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
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Showing posts with label Yoichi Takizawa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yoichi Takizawa. Show all posts
OK, I have to admit that I was glad that I hadn't been imbibing anything when I first came across this song since I probably would have done a major spit take all over my computer screen. Please imagine: "Camel no Nioi" (The Smell of Camels); from what I heard about camels, they don't really smell too good. And I was a bit worried that singer Kei Ishiguro（石黒ケイ）may have been confessing to some sort of weird fetish.
So, I was somewhat relieved to find out that the title was actually referring to the distinct aroma of Camel Cigarettes...not that I can remember what those smelled like. Back in my childhood when cigarettes were still socially acceptable on a wide basis, there was that general smell of burning tobacco but I guess that Camels must have had something special since they included something Turkish. Still, there is the danger of secondhand smoke and all that.
Anyways, "Camel no Nioi" is a track from Ishiguro's 1984 album"You Remember Me", and it's one of those songs that are delectably difficult to categorize one way or another. There is the City Pop and the AOR, but I could also pick up a bit of New Wave in the first few measures. Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）was behind the introspective melody with Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）weaving the story of a woman's memory of a one-night stand and the lingering smoke of a Camel. After all, people have got to deal with the afterglow.🚬
Around Christmas last year, a commenter alerted me about the late Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）having a mystery 1982 album "Boy" which had been undeservedly shelved for decades until its unearthing in 2024. So I was happy to listen to the tropical City Pop from "Endless Summer" as one of the tracks on "Boy". One reason that I'm here in this article today is that a good fellow by the name of Ryusei Miyakodori（都鳥流星）let me know of his own English article on the album, so if you can follow this link right here, you can get his own personal take on Takizawa and his history with music from his childhood.
Well, today I'll be starting this session of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" with another track from "Boy", "Morning with Venus". Composed by Takizawa and written by Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）, this takes things more into downtown Tokyo starting with a really attenuated twangy guitar before we have the lovely duo of Takizawa and an especially sultry-voiced Sumiko Yamagata（やまがたすみこ）coming up with a whimsical combination of City Pop and American variety show jazz. I was half-expecting the two to suddenly break into either a tap dance or a soft-shoe on stage during the instrumental bridge. I'd say that is one happy morning with Venus and one more reason that I'm glad for the revelation of "Boy".
A commenter sent a missive last night regarding the late singer-songwriter Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一） (and I have to admit that I had forgotten to mention that he had passed away in 2006 from complications due to liver cancer at the age of 56). They informed me that there had been a mysterious 2nd album to add onto his once one-and-only album "Leonids no Kanata ni"（レオニズの彼方に） that was supposed to have been released in 1982. "Boy", for whatever reason, was put back onto the production shelf and didn't see the light of day until a few days ago.
Happily for fans and the spirit of Takizawa, "Boy" has broken through the bounds of red tape and is now out on CD and LP with a lot of new material. The commenter also noted that the cover is rather humourous which has Takizawa looking like a young yuppie Clark Kent getting a new view of Lois Lane (maybe the album should have been titled "Boys Will Be Boys"). Actually, the image also reminds me of scenes from "The Naked Gun" and that Thomas Dolby music video of "She Blinded Me With Science".
It looks like the tracks for "Boy" are up on YouTube. However, I'll begin with an appetizer in the form of "Endless Summer". A nice slice of tropical summer and a cocktail, I couldn't help but feel that there is a feeling of the band TOTO in this tune that can fit equally on the deck of a cruise ship as well as in a fashionable restaurant in Tokyo. Thanks to the commenter for providing this succulent piece of information for Takizawa fans.
The last time I wrote about Yumi Seino（清野由美）was back in the summer of 2018 when I posted her snazzy Bacharach-esque"Gin no Koibito"（銀の恋人）. This happened to be the B-side to her 1982 single"Wet Morning".
