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 Yoshiyuki Osawa. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yoshiyuki Osawa. Show all posts
Japan is already on Christmas Day and we're on Christmas Eve so hopefully folks are getting prepared as best as we can during this COVID era for Santa and all that.
Earlier this month, I provided an article on a 1987 Christmas song by GWINKO called "Gwinko's Christmas Carol" with its Motown taste. Good ol' Scott (who has a bunch of his J-Xmaspodcasts out at his site, so why not give those a gander?) then recommended me a November 1988 album of J-Xmas tunes titled "Dance to Christmas".
"Dance to Christmas" has its own J-Wiki article and I discovered there that singer-songwriter Yoshiyuki Osawa（大沢誉志幸）and a number of singers under the CBS/Sony banner decided to get together on the work for this special project to celebrate the 10th anniversary of EPIC/Sony. Therefore, Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）, his sister Kiyomi（鈴木聖美）, along with Osawa, GWINKO, Masatoshi Nishimura（西村麻聡）of FENCE OF DEFENSE and others all put on their Santa hats and got busy.
The second track is "Merry Christmas Go Round", a boppy City Pop boogie of the Yuletide involving a duet between GWINKO and Osawa himself. Written by K. Inojo and composed by Osawa, the song also has a touch of jazzy swing in there as the two singers act like a couple of flirty lovers dancing around a good old date over the Holidays. If all of the couples around Christmas time acted like these two do, cars would have ended up being banned off the roads because of all of the boogying around. I couldn't find out any liner note information but I do wonder whether the Suzuki siblings themselves were providing background vocals.
Commenter Jim Laker reminded me of this song on the last article I did on 80s aidoru Yoko Oginome（荻野目洋子）, and it was good that I got to hear this one again after so long.
"Natsu no Stage Light" (Summer Stage Light) was another track on Oginome's 4th album"Raspberry no Kaze"（ラズベリーの風...Raspberry Wind） released in April 1986. I first heard this one in my U of T days while I was watching an ancient VHS tape of her adventures in Los Angeles during some sort of concert montage.
Written by Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）and composed by singer-songwriter Yoshiyuki Osawa（大沢誉志幸）with arrangement by Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）, "Natsu no Stage Light" is maybe one of the most upbeat lullabies that I have heard. That's not a bad thing at all. The upbeat aspect is obvious...some of that guitar work has made me wonder whether "Natsu no Stage Light" was a prototype of a Being song, and there's even some hints of "Georgy Girl" in there. I think the lullaby part comes in through Oginome's softer vocals as if she were reassuring some nervous kids that everything was going to be all right.
I think the above is actually from that concert montage itself. As for Yukawa's lyrics, I had first thought that "Natsu no Stage Light" was about the usual innocent romance during the hot season. However, I now believe that it's more of the "romance" between Oginome and her die-hard fans whenever they attend her concerts. It would make for a wonderful way to end each of her shows.
I've been checking the pageviews over the past week and it looks like the winner has been the opening theme for this season's anime "Kaguya-sama wa Kokurasetai ~ Tensai-tachi no Ren'ai Zunousen"（かぐや様は告らせたい〜天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦〜）, "Love Dramatic"（ラブ・ドラマティック）.
So, all I can say to the main singer is:
Congratulations, Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）. You are now the proud father of an earworm! Please feel free to get your sunglasses at night by the door.
I've been checking out for any comments on "Love Dramatic" online and most of them have been very positive about the song. The other thing that I've found is that a number of folks have only discovered Martin just in the past few weeks because of the theme song.
So although I was already thinking about doing this first BEST article for 2019 since I discovered that Suzuki did provide his first anison, the comments that I saw over the past few days have pretty much cemented my decision. Therefore, without further ado, I introduce the second of his BEST compilations, "MARTINI II" released in October 1995.
