Yuuichi Ikuzawa -- Fushigi na Hodo I Love You（不思議なほどI Love You）

 

It's been over eighteen months since I had Yuuichi Ikuzawa（生沢佑一）up on the byline with his cover of the "Ghostbusters"-connected "Hot Night", so let's redeem that with one of his tracks from his 1984 album "Hana Wakare"（花わかれ...Parting of the Flowers）.

"Fushigi na Hodo I Love You" (I Love You So Much It's Weird) is an intriguing title for a pretty groovy and straight-up City Pop song. But hey, as long as it sounds cool and good, I'm fine. Written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composed/arranged by Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏之）, it does sound like an accompaniment to a good stroll down any of the main streets of Tokyo to get that fresh air (or as fresh as it ever gets in one of the world's largest cities) into the lungs.

PAO/Mariko Kurata -- Sunset Kiss（サンセット・キッス）

 

Never heard of "A Little Romance" before but this 1979 overseas cinematic rom-com starred Laurence Olivier and a 13-year-old Diane "Save Martha" Lane. Certainly, the trailer above pretty much screams "MEET CUTE!".

Following its initial release in the United States in April of that year, "A Little Romance" got its Japanese debut in July. As is often the custom, an image song specific to Japanese audiences was created for the movie, and much to my surprise, it turned out that the obscure New Music/City Pop trio PAO recorded one for this movie.

But this time, true to the nature and setting of "A Little Romance", PAO went for some of that sweeping exotic kayo instead of City Pop in the arrangement. It was released as a single with Side A providing the English-language version while Side B had the Japanese-language version. Side B was written by Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）and composed/arranged by Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏之）while Side A had PAO member Sabine Marianne Kaneko（サビーネ金子）helping out with the English lyrics.

I've read some rumours that the lead vocalist was Takako Mamiya（間宮貴子）who had been a member of PAO in its very early days. But seeing that name of Sabine featured very prominently in katakana on the lower-right of the cover for the single and remembering that Mamiya had only been involved in PAO's debut single "Say Yes" in 1978, I believe that there is no sign of the mysterious City Pop singer in "Sunset Kiss" although I can understand how many listeners including myself could initially think that Mamiya was behind the microphone. In any case, the above video has the English version while the one below is of the Japanese version.

Later on in November 1979, Mariko Kurata（倉田まり子）would release her debut album "Anata ni Meguri Aete..."（あなたにめぐり逢えて・・・・Encountering You） and it includes her cover version of "Sunset Kiss". With Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）handling the arrangement, the song takes on a much more City Pop flavour with that downtown groove. Sounds as if the setting of the movie had been moved from Italy to Tokyo.

Patty -- Taiyo no Utopia（太陽のユートピア）

 

I only became aware of the aidoru named Patty（パティ）only in the last number of months but perhaps she was seen as the new Ann Lewis of the 1980s. Born Patricia Ann Fink in 1960 in what is now JASDF Iruma Air Base in Saitama Prefecture to an American airman and a Japanese woman from Asakusa, Tokyo, she grew up in that prefecture along with Okinawa and the Tokyo area.

Making her aidoru singing debut in 1979 under the name of Patty Fink, with her 2nd single "Taiyo no Utopia" (Utopia of the Sun), she took on the mononym of Patty when this was released in 1980. The theme song for an NTV special drama "Taiyo wa Shizumazu Umi yo! Chiisana Senshi no Uta wo Kike"（太陽は沈まず 海よ!小さな戦士の歌を聞け...This is the Sea Where the Sun Never Sets! Listen to the Song of the Little Warriors）, it has that mild combination of an exotic kayo which was popular at the time and a jaunty pop tune along the lines of what Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）was beginning to sing in the early 1980s, sans the synthesizers. It was composed and arranged by Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏行）and as the song rolls along, it almost reaches City Pop levels of groove but settles down again just as quickly into what I will classify as New Music. The lyrics were provided by Casey Rankin and Noriko Iida（飯田則子）under her pseudonym of Shigeo Tanba（丹羽しげお）.

