Yumi Seino -- Hasta Manana

From Amazon.ca

Welcome to Single 11112 according to the Labels count, and I'm happy to say that this song is from Yumi Seino（清野由美）who I last spoke about at the end of November regarding her "Rio no Mahoutsukai"（リオの魔法使い）.

As with "Rio no Mahoutsukai", "Hasta Manana" (See You Tomorrow) also belongs to Seino's debut album "U・TA・GE" from March 1981. In fact, this is the track that starts things off and it itself starts off with a big boppy bass riff before things go into an appropriately jumpy Latin pattern but then it keeps interweaving with City Pop and pop rhythms. Talk about trying to nail this genre down. In any case, "Hasta Manana" was written by Mami Kikuchi（菊地眞美）and composed by City Pop permanent resident Akira Inoue（井上鑑）.

Hasta manana!✋

Yumi Seino -- Rio no Mahoutsukai（リオの魔法使い）

Wikimedia Commons

 

KKP readers may be noticing that I've started the usual Friday Urban Contemporary articles a tad early on a Thursday night. Well, one reason is that I'm going to be rather busy tomorrow with other projects so I'm getting a lead on at least a few of them tonight.

Such as this one. Singer Yumi Seino（清野由美）released three albums with the first one being "U・TA・GE" in March 1981. And I guess I'm continuing some of that city City Pop from my last article being a Tokyo-based one; this time, we're heading down to Rio de Janeiro with the track "Rio no Mahoutsukai" (The Wizard of Rio). Written by Ayumi Date（伊達歩）and composed by Latin jazz musician Naoya Matsuoka（松岡直也）, there is a rumbling samba rhythm in there but the City Pop arrangement is also not standing back either. Plus, Seino's singing with the background chorus reminds me of some of the music from vocal groups such as Circus（サーカス）and Hi-Fi Set（ハイ・ファイ・セット).

Yumi Seino -- Itte Mon Amour（いってモナムール）

 

Several years ago in 2017, I posted the first article on singer Yumi Seino（清野由美）, and it just happened to be "Katamuku"（傾く）,  a track from her January 1983 album, "Continental". I would later find out from her earlier albums that Seino had been one for the City Pop boom but perhaps within "Continental" and specifically "Katamuku" itself, there was a transitional feeling between that City Pop and a more refined sophisticated pop with a European flair...along the lines of what Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）was doing at around the same time.

A little over a week ago, one commenter was wondering about the rest of "Continental" and I had to answer the person that I didn't know since at the time, there was perhaps only the one example of the album on YouTube, which was "Katamuku", and for some reason, other videos with the tracks simply didn't show up on my recommendations although at least a few of them have been around since 2020. But the commenter did point out that they are up now, and so I've opted to try one more track from "Continental" out.

I should have realized from the Impressionistic art on the cover and the title itself that this wasn't going to be a straight-out City Pop release from Seino. And indeed, the one track "Itte Mon Amour" (Tell Me, Darling) is far away from the streets of Tokyo and probably out somewhere in France, Italy or Spain in some techno cabaret. Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）came up with the lyrics while a number of others including Seino herself had a hand in the composition of the melody which strikes up images of slow dances and tangos on the evening ballroom floor. Yet at the same time, in the chorus of "Itte Mon Amour", there is still something kayo kyoku in its heart since I could hear something like this on some old Japanese music-variety show from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Yumi Seino -- Wet Morning（ウェット・モーニング）

 

The last time I wrote about Yumi Seino（清野由美）was back in the summer of 2018 when I posted her snazzy Bacharach-esque "Gin no Koibito"（銀の恋人）. This happened to be the B-side to her 1982 single "Wet Morning".

Well, I finally encountered the A-side not too long ago, and it's also a winner though different in tone and style. "Wet Morning" was written by Mirai Minegishi（嶺岸未来）and composed by Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）as more contemplative City Pop; this is a tune that could have easily been covered by pop balladeers of the time such as Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）. It's got that wailing electric guitar and those juicy chords at the beginning to have me all nostalgic for the music of the 1980s in Japan.

