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.
When it comes to Anri's（杏里）albums, I've devoted articles to them such as her 1981 "Kanashimi no Kujaku"（哀しみの孔雀）and her 1988 "Boogie Woogie Mainland". And then there are times when I cover individual tracks from an album through individual articles over many years. I think her "Mystique" from June 1986 is one such example and I'm going with the most updated version with the bonus tracks from 2011. Thus far, I've done "Innocent Time", "Morning Squall/Evening Rain"（モーニング スコール）and "Honeymoon Shuttle"（蜜月船）.
From what I've read of "Mystique" on J-Wiki (which peaked at No. 6 on Oricon), it seems as if Anri had wanted to once more have a clean slate with a new album with help from new songwriters and new sounds, without any assistance from Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）who had been producing and writing for her for several years prior. In a way, it reminds me of the aforementioned "Kanashimi no Kujaku" which was also quite a different project for Anri which involved her trying out different things there as well.
I have here her second track from "Mystique", "Sentimental Express". And although this is not a Kadomatsu-penned number per se, it is still City Pop with that crystalline synth, boppy bass, a good bouncy rhythm and a nice battery of horns. What's interesting is that "Sentimental Express" may have been the first collaboration among composer Anri, lyricist Yumi Yoshimoto（吉本由美）and arranger Yasuharu Ogura（小倉泰治）. Getting into Japan in 1989, it became a tradition for me to buy up new Anri albums at the CD shops. Starting with "Boogie Woogie Mainland", I saw that songwriting triangle of Anri, Yoshimoto and Ogura becoming the main engine behind the next few albums of hers leading from the late 80s into the early 90s as the singer adopted more American R&B dance pop. If "Sentimental Express" had been an audition of sorts for Yoshimoto and Ogura, then they passed swimmingly.
I'd assumed that this would be the first entry for bassist and singer-songwriter Yasushi Sasamoto（笹本安詞）, but I was wrong there. I had written about him before albeit he was under the name DeVoice for a duet with Masami Yoshimoto（吉村まさみ）for the song "Delight of my love" which was released in 2002.
However, we're going further back in time by about a decade. According to one bio on him, Sasamoto had helped form a rap unit in the mid 1990s known as Shitamachi Kyoudai（下町兄弟...The Downtown Brothers）, but earlier on, he had also been doing his solo work with a self-produced album "Never Give Up" coming out in 1992 as his debut. In 1993, he released a full album "Wish" and from this, I offer the ballad "Ai wa Tasogare no Naka ni ~ I can't stop lovin' you" with the direct translation being "Love is in the Sunset". With lyrics by Yumi Yoshimoto（吉元由美）and melody by Sasamoto, the strings add further poignancy to this soulful love song and of course, we just gotta have that mellow flugelhorn in there as well.
The Riho Makise（牧瀬里穂）file on KKP isn't a huge one up to this point and it won't ever be as such because her singing career didn't last too long. I had thought that she was being treated as an aidoru but there has been no such designation given to her on her J-Wiki article and considering the relative brevity of her time behind the mike (1991-1995) and the mere five singles, one original album and one BEST compilation, I've taken off the aidoru tag.
Strangely enough, I came across this coupling song to Makise's May 1992 2nd single,"Sasagetai, Anata ni..."（ささげたい、あなたに…）purely by accident in the concert video below which was the only thing that I could play on YouTube for several minutes due to some Internet trouble several days ago. While I was grumpily handling the situation and getting things back working, I was listening to "Kokoro ga Nemuru Umi"(The Sea Where the Heart Sleeps) being performed by Makise on stage and found it rather comforting.
Well, let's chalk this one up to turning a negative into a positive then. The official English title for "Kokoro ga Nemuru Umi" is "Heart in Blue" which I have to admit is a more concise and romantic moniker for the song than my direct translation, and Yumi Yoshimoto's（吉本由美）lyrics relate the story (I believe) of a woman trying to get the man she loves to reveal more of his true feelings for her way down inside of him. I have to say that I enjoy this one better than even the main song of "Sasagetai, Anata ni..." because of the inclusion of some of that urbane sophisticated pop arrangement via Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）, who we know was one-half of Tohoku Shinkansen（東北新幹線）. The original melody was provided by keyboardist and songwriter Taisuke Sawachika（澤近泰輔）who was once part of the group NSP in its final year before it finally broke up in 1987.