1. Wakare no Machi (1995 acapella version)（別れの街） 2. Koibito（恋人） 3. Mou Namida wa Iranai（もう涙はいらない） 4. Sayonara Itoshi no Baby Blues（さよならいとしのBaby Blues） 5. Chigau, Sou Janai（違う、そうじゃない） 6. Adam na Yoru（アダムな夜） 7. Midnight Traveler 8. Liberty 9. Come On In 10. Shibuya de Go-ji（渋谷で5時） 11. Ai no Okite（愛の掟） 12. Glass Goshi ni Kieta Natsu 1995（ガラス越しに消えた夏1995） 13. Yume no Mata Yume（夢のまた夢 (1995 Remix Version)）
As you can see above, about half of the songs have already been spoken for through past articles, so feel free to link on those. Let's go on with the ones that I have yet to cover starting with the smoky "Sayonara Itoshi no Baby Blues" (Farewell, My Beloved Baby Blues), a track from Suzuki's 5th album,"Fair Affair" from 1992. A whisky-on-the-rocks-worthy soul & blues song about a love gone wrong, the aforementioned drink would be one of the libations needed at that bar with a sympathetic mixologist.
Martin's recording of "Sayonara Itoshi no Baby Blues" was actually a cover of the original song by singer-songwriter Hideki Andoh（安藤秀樹）which was his 17th single from December 1991. The concert video above has all of Martin, Andoh and Chikuzen Sato（佐藤竹善）from Sing Like Talking performing the song, although I think the evening is probably the ideal setting instead of what looked like the afternoon in the video.
(karaoke version)
"Adam na Yoru" is interesting enough just for the title. If I were to translate it as "Adam's Night", perhaps the Japanese would be "Adam no Yoru"（アダムの夜）, but with that "na"（な）in there, maybe it's "An Adam-esque Night"?
In any case, Martin's 20th single from February 1995 was written and composed by the songwriting couple Ryudo Uzaki and Yoko Aki（宇崎竜童・阿木燿子）, who were behind a lot of Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）later hits in the late 1970s, and though it sounds like the perfect tune to hear while prepping up for a banner night out in Tokyo, Aki's lyrics actually portray a scene right from the "Penny for your thoughts?" moment following a tryst in some bedroom. Looks like Adam and Eve took a huge bite out of that apple.
"Adam na Yoru" was also the theme song for a TBS drama titled "Watashi, Mikata desu"（私、味方です...I'm A Friend）which was televised between January and March of 1995. It peaked at No. 17 on Oricon. Do love those horns. Heck, I think it would be great listening on the car stereo while driving through West Shinjuku.
"Liberty" was actually Suzuki's 3rd single from March 1987 but it has been included here in "MARTINI II". Written and composed by the great Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）with AKI, it's a gospel-influenced tune performed in English, and Yoshida provides some of the background vocals. Peaking at No. 64, "Liberty" also made it onto his 4th album "mood" from 1990.
Martin can really rock those suits, can't he? "Midnight Traveler" was his 17th single from October 1993. It basically has the same flavour as the aforementioned "Adam na Yoru" through Yoshiyuki Osawa's（大沢誉志幸）melody but Kitsuma Ohshita's（大下きつま）lyrics provide more mystery in the story of two lovers on a journey for parts unknown, perhaps unable to come back. I already talked about "Midnight Traveler" through its album "Perfume" but my write-up doesn't have the full version that is right above this paragraph.
In 1991, Suzuki and 80s pop mainstay Paul Young got together as a duet to sing Sam & Dave's 1969 "Come On In" for a bit of that old-time soul. Originally written by Isaac Hayes and composed by David Porter, the Suzuki/Young single got as high as No. 79 and was also included on "mood".
The final track on "MARTINI II" is "Yume no Mata Yume", which I can think can be translated as "Dreams On Dreams". As much as "Liberty" sounds like a Minako Yoshida creation, "Yume no Mata Yume" feels like Kazumasa Oda（小田和正）and the way that he made his songs back in the early 1990s (and he's in the background vocals as well). And yep, it was written and composed by the Off Course（オフコース）singer as Suzuki's 19th single for release in October 1994. In a way, Oda's lyrics can almost describe the tensions in "Kaguya-sama". Peaking at No. 17, it is included in his 7th album"She・See・Sea"which came out in the same month.
"MARTINI II" hit No. 1 and ranked in at No. 27 on the Oricon yearly charts. It also hung in there for 1996 at No. 68. I will have to do another BEST for Martin's immediate predecessor, "MARTINI", since there are some great tunes in there, too but perhaps next month. So until "Love Dramatic" gets out officially on February 27th, you can do a bit of exploration here and on some of the other Martin songs.
Not sure what the most popular dance emporium was in the early 1980s. I think Juliana's was more in the late 80s or early 90s since it seemed to be the disco of the Bubble Era. Perhaps it was still the Lexington Queen in Roppongi? In any case, as a high school kid, it was still way too early for me.
