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 Yukihiro Takahashi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Yukihiro Takahashi. Show all posts
Considering that I have a face that is perfect for radio, I really should get rid of all of the mirrors, but that would be rather weird. I can't imagine coming out of the shower or brushing my teeth in the bathroom without having that shiny pane of reflective material there. That area of wall would look awfully barren. Plus, we can always use the mirrors to open up the space a bit.
Interestingly enough, on first listen and first sight, I had thought that "MIRRORMANIC" was one of those Yellow Magic Orchestra songs that slipped through the cracks for me. Maybe it was a single B-side that never made it onto an album. However, I was wrong because the song was actually a track on YMO drummer Yukihiro Takahashi's（高橋幸宏）2nd solo album"Ongaku Satsujin"（音楽殺人...Murdered by the Music）from June 1980.
Written by Chris Mosdell and composed by Takahashi, the drummer's two bandmates from YMO, bassist Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）and keyboardist Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）were helping out in the recording along with Kenji Omura（大村憲司）on electric guitar. Despite the familiar faces though and the technopop genre in play here, there is something not quite YMO about this one. I couldn't help but feel that there was something somewhat Davie Bowie-ish here in the arrangement and vocal stylings. And that's a good thing since Takahashi should have been able to distinguish his solo stuff from his work with the main band.
"Ongaku Satsujin" also has the faster-paced and playful "Kanashiki Blue Colour Worker"（悲しきブルーカラーワーカー）so have a listen to that as well.
There's nothing like a Tomita Lab（富田ラボ）arrangement to soothe listeners and let them know that all can be right with the world...that is, as long as the song is playing at least.
I received those cool and warm and fuzzy feelings while listening to "Atatakai Ame" (A Warm Rain) which is a track from his February 2006 album"Shiplaunching", something that I posted about several years ago, but apparently didn't bother putting down the year of release aside from Labels. Bad, J-Canuck, bad!
Composed by Tomita Lab and written by the late Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）, who also has his own vocal contribution to "Shiplaunching", that familiar chorus and the strings bring the present and the past in equal measure while Hirokuni Tanaka（田中拡邦）of the band MAMALAID RAG croons comfortably. It almost makes one want to sit outside at a cafe while the rain is coming down...almost. Can't get much smoother than this one.
For the longest time up to around university, I was a regular purchaser of "MAD" and "Cracked" satirical magazines since I enjoyed especially reading the parodies of TV shows and movies. Of course, the mascot for "MAD" was Alfred E. Neuman, the redhead goofball with his favourite saying "What, me worry?".
It does make me wonder whether Yellow Magic Orchestra drummer, singer and songwriter Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）had been a "MAD" fan himself since his 4th album from June 1982 was titled "What, Me Worry?". However, his visage on the cover looks far more serious and less fancy (or thought) free.
The last time I had Takahashi up on the byline by himself was back in 2023 when I posted his giddy "Kanashiki Blue Colour Worker"（悲しきブルーカラーワーカー）. That was just after hearing of his untimely death on January 11th that year. This time around, I have his track "Disposable Love" from "What, Me Worry?" which is more contemplative yet whimsical at the same time. Written and composed by Takahashi with Peter Barakan also helping out on the lyrics, it seems the man in this story is wrestling in his mind whether the ardor he's had for someone was real or imagined. Sounds like the premise for a sci-fi flick.
On vocals, Takahashi is helped out by singer and producer Tony Mansfield. On the Wikipedia article for the album, he's been listed for his backup vocals, but I think his contribution was more than that, so I'm treating "Disposable Love" as a duet. As for the album itself, it reached No. 35 on Oricon.
Several days ago, a commenter asked me if I had done anything on Asami Kado's（門あさ美）"Anti Fleur" yet, and I had to confess that my answer was in the negative. But allow me to rectify.
The commenter made his inquiry on my most recent Kado article which had been posted back in late June, and that was for "Koko ni Iru no"（ここにいるの）, a track that originated from her 10th and final album to date,"La Fleur Bleue" from 1988. The album was produced by Yellow Magic Orchestra's Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）with him also handling all the arrangement of the songs,
"Anti Fleur" was the previous 9th album from April 1987 which managed to score a No. 21 ranking on Oricon. It was also produced and arranged by Takahashi, and I guess in a way, Kado was as much a collaborator/protégé of the YMO drummer as Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）had been with YMO's Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）in the early 1980s and Miharu Koshi（コシミハル）had been with YMO's Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）considering the dramatic change in sound of the singers under their aegis.
