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.
It's another Hump Day here on Kayo Kyoku Plus, but I have to admit that it's looking really nice outside although the temperatures are still below seasonal. Anyways, let's a little whimsical with another Author's Picks, and this week, I just wanted to give my tribute and congratulations to the astronauts aboard Artemis II (along with Nutella) who are now en route back to Earth after doing that whip around the Moon.
Back in September, I'd already done my first batch of Moon Songs commemorating the autumn lunar festival, so this will be Moon Songs 2, but I don't have quite enough moon-themed songs that I know off the top of my head (although some of them may have already been posted on the blog...my memory isn't that good anymore). As such, I've cordially invited some other tunes with titles of a planetary nature within the Sol System.
Y'know...I may have to consider doing an Author's Pick on the Burt Bacharach-influenced Japanese pop songs that I have encountered over the years. The famed composer and producer passed away only a few months ago but I guarantee that the songs that he created during the 1960s and beyond have already immortalized him. However, there may be other nations' pop output which may have indeed followed the master's carefree and swinging style. I know that Japan is one of them.
Case in point: Yumi Tanimura's（谷村有美）"Rush Hour no Adam & Eve" (Rush Hour Adam & Eve) from her May 1990 4th album"Prism". A story of a couple who hadn't officially been a couple until a fateful night before, this was written by Tanimura and composed by Tatsuya Nishiwaki（西脇辰弥）. The Bacharach arrangement is very loud, clear and fresh. I can almost say that Tanimura and Nishiwaki had wanted to create a mini-1960s rom-com movie with this arrangement and the story about how the aforementioned couple has handled the sudden coupling as the guy heads back to work on the train somewhat in shock.
Speaking of rush hours, now that Golden Week is just about back to normal, folks traveling may be expecting those 50 km-long traffic jams on the expressways and 120% capacity Bullet Trains. Ironically, the regular rush hours in the metropoles will be a lot less stressful for those who are still working this week.
Well, I'm kinda stuck right now with a dead mouse...yes, I am talking about the one for my computer and not a deceased rodent. Plus, the fact that my lower back isn't exactly too fond of me right now, I don't think that I'll be going out anytime soon if at all today. Therefore, I'm going old-school with the keys and the large rectangle on my laptop.
It is then a good time to put up something light, bouncy and optimistic, so I've gone with YumiTanimura's（谷村有美）"SomebodyLovesYou" (and I hope somebody does...really) from herAugust1993album "AMonCoeur". Written and composed by the singer with arrangement by NobuyukiShimizu（清水信之）, this was also Tanimura's 16thsingle which later came out in November. As I said, it's a happy-happy-joy-joy 90spop tune with a bit of soul in there, and if there's anything that can help me forget that I have a bum mouse and back, it would be "SomedayLovesYou".
Medicinally, I'll just see how some Voltaren and Tylenol do over the next several hours. Then, I'll take care of the new mouse.
Well, it's been about four years since I've put up a Yumi Tanimura（谷村有美）song so I will have to rectify this oversight. And this one goes all the way back to her debut album"Believe In" in November 1987.
"Tameiki Iro no Tapestry" (Tapestry of Sighs) follows that J-Pop trope of one-sided love as the singer croons about a young lady who just can't come up with the words for the person that she's fallen for. With lyrics by Tanimura herself and Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）behind the melody and arrangement, I do enjoy that mature feeling in the song. For a track on a debut album, "Tameiki Iro no Tapestry" sounds like something that I would have expected from singer-songwriter Miki Imai（今井美樹）at around the same time.
Reading about the album on J-Wiki, "Believe In" had some heavy hitters in the recording booth such as guitarists Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）and Masaki Matsubara（松原正樹）, Jake H. Concepcion on saxophone, synthesizer operator Hideki Matsutake（松武秀樹）and Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）on trumpet and fluegelhorn.
I hadn't heard of singer-songwriter Yumi Tanimura（谷村有美）until I entered Tower Records in Shibuya and heard her "Tomodachi" on the speakers. As I mentioned in that article, the gentle balladry and the Burt Bacharach horns kinda got me right here (❤), so I ended up picking up Tanimura's 2nd BEST compilation"with II" from the shelves. The album was released back in August 1994, and it was still a few months before I made it back to Japan at that point, so I think it was kismet that I managed to hear that song although the album was probably no longer being campaigned for.