It's always nice to have that splendid view of the ocean from one's window. Certainly, my envy goes out to anyone who has that ability in their house. Life seems better and the coffee must taste and smell heavenly. Then again, if there is one of those typhoons...😟
I have seen the name Nobuko Sendou（仙道敦子）in the past but as it turns out, this is the first time that she has popped up on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". She's a Nagoya-born singer and actress who's been active since 1980, and through marriage, has a connection with a famous thespian family. Her husband is actor Naoto Ogata（緒形直人）, who's currently on the NHK morning serial drama "Omusubi"（おむすび）as a very hostile and embittered character, her late father-in-law was actor Ken Ogata（緒形拳）and one of her sons is actor Atsushi Ogata（緒形敦）.
Skimming through her J-Wiki biography, Sendou had been acting for about four years when she got behind the recording microphone to launch her singing career in 1984. I'd assumed from seeing the cover of her second album"La Fillette" which was released in December 1987 that she was one of the many aidoru going through the revolving door of the Japanese music industry but she was never categorized as such. And actually from listening to the final track "Umi no Mieru Mado" (Window with an Ocean View), she has a very nice and light vocal style in a Miki Imai（今井美樹）way. Written by Yumi Yoshimoto（吉本由美）and composed by Masayuki Kishi（岸正之）, "Umi no Mieru Mado" sounds as relaxing as it must feel to enjoy that actual view with the addition of a sea breeze.
Due to various factors, I'm providing my usual second of two articles fairly late at around 11:00 pm tonight. So I figure that I would finish off this KKP Monday with something soothing for the bewitching hour.
The ballad "All of You" by Anri（杏里）was something that I first heard on her 1987 self-cover album"Meditation" which I've always considered to be the gateway with her City Pop past behind her and then her more West Coast dance-oriented R&B in her future. Originally though, "All of You" made its first appearance on her June 1986 9th original album"Mystique".
Written by Yumi Yoshimoto（吉本由美）and composed by Anri, it's a summer's-end beach sort of ballad about a woman who can no longer follow her boyfriend's dreams overseas and decides reluctantly to head back to Japan, but perhaps if he were to come back home, maybe there is a chance at reconciliation (that last part is just my hope). The song is lovingly arranged by Jun Irie（入江純）although its rush to become a power ballad near the end kinda dents things a bit, also because Anri's voice couldn't quite soar here for some reason like it did for other songs such as "Windy Summer".
A new version of "All of You" was released as Anri's 30th single in June 1994 with Derek Nakamoto as the arranger. This version has a slightly faster tempo and more of that straight R&B feeling. The single peaked at No. 27 and is also available on another self-cover album "16th Summer Breeze" which came out a month after the single. That power ballad part in the original has been switched out with something a little more softer and gospel-oriented which works out better for me.
Kenji Haga（羽賀研二）is a long-standing tarento on Japanese television whom I've seen go through all sorts of trials and tribulations, and certainly a lot of his media exposure was due to his romantic relationship with fellow tarento and model Anna Umemiya（梅宮アンナ）beginning from the 1990s. What I hadn't known until I was well into doing the blog was that he basically got his start as one-third of the Ii Tomo Seinen Tai（いいとも青年隊...The Ii Tomo Youth Brigade） , the first group of song-and-dance men to perform on Fuji-TV's long-running noon time variety show "Morita Kazuyoshi Hour - Waratte Ii Tomo"（森田一義アワー・笑っていいとも....The Kazuyoshi Morita Hour: It's OK To Laugh) . Apparently back then, he used to put on the glasses to show off that intellectual beefcake look.
Eventually with his rising profile in the geinokai in the 1980s, one of his powers-that-be probably gave the order "OK, Kenji, you gotta cut a record!" as usually was the case with any entertainer. And indeed, Haga released a number of singles between 1982 and 2004 but with only two albums in 1984 and 1985. The first album was "Kouha Bigaku"（硬派美学...Hardline Aesthestics） and the glasses-less Haga looked all of fourteen years old (he was well into his twenties) on the cover. Maybe it was a Hiromi Go（郷ひろみ）syndrome or something.
