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.
I think as much as 1970s City Pop had certain distinctive arrangements and sounds (the keyboard haze effect) and the 1980s version also had their own fascinating tones (the sparkling mineral water glissando), there is also something about the 1990s version. And yes, I know that there will be some who disagree that the final decade of the 20th century in Japan had City Pop especially with the economic downturn there but I can't deny that there was rich urban contemporary music happening. The music industry including certain singers and producers probably didn't get the memo from Parliament or the stock exchanges.
For me anyways, there was that certain big brassiness and especially sparkly synthesizers that marked that time. Maybe the Bubble had burst, but musically in some corners, it was still living life large in the big city. Time to hit the New York Grill for dinner? Sure, let me dust off my VISA Gold!
Anyways, that's the buzz I get from Yurie Kokubu's（国分友里恵）"Dear~How To Love You", the first track from her 4th album, "Do You Love Me?" from August 1991. Written by her old bandmate from SHAMBARA, Kaoru Akimoto（秋元薫）, and composed by Hitoshi Haba（羽場仁志）, it starts out innocently enough but then the horns rev up and we're off to West Shinjuku for that medium-rare steak. And yep, the brassiness and sparkle are there. Plus, Kokubu seems to be really exercising those golden vocals more than ever.
I was listening to pianist and composer/arranger Soichi Noriki's（野力奏一）1984 album"Dream Cruise" as I was in bed...which was a big mistake. The songs were so relaxing that I went out like a light by the third track. I woke back up just when the final song of the album was doing its fadeout. It was like getting that anesthetic needle before my colonoscopy earlier in the fall.
Now that you may be spending the rest of the article trying to get that image out of your mind, I'll try to help by providing some of that smooth music that I almost got to hear in its entirety from "Dream Cruise". It's been several years since I last posted on Noriki with my last article on him being a follow-up on his 1983 debut album"Noriki".
As for the album itself, I had assumed that "Dream Cruise" was all about that wonderful trip on a cruise ship, seeing all that water on the cover. But I don't see any ship there although there is a highway going off into the horizon with what looks like half a red stretch limo, so instead of placing a thumbnail photo of the Harmony of the Seas up at the top, I went with a photo of Yokohama's Chinatown at night and then followed up with one of J Utah's driving videos through Tokyo.
In any case, "Dream Cruise" begins with the cheerful "You Can Make It". It does sound like something that would be great on either a cruise liner's speakers or a car radio, and it's the aural equivalent of that good buddy having the listener's back as the title states. Some wonderfully woozy sax as well, with the late great Jake H. Concepcion being one of the guys on the instrument. Noriki and guitarist Hirotsugu Nakai（中井浩二）were behind the composition here.
What starts off Side B of the original LP is "Easy Way" which sounds anything but in terms of how all those musical professionals brought it all together for this very tropics-friendly sound. Nakai took care of this one by his lonesome. Looks like all of the musicians had their individual chance to shine including Nakai himself. Shin Kazuhara（数原晋）is also in there but I didn't really hear his trumpet for some reason.
"Mild Life" is another track from Side B, and the title and melody are in synch with each other. It really sounds like someone having a wonderfully mild life out in tropical areas somewhere...preferably with a lanai. Bassist Ryuji Hirasue（久末隆二）was responsible for this one, but Noriki also has a lot to say through his keyboards.
My final track today for "Dream Cruise" is the truly City Pop-worthy "Night Lights" which has a few lyrics provided by Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）and Mamie Lee while Noriki and drummer Masayoshi Imaizumi（今泉正義）are behind the cool night drive arrangement. Among all that funk is some elegance in the piano playing by Noriki. Quite a night out.
After so long, I think that I may have finally come to the last or one of the very last tracks to be covered on Yurie Kokubu's（国分友里恵）first album"Relief 72 Hours" from 1983. Personally, I think it's one of the great City Pop touchstones in my collection, and thus far, I've posted about most of the album, "Weekend Love" and "Love Song".