However, Yoshiyuki Osawa's（大澤誉志幸）distinctive "Slow Dance" gets me thinking of some of those dance halls, although the setting here in this song isn't really the Lexington Queen, I think. The sultriness of Osawa's music and the silkiness of his vocals have me assuming someplace more intimate in one of the side streets of Roppongi or Shinjuku where the drinks are still cold, the lights are low and the dancing is hot.
And before I further lapse into my faux-Spillane or faux-Chandler, let me say that "Slow Dance" was written by poet Natsuo Giniro（銀色夏生）, who had also provided lyrics for Osawa's "Soshite Boku wa Tohou ni Kureru"（そして僕は途方に暮れる）. The song does have that urban contemporary feeling (with some Prince-ly riffs) but as I indicated above, the site is not the bright lights on the main street but an area that is necessarily darker. "Slow Dance" is a track on the singer-songwriter's 2nd album"Scoop" from 1984.
Sometime last month when I went on my semi-annual spending binge on CDs, I was asked by my good friend if I could pick up an album from Amazon.jp. I was initially hesitant since I've had some problems with the Japanese branch involving some disagreements with my credit card (I insist that my cards are fine) which resulted in cancellations of orders. But according to my anime buddy who has also undergone some frustrations as well, as long as the orders aren't all that costly, they should get processed just fine.
Indeed, that is what happened. My friend asked me to get an old soundtrack for a movie called "Mirai no Omoide ~ Last Christmas"（未来の思い出...Future Memories）which was released in 1992 and starred Shizuka Kudo（工藤静香）and Misa Shimizu（清水美砂）. The soundtrack cost the equivalent of a regular cup of coffee so even when I threw in my own personal purchase of a disc, the total turned out to be the lowest that I have ever paid for a package of Japanese albums.
The thing is that I remember seeing some of that movie during my three years back in Toronto between Japan odysseys. "Mirai no Omoide", I think, was another one of my other friends' pet subtitling projects, and my impression was that it was some sort of sci-fi/fantasy-based Xmas romance flick (talk about crossing your genres!). Obviously, from what I've just written, it didn't leave me with too many omoide.
Still, looking at the soundtrack before I gave it to my friend, I was surprised to see the jumble of songs that were used in the film. There was a mix of Western and Japanese standards including Earth Wind & Fire's"Let's Groove" and Julio Iglesias' cover of "Begin The Beguine" along with Kome Kome Club's（米米クラブ）"Roman Hiko"（浪漫飛行）and Saki Kubota's（久保田早紀）"Ihojin"（異邦人）. Of course, WHAM!'s "Last Christmas" was in there as well.
However, I did find one track that was unfamiliar to me and that was Yoshiyuki Osawa's（大沢誉志幸）"Soshite Boku wa Tohou ni Kureru" (And Then I Was Left Speechless). Originally, this was Osawa's 5th single from September 1984. A mid-tempo ballad about what seems to be the aftermath of a supposedly amiable romantic breakup between a fellow and more well-to-do lady, I enjoyed that rather nostalgic melody by Osawa that had that certain arrangement which lasted into the 1990s. I guess I could call it 80s urban contemporary wistful. The lyrics were provided by poet Natsuo Giniro（銀色夏生）.
According to the J-Wiki article (via an article in the June 2016 publication of "Showa Yon-juu-nen Otoko"[昭和40年男...1965 Man]) on the song, Osawa had initially offered "Soshite Boku wa Tohou ni Kureru" to a number of singers including Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）. However, none of the singers bit so the song came back and Osawa decided to record it by himself. The rejection turned out to be a lucky thing for him since it broke into the Top 10 by peaking at No. 6. It eventually became the 37th-ranked single of 1985 and sold a little more than 280,000 records. The song was also included on Osawa's 3rd studio album "Confusion" which was released in July 1984.
The question that I had initially was "Has Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）ever released a Christmas song?" I'm a big fan of his and wouldn't it be nice to add a bit of soul to the J-Xmas song list?
The wonderful thing about answering this sort of question via "Kayo Kyoku Plus" has been the search and what other wonderful songs can be discovered along the way. And this time is no different. Now I did find an adorable classic done by Martin himself but I will leave that until tomorrow on Xmas Eve perhaps. Instead, I bring you this marvelous soulful ballad by singer-songwriter Yoshiyuki Osawa（大澤誉志幸）, someone who has often worked with Suzuki.