With "Anti Fleur", while Takahashi did his thing, Kado took care of the entire songwriting of all of the tracks, one of which was "Ko Ro Ku". I have no idea what the title is on about although when I put in the relevant hiragana into the dictionaries, I only got one definition of it referring to a right-pocket quiver that had been used from the Nara period onwards. As for the music and vocals, "Ko Ro Ku" strikes me as this very appealingly quirky pop which reminds me of those Ohnuki/Sakamotocollaborations, although "Ko Ro Ku" doesn't have any overt techno bleeps or bloops in there. Kado's voice also goes quite high much like her contemporaries Ohnuki and Koshi during their YMO associations (well, Ohnuki always possessed a high voice).
When it comes to the works of singer-songwriter Asami Kado（門あさ美）, I usually think of her as one of the prime examples behind Japanese Baroque Pop or as I've put it, Fashion Music. Certainly, that's what I've hearing when it comes to her early works in the late 1970s going into the 1980s.
This is about as late as I have gotten into her career. Her 10th and final studio album to date is "La Fleur Bleue" which came out in April 1988 and the first track from it is "Koko ni Iru no" (I'm Right Here). It's basically a coquettish and delicate pop piece that was written by Kado and composed/arranged by Yellow Magic Orchestra's Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）(well, the whole album was produced and composed by the fellow), but I can also hear some of the synthpop and some faint hints at reggae in the underlying rhythm. I assume that is also Takahashi handling the background chorus. The album reached No. 58 on Oricon.
Never really got to know singer-songwriter Bryan Ferry all that well back in the day, especially during his time with Roxy Music. During the 1980s, he got hits with "Slave to Love" and "Don't Stop the Dance" which I heard and saw on fairly heavy rotation via radio and television. The music videos showed him as a slightly louche gentleman of charm and leisure.
So it was only recently that I heard about his May 1977 single, "Tokyo Joe". The song is a disco rock tune that seems to fit the description that I've made for him, and despite the geographical position noted in the title, "Tokyo Joe" is something that probably made for a fine musical accompaniment for the debauchery at New York City's Studio 54 back in those days. For that matter, the song could have been covered by someone like David Bowie.
Bowie probably didn't. However, the intriguing Japanese trio of Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, Kazumi Watanabe（渡辺香津美）and Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）did in 1979 when they released their own version of "Tokyo Joe" as a single. Just imagine...two-thirds of Yellow Magic Orchestra and a famed jazz fusion guitarist arranging and performing "Tokyo Joe" as a slightly more amped-up disco technopop cover. Indeed, let's wang chung tonight! Not sure how the single did but it was placed onto a 1982 New Wave compilation titled "Tokyo-Paris-London-New York, Dancing Night".
Now, to give truth in advertising, officially, the song is provided under only Sakamoto and Watanabe but Takahashi is also providing his vocals here so I am including the late drummer in the byline.
Arrangers: Tsugutoshi Goto, Yukihiro Takahashi and Mitsuo Hagita
From Rajie's 1977 album: "Heart to Heart"
The original version of "THE TOKYO TASTE" had been a track on Sadistics' debut album. This version was recorded only some months after, but with an emphasis on a tight groove, it has an even more pronounced City Pop flavour. In addition to the speed of its evolution, I see the passion and fullness of the Tokyo pop scene of that time. The combination of Rajie's（ラジー）translucent vocals paired with Yoshitaka Minami's（南佳孝）quirky voice indeed makes for an exquisite and feel-good experience.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
It's been a little over a year since the passing of guitarist Makoto Ayukawa（鮎川誠）at the age of 74 while his fellow bandmate and partner in life, Etsuko "Sheena" Ayukawa（鮎川悦子）left this mortal coil a little over nine years ago. But as cliché as it sounds, I'm sure that the music of Sheena & The Rokkets（シーナ&ザ・ロケッツ）has been living on within the survivors of the band and their fans.
