Ai Kanzaki -- Bridge（橋）

 

I've used this photo before but just to remind readers, this is the pedestrian bridge spanning between Kinokuniya Books and what used to be Tokyu Hands in the Times Square complex in South Shinjuku. I used to traverse it a lot since I often had things that I had wanted to purchase in both stores.

All this for the flute-softened song "Bridge" by singer and flutist Ai Kanzaki（神崎愛）. This is once again from her 1980 debut album "Today" and it's a pretty jaunty and sunny track by lyricist Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）and composer Yasuo Higuchi（樋口康雄）. In her brief file on KKP thus far, I've noticed that Kanzaki's voice could go from low and sultry to high and playful. Perhaps with "Bridge", her vocals travel to a medium state between those two ends. Melodically, the song itself hovers in its own medium state dipping tantalizingly into jazz, City Pop and New Music. Ultimately, I opted for that last genre. 

Yasuo Higuchi -- Kou no Tehma（宏のテーマ）

 

Along with the gritty crime dramas that were getting produced and released in Hollywood in the early 1970s such as "The French Connection", Japan was probably no slouch in that area either. There was one such movie called "Akai Tori Nigeta?"（赤い鳥逃げた?...Did the Red Bird Escape?）from 1973 which starred Yoshio Harada（原田芳雄）as Kou Bando（坂東宏）and Kaori Momoi（桃井かおり）and it's been described at one website as being "...an avant-garde work that differed vastly from Japan’s typical crime dramas". From what I've read of it, it struck me as being a modern film noir.

Why I even mention this movie is that by chance, I managed to come across one of the works used for the soundtrack for "Akai Tori Nigeta?" by Yasuo Higuchi（樋口康雄）. Titled "Kou no Tehma" (Kou's Theme), it's a laid back jam going for the jazz, funk, rock and urban at the same time. That electric guitar really gets into the funk like a really hungry mosquito. Just from listening to the song, I am probably able to figure out Kou's personality as this cool if reckless city cat strutting down the streets and woe betide anyone who has the bad luck to accidentally walk into him. Perhaps the song might be a tad early to be given the Label of City Pop but considering how it sounds and the instrumentation and arrangement involved, I felt that it still rather earns it. 

One small thing and that is the title of the movie itself. When I first read it, I couldn't help but be reminded of that one Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）song that had been made back in the mid-1980s.

Ai Kanzaki -- Today

 

Still a bit miffed that the first two entries in the Ai Kanzaki（神崎愛）file have had to be put into mothballs because their videos got cease-and-desisted into oblivion. However, we move on and plus, there are still the two remaining articles including the most recent one from May for "Koibito-tachi no Rondo"（恋人たちのロンド）.

If I'm not mistaken, all of the entries for Kanzaki have ended up on her 1980 debut album "Today ~ Kanzaki Ai First" （TODAY/神崎愛ファースト）, and I've gotten the impression that the album veers between City Pop and slightly headier New Music. "Koibito-tachi no Rondo" does the New Music thing, but I think another one from "Today" is the title track that takes things straight into Fashion Music land. I could only find out that Yasuo Higuchi（樋口康雄）was the composer and arranger for "Today" which begins somewhat like a sad 1970s pop ballad but then it evolves into a classy waltz for a romantic couple in some Lichtenstein castle. Along the way, it even picks up some Bacharach in the brass. Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）would be so jealous!😇

Ai Kanzaki -- Koibito-tachi no Rondo（恋人たちのロンド）

 

Maintenance of a blog can sometimes bring up some unfortunate truths. For one thing, the elimination of videos for the first couple of articles of a pretty obscure singer. And indeed, that has happened to singer, flutist and actress Ai Kanzaki（神崎愛）. So, at this point, I've had to put her two City Pop offerings back into mothballs until those videos come back.

Right now then, I just have the one active article depicting her 1980 single "Sentakusen"（洗濯船）which lays more on the border between Fashion Music and New Music. As I stated there, it's rather chaise lounge-friendly and has more of that classy exotic kayo feeling. The B-side though is the topic of this article for Kanzaki. "Koibito-tachi no Rondo" (Lovers' Rondo) has a bit more oomph but it's also whimsical to a nearly comical degree as Kanzaki vocally takes on a higher and squeakier tone, although some of those chord changes are pretty cool. It's almost as if she's singing this half-drunk in some French bar. Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）was the lyricist here with Ken Sato（佐藤健）and Yasuo Higuchi（樋口康雄）taking care of the melody and arrangement respectively.

Sing Out/Young 101 -- Namida wo Koete（涙をこえて）

 

I heard this song on an episode of "Uta Con"（うたコン）, I believe, several weeks ago. When I did, I figured that this must have come from the 1960s or early 1970s since it involved pretty much every guest to sing in a Sunshine Pop style.