As has been the case with many an album that I've heard, my first time hearing "with II" and Tanimura's brand of mellow mid-tempo pop didn't leave me with an awesome impression (aside from "Tomodachi"). Her songs struck me as being fine but nothing particularly supremely catchy, and considering how often I was snatching up CDs at the time, it was all too easy to give them a listen and then put the album back on the shelf for the next several years. I think it was basically how I treated my food at the time: it was more about the quantity than the quality. So, I did love my all-you-can-eat buffets.
Well, buffets are no longer my thing anymore and over the past few years during the existence of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I've been revisiting some of those initially abandoned albums, including "with II".
"with II" includes her songs ranging over the time of her 6th to 18th singles. Unless specifically mentioned, Tanimura wrote and composed these songs.
1. Genki Dashite yo（元気だしてよ）re-mix 2. Ichiban Daisuki datta（いちばん大好きだった） 3. Issho ni Kurasou（一緒に暮らそう） 4. Parade, Parade（パレード・パレード） 5. Hitotsu Tsubu Namida（ひとつぶの涙）Single version 6. Roku-gatsu no Ame（6月の雨） 7. Tomodachi（友達） 8. Tokimeki wo Believe（ときめきをBelieve） 9. Taikutsu na Gogo（たいくつな午後） 10. Ima ga Suki（今が好き） 11. Saigo no Kiss（最後のKISS） 12. Shiawase no Namida（しあわせの涙） 13. Kon'ya Anata ni Furaretai（今夜あなたにフラれたい） 14. Ai suru Yuuki（愛する勇気）
(cover version)
"Genki Dashite yo"(Cheer Up) is a coupling song on her 17th single, the aforementioned "Shiawase no Namida" (Happy Tears) from May 1994. It has that sunny 60s feeling to it and is a nice way to start off this BEST album.
Another coupling song that got onto the album is "Issho ni Kurasou" (Let's Live Together) from her 16th single released in November 1993, "Somebody Loves You". This was one of the songs that got me to re-think my initial thoughts about Tanimura's work. It's pop but it also has a small infusion of soul in there; that soul and the use of synthesizers even reminded me of some of the cooler stuff by PSY-S. Of course, when I read that title, I naturally assumed that it was a guy trying to convince his girlfriend to take the next big step of co-habitation, but apparently, according to the hosts of "Music Station" above, it doesn't necessarily mean so, with one of the hosts stating that Tanimura had been living with her mother at that time.
Her 12th single from June 1992 is "Tokimeki wo Believe". It's one of those recovery songs in which Tanimura sings about finally getting on with her life after the end of a romance. I think it's the one ballad that I felt was rather indicative of the love ballads of that time which were performed by singers such as Mariko Nagai（永井真理子）and Miki Imai（今井美樹）. With the help of jisho.org, the direct translation of the song came out to "Believe in Your Palpitations" or "Believe in Your Throbbing", but one sounded too medical and the other was simply not right, so I went with "Believe in Your Heartbeat". "Tokimeki wo Believe" was written by Kazuko Sakata（坂田和子）and composed by Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）.
I kinda had to inflict the Gibbs slap onto myself since I had completely forgotten about "Ima ga Suki"(I Love You Now) which is actually a track from Tanimura's 5th album"Ai wa Genki desu"（愛は元気です...Love is Fine） from May 1991. It's got some pretty cool AOR-type funk in there, and that guitar reminded me of Billy Joel's "Movin' Out". Norie Kanzawa and Hiromasa Ijichi（神沢礼江・伊秩弘将）created this one for the singer, and both of them also had a hand with some of Misato Watanabe's（渡辺美里）songs.
"Saigo no Kiss"(The Final Kiss) is a Tanimura creation which has some of that nice light funk action in there, and it's the other song that I kinda remembered from my initial listening to "with II" along with "Tomodachi". This was her 14th single from June 1993. I'm such a sucker for a good sax (no snickering, please). Perhaps I should actually translate the title as "The Kiss-Off" since Tanimura's lyrics state about not having to see the guy's toothbrush, frying pan and ashtray anymore. Well, being a lifelong non-smoker, I certainly could sympathize with that last item.