Titled "Tenshi ga Kieta Yoru" (The Night The Angels Left), this was a coupling song on Osawa's 29th single"Setsunai Toki wa Boku ga Iru~Subarashii Sekai...I'll Be Here During the Tough Times~A Wonderful World~"（せつない時は僕がいる〜素晴らしい世界〜）from December 1995. Man, is this soulful! Osawa composed the melody and Takeshi Yokoyama（横山武）wrote the words about a man promising to provide solace to a woman going through a rough time. From that sexy sax to Osawa's caressing vocals to Yokoyama's lyrics, perhaps it's good that the angels left considering what this might lead to.😁
Although there is no direct reference to Christmas, the release date and the mention of angels and snow are good enough for me to make this into an urban J-Xmas tune. Plus, isn't it to nice have such a song that doesn't deal with heartbreak every Christmas Eve in Japan? In any case, I would love to have Suzuki cover it if he hasn't done so already.
I kinda feel that I've already covered this album by Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）since three of the songs on this release have already been talked about: "Shibuya de Go-ji"（渋谷で5時）, "Koibito"（恋人）and "Kirai da yo"（きらいだよ）. And like those three, pretty much all of the tracks would make for a fine musical backdrop for a drive downtown on a Friday night in any city. It was right after finding about "Kirai da yo" that I decided to get the album itself from the good folks at CD Japan.
"Perfume" was released in September 1993 as Martin's 6th album. As I hinted above, the entire album can act as the soundtrack for that evening jaunt through Tokyo. Track 3 "Mayonaka ni Kagayaite"（真夜中に輝いて...Shining at Midnight）makes for that fine early start to painting the town red late at night as the Ferrari bombs down the Kan-Etsu highway....hopefully, the traffic has eased up by then. The song was created by Norie Kanzawa and Yasuhiro Abe（神沢礼江・安部恭弘）.
The cool times continue with "Bishonure Broken Heart"（びしょぬれBROKEN HEART...Drenched Broken Heart）as Suzuki croons about another lost love as she is seen off on the subway. Kitsuma Ohshita（大下きつま）provided the lyrics and Abe once again provides the sultry music (and some background vocals) which has a hint of a previous Suzuki hit, "Wakare no Machi"（別れの街）. I especially love the mellow horn section that conveys some of the melancholy feelings.
Yep, "Shibuya de Go-ji" already has its own article but I just wanted to put in the video since I neglected to mention who was behind the making of the song. Suzuki himself took care of the rollicking music while Kanata Asamizu（朝水彼方）provided the lyrics.
"Midnight Traveler" was actually Martin's 17th single from October 1993 with Ohshita behind the lyrics and Yoshiyuki Ohsawa（大沢誉志幸）taking care of the music. The couple is back in the car traveling the nighttime streets probably enjoying the groove here. It only got as high as No. 53 on the Oricon weeklies but, hey, I'm still happy to have it here on "Perfume". Musician-songwriter Yoshiyuki Sahashi（佐橋佳幸）is the one doodling away on the guitar like a boss.
Just so that the album isn't all funk & soul & high energy, the finale is represented by the gospel & blues of "Mou Ichido Umare Kuru Naraba"（もう一度生まれ来るならば...If I'm Born Again）, in which Suzuki prays for another chance to meet that soulmate in another life. Martin took care of both music and lyrics here. Although I wouldn't say that it is at the level of a lullaby, it's a nice ballad to wind things down to after that night out.
"Perfume" hit No. 2 on Oricon and I'm quite glad that I could get it at last. Try listening to some of the tracks while watching the above video of a drive through Tokyo.
Good gravy! The back of this CD is more stylish
than my entire wardrobe...
Well, my education on Kenji Sawada（沢田研二）was primarily through his appearances on the Kohaku Utagassen starting with the 1981 show and then listening to him occasionally on "Sounds of Japan". And yep, he did leave quite the impression via "Stripper"（ス・ト・リ・ッ・パ・ー）and then his New Wave-y"Rokuban no Yuutsu"（６番目のユ・ウ・ウ・ツ）on the 1982 Kohaku. I could only imagine dropped jaws and perhaps a few calls to the NHK switchboard.
