Akira Kobayashi -- Akira no Zundoko Bushi (アキラのズンドコ節)

From what I've seen and read, the 'Zundoko Bushi' has had many versions sung by different artistes over the decades. Most notably the renditions done by the somewhat young and  hugely popular Enka singer Kiyoshi Hikawa (氷川きよし), Comedy group The Drifters (ザ・ドリフターズ ), and last but not least, big shot actor-singer from the 60's Akira Kobayashi (小林旭).

I would have to say that out of the 3 aforementioned versions, my vote goes to Might Guy's one. Why? Because of the lyrics... or whatever I can pick out from it. Hikawa's one mentioned something about going to your usual ramen joint and ordering your usual bowl of ramen with 2 or 3 pieces of chashu, which reminded me of this ramen joint my family would always patronize in Shinjuku's Kabuki cho (yeah, not very family friendly huh?) every time we visited Japan. Still remember seeing one of the chefs had half an ear burned/bitten off... heh... 

Gah, sorry for going on a tangent! As I was saying, while Hikawa's version brought back some nice memories, Kobayashi's one kinda talks about the fellow out on the town with his sweetheart, and then one part described their parting scene. For example, the fellow saying, "Good night!" to the lady and gives her a sly wink as he leaves. More romantic in that sense, and yes I can be a sucker for things like that. Also I feel that this set of... I suppose you could say flirty lyrics, done by lyricist Sou Nishizawa (西沢 爽), compliments the nifty music composed by Minoru Endo (遠藤 実) better. 

Anyway, 'Akira no Zundoko Bushi' was actually released twice in 1960. The first time it was released as a B-side to 'Kagoshima Ohara Bushi' (鹿児島おはら節) in June and was the theme song to one of Might Guy's movies 'Umi wo wataru hatoba no kaze' (海を渡る波止場の風) and was a hit, but I don't know how many copies were sold since the J-Wiki page never mentioned it for this one. Then about 3 months later in September it was released again - same songs, but 'Zundoko Bushi' was on the A-side, possibly because of its popularity. This one sold over 200 000 copies.

Above is Kobayashi singing what seems to be an updated version of it with the Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra (東京スカパラダイスオーケストラ). And man, the music for this one's groovy with all that electric guitar!

http://www3.hp-ez.com/hp/2616/page4/day-20100111

Top 10 Albums of 2000

1.  Mai Kuraki                                delicious way
2.  Ayumi Hamasaki                      Duty
3.  Ringo Shiina                             Shouso Strip
4.  Misia                                         Love is the Message
5.  Dreams Come True                  Dreams Come True Greatest Hits "The Soul"
6.  Judy and Mary                          Fresh
7.  Spitz                                         Recycle - The Greatest Hits of Spitz
8.  B'z                                            B'z The "Mixture"
9.  Masaharu Fukuyama               Magnum Collection 1999 "Dear"
10. aiko                                         Sakura Ki no Shita

Haruo Minami -- Otone Mujou (大利根無情)

Y'know although I'm not that much of a Haruo Minami (三波春夫) fan, I always enjoy seeing the Enka and Rokyoku (浪曲) singer on stage. I mean, he just emanated such positive energy! Generally dressed in light colored kimonos, one hand on his hip and last but not least with that trademark radiant smile of his he would be able to brighten up the stage once he came on.

Anyway, 'Otone Mujou' was Minami's 8th single released in 1959, and not only is it an Enka song, but also a Rokyoku song, so there would be some narration in between the singing parts - Rokyoku's a type of traditional Japanese narrative singing. It was written by Ryo Inomata (猪又 良) and composed by Yoshiji Nagatsu (長津義司).

In this song, you would be able to see Minami turn from jovial to no-nonsense at the drop of a hat. Especially so at the last monologue where his narration grew from somewhat gentle, but still filled with savageness to kinda screaming it out with such intensity at the end like some crazy bloke. And you could also see that glint of ferocity mixed with a little insanity in his eyes too. So unlike the usual Minami!

But it was that versatility that intrigued me and got me to continue listening to 'Otone Mujou' even though it's not the type of Enka song - let alone Rokyoku song - I'd usually listen to. In fact, I only discovered this song while listening to Hideo Murata's (村田英雄) 'Osho' (王将). It was in the 'Suggested videos' list, so I thought, "Why not? Since I've not really heard any of Minami's songs." Fine, his graceful movements while narrating was also what caught my attention... well it is pretty cool!

