the moonlight?😱

Tomoko Soryo -- Futari no Asa（ふたりの朝）

From Drain Unblocking Dublin

 

Good morning! And it is a good morning...finally. Back on Sunday when I wrote about that Xmas song by Sumiko Yamagata（やまがたすみこ）, I was mildly griping about that inconvenient kitchen pipe clog. Well, the situation lasted a few days, necessitating the usage of paper plates and cups to cut down on washing dishes and risking another backup of water through the drain. But a plumber did come to the rescue yesterday, although he had to bring increasingly larger and more powerful drain snakes to finally eliminate the blockage which was most likely half a century in the making. He brought in the ultimate warrior like the one above except that it was slightly bigger and even more armoured; it was basically half-python, half-Iron Man, and it fired like that huge phaser below. The important thing is that it did the job and there is one fewer stress point in my life now.

Other people who are apparently having a good morning? The couple in "Futari no Asa" (Morning for Two), a track on singer-songwriter Tomoko Soryo's（惣領智子）1977 album "City Lights by the Moonlight". It joins "I Say Who" and the title track (there is a link to the former via the article for the latter) on KKP. 

Compared to the Motown of "I Say Who" and the nightclub-friendly "City Lights by the Moonlight", "Futari no Asa" really does sound like a morning City Pop tune of the 1970s. Soryo's melody and her then-husband Yasunori Soryo's（惣領泰則）arrangement create the slightly woozy feeling of waking up and then greeting a glorious morning over breakfast or brunch. Kohei Oikawa（及川恒平）is responsible for the lyrics. It's quite the stress buster, thanks to the soothing combination of Soryo's whispery vocals, the Fender Rhodes, the strings, the flute and everything else. 

There is a bit of an unintentional "trick" in the middle of the song when it seems to feel like "Futari no Asa" is about to end but then picks up again quickly. Maybe it's the melodic representation of the couple opting to get those five extra minutes of shuteye before finally getting out of bed.

Tomoko Soryo -- Penthouse Cocktail

 

The photo above is of one of the Roppongi Hills apartment buildings. There was one notorious dot-com millionaire living there, although I'm not sure whether he was residing in the penthouse or not. He was very publicly living the life of Riley and the media was lapping it all up like a thirsty cat at a plate of milk, only to be taken down by some illegal doings. After that, he lived in far more humble surroundings in prison for a few years and he lost quite a lot of weight which in his case was a good thing.

I've seen grand tours of penthouses via YouTube channels, especially those in New York City like the one right here by Enes Yilmazer. Yup, they're certainly opulent and beautiful but along with the nosebleed-inducing prices, I worry about things such as power failures and other utility problems when it comes to the otherwise luxurious top floors of condo buildings. I can only hope that the six-zero price tag includes independent generators and water pumps, but then again, if people can afford penthouse suites then they probably can afford second or third homes on the ground floor elsewhere during an emergency. Owners most likely wouldn't jog up and down the fifty floors unless they had legs like the Hulk's or armoured suits that Tony Stark used to wear.

Anyways, to get away from all of the negativity of penthouse living, we can all focus on a track from Tomoko Soryo's（惣領智子）1981 album "It's About Time". Although the J-Wiki article lists it as having been released in 1980, other sites have stated 1981 so I'll go with the majority opinion. "Penthouse Cocktail" is a melodic version of what the high life in buildings must be like, thanks to Soryo's then-husband Yasunori Soryo's（惣領泰則）composition. The singer's soft and soulful delivery of Ikuko Okado's（おかどいくこ）lyrics really does bring images of someone making Friday night martinis or pina coladas after a hard work week in that penthouse. Just hop into the Japanese massage chair, sip on the cocktail, enjoy the sunset through the 50th-floor floor-to-ceiling windows, and listen to this song.

Well, what do you know? There is a cocktail known as the Penthouse!

Akira Inoue & Tomoko Soryo -- Two in the Wind

Well, I gotta say...it's been quite a week. Wouldn't say that it was the happiest one by any means but it was distinctive. Last Wednesday, we lost our TV for almost a week but because of that, we were able to re-discover some of those fun shows from the tapes of Japanese TV that I had made a long time ago. Then, in going to a new telecommunications provider yesterday, we thought we going into a new age of amazing speed and clarity...only for the modem to die. As someone whose livelihood and hobby-hood depend on the Internet, this wasn't easy for me to swallow...thus it was a very sleepless night last night and I even got up early and went to the lobby of my building to see if I could catch (or grab) any technician who was working on any of the other units. Fortunately, later on in the day, a much older and wiser fellow dropped by to resolve the mess left by the younger and more sullen tech from yesterday who pretty much left the stuff and ran. Mind you, it wasn't all despair. I was able to realize with some happy surprise that my local library's wi-fi was much improved so I now have a backup place to head to if something similarly bad happens again.

So, now after a week-long odyssey of technological hobbling, my family and I are fully back (knock on wood) with television and Internet. Of course, I can get back to "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Therefore, let us do so.