So I was wondering what he would bring to the 1983 Kohaku when I read in the local Japanese-Canadian newspaper, "The Nikka Times" that he would once again be returning to the NHK Hall stage on New Year's Eve. Glam rock, New Wave...would he go full Punk or go into Rockabilly this time?
Well, with his 39th single from May 1983, "Hare Nochi BLUE BOY"(Sunny and BLUE BOY), it seemed to be a bit of both Glam and New Wave. There was that usual Julie sullen and sultry look as he strutted about to a boppy bass and an alien horn arrangement that could have come from that cantina in Mos Eisley. I picked up some familiarity from the melody composed by singer-songwriter Yoshiyuki Osawa（大澤誉志幸）as it sounded a bit like Adam Ant's"Goody Two-Shoes". I wasn't quite sure how the audience in Shibuya took the song although perhaps a lot of the older generation used the time to check on how the osechi ryori was doing in the kitchen or to hit the washroom. And no, it isn't one of my favourite Julie songs but it's still not something to be forgotten. The lyrics were written by poet and essayist Natsuo Giniro（銀色夏生）.
"Hare Nochi BLUE BOY" peaked at No. 11 on Oricon and became the 98th-ranked song for 1983.
Here is Osawa with his own more rock-tinged take on his creation which was also a track on his 1994 album, "Collage". In the same year that he composed "Hare Nochi BLUE BOY", he was also responsible for Akina Nakamori's（中森明菜）fierce song of defiance and regret "Ni-bun no Shinwa"（1/2の神話）.
And this is Yasuyuki Okamura（岡村靖幸）with his own 2010 cover of the song. When I discovered that he had also sung the tune, I kinda figured that this was right up his alley.
Not sure if I ever mentioned it anywhere in the articles for "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but I have to say in all honesty that the Tokyo Prince Hotel right by Tokyo Tower is the Ground Zero for what would drive me for the rest of my life up to now. Now I did state in my early articles that my Japanese Language School graduation trip back in the summer of 1981 was the life-changing experience that had me learning about and gradually living in Japan for a good chunk of my half-century on Earth. Well, for the first five days of our stay in the country, the Prince was our amiable host. Of course, my classmates and I stayed in other accommodations such as the Chisan Hotel in Nagoya, a Kyoto hotel and three days with homestay families in Nara among other lodgings, but for me, the Prince was it. So much so that I ended up making a pilgrimage there one more time during my last visit to the country last October.
My personal prologue was for the purposes of introducing another cool Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）tune, "Private Hotel". Released as Martin's 9th single in June 1990, it was written by Hideki Ando（安藤秀樹）and composed by J-funkster/songwriter Yoshiyuki Osawa（大沢誉志幸）. Some years previously, Osawa had come up with Suzuki's debut single, the haunting "Glass Goshi ni Kieta Natsu"（ガラス越しに消えた夏）. And like that ballad, I was initially lukewarm to "Private Hotel" since Suzuki had so many other great tunes that I loved, but this has grown on me over the years as well.
As is often the case with songs that have the word "hotel" in their titles, "Private Hotel" relates the adventure of a man having that fling with a woman who may or may not be his wife...keeping things as sub-rosa as possible. The song definitely hints that the accommodations in question is probably not some Motel Six out in the boonies but some nice upscale hotel in the big city...perhaps something like the Tokyo Prince or perhaps one of the major hotels up in West Shinjuku. Osawa also put in a goodly amount of funk; Martin doesn't really dance up a storm in his live performances but I could imagine Osawa putting on a show if he did do a cover of it.
Well, what do you know? I managed to find Osawa doing a cover of the song. Although he isn't exactly dancing around, his version is quite interesting done in that reggae style
"Private Hotel" did rather modestly as it only went as high as No. 60 on the charts. It was also a track on the singer's 4th album, "mood" which peaked at No. 12 on the Oricon album charts.
For a number of years now, the Tokyo Prince has been more of a "faded glory" hotel compared to the time that I visited in 1981. When I went to visit the place last October, it was celebrating an anniversary of sorts and there were plenty of photos of many high-level dignitaries such as the late British Prime Minister and Iron Lady, Margaret Thatcher, and former US President Jimmy Carter coming to the hotel. And I believe (not 100% sure) that Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）had held her (first) wedding reception at the Prince along with a number of sumo wrestlers and other celebs.
