Ringo Shiina -- Sid to Hakuchumu （シドと白昼夢）

You might consider this a follow-up from a couple of sources. First, "Sid to Hakuchumu" (Sid and the Daydream) was a track on Ringo Shiina's（椎名林檎）great 1st album, "Muzai Moratorium"（無罪モラトリウム）. Unfortunately, I didn't include the song into that article, so I'm making one up right here for it. And then I did mention it in the article for her 7th single, "Mayonaka no Junketsu"（真夜中の純潔）since a Big Band version existed as one of the extra songs on the CD.

The original version was written and composed by Shiina when she was 19 years old (so around 1997) but didn't get officially recorded until her debut album in 1999. I heard bits and pieces of "Sid to Hakuchumu" throughout the various music shows as "Muzai Moratorium" went up the charts, and listening to this song along with some of the other tracks, I just thought that this singer was definitely one interesting and scary lady. The shrieking vocals with that yakuza/Scottish burr didn't hurt either. Going back to "Sid to Hakuchumu", though, even listening to the version above, I could hear a bit of that jazziness through the bass beyond all that buzzy guitar and synth.

But I have to admit that I really became a fan of the song when I bought "Mayonaka no Junketsu" in 2001 and came upon the Big Band self-cover of "Sid". Arranged by composer/conductor Takayuki Hattori（服部隆之）, I just felt like Shiina got transported from the century's-end alleyways of Kabukicho to the studio stage of the Nat King Cole show in America in the 1950s. I don't know if there was ever an official video for this version but if there were, I could see the singer belting away in front of a tuxedoed big band with the stylized initials of "R.S." emblazoned in gold on each of the musicians' front stands. Legendary bandleaders Nelson Riddle and Lawrence Welk would have been green with envy. "Wunnerful, wunnerful" as Welk would have said.

Alice -- Champion （チャンピオン）

Another hit song for the folk/rock duo known as Alice（アリス）, "Champion" is a muscular song which has that cowboy twang and another English lyric that a lot of veteran karaoke singers of a certain age would know just like that: "You king of kings!"

Written and composed by leader Shinji Tanimura（谷村新司）, "Champion" was Alice's 14th single released in December 1978. The motif was boxing and that great match in the ring, and in fact, the model for the protagonist in the song was a half-Japanese/half-American boxer by the name of Cassius Naito (who also went by the name of Robert Williams Jr.) The song sounds like that all that training, running and warm-up towards the long walk towards the ring and the challenger thanks to the no-nonsense strumming and singing.

"Champion" definitely rung a bell in all of the listeners since it became Alice's biggest hit. It turned into a champion itself as it reached the top spot on Oricon and stayed there for almost a month between January and February 1979. The song eventually became the 8th-ranked song for 1979 and also got Tanimura and partner Takao Horiuchi（堀内孝雄） their ticket onto the Kohaku Utagassen.

And in the years since, it has also gotten shown on a lot of those Showa Era music retrospectives. There's nothing like a tune that gets you into that punching spirit.

Miyuki Nakajima -- Atai no Natsuyasumi (あたいの夏休み)

(karaoke version)

Thanks to various City Pop folks, the 80's have given us a fruitful amount of songs about summer vacations and resorts. Nothing like getting away from the mundane work life and relaxing (with that special someone) under the blazing summer sun somewhere far, far away... Miyuki Nakajima (中島みゆき), known for her heavy and often sobering approach to lyrics, also created a song about a summer vacation, but in her typical fashion she completely inverted the concept. Despite the flashy sound with a elaborate synths and a saxophone solo, "Atai no Natsuyasumi" (あたいの夏休み...My Summer Vacation), conveys some bitter reflections of a trapped and overworked woman who finally managed to earn three days off for a short vacation and it isn't quite as glamorous as one would hope. I'm not going to go into a blow-by-blow analysis of the lyrics (you can take a look at the full translation at the end of the entry), but I just found it interesting how Nakajima brought attention to the fact that even vacations are not created equal and that some people just have better time than others due to their life situation. Her angry tone here really suits the protagonist's grouchy ramblings.