Anyways, one of the tracks on "Kouha Bigaku" is "City Alone" (and the above version seems to have been truncated). Haga appears to have taken on that bespectacled dandy-esque character from the top video when he recorded this one. His vocals sound a bit like crooning Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）while the City Pop melody by Kingo Hamada（浜田金吾）provides the atmosphere of the big, bad and lonely if fascinating metropolis. Yumi Yoshimoto（吉本由美）was the lyricist here.
Ah...yes. Sarek and Amanda Grayson of Vulcan. The Doctor and River Song. The Scarlet Witch and the Vision. I gather that mixed marriages can have their unique issues but also some distinct benefits.
Yesterday, commenter Martin let me know on the article for Miki Matsubara's（松原みき）"Ganmo Doki!"（ガンモ・ドキッ!）and "Hyokopon Kankei"（ヒョコポン関係）, the opening and ending themes for the 1984 anime "Gu-Gu Ganmo"（Gu-Guガンモ）, that he knew of another similarly-premised anime adaptation of the manga "Mojacko"（モジャ公...Duke Moja） which had its run between 1995 and 1997. Instead of chicken-type aliens, though, "Mojacko" simply has alien aliens turning a student's life upside-down.
Martin has also stated his love for the first of the four ending themes that were used during the anime's run. And I have to admit that I like it, too. "Koibito ga Uchuujin nara" (If My Lover Were An Alien) is performed by sweet-voiced seiyuu Junko Iwao（岩男潤子）who plays Miki on "Mojacko", the designated target of affections by at least one of the main characters. With lyrics by Yumi Yoshimoto（吉本由美）and music by Motoyoshi Iwasaki（岩崎元是）, Iwao, perhaps in character as Miki, wonders what it would be like dating an alien like Moja. I gather that it wouldn't be like dating Ambassador Sarek of Vulcan, although chaos is possible with The Doctor.
However my affinity for "Koibito ga Uchuujin nara" lies in the fact that there is something quite EPO-tastic about the arrangement. It's got that amai doo-wop 50s sound that EPO and her good buddy Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）had been known for in their early works in the late 70s and early 80s. Heck, even the opening that sounds like an old-fashioned radio identification call is right out of the EPO and Mariya playbooks. And then the full version tops that up with some jingly-jangly Phil Spector Wall of Sound piano (or Eiichi Ohtaki, if you like) in the bridge.
I was looking up Iwao's file on J-Wiki and I found out that she has also played the mother of key character Rikka Takanashi on "Chūnibyō demo Koi ga Shitai!"（中二病でも恋がしたい!...Love, Chunibyo & Other Delusions） in 2012. Indeed, I am feeling even older now.
Earlier today, I'd chatted with Scott from "Holly Jolly X'masu" and said that most likely, I wouldn't be putting up anything to do with Christmas today since I wanted to space out the Yuletide stuff over the coming 25 days. Well, that thought went out the window pretty quickly after hearing the following. Ah, by the way, say hello to Kayo above again.
A couple of years back, I posted an article involving the song "Ai no Maryoku"（愛の魔力）, the debut single by the early 1990saidoru group Lip's which had its time between 1990 and 1993 and was one of the last such groups before the years of the Aidoru Winter took hold in the middle of the decade.
Well, for some reason, in that same year of 1990, a decision was made to superficially merge Lip's and another aidoru trio called Rakutenshi（楽天使...Happy Angels） along with the aidoru Rumi Shishido（宍戸留美）to form the unit Nanatsuboshi（ななつ星...Seven Stars）. With the catchphrase for them being "The idol invasion strategy is to brighten up the world with fun songs and cute smiles" (which doesn't strike me as being particularly innovative considering the nature of aidoru), Nanatsuboshi never appeared on TV, radio or any events and even with one single by the larger group "Ribbon Musubi no Waku Waku"（リボン結びのWAKU WAKU...Ribbon-Tying Excitement） being released in November, at least a couple of the members have stated that they never recalled the entire group of seven assembling together during recording, so the individual units did their parts separately and then let the magic of music editing take place. The only time they all got together was for photography of the jacket cover. I'm just speculating here, but perhaps the higher-ups for Rakutenshi, Lip's and Shishido backed out of the deal in whole or in part but kept up pretenses for the minimum time and maximum face needed.