The lobby of the Prince seems to have stayed in stasis for the past few decades. It looks just like it did back in the summer of 1981 when a very bewildered group of Japanese-Canadian kids trundled in. I know that a new wing in the form of a tower has been built for the Tokyo Prince, but against a lot of other opinions, I still like the old place. And in fact, I rather regretted that I couldn't actually stay at least one night at the hotel before I left Japan in 2011 (the hotel is still packed to the gills in guests...it may not have the cachet it once did, but it's still popular with the business crowd).
However, I assuaged some of that pain by treating myself to a somewhat pricey dessert set at the 1st-floor cafe last year. Darn fine strawberry shortcake! And although the Tokyo Prince doesn't have as much of a high profile as it used to, I did see one celeb come traipsing in that usual celeb guise of sunglasses, a jacket turned up at the collar and a baseball cap scrunched down on the head. Couldn't recognize the lad but he did have his minders with him as they all sat around the corner from me.
Yup, that's the lobby up above. And the Iron Lady down below.
I don't know when I'm gonna hit Tokyo again in the future. But it would be nice if I could stay over at the Prince...if I can save enough of the Canadian dollar.
Man, I hope the video above stays up for a good long time (Nope, it didn't). That had to have been a true labour of love for Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）by the creator. (Well, it was taken down...a pity...but here is another full version of the song.)
And I'm kinda smacking myself upside the head for not having written an Akina article on this high-octane number, "Ni-bun no Ichi no Shinwa" (Half A Legend). I must have assumed that I had already included this on my article of her BEST album many many months ago. In any case, it's time to rectify the oversight.
Continuing on with the image of Akina back then as a been-there-done-that tsuppari (teenage punk girl) from"Shojo A"（少女Ａ）, her 4th single from February 1983 has Akina's character going medieval on those who would dare judge her while internally commiserating on her loneliness. The rock guitar just goes a-crazy right from the get-go as the lead instrument while allowing its accomplice horns to burst in at intervals. However, when the tsuppari does show some of that tender side, the guitar takes the briefest of breaks as the violins cut in. I wonder if the title is referring to the character's feeling that she's only half a legend as long as she has that vulnerable part. There's something strangely reminiscent of giving into the Dark Side of the Force, if that is indeed the case.
I have to admit that I enjoy "Ni-bun no Ichi no Shinwa" over "Shojo A". Written by Masao Urino（売野雅勇）, who also took care of the lyrics for the latter song, and composed by singer-composer Yoshiyuki Osawa（大澤誉志幸）, the guitar and the horns take me for a dangerous if thrilling ride on the motorcycle, especially when it comes to the instrumental bridge. And then there are these lines:
Hanbun dake yo! Otona no manePretending to be a grown up is just half of it Ato no nokori junsui na mamaThe other half is still pure Sore demo mada watashi waruku iu no And you still disparage me?! Ii kagen ni shite! Give me a break! (or perhaps a stronger epithet)
Just the way she delivers them with that mixture of defiance and disdain is the topper for this song. Akina just comes in like a typhoon and leaves just as quickly. No muss, no fuss. And all in her way will be left as debris in her wake.
Following its release, "Ni-bun no Ichi no Shinwa" reached No. 1 on March 7 1983 and stayed at the top spot for 6 weeks into April. By the end of the year, it was the 13th-ranked song having sold over 570,000 records.
Osawa himself provided a cover version of the song as his 25th single in July 1994. The above video shows him giving an even more frenetic take. It was also released as a track on his 12th album, "Collage" from the same year.
Yoshiyuki Ohsawa (大沢誉志幸) is a singer that I got acquainted with fairly recently, about 6 months ago or so. That's when I first heard his most famous tune from 1984, "Soshite Boku wa Tohou ni Kureru" (そして僕は途方に暮れる). It struck me as a poignant midtempo ballad with a touch of electro, which I found a nice mix. Seems he debuted in June 1983 with "Kanojo ni wa Wakaranai (Why don't you know)" (彼女には判らない), but even before then he was composing songs for Kenji Sawada and Akina Nakamori. Growing up with bluegrass and soul music like Bob Dylan and Otis Redding, he eventually made a switch to R&B (think Prince) and became one of the leading artists of the genre in Japan while it was still fresh. His non-musical influences include Edgar Allan Poe, Alfred Hitchcock, and Pablo Picasso (per "in-Fin-ity" booklet). The reason why I mention this is because it's a pretty trippy album, much like the individuals mentioned above, and crosses many boundaries. The cover above kinda gives it away. I decided to get it after spotting at on a shelf at a local Tower Records store based on the strength of its leading single "Kanojo wa future-rhythm" (彼女はfuture-rhythm). I must say, I really hit the jackpot here.
