Yasuko Naito -- Omoide Boroboro （想い出ぼろぼろ）

It's most likely the first time in the history of the blog that I've ever decided to devote a full article to a song that I've already mentioned in an Author's Pick or a Creator article, but I felt that Yasuko Naito's（内藤やす子）"Omoide Boroboro" (Tattered Memories) deserved its own 15 minutes in the sun.

As I mentioned briefly in "The Works of Koji Makaino", this was Naito's 3rd single from September 1976. However, listening to the version above, I'm not quite sure whether this is the original or a newer take on "Omoide Boroboro" since for a song from the mid-1970s, it certainly has a cool 1980s City Pop arrangement anchored with a rock guitar that sounds like a lone wolf motorcycle racing through Tokyo. But then again, my impression of the arranger Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）is that he was often adding a richer layer to the songs that he worked on, and perhaps he was somewhat ahead of his time with the magic he had provided here.

The other thing is that the song was created by the husband-and-wife team of Ryudo Uzaki and Yoko Aki（宇崎竜童・阿木燿子）. At the time of its release, Uzaki and Aki may have just started making those hits in the form of tougher and more hard-boiled efforts for Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）in the latter half of her career, so it is interesting to hear "Omoide BoroBoro" as done by Naito.

Listening to her performance on "Yoru no Hit Studio"（夜のヒットスタジオ）, I'm starting to think that the top video was indeed an updated version. Mind you, it is the studio orchestra playing behind Naito here but it really does sound as if the original take on the song had that twangier rock sound of the 1970s. Anyways, "Omoide Boroboro" does have that stamp of Uzaki and Aki from that time since the lyrics relate the story of a wife or a longtime girlfriend who suspects her mate of cheating as he comes home late. The scene could be the prelude to some of the fury that Yamaguchi would later unleash in hits such as "Playback Part 2".

Naito's breakthrough hit definitely made an impression. It broke the Top 10 at No. 9 and won a whole slew of Best Newcomer awards. In terms of the annual rankings, though, it only came in at No. 99 on Oricon for 1976 although it actually went up several levels by the end of 1977 as it finished at No. 76. As someone who hast just heard the song of possible betrayal for the first time, it's interesting to compare it to the only other Naito song that I had known, the bluesy Mood Kayo of "Roppongi Lullaby"（六本木ララバイ）from 1984 that would become a karaoke favourite.

The Works of Koji Makaino （馬飼野康二）

Time for another attempt at a retrospective for a veteran songmaker, and the subject this time is Koji Makaino. For some reason, when I see or hear the name, I always think of one of his later compositions, "A-RA-SHI", the debut single for the current top band on the Johnny's Entertainment hill, Arashi（嵐）. But obviously he's been plying his trade from far back. The other thing that I've been struck with is his name itself which sounds pretty rare to me (according to one website dealing with Japanese names, it ranks in the 17,000s for the top 50,000 names). And when I did a bit of checking, I found out that "Makaino" may have originated in Shizuoka Prefecture, the land of green tea. However, songwriter Makaino was born and raised in neighbouring Aichi Prefecture which is the land of some of the more intriguing examples of Japanese comfort food such as miso katsu and ten-musu.

Koji Makaino was born in 1952 into a family associated with music. His father, Noboru Makaino（馬飼野昇）, was a composer of go-tochi songs (ご当地ソング...songs about specific cities and towns), and his older brother, Shunichi（馬飼野俊一）, also became a composer and arranger. The brothers' interest in music started from an early age as the family got involved in a tango band and also in the backup band for singer Yoshiko Ohtsu（大津美子）.

Makaino got his formal education in music at the Shobi College of Music in Tokyo although he dropped out to join a Group Sounds band, Blue Sharm（ブルー・シャルム）, in 1967. However, the band only lasted until 1970 and produced only 4 singles. A couple of years later, he started cutting his teeth on arrangement when he helped out on Hideki Saijo's（西城秀樹）3rd single, "Chance wa Ichido"（チャンスは一度...Just One Chance）, a short-but-sweet song that sounded like something from the go-go-boot friendly age of the 1960s. It managed to peak at No. 20 and from that point forwards, Makaino focused his talents on composition and arrangement.

From what I've gleaned from his long list of creations on his J-Wiki file, Makaino has done a lot of work for aidoru representing the last few decades of the 20th century and into the 21st. Another dynamic example of his aidoru work was "Yuki no Naka no Futari"（雪の中の二人...Couple in the Snow）for Megumi Asaoka（麻丘めぐみ）as her 10th single from December 1974 for which he was listed as composer. That song reached as high as No. 16 on Oricon.

