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.
Probably one of the bigger surprises that I have received while working on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for nearly thirteen years is the fact that Studio Ghibli's musical maestro Joe Hisaishi（久石譲）once had his own City Pop phase. Almost three years ago, I was somewhat flabbergasted at the composer with a full head of hair and sunglasses making like any street player on the roads and avenues of Tokyo as he sang "Night City" in the late 1980s.
Well, he didn't stop with himself when it came to the urban contemporary during those razzle-dazzle days and nights of the Bubble Era. Hisaishi also arranged City Pop singer Yudai Suzuki's（鈴木雄大）11th single from October 1987, "Something Never Change". Written and composed by the singer, it's another strutting and funky number on the streets of Japan's largest city, and just imagine Totoro and his minions in sunglasses and attitude shuffling down Chuo Dori as if there were no tomorrow.
Perhaps knowing that City Pop is my favourite aspect of Japanese popular music, KKP readers may be wondering why I have yet to put up any Gosanke（御三家...The Big Three）, real or imagined, of City Pop singers male or female. The reason is that outside of Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）and perhaps Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）, it's awfully hard to come up with a triumvirate that wouldn't have me bashing my head on the computer for not including this particular guy or gal. And if I'm fighting myself, I'm sure that there would be plenty of fans who would be pelting me with their two cents' worth.
However, there is an out of this potential trap although it still breaks one basic rule of the Gosanke. Instead of three, there are four men in this Gosanke so it really ought to be called a Goyonke（御四家...The Big Four）. This particular grouping which was apparently real has stuck itself into my head for years after first seeing it in the J-Wiki articles for each of the four singers mentioned (and it's been cited in one music-based Ameba blog, "Cobalt Blue"). And these guys are mentioned because they once belonged under the Toshiba EMI umbrella in the 1980s. Singers Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）, Akira Inoue（井上鑑）, Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）and Yudai Suzuki（鈴木雄大）were known as the New Wave Yon-nin Shuu (The New Wave 4).
I'm not particularly sure why Abe, Inoue, Inagaki and Suzuki were placed under New Wave considering what New Wave was all about in Western music in the 1980s. However, perhaps Toshiba EMI had thought that the four represented a truly new wave in adult contemporary music in comparison with the aidoru, enka and technopop that were also prevalent at the time. Regardless, I've placed 1982 in Labels since Abe and Inagaki were the last to debut in that year.
Recently through videos, news footage and talks with friends, I've noticed that since the last time I was in Tokyo in 2017, the megalopolis has been undergoing changes in certain neighbourhoods. Shibuya has gained at least a couple of more skyscrapers so that I'm worried that it may have cost the area some sky. Toranomon seems to be getting a massive commercial complex and the same may indeed be true for the area surrounding Tokyo Station which has already gotten its fair share of buildings going up like bamboo trees. If and when I get back to the Japanese capital, I may need a new map to find my way around.😕
Still, for the better part of two decades, I considered myself someone of the Tokyo area if not from the city proper since I was actually living in Ichikawa City, Chiba Prefecture. Over the past decade and change being back here in Toronto teaching, translating, and yes, blogging, thanks to YouTube and TV Japan, I've still been seeing my old stomping grounds. Indeed, I still miss walking through the many different parts of Tokyo.
Listening to Yudai Suzuki's（鈴木雄大）"Tokyo Mono"(Someone of Tokyo) which is the final track and the title track for his February 1990 album, I've realized that this could be an ideal theme for my feelings of wistfulness regarding one of the largest cities in the world. Arranged by Kazuo Otani（椎名和夫）, written by Taizo Jinnouchi（ 陣内大蔵）and composed by Suzuki, it's a slow and introspective modern urban waltz. Though I couldn't find the lyrics for "Tokyo Mono", what I could glean is that Suzuki is possibly singing that no matter how much a beloved partner wants change, the protagonist can only change so much and that they can only be who they are. Maybe it's part of the title, but I have to admit that I'm straddling the line on whether "Tokyo Mono" is either a pop ballad or a City Pop ballad but that's why I can throw two genres into its Labels.