Recently, I found this follow-up single to their 1980 hit "You May Dream". "Baby Maybe", which was written and arranged by Sheena and Makoto respectively with Yellow Magic Orchestra's Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）, was released in October 1980, a little over ten months following the release of "You May Dream". To me at least, "Baby Maybe" sounds like a 1950s rock n' roller given that New Wave sheen with the synths and what also makes it work is Sheena's cute-as-a-button delivery. No, I'm not saying that she was being an aidoru about it; more like Marilyn Monroe.
The song was also a part of Sheena & The Rokkets' 3rd album"Channel Good"（チャンネル・グー）which came out on the same day as the single. And yep, the video below does have that 1950s look. They sure don't make music videos like those anymore.
Neither having watched a lot of the animated or CG representative programming for the "Star Wars" franchise over the past few decades nor caught "Ahsoka" on Disney+ (aside from what I've glimpsed through YouTube) since I'm not subscribed to the service, I've only had glimpses of the Jedi Knight Ahsoka Tano.
From what I know of the character, she was Anakin Skywalker's Padawan learner until he had that drastic change of faith but apparently the lady has been able to hold her own for a while...at the very least, to be able to get her own TV show. Remembering how George Lucas loved to lift aspects of Japanese culture to adapt into his beloved "Star Wars", I had naively assumed that he got the name for Ahsoka from the common expression "Ah, soka"（あ、そうか。）meaning "Oh, is that so?". As it turns out, Lucas adapted the name from that of the ancient Indian emperor Ashoka.
Today's preamble ramble was brought to you by singer Susan and her tune "Ah! Soka". I'd introduced the lass back in early December last year because of her "My Love" which was the final track on her 2nd album"The Girl Can't Help It" in 1981. "Ah! Soka" was actually the B-side to her July 1981 single"Do You Believe in Magic?" (a Susan album with the same title was released in 1980).
Written by Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）and composed by Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, both fellows from the legendary Yellow Magic Orchestra, "Ah! Soka" is a bit more languid if also a little more playful through the singer than "My Love". It's got the techno in there for sure but the synths also share space and time and energy with some twangy guitars. Ah, yeah...those early 1980s!
It's an amazing thing about realizing that the huge iceberg representing Japanese popular music not only has a ton of City Pop in the 90% underneath the surface but also a lot of techno kayo. Those guys in Yellow Magic Orchestra really were quite influential.
Case in point: Susan（スーザン）. Her full name is Susan Nozaki, a half-Japanese and half-French singer, actress and TV personality. I only found out about her last night but it seems during the midst of her time on television going into the 1980s, she had a chance encounter with YMO drummer Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）at a TV studio in 1980 which translated into another opportunity for music (apparently earlier in the 1970s, Susan had been a singer and from the description in her website profile, it looks like it may have been as an aidoru).
A debut album would come out titled "Do You Believe in Magic?" which featured all three members of YMO: Takahashi, Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）and Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）among other artists. And then there was the second album "The Girl Can't Help It" in 1981 whose material swung from Motown to New Wave. The final track is the technopop "My Love" with some mightily crashing percussion which was written by Takahashi and Peter Barakan with music by Takahashi. Takahashi and Hosono even help out on backing vocals while Susan's feathery vocals fly over the melody line and through the storm of drums.
The beginning of another work week although down in the United States, it'll be a shortened one due to American Thanksgiving. From what I've been reading though, it could be another tough travel time because of some threatening weather. Incidentally up here in Toronto, we're supposed to be having the annual Santa Claus Parade downtown over this coming weekend, and once that is done, then I'll know that the Yuletide season is here again.
Well, for another dreary Monday, maybe some early libations are in store. Regrettably, I can't offer any Tiki bar cocktails but on the musical plane of existence, perhaps KKP can provide this song by the Sadistic Mika Band（サディスティック・ミカ・バンド）. From their short single discography, here is their 5th single"Mada Mada Sanba" from November 1975. Yes, this song is 48 years old today.