Yumi Seino -- Gin no Koibito（銀の恋人）

One of those lovely rarest of the rare discoveries, it's not all that easy to track down a Yumi Seino（清野由美）album and perhaps it's even harder to find a song that only made it onto a 7" single by her as a B-side.

"Gin no Koibito" (Silver Lover) was on the flip side of Seino's 1982 single "Wet Morning"（ウェット・モーニング）, and it's quite irresistible to me. I couldn't find out who wrote and composed the song but it's got a great horn section and a City Pop/J-AOR arrangement that reminds me of those high-flying 1980s and Burt Bacharach. I'm not sure if "Gin no Koibito" had ever been used as a jingle for a commercial or as a theme song for a radio program, but it would have made for some fine musical backup for any sort of scene. Keep on browsing through YouTube for those hidden gems.

January 19 2022: Thanks to Ace below, those songwriters are lyricist Ayumi Date（伊達歩）and composer Keitaro Miho（三保敬太郎）.

Yumi Seino -- Natural Woman

Another recent acquisition is Yumi Seino's（清野由美）"Natural Woman" from 1981. I first found out about her through some of her songs that got onto YouTube in the last couple of years, all through her third album "Continental" from 1983. But what finally had me pulling the trigger on my credit card was hearing her lovely cover of Yumi Arai/Hi-Fi Set's（荒井由実・ハイ・ファイ・セット）"Sky Restaurant"（スカイレストラン）which is indeed a track on "Natural Woman". I was about as surprised as anyone else that "Natural Woman" could actually be purchased at CD Japan, and I wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth, so I picked it up lickety-split.

http://hiptankrecords.com/?pid=70719996

The bad news is that Yumi Seino's output on YouTube is almost only represented by her "Continental" tracks, except for "Sky Restaurant", of course. However, I was talking with commenter Daemonskald last night through my recent article "Some Pages to Make You Happy by Commenters", and he mentioned about the site Hip Tank Records with its wealth of information and song excerpts. I had heard about HTR and I've even linked to some of the pages through other articles, and I will be doing the same over here since the site does have "Natural Woman" represented with a few excerpts of the tracks. Of course, I will be writing about the songs that can be listened to in part.

Track No. 1 is "You & I", a cool and slick City Pop piece that has Seino tripping the light fantastic with her voice. The song has all the tropes for the genre: funky synths, soaring strings and sexy sax. Plus there is that overall feeling of a night in Tokyo in 1981. Man, do I miss those early nights in the metropolis during my graduation trip! Shinzo Higurashi（日暮真三）took care of the lyrics while singer-songwriter Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）provided the great music.

"Summer Hotel"（サマーホテル）is as the title says...a musical trip to a luxury resort inn along the coast with a young lady leaning languidly against the balcony railing while taking in the view. There is some Latin mixed into this one like some lemon zest in a cocktail, and I think I even heard a whiff of Boz Scaggs material. Again, like the city-based "You & I", the resort-based "Summer Hotel" brings some nice sense of nostalgia. Ayumi Date and Naoya Matsuoka（伊達歩・松岡直也）created this track.

The last track I can cover tonight is the last track for "Natural Woman", "Midnight Blue", a little bit of a reggae strut to end the proceedings with Machiko Ryu's（竜真知子）lyrics hinting at a late-night visitor coming to the door. I do like the boss baritone saxophone which starts things off and the seeming salaciousness of the arrangements. We can all thank Akira Inoue（井上鑑）who came up with the melody. Usually my feeling is that the final track of a typical Japanese pop album is showcased by an introspective ballad. Not this time...this is far steamier.

Another happy acquisition in "Natural Woman". With Seino, I get this feeling of a voice reminiscent of Meiko Nakahara（中原めいこ）or Yasuha（泰葉）tackling a range going from City Pop to mellower fare covered by Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）. At this rate, I may just have to get "Continental" and her debut album "U-TA-GE", if only to complete the set and to be able to talk about some of her stuff that's on YouTube.