"Taiyo no Utopia" was Patty's biggest hit by reaching No. 18 on Oricon and selling 130,000 records. In total, she released 6 singles and 3 original albums into 1981. She's also been a tarento and an English teacher, and according to her J-Wiki profile, she was practicing the language with Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）and Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）. Patty was also apparently very impressed with the English ability by the members of Southern All Stars（サザンオールスターズ）.

Toru Watanabe -- Ai no Naka e（愛の中へ）

 

This figuratively walloped me when I read the sad news just some minutes ago from Michael Kamiooka's Twitter account which had the report from "Sponichi Annex". I knew that actor/singer/TV personality Toru Watanabe（渡辺徹）had his health issues, but I was stunned to find out that he had died on November 28th from sepsis at the age of 61. 

Watanabe was a mainstay on variety shows either hosting or guesting them. He was always a jovial presence wherever he appeared, and one example of that was during his time on the long-running detective series "Taiyo ni Hoero!"（太陽にほえろ!）as the burly Detective Junji "Rugger" Takemoto, a very genki and fresh-faced young cop. 

The Tochigi Prefecture native didn't have a huge discography. He released 9 singles between 1982 and 1991, along with having a couple of duet singles with comedienne Kuniko Yamada（山田邦子）, and four studio albums in the 1980s. Watanabe will always be known musically for his hit "Yakusoku"（約束）, his 2nd single from August 1982.

His follow-up single for "Yakusoku" was "Ai no Naka e" (Into Love) which came out in December that year. The lyricist Akira Ohtsu（大津あきら）, who was also behind "Yakusoku", was back for "Ai no Naka e", but this time, the composer and arranger was Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏行）. The feeling of the song is quite similar to that of the previous single with it kinda straddling between straight pop and City Pop. Perhaps it was also made as a fit for his cop character on "Taiyo ni Hoero!", but I then discovered that it was actually used for a Glico chocolate ad.

"Ai no Naka e" peaked at No. 6 on Oricon and became the 59th-ranked single for 1983. Watanabe's wife was former aidoru/actress/TV personality Ikue Sakakibara（榊原郁恵）, and my condolences go out to her and her two sons along with Watanabe's friends and fans.

Douji Morita -- Samishii Kumo（淋しい雲）

 

Whenever I hear the name Douji Morita（森田童子）, my thoughts will always go to that enigmatic singer-songwriter behind the theme song, "Boku Tachi No Shippai"（ぼくたちの失敗...Our Failures）, for the infamous 1993 Fuji-TV drama "Kou Kou Kyoushi"（高校教師...High School Teacher）. Although the song itself was released as a single in 1976, it fit the dark mood of that show almost twenty years later, overhanging the sinful proceedings going on within a high school. JTM wrote up that epic article on "Kou Kou Kyoushi" and then I provided one of my own articles on Morita's "Sayonara Boku no Tomodachi"（さよならぼくのともだち...Goodbye My Friend）, and my impression was that she had needed to get out some very gloomy thoughts through a very soft voice. I wrote that article in June 2018, just a few days after finding out that Morita had passed away at the age of 66.

About a year before the release of her most famous "Boku Tachi no Shippai", Morita had released her debut original album "GOOD BYE Good Bye" （GOOD BYEグッドバイ）in November 1975. In that album was the track "Samishii Kumo" (Lonely Clouds). Considering my impression of Morita thus far, this particular folk song is downright happy-go-lucky as a young man remembers a friend (or perhaps her status was even more elevated) who had been with him all throughout the summer but is no longer there (he misses her dearly). I don't get the impression that something untoward ever happened to the lass; perhaps she moved away or she's simply attending a different school. I'd just like to think that the couple will be back together again sometime soon.

Written and composed by Morita with Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏行）as arranger, I like the combination of harmonica, guitar and that gallant country piano. Morita's vocals here serve as something purely innocent and wistful, and hopefully the singer did look kindly upon "Samishii Kumo". Perhaps that title came about from the lad looking out the school windows and seeing those lonely clouds out there. Incidentally, the album "GOOD BYE Good Bye" got as high as No. 44 on Oricon.