The final song that I will be showing tonight is "Kon'ya Anata ni Furaretai"(I Want to Be Dumped by You Tonight). Also not exactly the happiest lyrics as a woman wants to get out of a toxic relationship, but Tanimura's melody has got a bit more of a rock beat in there. This was her 18th single from July 1994.
Well, I've had "with II" all these years, so why not see if "with" is available?
This is one of those hot-chocolate-with-a-marshmallow type of Xmas songs by Yumi Tanimura（谷村有美）. "Santa wo Mukae ni Iku Yoru"(The Night I Went To See Santa) was composed by the singer-songwriter and written by Mitsuko Shiramine（白峰美津子）as the coupling song to Tanimura's 11th single from November 1991,"Eien no Hajimari"（永遠のはじまり...Eternal Beginning）.
No matter which song she has created and sung, I've always noticed that child-like clarity in her voice that sets her apart from other singers. I couldn't have asked for a better song than this one, then, for her. Especially when she hit that supremely high note for "...holy night" near the end of "Santa wo Mukae ni Iku Yoru", that wasn't a peak reached by a soprano in an opera; that was definitely more of an innocent kid in a choir. I actually came across the song when I picked up her December 1991 mini-album "White Songs" which was less a Xmas album and more of a release under the theme of winter. I found it in one of the bargain bins at my old Nakano haunt of Recomints one day.
As a bit of a bonus, here is Tanimura's rendition of "White Christmas" by Irving Berlin with accompaniment by fusion band Casiopea（カシオペア）.
Yumi Tanimura (谷村有美) was such an unknown name for me
some weeks ago. She was a singer-songwriter with aidoru looks that debuted in the late 80s and released some
interesting songs. One of them is the fun and happy-go-lucky “Ganbare Broken
Heart”, which was released as a single in April 1989.
With a very
light vibe, “Ganbare Broken Heart” showcases a typical late 80s arrangement
with synths in place of horns and a prominent electronic bass line accompanying
it. Also, a typical but always nice sax solo can be heard during and after the bridge. Although not groundbreaking, it’s a nice and pleasant piece of pop music
that has a summery and playful vibe going along. I especially like it when I’m
traveling to Rio de Janeiro in a sunny afternoon (which is almost always).
As for Yumi
Tanimura, her vocals are not bad at all, and she is also a very competent live
singer. Based on that and in the fact that she wrote some lyrics, I probably can’t categorize her as an aidoru. All in all, "Ganbare Broken Heart" is a nice song from the late 80s, and the video is
very cute with Yumi Tanimura being goofy and pretty while miming the song.
Lyrics for “Ganbare Broken Heart” were written by Nobuyoshi Tozawa (戸沢暢美) while music and arrangement were done by Nishiwaki Tatsuya (西脇辰弥).
It was just one of those chance meetings when I stepped into a CD store one day and I heard this pretty little song on the speakers. Yumi Tanimura（谷村有美）had released her second BEST album, titled "With II", so the store was dutifully pushing that. I guess I have a soft spot for Burt Bacharach-inspired horns in a ballad. "Tomodachi" (Friends) is one of those soft pop ballads that deserves a listen over a cup of tea. It was released in November 1990 as her 6th single.
(instrumental version)
The period going from the 80s into the 90s was notable for a number of trends in music. One of them consisted of these female singer-songwriters who were into the more softer areas of pop music. Tanimura was one of them, along with Reimy（麗美）and Mariko Nagai（永井真理子）.
Over the weekend, one of the most famous and ironically, one of the most intensely private, people of the last 50 years passed away. Astronaut Neil Armstrong was of course the first man on the moon. And so in tribute and within the parameters of this blog, I'm providing this song by singer-songwriter Yumi Tanimura（谷村有美）.
I actually came across one of her Best CDs at one of the major stores in Tokyo back in the mid-90s and gave it a try. Not too bad at all although I think she's one of those singers who never quite exploded into superstardom. She's been labeled as having a "crystal voice" which most likely refers to her clear delivery, but I think the label can also point to that slight vibrating quaver she has. She wrote and composed "Moon" for release in July 1995. It has that hint of Henry Mancini jazz which I've enjoyed, but I think it would've been even better if the strings had sounded less synthesized.