Well, I finally encountered the A-side not too long ago, and it's also a winner though different in tone and style. "Wet Morning" was written by Mirai Minegishi（嶺岸未来）and composed by Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）as more contemplative City Pop; this is a tune that could have easily been covered by pop balladeers of the time such as Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）. It's got that wailing electric guitar and those juicy chords at the beginning to have me all nostalgic for the music of the 1980s in Japan.
Because this blog is usually on the nostalgic, allow me to throw another old commercial from my younger days into the mix. Caramilk is a veteran chocolate bar by Cadbury that had fans wondering how they were able to get the caramel into the chocolate bar. Well, the powers-that-be at Cadbury came up with a masterpiece of an ad that I still remember for that last-second reveal and that last line when a desperate wooer for the secret of how they were to get that dang caramel in there begged for it: "ANYTHING?"😈
Not sure what "Caramel no Nioi"(The Smell of Caramel) is all about but it's a track from Kei (or Kay) Ishiguro's（石黒ケイ）1984 album "You Remember Me". Written by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）and composed by Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）, it starts out sounding like a West Coast AOR/pop tune with that rhythm piano before the chorus takes things into a more mysterious mood. At one point, I was wondering whether "Caramel no Nioi" also went into New Wave but ultimately I refrained from putting that Label on.
Circus（サーカス）has been one of those vocal groups that I've always enjoyed for their sophisticated jazziness in their delivery. There is the Mediterranean-friendly style from their biggest hit "Mr. Summertime" from March 1978 and their May 1979"American Feeling" which has become a staple in high school chorus competitions all across Japan.
Well, between those two singles, there was Circus' 4th single"Amour" which was released in November 1978. The mellow bossa nova comes through once again with this A-side and I can only think of wine glasses and sunsets listening to this one through the headphones. It probably got a lot of Circus fans swooning over that vacation to Europe.
Below is the B-side, "Ai wa Yesterday" (Love is Yesterday). There's quite a bit more jazz and funk in this one, and a near-straight lift of an instrumental phrase from Stevie Wonder's"Sir Duke" by the horn section. New York City and Tokyo come to mind when I hear this one. Both songs were created by lyricist Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）and composer Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）.
Over the past several Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）articles on KKP which means almost two years, I've been going back into the early period of his time as a lanky teenage aidoru. Well, of course, there was that time in the mid-1980s going forward when he was embracing his inner City Pop such as "City Dreams From Tokyo".
However, it seems as if I was focusing a lot on the albums "Twilight Made...Hideki" (1985) and "From Tokyo"(1986) when it came to his time with the urban contemporary. So, recently I did find this lovely track from his February 1987 album"Private Lovers", "Ao ni Nare"(Be Blue), and though it's the only entry that I've listened to on this release thus far, I'm fairly sure that this is another in his City Pop LPs.
"Ao ni Nare" sounds like it picks up where the tracks of "From Tokyo" left off with its classy city arrangement by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）of singer-songwriter Yoichi Takizawa's（滝沢洋一）melody. It's certainly an attractive number with elements of early 80s and mid-80s City Pop, and perhaps even something in there that's reminiscent of Mood Kayo. Yumi Morita（森田由美）provided the lyrics but I'm not quite sure what it means to be blue in this case. Does Hideki want someone to be sad or does he want them to be cheerful? I don't really have a clue but I may have to ask the Twitter Hideki followers for guidance in this case.
March 29, 2022: And sure enough, those Hideki fans came to the rescue. Quite the learning experience, actually. A couple of them, Ruru and Crystal Love have mentioned about the "blue" in the title referring in truth to the "green" of a green light giving the go-ahead for love and/or calming down in the face of that emotion. I have heard over the years that a green traffic light has been called "ao" (blue) instead of "midori" (green). Many thanks to them!
First off, I'm hoping that everyone in the Kanto and Tohoku regions are doing OK following the strong earthquake that hit the areas earlier today. Still early hours but let's wish that any injuries or damage are fairly minor.
