Chisato Moritaka -- OVERHEAT NIGHT (オーバーヒート・ナイト)

Today I’m going to talk about “OVERHEAT NIGHT”, the second single released by Chisato Moritaka (森高千里), in October 1987. After talking specifically about the song, I make some considerations about the fashion style portrayed by Moritaka and some other sexy idols that were active during the late 80s/early 90s.

In general, “OVERHEAT NIGHT” is a disco inspired song with some eurobeat elements. We can find three different versions of the song in Moritaka’s discography. The single edit version, the full album version found in the “Mi-Ha” album (ミーハー) and the “new recording” version found on the “Moritaka Land” best album (森高ランド). The version presented in the beginning of the article is the single edit and its video features a young and not-very-sexy Moritaka. My favorite one, however, might be the “Moritaka Land” version. Therefore, I decided to share the version performed on the “Mite Special Live” (見て ~スペシャル~ ライヴ) from 1989 (one of my favorite idol concerts ever) because it is similar to the one found on the “Moritaka Land” compilation. This specific recording of the song is even more disco inspired, with a groovy bassline and some nice synth work. Also, we can note that Chisato, during the “Mite Special Live”, makes use of her typical and famous sexy/pin-up persona.

Making some comparisons, we can relate Moritaka’s music to Minako Tanaka (田中美奈子), Aya Sugimoto (杉本彩) and Reiko Katou (かとうれいこ), three idols that were relying heavily in disco/eurobeat inspired songs at the time. About Minako Tanaka, I remember that when I first watched her singing in a TV show, she was almost a replica of Chisato Moritaka: the long/straight/black hair, the up-body outfits, the mini-skirts and, of course, THE LEGS (in my humble opinion, Moritaka’s were better). Aya Sugimoto and Reiko Katou, on the other hand, were overly sexual examples of late 80s/early 90s idol. So, based on these four girls (Chisato, Minako, Aya and Reiko), we can see that a different kind of idol, not focused just on the cute look, was emerging in Japan around the late 80s/early 90s. Therefore, it’s quite suggestive that during the so-called “winter era of idols” or “idol cold age” (Idols and Celebrity in Japanese Media Culture. PALGRAVE MACMILLAN, 2012, p. 24), this new kind of feminine representation came to light in the Japanese idol world.

Take a look at the videos below. The songs are, respectively, “Tell Me” (1989) by Minako Tanaka, “B&S” (1989) by Aya Sugimoto and "Listen To Your Heart" (1990) by Reiko Katou. In general, they are good pieces of late 80s dance-pop music, so enjoy the songs and the girls’ charms.

Although I’m not a late 80s fashion expert, I noticed that Chisato and Minako were influenced by some outfits used in England during the SAW (“Stock Aitken Waterman” production team) heyday. I selected, for example, a performance by singer Sinitta. The name of the campy/cheesy song is “Toy Boy” (1987) and the male dancers’ choreography/outfits are creepy as hell, so forget them and focus on Sinitta, please. Basically, we can see that her clothes are not so far away from the outfits used by the two sexy Japanese idols mentioned above. 

Curiously, I remember watching a 2007 Japanese comedy/sci-fi movie called “Bubble Fiction: Boom or Bust” (バブルへGO!! タイムマシンはドラム式) and, as the title reveals, the movie is passed in 1990, when the bubble economy times were going down of the roof. The plot is kinda cheap and is not very interesting for this article, but the hairstyle and outfits used by the actresses (not Ryoko Hirosue [広末涼子], the main one, because she was a time traveler from 2007) were very similar to the ones used by Chisato Moritaka and Minako Tanaka. As I didn’t live/visit Japan at the time (I couldn’t as I was born in 1990), I can’t really tell if that kind of look was trendy, but based on Chisato, Minako and this particular movie, I created some sort of image of Japanese girls fashion during the late 80s/early 90s. Also, I don’t know if this fashion style was common in the United States as well. I need to check this better someday. But take a look at one scene of the movie below. The song playing in the background is, of course, "Diamonds" by PRINCESS PRINCESS (プリンセス プリンセス), the number one song of the year 1989.