Regardless, right after the single "Ribbon Musubi no Waku Waku", an Xmas-themed album was released in December 1990 titled "Seiya Nanatsuboshi"（聖夜七つ星...Holy Night Seven Stars）. It was an album whose tracks were sung by the individual groups and Shishido, and even individual members, except for "Ribbon Musubi no Waku Waku" which was included as the final track.
However, one track that got my attention was "Splendid Love in December" which was performed by Lip's. It had some big names behind the production: lyricist Yumi Yoshimoto（吉本由美）, composer Masayuki Kishi（岸正之）and arranger Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）. The attention-getting part was this aidoru track which brings together the feeling of the sophisticated pop of Swingout Sister and even some House dance beats for a tune about celebrating the Yuletide. It wasn't only caviar and champagne but also about hitting the nightclub floor.
The thing is that "Splendid Love in December" is a self-cover of sorts of Lip's' 2nd single simply titled "Splendid Love" which came out in June 1990.
Nice to bring back Michiru Kojima（児島未散）onto KKP. The last time I wrote about her was back in August 2021, so it's been a while.
Her 5th single is "Kanashiku Nante"(Me, Sad?) which was released in December 1989 and it's got quite the powerhouse lineup in its creation with City Pop-friendly composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, Anri（杏里）-associated lyricist Yumi Yoshimoto（吉元由美）and former Tohoku Shinkansen（東北新幹線）member, arranger Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）. With the music feeling of life in the big city circa late 1980s-early 1990s, though it's not a Xmas tune per se despite the release date, it might fit the bill in one way in that a lady has to deal with being dumped; J-Xmas tunes can often have the lyrical theme of heartbreak to the point of being masochistic. In any case, the woman is trying to convince herself that the jerk never deserved her in the first place and will not allow one bad encounter to stop the good times from continuing to roll.
Meanwhile, the music by Hayashi and Yamakawa is urban snazzy with the light and airy vocals, synthesizers and snappy percussion. All still seems to be right in the impending face of the post-Bubble Era.
Well, a week after putting up my favourite Kahoru Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）songs onto the blog, I realized that I hadn't put up a similar list for singer-songwriter Anri（杏里）...and I'm such a fan of hers, too. But the timing couldn't be better because today happens to be Eiko Kawashima's（川島栄子）birthday, so what a perfect opportunity to celebrate one of the queens of City Pop.
So, allow me to give my own favourites by Anri and once again in no particular order. She's certainly come a long way and through a few genre prisms and songwriting influences since her debut in 1978.
There have been many versions of Anri's debut single but I'm always going to go with the humble original which she recorded as a teenager. It sounds so innocent and poignant as a girl probably around Anri's age at that time is going through some tough times and she goes to an Olivia Newton-John record to help assuage some of that hurt. Considering the recent passing of Newton-John, perhaps "Olivia wo Kikinagara" has now taken on a further poignancy of a time and a music gone by.
As I mentioned in the original article for "Last Picture Show", this stylish City Pop ballad comes from her 1987 "Meditations" which showcases the best of her balladry up to that point in her career, and it struck me as being a crossroads between her early-to-mid-80s City Pop era with Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）and her future R&B-tinged dance-pop days going into the 1990s due to the partnership with Yasuharu Ogura（小倉泰治）and Yumi Yoshimoto（吉本由美）. What I didn't mention was that I first heard "Last Picture Show" at karaoke and fell in love with it immediately. I really dug through the shelves to get my copy of "Meditations".
This wasn't particularly a City Pop tune, but that beefy bass is still intact within "Innocent Time". It did have its ski connections through a TV show, but being a non-skier, I simply enjoy this one for its, yes, innocence and footloose and fancy-free ways. I can listen to it and for a few minutes at least, I can forget about the burdens of the world and just imagine walking through some resort, winter or otherwise.