In any case, let's get onto the Saturday round of KKP. Happy Chinese New Year to everyone, by the way. Our family didn't enjoy any of the special dishes, mind you, but taking out from Swiss Chalet was good enough for us, but I got a message from my anime buddy that he and his family did savor their Peking Duck.
Also, I almost forgot that tomorrow is Valentine's Day. 💓💓For a geek like me, that's pretty easy. However, I did remember and so, I ought to put up something appropriate. So why not go for the Japanese heartthrob, Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）and his "Love Together", a track from his March 1984 album "GENTLE A MAN"?
This is about as 80s a love ballad duet that I've ever heard from Japan, and 80s pop in Canada and America did have plenty of love duets. From my memory of the old radio, I remember songs such as "You're Lookin' Like Love To Me" by Roberta Flack & Peabo Bryson, "The Next Time I Fall" by Amy Grant & Peter Cetera, and "Up Where We Belong" by Joe Cocker & Jennifer Warnes.
Well, "Love Together" has also got that smooth and slick arrangement for the mellow melody by Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）and the lyrics by Sonomi Ari（ありそのみ）. Images of sunset beach walks and seaside dinners by candlelight come to mind. The only thing that was the grit of sand in the oyster is that I didn't know who Saijo's singing partner was in "Love Together". I tried looking it up in the J-Wiki article for the album and at the usual sites that have sold the album, but nothing popped up.
Then, I found this performance on TV (sorry but the video was taken down...just Hideki here) by Saijo and his singing partner, and according to the uploader, Reiko Chime, via the comments, the lady is identified simply as Akko-chan who is a backup singer. One commenter also noted that she looked rather nervous up there with Hideki (which was probably a frequent occupational hazard), but I think that Akko-chan handled herself with aplomb. In any case, for all of those Hideki fans on Twitter...and I know that you're out there...if you know what the full name of Akko-chan is, please let me know.
A version of "Love Together" was recorded onto his September 1984 album"Just Run '84 Hideki" which showcased his 11th appearance at the Budokan in Tokyo.
P.S. I'm writing this some hours following the original article, and indeed, those Hideki fans on Twitter did let me know. According to the liner notes of his 1986 album"Strangers in the Night", Akko-chan is known as Akiko Suzuki or Chiba-Chaka. Many thanks to goldenearrigs!
Nowadays, when folks hear Nogizaka, they usually think of the aidoru group Nogizaka 46（乃木坂46）as I do. However, it's also an area in Tokyo that is known as a high-class residential neighbourhood with Nogizaka Station on the Chiyoda Line. I recollect walking through the area as I was making my way from just-as-tony Akasaka to the entertainment district of Roppongi. According to the Wikipedia entry for the subway station, the commercial complex of Tokyo Midtown, as you see above, isn't too far away and I've had my various lunches and dinners there.
But it's not time for an aidoru tune here. Instead, I've got this languid and classy tune by actress/singer Ayumi Ishida（いしだあゆみ）from her 1981 album"Ayumi Ishida". Some months ago, I also profiled another track from the release called "Otokotachi"（おとこたち）which is a convivial and sultry City Pop tune of the time, hinting at some downtown nighttime enjoyment. But with "Nogizaka Melancholy", although it's also a pretty sultry City Pop song (and I've also thrown in the label of Mood Kayo this time around), there is a feeling of higher sophistication and, as the title suggests, some sadness or bitterness with hints given from that uncertain keyboard crash off the top and a clang of an electric guitar. I love the overall classy arrangement but especially there is that wonderful descending passage in the intro from about 11 seconds and the slips of Latin and jazz near the end. It's somewhat Mancini-esque.
As with "Otokotachi", "Nogizaka Melancholy" was written by Tokiko Iwatani（岩谷時子）but this time, the music was provided by singer-songwriter Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）. Perhaps the hostess in "Otokotachi" has finished her shift at the Roppongi club and schlumps her way to her favourite late-night hole-in-the-wall in Nogizaka where she drowns her sorrows in drink alone while "Nogizaka Melancholy" acts as the soundtrack. Life in the megalopolis, indeed.