However, Makaino didn't just keep himself on retainer for merely the teenyboppers. He has also created works in the Mood Kayo and straight pop genres with examples like Shigeru Matsuzaki's（松崎しげる）heart-on-a-sleeve ballad "Ai no Memory"（愛のメモリー）from 1977 and the cutesy kayo "Otoko to Onna no Love Game"（男と女のラブ・ゲーム）from 1987.

One other example of his non-aidoru compositions that I just found was the surprising union of 70s folk singer Akira Inaba（因幡晃）and late 80s/early 90s former aidoru Shoko Aida（相田翔子）of Wink fame to perform "Kureta no Shiroi Suna"（クレタの白い砂...The White Sands of Crete）as Inaba's 34th single from April 2004 although it is also a track on Aida's 3rd solo album "This Is My Love" which was released much later in September 2013. Listening to this glossy ballad, I realized that Makaino has had quite the romanticist inside of him since "Ai no Memory".

Moving on...or back...to the 1980s, Makaino kept busy with the aidoru of a different breed then. He composed "100% Danjo Kousai"（100%男女交際...100% Boy-Girl Dating）for saucy Kyoko Koizumi（小泉今日子）in April 1986 as her 18th single. It's as perky as a Kyon-Kyon tune goes but it has some nice backing by the orchestra. As for the title, it had originally been "Akarui Danjo Kousai"（明るい男女交際...Cheerful Boy-Girl Dating） but was changed into "100%" during a delay in the release. According to the article for the song, Koizumi was far from pleased with the name change saying it was the worst on a radio program. Still the song hit No. 2 on the charts and was the 86th-ranked single for the year.

Geez, where have you been all of my life? I never heard of this Hikaru Genji（光GENJI）song until a few days ago, but man, I really like "Waratte yo"（笑ってよ...C'mon, Smile）. Makaino composed and arranged the band's final No. 1 hit which was released in November 1990 as its 11th single. It's got a lot of oomph with a spritz of Latin and a percussion that will hammer your ears into submission above a certain sound level. It became the 82nd-ranked single of the year.

Still a lot to explore about Makaino but in consideration of the limits of the number of categories I can place in the Labels section, I will have to stop it here with Yasuko Naito's（内藤やす子）"Omoide Boroboro"（想い出ぼろぼろ...Tattered Memories）. This was arranged by Makaino as Naito's 3rd single from September 1976 and it's also a fine discovery by me. I love the combination of the rock guitar with those soaring and shimmering strings. I've got an impression that Makaino liked to put in a nice layer of lushness into his arrangements, no matter what the genre was or who the singer was.

In fact, I like this last song so much, I will give it its own individual entry entry as soon as I can. There's a bit more I can add in my comments here in the body and also in the Labels.

Yasuko Naito -- Roppongi Lullaby （六本木ララバイ）

I've always had a soft spot for songs that can be interpreted in different ways successfully. In kayo kyoku, "Roppongi Lullaby" fits that bill. Written and composed by Shiro Okada（岡田志郎）and Ed Yamaguchi（エド山口）, the latter of whom was a musician/TV personality who also led an electric guitar band "Ed Yamaguchi & Tokyo Ventures", Yamaguchi came up with this karaoke standard, a loud and brassy tribute to the famous (& infamous) entertainment quarter in Tokyo.

First sung by husky-voiced Yasuko Naito（内藤やす子）in October 1984, another version has an old-style (perhaps 50s) R&B style with the saxophone as Naito kicks it up a notch (the video at the very top). The song also reminds me a bit of the more brassier examples of nightclub enka. To be honest, though, I enjoy the more languid and contemporary version here.

And then there is Ruiko Kurahashi's （倉橋ルイ子）version. For anyone who has heard this singer, either from this blog or elsewhere, Kurahashi definitely has a different voice when compared to Naito's pipes. She has a softer and more fragile delivery. And so, her version of "Roppongi Lullaby" is done almost like a gospel hymn, complete with pipe organ. I first heard this version on a Hong Kong tape back in the late 1980s, and just as much as Naito belts her take out of the park, Kurahashi quietly but powerfully delivers her version.

The video above though has the organ sounding a bit too much like something from "Monster Chiller Horror Theatre" which undercuts the overall performance. If you can, find the original Kurahashi version.

(October 27 2012: Looks like the powers-that-be have taken down the video. I've tried looking elsewhere for a link but to no avail. I'll keep on searching.)