I was able to find one song that perfectly sums up my mood of technological disjointedness and wandering during the past week. "Two in the Wind" is a duet between Akira Inoue（井上鑑）and Tomoko Soryo（惣領智子）that was part of the soundtrack for the 1984 movie "Windy" with English lyrics by Jimmy Compton. Classifying it became a slight problem (partly because I'm currently suffering from sleep deprivation) since I'm not quite sure if it actually truly belongs to one definite genre outside of pop. I think "Two in the Wind" which was written and composed by Inoue has elements of AOR, New Wave and dream pop, and when it first starts out, I pick up on some of the dreamier concoctions of Pet Shop Boys but then later on, I hear guitar riffs which remind me of those played by Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）.

Not sure whether I would make the effort to track down this duet single by Inoue and Soryo or the soundtrack for "Windy", but I can use it to finally lay me peacefully down to sleep tonight and know that there will be a sunnier day tomorrow (again, knock on wood). It's been a weird seven days.

Tomoko Soryo -- Owari no Nai Uta（終わりのない歌）

Well, work is done for another week. I can kick back a bit and listen to something slightly more calming.

For example, this one song here. This is Tomoko Soryo's（惣領智子）4th single from 1978, "Owari no Nai Uta" (Song Without End). What I like about it is the fact that it seems to dip into a few genres through its arrangement. I get that countryside folk feeling, that sensation of New Music since I can believe that it could have been created in America, and just that hit of pop. I especially like that harmonica to add that much more nostalgia.

The singer's husband at that time, Yasunori Soryo（惣領泰則）, composed and arranged the music while Kohei Oikawa（及川恒平）took care of the lyrics about a woman singing a song that could represent a certain fateful time in her life with her beloved and perhaps one other. What also appeals to me is how Tomoko's voice can weave between proud and defiant one moment and then veer into tender and whispery the next. Overall, it is a very refreshing number. "Owari no Nai Uta" was also the first track on her 3rd album "Tomoko Now and Then", also released in the same year.

Tomoko Soryo/Yasunori Soryo & Jim Rock Singers -- City Lights by the Moonlight

Well, the moonlight wasn't too bright over the city lights when I took this picture from Roppongi Hills, but the sentiment is there. It's time to introduce "City Lights by the Moonlight".

I've already introduced Tomoko Soryo（惣領智子）through her "I Say Who" with that Motown feeling. "City Lights by the Moonlight" is more of a straight-ahead nightclub-friendly City Pop number. I can hear the clinking cocktail glasses already. Written by Kuro & Kyozo and composed by her then-husband, composer-arranger Yasunori Soryo（惣領泰則）, the song was released as a single in 1977 and there was even an album with the same title in that year.

In the same year, Yasunori Soryo formed his own group called Jim Rock Singers（ジム・ロック・シンガーズ）in which one of the members was singer-composer Hiroaki Serizawa（芹澤廣明）, someone who also has a fair representation on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Together they put their own version of "City Lights by the Moonlight" onto their 1977 album "GOOD-BYE! GOOD-BYE! GOOD-BYE!".

For me, I like both versions but there is something even more interesting with the version of this song by Yasunori and Jim Rock with that echoing chorus and the added soprano saxophone. In a way, they rather add that appealingly nostalgic sepia tone to this photograph.

Tomoko Soryo -- I Say Who

Time to chip a little deeper again into the underwater portion of the kayo kyoku iceberg; specifically, let's delve a bit more into the City Pop sector. Actually, I did go into this very section almost a couple of years ago when I wrote about the female vocal duo TINNA who I discovered through "Japanese City Pop".

One-half of TINNA was singer-songwriter Tomoko Soryo（惣領智子）from Tokyo. Born in 1952, she started up a chorus group in 1971 called Brown Rice which went abroad a year later to perform in the United States. The act broke up in 1975 after which Soryo went onto a solo career as well as later join up with Japanese-American singer Mariko Takahashi（高橋真理子）to form the duo.

Soryo also has her entries in "Japanese City Pop" which is how I first heard about her. But I never thought that I would see her on YouTube since she seemed pretty obscure. But, happily enough, I was wrong and I was able to find one of her solo works, "I Say Who" which I believe was the B-side to her 3rd single from 1977, "Kirameita Hibi"（きらめいた日々...Sparkling Days）.

I couldn't find out who wrote and composed "I Say Who" although Soryo being a songwriter, I can just as easily say that it was her. But let me say that this is a nice slice of 1970s Motown soul I'm hearing from the arrangement here. There's some fine bass and keyboard work along with those disco strings and tight horns. Of course, there is Soryo herself who approaches the vocals as if she's coyly providing some secret information to her beau. If I were to place this song at a certain point of day, I would put it smack dab in the late afternoon before any hint of the sun heading down.

"I Say Who" was also recorded onto her 2nd album "City Lights by the Moonlight" which came out in 1977 as well. A YouTube City Pop fan recently started up his radio streaming service. If I could make a recommendation for an additional song to his list there, I would heartily suggest this song as accompaniment to that looping video of driving on the Tokyo highway.

According to her J-Wiki article, Soryo has taken breaks from the business over the decades but as of 2002, she's resumed her music work.