The final track on "Relief 72 Hours" is somewhat logically titled "Last Woman" and it's a wistful and slightly soulful ballad of goodbyes sung languidly by Kokubu. Kazuko Kobayashi（小林和子）took care of the lyrics while Tadashi Yamashita（山下正）was the composer here. Yamashita was also behind arrangement along with Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）. I gather that it could been molded into a power ballad but I'm happy that things were kept under simmering levels. The strings certainly help.
Just to reiterate, I'd first gotten to know singer-songwriter Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）through her heart-on-a-sleeve cover of Miho Nakayama's（中山美穂）"Tada Nakitakunaruno"（ただ泣きたくなるの）in the 1990s. Eventually, I did learn of her City Pop debut through her 1983 album"Relief 72 Hours".
And it was basically a ping-pong exchange between those two time periods. However, I have come across this track from her February 1996 6th album"whisper whisper", "Mou Dare mo Aisenai"(Can't Love Anymore). It's a sad topic, to be sure, but this ballad created by lyricist Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composer Kokubu herself, has a refined pop arrangement and lovely chorus backing up the singer's reassuring vocals. I wouldn't be surprised if it had been used in some J-Drama about affairs taking place.
Took a while to track this down. It was nine years ago that I posted "Refrain"（リフレイン）by Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）which was the B-side to the song of note for this article.
And this A-side was "Nagareru Mama ni ~ Rakka Ryuusui" (As It Flows ~ Mutual Love), Kokubu's 2nd single from April 1986. A ballad that was used as the theme song for the movie "Kizu darake no Kunshou"（傷だらけの勲章...Scarred Medal）, this is a Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）composition and it sure sounds like it: the soft flugelhorn and the wailing guitar solo; maybe the new thing is the additional flute. I can imagine Hayashi's other major client, Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）doing their own version of the song. Singer-songwriter Kumiko Aoki（青木久美子）provided the lyrics. Incidentally, the footage above is probably not from "Kizu darake no Kunshou" since the movie didn't star the whirling dervish that is vivacious actress Yuko Tanaka（田中裕子）as seen in the video, but I'm not complaining.
An 80s Hayashi ballad is always welcome here. Both "Nagareru Mama ni" and "Refrain" ended up on Kokubu's reissued "Steps +2" album from 2014 (the original had been released in 1987). And guess what? I see that I already put in my two cents on "Nagareru Mama ni" in that one, but hey, I can exercise my prerogative to take another look at it. And of course, I can simply mutter to myself about how my long-term memory is starting to deteriorate again.
Welcome to another Urban Contemporary Friday here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". The Bing AI art generator was kind enough to come up with this sunset (or sunrise) drive on a city highway, and I can imagine that the radio might be on for some accompanying music.
I can also imagine Ryo Saeba of "City Hunter" fame driving a red convertible on an intracity highway in Tokyo while listening to this soulful ballad. "Only In My Dreams" is sung by Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）and it hails from one of the many soundtracks for the long-running anime franchise. Specifically, it's on the soundtrack for 1989's cinematic entry "Ai to Shukumei no Magnum"（愛と宿命のマグナム...A Magnum of Love and Destiny [although the English title has it as ".357 Magnum"]）. Lyrics were by Momoko Kitadai*（北代桃子）while the melody was concocted by Tatsumi Yano（矢野立美）.
Strangely enough, "Only In My Dreams" doesn't strike me as having a really strong City Pop beat. This isn't to denigrate it in any way...I think the ballad hovers nicely over the dividing line between the Japanese urban contemporary and straight-up pop in terms of the arrangements. However, whichever way one slices it, it's got plenty of romance and perhaps it can involve the lone wolf Ryo and any number of his femme fatales...maybe even Kaori Makimura without the mallet.
*According to J-Wiki, she's now known as singer Momoko Suzuki（鈴木桃子）.
