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.
Well, along with the bear incursions, the weather was becoming rather belligerent throughout Japan last week with some very intense rainstorms and hail coming down like meteorites in a sci-fi flick. Some of the footage looked as if a blizzard had suddenly blanketed entire regions.
And with that segue, I give you "Kanashimi no Blizzard"(Blizzard of Sorrow) which was the third single by 80s aidoru Hidemi Ishikawa（石川秀美）from October 1982. The setting is actually a hot summer seaside but young Hidemi's heart is filled with a raging snowstorm after suffering a major breakup with a guy. You can thank Kaoru Asagi（麻木かおる）for the lyrics.
I learned something interesting regarding Ishikawa's beginnings as an aidoru and perhaps this might have been true for many aidoru. Composer Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）was responsible for Ishikawa's first four singles including the No. 29-ranking"Kanashimi no Blizzard", and apparently, he got the first three done even before the lass made her debut in early 1982. In fact, there were discussions on which of the three would become Single No. 1: a song with a refreshing melody, one with a sentimental atmosphere and one more with a so-called London sound.
Well, the refreshing one "Yousei Jidai"（妖精時代...Fairy Age） became the debut single (I'll have to cover that one soon enough), the sentimental one "Yu-re-te Shonan"（ゆ・れ・て湘南）was the follow-up, and then that London sound ended up as "Kanashimi no Blizzard" (although Oda had preferred Single No. 3 as Single No. 1). I guess that London sound was represented by the (possibly synth) horns although first listening to the song, I would never have guessed it being influenced by swinging London. Overall though "Kanashimi no Blizzard" is quite the peppy and distinct tune with some quick key changes and though Ishikawa's delivery is very "aidoru", it's still quite the fun thing to listen to. In fact, I think it has a kissing cousin in the form of Ginji Ito's（伊藤銀次）"Cherry Night" even though that song wouldn't come out until 1986. By the way, Makoto Yano（矢野誠）provided the arrangement.
Several years ago, I posted an article about the 1981 debut single, "Koi no Kirakira Dance"（恋のキラキラダンス） , by an obscure aidoru named Keiko Nishina（二科恵子）. As mentioned there, she only released four singles in 1981 and 1982.
Well, I found a succeeding single titled "Koi no Shocking Town" (Shocking Town of Love) sometime in 1982 (maybe Nishina loved her 恋). Written by Fumiko Okada（岡田富美子）and composed by Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）, compared to the more conventional "Koi no Kirakira Dance", "Koi no Shocking Town" infuses a bit of Doobie Bounce for a more AOR flavour. Meanwhile, the B-side which begins at 4:08 of the above video, "Umi no Ue no Restaurant"(The Restaurant on the Top of the Ocean) has that popular 50s or 60s girl pop arrangement. Dapper singer-songwriter Ryohei Yamanashi（山梨鐐平）provided words and music for that one.
At the end of February, I posted up an article regarding a not-so-well-known singer called Malja（麻留時夜）with the very involved kanji for her name. She released her one and only album in 1986 titled "Malja" with its own genre mix of tunes which of course included at least a few City Pop takes.
Well, the track I wrote about, "Nice Guy ni Ai wo Komete"（NICE GUYに愛をこめて）, was a pleasant City Pop ballad of the mid-1980s. Now, another track here is a more upbeat song of the genre, "Hadashi de Last Steps"(Last Steps Barefoot). Written and composed by the same guys behind "Nice Guy", lyricist Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）and composer Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）, just from what I've heard thus far, it's about a woman dancing with abandon all over the floor to the point that she needs to doff off her heels to continue the fun. Yup, seeing some of those stilettos, I couldn't blame her one bit.
I'll be honest here but I've had this lovely song on the back burner for some time now and I'm finally putting it up today because I've finally figured out what the singer's name is. Yes, I held off from posting this due to a naming problem but the last thing I want to do is screw up a name, especially if the singer is still alive...which of course I'm hoping she is.