"Kanojo wa future-rhythm", as a title suggests, is a futuristic Electro-Funk track. The first time I heard it, I was just sleepy and bored while browsing Youtube for new music to listen to, and it really woke me up. It's always nice to hear a song with a solid bass line and beat, and the arrangement is just flawless. Speaking of arrangement, the person of interest here is Hoppy Kamiyama (ホッピー神山), a keyboardist from an eclectic 80's band PINK, who pretty much arranged the whole album and provided all the quirky synths. Ohsawa and Hoppy would later collaborate as a composer and arranger for Masayuki Suzuki's strange and haunting debut single, "Glass Goshi ni Kieta Natsu". Two other PINK members participated on the album, Hajime Okano (岡野ハジメ) on bass and Kameo Yakabe (矢壁カメオ; also known as Atsunobu Yakabe) on drums. Combined with Ohsawa's stylish vocals which get acrobatic during the verses, the song just feels very well-rounded. And yes, I'd dance to it if I could.
"Lady Vanish" was definitely inspired by that Hitchcock's "Lady Vanishes" and even absorbs the film's thrill into the sound. I also really enjoyed this track and its rapid, pounding hammer-like rhythm. It's tricky for me to describe genre-wise, as it feels like an R&B, rock, and electro track all at the same time. The rock part mostly comes from the noisy guitars and Ohsawa's sharp delivery. There's also a piercing sax solo in the middle that shook me off guard just when I thought I could predict the next course of the song.
It's interesting that the title track, "inFinity", is a slow one when compared to the overall speed of the album. Rather, it drags us through an alternative universe for nearly 6 minutes with those spacy synths with haunting piano and sax lines weaving in and out. And despite the title, the lyrics actually deal with a fin of an old relationship. The melody is also quite melancholic, and the final notes sound so surreal and uncertain, giving off an image of someone looking back onto regretful past and forward to an undesirable future.
Track 6, "Replica Model" (レプリカ・モデル), is a catchy electro-funk number with a rich arrangement. It's probably my second favorite song on the album after the opening track. I enjoyed the whole robotic feel that the flat back-synth creates. And again, more hypnotic screechy sax. Can't get enough of it. With the whole density of the song, Ohsawa still stays on top of it with his powerful voice and never loses control. I imagine this one would be tough one to tackle at karaoke if it was ever included on the list.
Track 7, "Saisho no Namida Saigo no Kiss" (最初の涙 最後の口吻) is a refreshing change of pace after adrenaline-inducing preceding three tracks. I only reviewed one of them, but this album has a conceptual sound and I like highlighting stuff that sticks out, even if just a bit. There's enough electro in the arrangement to keep it consistent with the rest of the songs, but with the ballad melody and Ohsawa's singing it's more down-to-earth. It's nice to hear a mellow side of his voice. He can both rock and soothe so convincingly. This song has always popped up on my Sansa Fuze in shuffle mode while it was raining out so every time I hear that synthesizer riff I keep thinking of falling rain.
The closing track, "Koi ni just can't wait" (恋にjust can’t wait) subdues the synths that rule the rest of the album and by bringing guitars and bass to the forefront. The melody and the lyrics are also the most joyful of the bunch. Catchiness all around. The album's booklet mentions Yutaka Ozaki singing in the back-chorus, but this is one of the few tracks where you can actually hear him.
If you want to hear the other three songs which I didn't review, then head over to oh homare's Youtube channel who specializes in all things Yoshiyuki Ohsawa. Couldn't track down how the album performed on Oricon, but I figure it just suffered from the lack of promotion among other reasons unknown to me. Nothing but rave reviews online though. Here's one from Technology Pops site that I partially used as reference for this entry. It's not often that I come across albums like this, so I'm glad that I trusted my guts and bought it. Started my Ohsawa collection on a happy note.
I fell under the Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之） spell fairly late. By the time, I'd gotten hooked on his cool and urban "Wakare no Machi"（別れの街）during my first run in Japan, Suzuki had already been into his solo career for 5 years. At the time, I didn't connect that this was the same guy who had fronted the doo-wop group The Chanels/Rats & Star in the early 80s since the two styles that he sang seemed so far away from each other.