Well, it's been even longer between SHAMBARA postings. The last article that I wrote about this City Pop supergroup with Tetsuo Sakurai/櫻井哲夫 (bass) and Akira Jimbo/神保彰 (drums & percussion) from Casiopea and vocalists Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）and Kaoru Akimoto（秋元薫）was for their "Aquarium no Tokai"（Aquarium の都会）back in the spring of 2021.
No worries here though since I've got them back with another banger of a track from their "Shambara" album from 1989. "Take Me Higher" is another pleasurable strut down Chuo-dori in Tokyo. Written by Akimoto and composed by Jimbo, it not only takes me back to the dance music of the 1980s but also makes me wonder about those Bubble Era years. The crazy thing is that "Take Me Higher" reminds me of Robbie Nevil's"C'est La Vie" from 1986, another supremely catchy hit.
It's been a few years since I've had City Pop songstress Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）up on the byline so welcome back to her. In fact, the last such article was back in 2019 for her "Easy Love".
I can hear that Kokubu was still applying her chops to the brassy champagne-and-caviar sights and sounds of late 1980s and early 1990s City Pop. Such is the case with her song "Watashi ni Dake Forever" (Forever Only to Me) which is a part of her September 1990 album"Silent Moon". Written by her fellow City Pop chanteuse and SHAMBARA bandmate Kaoru Akimoto（秋元薫）and composed by Hitoshi Haba（羽場仁志）and Masaki Iwamoto（岩本正樹）, has got those fine tight horns and background chorus while Kokubu exercises that wonderful boomer voice of hers.
A 2014 reissue of "Silent Moon" included "Easy Love" as a bonus track although it was also a track on Kokubu's 1983 debut album"Relief 72 Hours".
It's a good Good Friday Friday! I'm gonna be beginning with something more whimsical today, starting with an old and popular American sitcom that was broadcast on ABC from the late 1970s into the early 1980s. "Taxi" was a show that I dipped into now and then, although I never became a dedicated fan. Being one of the classic ensemble TV comedies, I marvel at the cast since almost all of them have gone onto even bigger and perhaps better projects including sci-fi phenomena such as "Star Trek", "Babylon 5" and "Independence Day".
However, one of the things associated with "Taxi" that has stuck with me all these years is that theme song "Angela" by jazz keyboardist and record producer Bob James (according to Wikipedia, a lot of the material on his first several albums were sampled, leading to the formation of hip hop). I mean, my impression was that a theme for a New York-based show called "Taxi" would be all brassy and/or funky and in-your-face, but instead the producers opted for this much slower and calming fusion tune featuring sax, Fender Rhodes and what sounds like an innocent ocarina. I gather that it was this juxtaposition that has enabled me to remember and cherish the sitcom a lot better.
Well, I've decided then that I would come up with this article on the various taxi-based Japanese pop songs that I had already written about over the decade of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", just as a summary and a reflection of how there are probably plenty of other cab kayoout there (including ones that I've completely forgotten about but exist on the blog).
Getting this one up onto the blog a few nights ago was the impetus for this particular article. As I mentioned in that one, Tsubokura's cover of the Aran original is a fair bit mellower, although of course, Night Tempo's version jazzes it up some more. Good for that night time drive home.
When I was thinking about putting up this list, I knew that I had to get Miporin's "Midnight Taxi" up here because of its overall sophisti-pop feeling. This is the night taxi ride with class.
Along with Nakayama's "Midnight Taxi", Kiyomi Suzuki's"TAXI" with her brother's group also has its class but it comes with some additional soulful goodness.
As with Aran's "Taxi Driver", "Tobashite Taxi Man" has more of that feeling of heading giddily into Party Central rather than sleepily heading home in the metal chariot.
I would consider Arai's classic "Chuo Freeway" more of an honourary member of the taxi list since according to her lyrics, it's pretty obvious that the ride home is a personal one with a couple of lovers in the front of the car. But the whole idea for "Chuo Freeway" came from Yuming's feeling of freedom and quiet satisfaction of being driven home when work got a little too late...something that I can relate to as well. Perhaps it was a staffer driving her back or even that cab.