Created by lyricist Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）and composer Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦）who were part of the band, "Mada Mada Sanba" (The Midwife is Yet to Arrive) is a happy-go-lucky mixture of Latin and pop. Sadistic Mika Band has been categorized as hard rock, glam rock, jazz fusion and progressive rock on Wikipedia, but I think with this one, perhaps the only word that can apply here is fusion. It's a tongue-in-cheek tune which not only takes cross-linguistic liberties (i.e. a pun) between samba and sanba（産婆）in the title, but the lyrics happily make light of a midwife's tardiness as a baby is on the way most urgently. At this rate, the kid's gonna hit the finish line before their deliverer.
One funny quip in the comments for the above video is that a small snippet of the song sounds like the theme from "Coronation Street". I would heartily agree.
Part of the reason that I'm posting this particular song is that my friend Scott from "Holly Jolly X'masu" made his first podcast in a while last week focusing on the soundtrack of "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence". The 1983 movie starred David Bowie and Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）with the latter even providing the soundtrack (in fact, Scott points out that a reluctant Sakamoto only joined the cast once director Nagisa Oshima allowed him to score the movie...his very first time to do so). Anyways, if you like, have a listen to the episode through the above link.
Another reason is that I'm still missing The Professor after his passing earlier this year, and it's still a bit of a shock to realize that both he and Bowie have now left this mortal coil. Still grateful though that they also both left a large legacy of music.
I encountered this track from Sakamoto's second original album"B-2 Unit"（B-2ユニット）which was released in September 1980. "Thatness and Thereness" is his first try singing on an album, and as his good friend and YMO bandmate Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）pointed out in a 2011 issue of "Switch" via J-Wiki: "It's not that he's a good singer, and the Professor knows that when he sings, but it's a really good song". (translated by yours truly)
Well, if Takahashi is willing to say that, I can also agree that Sakamoto would never have won any prizes for his vocals, but "Thatness and Thereness" is a contemplative and sumptuous (despite its short time) technopop tune based on one experience with the student movement when he was back in school. Written and composed by The Professor with a co-writing credit given to Yoshitaka Goto（後藤美孝）and translation into English by Peter Barakan, the languid pace of the song makes me wonder whether that scene he had witnessed was so affecting that he saw it in slow motion. The title, which is based on a couple of examples of psychological jargon, adds to my feeling on that possibly very intense memory. Sakamoto also indicated that the song was influenced to a degree by Bertolt Brecht's"The Threepenny Opera" from 1928.
Takahashi himself covered the song (as did many other artists) for the November 2008 2nd album compilation by musician and producer Bajune Tobeta（トベタ・バジュン）, "Aoi Chou"（青い蝶...Blue Butterfly）.
Ah, yes. The Laforet store that was the huge signpost delineating cool and funky Harajuku and stylish Omotesando in Tokyo. I've passed by this intersection many times.
It was almost three years ago when I posted an article on the song "Kibun wo Dashite Mou Ichido"（気分を出してもう一度）which was recorded by a number of singers, including folk singer and radio personality Keiko Kobayashi（小林啓子）in her third album"Chotto Kibun wo Kaete"（ちょっと気分をかえて...Change The Mood A Bit） from August 1977. Well, another track from the album is "Kono Karui Kanji ga Suki nan desu"(I Really Like This Light Feeling).
With lyrics by the future Yellow Magic Orchestra drummer Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）and music by Yu Imai（今井裕）, Kobayashi's song kinda hovers over the line between City Pop and New Music with a bit of a lemon twist. Yep, there's something rather tropical in "Kono Karui Kanji ga Suki nan desu" as if it were channeling a bit of Haruomi Hosono's（細野晴臣）Tin Pan Alley. It's rather cool and soothing like a soft breeze wafting over the islands. By the way, if the name Yu Imai sounds familiar, you must have been reading last Friday's batch of City Pop stuff since Imai was one fellow who was featured through his "A Cool Evening".
Arrangers: Ryuichi Sakamoto and Yukihiro Takahashi
From Takahashi's 1978 album: "Saravah!"
"Elastic Dummy" is a funky instrumental tune with help from Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）and Sakamoto（坂本龍一）which stands out for its compressed essence of 1970s Tokyo City Pop. If you listen to this song, you should be able to understand how rapid the change from City Pop to Technopop was (the first YMO album came out a mere 5 months after this). That wonderful guitar solo at the end was by Tsunehide Matsuki（松木恒秀）.
The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised"(2020).