Almost a couple of years ago, I wrote about singer-songwriter Yoichi Takizawa's（滝沢洋一）1978 album, "Leonids no Kanata ni"（レオニズの彼方に）, which I believe is the sole album that he released. My impression was that he went after a certain bossa-tinged or just plain tropical AOR style after listening to it.
I was fortunate to get my hands on "Leonids no Kanata ni", and as is often the case nowadays with these remastered efforts, there are the bonus tracks. For Takizawa's album, these tracks came in the form of his two singles (A and B sides) from 1980 and 1982, "Miami Dreaming"（マイアミ・ドリーミング）and "Sunday Park" respectively.
For tonight, let me go over "Sunday Park" and its B-side "City Bird". When I first listened to the four songs at the end of the CD, it seems as if Takizawa tended towards more of a pop style although I think the AOR is still firmly in there. "Sunday Park" certainly starts off with a happy bang. Written by Sonomi Ari（阿里そのみ）and composed by Takizawa, the melodic progression seems to be that of a slower and cheerful Doobie Brothers groove as the lad sings about a fellow going slightly bonkers in his head while he and his girlfriend are taking a walk in the park and he internally fumbles about for the right words to express his love to her. I think Takizawa may have been going slightly bonkers himself trying to hit those high notes.
"City Bird" is a much more sombre affair written and composed by Takizawa with Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）also helping out in the lyrics. It's a bluesy affair about a guy missing his old flame while trying to make life work in Tokyo and discovering that the road to achieving his dreams is far from a straight one. His voice sounds slightly ragged here and it works considering the lyrics here. Plus, there is some really nice piano and harmonica. What I like about it is that it starts off simply and ends off in the same way.
It won't be too long before the year-end season of parties takes place in Japan. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if some of them take place in the next couple of weeks at some izakaya or high-priced restaurant. Of course, over here, we've got the round of Xmas parties and then New Year's Eve parties to look forward to (or not). I don't really go to a lot of those anymore but there is the one with the anime buddy and our other friends which will probably be happening in the first half of December. A good time is usually had by all but we certainly don't do the hashigo (barhopping) anymore; a little too old on that front now.
Earlier in the year, I mentioned about this City Pop singer who may be even more mysterious than Takako Mamiya（間宮貴子）in terms of her current whereabouts. This would be Amy（エイミー）...just the single name known...who may have only put out one album and a couple of singles all in 1983. Idol.ne.jp mentions her lone album "Amy" and says that it is her first album, hinting that there may have been a follow-up effort but I have yet to come across such a second album.
In any case, here is another track from "Amy", and that is "Party Night", a perfectly good title for a song that straddles the line between AOR and City Pop. Written by Naoko Nishio（西尾尚子）and composed by singer-songwriter Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）with arrangement by Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹）, "Party Night" sounds more like a daytime tune but I'll let that observation go since I do like those horns and that jazzy guitar. The song was also the B-side to Amy's 2nd single"Mr. Cool", a song which is also included on the album.
Let's see whether there is a remastered version of "Amy" out there for Xmas.
"Kagirinaki Natsu" (Endless Summer) is a track from Hideki Saijo's（西城秀樹）1984 album "Gentle - A Man", and if any of the other songs are like this one, then I'd be interested in making this one my first Hideki purchase.
All these years, I've been accustomed to hearing the dynamic 1970s aidoru side of Saijo so it's only been recently that I've heard his 80s material. But listening to this song and "City Dreams from Tokyo", it looks like he was exploring his inner City Pop and AOR. With "Kagirinaki Natsu", the melody by Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）as arranged by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）is something quite similar to Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）stuff and whenever I hear the horns from this period, I can't help but remember Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）, notably the tracks from their huge album "V" when they were going brassy with their urban contemporary creations.
The song starts off mellow enough and the opening verses are the ones that have me thinking of Omega Tribe, but once those horns come barging in, that's when Anzen Chitai hits the mind. However, with Sonomi Ari（ありそのみ）handling the lyrics, it's still the unmistakable Saijo vocals coming through.