Because when compared to the usual more inexpensive subway or train fare, I didn't take the taxi all that frequently during my time in the Tokyo area. It was only when I missed that last train home that I would brave the lineup to catch a cab. I never had a particularly thrilling or terrifying taxi ride home but that was due to the fact that taxi service was extremely professional with the uniformed drivers providing the same reassuring ride anywhere in town. Maybe that's why the songs that I've mentioned on the taxi list here have that seemingly extra-thick layer of romanticism and anticipation swaddling listeners/riders. However with the relatively recent rise in the love for Japanese City Pop around the planet, I can imagine that tourists may come with that layer as they ride from Haneda or Narita into Tokyo, although the price might turn them off if they arrive at the latter airport. Meanwhile, the drivers might end up wondering why their fares are so excited over a simple taxi ride.😁
For my final song tonight, I realize that I haven't put up a SHAMBARA song recently. For those unfamiliar with these folks, it is a fusion group in personnel and genre, with Tetsuo Sakurai/櫻井哲夫 (bass) and Akira Jimbo/神保彰 (drums & percussion) from Casiopea, two vocalists Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）and Kaoru Akimoto（秋元薫）plus musicians Nozomi Furukawa（古川望）and Kunihiko Ryo（梁邦彦）to round out the band.
I've already written about a couple of tracks from their 1989 album"Shambara", the funky "Solid Dance" and the much mellower "Lovin' You". Well, this one is somewhere in between the two in terms of overall tempo, and "Aquarium no Tokai" (Aquarium City) takes things into another direction. There's more of a light tropical rum punch vibe and a feeling of taking that well-needed vacation down into the Caribbean, and at this time, I'm sure that a lot of people would love that cruise right now (apparently, Royal Caribbean will be setting sail again in a few months).
Not sure if I will ever be able to acquire "Shambara" but this one sounds very worthy just from the variety of songs that I've heard so far from this City Pop/AOR supergroup.
Well, it's been a while but maybe for Hump Day Wednesday, we can bring on some SHAMBARA.
Around 3 1/2 years ago, I introduced this City Pop/AOR supergroup consisting of members from fusion band Casiopea (カシオペア) and vocalists Kaoru Akimoto（秋元薫）and Yurie Kokubu （国分友里恵）along with instrumentalists Nozomi Furukawa（古川望）and Kunihiko Ryo（梁邦彦）. The band lasted for perhaps a year or so but it was quite a ride on their lone album "Shambara" from 1989.
I remember putting up the catchy-as-all-heck"Solid Dance"and just marveling that Akimoto and Kokubu were singing together with a part of Casiopea backing them up. Well, the track following "Solid Dance" cools things down significantly to a slow dance. "Lovin' You" is interesting in that it begins with a piano solo that feels like it's going into a certain ballad style but then suddenly the synths come in to take things into a different love song direction.
No matter though. "Lovin' You" is gentle and soulful and it sounds so 1980s. It would have been quite the thing to have heard this at my university prom since I graduated right in that year of 1989. Listening to it would have been so easy...finding the date was the hard part. However, the song is something that can be appreciated at any time of the day.
I've put up quite a few articles tonight but none of them thus far has been a City Pop number, and it's a Friday. So, I gotta finish things up with something appropriate.
Folks, I may have indeed found the right tune to end another work week here with the ideal City Pop/AOR duet. May I introduce Toshiki Kadomatsu & Yurie Kokubu（角松敏生・国分友里恵）and "It's Hard to Say Good-bye"? The Japanese title happens to be "Sayonara wa Ai no Kotoba"（さよならは愛の言葉...Good-bye is a Word of Love）.
Written and composed by Kadomatsu with brass arrangement by Jun Sato (佐藤準...also on keyboards), this was one of the two songs on Side B of the City Pop master's first 12-inch single "Do You Wanna Dance?" from October 1983. Everything is there for a Kadomatsu love ballad: the heartfully soulful vocals, the mellow horns and the elegant keyboard...ahh, and I shouldn't forget the sax by Jake H. Concepcion! But it does start out with some surprisingly tender strings that made me initially wonder if things were going in a different direction. However, when I heard that horn come in, I was reassured that it was truly another Kadomatsu ballad. Nurse that relaxing cup of coffee or glass of cocktail.