I've put this photo up a few times already as the thumbnail, but just to let folks know once more, this is the old Akasaka Prince Hotel. It had served its time proudly for many years but several years ago, it was finally demolished.
Time to put in another Masayoshi Takanaka（高中正義）track "Tokyo Reggie" from his debut album"Seychelles" released in July 1976.
With Yukihiro Takahashi's（高橋ユキヒロ）lyrics, Takanaka, perhaps with the assistance of singer Tan Tan and Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）as backup chorus, has provided "Tokyo Reggie" with the inviting ticket for some happy Resort Pop in a summery environment. In fact, on repeated listenings, there is something quite Tin Pan Alley but with a faster disco beat. Along with Takanaka's guitar, "Seychelles" is also given some more oomph from Tsugutoshi Goto's（後藤次利）bass, Motoya Hamaguchi's（浜口茂外也）percussion and Jake H. Concepcion's sax, although Concepcion doesn't seem to be around for "Tokyo Reggie".
One of the first Japanese folk tales that I learned about was through a picture book which told the story of "Urashima Taro"（浦島太郎）, a stalwart young boy who saves a sea turtle and for his troubles, he is taken to the wondrous undersea Palace of the Dragon King or Ryuuguu-jo（竜宮城）. Well, he loses track of the time and he pays dearly for it at the end.
I'm assuming that is indeed the inspiration behind techno duo Testpattern's"Ryuuguu" which is actually written as "Ryugu". A grand, shiny and inviting number that has me thinking of the palace as depicted through the imaginations of Fumio Ichimura（市村文夫）and Masao Hiruma（比留間雅夫）as a gleaming futuristic undersea city of silicon with tons of advanced technology and activity bursting everywhere. The palace would impress Captain Nemo and the Nautilus, let alone a lone Japanese fisherman.
I've written about Testpattern via two of their songs: "Techno Age" and "Crescent Moon", both from their lone 1982 album"Après-Midi". This time though, "Ryuuguu" was a part of a compilation album of technopop tunes called "Yen Manifesto Vol. 1" which was released in September 1983 under the production of Yellow Magic Orchestra'sHaruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）and Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）. Testpattern shared track space with Koji Ueno （上野耕路）and the band Interiors.
My main memory of actress Narumi Yasuda（安田成美）is her role in the Fuji-TV drama of the early 1990s, "Sugao no Mama de"（素顔のままで...Just the Way You Are) which was somewhat of a variant of the Hollywood flick "Beaches" with Bette Midler and Barbara Hershey. She had that attraction of the sweet and innocent woman in a tall and willowy form (although she's actually two inches shorter than me). Interestingly enough, I also saw her in another remake of an even more famous movie: "Roman Holiday" (via TBS) with some major tweaks to the characters although I could see Yasuda as an Audrey Hepburn type.
I wouldn't find out until some years later that Yasuda had been the singer of the theme song for one of Studio Ghibli's most famous movies "Nausicaä of the Valley of Wind" (風の谷のナウシカ). It's an adorable song as Yasuda's debut single although her label as an aidoru helped in accepting the fact that she was never a strong singer as nikala pointed out in the article for the song.
"Kaze no Tani no Nausicaa" was indeed the lead track for Yasuda's debut album"Yasuda Narumi" which was released in April 1984, and looking at the songwriting information for the album, it looks like a mixture of Happy End and Yellow Magic Orchestra members was helping out. For example, lyricist Masao Urino（売野雅勇）provided the words for one track "Sabishii Yasashisa" (Lonely Kindness) which was composed by the late Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）of YMO (he also produced the album).
I've noticed that on Yasuda's J-Wiki profile that she's been identified as an actress and a narrator but not as a singer. I promise that this will be the last time that I mention the observation that her vocal prowess left much to be desired back then, but there were a few times while listening to "Sabishii Yasashisa" that I had to cringe, even while knowing and liking my aidoru singers from the 1980s. For this techno-aidoru tune, it would have been interesting if Takahashi had actually covered it on his own since the song seems to fit his style. As it is though, I do like the arrangement by Takahashi.