As I said earlier, “OVERHEAT NIGHT” was Moritaka’s second single, released in October 1987. The single reached #24 on the weekly Oricon chart and sold around 22,000 copies (source: generasia). The song was placed in a full format in her second album “Mi-Ha”, released in March 1988. It was later included in three compilations: “Moritaka Land” (1989), “The Best Selection of First Moritaka 1987-1993” (1999) and “The Singles” (2012). The song was written by Hiromasa Ijichi (伊秩弘将) while the music and arrangement were made by Saito Hideo (斉藤英夫).

Even though “OVERHEAT NIGHT” isn’t Moritaka’s best, I enjoy it a lot, and it was one of her first songs that hooked me. So I consider it a special song.

To end this article, here’s a photo of my own copy of “The best Selection of First Moritaka 1987-1993” compilation. “OVERHEAT NIGHT” is the second song from the first disc.

KAN -- Mayumi (まゆみ)

It's always tricky for me to talk about KAN without being entirely subjective, but I guess that's what happens when you listen to a quirky artist whose little idiosyncrasies match your own. However, "Mayumi" (まゆみ) is one of those songs that I can recommend to pretty much anyone because it doesn't require you to get drunk on vodka or hyper on Red Bull to "get it"... it's just a beautiful melodious piece with a strong hook in the chorus. KAN, of course, still gets to show off his charming personality in the lyrics as a timid guy willing to become a punching bag for his moody Mayumi while hoping that she forgives his faults. I like this humble approach to the "never give up in love" theme. Let's hope Mayumi gives him another chance.

"Mayumi" was KAN's 15th single released in March 1993, peaking at No.17 on Oricon and charting for about 14 weeks before ending the run with 181,890 copies sold. It became his second highest selling single after "Ai wa Katsu", but only enjoyed a tiny portion of the latter song's success. The song first appeared on his seventh album Tokyoman before being given the single status a month later. In terms of composition, it doesn't deliberately sample other artists' music (an uncommon feat for KAN), except for the melody in the interlude, which was inspired by the intro of The Beatles' "Magical Mystery Tour". In fact, during his 90's concerts KAN would often start his performances of "Mayumi" with the "Magical Mystery Tour" intro.

The song was also used as a CM jingle for Asahi's Mitsuya Cider. This version features the chorus singing 'Cider~' in place of KAN's 'Ooo~'s. Just hearing that word makes me crave the yummy apple drink, even though it's not the product advertised in the CM.

Yellow Magic Orchestra -- Behind The Mask

I don’t wanna talk about it (Let’s talk about it).

Actually, Yellow Magic Orchestra is a silly name, admitted Ryuichi Sakamoto to Daily Telegraph in 2011. But he liked it. “It’s half way between black magic and white magic, and we’re Asian musicians, so yellow is about right, no? And we liked the idea of an orchestra with only three people. I was the composer and the brains. They called me the professor.” 

For a professor it was difficult to suddenly meet screaming teenage girls wherever they played. It didn't help that in the beginning of 1980's artists were required to wear make-up and Sakamoto was supposed to sing his own songs. “It was very hard to adjust,” sighed Sakamoto, “because I never wanted to be centre stage. I love to be anonymous.”

Anonymous, or better… behind the mask?

Behind The Mask, the probably most famous composition by Ryuichi Sakamoto, was in repertoire already during the first YMO live recording at Yubin Chokin Kaikan in October 18, 1978. The ticking sound of the song fitted perfectly to Seiko quartz watch commercial that made it known before it was officially recorded.

When we look closer, the song is almost ridiculously simple, as pop classics often are. However, the chords Sakamoto used [F-Db-Eb-Cm] were not common at all and gave the tune an ambiguous character. It’s an ambient composition with many sides and many possibilities. During the next decades all the possibilities were mapped by various artists.