The music itself is also very interesting. On the one hand there's that dense synthesized sound that brings back memories of techno kayo and yet it also sounds urban without crossing into City Pop. The way Nakajima fires those lines forward makes her look more like a rock star than a relaxed songbird. When she first started out, she used to sing these sad folk songs, but with years her compositions and vocals became bolder and more dramatic. That's the image she still carries nowadays (side note: her "Yakai" performances are awesome). In 1986, she made a move to record a few singles and her 14th studio album "36.5℃" in New York, which was produced by Yoshihiro Kai (甲斐よしひろ) from Kai Band (甲斐バンド) and co-produced by the singer herself. Continuing from her previous album, "miss.M", there was that characteristic 80's synth sound with some arena rock tracks and melancholy ballads thrown in. It was one of my early introductions to Nakajima's music and I enjoyed it from start to finish. "Atai no Natsuyasumi" definitely earned the single cut as it was one of the standouts. It peaked at No.14 on Oricon Weeklies. The album fared much better at No.2 spot.

As for personnel, the song was written and composed by Nakajima, while Tsugutoshi Goto (後藤次利) handled the arrangement. There were numerous familiar names behind the instruments like Jake H. Concepcion on sax and Hideo Yamaki (山木秀夫) on drums. This particular track features someone very special on the synthesizer: Stevie Wonder!

Here are the translated lyrics, courtesy of J-Canuck (thank you!):

The ladies in their short pants with the tempered edges
Strolling arm-in-arm like yakuza punks
This is cottage country, not an amusement area
The shadows of lace curtains, whispering voices
Staying at a hotel for 3 days with my saved-up money is my summer vacation
Having the weekly magazines read to me, I'll link them together
Drinking down the cold soup as if it were flung at me
Even in a bunk bed, it's my summer vacation

Summer vacation, just for me
Summer vacation, what remains of it

Nothing bad worth putting into the papers
Nothing amazing to get an award for
And then a year goes by slowly
Finally I get my 3 days for my summer vacation
The door of the honoured guest room has VIP in gold
A summer vacation that has been peered at, picked and laid out
After all, I'm no country hick
I get drunk on the booze that I'm used to, all sorts of things swirling around in my head

Summer vacation, just for me
Summer vacation, what remains of it

But, hey, this summer is different, ain't it?
The coasters that I bought last night at the souvenir store
are cheap stuff but they're not for me, are they?
However there is a small reason behind my summer vacation this year
The sad thing is my dresses getting old
The sad thing is just keeping on eating curry
But even sadder is crying by myself
So this is undoubtedly the summer vacation I earned for myself

Summer vacation, just for me
Summer vacation, what remains of it
Summer vacation, just for me
Summer vacation, what remains of it


And last but not least, it came with a trippy PV full of children and colorful hand-drawn art. Nicovideo has 2 minutes of it.

(Unfortunately, the Nicovideo has been taken down. Instead, here is a karaoke version.)

Source: tayune.com

Chie Yokoyama -- Happy Birthday

As much as I was a dedicated must-see-Thursday TV watcher when it came to Fuji-TV's comedy-variety show with the nutso duo of The Tunnels, the network also had my eyes and ears on Wednesday nights as well due to Kuniko Yamada's（山田邦子） "Yamadakatsutenai Terebi"（やまだかつてないテレビ） program at 9 p.m. The show also had an even bigger troupe of tarento helping the comedienne out such as singer-impressionist Hiroko Moriguchi, comedian Tsutomu Sekine and eye candy Saki Takaoka.

Then as I mentioned in the article for the duo Yamadakatsutenai Wink（やまだかつてないWink）, Yamada was looking for a partner with at least a passing resemblance to aidoru unit Wink half Sachiko Suzuki（鈴木早智子）to create their own ersatz Wink for the show. Through a contest, 16-year-old Chie Yokoyama（横山知枝）of Hiroshima Prefecture won the top prize and the opportunity to get into show business. I don't remember much about the contest itself, but I do remember seeing this new and very petite addition to the Yamadakatsutenai family standing side-by-side with Yamada as they did their own Wink-like songs such as "T-Intersection" in 1990.

And the year after, Yokoyama even got her chance to go solo as I saw the ending credits roll by to her debut, "Happy Birthday" with her smiling within a gently waving golden field. It was a pretty nice song to start with...a relaxing and pleasant aidoru tune written and composed by Ami Ozaki（尾崎亜美）; darn fine credentials backing Yokoyama up. The song was released in June 1991.