I was talking with Scott of "Holly Jolly X'masu" recently and we happened to get onto a topic concerning one of my old personal signs that the summer holidays were about to end and school was once again going to cast a long ugly shadow on my life. Mind you, "The Jerry Lewis Labour Day Telethon" was always something that was fun to watch for me back in the 1970s, and as I would realize later on in life, the telethon was one of the very few opportunities that I got to see a lot of the Rat Pack in their heyday. Back then, it was fun to watch Jerry, Ed McMahon and Sammy Davis Jr. among other starsentertaining viewers for hours on end.
However, it was the tote board hourly showing how much money was being raised to battle muscular dystrophy that got my excitement. I guess that it was due to all of the pomp and circumstance leading up to the announcement and then Jerry and Ed doing all of those Hollywood yells ("HAOOOOOOH!") when the new total came out.
The other thing is the song that the telethon orchestra played each time the total came out and it just seemed to be the theme for the entire show. I would find out that it was "What the World Needs Now Is Love" and to echo my feelings on it, I remember seeing a commercial advertising the telethon one year in which animated caricatures of Jerry and a lot of the Hollywood hoi polloi sang the song.
When I looked up the song on Wikipedia, I was surprised by a couple of things. I'd assumed that the original song from April 1965 was recorded by someone like Dionne Warwick, but it was actually Jackie DeShannon. Crazily enough, DeShannon already has recognition on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for being the first singer to record "Bette Davis Eyes", which would become popularized by becoming a New Wave anthem by Kim Carnes in 1981 (and another subject for a ROY article). The other surprise was that "What the World Needs Now Is Love" has been categorized as a folk rock tune as well as a jazz/soul number. Jazz and soul are in full supply here in what I've deemed to be an absolute wistful standard but I can't really hear the original as either folk or rock. What isn't a surprise is who was behind the song: the legendary duo Burt Bacharach and Hal David.
"What the World Needs Now Is Love" hit No. 1 on Canada's RPM singles chart while it became the 7th-ranked single on America's Billboard. Incidentally, according to the Wikipedia article on the song, Warwick had been offered first dibs to sing it but she turned it down for being too "country" (!), but I guess that she finally did acquiesce to the request since she did record it in 1966 for her "Here Where There Is Love" album.
Although I couldn't find out in which month the first two Japanese tunes had been released in 1965, the final one was indeed an April 1965 single, just like DeShannon's magnum opus.
As a PS, since we are still mourning the loss of musician and songwriter Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）this month, here's his version of "What the World Needs Now Is Love" from his 1990 album"Broadcast from Heaven".
I end this broadcasting day on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" on a sad note unfortunately since there has been another Japanese musician who has left this mortal coil. Scott's "Holly Jolly X'masu"Twitter feed was the first source that I had read about Yukihiro Takahashi's（高橋幸宏）passing at the age of 70 on January 11th, but then I saw that in the last several hours, other accounts were posting their condolences and tributes to the singer-songwriter, drummer and producer. I knew that Takahashi had been suffering from a brain tumour but it was still a shock to hear about his death.
The Tokyo-born Takahashi was involved with a number of bands and other music projects ranging from the Sadistic Mica Band in the 1970s to METAFIVE in the 2010s. Of course, he had his own solo career, coming out with albums such as "Saravah!" in 1978. However, I will always know and cherish him as the drumming and singing member of the legendary Yellow Magic Orchestra which also had bassist Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）and keyboardist Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）. Takahashi was the one who composed "Rydeen" (雷電）, one of the trademark songs if not the trademark song for YMO and perhaps even a musical symbol for 1980s Japan.
In tribute to the man, I found this really happy-go-lucky December 1980 3rd solo single by Takahashi called "Kanaishiki Blue Colour Worker" (Blue Colour Worker). Written by Chris Mosdell and composed by his YMO partner Hosono, it's really a laidback pop duet stroll down the merry lane while it is dressed up in all of those synthesizers and technology. Takahashi's singing partner is none other than Sandii from Sandii & The Sunsetz and the two of them seem to be having a ball behind the mike. Also from Hip Tank Records, I found out that it was Kenji Omura（大村憲司）handling the electric guitar. "Kanashiki Blue Colour Worker" was also a track on his 2nd album"Ongaku Satsujin"（音楽殺人...Murdered by the Music） from June 1980 which peaked at No. 12 on Oricon.