As was the case with "Last Picture Show" above, it was a case of love at first hear with "Snowflake no Machikado", although for that article, I did mention the fact that it was also a karaoke discovery. I didn't pay too much attention to the title, though, so knowing Anri all that time, I'd assumed that it was another summer-themed tune. Little did I know that it was that other season. Regardless though, that tight battery of horns and the jazzy flute near the end did me in.
Anri and Toshiki Kadomatsu did make some literally beautiful music together in the early 1980s, a lot of them uptempo songs. However, "I Can't Ever Change Your Love For Me" is one of the finest City Pop ballads that Kadomatsu ever created for any singer. It's that feeling of 70s soul, another round of great horns, a wonderful sax solo, and a sensation of sunset urban contemporary that makes this gem one of my favourites by the singer.
Maybe there was no Kadomatsu here and this wasn't actually part of any single, but "Goodbye Future" still remains as one of my favourite Anri songs, period, let alone one of my favourite tracks on her 1988 album"Boogie Woogie Mainland". This time, it was the new triumvirate of Anri, lyricist Yoshimoto and arranger Ogura who came up with these new high-octane R&B songs including "Goodbye Future". It's so upbeat, cheerful, and cool that it never fails to lift my spirits.
Another song that sends thrills up and down my spine, "Shyness Boy" hails from one of those great Kadomatsu/Anri collaborations "Timely!!". The whole song seems to have been created specifically for City Pop fans to blast on their car stereos for a drive through Hawaii or California. My only regret about it is that it's barely over three minutes. Well, that's why we have a repeat function on our audio players.
My last song for this birthday tribute to Anri is actually what I had been planning to do as a solo subject for the article before opting for the whole Author's Pick of my favourites for the singer. "Tears In Crystal" was Anri's 41st single released in October 2001, and it was written by Yoshimoto and composed by the singer as a calming pop tune. However, it was used as one of the many ending themes for NTV's "Kayo Suspense Gekijo"（火曜サスペンス劇場...Tuesday Suspense Theatre） with all of its stabbings and strangulations. The single was also a part of her 23rd album"My Music" which came out at the same time as the single.
It's already September 1st in Japan so I hope that Anri was able to have a fine birthday with family and friends in Los Angeles.
In
Arisa Mizuki’s (観月ありさ) debut album, “ARISA” (December 1991), I think she
went into a full cute aidoru look and sound, with singles like “Densetsu no Shoujo” (伝説の少女) and “Eden no Machi” (エデンの都市) giving a nice
idea of what I’m saying here. As for “ARISA II
SHAKE YOUR BODY FOR ME”, which was released in October 1992, the girl aimed for
a more edgy output, with the hit “TOO SHY SHY BOY!” serving as a prime example
of the new and fresh sound she was pursuing.
While half of “ARISA II SHAKE YOUR BODY FOR ME” was
composed by Tetsuya Komuro (小室哲哉) when he was experimenting with house music,
including a busy extended house remix of “TOO SHY SHY BOY!”, some of the other
songs by different composers are also great, as they give the album some
variety in sound, while also maintaining its overall dance and upbeat mood.
“WILD-ERS”, for example, was composed by Anri (杏里) and it really shows, since I can’t help but think of
Miho Nakayama’s (中山美穂) marvelous
“VIRGIN EYES” or even her own “BOOGIE WOOGIE MAINLAND” when it starts playing.
The funky groove and horn arrangement are just irresistible, and I always find
funny how the background vocalists sound like the ones in Mariah Carey’s
“Emotions”. In the end, Komuro’s sound may be a good treat for any pop lover,
but Anri’s “WILD-ERS” offers a breath of fresh air in the middle of his house
party.
“ARISA II SHAKE YOUR BODY FOR ME” reached #6 on the
Oricon charts. Lyrics for “WILD-ERS” were written by Yumi Yoshimoto (吉元由美), while music was composed by Anri. As for the
arrangement, Yasuharu Ogura (小倉泰治) was the responsible.
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.
Beijing's Winter Olympics are pretty much on our doorstep, so my memories go back to 1998 when the Winter Games were being held in Nagano Prefecture. How could I ever forget? It was also the time when I smashed my ankle at the Export-Import Bank of Japan going down the stairs and I was stuck at home for three weeks.😭 Fortunately, I was able to see the nation's ski jump team win Gold live as it happened because I was cooped up on my sofa.