The one thing that piqued my interest within the lyrics was the name "Mrs. Carmichael". Who the heck was Mrs. Carmichael? Thinking that finding the answer would probably be impossible, I punched in Morita's name, "Samishii Kumo" and then the name of the mystery woman here, and strangely enough, I did get a straight answer. Fascinatingly, Morita was a fan of the American sitcom on CBS, "The Lucy Show" (1962-1968), and that name in the lyrics for "Samishii Kumo" was for legendary comedienne Lucille Ball's character of Lucy Carmichael. I used to watch the show in the late afternoon rerun slot of 4 to 5 pm when I was a kid. 

I very barely remember any of the episodes of "The Lucy Show" but I do remember that imaginative kaleidoscope opening credit sequence featuring Lucy in her usual zany situations along with the brassy theme song. Moreover, it was the first time for me to realize how red her hair was after watching the original "I Love Lucy" which had been filmed in black and white. All this Lucy-Douji connection was due to Kazuhiro Kanai's（金井和宏）blog.

Good heavens! Never thought that an old sitcom from my childhood would ever figure in a kayo kyoku blog entry.

Hatsumi Shibata -- Party is Over

 

Yep, I'm going pretty long on this particular Urban Contemporary Friday trip on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" this week. But I'm still game for a few more articles...yep, even at my age.

This was a recent discovery on YouTube, and it's nice that I can have singer Hatsumi Shibata（しばたはつみ）back on the blog after a few years. Another wonderful thing is that she's singing a down-home City Pop tune in the form of "Party is Over", a track from her January 1981 album "Show Me the Way". Written by Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）, composed by Tsunehiro Izumi（和泉常弘）and arranged by Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏行）, this is the type of song to accompany any Japanese city hotel-top bar visit with a particularly cool-sounding cocktail.

From what I could understand of the lyrics, Shibata is singing about the great game of romancing on the fly...seeing if a one-night tryst can translate into something more substantial and longer-lasting. Just another story in the big city, I guess. As for the melody, a lot of it is enhanced by the jazzy trumpet and fluegelhorn of Chuck Findley. Findley had also handled the flugelhorn solo on the Carpenters' "(They Long to Be) Close to You".

Daigoro Jesse Takamiyama -- Super Jesse（スーパー・ジェシー）

 

Commenter James Noah and I had a small conversation on sumo rikishi who haven't only tussled in the dohyo but also sung behind the mike. One famous example is Daishiro Masuiyama（増位山太志郎）but as KKP co-administrator Noelle Tham has written, several wrestlers have also banded together to provide traditionally-arranged songs.

Remembering back to my childhood, the very first sumo wrestler that I had ever seen was actually not even Japanese. He's currently known as Daigoro Takamiyama（高見山大五郎）but was born Jesse James Wailani Kuhaulua in Hawaii. Launching his sumo career in March 1964, his Wikipedia article relates that he achieved a number of firsts in his 20 years as a rikishi such as the first foreign-born wrestler to win a tournament (1972) and the first foreign-born wrestler to get his own stable in 1986...a stable that includes fellow Hawaiian Akebono（曙）who reached the exalted top rank of yokozuna. Takamiyama himself got as high as sekiwake, the third-highest rank in sumo.

However, I was too young and didn't have ready access to Japanese television to have ever seen Takamiyama actually perform in his chosen profession back in those days. In fact, I only got to know him in his second career as adorable commercial pitchman, something that he was doing even while he was still doing his yorikiri and oshidashi to defeat competitors. The things that stood out to me were his enormity and those sideburns which were big enough to deserve their own postal codes.

I had kinda figured that it was so but I didn't confirm it until yesterday that Takamiyama put out some singles. At the time, anyone who was that popular in Japanese pop culture was bound to be gently persuaded to cut a few records. Sure enough, the big lug did put out a couple of singles and a couple of albums.

Judging from the abrupt cuts of different songs, I gather that the person involved wanted to bring an aural summary of "Super Jesse" the album from 1977 under the Toshiba label. I think that it's the single "Super Jesse", also from that year, that launches the album with Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）and Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏之）as lyricist and composer respectively. Instead of either an enka/Mood Kayo or an ondo style, Takamiyama and his group decided to go for some disco and funk with the big man himself not taking himself too seriously as he approached singing in the same way that he approached his opponents...just get the words out as fast and hard as possible in that familiar rasp.

If I recall, Akebono himself has starred in his fair share of commercials.