Mosdell's lyrics might be hard to hear due to all of the techno stuff happening to Takahashi's and Sandii's voices, but I did find a YouTube commenter by the name of Arisu who was kind enough to provide them underneath the video. Just in case, though, I will also put them down below. My condolences go to Takahashi's family, friends and fans, and also to Sakamoto and Hosono along with all of those other musicians and singers that he worked with over the decades.
Walls of blue I'm walking through
Blinding my eyes
Flooding in behind
Washing away
The colour I see
The colour in me
The colour I feel
The Blues
Sometimes green carry knives of envy
The Blues
Sometimes see red
Keep it bottled in their heads
The Blues
Sometimes green
The Blues
Sometimes see red
The Blues are colour blind
To all but blue in their eyes
Walls of blue
Surprise you
Out of the blue
(Blue is you) [transcriber's note: not included in the lyric book, going by what I hear]
Naked blue
Is a red letter
Written about you
(Blue is you)
The Blues
Sometimes green carry knives of envy
The Blues
Sometimes see red
Keep it bottled in their heads
The Blues
Sometimes green
The Blues
Sometimes see red
The Blues are colour blind
To all but blue in their eyes
Blue is silent
Blue is golden
The touch of blue
Leaves blueprints on you
[instrumental]
Walls of blue I'm walking through
Blinding my eyes
Flooding in behind
Washing away the colour I see
The colour in me
The colour I feel
The Blues
Sometimes green carry knives of envy
The Blues
Sometimes see red
Keep it bottled in their heads
The Blues
Sometimes green
The Blues
Sometimes see red
The Blues are colour blind
To all but blue in their eyes
Blue is silent
Blue is golden
The touch of blue
Leaves blueprints on you
[instrumental]
Blue is silent
Blue is golden
The touch of blue
Leaves blueprints on you (rep x4)
As a PS, Takahashi was the YMO member that I saw the most on television during those early years in Japan. He used to host a late-night Friday entertainment news series called "AXEL".
As I mentioned before, I made my first purchases of Japanese pop albums in several months through CD Japan and they arrived a few days ago. One was Junko Ohashi's（大橋純子）"Magical ~ Ohashi Junko no Sekai III"（大橋純子の世界III）, one of her BEST compilations from 1984. I was very happy with that one, as am I with this regular album "Aventurier", the second of actress/singer Ritsuko Kazami's（風見律子）three albums released in August 1986.
A couple of tracks from "Aventurier" are already represented here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", the title track and the appealingly techno-quirky"Onna Tomodachi: Reira no Baai"（女友達－レイラの場合）composed by Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）. The title track and single "Aventurier" is a pretty soaring piece giving me snippets of Henry Mancini and 60s international romance and adventure a la "Charade", but Kazami's soft and languid delivery also gives me those Fashion Music (Japan's form of baroque pop, I gather) vibes. In fact, I've seen so many examples of that sort of music over the years that I'm making this article the first one to get the Fashion Music label so I'm going to be doing some major back-labeling later on today.
In any case, why don't we go over the rest of the tracks then? I did read one of the YouTube comments thanking the uploader for putting up the entire album since the powers-that-be had just gone on a search-and-destroy mission for some of the individual songs. However as of this point, I was able to find a few of those left. One is Track 2"Kanojo to Odotte"（彼女と踊って...Dance with Her）.
One thing that quickly made me a believer in "Aventurier" is how a mix of genres are in play for this album, and with "Kanojo to Odotte", there is the ennui-laden Fashion Music aspect along with some of the synthpop in the rhythm, and even City Pop, although the city here is more likely the City of Lights rather than Tokyo. Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）came up with the lyrics of a man tiredly encouraging a young would-be suitor to go dance with his girlfriend with the hint that the man wouldn't particularly mind if the younger fellow danced with her forever. He's pretty much tapped out of energy. Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋真梨子）, drummer of Yellow Magic Orchestra, was the one behind the double-layer of slower silky strings and the more urgent keyboards; perhaps they were representing the two incompatible speeds of the potentially soon-to-be former couple.