I know that Suzuki didn't come up with the song thinking about what lay in store for Tokyo in the following thirty years. However, I think that despite all the changes that have come and will come, Tokyo will remain Tokyo at least for the next little while. For me, I hope that means Tower Records and my favourite neighbourhood tonkatsu restaurant under my old subway station will still be there when I visit.
Well, it took pretty much the entire decade of time that "Kayo Kyoku Plus" has been in existence, but finally I am able to talk about the album that is known as singer Yui Murase's（村瀬由衣）debut, "W., Morning" from April 1992. Now, just to clarify, that title is the one in fancy typography on the front cover of the CD with the come-hither Murase by the doorway. However, on the spine of the case, the Japanese title is "Suiyoubi no Asa, Mado wo Akeru"（水曜日の朝、窓を開ける...Open Your Windows on Wednesday Morning）.
For years, I was wondering about giving my thoughts on "W., Morning" through a KKP article but finding the tracks on YouTube proved daunting. However, over the years, I was able to find a couple of tracks represented on the platform: the peppy title track and the contemplative "To Each His Own". Now, I've already explained how and why I got Murase's debut album despite not knowing anything about her through those two articles, so have a go over there and find out if you wish. Otherwise, I'm just going to dive into the tracks.
Although when I first got "W., Morning", I wasn't quite as appreciative of the album, I am now fully satisfied that I did get a keeper after all. My general impression at present is that it's spearheaded by a lady who'd had plenty of experience and training as a backup singer before finally getting her own chance behind the lead mike. It was no waste of her talents in the recording booth.
Case in point: Track 7, "Ame no Detail"（雨のディテール...Details in the Rain）. This is a mid-tempo pop song of regret as a man in his office gets mesmerized by the rain spattering on his windows which then makes him remember the romance that he has since lost. Hidetoshi Yamada（山田秀俊）worked on the music and keyboards while Kanata Asamizu（朝水彼方）took care of the melancholy lyrics and Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）arranged everything. There was even a City Pop presence in the form of Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）on guitar. By the way, the information on the various songwriters and musicians comes from Discogs.
"Living in Your Portrait" is the second track, and folks can be forgiven if they first assumed that somehow Tatsuro Yamashita and Mariya Takeuchi（山下達郎・竹内まりや）had something to do with the creation of this groovy and rolling song. I mean, the rhythm and the background chorus just sound so Tats summery, doesn't it? Plus, there's the harmonica solo! Actually, though, the composer was City Pop-turned-technopop ingenue Miharu Koshi（コシミハル）with Asamizu on lyrics once more (and for almost all of the remaining tracks except for "To Each His Own"). Another KKP resident is here with Nobuo Ariga（有賀啓雄）on arrangement, background chorus and bass.
The reason that I finally pulled the trigger on talking about Murase and "W., Morning" is that an uploader finally put up the entire album onto YouTube earlier this summer, and so I'm quite thankful to them. At this point, the other tracks can only be found here, and these are good ones so allow me to plug ahead.
Track 1, "Haru no Arashi"（春の嵐...Spring Storm） is one of the tracks that has stayed in my mind since my purchase of the album back in the early 1990s. A proud power ballad led by piano depicting a declaration of commitment to a relationship no matter the risk of rough seas, Murase shows her vocal chops right from the get-go.
At 9:22 is Track 3"Cool". This is Ariga's own composition and arrangement and it's a dreamier ballad about how grateful a woman is about her husband or boyfriend coming back to her each and every night. Maybe she puts on a slightly tsundere expression but inside she's really quite content. Perhaps the title hints at her surface demeanor but for me, it actually has the spiritual function of bringing the temperature down a few reassuring degrees.
The following song is "Kiss Shite mo Heiki"（キスしても平気...It's Alright to Kiss Me） at 14:24 which is my favourite track on "W., Morning". It's an AOR/pop tune that I enjoy for Yudai Suzuki's（鈴木雄大）relaxing melody with a bit of tropical flavour, and Asamizu's lyrics are about as happy as any romance can get with a couple enjoy the simple pleasures of staying home together on a Sunday. Kunihiko Ryo（梁邦彦）arranged things here as well as handle the keyboards while Nobuo Yagi（八木のぶお）was on the harmonica as he was for "Living in Your Portrait".