Kiyohiko Ozaki -- Kaze no Graffiti （風のグラフィティー）

 

I would like to deeply apologize for my flash photography skills and reassure you that this is indeed a Kiyohiko Ozaki（尾崎紀世彦）album..."Kaze no Graffiti" (Graffiti of the Wind) to be exact, his penultimate original album from March 1980. Frankly speaking, I had never thought that I would ever purchase a CD of his despite the fact that I will always appreciate his most famous hit "Mata Au Hi Made" （また逢う日まで）, a truly evergreen kayo.

However, I came across "Kaze no Graffiti" a few weeks ago on YouTube thanks to the uploader Neon Sono, and after listening to a number of the original and bonus tracks, I decided to pull the trigger on my wallet for the first time in several months and made the purchase. The above is the video for the full album including those bonus tracks but I want to take a look at some of the original tracks on their own. Yuji Ohno（大野雄二）, the man behind the famous theme song for the anime "Lupin III", was behind the production of the album and he also provided some of the melodies.

For example, Ohno composed the first and title track, "Kaze no Graffiti", a wistful ballad about change and a requiem for a lost loved one. With lyrics by Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）, Ozaki croons lovingly about the good ol' days when everyone got together for a round of drinks at their favourite watering hole only for the place to be replaced by a building. It also looks like with the loss of his beloved and all of his touchpoints, there is really nothing tying him down to the old neighbourhood anymore. 

I recall from the article for "Mata Au Hi Made" that Ozaki was compared to Tom Jones. Well, commenter Scott also thought he was similar to another tuxedoed crooner Englebert Humperdinck, and I think with "Kaze no Graffiti", there is some echo of Humperdinck's classic "After The Lovin'". The song is also an interesting combination of country ballad and metropolitan mood music with the horns and sax.

Ohno and Yamakawa bring some nighttime sophistication worthy of a Henry Mancini blessing with the second track "Lonely Again". This is the type of song that I love to hear during a fine night of dinner and the high life in the big city. Once again, I get those Humperdinck feelings but this time, Yamakawa's lyrics are somewhat more forlorn as Ozaki sings of the end of a relationship. I guess that dinner is just for one. Maybe it would be for Lupin III himself since I believe that "Lonely Again" sounds just perfect for one of his movies.

Once again, Ono and Yamakawa work together on Track 3, "Ojou-san O-te wo Yawaraka ni"（お嬢さんお手やわらかに...Softly, My Lady）, a foppy City Pop tune about that night out on the resort town. I gather that Ozaki and company really wanted to cover all the bases in the potentials of a relationship for this album. Maybe this could also be a Lupin III sort of tune with the snazzy and jazzy horns and an overall beat which suggests a strut down the boardwalk.

Gospel blues come to the fore in "New York Ballad"（ニューヨーク・バラード）which was written by Zenkou Takeda*（武田全弘）and composed by Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏之）. There's more of that famous Ozaki boomer voice and the brassy chorus that reminds me of "Mata Au Hi Made" as the singer relates his tale of that trip to The Big Apple to forget about some bad times at home. A vacation never hurts and New York City is one place that has always promised plenty of excitement to shoo the blues away.

There is some of Frank Sinatra's "My Way" (an old karaoke song of mine) and maybe even a bit of "I'll Be There" by The Jackson 5 in "My Better Life", a comfy song that was naturally used for an air conditioner commercial. It was also Ozaki's October 1979 single. Once again, Ohno and Yamakawa were behind this ballad that pretty much puts out the slippers and places the hot soup onto the table.

As I mentioned, there are bonus tracks attached to the remastered album...six of them, to be exact. However, I will cover at least some of those in future articles since they are rather different in tone with two of them for a tokusatsu show and one really nice J-Xmas song that I would prefer to cover on its own as we get closer to the Yuletide.

*The first name for Mr. Takeda has a variety of different readings but I went with the first one listed since it was rather unusual. However, someone can correct me on this if I'm in error, that would be greatly appreciated.

Anli Sugano -- Akujo Street（悪女ストリート）

(from 10:44)

I have to confess that the cover for jazz singer Anli Sugano's（アンリ菅野）1978 debut album "Anli ~ Ichi"（アンリ～いち...One） is terrifying, Try to imagine purchasing that, placing it on the bedroom floor, and then having it stare at you while you go to sleep (or try to).