Another recent acquisition is Yumi Seino's（清野由美）"Natural Woman" from 1981. I first found out about her through some of her songs that got onto YouTube in the last couple of years, all through her third album "Continental" from 1983. But what finally had me pulling the trigger on my credit card was hearing her lovely cover of Yumi Arai/Hi-Fi Set's（荒井由実・ハイ・ファイ・セット）"Sky Restaurant"（スカイレストラン）which is indeed a track on "Natural Woman". I was about as surprised as anyone else that "Natural Woman" could actually be purchased at CD Japan, and I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I picked it up lickety-split.
The bad news is that Yumi Seino's output on YouTube is almost only represented by her "Continental" tracks, except for "Sky Restaurant", of course. However, I was talking with commenter Daemonskald last night through my recent article "Some Pages to Make You Happy by Commenters", and he mentioned about the site Hip Tank Records with its wealth of information and song excerpts. I had heard about HTR and I've even linked to some of the pages through other articles, and I will be doing the same over here since the site does have "Natural Woman" represented with a few excerpts of the tracks. Of course, I will be writing about the songs that can be listened to in part.
Track No. 1 is "You & I", a cool and slick City Pop piece that has Seino tripping the light fantastic with her voice. The song has all the tropes for the genre: funky synths, soaring strings and sexy sax. Plus there is that overall feeling of a night in Tokyo in 1981. Man, do I miss those early nights in the metropolis during my graduation trip! Shinzo Higurashi（日暮真三）took care of the lyrics while singer-songwriter Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）provided the great music.
"Summer Hotel"（サマーホテル）is as the title says...a musical trip to a luxury resort inn along the coast with a young lady leaning languidly against the balcony railing while taking in the view. There is some Latin mixed into this one like some lemon zest in a cocktail, and I think I even heard a whiff of Boz Scaggs material. Again, like the city-based "You & I", the resort-based "Summer Hotel" brings some nice sense of nostalgia. Ayumi Date and Naoya Matsuoka（伊達歩・松岡直也）created this track.
The last track I can cover tonight is the last track for "Natural Woman", "Midnight Blue", a little bit of a reggae strut to end the proceedings with Machiko Ryu's（竜真知子）lyrics hinting at a late-night visitor coming to the door. I do like the boss baritone saxophone which starts things off and the seeming salaciousness of the arrangements. We can all thank Akira Inoue（井上鑑）who came up with the melody. Usually my feeling is that the final track of a typical Japanese pop album is showcased by an introspective ballad. Not this time...this is far steamier.
Another happy acquisition in "Natural Woman". With Seino, I get this feeling of a voice reminiscent of Meiko Nakahara（中原めいこ）or Yasuha（泰葉）tackling a range going from City Pop to mellower fare covered by Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）. At this rate, I may just have to get "Continental" and her debut album"U-TA-GE", if only to complete the set and to be able to talk about some of her stuff that's on YouTube.
Almost a year ago, I wrote about a new Hi-Fi Set（ハイ・ファイ・セット）song that I liked called "Memorandum"（メモランダム）that was recorded in the late 1970s, and on doing the search for any information, found out that it had originally been composed by a fellow named Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）. At the end of the article, I mentioned that I would love to get my hands on the 1978 album that had Takizawa's cover of "Memorandum", "Leonids no Kanata ni" (Beyond Leonids). At the time, I had assumed that it was going to be one of the rarest of the rare (it wasn't even listed in "Japanese City Pop") but in actual fact, Tower Records had started releasing the CD version of the original LP since mid-2015. So, it became one of my purchases during my annual Xmas binge.
"Leonids no Kanata ni" was the only album released by singer-songwriter Takizawa although he did put out some singles afterwards. I think even looking at the cover of the man bopping about in the heavens, he kinda reminded me of Le Petit Prince, and so I was expecting to have a pretty interesting time listening to this. Incidentally, all of the tracks were composed by Takizawa although he shares lyric duties with a number of pretty bigwig writers.