I am glad that the next two songs have been left intact (for now) on YouTube since they form a set. Track 6 is "Koneko no Jouji ~ Petit Chat 1"（仔猫の情事（プティ・シャ1）...A Kitten's Love Affair） which is so string-heavy Fashion Music that I felt that I was gonna be handed a peeled grape to eat by my butler. The story of a lady who might be that lass from "Kanojo to Odotte", she's taking that leisurely and luxurious shower before curling up with her guy in bed, perhaps in a clothing-optional manner. Kazami herself wrote the lyrics while prolific composer Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）came up with the melody. I'd say that Yamakawa could have easily sung this as one of her own tunes judging from what I have heard from her as half of City Popduo Tohoku Shinkansen（東北新幹線）.
(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)
Ah, now we come to the second of the set. Track 9 is "French Beer wo Nomihoshite ~ Petit Chat 2"（French Beerを飲みほして（プティ・シャ2）...Drink Up That French Beer） (at 35:09 of the video of the entire album below)which has the same Yamakawa melody but with a different arrangement (by Yamakawa as opposed to the original by Tachio Akano/あかのたちお). Moreover, the lyrics are different and supplied this time by the aforementioned Ryu, and this time, the lady is at a bar, newly separated and casually caustic toward her former paramour. Yamakawa's arrangement is more footloose and fancy-free as if to reflect the fact that the shackles of relationships have finally come off although I'm personally worried about the status of her liver.
For the last number of tracks, I'm going to go with the full album video since the above were the only standalone videos that I could find of individual tracks. Track 1 is "Maboroshi no Uma"（幻の馬...The Mysterious Horse） starts "Aventurier" jauntily with a feeling of Matt Bianco's techno jazz including that cool trumpet (or cornet?). Yamakawa was once again on music and arrangement while Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）wrote the lyrics about a romantically ignored woman thinking of some dangerous liaisons.
Placed as Track 3 at 8:15, "Tokiori Violin no Oto ga"（時おりヴァイオリンの音が...Sometimes the Sound of a Violin） kinda wavers between stately waltzes of Fashion Music and synthpop, and I couldn't help but feel that Taeko Ohnuki was involved here. Sure enough, going through the liner notes, it was her on melody with Keiko Aso（麻生圭子）on lyrics and Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）handling the arrangement.
"Aru Hohoemi"（ある微笑み...A Certain Smile） at 11:22 is a classy pop tune invoking an old kayo trope of a woman, recently out of a relationship, traveling to a new city to refresh her outlook on life. It's quite the atmospheric track but out of the entire album, it's probably the most conventionally pop song. This time, it's Ryu and YMO's Takahashi handling the creation.
"Midareta Bed"（乱れたベッド...Messy Bed）, Track 8 at 30:33, is composed and arranged by Shohei Narabe（奈良部匠平）, a support keyboardist for Kome Kome Club（米米ＣＬＵＢ）, and written by Ryu. It begins rather dramatically with the sound of a burgeoning storm, and the setting is the bed for a newly attached, shall we say, couple as a woman comes out of her slumber woozily and wonders what she has gotten herself into. There is a frenetic blast of synthesizers midway which could represent her frantically trying to remember the night before. My take? It may have involved absinthe. In the same song's refrain, the melody and Kazami are trying for a certain chanson-like stance.
At 39:44 is "Kuro no Clair" (黒のクレール...Black Clair) which is a cover of Ohnuki's classic version from her 1982 album"Cliche". It's not only a more contemporary pop (for that time) take but it feels like a version that Ohnuki herself could have done if she had opted to go away from her favoured French arrangement of the early 1980s for the late 80s style that she went for. Kazuo Shiina（椎名和夫）arranged everything here.
The final track at 44:57, "Period"（終幕）, is a sad carnival-like waltz about a deteriorating romance, ironically in the spring when just the opposite should be happening. It's quite sensuous with images of frittering sakura petals, sounds of music boxes and Ferris wheels, fresh hot tears, and the painful slap on the face. Kazami was the lyricist with Narabe as composer/arranger.
"Aventurier" is indeed quite the adventure, and the overall feeling is that Kazami and company had wanted to go for one of those spirited Hitchcockian suspense capers of the 1960s joined by some of that music technology of the 1980s. As you can see from the Labels, it is chock-filled with plenty of big songwriting names to give their own melody flavours to the overall dish. I will always be fascinated with that sort of collaboration because of what the mixture could yield to listeners.