"Akujo Street" (Wicked Woman Street) is one of the tracks and it isn't even a jazz number. It's actually more of a rock-infused City Pop tune as it describes the story of a woman in the metropolis who has been given the titular label and has probably become so infamous that even the street she works/lives on is named after her. And she likes the notoriety. I do like the beat of "Akujo Street" because it perhaps illustrates the strut the akujo possesses as she holds court on her turf while other folks give her a lot of leeway. I can only think the tough streets of Kabukicho in Tokyo when it comes to this song. Norihiko Sugi and Toshiyuki Kimori（杉紀彦・木森敏之）were behind words and music respectively.

I did find a lovely video with Sugano performing a jazz number, "Take the A Train". Born in 1948 in Tokyo, she was born into a musical family with her father being a jazz vocalist and her mother a pianist. Attending Musashino Art University, Sugano was learning oil painting when she also entered a study circle on modern jazz and ended up starting a career in jazz singing. After studying languages and dancing among other subjects in the United States, she made her professional debut in 1978 and released a number of jazz albums and performed in a number of venues including New York City's Blue Note. She even had a stint as a co-host of an NHK program "That's Music" for a couple of years in the late 1980s. Sadly, though, Sugano would pass away in 2000 from cancer at the age of 51.

Saori Yuki -- Kono Mama ga Ii no（このままがいいの）

Usually when I categorize a song in Labels, it's no surprise to have one or two genres listed in there, but on occasion, I do have three genres listed. And that's often but not always because I'm letting the song dance around my head trying to settle on a genre, but as it turns out, I can't really definitively resolve the categorization angst. It's not really angst though since I think such songs are even more intriguing.

I found another song that describes what I'm talking about, and it's good because I haven't had veteran Saori Yuki（由紀さおり）on KKP in a good while. Of course, Yuki will always be known for her late 1960s number, "Yoake no Scat"（夜明けのスキャット）, but I've come across this single, her 42nd from May 1984, "Kono Mama ga Ii no" (Good The Way It Is) that has her exploring something a bit more than kayo kyoku.

From my impression of Yuki, I always thought that she would be an ideal ambassador for the genres of jazz and bossa nova, and sure enough, with "Kono Mama ga Ii no", that latter genre comes out nice and classy with that pristine high-toned voice of hers. However, my so-called "dilemma" has had me wondering whether there's also something in the song that evokes the urban contemporary setting of City Pop and even Mood Kayo from a certain balcony on the Riviera. In the end, I just went "Oh, the heck with it", and slapped all three genres down.

My compliments to New J Channel's radio since that's how I first heard it and going way back, allow me to thank lyricist Rieko Zanma（残間里江子）and composer Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏之）. According to Zanma's J-Wiki bio, she's now actually a producer of publishing and cultural events.

Naomi Sugimura -- Kinou ni Sayonara（昨日にさよなら）

This was basically the sight that greeted me this morning after I decided to go out and get the newspaper. Yup, Toronto got its first somewhat major snowfall last night and we're getting some more of the white stuff as I type this. So, I gather that this is truly goodbye to summer.

Another hackneyed segue over to the title of this song "Kinou ni Sayonara" (Goodbye to Yesterday) then. This was sung as Naomi Sugimura's（杉村尚美）B-side to her January 1981 debut single "Sunset Memory"（サンセット・メモリー）. In comparison to the A-side though, "Kinou ni Sayonara" takes the singer and we listeners a little closer to the city although I really couldn't definitively say that this is a truly City Pop tune (although I've thrown the category in).

What kinda gets the music over the line into City Pop territory is the electric guitar which reminds me a lot of some Bee Gees songs for some reason. I couldn't find out who was on the instrument, but I wonder whether it was someone like Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）or Fujimal Yoshino（吉野藤丸）. In any case, the same duo behind "Sunset Memory" also took care of "Kinou ni Sayonara", lyricist Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）and composer Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏之）. For some reason, I never put in any rankings for the single in its writeup (perhaps they hadn't been put in when I first wrote about "Sunset Memory") so I'd just like to say that it was a hit at No. 4 on Oricon and it ended up as the 27th-ranked single for 1981, selling more than 460,000 records, her biggest seller.