Depending on the source, I've come across the readings Maru Tokiyo and Maru Tokiya. However, down the 1986 self-titled album's obi, there is one sentence that begins with "I'm Maruja", And then, my brain did all sorts of old-fashioned computing noises with the conclusion being that all four kanji spell out MA-RU-JI-YA with the stylized form of the name above the upper-right hand corner of the photo on the album cover: Malja.
So, now that I've figured that one out, I can introduce Malja formally to KKP. She's one of those mysterious singers that came in and out along the lines of Takako Mamiya（間宮貴子）in that she released only one single and this album "Malja". One of the tracks here is the scintillating "Nice Guy ni Ai wo Komete" (With Love To A Nice Guy) which is a pretty sweet title although it sounds like the nice guy here is now very much in the past.
Written by Keisuke Yamakawa（山川啓介）and composed by Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）, it's quite the laidback and slightly haunting mid-tempo ballad with the velvet vocals of Malja providing soothing solace to listeners' ears. I've only heard this song and one other track on the album but according to the website of the hair and music store Fam, "Malja" is apparently a hidden gem of Baleric modern pop music which features arrangements that make full use of the intricately programmed sounds unique to this era. And yeah, it does feel rather 80s.
There are always those times when children think they are grown-ups or want to show that they are grown-ups by putting on make-up or clothes that are way too big. Of course, the parents get all gushy and smiley. Then, the kids actually do grow up and the parents may have different reactions.
That was the impression I got while I was listening to Hidemi Ishikawa's（石川秀美）December 1983 3rd album"Semi-Sweet" and specifically one track, "Watashi wa Otona"(I'm An Adult). Ishikawa was actually around 17 when she recorded this so I'm assuming that the protagonist in the song is someone going through the rebellious stage and storming out the house.
Written by SHOW and composed by Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）, this is a somewhat out-of-the-ordinary aidoru tune with the slightly spooky background chorus, the Dazz Band-like synths in there, and the rumbling percussion contrasted with the squeaky vocals of Ishikawa. Not sure whether Oda and the other producers were trying to show off their aidoru's persona in "Watashi wa Otona" as someone insisting of her adulthood despite the fact that she certainly didn't sound like an adult but the effect worked on me.
Recently, when I hear the words "cat's eye", my short-term memories tend to dig up one notorious scene from "Alien: Earth". Therefore, especially for lovers of the feline, I consider the above video to be viewers' discretion advised.
However, in a far less gory example, I'm happy to hear that an anime remake of the original 1983 anime of "Cat's Eye" has been made and is now showing as of this month via Disney Plus. So, fans can once more marvel and gawk at the Sisters Kisugi: Hitomi, Rui and Ai as they pull off their derring-do art heists.
Of course, that also means we gotta have the original theme song "Cat's Eye" along for the ride. Used as the ending theme for the current incarnation of the series, I remember the song as the first Anri（杏里）tune that I had ever heard and that was on her appearance on the 1983 Kohaku Utagassen. Didn't know what the song's significance was at the time; I only knew it as one dynamic performance by the tropical looking Eiko Kawashima（川嶋栄子）.
This time around, "Cat's Eye" has been recorded by another female professional mononymed singer whose name starts with the letter "A". Ado, who was first brought aboard KKP by Joana, has been quite the cat's meow for the past few years due to her huge vocal range and her mysterious countenance, and perhaps that is why she was asked to perform this anison classic. The new version has a bit more sophistication thanks to those strings and some more oomph due to the rock guitar. But it's obviously still Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and Yuuichiro Oda（小田祐一郎）behind words and music respectively.
If I could afford international air travel again, besides Japan and Lichtenstein, I would love to drop by Singapore. And this time, I wouldn't be consulting with fellow KKP writer Noelle just for information on the early Showa Era kayo kyoku since she's also from Singapore. Of course, being a foodie, I would love to try that famous chicken rice over there.