Track 8 at 34:10 is "Yasashiku Kizukasete"（優しく気づかせて...Kindly Let Me Know） has Ryo arranging Shin Tanimoto's（谷本新）melody as something that I think is the out-and-out 1990s City Pop track of the album. It even comes with some added trombone by Yoichi Murata（村田陽一）.
Finally at 39:27 is "Yoin ~ Anata ga Soba ni Iru You ni"（余韻 ~あなたが側にいるように~...A Lingering Memory ~ As If You Were By My Side）. The final pop track is about remembering a past love but there doesn't seem to be much in the way of regret and more in the way of fond remembrance. Asamizu, Suzuki and Ryo were in on this one.
"W., Morning" may not have garnered a whole lot of attention in the J-Pop world but I think that Murase's first album is a good collection of songs for those who are interested in the classier side of pop of the early 1990s. At the same time, though, the singer and all those who worked on it have provided a slightly nostalgic bunch of songs reminiscent of the works of female singers in the mid to late 1980s such as Miki Imai（今井美樹）, Akiko Kobayashi（小林明子）and Midori Karashima（辛島美登里）. It's music to enjoy like sipping that latte during Sunday brunch.
In my university days in the mid-1980s, I was accustomed to having some pretty long calls on a weekly basis past the midnight hour which got me my fair share of scolding from the parents. But then when I was living on my own from the mid-1990s onwards, I got older and crankier as I chewed out a few folks for calling me past 12 in the morning. Such is life.
Nearly a couple of years have passed since Yudai Suzuki's（鈴木雄大）presence on the blog as a singer, so I think that it's about time to bring him back on this City Pop Friday. He was responsible for both words and music behind his "Midnight Calling", a track from his sophomore album"YUDAI" from October 1983. For a midnight song, it's pretty hepped up as if to illustrate Suzuki's excitement about calling up his lady love at the witching hour; I hope that she's an understanding night owl type.
For a song titled "Nemuru Kioku"(Sleeping Memories), it's pretty bright and bushy-tailed. This was a track on Yui Murase's（村瀬由衣）album"YUI MURASE" from June 1994, and it starts off like the beginning to a night out on the town before the protagonist gets deep into the dancing and frolicking about downtown. It's a pretty nice 90s City Pop tune that we have here and maybe that electric guitar solo has a tinge of Steely Dan influence.
And it appears that Murase wanted to have some more Y folks on "Nemuru Kioku". There is of course the singer Yui herself, but Yumi Yoshimoto（吉元由美）came up with the lyrics while singer-songwriter Yudai Suzuki（鈴木雄大）was the melody maker. But alas, there is one M in here, too, with Motoki Funayama（船山基紀） handling the arrangements.
I'm going to have to ask my student tomorrow about how the night life in Tokyo has been. Japan has been behind us in terms of the Omicron Wave but I am hoping that things will be looking up for them in the coming weeks.
It would have been a few weeks ago that the Sumida River Fireworks Festival would have taken place in Tokyo as it would usually around that time every year. Maybe as much as a million people would have shown up in the traditional quarter of Asakusa in traditional summer garb risking a lot of sweat and privacy to watch an hour's worth of some of the most spectacular fireworks to soar into the night sky.
I had my opportunity to catch the festival up close and personal thanks to an English student (who unfortunately passed away many years ago) who opened up her apartment right by the Sumida itself to some of us to view the light show. But aside from that, my viewings of what is probably the most famous fireworks festival in Tokyo were restricted to watching it on TV Tokyo in air-conditioned comfort (not a fan of crowds or heat).
Regrettably, COVID-19 scrapped the 2020 edition of the festival although I read that TV Tokyo provided a retrospective of past highlights, and perhaps a lot of the fireworks fans have gone to sites like YouTube to get their fix of their hanabi.
So, it is appropriate that I provide my final KKP article for tonight, "Fireworks" by the 1990s three-member group More Than Paradise. I've actually written about these folks before in 2018 with their fun Shibuya-kei"Natsu Monogatari"（夏物語）. More Than Paradise consisted of Yudai Suzuki（鈴木雄大）, who has his own flock of songs here, along with Eiko Kamata（鎌田英子）and Jun Kageie（景家淳）.