Hadn't found this particular contribution before by City Pop singer Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）, so I thought I would throw it into the KKP mix tonight.
This would be Kokubu's "Easy Love" which was the B-side to her 1983 7" single,"Tobashite Taxi Man"（とばしてTaxi Man）that also had its appearance on her debut album"Relief 72 Hours", one of the essential albums of any City Pop fan's collection.
As with any of the tracks on "Relief 72 Hours", "Easy Love" has got that familiar soundscape combination of tight horns and sparkling keyboards, thanks to Kazuo Shiina's（椎名和夫）melody. It just brings glorious memories of what Tokyo must have been like in the early 1980s. Kazuko Kobayashi（小林和子）provided the lyrics of an emerging beautiful relationship. The lyricist also wrote the words for one of the other tracks on "Relief 72 Hours", "Snob na Yoru e"（スノッブの夜へ）.
It's pretty ironic that for all of the articles that I've written on Yurie Kokubu's（国分友里恵）flashy City Pop numbers over the last little while, the very first article about her was her own cover of "Tada Nakitakunaruno"（ただ泣きたくなるの）, a song that she and her husband, composer Masaki Iwamoto（岩本正樹）, had created for Miho Nakayama（中山美穂）in the early 1990s. The song was basically my introduction to Kokubu and by that point in the decade, it looks like she had veered into a more general pop sound. It did come to some surprise when I heard tracks from her debut release in 1983, "Relief 72 Hours" that she had been doing the urban funk.
My introduction to Kokubu was through her 1995 album"Akogare" (Longing), and as I had mentioned in the article for "Tada Nakitakunaruno", I got to know her through her sparky commercial jingles for various products. It was enough for me to pick up "Akogare" and one of the other songs from the album that has stood out for the past few decades is the title track itself.
Once again, both Kokubu and Iwamoto were responsible for this rather proud and elegant song. Kokubu's vocals just ring out through the air and bring feelings of calm and inspiration to my old head. It's quite the different feeling when compared to her City Pop days in the 1980s, as if the party girl finally hung up her dancing shoes a long time ago and is now perfectly content with sipping tea with her old disco buddies at home. The single version came out in December 1994.
A YouTuber by the name of Rodion Drozdov created a spiffy video bringing together the main cast of the anime "Hisone to Masotan"（ひそねとまそたん）from their dancing end credits and some spunky 80s dance music via Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）.
Drozdov already mentioned the source of the song in the comments, but I will identify it as well. It's "Step Into The Light", a track from Kadomatsu's 1984 album"After 5 Clash". Aside from all of the rapping and chorus work, it's an extended musical riff whose funkiness reminds me of The Dazz Band to a certain extent.
It may remind me of The Dazz Band but it isn't from The Dazz Band, and this is why I like to read the comments sometimes under a video. One never knows what kind of information can be gleaned. The uploader for the "Step Into The Light" video provided above and a commenter talked of the fact that Kadomatsu had gotten the basis for the song from a creation by an American R&B act known as Unique. The song is titled "What I Got Is What You Need" and it was released in 1983.
There was no mention of this point in the J-Wiki article for "After 5 Clash", but it did make it into the article for the band under "Legacy" at the bottom. The source was a page on "Japanese Soul" on which the author had made the comparison with a couple of videos (the "Step Into The Light" video has been taken down unfortunately).
In any case, joining Kadomatsu's funk here are Eiji Nakahara and Noriko Miyamoto（宮本典子）in the rapping portion. Kadomatsu, Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）and Keiko Toh provided the chorus.