So my focus on Singapore would be the food and the marvelous architecture. However, for actress and singer Tomoko Saito（斉藤とも子）, it looks like love is on her mind with her song "Singapore". Written by Kaoru Asagi（麻木かおる）and composed by Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）, I do love that down-home City Pop with the infusion of bossa nova. It's just the song for drinks at a hotel-top bar in the titular city itself. By the way, "Singapore" was originally a track on her 1981 album"20 ANS".
Another inspiration for me to put up "Singapore" for Saito is that the powers-that-be at YouTube took down the lone video for her "Josei"（女性）song, so I had to put that one into mothballs for now. But at least, I still have her City Pop"Kaze no You ni"（風のように）up and running.
Well, welcome to the final Friday before Christmas. Toronto got its icing sugar dusting of snow overnight so maybe there's a chance that we may get a White Christmas on Wednesday. Even the Kanto area including Tokyo may get some of the white stuff in the next few days.
The late singer-songwriter Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）has continued to make his presence known on the pages of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for his songwriting prowess for other clients...80s aidoru Mikako Hashimoto（橋本美加子）being the most recent one on the blog. But the last time that Oda himself was on the byline was way back in late 2019 for his 1984 "Spanish Girl".
However, I have one here today which was Oda's 1985 single"Let Me Know". It can also be found on his album from the same year, "ODA 3", and it's a pleasant and mellow AOR tune which sounds a fair bit like a Western ballad from the 80s that I used to know. Unfortunately at this time, I can't remember the title or the singer, but perhaps one of you readers might recognize it from listening to the song. In any case, Oda was in charge of the melody with Makoto Yano（矢野誠）behind that arrangement. Jim Steel was the lyricist here but I'm curious whether that is the name of a real lyricist or an Oda pseudonym. I couldn't find any presence of a Jim Steel as a singer or songwriter online. Let me know.😋
The modest file we have on 80s aidoru Mikako Hashimoto（橋本美加子）has been created by me and Marcos V. with Marcos introducing her to us with her Eurobeat "Touch My Heart" from 1987 and then I came along a few years later with her "Juu-go no Melancholy"（15のメランコリー）from December 1985 which also had an AOR rock beat.
Today, we go right back to the beginning with Hashimoto's debut single from March 1985,"Mellow Season". It's also a rather dynamic song but it's back to the conventional summer aidoru pattern thanks to lyricist Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composer Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）who had also come up with Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）big hit "Aoi Sangoshou"（青い珊瑚礁）in 1980. To make it even more memorable, the single was released right on Hashimoto's birthday that year. The somewhat bizarre catchphrase attached to it though was "If you see little Miss Eyebrows, please give her my regards"! I don't think they're quite that bushy.
"Mellow Season" managed to peak at No. 37 on Oricon. Of course, it came with a cute music video although at times, I wondered whether parts of it were being used as a visual psych evaluation on little Miss Eyebrows. Do love seeing the nostalgic 80s fashion in there.
I can imagine then-aidoru Fumiko Sawada（沢田富美子）and her father having THE talk about her career in entertainment. Pere Sawada would have sat his daughter down and told her that the geinokai is fraught with uncertainty and there's no telling how long or how short her career as a singer would be. Finally, he encouraged her to have some sort of backup plan. Then Fumiko would say at the age of 19 that she's been investing in real estate and that she would end up owning multiple buildings in the tonier districts of Tokyo. He would then conclude everything by saying "Uh...never mind".
But none of us are here to discuss Fumiko Sawada the property mogul. We're here to check out Sawada the aidoru, as brief a career as it was. The way that I found out about the mogul part was when I wrote up her 1986 single, the cover version of WHAM!'s smoky "Where Did Your Heart Go?", under the stage name of Maria Sakurai（桜井真里亜）. And up until today, that was all I had on Sawada but then I found this early single by the Nagoya native which had been posted onto YouTube very recently.