Hiromi Iwasaki -- Hashi（橋）

The end of the year is night which means that the end-of-year party season is also upon me. First up was the annual gathering involving friends at Kingyo downtown as usual. Food and service were great as usual but I didn't like the table too much since I think it stretched the folks a little too far apart. There will be a couple of more visits to the place this month but there's absolutely no complaint from me since the food is so good there.

Well, it's been a while since I put up a Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）article. So I'll be providing one from her short list of melodic contributions for the venerable "Kayo Suspense Gekijo"（火曜サスペンス劇場...The Tuesday Night Suspense Drama）series in the early 1980s. Her 35th single "Hashi" (The Bridge) can be put alongside "Madonna Tachi no Lullaby"（聖母たちのララバイ）and "Ieji"（家路）as those hauntingly beautiful and melancholy love ballads which typically ended an episode from the mystery anthology show. Not surprisingly, it was the same duo of Keisuke Yamakawa and Toshiyuki Kimori（山川啓介・木森敏之）who provided words and music for "Hashi", a musical metaphor for the end of a romance through a countryside scene. Yeah, it's a beautiful song but I probably wouldn't have it played to celebrate an anniversary.

I didn't know that there was an actual music video for the song and the imagery in there would probably make for a good opening sequence for an episode of "Kayo Suspense Gekijo" itself if sped up a bit.

To be honest, I'm fonder of the earlier Iwasaki/Yamakawa/Kimori collaborations than I am of "Hashi" but still hearing it again after a number of years was a nice experience. It peaked at No. 31 on Oricon after its release in August 1984.

And you can see how the song was used at the end of a "Kayo Suspense Gekijo" episode right here. Nothing better to contemplate life after a crime than a Hiromi Iwasaki ballad. :)

Naomi Sugimura -- Sunset Memory （サンセット・メモリー）

I didn't think I would ever see a YouTube video featuring somewhat obscure singer Naomi Sugimura（杉村尚美）but I found one the other day. However then again, I had never expected to come across any sort of video featuring her old band, Higurashi（日暮し）, but I was delighted to not only find them online but also to find that mystery song that I had been searching for decades, "Aki no Tobira"（秋の扉）. Miracles do happen.

With the breakup of Higurashi in 1979, Sugimura had a very brief solo career before calling it quits in 1982. In 1981, she had her debut single as a solo singer, the jaunty "Sunset Memory". The song was written by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）and composed by Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏之）, and instead of the breezy City Pop/J-AOR of "Aki no Tobira", Sugimura's "Sunset Memory" seemed a bit more in the traditional kayo pop vein...almost as if it should have been released at least some years beforehand. Lyricist Ryu had also written for another singer Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）and it is that singer which I was reminded of when I heard this particular song.

According to J-Wiki, "Sunset Memory" did become a hit for Sugimura although I couldn't find out how high it got on Oricon. I'm assuming that it was also on her first album, "Naomi FIRST". However, after another couple of singles, she hung up the mike for good and got married. She is now a beauty adviser.

Also have a look at "Kinou ni Sayonara"（昨日にさよなら）, Sugimura's B-side to "Sunset Memory".

A sunset memory of Shibuya 109

Hiromi Iwasaki -- Ni-juu-go-ji no Ai no Uta （25時の愛の歌）

This ballad by Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）still pops up in my brain from time to time. "Ni-juu-go-ji no Ai no Uta" (Love Song at 1 a.m.) was another Iwasaki contribution to the "Kayo Suspense Gekijo"（火曜サスペンス劇場...Tuesday Night Suspense） series. Iwasaki provided a lot of her ballads to the long-running anthology show of betrayal, murder, mystery and justice during the 1980s...probably to the extent that true justice wasn't served until Iwasaki's lovely voice slid into the ending credits.