In total, Minami sang 'Otone Mujou' 3 times on the Kohaku. And he had appeared on that event 29 times, putting him at 9th place in 'Most number of Kohaku appearances', which is quite impressive really.

http://www.teichiku.co.jp/teichiku/artist/minami/profile/

Yoshie Kashiwabara/Miyuki Nakajima/Shizuka Kudo -- Camouflage （カム・フラージュ）

Now, here's a Yoshie Kashiwabara（柏原芳恵）tune with a bit more bite. Songwriter Miyuki Nakajima（中島みゆき）had created the tender-hearted "Haru Nanoni"（春なのに）for the Osakan aidoru earlier in 1983 which became one of Kashiwabara's signature tunes, but then came another Nakajima-Kashiwabara collaboration titled "Camouflage" in December of that year which dipped Yoshie-chan into more of that aidoru rock a la Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）and her musical predecessor Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）.

Enter that wailing guitar, enter the horns and enter that hint of disco rhythm, and one would expect a huskier voice. However, it is indeed Yoshie's light fluttery vocals, but somehow the melding of her aidoru voice and all of that funky music behind her work well just like some of Akina's earlier uptempo hits.

Not sure how long the above video will stick around with us, but for those who have wondered about bringing together Kashiwabara's aidoru tunes with her later career as a racy pin-up model, it's your lucky day! In any case, "Camouflage" peaked at No. 6 on Oricon and ended 1984 as the 72nd-ranked song. It managed to sell close to 200,000 records.

(karaoke version)

In 1985, Nakajima decided to give her own version on the song that she created for Kashiwabara. Her "Camouflage" was on her 12th album, "Oiro Naoshi"（御色なおし...Change of the Wedding Dress）. It was also her 2nd album of cover versions, and her take on "Camouflage" hinted more at the Roppongi disco scene with all of the glitter and glamour. Nakajima's deeper and more weathered voice arguably better reflected her lyrics of the sinister spirit concealing one's darker impulses and gleefully threatening to set them free for all to see. The Lexington Queen may have been all bright lights, big city but there were plenty of dark hidden alleys surrounding it.

"Oiro Naoshi" hit the top spot on the album charts and was the 18th-ranked album of 1985.

(the music163 link is now dead)

I knew about the previous two versions for decades, but did not know about Shizuka Kudo's（工藤静香）cover until tonight. Kudo was another 80s aidoru who could thank a few of her hits to Nakajima as well, and she provided her own tribute via her August 2008 album, "MY PRECIOUS - Shizuka Sings Song of Miyuki".  Not surprisingly, the straight urban contemporary arrangement is more updated but no less urgent than the other two versions. The album got as high as No. 20 on the Oricon charts.

Masayuki Suzuki -- Koibito （恋人）

Another Friday night in the big city, so it's time for another visit from Martin, aka Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）with one of his cool nighttime hits. Tonight's feature is "Koibito" (Lover) which came out in April 1993 as his 16th single. And as has been the case for a lot of his solo efforts since the late 80s, "Koibito" is one of those songs that I would love to hear on the stereo while driving down the metropolitan highway in Tokyo. It just seems perfect while viewing the illuminated skyscrapers as I'm zipping about in a Testarossa...or more likely, a taxi. Hey it's all good.

"Koibito" was composed by musician Kiyonori Matsuo（松尾清憲）and written by Saeko Nishio（西尾佐栄子）. Nishio had also written Martin's biggest hit, "Mou Namida wa Iranai"（もう涙はいらない）about a year previously, and has also provided lyrics for songs by Anri （杏里）and Crystal Kay. This particular single didn't meet as much as success as that previous single, getting as high as No. 8 on Oricon but again I'm not complaining at all. It's still a great J-urban contemporary song.

Strangely enough, I first heard it when it was used as the campaign song for the Lawson convenience store chain back in 1993. I was here between tours of duty in Japan, so it must have been through the commercials on some VHS tapes that I'd gotten from friends back over there. It's probably the most dramatic song for a place selling bento and oden that I'd ever heard. And although it originally came out on his 6th album, "Perfume" in September 1993, I was able to get my own copy through his 2nd BEST album in 1995, "Martini II".

Aside from the perpetual sunglasses and the shorter hair, I'd always thought that Martin had a passing resemblance to a fellow R&B star across the ocean, Lionel Richie, thanks to that shared lantern jaw. And I just had to show one of my favourite hits by Richie and for that matter, one of the coolest R&B ballads, period, in my estimation, "Love Will Find A Way". This is another great drive-in-the-city-at-night song.