Haruomi Hosono (細野 晴臣) raises his hands up. “We didn’t recognise at all that it was to become a classic! We considered it a failed production.” The recording for album “Solid State Survivor” took five days. In his book Hideki Matsutake revealed that the recording was made in the following order: 1. Base, 2. Arpeggio, 3. Kick (MOOG III-C), 4. Snare and hi-hat (Yukihiro Takahashi 高橋 幸宏), 5. Melody, 6. Vocoder (Ryuichi Sakamoto 坂本 龍一).

English lyrics to the song were written by Chris Mosdell. Sakamoto already had the melody line when he asked poet and lyricist Mosdell to write lyrics. He based it on the imagery of a Japanese traditional Noh mask, combined with a Yeats poem The Mask. On Mosdell homepage is stated "Having recently seen Yeats’ Noh play At Hawk’s Well in Tokyo, Chris sat down and wrote lyrics based on a premise that was similar to that of the poem. But he gave the wearer of the mask an inert nature, in keeping with his image of a depersonalized society in a technological time."

(Tokyo Dome 1993)

I like the above 1980 Nippon Budokan version most, because of Akiko Yano’s cute little crouches. Unfortunately we can’t see much of them, because video director couldn’t resist brand new editing technology, and he using it a lot. Something against radio junk, I suppose. Stylish shirts, though.

The next chapter was the most surprising one. Michael Jackson used his magic touch and wrote additional lyrics to the beginning of song. The reason was simple: his producer, famed Quincy Jones, loved the track. During Jones' trip to Japan he was introduced to the song by Kuni Murai, the president of Alfa Records. "Jones thought it was a perfect vehicle for the new album of Michael Jackson that he was producing, so he took it back to Los Angeles and presented it to Michael", Mosdell remembers. Jones and Jackson turned the techno piece into a funky R&B disco hit.

Behind The Mask was supposed to be released in Michael Jackson’s album Thriller in 1982. As you recall, Thriller still is the most sold music album in the history. However, Michael Jackson’s Behind The Mask never progressed further from demo version.

We will never know what really happened,  The known “facts” have some discrepancies. One theory says Michael Jackson requested 50% of credits, copyright and royalties for his massive input of 10 extra lines. YMO refused. Another story claims that the track was already completed (questionable) and YMO wanted to review it, but Michael refused. On the other hand there is indeed a thematical and conceptual dissonance between Behind The Mask and the rest of the songs of Thriller. It is easy to see why Behind The Mask was shelved.

Actually, making Thriller was a mess. "After editing the final cut I took Michael home, and he went to sleep on the couch," said Jones to Rolling Stone magazine. "Three hours later we went back to the studio and listened to the acetate. Biggest piece of shit in life! We were horrified. So we took two days off, then spent the next eight days remixing. One song a day. We put those babies in the pocket." During these circumstances there was no time to pay any attention to the over 100 candidate songs. They were too busy trying to salvage the damn album.

Michael Jackson’s Behind The Mask remained unreleased till his death. The unreleased tapes were dug out from Sony’s vault and published in 2010 as a posthumous album “Michael”. Instruments were added to demo and thus the world heard for the first time the Michael Jackson version. Please note that this is definitely not the Jones/Jackson version, if it ever was finished in the first place. It's more a "Bad" Jackson with dry sounds.

So, after the Thriller sessions, there existed an unused song with Michael Jackson lyrics waiting for somebody to pick it up. That one happened to be Greg Phillinganes, a keyboard player and a trusted session musician. Rumours have said up to this day that it was Michael Jackson himself who was singing backing vocals on Phillinganes’ version. Arrangement is pure Michael Jackson: a sharp dance hit that was seen rising on European charts in summer 1985. Greg Phillinganes’ version must be the closest idea to how MJ’s Behind The Mask had sounded like, if it ever was to be included on Thriller.