First hearing "Glass Goshi ni Kieta Natsu"(The Summer That Disappeared Through The Glass) via one of his BEST discs, I was initially not all that enamored of it since I found the haunting synthesizer and the oddly dissonant sax a bit off-putting. It's strange to say this for a mainstream J-Pop song, but it struck me as being somewhat dreamy avant-garde. And the crazy thing was that this was Martin's 1st single as a solo artist. I guess he really wanted to make a different mark away from his time with his old group.
However, I'm happy to say that this is one of those songs that has been able to grow on me over the years, partially due to Suzuki's soulful vocals. He just seems to glide and weave his way through the lyrics. The words were created by Ikki Matsumoto（松本一起）, who also wrote the late 80s Akina Nakamori（中森明菜） hits of "Gypsy Queen" and"Fin". And the music was made by singer-producer Yoshiyuki Osawa（大沢誉志幸）. The voice, lyrics and melody all combine to form this bittersweet atmosphere as the protagonist realizes that his true love is fading away forever as he wishes her well on the outside while hiding his bewilderment and panic on the inside....all the while the summer is disappearing behind the horizon. Learning the meaning of the lyrics definitely helped me appreciate the song much better. Another point of interest is that Tomoyasu Hotei（布袋寅泰） of "Kill Bill" fame was behind the guitar here. The song, released in February 1986, peaked at No. 15 on Oricon and is a track on his first album, "mother of pearl", released on the same day. Suzuki would finally get his chance to sing the song at a Kohaku Utagassen in the 1991 edition.
The composer of the song, Yoshiyuki Osawa, did his own cover in 1994 for his album, "I.D.Y. BEST COLLECTION" which came out in October of that year. His version is a softer and more orchestral ballad. To be honest, I'd never actually heard Osawa sing until I came across this video tonight, and he also has some fine pipes. Several of his albums have shown up in "Japanese City Pop", a genre that he has also splashed about in. I'll have to take a closer look at some of his stuff as well.
The above is the original music video for Suzuki's"Garasu Goshi ni Kieta Natsu". I can say that the imagery complements the musical arrangement.
I've started diving into the old cabinet and taking out those ancient 30-year-old Canadian Tire tapes of "Sounds of Japan" broadcasts to see if I can find some long-lost songs. A number of them have already been profiled on the blog, but last night I came across an old chestnut that I hadn't heard in years: Kenji Sawada's（沢田研二）"O-mae ni Check-in" (I'm Checking In To You).
When it was released in May 1982, Julie was well into his Visual-kei (glam rock) mode. Knocking me (and most of Japan) for a loop when he appeared on the 1981 Kohaku Utagassen in feathers and make-up as he performed the down-and-dirty "Stripper", he left quite an impression on us. And then on the 1982 Kohaku, he came out in a more New Wave guise to perform "Rokubanme no Yuutsu"（６番目のユ・ウ・ウ・ツ....The Sixth Depression). In between those two singles, there were two more, one of which was "O-mae ni Check-in" which was a lot more on the happy-go-lucky side.
Backed by his new band, The Exotics, Sawada also got help on the song from a chorus section consisting of Ginji Ito, Motoharu Sano, Yoshiyuki Osawa（大澤誉志幸） and himself. For years, I'd thought that the four were stuttering out Sawada's nickname until J-Wiki set me straight with the katakana writing of "churururu, ch-ch-churia..." "O-mae ni Check-in" struck me as synthpoppy rockabilly, which was probably a logical synthesis in the days of Yellow Magic Orchestra and dancing about in Harajuku garbed in 50s leather gear. Written by Hidemi (I hope that's correct) Yanagigawa（柳川英巳） and composed by the aforementioned Osawa (Ito handled the arrangements), the song happily goes about describing the joys of having that reunion tryst with a former lover in a hotel. As the last line goes, "Adam and Eve are getting it on!" Pretty teenage-racy lyrics for the time.
It took his 36th single about a month to break into the Oricon Top 10 after its release for which it peaked at No. 8 and sold close to 300,000 records. It was also the first track on Sawada's 17th album, "A Wonderful Time", which came out in June 1982 and peaked at No. 14 on the album charts.