The album starts off with a romantic and bluesy/jazzy number called "Saishuu Bus"（最終バス...The Last Bus）whose lyrics were provided by Junichiro Yamaguchi（山口純一郎）. It seems to be about a fellow getting off that final bus for the night and schlumping his way home (yes, I definitely know the feeling). Not sure if he's broken up with his girlfriend or has gone through the wringer at work but he's not too content with his lot. Still, I love the music and that bluesy guitar solo at the end was wonderful.
From listening to "Saishuu Bus", I was reminded of Yoshitaka Minami's（南佳孝）"COOL" which was the first track from another similar-in-tone album of his, "Seventh Avenue South". And in fact, there is a certain similarity of Takizawa's vocals to those of Minami with a dollop of Shinji Harada（原田真二）who had his own debut album in the same year as Takizawa's launch.
The title track "Leonids no Kanata ni" which was written and composed by Takizawa has that rousing taking-a-drive feeling of the 1970s. Not surprisingly, the singer has written the song as a romantic adventure for a couple into the stars. Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）handled the keyboards (and arrangements) on all of the tracks, and in fact, the entire album had a lot of famous Japanese sessions musicians coming in on the project including Tatsuo Hayashi（林立夫）and Jun Aoyama（青山純）on drums, Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）on guitar and Jake H. Concepcion on alto sax.
"High Up To The Sky" is a nice slice of bossa-influenced Resort Pop with that familiar City Pop instrumentation of what I like to call Perrier keyboards (good on you, Mr. Sato, wherever you are). Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）handled the lyrics here.
The last song that I'm gonna feature is "New Caledonia". Now, I'm not sure whether this sort of Latin is native to New Caledonia but it seems to have that cruise ship-friendly beat of the Caribbean.Takizawa handled words and music here, too.
As opposed to the original LP, the "Leonids no Kanata ni" CD comes with bonus tracks that have the A and B sides to a couple of his singles. However, I will cover those (if possible) in separate articles since those tunes sound quite different from the album tracks. Basically, my feeling is that Takizawa's sole album is a solid but not classic release. The individual songs are fine but going through the whole disc, there was a slight feeling of sameness threatening to invade my ears so I was glad for those 4 bonus tracks. Also on that Tower Records article for the album, it is mentioned that Takizawa has gone on to create tunes in the aidoru and anime genres so I would be interested in seeing if I ever come across those (or perhaps I already have).
Nice and lovely Saturday out there! It might still be a little too cool for al fresco dining and drinking at a high of 11 degrees Celsius but after a bunch of days hovering around the zero mark or far below, I'm sure a lot of Torontonians are lapping up the warm weather like thirsty kittens.
Well, why don't I give you a taste of the Riviera then through some 1970s sophisticated pop? Of course, when I mention that decade and that genre, I can only think of the vocal group Hi-Fi Set (ハイ・ファイ・セット). It's been a while since I've brought another article by this Japanese version of The Manhattan Transfer. From covers of Yuming hits to jazzy numbers, Junko Yamamoto（山本潤子）, Toshihiko Yamamoto（山本俊彦）and Shigeru Ohkawa（大川茂）could interpret the entire New Music songbook.
I just discovered "Memorandum", Hi-Fi Set's 9th single from April 1977. It's a champagne-and-caviar number with a light touch, and the vocal harmonies by the Set haven't been better. Dining on the good stuff by the Mediterranean probably found itself a theme song with this one. The music does take one to sunnier climes abroad although the lyrics by Rei Nakanishi (なかにし礼) are slightly more melancholy as a woman leafs through an old memo book left by a former paramour.
"Memorandum" was also a track on the group's 4th album from September 1977, "The Diary". That release also has another favourite Hi-Fi Set song of mine, "Koi no Nikki"（恋の日記）.