It is very suitable that this video shows the Japanese issue of Phillinganes’ album. Does it really say “Super Premium Black” on cover?

The story doesn’t end here. A chap called Eric Clapton was recruiting musicians to assist him during his “August” album session and the following world tour in 1986. Here comes to the picture a keyboard player from Los Angeles called Greg Phillinganes, who happened to play one of his recorded tracks and Clapton became interested. Clapton was recovering from his addictions and wanted to announce in his album that he is back and open to modern sounds.

The following clip (sorry but the clip has been erased by YouTube; I've left something else in its place) features a real All-Star Band. Jools Holland (keys), Mark King (bass), Phil Collins (drums), and Eric Clapton (solo guitar). You can never guess that the song is Behind The Mask. No, I am serious. During all these transformations a Sakamoto techno piece had become a funky R&B hit, and Clapton recreates it once again into something new: a solid and angry rock number with stinging guitar solos.

See how the world goes around.

So, what was left to Sakamoto? He re-recorded Behind The Mask in 1987 with Michael Jackson’s added lyrics. In the next century Sakamoto went acoustic and shaped his old song into a mixture of classical concert music and jazz. His live concerts in Seoul in 2011 were delivered to 288 000 viewers via Ustream. The lucky viewers who weren’t lagging or pulled off line had an opportunity to hear this arrangement for two pianos. It’s a Behind The Mask by Debussy.

The mysterious mask has been wandering from hand to hand amongst musicians for decades and it has appeared in multitude of magical shades, yellow, black and white. We still don’t know who or what is really behind the mask, but perhaps it’s not an important question at all. As Yeats said in his poem "O no, my dear, let all that be; What matter, so there is but fire, In you, in me?"

Heaven must be pleased.

Pink Lady -- Chameleon Army (カメレオン・アーミー）

I can imagine the legendary duo of Pink Lady being compared to the late and just-as-legendary James Brown. Mie and Kei were probably the hardest-working ladies in Japanese show business at their peak with all that choreography done over and over again on whichever show or concert stage they appeared on. Whether it be "UFO" or "Southpaw", they could've started their own exercise regimen...and been darn successful at it.

However, it's this song, "Chameleon Army" that apparently had Pink Lady REALLY kicking it up to high gear. According to J-Wiki, of all of their songs, this is the one that had the largest number of moves. And watching the videos above and below, I can see it. I lost a kilogram just watching it. And strangely enough, it's the one song that I don't really remember all that well compared to the other hits. Written and composed by their regular songwriting duo of Yu Aku (阿久悠）and Shunichi Togura(都倉俊一）, the lyrics are about the girls threatening to unleash hell via a massive group of colourful reptiles if the listener is not good. Considering how much the Japanese love their animals, I frankly think it's the chameleons that should be afraid. Musically, I think it's probably the most disco song that I've heard by them so far.

I bow to their amazing endurance and strength! It was also mentioned in the J-Wiki article about the song that because of the frantic complexity of the moves, mistakes did happen a fair bit during the live performances, but I think the above videos had them on their "A"game.

Released in December 1978, "Chameleon Army" is notable for being a song that actually started out way down in the Oricon pack at No. 88, only to warp up to No. 1 a week later, where it would stay for over a month (the record has been since superseded by the group SPEED with "All My True Love" in 1998). It is also notable for the fact that their 10th single would become their final No. 1 tune although Pink Lady was only halfway through their history of 22 singles. But what a way to end their run of No. 1s! The single, by the way, would end up as the 10th-ranked single of 1979. It also sold 700,000 records according to Oricon, but the issuing studio of Victor boasted a much higher total of 1.25 million; of course, it would. And the final point is that "Chameleon Army" charted for a grand total of 63 weeks...that record has yet to be broken.

Apparently, 90s duo Puffy did their tribute to the song but unfortunately, I couldn't find a video of their cover.