Yumi Seino/Jun Shibata -- Sky Restaurant（スカイレストラン）

Back in 2013, nikala was nice enough to write about one of her favourite tunes, "Sky Restaurant" by vocal group Hi-Fi Set（ハイ・ファイ・セット）which has ended up becoming a standard number in the kayo genre. No surprise there since it was written by Yumi Arai（荒井由実）and composed by Kunihiko Murai（村井邦彦）. Especially back in the 1970s and 1980s, it just seemed that anything whipped up by Yuming（ユーミン）was gold. Listening to the original version, there seemed to be that languid and luxurious feeling of what folks could aspire to in the days of the Economic Miracle. Furthermore, as nikala also mentioned, there was that famous "Pa pa-pa pa-pa-pa" by Junko Yamamoto（山本潤子）, the main vocalist for Hi-Fi Set, which could set off any nostalgia nerves.

As I said, "Sky Restaurant" has become a standard so I just wanted to reveal a couple of the covers done by other singers since it was first released back in 1975. Yumi Seino（清野由美）caught my attention almost a year ago as this obscure City Pop singer so I covered her "Katamuku"（傾く）from her 1983 album "Continental". She also did a splendid cover of the Hi-Fi Set classic for an earlier album, her 2nd titled "Natural Woman" from 1981 according to the Hip Tank Records website. Apparently, the album has been considered to be one of the representative City Pop releases.

Naturally, Seino's "Sky Restaurant" is less languid and slightly bouncier/breezier although the mood is still very much that of a good expensive dinner at the top of the Keio Plaza Hotel in Shinjuku (I'll have my steak au poivre medium-rare, s'il vous plait). Plus, the City Pop tropes are in there with the electric guitar and the saxophone. And I swear that the singer sounds a whole lot like another City Pop princess, Miki Matsubara（松原みき）, performing this one.

Jun Shibata（柴田淳）is a singer-songwriter that I've heard about during my years in Japan but never covered on the blog. I will have to rectify that somehow. From what I know, she's usually in the J-Pop field but in the video above, she gives a nice jazz performance of "Sky Restaurant". Her version pops up in an album of covers that she recorded back in 2012 titled "Cover '70s" which peaked at No. 7 on Oricon.

No matter what the arrangement, though, "Sky Restaurant" is quite the masterpiece.

Yumi Seino -- Katamuku （傾く）

I've seen this singer Yumi Seino（清野由美）on YouTube for the past number of months but did not notice her within the pages of "Japanese City Pop". And although she's not profiled on J-Wiki, she has received some acknowledgement on a Japanese-language music blog that I've referred to in the past, "Music Avenue". Even the writer there has stated that considering her low profile, it would be surprising if any of her presumably 3 albums ever got converted to CD. Well, that article was written over 10 years ago, and apparently someone in the recording industry had a heart and did have at least two of the albums turned into CDs according to what I saw at CD Japan.

For that "Music Avenue" blog entry, the writer kaz-shin mentioned that the first album "U-TA-GE" which came out in 1981 had a sound reminiscent of Akira Terao's（寺尾聡）City Pop classic "Reflections". However, with today's article, I'm going with a track from Seino's 3rd album "Continental" titled "Katamuku" (Leaning In) which was written by Masami Sugiyama（杉山政美）and composed by Seino herself.

Released in January 1983, I found out on another page which gave a short review of the album that her sound had changed. And listening to "Katamuku", I did get the impression that although that City Pop feeling was there, there was also some of that blippity-bloppity technopop sound so my overall impression of the song was something closer to Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）poppier tunes from around the same time. Maybe there is even a certain amount of EPO tossed in as well.

Also listening to "Katamuku", I wasn't quite sure whether the YouTube video had gotten a good recording especially with the saxophone solo which sounded kinda wobbly. It almost sounded like something from a weird dreamy burlesque show directed by David Bowie. Basically, I could compare the version I've heard here to pineapple on pizza....I can take it just fine (I fully realize that others won't go near the stuff) but there's something a tad odd about a fruit so tangy sweet on an Italian classic. For the record, my favourite slice is pepperoni, although at Pizza Hut, I always like to grab a Meat Lovers'.

I would be interested in getting "Continental" someday in the near future just to listen to it as originally recorded. As for that matter, I want to get that debut album by Seino as well since that reportedly hewed toward the full City Pop. And frankly, if it has been compared to "Reflections", then it has gotten my attention.