I'm happy to read that the Japanese music blog "Music Avenue" also discovered the source album with "Fireworks", "Love Parade" (1992). Apparently, author kaz-shin fell for the charms of Suzuki and so have I when it comes to "Fireworks". But in comparison with "Natsu Monogatari", this particular song, which was written by Yui Natsumi（夏実唯）and composed by Hidetoshi Yamada（山田秀俊）, has more of that sophisti-pop style that I've heard incorporated in a number of City Pop tunes in the late 80s and early 90s (so I gather that I might be watching the fireworks from the top of a swanky hotel bar as I listen to this). kaz-shin gives his compliments to bassist Tetsuo Sakurai（桜井哲夫）here and I'd like to give my praise to the bossa nova as well. The author of "Music Avenue" also swoons in the blog entry that on hearing this classy number, he imagines being at Haneda Airport in the evening and catching sight of the bright lights of Tokyo in the distance. However, as for the video above featuring the song, the city is actually Melbourne, Australia where "Love Parade" was recorded according to the uploader.
Is this album still around? From just casually looking around the Net, apparently it is (or was recently), although one site, Amazon.jp, states that it will not deliver it to Canada and it costs more than it did when "Love Parade" was first released. No sign of it at Tower Records so perhaps it'll be one of those rarities to track down through auctions.
I gather that this would be the ideal time to put this one up since it's indeed Friday night right now. I am talking about singer-songwriter Yudai Suzuki's（鈴木雄大）3rd single "Friday Night" which was released in February 1983.
Following a few listens to "Friday Night", my impression was that the song was far more West Coast AOR than Japanese City Pop, and then reading some notes on the song at Toshi Kanazawa's blog "Light Mellow on the web", I've found out that backing him up was The Joe Chemay Band while Suzuki was recording this in Los Angeles. To me, "Friday Night" strikes me the same way that Makoto Matsushita's（松下誠）"One Hot Love" from his "First Light" album did when I first heard that classic.
Also, continuing on with the comparison with "One Hot Love", I think both it and "Friday Night" would evoke images of cruising down the main roads of LA during the 1980s. Maybe if Crockett and Tubbs had actually done their policing via "LA Vice", those two songs would have been part of the soundtrack. But I think I'm swooning here since I've just come out of an especially hot shower.💫
You might call this a happy sequel to that All-Points Bulletin that I had originally posted nearly a couple of weeks ago. Misha had been wondering about some mystery songs and asked for "Kayo Kyoku Plus" assistance, but as it turns out, he didn't need my help. He was able to identify almost all of the tunes on his own hard-won efforts.
I mentioned Misha's success as an update at the bottom of that article, but one of those songs that was featured really caught my ear and heart so I've decided to focus my writing energies on it.
This would be a song that I had assumed was a Sing Like Talking tune that I had never heard of before. Certainly, the vocals there had me automatically thinking the dulcet tones of SLT singer Chikuzen Sato（佐藤竹善）. However, I was completely fooled because the singer was actually Yudai Suzuki（鈴木雄大）who was known as one of the four City Pop gods in the 1980s.
Strangely enough, when I first told Misha of my suspicions that this song "Just Your Life" was a Sato tune, I had no idea that I wouldn't be alone in my assumptions. Even kaz-shin of the blog "Music Avenue" noted how much Suzuki and "Just Your Life" sounded so much like Sing Like Talking from that cool and urbane arrangement, and the heart-on-your-sleeve delivery by Suzuki. SLT itself was already making its own path at around the same time.
As for the song itself, the version that has been put up is the Heisei version from his 7th album"Kimi no Heart ga Kikoeru"（君のハートが聞こえる...The Beat of Your Heart）released in March 1989. An original single of the song had been put out in November 1988 but I don't know how different that one is. I know that I'm more than happy with this Heisei version, though. Along with its SLT similarities, I would peg "Just Your Life" as a late 1980s/early 1990s City Pop/AORnumber which makes it interesting to compare it to the first Suzuki song that I put up on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" back in 2015, "Rainy Summer"(1983) since that one sounds more like a City Pop song from that particular era. Even his vocals were a fair bit different back then.