EuroX -- Galient World – Run For Your Life (ガリアン・ワールド -Run For Your Life-)

Why in the world a Japanese band would call itself Eurox? Is this some kind of inside joke? “Oh yeah, we wanted to be EroX, but they said it wouldn’t do…” Well, not really. I smell a different pun here. “ユーロックス” can be read as well “You rocks”. 

Half of katakana jokes still go over my head. (Only half? I am showing progress!)

Anime music changed drastically around 1982-1984. Gone were the march songs sung by childrens’ choirs and overtly masculine performances by Ichiro Mizuki and Isao Sasaki. New anime music was based on pop rhythms and disco beat, and soon it expanded to rock. It’s open to discussion when this new era officially began (I’d pinpoint Creamy Mami ED2, Love Sarigenaku, ep 28, January 13 1984. It was important.), but there were certain series that were leading the movement: Macross of course, shojo series like Creamy Mami and Nanako SOS, Urusei Yatsura – and Panzer World Galient (機甲界ガリアン).

Panzer World Galient was a typical TV budget mecha show, where cars looked like boxes, characters and mechas were copied from all the previous mecha series as always, and story of medieval world with mechas was to become imitated many times during next decades. Nothing to see here, keep going. (Though you'd perhaps like to take a look at Escaflowne, but that's a different matter.)

The opening Galient World –Run For Your Life- and ending Hoshi no ichibyou were composed and performed by Eurox, a progressive rock band that was founded in Tokyo in 1984. Most musicians had met each other in their previous band TAO. The lineup consisted of Tsutomu Kurihara (栗原務 guitar), Tatsuo Nozawa (野澤竜郎 drums), Haruo Okano (岡野治雄 bass), Asato Sekine (関根安里 keys, violin), and Hiroshi Nemoto (根本博 vocals). In addition to Galient the band recorded themes for Saint Seiya.

Eurox’s very first single Cold Line was a CM song for Suntory. It was also released in Italy, where the record sold 20 000 copies.

The single Galient World sold 170 000 copies in 1984. These two singles were so noteworthy that the band was contacted by British music industry and they were offered an opportunity to warm up for Level 42 during their UK tour! At the moment Level 42 was becoming a chartbuster in Europe with songs like Something About You, Lessons In Love, and Running In The Family. However, vocalist Nemoto left EUROX unexpectedly and an important opportunity was missed.

During the 1980’s Eurox worked with Akina Nakamori in album Fushigi (please see TATTOO review), but the band broke up before the end of decade. After 20 years of inactivity the band made a comeback in year 2009 to compile a new album with old and new material. In album “Dig From The Past” Galient World was arranged with dark colours and majestic dimensions. But how, how this new arrangement happen to sound more 1980's vintage than the original? Or is it just me?

Vocalist MNEMO has an active blog. http://mnemosyneoforion.blog.so-net.ne.jp/

In 1984 the years when record companies would pay money to have their hottest artists featured in anime tunes were yet to come. The most of anime music in year 1984 was still rather old-fashioned. This contrast made Eurox sound so impressive. Time has treated this track really well. Galient anime has been thrown somewhere in the dustbin of history and its world hasn’t been able to revive, but Galient World – Run For Your Life sounds still as fresh as in the time of the original release 30 years ago. It’s energetic, timeless music.

There is an English version too.

Sonoko Kawai -- Jessy no Higeki (ジェシーの悲劇)

This entry is actually a response of sorts to the discussion about idols and artistic freedom that took place in the comment section of Marcos V's entry on Akina Nakamori's hit "Aibu". Do check it out if you haven't yet. It's an interesting read. :)

Sonoko Kawai (河合その子), also known as the Onyanko Club (おニャン子クラブ) member #12, had a relatively short but nonetheless intriguing career. When she joined Onyanko Club in 1985 at the age of 20, she became an instant favorite among the fans for her cute looks and sweet voice. She launched her solo career that same year with the release of the single "Namida no Jasmine Love" (涙の茉莉花LOVE) in September 1985. She graduated from the group in 1986 but still continued singing her old lightweight songs such as "Aoi Station" and "Saikai no Labyrinth".