One other thing that I remembered although the Opening Ceremonies took place before the accident was seeing singer-songwriter Anri（杏里）take to the stage to sing a song. But let's not remind ourselves that a lot of us are in a bitter winter. Instead, why not get that summer feeling that Eiko Kawashima usually brings us? Therefore, here is "V.S. Space Power" from her June 1990 No. 1 album"Mind Cruisin'".
I'll be honest when I say that on seeing that title for the first time, I was scratching my head for a while (luckily Head & Shoulders shampoo cleared that up). Was that nomenclature for some starship? Still, it was darn catchy and funky enough which her go-to triumvirate at the time in the late 80s going into the early 90s: herself as the composer, Yumi Yoshimoto（吉元由美）as the lyricist and Yasuharu Ogura（小倉泰治）as the arranger, was handling here. As it turns out, once I finally read through Yoshimoto's lyrics, "V.S. Space Power" stands for "versus space power", as in encouraging those young lovers out there to not get caught in those fortune-telling traps (the titular space power) such as horoscopes and to rely on themselves to generate that sustainable love.
Also, have a go at the title track for the album which later became the No. 5 album of the year.
Just about a year ago, I came across this singer with an impactful voice by the name of Akiko Murata（村田彰子）who came out with one album in February 1996 titled "Find Out". Her "Watashirashikunakya!"（私らしくなきゃ！）, one of the tracks on "Find Out" was something that I had said was promising but wasn't quite up to her talents with that boomer voice, but it has grown on me over the months.
Her debut single from 1995 was "Ki ga Tsukeba Mangetsu" (A Full Moon, If You Notice) and it was also included on "Find Out" as the first track. Written by Yumi Yoshimoto（吉本由美）and composed by Shin Tanimoto（谷本新）, the arrangement is a mix of 80s or early 90s City Pop and some of that danceable R&B in those early 1990s as well. I notice that Murata's vocals are even richer here and the song, especially in the intro had me thinking of a true City Pop classic, Yuiko Tsubokura's（坪倉唯子） "Tsukanoma Yotogi Bito" （一瞬夜伽伴侶）.
I've said it before and I will say it again. I will always appreciate finding out about these hidden J-urban contemporary singers with their slick discography even this late in the innings.
Welcome to June! We're looking forward to some more summery weather but some rain, too, since we were a little dry last month. Of course, some reopening from the pandemic will also be happily appreciated.
From that title, "Mizu no Naka no Knife" (Knife in the Water) reads as something far more ominous than it really is. This track by Miyuki Kosaka（香坂みゆき）from her penultimate album"Nouvelle Adresse" (sic) released in October 1987 is actually quite mellow. Written by Yumi Yoshimoto（吉元由美）and composed by Hitoshi Haba（羽場仁志）, the song sounds like the type of music that I was hearing from a number of female singer-songwriters such as Miki Imai（今井美樹）and Midori Karashima（辛島美登里）in the late 1980s to early 1990s. It's the sort of song that I would probably hear over the speakers in some sort of peaceful café in the neighbourhood.
Hopefully, the only knife involved here is the one slicing out a wedge of cheesecake or apple pie in that café. Incidentally, I wouldn't mind seeing those opening up again really soon.
I may have mentioned this before but I think Yui Murase（村瀬由衣）is one of those unsung singers who never really got the attention that she deserved. Perhaps her music wasn't groundbreaking in the annals of pop but she's always struck me as someone who has some fine vocals and pleasant melodies given to her.
Her "Yasashii Kankei" (Nice Relationship) from her 1993 album"Nemuru Kioku"（眠る記憶...Sleeping Memories） is a nice little synthesizer shuffle about a couple of ex-lovers who meet again after some time and realize that a good friendship is more their actual tempo. Murase's breathy vocals and the slightly jazzy arrangement make this a very breezy Sunday experience. Yumi Yoshimoto（吉元由美）, who had worked with Anri（杏里）and Miho Nakayama（中山美穂）, was the lyricist while ex-Off-Course（オフコース）member Yasuhiro Suzuki（鈴木康博）was the composer. In a way, this could have made for an ideal theme song for a romantic comedy on TV.