In any case, glad to make this song's acquaintance.
Considering that I had just written about the incredibly zany "Back Street Girls ~ Gokudols" yesterday, the story of three unfortunate male gangsters-turned-popular female aidoru, it's hard for me not to imagine a link between that anime and the topic of this song, although "Kanashiki Aidoru"(Sad Idol) is as far from aidoru music as anyone can get.
In fact, "Kanashiki Aidoru" is the product of singer-songwriter Yudai Suzuki（鈴木雄大）, a Tokyoite who has his heart deep into the groove of City Pop/J-AOR. Indeed, after listening to this cool song a couple of times, I've put on my music sommelier's cap on and sensed some TOTO (the American band, not the toilet company) along with a bit of Sing Like Talking through Suzuki's singing (and yes, I know that SLT had just debuted).
Suzuki's lyrics seem to hint at a man's love for his favourite singer while cradling that nighttime glass of Chablis and perhaps he feels that his heroine is a pretty lonely and sad sort in her business. Well, if it's anything that the Gokudols Niji-gumi（ゴクドルズ虹組）have been going through in just their first episode, then he may have had quite the premonition. Then again, the aidoru phenomenon was in full swing in the 1980s and with him being in the music industry, he may have had some firsthand insights about that part of the industry.
"Kanashiki Aidoru" was Suzuki's 10th single from August 1985 and was also a track on his 4th album"La Shissa" from June of that year. I really do like that arrangement with the keyboards so I will see if I can get my hands on the album sometime in the future.
Came across this one while browsing through YouTube and then encountering one of those City Pop/J-AOR compilations.
More Than Paradise is one of the many projects that singer-songwriter Yudai Suzuki (鈴木雄大...I think he's been called one of the princes of City Pop) participated in. With this unit, he worked with Eiko Kamata（鎌田英子）and Jun Kageie（景家淳）, and through the J-Wiki article about Suzuki, I found out that More Than Paradise released 2 singles and 2 albums in the early 1990s.
Their first single was"Natsu Monogatari" (Summer Story) from June 1991, a fun and sprightly tune that brings out all of the flowers and sun. Written by MITSUYO and composed by Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）, I never came across any recorded hint that it was part of the genre, but that arrangement sounded so much like pop stuff from the 1960s that I kinda went ahead and decided that it was a Shibuya-kei song. I also love those synth steel drums in the instrumental as well.
Nice ditty to start off the week. There is also a brief article on this Japanese-language 90s City Pop site which I found and wanted to let you know about not just for More Than Paradise but also for the fact that the site actually exists. Why not give that place an exploration as well?
nikala, in her article on Akira Inoue's（井上鑑）album "Splash", brought up the topic of The New Wave Four or The City Pop Four consisting of Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）, Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）, Inoue and singer-songwriter Yudai Suzuki（鈴木雄大）. Both of us mentioned that of the quartet, Suzuki was the only one that we were completely in the dark about. Well, I decided to find shed some light on the man.
I came across what was supposedly his breakthrough hit, "Rainy Summer" from May 1983, his 4th single. Suzuki provided the lyrics while Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）provided the Latin-flavoured rhythm that was reminiscent of the early works of Junko Yagami（八神純子）. Tokura was also a major contributor of melodies for two of the biggest female acts of the 1970s, Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）and Pink Lady. Listening to the ballad, the song has that late 70s/early 80s urban contemporary beat that would probably put Suzuki firmly in the City Pop vein more than New Wave, but I can't really be definitive on just one song. It is a pleasant tune, though, that had me thinking of some of the nice nighttime songs from kayo kyoku with that Latin and the thrumming bass line. It's time to see what else has been up with this man.
As for Suzuki himself, he was born in Shinjuku Ward, Tokyo back in 1959, and had already learned the piano and guitar by the time he reached high school. After joining a musical theatrical company as a member of the backup band, he made his debut as a singer in 1980 with "Gone The Summer".
The neighbourhood of Daimon in Tokyo.
More sunny fall than rainy summer, though