By 1987, it became evident that swaying from side to side in frilly dresses to cute tunes just wasn't Sonoko's thing, and she threw her old image away to pursue ambitions in songwriting. Her seventh single "Jessy", renamed to "Jessy no Higeki" (ジェシーの悲劇.....Jessy's Tragedy) on her fourth album Rouge et Bleu, marked a real step in that direction and was even marketed as a self-produced single during its promotion campaign. The cover image of Rouge at Bleu you see above features Sonoko looking somber in a ballerina-like costume, hinting at the dark atmosphere of the music contained within. Tsugutoshi Goto (後藤次利), who composed and arranged all of her previous singles, was still present here, but he and Sonoko seemed to enter into a different conversation. She was finally given leeway to choose the material she wanted to sing, a feat that she would repeat for the rest of Rouge at Bleu and the albums following it while gradually taking control in the composing department. She peaked artistically in 1990 with her seventh album Replica, where she composed and produced all of the tracks. However, this was to be her final release: she retired from the music business in 1994 after marrying Goto.

I chose to write about the album version of "Jessy" because this arrangement sounds so beautifully bone-chilling compared to its relatively inferior sister. I can just picture the song playing behind a dramatic scene from an eighteenth-century French play. According to J-Wiki, Sonoko's artistic director suggested to her and Goto to go for a European classical music effect, as evident in the song's march-like drum rhythm and the blend of piano, guitars and synthesizer that seems to channel an orchestra. Masumi Kawamura (川村真澄) rewrote the lyrics of the original to change the melancholic mood of "Jessy" into a desperate one of "Jessy no Higeki". And let's not forget Sonoko's painful tone that echoes all over the piece. This was no longer the sweet idol everyone knew from her Onyanko Club days, but a real dramatic singer.

Here's the single version of the song (unfortunately that video was taken down) that was released in June 1987, about one month prior to Rouge et Bleu. It peaked at No.3 on Oricon weeklies and charted for nine weeks, selling 78,000 copies.

Source: generasia

Jitterin' Jinn -- Everyday

(cover version)

Just goes to show how much time has flown by when a song and band that I saw as one of the Nouvelle Vague of Japanese popular music now looks so quaintly nostalgic. Case in point: Jitterin' Jinn's debut single, "Everyday".

I actually first encountered the song when its commercial came on TV showing the Betty Boop-like Reiko Harukawa(春川玲子） singing/nearly yodeling this strangely rockabilly tune. It was only a couple of months after I'd started putting up stakes in Gunma, so I quickly got a taste of what Japanese music was starting to change into. There was a lot more rawness coming from the new talent...not any of the studio-produced aidoru or pop singers, but folks who looked and sounded as if they came straight from their busking piece of ground outside the subway stations.

Written and composed by Jinta Hashi（破矢ジンタ）, the guitarist for the group, "Everyday" is Reiko's lament about a lost love in the big city as she studiously pretends to forget about it while she and the listeners know the real truth of the matter. It is also a track on Jitterin' Jinn's first album, "DOKIDOKI" which came out in November of that year and peaked at No. 5 on the Oricon weeklies.

I wasn't charmed enough by the song that I went out and got that particular single but I have gone out and bought "Natsu Matsuri" （夏祭り...Summer Festival) and one other single by the group. However, I am happy that I've got YouTube to tide me over until I grab that BEST compilation.

By the way, as for the derivation of the name, during the band's amateur days, Harukawa and the gang went by "The Snufkin", after the character on Tove Jansson's "Moomin", but since going pro with that name would mean sending hefty royalty payments to Europe, they went with something a bit more creative. "Jitterin'" came from that old dance "The Jitterbug" while "Jinn" was brought on board from the age-old story of  "Aladdin". I gather that the statute of limitations no longer applied to the latter tale.