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.
Some years ago, I wrote an article on Yoko Katori's（鹿取洋子）debut single"Goin' Back to China" which was a cover of Dutch pop/rock band Diesel's song. Both songs got their release in 1979.
The B-side of Katori's single was "Heartache Tonight", a homegrown tune which doesn't have quite as much bounce as "Goin' Back to China" but it's still a pretty nice 70s City Pop tune with some of that disco flair. I guess it must be Kingo Hamada Day（濱田金吾）on KKP since he's already been mentioned on the previous two articles today including "Ink Blue no Yoake"（Ink Blueの夜明け）; he's responsible for the melody while Kazuko Kobayashi（小林和子）has taken care of the lyrics. Akira Inoue（井上鑑）arranged the entire song.
Y'know...I recollect seeing a commercial on one of those ancient videotapes that I'd rented from Nippon Video in the 1980s that pushed this anime feature presentation. It showed a glistening old-style sailing vessel in space but that was all I got to know about it. The movie, by the way, was titled "Odin ~ Koushi Hansen Starlight"（オーディーン 光子帆船スターライト...Odin: Photon Sailer Starlight） which came out in theatres in the summer of 1985. From what I've read about it on Wikipedia, one of the main forces behind the anime adaptation of the legendary "Uchuu Senkan Yamato"（宇宙戦艦ヤマト...Space Battleship Yamato） series, Yoshinobu Nishizaki（西崎義展）, wanted lightning to strike twice with "Odin", a mere two years following the supposed ending of the Yamato via "Final Yamato" in 1983. Alas, the movie got spanked critically although the shining Starlight got some accolades.
A couple of the theme songs for "Odin" were provided by the heavy metal band LOUDNESS, but there were also some quieter tunes for the movie provided by Yoko Katori（鹿取容子・鹿取洋子）. Katori has been on KKP as a City Pop singer such as her 1980 "Chance Tonight", and I guess as a bit of perhaps coincidental emulation of Junko Yagami（八神純子）contributing a love song for the aforementioned "Final Yamato", Katori was brought on board to sing "Platonic"（プラトニック）and then "Watashi no Odin ~ Odin no Otome" (My Odin: Girl of Odin) as her final single released in August 1985...the same time as the movie.
This article is on the B-side, "Watashi no Odin". Starting off with a rock guitar which brings in some serious New Adult Music vibes, the orchestra then sweeps in thanks to the melody and arrangement by Kentaro Haneda（羽田健太郎）, the same person behind much of what got onto the "Macross"（マクロス） soundtrack. Maybe the movie wasn't the greatest, but "Watashi no Odin" did put a thrill up on my spine as I remember some of the wonderful soundtrack music provided for both "Macross" and "Yamato" back in the 1980s. In fact, I'd probably say that this particular song would have been at home as well in either of those franchises. Yu Aku（阿久悠）provided the lyrics.
I can say that for a lot of folks in Japan this Friday morning that they were more than happy to be bleary-eyed and tired this time because they got to see their men's soccer team beat Spain in their final intra-group game in the World Cup. They and their opponents go onto the knockout round but for now, everyone is having a party.
The Samurai Blue, I gather, made most of their chance that night, and as such I'm bringing Yoko Katori's（鹿取洋子）"Chance Tonight" in some celebration of the team's win. I realize that I'm starting the City Pop stuff several hours early this week, but then again, I've been leaking City Pop here and there all this week anyways, so I can pretty much just go ahead and have fun with my favourite genre. Plus, disco is a fun party genre.
I mentioned singer and actress Katori back in 2018 for her one-and-only 1980 album"LIBRA" which was also a disco and City Pop release. "Chance Tonight" wasn't only a track from the album, but it was also her 3rd single in the same year. Just bopping about with all sorts of happy downtown dance club vibes, I can see that disco ball glittering from the ceiling while all the young folks and the young-at-heart are dancing themselves dizzy.
I used those last three words in my previous paragraph intentionally. That's because Katori's "Chance Tonight" is a cover (much like her "Goin' Back to China" is a cover of Diesel's 1979 song of the same name) of English disco groupLiquid Gold's"Dance Yourself Dizzy" by Adrian Baker and Eddie Seago from February 1980. Kazuko Katagiri（片桐和子）provided the Japanese lyrics for Katori's version with Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）handling the arrangements. For the weekend anyways, let the good times roll in Japan.
While we're at it, here's Yomanda's 1999 remix of "Dance Yourself Dizzy".
Didn't make any articles yesterday since I was out all day enjoying some off time with friends. I caught "Ant-Man & The Wasp" which I thought was even better than the first "Ant-Man"...but man, that mid-credits scene! It's about as cliffhanger as one can get in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
Getting to the issue at hand, though, I first heard Yoko Katori's（鹿取洋子）"Goin' Back to China" from 1980 on one of the "Good Times Diva" series, and it's this short but quite exciting disco tune with some really bouncing bass. It does seem to pack a lot of travel and intrigue in its less-than-3-minute time. Quite the whirlwind romance.
At first, I had thought the Japanese version of "Goin' Back to China" was its own original creation, but then I read on J-Wiki that it was actually a cover version of a song by Dutch pop/rock band Diesel which was released in 1979. Their "Goin' Back to China" surprised me in that it was a slower-paced number more in the rock vein. Plus, the lyrics in the original version are sadder in that it sounds as if Annie had gotten the love-em-and-leave-em treatment by a cad. The Japanese lyrics for Katori's cover were provided by Fumiko Okada（岡田冨美子）. Diesel's song peaked at No. 34 in the Netherlands but only got as high as No. 105 in the US.
Katori was born Hisae Yasui（安井久恵）in 1961 in Aichi Prefecture. Her "Goin' Back to China" was her debut single which peaked at No. 42 on Oricon. Both the J-Wikiarticle and one other site mentioned it, so I will mention it here as well; she debuted alongside Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）, Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）, Yoshimi Iwasaki（岩崎良美）and others.
Now, I decided to put the title of her debut and only album"LIBRA" instead of that of her most famous song up on top since I also wanted to feature one other track from her 1980 release. The final track is "Savannah Sunset"（サバンナ サンセット）, a dreamy City Pop/AOR piece that seems to match the titular time of day. Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）handled the lyrics while Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）took care of music and arrangement and guitar. The song doesn't quite go anywhere but I think it is pleasant enough as something to listen to while lying on the sofa in air-conditioned comfort.