Once the show ended its run in 1992, Yokoyama entered Asia University to study in the Faculty of Business Administration. In the years since, she was popping up to sing at various events including a 1-day-only reunion of Yamadakatsutenai Wink in 2005. However, she finally called it quits in 2011 after an event in Shimo-Kitazawa, Tokyo, and is taking care of her family of husband and two kids.

Junichi Inagaki -- Dramatic Rain （ドラマティック・レイン）

While the aidorus such as Matchy（近藤真彦）, Toshi-chan（田原俊彦）and Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子） were bouncing all over the TV with their daytime happy music, the shibui folk like Akira Terao（寺尾聰）and Yoshitaka Minami（南佳孝）were providing the nights with their brand of whiskey-friendly City Pop. Then, there is of course Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）.

With the looks of a particularly sober-sided section chief in a corporation, Inagaki has been part of the backbone for the moonlit side of City Pop. He has sung his share of sunny tunes throughout his nearly 32 years in the music business, but I usually think the word "night" when it comes to him. And it seems like he had a need for precipitation in his early singles as well. Case in point, his 3rd single was "Dramatic Rain" from October 1982, just a couple of singles away from his debut earlier in that year, "Ame no Regret"（雨のリグレット）. Mind you, for the genre, there's nothing like the wet stuff spattering away on those expensive bar windows overlooking those city streets to provide a certain amount of atmosphere to the proceedings.

I first heard "Dramatic Rain" on that 2-CD BEST album from 1990 of his, "Transit" and came across it again via one of my latest Inagaki purchases, "Rainy Voice" from 2007. The lyrics were provided by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and the music was by Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）. It proved to be his very first hit as a singer, reaching No. 8 on Oricon. The song also came as a track on his 3rd album from 1983, "Shylights".

Saki Takaoka -- Nemurenu Mori no Bishoujo (眠れぬ森の美女)

Saki Takaoka (高岡早紀) was a strange type of sexy aidoru who debuted in the late 80s. Her sound, although not far from the dance style that was popular at the time, had a mystical and classical vibe mixed with pop melodies.

Even though Saki was a very weak singer, I like her early material a lot. In the case of “Nemurenu Mori no Bishoujo”, which was released in November 1988, it’s interesting to notice how it manages to fuse the eurobeat bass line with a cold/dark fairytale vibe. Like I said, Saki was a weak vocalist, but this weakness also provides a vulnerable feel that combines well with the song. As for the soaring strings, they’re very grandiose.

After a poor received career as an aidoru singer, Saki started to pose nude for photos and also did some movies, as well as commercials, during the mid 90s. Like many other “not so talented” aidoru singers, she still had her beauty, and that’s how she, somehow, managed to continue in the entertainment industry.

“Nemurenu Mori no Bishoujo”, reached #21 on the Oricon charts, selling around 28,000 copies (source: http://www.interq.or.jp/silver/you/1980/1988/saki.htm). The song was written by Anju Mana (真名 杏樹) and composed by Kazuhiko Kato (加藤 和彦).

ALFEE -- Kaze Youbi, Kimi wo Tsurete （風曜日、君をつれて）

I am most definitely awake now....and quite exhilarated. I haven't heard this one by ALFEE（アルフィー） in years, but it's located on one of my old Chinatown compilation tapes at the end of Side A. "Kaze Youbi, Kimi wo Tsurete" (Wind Day, Taking You There) is a pretty unusual title but the band's 22nd single from March 1986 was actually used for All Nippon Airways' campaign for summer in Okinawa that year, and it does soar like a jet. As for the "Kaze Youbi" reference, according to J-Wiki, it was most likely meant to be Friday. And why not?

Although frequent lead vocal Toshihiko Takamizawa（高見沢俊彦） wrote and composed the song, it's Masaru Sakurai（桜井賢） in the dark sunglasses that's behind the mike this time. Listening to "Kaze Youbi" after so long was a thrill ride on electric guitar and vocals that probably could take us all to Okinawa from Tokyo even sooner than that ANA jet. It peaked at No. 2 on Oricon and can also be found on Alfee's 8th BEST album "ALFEE A-Side Collection Special" which went as high as No. 18 on the album charts.