Well, it took me long enough after having read nikala's fine article on the cool and snazzy "I Wanna Be With You" back in 2015, but I finally got Yurie Kokubu's（国分友里恵）2nd album"STEPS" from 1987. It was because that I revisited that article and song, and the amazing cover that nikala had also referred to, that finally got me to happily part with my yen. I guess it could be my interest in the old film noir that had me drawn to that cover of "STEPS": those exposed gams, the man in black with a lamp or lighter and that bleak but beautiful landscape. Last but not least, I really like the font for the title itself.
"I Wanna Be With You" was the second track, but it's "I Got You Inside Out" that launches things for the album, and as nikala mentions in her article, there's quite a bit more oomph when compared to Kokubu's debut effort, "Relief ~ 72 Hours"(1983). I did say in that article that the singer-songwriter was celebrating her party girl days with that one, but listening to "STEPS", it sounds as if she apparently decided to take her party to Los Angeles for a weekend. "I Got You Inside Out" fires off a pretty big missile in that respect. Hitoshi Haba（羽場仁志）took care of words and music and had a hand in all of the songs on the original version of the album back in 1987.
Track 3 is "Cosmic Love" whose amazing keyboards (including that hyper piano) were handled by Masaki Iwamoto（岩本正樹）. I think I mentioned this in a past Kokubu article, but Iwamoto also happens to be the singer's husband, and he was responsible for the arrangements of the tracks in the original "STEPS". It's a great urban contemporary number that would have happily accompanied any aerobics class back then. "Cosmic Love" is another example of how Kokubu kept things within the City Pop/R&B department from "Relief" but took it higher onto the dance floor.
"In Your Eyes" is reminiscent of all of those power love ballads that I heard from acts like Chicago and Whitney Houston back on the radio in my high school/university days. Another Haba creation, this is the song where folks will come out on the floor for the slow dance or just relax on the sofas for a while. I did far more of the latter than I did of the former. Being a nerd helped.
Kokubu wrote the lyrics for "Margarita" to go with Haba's melody here. The track stuck out for me since with that title, I had been expecting something beachside in LA or beachside in Rio, but actually "Margarita" is referring to a young lady who seems to need a bit of help in the love department. I'm not sure but there is something distinctly TOTO-ish about this one especially with that opening piano by Iwamoto. I also enjoy that echoing effect in the refrain.
I keep referring to the original form of "STEPS", and that is because the album that I got has come up with a couple of extra tracks, namely the A and B sides for Kokubu's 1986 single"Nagareru Mama ni~Rakka Ryusui"（流れるままに～落花流水～...As It Flows - Mutual Love）. The B-side"Refrain"（リフレイン）is a song that I've already covered on the blog, so here is "Nagareru Mama" which, like its title, flows like a romantically slow river. Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）took care of the music and arrangement, and with that slightly melancholy feeling thanks to the strings and flugelhorn, it does feel like a Hayashi-made ballad, and is quite different from the original tracks on "STEPS" and even its B-side (yet Hayashi took care of the funky music while Yasushi Akimoto wrote the lyrics). Kumiko Aoki（青木久美子）provided the lyrics. The ballad was actually the theme song for a 1986 mystery film starring Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）and Naomi Chiaki（ちあきなおみ）titled "Kizu Darake no Kunshou"（傷だらけの勲章...Scarred Medal）, about a detective investigating the assassination of a company president in Egypt.
Some fine evolution in the music of Yurie Kokubu. And unlike that cover, this isn't a moody or atmospheric album, but it is packed with lots of fun and nostalgic dance pop from the 1980s.
Often glad when I'm proven wrong...at least when it comes to the supposed rarity of albums. I was entranced by pianist Soichi Noriki's（野力奏一）"Do What You Do" with the vocal assist of Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）. The song was included in his debut album"Noriki" which was released in November 1983 according to the liner notes, and I had lamented that the album was most likely so obscure that it was never put to CD. Well, as you can see above, it was actually very much purchasable...and for the low, low price of 1,000 yen! In a way, I kinda felt badly, though, since I think the album should have gotten a better and more respectable price.