"Chotto Harukaze"(A Little Spring Breeze) was her 2nd EP from April 1981. Listening to this appropriately breezy and cheerful ditty and knowing the year of release, I kinda figured out pretty quickly who the songwriters were. They were lyricist Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）, composer Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）and arranger Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）, all folks who had worked together less than a year earlier on the similarly breezy "Aoi Sangoshou"（青い珊瑚礁）for Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）. I think that the three even added in a bit of Olivia Newton-John's"Xanadu" for good measure. I think the song is a perfectly delightful aidoru tune but I don't know how strongly it did on Oricon although the fact that her discography had only lasted from 1979 to 1982 (eight records) with a four-year break before her cover of the WHAM! song probably meant that the singing part of her variegated career (she was also acting, modeling and DJ'ing) wasn't the most predominant.
Another kind gift from JTM over the Holidays was Yoko Oginome's（荻野目洋子）first BEST compilation, "Yōko Oginome: The Best" which hit the shelves on Christmas Day 1985, so definitely a Merry Christmas to all of those Yoko fans. It's an interesting one to be sure because the final track on this CD is "Dancing Hero"（ダンシング・ヒーロー）, the song that I've felt to be the ground zero for my image of Oginome, the angular dancing heroine aidoru of the mid-1980s. So, all of the singles and songs before were still quite new to me although since then, I've become aware of her being one-third of the kiddie aidoru trio Milk in 1980 and then her star turn as the main character in the anime "Miyuki"（みゆき）in 1983. As well, somewhere in my dusty collection of VHS tapes, Oginome was a teenaged assistant in some sort of variety special on television where she was probably known just for "Miyuki" and as the kid sister to actress Keiko Oginome（荻野目慶子）.
In any case, I've already covered a quarter of the sixteen tracks on "The Best", and by the way, JTM gave his thoughts on another BEST compilation almost eleven years ago called "Golden Best" from 2009. I don't think I'll be able to cover everything here but let's how many we can take a look at. The ones that I've already posted will have links to their respective articles.
"Ryūsei Shōjo"(Meteor Girl) is the B-side to Oginome's debut single"Mirai Kōkai (Sailing)" from April 1984. It's the usual mellow aidoru tune on the flip side of the more active A-side. Written by Yoko Aki（阿木燿子）and composed by Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）, it's got some hints of City Pop or AOR with the instruments involved but Aki's lyrics either talk about that titular meteor girl surreptitiously looking at the boy of her dreams after having a fight with his own girlfriend in the perhaps vain hopes of welcoming him into her arms instead or she really is a girl from outer space observing the surprisingly fragile male ego. Oginome's voice is also just as mellow here, perhaps some months away from gaining that famous nasal tone.
Oginome's 2nd single is "Sayonara kara Hajimaru Monogatari" (A Story That Begins with a Goodbye) from July 1984. Indeed, a story of getting over summertime heartbreak, the lyricist was Chinfa Kan（康珍化）and the composer was Tetsuya Furumoto（古本鉄也）with Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）handling the arrangement. There's some playful drama in the music including that popular electric guitar wailing solo from those days (methinks it's a Hagita thing). I'm getting the impression that the people supporting Oginome at the time really liked to get those music videos with her. I'm not quite sure what child labour laws were like in Japan in 1984 but I certainly wasn't aware that gamine 14 or 15-year-olds were able to work at gas stations. For that matter, I wonder if that fellow at the end was a young Agent Gibbs...or Stringfellow Hawke. Incidentally, "Sayonara kara Hajimaru Monogatari" peaked at No. 29 on Oricon and won the singer a whole slew of awards including those for Best New Artist and Silver prizes.