Shigeru Suzuki/Mariya Takeuchi -- Hachibu Onpu no Uta （８分音符の詩）

I mentioned a couple of nights ago that on EPO's "Ame no Kennel Douri"（雨のケンネル通り） that I had been in the midst of tackling a rather thorny translation assignment. Well, I'm basically done with it now, more or less. Not particularly proud of the results but I did the best I could and will be very glad to see the back of it when I hand it in tomorrow morning.

So, on that note, I will invite you to listen along to a good ol' wind down song...something that I could really use. I found one in the form of Shigeru Suzuki's（鈴木茂）"Hachibu Onpu no Uta" (8-Note Song) which was originally on his 2nd solo album, "Lagoon" from 1976. The guitarist and vocalist from the legendary band Happy End carried on the tradition with his old bandmates Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and the late Eiichi Ohtaki（大瀧詠一）and stretched out his musical wings to become a session musician, an arranger and a solo artist. A number of his albums have popped up in "Japanese City Pop", so his name is one that I have seen quite often over the past several years, and was quite curious about his output outside what he has done as an arranger.

Suzuki composed the languid "Hachibu Onpu no Uta" while his buddy Matsumoto came up with the old-fashioned lyrics of giving that titular song to a lover while appreciating the hand-crafted musical instruments and perhaps the old-school music. With Suzuki's late-night arrangement, the atmosphere is one of that tiny, smoky and entirely comfy jazz bar as that whiskey-on-the-rocks is sliding down the oak.

Well, the reason that I even found out about the song at all was through another album listed in "Japanese City Pop". The album in question was from 1978 and it was a compilation titled "Loft Sessions Vol. 1" which featured a number of singers performing at a live house in Tokyo called Loft (not to be confused with the funky household goods store of the same name in Shibuya). One of those singers on the album happened to be a pre-debut Mariya Takeuchi (perhaps by a few months) doing a cover version of "Hachibu Onpu no Uta". I didn't know most of the singers on the album but as soon as I read about Takeuchi's participation, I knew that I just had to purchase this one. I was surprised to discover that I could get it fairly easily from the Net.

Still, I hadn't expected that I would ever find something as rare as a pre-debut Mariya featured on YouTube, but I did. In any case, if it weren't for "Loft Sessions Vol. 1", I wouldn't have been led to the original version by Suzuki, and since from what I've read about his "Lagoon" being one of the seminal City Pop albums of the 70s, I'm now garnering to acquire that one as well in the not-too-distant future.

Tsuri Bit -- Odoroyo, Fish (踊ろよ、フィッシュ)

I’ve been aware of the existance of Tsuri Bit (つりビット) for a while, but, in my opinion, their songs didn’t offer nothing new. For me, their sound was just very close to the blandest AKB48 songs that we sometimes come across. Also, their fishing gimmick, although cute, is not capable of building a coherent and stable sound for them (according to generasia, their slogan says that they are all beginner fishermen and will use the experience of fishing to create the best idol performance). The scenary kind of changed with their latest single, though.

“Odoroyo, Fish” is kind of different from what I said earlier. In fact, it’s a 1987 song by Tatsuro Yamashita (山下達郎) which got converted into a summery aidoru tune by Tsuri Bit. Although the chorus is very catchy, and I thank Tatsuro Yamashita for that, what got me really hooked was Tsuri Bit’s arrangement. Not that their arrangement is an example of rich sounds, but the instrumental breakdown near the middle of the song is quite good and features some unashamed old synths that reminded something from early 90s video games during the little crescendo that culminated in the guitar solo with the bright analog strings sound (a very cheap way to add strings sound using synths) in the background. The same synth sound that did the little crescendo in the breakdown is used during the choruses and near the end of the song, also with positive results. As I’m a sucker for that retro electronic sounds, it really won me after the first listen. At the same time, I almost laughed with the boldness. I can tell that an American pop song would never use a similar dated sound in such a serious way.

To finish, here’s Tatsuro Yamashita’s original recording of “Odoroyo, Fish”.

(4:46)

Tsuri Bit’s “Odoroyo, Fish” was released as a single in July 2014 and reached #25 on the Oricon charts. Lyrics and music were written by Tatsuro Yamashita, while Tsuri Bit’s arrangement was done by Yasuaki Maejima (前嶋康明).