ribbon -- Ai no Diary（愛のダイアリー）

 

To be honest, I didn't pay too much attention to the aidoru groups of the early 1990s although I do possess a few of the decade's "Myojo"（明星）magazine issues that had them within their pages such as ribbon and CoCo. These were the last groups before the so-called Aidoru Winter of that decade when it seemed as if the concept and genre of the female teenybopper singers had been thrown onto the pop music ash heap of history (it really only lasted a few years while the Komuro Steamroller took over the pop culture zeitgeist in the mid-90s before Morning Musume came onto the scene).

Marcos V. was the first KKP writer to bring the aidoru group ribbon onto our humble pages when he posted his thoughts on their 1990 2nd single "Soba ni Iru ne" (そばにいるね...I'm By Your Side) back in 2014. The trio consisted of Hiromi Nagasaku（永作博美）, Arimi Matsuno（松野有里巳）and Aiko Sato（佐藤愛子）and I think Nagasaku has been the member that has lasted the longest in Japanese show business since she has gone into acting and appearing on TV programs as a tarento. Above is a popular segment where Nagasaku goes through a rather intense foot massage.

I managed to find my own ribbon song titled "Ai no Diary" (Diary of Love) which is special from a few angles. For one thing, it's one of the group's entries that was never put onto a single or a regular album, only appearing up until that point in their June 1993 BEST compilation "More Delicious ribbon Best II" which peaked at No. 45 on Oricon. Another thing is that "Ai no Diary" had been written and composed by the late Shinji Tanimura（谷村新司）whose tribute I gave a few weeks ago on hearing about his death on October 8th.

Tanimura had created songs for many singers such as the classic "Ii Hi Tabidachi" (いい日旅立ち) for Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）all the way back in 1978, and my impression of him as a songwriter was that he made these elegant ballads that belonged in the New Adult Music realm of Japanese popular music; not enka but not totally pop either. So it was with some surprise to realize that he came up with "Ai no Diary" for an aidoru group like ribbon. Indeed, it's also unusual for the fact that the song is quite long at over 5 1/2 minutes. However, it's worth listening to under Hiroshi Shinkawa's（新川博）arrangement. It's an aidoru song of that decade, to be sure, with the synths and all that, but at the same time, I can actually hear Tanimura's voice (spiritually speaking) in the trio's vocals and his lyrics have that familiar reassuring pat on the shoulder for anyone who's going through tough times. It's almost like a "Subaru"（昴）for aidoru.

I was reading about ribbon's fate on J-Wiki and it seems as if unlike the cases with the other aidoru groups in that decade, Nagasaku and company didn't have any official finale in terms of their songs, albums or concerts or any announcements of a breakup. Basically, their end was characterized by a very long fade beginning at the end of 1993 with what would be their 13th and final single in October, "Yoake Nante Iranai"（夜明けなんていらない...What Do I Need a Sunrise For?）. J-Wiki would note the final album, concert and other appearances on TV and such in a timeline which would extend as far as 1994, maybe 1995 with the feeling that not even the members were sure when the end would be or whether it had already happened. 😦

ribbon -- Soba ni Iru ne (そばにいるね)

There was a time, in the late 80s/early 90s when aidoru was quickly becoming an obsolete aesthetic. Contrary to this sad chapter in aidoru’s history, a TV show called Paradise GoGo!! (田代まさしのパラダイスGoGo!!) trained a number of young girls and formed famous aidoru groups like CoCo and ribbon, and also soloists, like Yuko Hanashima (花島優子) and Michiyo Nakajima (中嶋美智代), during that period.

ribbon was a trio formed in 1989, and their first single, “Little Date” (リトル☆デイト), was used in the Ranma ½ (らんま½) anime. The group lasted four years, from 1989 to 1993, but even though active for just a few years, they released seven albums and thirteen singles, giving the fans a lot to have fun with.

“Soba ni Iru ne” was ribbon’s second single, released in April 1990. At first, I didn’t give too much attention to it, but, after a few more listens, the lovely melody from the pre-chorus, as well as the dated synths, just caught me. Also, as was the case with CoCo and other Paradise GoGo!!’s aidoru acts, ribbon seemed like a return to the aidoru’s innocent times after the more Eurobeat/dance-oriented divas like Chisato Moritaka (森高千里) and the girl band boom of the late 80s.

"Soba ni Iru ne" was used in the anime “Time Travel Tondekeman” (たいむとらぶる トンデケマン!). It reached #9 on the Oricon charts. Lyrics for the song were written by Yoshiko Miura (三浦徳子), while music and arrangement were done by Goto Tsugutoshi (後藤次利).

Source: generasia.com