Ah, nice winter cottage setting there. Then again, we return to the gas station and also a dance studio and even a Japanese music show stage, so I'm guessing that this may have been the wrap-up video for a collection. It's for Oginome's 4th single"Mukokuseki Romance" (A Romance Without Nationality) from February 1985. The lyrics by Fumiko Okada（岡田冨美子）describe a Japanese woman lured into a love affair with a foreigner overseas with the melody being woven by none other than the late Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）. When I read that, I chuckled a bit since I was reminded of "Medaka no Kyoudai"（めだかの兄妹）from 1982 by the cute-as-all-get-out aidoru trio Warabe（わらべ）. Sakamoto was responsible for its arrangement and it did become a hit although at the time, The Professor was perhaps somewhat aghast at the assignment. The J-Wiki article for "Mukokuseki Romance" did note that it was very unusual for him to actually come up with a melody for an aidoru ("What, again?!"), but hey, work is work. The song has that certain je ne sais quoi of exotic mysticism which is right up Sakamoto's alley. It hit No. 35 on the charts.
"Freesia no Ame"(Freesia Rain) is actually the title track from Oginome's 2nd album released in March 1985. At the risk of sounding like the narrator from Canada's "Hinterland Who's Who", the freesia is a flowering plant native to Africa, so I'm gathering that man and woman in Takashi Matsumoto's（松本隆）words are traveling on a train coursing through that continent with the latter figure quietly expressing her love for the big lug. Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）is usually someone that I equate with arrangement but this time, he also came up with the basic happy-go-lucky melody. As for the album, "Freesia no Ame" managed to get as high as No. 26.
My final song here today is "Kokoro no Mama ni (I'm Just a Lady)"(As You Please) which is Oginome's 6th single from August 1985. Hagita was once again on hand to arrange Mai Arai's（あらい舞） melody and words, and this one seems to be reminder of some of the sweeping aidoru ballads from a few years previously as done by folks like singer-songwriter Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）. The strings used in the song especially remind me of those earlier days. There seems to be a "poor little rich girl" vibe with "Kokoro no Mama ni" as Oginome sings about being a proper lady and not being able to openly express those emotions such as falling in love. The song reached No. 16 on Oricon and it is the single before Oginome transformed into the dancing Eurobeat aidoru with "Dancing Hero" from November that year.
Well, I could have used this song to talk about the ugly winter storm that we had a couple of days ago, but I used that preamble ramble in yesterday's "Higurashiyama"（日暮山）by Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）. However, we do have another blizzard coming up tomorrow night going into Saturday. This one...hopefully...will be a little "cleaner" with just fluffy white snow coming down.
And sure enough, the song here is "Aoi Blizzard"(Blue Blizzard) by rock singer Saori Saitoh（斉藤さおり）as a track from her September 1986 debut album "Kiss me, Good bye". I'm not sure whether I would imagine furious snowstorms when I listen to this one but there's a good chance that I would enjoy this from a car stereo as the automobile is bombing down the lonesome highway. Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）provided the lyrics for "Aoi Blizzard" and Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）provided the tasty licks on this melody.
This is actually the earliest that I've gone in Saitoh's discography. I first started her KKP file with her 1991 "Yokogao"（横顔）back in December 2021, and I've provided some background information there so feel free to take a gander.
Happy Monday! Well, it's more of a Happy-and-still-slightly-sleepy Monday for me, so I'm starting this week of KKP with a nice idol glass of orange juice. To wit, as a fan of the 80s aidoruscene, I've always cherished the discography of Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）up to the point that she got married in the mid-1980s although there are still a few songs afterwards that I still like.
However, I have a special place in my ears and heart for the very early Seiko, circa 1980 and 1981. At that point, she still didn't have that light and breezy voice that all of her fans have known. Back then, the aidoru possessed a slightly lower, raspier and for the lack of a better word, rawer, voice which I still appreciate.
I heard that especially in "True Love", the B side of her July 1980 2nd single, "Aoi Sangoshou"（青い珊瑚礁）and I also hear that in "Sukoshi Zutsu Haru" (A Little Bit of Spring) which was the B-side for her 4th single, "Cherry Blossom"（チェリー・ブラッサム）that was released in January 1981. As with "Aoi Sangoshou", the sprightly "Sukoshi Zutsu Haru" was created by lyricist Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）, composer Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）and arranger Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）.