At this point, I only have Murase's 1992 debut album"Suiyoubi no Asa, Mado wo Akeru"（水曜の朝、窓を開ける）that I ordered through "Eye-Ai" back in the 1990s but I can always do with a fill-up provided that her other albums are still available for reasonable purchase.
Recently, I’ve been listening a lot to Miho Nakayama’s (中山美穂)
“Hide ‘n’ Seek” album, which was released by the charming aidoru in September
1989, and that’s probably because I was finally able to buy a used copy of it
here in Brazil – probably lost at someone’s basement, or something like that.
Anyway, it was one of the singer’s first albums I listened to more than a
decade ago, so it was very nice to have it in my collection after all these
years.
Like happened with many aidoru in the late 80s, Nakayama’s works were
getting more ambitious and sophisticated with the help from talented producers
and songwriters such as Toshiki Kadomatsu (角松敏生) and Cindy. It’s not
that in the early 80s famous aidoru stars like Seiko Matsuda (松田聖子)
or Naoko Kawai (河合奈保子) were not bestowed with great songs by famous musicians, since we all
know they were, but in the mid-to-late 80s – and this probably connects well
with the bubble mindset of the time – there was this will to directly adapt
trending sounds from the West right into the mainstream Japanese music scene.
So, with that in mind, “Hide ‘n’ Seek” seeks (pun not intended) a more Western
sound, far from happy-go-lucky aidoru tunes Nakayama released from 1985 to
1987.
More precisely, though, we can divide it in two halves, like it was
probably conceived, since, besides CD and Cassette, it was also released in Vinyl
format. The first half of “Hide ‘n’ Seek” is heavier, with a strong New Jack
Swing and R&B sound, courtesy of singer-songwriter Cindy, while the second half,
focused more on Anri (杏里) and Nakayama herself as the masterminds, is more
dance-pop oriented, even though it still maintains the R&B touch. Of
course, there are a couple of ballads in there too, like “Endless My First
Love” right before “VIRGIN EYES” and a stripped-down version of “You’re My Only Shinin’ Star” closing the album, but I’ll not talk about them in this article,
since I don’t think “Endless My First Love” is among Nakayama’s strongest
ballads, and this special “Album Version” of “You’re My Only Shinin’ Star”
lacks the magnitude of the single’s version, especially in the arrangement.
After an intro called “Party Down”, the album starts for real with the
title track, “Hide ‘n’ Seek”, an urban contemporary and New Jack Swing song. Think of Paula
Abdul, Janet Jackson or Bobby Brown and you’ll see what type of sound Nakayama
was trying to accomplish here. Personally, even though I’m not a New Jack Swing
enthusiast, I respect her artistic choice here, since Nakayama really started
exploring more intricate R&B/Western sounds in 1988, with the “CATCH THE NITE” album, produced by City Pop legend Toshiki Kadomatsu.
“Destiny”, which follows right after “Hide ‘n’ Seek”, is the other New
Jack Swing song from the album, and I like this one better. While I do love
Nakayama’s sultry performance, what really gets me every time I listen to “Destiny”
is the groovy bass line, which reminds me a lot of some Sonic the Hedgehog
music from the Sega Genesis era in the early 90s.
Like I said at the beginning, this second side of the LP explores
R&B in a different way than the New Jack Swing from before. Starting off
with an “Edit Version” of the dazzling and classy single “VIRGIN EYES” (the
horn section is amazing), we follow right into “Stardust Lovers” and its
equally engaging groove (I really love how Anri made these two gems connect).
In my mind, “Split Love” have always been “Stardust Lovers” sister
track, even though they’re separated by “Island Blue” in the album (another
good song that I didn’t select for this article, by the way). Anyway, it’s
straightforward post-disco sound just reminds me of something almost futuristic
with its spacey keys and the brief yet full of impact instrumental synth
breakdown, even though it’s very dated for the same reasons (I can’t tell why,
but I always think of Mtume’s “So You Wanna Be A Star” when I listen to “Split
Love”). The fact that Nakayama’s vocals are smooth is just a big plus. Well, to
be fair, she’s smooth in the whole album, and while she may not be the greatest
singer out there, especially in live performances, I truly enjoy her voice in
the recordings. Especially in the late 80s/early 90s.