"Ni-juu-go-ji no Ai no Uta" was Iwasaki's 38th single from December 1985. It was written by Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）and composed by Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏之）(although the song sounds more like something Tetsuji Hayashi would concoct), the same duo who created one of the singer's biggest hits, "Madonna Tachi no Lullaby"（聖母たちのララバイ）back in 1982 (and was another contribution to the ending themes for "Kayo Suspense Gekijo"). However, unlike that successful ballad, "Ni-juu-go-ji" only went as high as No. 79 on the Oricon weeklies unfortunately. And yep, by the last word of that last sentence, I do like this song. Whereas "Madonna Tachi no Lullaby" had that feeling of a cooing lullaby, perhaps as reassurance for the hero/heroine of the episode or as a melancholy sendoff for the criminal, "Ni-juu-go-ji" was more in the cooler City Pop vein. As Iwasaki is singing, I could imagine those end credits rolling up the screen as the intrepid detective drives soberly under the city lights of Tokyo at night as he returns to headquarters after another tough case solved.

However, as the title suggests, the detective may be heading for someone cuddlier in the wee hours.

Masatoshi Nakamura -- Kokoro no Iro (心の色)

While on that trip to Hong Kong, besides those 3 Chage and Aska singles I managed to root out in an old CD shop in the seedy Sino Centre, I had also gotten singer-actor Masatoshi Nakamura's album, "SONGS". This was actually a reason why I had decided to check out this shop... the other reason being that that shop was the last chance I had in finding something I like in that entire building. I happened to chance upon this used but well-kept copy of "SONGS" while inspecting the outside of the dingy and musty-looking exterior. There it sat in a rack attached to the door, and man, that was really a sight for sore eyes! Despite not being familiar with Nakamura's discography, I decided to get the album mostly because I was pretty sure that I won't ever find such a thing in a shop outside of Japan, and at least I knew one song in list: "Kokoro no Iro".

I was introduced to "Kokoro no Iro" through one of those medleys found on YouTube featuring hits songs from the 80's, and I recalled seeing Nakamura singing this cool sounding, somewhat quick paced song while strumming on his electric guitar (I'm not entirely sure of the guitar bit though). But like most songs I discover via said medleys, I forgot to follow up on it... In fact, I only remembered it shortly before leaving for HK...

Anyway, having just heard its chorus, I had assumed that the whole of "Kokoro no Iro" sounded just like that, so I was not expecting such a muted, mysterious start with only Nakamura's distinguishable deep voice, the tinkling of the piano and the gentle strumming of the acoustic guitar. At that moment in time, I thought I had gotten the tune's title wrong since it sounded so different from whatever I had heard, and then came the chorus and the wailing of the electric guitar during the musical interlude. It took me quite a while to get used to the rest of song as I found it pretty dull, and to be frank I had only just began to not mind it. But I have to admit that it's the slow bit makes "Kokoro no Iro" a comfortable song to listen to in the late evening.

The lyrics to "Kokoro no Iro" were written by Akira Otsu (大津あきら) and there's a plaque to commemorate this song in his hometown of Senzaki in Nagatoshi City, Yamaguchi. Huh, never heard of a song's plaque being placed in the hometown of its songwriter before. It's usually found at the singer's hometown or the place that's featured in the song, if at all. The music was composed by Toshiyuki Kimori (木森敏之). "Kokoro no Iro" did very well on the charts a few months after its release on 25th November 1981. It stayed at 1st place for the whole of March in 1982 and only dropped 3 spots to 4th place by the end of that year. And so this got him his first ticket to the Kohaku.

Ruiko Kurahashi/Yoko Nishigori -- Kono Ai ni Ikite （この愛に生きて）

Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）has often looked so ennui-ridden and downcast on her album covers that it's always a surprise (and a pleasure) when I see her actually smiling. And she looks pretty Hollywood on the cover of her 9th single from October 1985, "Kono Ai ni Ikite" (Live Through This Love). This was not a major Kurahashi song but from listening to certain phrases from it, I could recognize it pretty easily and it is a pleasant enough ballad that has that European air which often characterizes a Kurahashi ballad. It's nice to hear in that study on a rainy Sunday.

However, I just found out that Kurahashi's ballad was actually a cover version. The original "Kono Ai ni Ikite" was sung by Yoko Nishigori（西郡よう子）who hails from Fukuoka Prefecture. Debuting in 1976 after becoming known in her area as a folk singer, her version of this song was released in 1978 as her 3rd of 4 singles. I've listened to it twice and Nishigori sounds similar to another singer from that time, Machiko Watanabe（渡辺真知子）. In addition, the arrangement here also has that jaunty exotic feeling that was being imbued in a number of pop songs in the late 70s such as Saki Kubota's "Ihoujin"（異邦人）. Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏之）came up with the music while Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）provided the words.