Another thing that I also liked about the very early Seiko singles was how gallopingly summery they sound, so I have to be in existential shape to keep up with the melody. "Sukoshi Zutsu Haru" is definitely no different with that chugging West Coast AOR rhythm. Now, I'm posting about this song in late spring, but with the January 1981 release, Matsuda sings about hoping for the arrival of an early spring and an arms-wide-open beau while things are still wintry around her.
As was mentioned in the "Cherry Blossom" article, the single hit No. 1 on the Oricon weeklies and would earn the No. 9 ranking in the annual chart. The A-side would get onto a studio album, "Silhouette" which was released in May 1981 to a No. 2 ranking. However, "Sukoshi Zutsu Haru" wouldn't get onto an album until it was placed onto her November 1985 7th compilation of BEST songs, "Seiko Box", which earned a No. 7 ranking.
Several years ago, I wrote on the early 1970s aidoru group Golden Half (ゴールデン・ハーフ) whose members were of mixed parentage. One of the members, Eva Maria Vasquez, was born in Nagano Prefecture and she had a Spanish father and a Japanese mother. Once the group broke up in 1974, Vasquez continued on as a solo singer and a tarento on television.
At one point, Vasquez was either in a group or simply called herself Eva Marie & Saints（エバ・マリー&セインツ）, probably as a cute shoutout to the Hollywood actress Eva Marie Saint. In 1980, she released a single titled "I Love the Sunshine" which was written by Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）and composed by Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）. Despite the disco rhythm underneath, I'm not quite sure whether I would put this in the City Pop category. It just seems to hew a little closer to the aidoru side of things.
Following a pretty dreary April, May has been a pleasant month filled with sunshine and even some torrid temperatures. We can all agree that we love our sunshine.
Allow me some madness with my method. Yup, this is a photo of the bathroom in our cabin on the Harmony of the Seas where we took our Caribbean cruise back in 2017.
The reason is that the LP featured here in this article is "Shower no Ato de"（シャワーのあとで...After Takin' Shower）, the late Naomi Kawashima's（川島なお美）3rd album released in July 1983. Among the tracks is arguably her most successful song "Gemini".
However, there is also the opening track which sets things rather nicely for all of those City Pop fans. "Brunch ga Dekiru made" (Until Brunch is Ready) is a rather ironic choice for today because I had written about another morning meal via Yuko Ohtaki's（大滝裕子）"No Thank You Breakfast, Mama"（ノー・サンキュー・ブレックファースト、ママ）earlier. The strange thing though is that Ohtaki's song sounds more like a country crossover whereas the sunny-side up "Brunch ga Dekiru made" has much more of a similarity to Ohtaki's famous tune "Koi no Warming Up"（恋のウォーミング アップ）with the horns and the really upbeat melody by Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）under Kazuo Shiina's（椎名和夫）arrangement. Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）handled the lyrics.
There's nothing like having a sumptuous brunch while looking out the Tokyo Prince or the Keio Plaza or even the Harmony of the Seas!
I'm going to be coming at this song from a peculiar angle this time and start off by mentioning the breakout character of Ranko Mannen（万年嵐子）from the currently running anime "Akiba Meido Senso"（アキバ冥途戦争...Akiba Maid War） played by seiyuu Rina Sato（佐藤利奈）. Sato also sings the Keiko Fuji（藤圭子）-worthy ending theme, but Ranko herself is reminiscent of the kickass actress Meiko Kaji（梶芽衣子）.
However, if there were ever a live-action version of "Akiba Maid War" and I could pluck an understudy actress to play Ranko from anywhere in time and space, I would select then 1980s actress/singer Junko Mihara（三原じゅん子）. Just based on her low vocals and the fact that when I first saw her on the 1982 Kohaku Utagassen looking all tough singing "Honki de Love Me Good"（ホンキでLove Me Good), I'd say that she would also be ideal as a one-woman army dressed as a maid. Nowadays, though, Mihara is too busy being a parliamentarian in the Japanese Diet.