Indeed, the song was "Namida wo Koete" (Rising Above the Tears) and it was originally sung by the choral band Sing Out（シング・アウト）. Almost a couple of years ago, I wrote about a similar group called Young 101 which basically acted as the in-house singers for the NHK music show "Stage 101"（ステージ101）. Well, apparently, Sing Out was the 12-person predecessor for Young 101 which had their time between 1969 and 1971. As was the case with Young 101, certain members of Sing Out would go their own very successful solo ways such as singer Seri Ishikawa（石川セリ）, songwriter and producer Yasunori Soryo（惣領泰則）and composer Yasuo Higuchi（樋口康雄）.

"Namida wo Koete" was the first of three singles released by Sing Out in November 1969. Written by Koji Kaze（かぜ耕士）and composed by Hachidai Nakamura（中村八大）, it's a very lively, upbeat and inspiring song that had me thinking The New Christy Minstrels, an American group that used to get onto AM radio a whole lot back when I was a moppet.

As for the song, it peaked at No. 53 on Oricon. Not surprisingly, Young 101 would provide their own cover of "Namida wo Koete" on their April 1971 album "Stage 101".

Koji Kobayashi -- Tokyo no Yane（東京の屋根）

 

Earlier today, when I was writing up the article for "Minuet"（メヌエット）by Chika Ueda（上田知華） + Karyobin, I also noted that Ueda herself had performed the song on a 1978 episode of a relatively long-running TBS drama called "Sannan Sanjo Muko Ippiki"（三男三女婿一匹...Three Sons, Three Daughters and One Son-In-Law） starring thespian Hisaya Morishige（森繫久彌）. Well, seeing out of curiosity that "Minuet" hadn't been used as the theme song for the show, I decided to see what was used.

For the second season (in each of the three seasons, different songs were utilized), the opening theme was singer-songwriter Koji Kobayashi's（小林幸司）1978 single "Tokyo no Yane" (The Roof Over Tokyo). Composed by Yasuo Higuchi（樋口康雄）, the music strikes me as being a tune describing a new optimistic morning coming to greet Japan's capital city. It has elements of folk and rock so it was rather easy for me to place it into the New Music category (and there's even a part of it which had me thinking of Elton John's "Tiny Dancer"). The star of "Sannan Sanjo Muko Ippiki" himself, Morishige, provided the lyrics which also describe the wonder and good vibes of waking up in one of the largest cities on the planet.

As for Kobayashi himself, there are some videos of his music up on YouTube but there isn't much of a profile on the man. The blog where I found out about the songwriters behind "Tokyo no Yane" only noted his husky yet high-tone vocals, although I have to admit that his voice does indeed remind me of the voice of later pop star Hideaki Tokunaga（徳永英明）. The only other information that I could get on him was that he was briefly a vocalist in 1980 for the duo Buzz（バズ）which had come up with the big hit of 1973, "Ken to Mary ~ Ai to Kaze no yo ni" (ケンとメリー〜愛と風のように〜) .

Still, it is nice to unearth this little gem.💎

Ai Kanzaki -- Sentakusen（洗濯船）

Wikipedia

 

The above is a photo of the Parisian apartment that has been nicknamed Bateau-Lavoir. It looks rather gussied up and stylish now but a century ago, it was pretty ratty-looking. In fact, the humble abode got its nickname from the fact that its rickety structure back then tended to sway back and forth during storms just like old washing boats on the Seine which is what Bateau-Lavoir means in English: washhouse boat.

Now, why would this place in the 18th arrondissement of the City of Lights get even a mention in Wikipedia? Well for folks who are into art and art history, Bateau-Lavoir was the residence for many an artist and literary people including Pablo Picasso and Jean Cocteau.

The apartment has its own name in Japanese, too. It's known as Sentakusen which also literally means "washing boat". Not sure if a lot of Japanese tourists have been drawn to Bateau-Lavoir but at the very least, a song was created in tribute to it. In 1980, singer and flautist Ai Kanzaki（神崎愛）released a 1980 single called "Sentakusen" which was written by Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）, composed by Yasuo Higuchi（樋口康雄）and arranged by Osamu Shouji（東海林修）.

Now of course, this is Friday which is always Urban Contemporary Day on KKP and when I saw Kanzaki's name attached to this song, I thought "City Pop" based on what I've heard from her through songs like "Pandora no Hako"（パンドラの箱）. But this time, I have to say that "Sentakusen" isn't really City Pop at all unless the city is Paris. It can fall under the label of New Music in the more specific area of chaise lounge-friendly Fashion Music or maybe I can even categorize it as an especially classy version of exotic kayo.

If by chance, any of you readers have ever visited Bateau-Lavoir, let us know what you thought of it.