The music was by singer-songwriter Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）, a singer-songwriter who I haven't been able to find much in the way of information. He has apparently provided songs for many other singers but according to Tower Records, he himself had only released one album which was in 1978, "Leonids no Kanata ni"（レオニズの彼方に...Beyond Leonids）. On that album is his own cover of "Memorandum".
His version is just as sunny and made even lighter thanks to his high-toned vocals. But instead of that luxury resort that Hi-Fi Set's original version envisages, Takizawa's take is a nice stroll along on the boardwalk while wondering how life is like in that resort. "Leonids no Kanata ni" has been described as one of those "mystery albums" due to its rarity. I can take that as a challenge.
Didn't think I would ever get another Hirose onto the blog, but here we are. Instead of Kohmi, here is Kaoru Hirose（広瀬かおる）, a singer for whom I have far less information than the other Geddan singer (still not sure whether Kohmi is brooding about that little fad regarding one of her songs).
The reason I selected her for today was that her debut album, "Shakin' It Up" from 1982 was something that I have seen a number of times while leafing through "Japanese City Pop" but had never gotten to hear. Secondly, one of the tracks is really nice..."Information Love". If it weren't for the fact that it was made in the early 80s, I would have thought that this was a song about an Internet freak. Instead it seems to be about a love affair taking place over the old-fashioned telephone (the push-button one, not the one with the crank). And it's all set to mellow and cheerful notes which may have been concocted by Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）by the sound of it but I couldn't track down the lyricist or composer. Hirose herself sounds quite soulful (like Hitomi Tohyama) so perhaps I might see if I can succeed in a search for that album. Dang, but what big hair, though.
You can hear excerpts from a few of the tracks on "Shakin' It Up" at Hip Tank Records above.
December 3 2020: Thanks to a comment from Andrew below, I realized that I had written this up before discovering the JASRAC database where I found out that Hirose took care of the lyrics while singer-songwriter Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一） was responsible for the melody.
A small and slightly nutty anecdote here today. As you regular readers of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" probably already know, I've been a pretty big fan of Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）since I first heard her back in 1981 with her cover of "Sumire Iro no Namida"（すみれ色の涙）, and so my image of lovely Hiromi was always her in that shimmering long black hair that dropped all the way down to her lower back, the bright wide smile and her elegant fashion sense (I was only beginning to hear her 70s material and had yet to see her in her teenage short bob).
So when I saw some of her albums on sale at Wah Yueh in Chinatown, I absolutely couldn't believe that it was her on that cover of her album "Diamant" (pronounced "Giaman" according to the hiragana). She looked like an avant-garde snowflake, for heaven' sake! It was such that I even refused to buy the album for several months. I actually ended up getting her later LPs, "Cinema" and "Wa Ga Ma Ma" first at my old shop. However, after hearing some of the smooth songs from "Diamant" on my friend's audiotape, I finally relented and picked up the album. I'm sure the cashier was probably thinking "Well, what took you so long?"
Seeing some of the covers from her previous albums and then finding out that "Diamant" was her first domestically-produced album in a couple of years, I guess Iwasaki and the producers at Victor wanted to shake things up a bit in the photography. Vive la neige!
One of the songs that helped persuade me to finally purchase "Diamant" was the opening track "Koi Kujaku"（恋孔雀...Love Peacock）. Goro Matsui（松井五郎）, who was also working a lot with Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）at the time, provided the lyrics to almost all of the tracks on Iwasaki's 15th album from June 1985 including this one, while Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）came up with an atmospheric melody that reminded me a bit of some of those Anzen Chitai ballads. Along with that dreamy music, Matsui's lyrics are just as dreamy about the concept of love.
By the way, one characteristic of the album is that all of the titles were written in rather elegant kanji so I was grateful that there was the hiragana beside the more esoterically-titled tracks to help me read them, if not really understand them. Case in point was the first song on Side B of the LP, "Gi Shuushi"（偽終止...Fake Cessation at 20:57）. Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）was the one behind the music here which starts off like something that was meant for a sad clown before going into some contemporary pop about uncertainty in a relationship. It seems as if Iwasaki is the angel/devil whispering doubts into a woman about her sleeping partner next to her.