It's been a few years since I've had Mihara up on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but I've got another song from her 1983 album"Windy City ~ Junko in Chicago", and it happens to be the opening track "Yoru wa Blank" (The Night's a Blank). But first off, I've got to apologize profusely since although I posted another track from "Windy City" back in 2019 titled "Silky Rain"（シルキー・レイン）, I forgot to state via time stamp that "Silky Rain" was the third track at 7:42 (now corrected). Since I posted the video of the entire album on that article, people would have thought that the song was the first one, "Yoru wa Blank", instead of the one at its proper position as Track 3. I gather that my mind was a blank back then.
Anyways, instead of the mix of City Pop and pop/rock that "Silky Rain" contains, "Yoru wa Blank" has its ratio of genres bending more toward the City Pop side of things. Reading that title, I take it that things got a little wild that one night in the Windy City but man, I can't deny the cool musical accompaniment, thanks to Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）. It's got quite the rollicking rhythm of driving through Chicago in a sports car, and my compliments to the popping piano and the electric guitar. Etsuko Kisugi（来生えつこ）took care of the lyrics.
I have to also remind myself that although City Pop has a couple of Junkos in the lead: Ohashi（大橋純子）and Yagami（八神純子）, Mihara has also dabbled into the cool metropolitan music although as the YouTuber who posted the above video noted, she was more into the power pop and hard rock genres. Perhaps now, she's into the power politics and hard debating of passing bills.
Happy Monday! Temperatures are up to a balmy 14 degrees C today. Maybe in Tokyo, that might be the signal that the dreaded winter is heading their way but here in Toronto, that's cause to believe that summer is making a heady return near the end of the year.
Well, then, how about putting up an appropriately summery aidoru tune to start off this work week? Here is Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）with her "Ai no Shinwa" (Love Legend), and this was a track from her 3rd album, the May 1981"Silhouette". The song shares space with the aidoru's big hit "Natsu no Tobira"（夏の扉）which was the very first Seiko-chan song that I ever heard.
The lyrics of cute puppy love romance were provided by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and the bouncy oh-so-early-80saidoru-friendly melody came from Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）. Keyboardist Kazuo Nobuta（信田かずお）took care of the arrangement and that intro reminded me of something very AOR until Oda's melody settled into that familiar early Seiko summer music (although the galloping beat still leaves some resonance of that genre), and Nobuta is known for his partnership with guitarist Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）in the one-off project The Milky Way which begat the 1979 album"Summertime Love Song".
"Ai no Shinwa" actually finishes "Silhouette" which I thought was interesting since I would have thought that a ballad would be the usual type of song to end an album from that time, but I have no complaints here. It's a positive way to end things and Seiko's slightly squeaky vocals remind me of how early in her career this was. I especially like how she delivers the line "Ai wa echo, ai wa echo"（愛はエコー、愛はエコー...Love is an echo） and again that galloping beat. In a way, I think that this would have been an ideal song for Lynn Minmay of "Macross" fame. The album, by the way, got as high as No. 2 on Oricon.
This is the first time that I've brought singer, guitarist and songwriter Yuuichi Ikuzawa（生沢佑一）into the KKP fold. Born in 1958 in Osaka as Kazuya Miura（三浦知也）, he made his debut under the stage name of Tomoya Dan（弾ともや）in 1974 with "Doyoubi no Gogo no Rock n' Roll"（土曜の午後のロックン・ロール...Saturday Afternoon Rock n' Roll）, and throughout his career since, he's been getting involved with a number of bands such as the 1970s Rosemarie, Twinzer and even a mid-1990s collaboration with Takahiro Matsumoto（松本孝弘）of B'z fame called Rock'n Roll Standard Club.
But taking on the new moniker of Yuuichi Ikuzawa, he released his first solo album"Mysterious", in 1983 and I gather that he was also into the City Pop of the times. Case in point, his "Everyday" which sounds like a morning type of the urban contemporary with the trumpet and the jingling keyboards. Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）was behind the lyrics while Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）took care of the mellow melody.