Nishigori left show business soon afterward in 1980 but returned in 2004 as a jazz singer under the name of Kei Hoshino（星乃けい）.

Hiromi Iwasaki -- Ieji (家路）

"Ieji"(The Road Home) is another favourite 80s song by Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）. Exploding with a majestic electric guitar intro, Iwasaki softly sings with an ennui-laden melody. Every time I hear this one, I'm always reminded of the Tuesday Night Suspense Drama on NTV since this was another ending theme that she did for the programme. In a way, I think the song fits it to a T since the melody seems to parallel the solemn mission that the middle-aged intrepid detective has to perform to get his man by the time the guitar starts wailing. Stylistically, "Ieji" is a sister to the other ending theme that Iwasaki sang for the show, "Madonna-tachi no Lullaby"（聖母たちのララバイ....Madonnas' Lullaby）the year before. No surprise there, since the composer and lyricist for both songs were Toshiyuki Kimori and Keisuke Yamakawa(木森敏之・山川啓介）. However, the only difference is that Kimori didn't have to handle a copyright battle with "Ieji" like he'd had to on the other song.

Released in August 1983, it peaked at No. 4 on the Oricon weeklies and was the 36th-ranked song of the year. It also got the Gold Prize at the Japan Record Awards and sold more than 300,000 records. However, it would also prove to be Iwasaki's final Top 10 single in her career as of 2012. Not that it has stopped me.....she was still putting out some very nice tunes well after that year.

Hiromi Iwasaki -- Madonna Tachi no Lullaby (聖母たちのララバイ）

After having returned from my eye-opening Japanese Language School graduation trip in 1981, I became a convert for Hiromi Iwasaki's（岩崎宏美） music due to her cover of the Blue Comets' "Sumire Iro no Namida"（すみれ色の涙....Violet-Coloured Tears). The next year, it was my brother's turn on the graduation trip and so I asked him to bring back an album or a single record by her, and so he got me this single. I always loved the young Iwasaki's long straight black hair during the 80s.

"Madonna Tachi no Lullaby" (The Madonnas' Lullaby) originally started out with very humble beginnings. It didn't even start out as a full song. It had been written just as a short-sung accompaniment to the end credits of "Kayo Suspense Gekijo"（火曜サスペンス劇場.... The Tuesday Night Suspense Movie) on NTV, but when viewers overwhelmingly flooded the station for requests of this song, Iwasaki's 28th single was born. I have heard the original version for the end credits, and the intro and the middle instrumental struck me as tepid, so I am glad that the arrangers gave the official single a more urban contemporary punch-up with the Fender Rhodes and electric guitar.

The little song that could was released in May 1982 and went to the top of the charts for four weeks straight before finishing the year as the 3rd-ranked song for the year, ultimately selling 1.3 million records. In addition, it won the Grand Prize for that year's Japan Kayo Awards. There were also expectations for it winning a similar prize for the Japan Record Awards.

And that's where the controversy came in. Toshiyuki Kimori（木森敏之） composed "Madonna Tachi no Lullaby" with Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介） as the lyricist. As they were accepting their accolades for creating Iwasaki's latest hit, a very unhappy British composer, John Scott, who had been responsible for composing the soundtrack for the 1980 sci-fi movie, "The Final Countdown", stormed into Japan accusing Kimori of plagiarizing parts from a couple of tracks for that movie (those tracks are in the video above). His protests against Kimori were enough so that there was a hasty revision in the credits. John Scott is now officially listed as co-composer. Those expectations for the song to receive the Grand Prize at The Japan Record Awards plummeted out of existence. All this happened before the single's official release in May; actually, it was supposed to have been released in April but all of the chaos forced a month's delay.

Still in the end, "Madonna Tachi no Lullaby" is recognized as one of Iwasaki's representative works, and because of its origins as the ending theme of that Tuesday night suspense drama, she was called upon again to provide further ending themes for the program for the next few years after that.