Back in my first-year East Asian history class at the University of Toronto, I learned about the expression "mobo, moga" to refer to the modern boys and girls during the Taisho Era. The moga especially was an equivalent to the flapper girls in the 1920s Jazz Age of the United States. I never heard it used outside of my classroom in Sidney Smith Hall...except for this song by Hiromi-chan called "Yokohama Moga"（横浜嬢...Yokohama Modern Girl）. Matsui and Yamakawa were also behind this atypical track that sounds so loosey-goosey that it could have been sung by an 80s aidoru. And instead of the Taisho Era, the lyrics seem to describe painting the town red in a BMW in one of Japan's great cities in the last years of the Showa Era. The computer yelling "Mo-ga, Mo-ga" is admittedly a bit annoying.
There is something quite Manhattan Transfer-esque about "Kuchibiru Misui"（唇未遂...Attempted Kiss）, and since I was a big fan of the Transfer in the 80s, this is a song that I also appreciate. This time, it was Keiichi Oku（奥慶一）of the Moonriders who took care of the city-&-champagne music about what seems to be a one-night stand with a "don't call me, maybe I'll call you" sensibility. Nice (I'm being snarky here). There is that nice sax added with the fine backup chorus.
Some nice 80s pop/rock beats here with my final song, "Kaze Kankei"（風関係...Windy Relationship）, another Matsui/Oku collaboration. Iwasaki had a good hold on these urban contemporary "love done wrong" songs back then. That would probably explain how popular she was for providing those ending themes to suspense dramas on TV.
The only track on "Diamant" which wasn't written by Matsui is "Kesshin"（決心）which was provided by Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）and Oku as her 36th single. I wrote about that song much earlier. Also, I have yet to write about one other notable song on its own, "Yume Karyuudo"（夢狩人...Dream Hunter） which I should do pretty soon.
"Diamant" peaked at No. 13 on Oricon in its LP form but soared up to No. 5 as a CD. As for my story at the top, the take-away from here is that I shouldn't judge a record by its cover. And Hiromi-as-a-snowflake aside, it's another fine album by her.
As nikala mentioned in this blog's very first article on Kaoru Sudo（須藤薫） via her song "Kokoro no Haikei"（心の背景）, I was also very surprised and saddened at her sudden passing almost a year ago at the age of 58. "Japanese City Pop" had opened my eyes to a good chunk of those seven-eighths of Japanese popular music that had been underwater to me, and Sudo's albums were well-represented there.
Also like my fellow contributor, I was able to get my own copy of Sudo's 5th album, "Drops" while I was still in Japan, thanks to a visit to my oldies shop, Tacto in Jimbocho, Tokyo. I'd already bought her BEST album and liked what she had on that disc so I'd wanted to purchase an original album, and I have to admit that I chose "Drops" simply because I liked the classy design of the cover. I was wondering if the singer had gone into jazz mode for this album, but one fellow in the J-Pop 80s community on Mixi set me straight by saying that the songs were solidly crafted works in the City Pop/J-AOR vein.
"Mayonaka no Shujinko"(Midnight Heroine) is the first track on "Drops", and in my own way, seems to serve as the happy and contented sequel to EPO's"Downtown" in that the woman in Sudo's song is just finishing off a wonderful Friday night in the big city. And coincidentally enough, there is a melodic tribute throughout "Mayonaka no Shujinko" to Petula Clark's"Downtown". With lyrics by Shun Taguchi（田口俊） and music by Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）, the song seems to illustrate what is shown on that distinctive cover....a luxurious night on the town by the bay under a crescent moon. And words like "champagne" and "perfume" come to mind when I listen to it. Considering that "Drops" was released in November 1983, I wouldn't be surprised if some of those working ladies in the big corporations could have a fine old urban time once in a while, and December is the time for those Christmas party cruises.
For a bit of comparison, have a listen to Clark's"Downtown".
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