I do like "Everyday" and one reason is that the arrangement is quite similar to the one for the theme song of the ABC sitcom "Too Close For Comfort" which ran between 1980 and 1983. I really liked that theme as well and the opening credits which showed a very soothing and inviting scene of San Francisco life. Johnny Mandel was the one behind the theme and he was also the composer for the theme from the movie and then the CBS show "MASH" as well as the standard "The Shadow of Your Smile".
Returning to Ikuzawa, as a musician he was also involved with a number of 90s hits that I've already written about: "Hateshinai Yume wo"（果てしない夢を）by the group collaboration of ZYYG, REV, ZARD & WANDS, Maki Ohguro's（大黒摩季）"La, La, La"（ら・ら・ら）and ZARD's "Makenaide" (負けないで）.
Looks like parts of the Great White North have become the Great Red North. The West Coast is blazing with heat and humidity and the same appears to be happening in Ontario. At least, it's not a new thing here in Toronto. As I've always said, weather in this neck of the woods is predictably unpredictable.
Perhaps the same can be said about the aidoru industry in the 1980s. All of these solo teenage acts were pouring into the entertainment industry but probably the vast majority of them had their five minutes of fame before fading away with a relative few becoming superstars. I've covered a few of them over the years with "Kayo Kyoku Plus", and another one is Norie Hayashi（林紀恵）.
A native of Sapporo, Hokkaido Prefecture, Hayashi may have been bitten by the show business bug, according to an August 1981 issue of "Kindai Eiga"（近代映画...Modern Movies） via J-Wiki, thanks to getting voted as the most popular student in her elementary school due to her optimistic and refreshing personality and then becoming interested in aidoru Mako Ishino（石野真子）when Hayashi became a junior high school student. Following the auditioning process through talent agency HoriPro, she made her own aidoru debut at the age of 16 in the spring of 1981.
Her 2nd single which came out later that year in June was "Suteki na Love Motion" (Splendid Love Motion), a typically breezy summer song with a touch of 50s. Written by Kaoru Asagi（麻木かおる）and composed by Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）with Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）handling the arrangement, Hayashi didn't have the usual way-up-high vocals that other singers such as Seiko Matsuda and Naoko Kawai（松田聖子・河合奈保子）had but at least for "Suteki na Love Motion", she had some of that bubbly energy.
Also, according to her J-Wiki bio, Hayashi had a couple of roles on TV dramas and even a stint on a variety show. However, her singing career was very short with only 4 singles, a full album and a mini-album up to 1982. In 1983, once she graduated from high school, Hayashi decided that she would also call it a day to her time as an aidoru because she broke a cardinal rule of being one: she had a romance with a cameraman's assistant and the news got out to HoriPro. Not being able to date freely was one factor in her decision to leave show business and then move back to Hokkaido.
Happy weekend! It certainly feels like summer is coming to our home and native land...should be hitting 23 degrees Celsius today, the highest temperature so far in Toronto this year and I've already turned on my fan behind me. 80s aidoru Hidemi Ishikawa（石川秀美）has the right idea...it's time for fishing.
Under the circumstances, although summer is officially still 5 weeks away, I think with how warm and sunny things are out there, perhaps we can jump the gun and proceed with a summery aidoru tune by Ishikawa called "Hito Natsu no Dekigoto" (One Summer Happening). This is a track from her debut album"Fairy"（妖精）released in September 1982, and it was composed by the late Yuuichiro Oda（小田裕一郎）and written by Jun Kuroe（クロエジュン）. Kuroe just happened to be Oda's pen name when he had his lyricist's cap on.
Well, when it comes to Ishikawa's vocals...well...she does sound like a newbie aidoru.😏 However having said that, she is surrounded by a pretty funky and perhaps hybrid beat in that it has that bit of City Pop (although not quite enough for me to categorize it as so) and somewhat more of an appealing technopop sheen. The synthesizers are the thing that has had me enjoying "Hito Natsu no Dekigoto" more than I should.
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