According to generasia, “the album reached #1 on the weekly Oricon
charts, selling 189,930 copies. It also reached #62 on the yearly Oricon chart
for 1989”.
Another singer that I haven't covered in a while is Michiru Kojima（児島未散）. Just judging from the very first song that I heard from her, "Gypsy"（ジプシー）back in 1990, I simply treated her as a singer of moody pop numbers. It wouldn't be much later that I realized that she did have a past performing some pretty snappy urban contemporary fare.
My feeling is that I really should grab Kojima's 1989 album"Key of Dreams" if it's still available and not piled up on the dreaded hill of haiban. For one thing, the title track is a smooth-as-glass City Pop song for the late 1980s with all of that sophisticated pop goodness. You can listen to it again here as the above video is for the full album and the song "Key of Dreams" starts things off.
Right after that one, though, is "Namaiki CINQ" (The Audacious Five) which seems to refer to what any young lady of Tokyo needs for the good life, I believe. I heard things like luxury, a diary, and a history as some of those ingredients but not quite sure since I couldn't find the lyrics online. There's more of an active beat with "Namaiki CINQ" compared to the slightly mellower "Key of Dreams" as if Kojima is prepping for a night out on the town, and even the synths provide some semblance of jazzy instrumentation.
As with "Key of Dreams", Yumi Yoshimoto（吉元由美）is the lyricist with "Namaiki CINQ" while Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）, who arranged that title track, is fully behind the melody for the second track on the album.
It's a stretch to say that my brief anecdote has anything to do with this song, but years ago when my good friend was living close to Lake Ontario in the community of Port Credit, the two of us along with another old friend went over in the dead of winter to the edge of Toronto's own Great Lake that was only about 10 minutes' walk from his apartment. Basically, there were no lights in the area; we were just staring into the abyss of darkness. My friends mirthfully noted that I looked fairly freaked out, something that I will indeed confess to being since frankly when I couldn't see anything remotely looking like the United States of America on the other side, I did wonder whether this was the equivalent of viewing oblivion. Obviously, the fact that a cold wind was blowing with plenty of sound and fury helped "enhance" the mood of doom.
Anyways, I'm certainly thinking that crooner Tatsuhiko Yamamoto's（山本達彦）"Fuyu no Umi e"(To The Winter Sea) is a whole lot more comforting. Looking through his J-Wiki list of singles, I couldn't find any sight of it, but the uploader for this particular video mentioned that this was an extra song on his March 1994 album"Trade Wind".
Despite the year of its recording, there is something in the arrangement that had me thinking that "Fuyu no Umi e" sounds more like a tune from a decade prior or even longer back in the past. Not sure how much of the instruments are synthesizers but there's that flugelhorn in there to give that old-fashioned AOR feeling. Singer-songwriter Masayuki Kishi（岸正之）came up with the music while Yumi Yoshimoto（吉本由美）provided the lyrics. For a song title that refers to a walk in the cold months, there's something nice and warm about it, thanks to Yamamoto's honeyed vocals.
Fall supposedly came at around 5:30 this morning. Folks can be forgiven if they thought of that announcement as fake news, because it's feeling pretty summery hot and humid out there right now. In fact, I've got the fan going on as I type, but it is a meteorologically changeable time and it is Toronto, so I gather that I can't really be that surprised by today's developments. Plus, things will cool down later in the week.
To commemorate the official arrival of autumn and the lingering feeling of the hot season, let me bring in Anri（杏里）for the first KKP blog entry of the week through her "Banka no Koibito tachi e" (To The Late Summer Lovers). This is a track from her 1990 14th album"Mind Cruisin'" from which I've already spoken about the title track.
Created by that solid triumvirate of Anri, lyricist Yumi Yoshimoto（吉元由美）and arranger Yasuharu Ogura（小倉泰治）, "Banka no Koibito-tachi e" is that perfect romantic ballad for that transitional time going from summer to autumn. It would absolutely match that couple's sunset walk along the beach or even that relaxing view from the lanai. Just sit back and cool down.