Most of "Noriki" consists of instrumental tracks except for the aforementioned "Do What You Do" and the opening track here "You Need Me" whose lyrics were written by Dwight Waldron with the melody by Noriki. Once again, the bright vocals of Kokubu come into play. Not funky as was the case with "Do What You Do" but some nice sunny AOR nonetheless.
Noriki's jazzy, summery piano provide the backbone for "Anyway" with Haruo Sakai（酒井春雄）putting some extra meat on the bones with his saxophone. This is sitting-on-the-patio-overlooking-the-beach type of music. When I was once interested in the soundtracks for Japanese dramas, this would have been the sort of music that I would have relished as a character or mood enhancer.
Speaking of mood-enhancing, the final track "Go Over The Hill" starts off with a wonderfully creamy piano intro before going into a number reminiscent of going over that hill and seeing your beloved home with friends and family in the backyard getting ready for that end-of-week barbecue. Noriki makes such a welcoming melody for a goodbye track. Some fine sax and guitar solos as well. Get the cold beer ready!
No doubts here. "Noriki" is more than worth the yen I paid for it.
November 7, 2019: I've got a Part 2 wrapping up the album.
I guess that I was a tad too late to put this up for last weekend but I can still add it today since this weekend in Toronto will probably be having me burn up due to the high Humidex readings forecast.
"Weekend Love" is another track from that classic City Pop/J-AOR album "Relief 72 Hours" by the lovely chanteuse Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）. Written by Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）and composed by guitarist Yoshiyuki Sahashi（佐橋佳幸）, this one is more on the AOR side of things with feelings of the Doobie Brothers and early Kenny Loggins. No surprise to me, it was Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）who took care of the arrangements along with Tadashi Yamashita（山下正）.
This song definitely needs a nice sporty car and some old-fashioned Japanese pop-loving buddies who love a drive on the highway to go with it. Since I have none of either, I will just settle for listening to it on my stereo.
Took another listen to "Relief ~ 72 Hours",the debut album of songbird Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）from 1983. Indeed, it is one of the masterpieces of City Pop.
However, this particular track "Love Song" isn't quite in the City Pop vein. I would put it as a romantic pop ballad of the 1980s. This is a love song that David Foster would give a happy thumbs-up to, and I could even imagine someone in the States covering it in English. But it wasn't Foster who took care of this. This was all Japanese talent in the form of Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）as lyricist and Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）as composer.
"Love Song" has that certain keyboard arrangement which launched a thousand lovey-dovey scenes in that decade's music videos and movies but then as the song continues on, there is a great guitar solo followed by the horns. Kokubu does a great job but at the same time, I can also imagine another City Pop princess, Anri（杏里）, taking this on as well.
Sunday night and another weekend is coming a close. JTM and I got together for another two hours of talk, and part of the conversation dealt on what our latest purchases in the world of Japanese music were.
Well, I think I already know which item will be on my GET list although this could be another one of those rare albums that could need a good amount of money to acquire. I encountered this one purely by accident on YouTube last night but on hearing that sublime groove thing happening, I needed to know who this fellow was.
Found out that "Do What You Do" was a track on an album titled "Noriki" recorded by Kyoto-born pianist Soichi Noriki（野力奏一）. Debuting in 1974 in the musical group Bellamy All-Stars（ベラミ・オールスターズ）led by his father, Noriki also participated as a session musician alongside fellow artists such as saxophonist Sadao Watanabe（渡辺貞夫）and jazz trumpeter Terumasa Hino（日野皓正）. He also helped out in albums by Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）,Yutaka Ozaki（尾崎豊）, etc.
That's pretty much all of the information I could get from his J-Wiki file although he does have his own website Noriki Studio. However, there's no disguising the fact that I'm really enjoying the tracks on his debut album from 1983, "Noriki", starting with "Do What You Do". I can definitely categorize it as City Pop but there's also that taste of American 80s funk in there. Plus, from the information on one other blog, I found out that the female vocals were provided by Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）, a singer that I've come to associate quite nicely with the genres mentioned.
Always love it when I discover someone new and cool.
