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.
According to the J-Wiki article on "Matenrou", the song is still classified as an aidoru tune for Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）, although I think her age (nearing 22 at the time), looks, gorgeous vocals and the arrangement of the song belie that status. Mind you, Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）latter hits were still considered aidoru despite her deeper voice and the maturity of the lyrics but then again, the 70s aidoru and the 80s aidoru were perceived quite differently.
In any case, I digress. Right from the get-go, "Matenrou" has that City Pop beat provided by composer Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）, a singer who has known his way through the metropolis in a musical sense. The guitar, keyboards and strings all work together to create that Tokyo atmosphere; in a way, the arrangement evokes some of what singer/actor Akira Terao（寺尾聡）would offer in the most Oricon-successful City Pop album, "Reflections" in 1981. And I also get a bit of early Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）rock from that guitar work.
Additionally, there is the title itself which translates as "skyscraper". And even back then, there was a fair agglomeration of the tall buildings amassing in Shinjuku threatening to poke through the cumulus clouds....one of the big symbols of Big City Life in Japan. Lyrically, Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）brings in the words of intrigue as Iwasaki trips the tongue fantastic about a woman who unfortunately and suddenly finds out that her beau isn't totally devoted to her when she hears another feminine voice coming from the heel's bathroom. Both Iwasaki's vocals and the music zip along quite urgently as if to hint at the poor young lady running away from the heartbreak that has already caught up with her.
"Matenrou" was Iwasaki's 22nd single from October 1980. It did rather modestly on the charts, getting as high as No. 22 (there is something rather eerie about how that number has popped up in this article), although of course, the Tokyo native would gain some higher Oricon success in the following years.
Now, before I start this article I'd like to apologize beforehand if I go on a tangent and start fan-girling over Itsuki (it's usually saved for someone else though... and you'd probably know who that'd be by now...). Okay, let's begin shall we?
"Yoake no Blues" was the song that made me more interested in Hiroshi Itsuki (五木ひろし) after a long period of time without listening to what he has to offer. I suppose you could say that I unwittingly ignored him for the most of the first half of last year. However, my curiosity piqued when I had come across news of him rocking out with the AKB48 girls plus electric guitar in hand during the 63rd Kohaku in 2012. A little research later produced the name of the song he had sung. "Yoake no Blues". Itsuki? Electric guitar? At that point in time, those two words didn't or couldn't seem to overlap in my mind since his gentlemanly appearance seemed too polished for such a wild instrument. The MV for "Yoake no Blues" proved otherwise, where Itsuki appears in 3-piece navy blue suit with NO TIE of any sort, which already ups the cool factor. Composed - and written - by Raymond Matsuya (レーモンド松屋), the song has got a cha-cha beat to it with the powerful revving of the electric guitar in the background, which then makes a full appearance during the musical intermissions. Matsuya won the award for 'Best composer' in 2012 for this song too at the 54th Japan Record Awards.
With Matsuya playing the guitar.
Now comes the part I enjoyed the most: Itsuki without his blazer, sleeves of the white dress shirt rolled up, picking away at the black electric guitar. I had actually recoiled in surprise at the sight of that! Well, I've never seen an aged Enka singer play that instrument with such gusto before, so it was a fine, priceless treat. My goodness, the guy is so cool! (Unfortunately, that video has been taken down.)
"Yoake no Blues" did well on the charts, placing 1st on the Enka-yo charts and 13th on the regular charts. It also sold about or over 100 000 copies, which I gathered from the Gold award it received from the Recording Industry Association of Japan.
Well, it's been a while, Original Love. Welcome back to the blog! Yup, it's been about a year since I last put up a song by the one-man band/songwriting unit of Takao Tajima（田島貴男）.
Getting charmed by his melodies and his vocals, there was a time in the 90s when I was buying a fair number of Tajima's singles and albums. I bought his 4th album,"Kaze no Uta wo Kike"（風の歌を聴け...Listen to the Song of the Wind）on the strength of the rollicking "Asahi no Ataru Michi"（朝日のあたる道）which I first heard on my friend's car radio during a rainy drive through Chiba.
Then, sometime after that, I saw on the telly that Original Love was coming up with another album, and saw an excerpt from the official music video for "Hum A Tune" which was playing while his 6th album"Desire"(July 1996) was getting its ad shown. It had a close-up of Tajima's face sweating away near a fire while hearing a pretty dramatic riff. There was something quite voodoo about it. Well, that was it for me. I bought "Desire" in no time.
As it turned out, "Hum A Tune" was the first track (never a single) on the album, and it started out quite exotically with what sounded like an Indian sitar. I just went, "Sasuga, Tajima-san!" The only other song that I remember starting in a similar way was "Subarashii Yume no Naka de"（素晴らしい夢の中で）by the just-as-exploratory Sing Like Talking for their album, "Discovery" (1995).
Following that intriguing intro, "Hum A Tune" settles into an innocently optimistic, almost celebratory, tone of realizing that as the sun set, joy and nirvana were not far away. Then, in the last couple of minutes or so, the key suddenly veers elsewhere, a big drum starts banging away and things get a bit more intense melodically speaking...which is where that excerpt comes in during the "Desire" commercial. It's almost as if Tajima was trying to say that The Promised Land may be within your reach but you still gotta pay the piper a pretty high premium. I think the music video shows a good description of that.
My first listening to "Hum A Tune" caught me a bit off-guard but I've learned to appreciate it very well since then. And good heavens, the man can come up with some great hooks.
The cover of "Desire"
You really don't want to
cross this guy!
For instance, DO NOT
tell him that he's a Shibuya-kei
artist.
As I've mentioned before regarding Momoe Yamaguchi's（山口百恵）career, there was the first half in the early 70s which was characterized by the young high schooler singing in that higher tone, sometimes with some rather suggestive lyrics while the second half had her transform into a far more jaded, seen-it-all figure with a bit more gravel in her vocals.
"Arigato, Anata" (Thank You, Darling), the B-side of her 10th single from September 1975, "Sasayaka na Yokubo"（ささやかな欲望...A Humble Desire）, is from the earlier part of her career, and I first heard it on a highlight episode of "Sounds of Japan" involving the singer. It's instantly recognizable from that emotional trumpet which launches things as Momoe wishes a departed love well with his future. The ballad just wears its heart right on its sleeve with the horn section and the shimmery strings which really play up the bittersweet lyrics. It was the last collaboration between composer Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）and lyricist Kazuya Senke（千家和也）for her; the two had worked together on nine of Momoe-chan's first 10 singles.
Yamaguchi had also been carving out a prolific career as an actress on TV and in movies, and one of her major projects involved something called the "Akai Series"（赤いシリーズ...The Red Series）. Spanning from 1974 to 1980, this was a series of 10 half-year dramas for which the singer ended up appearing or starring in a little over half the programs. "Arigato, Anata" happened to be the theme song for the second in the series, "Akai Giwaku"（赤い疑惑...Red Suspicion） which also starred her future husband, Tomokazu Miura（三浦友和）as a medical student. This particular drama was probably one of the more bittersweet episodes in the series as Miura and Yamaguchi fall in love only to have a case of Cobalt 60 throw a spanner deep into the works.
Keep the tissue ready here. The theme song was quite apt for "Akai Giwaku", and the whole single did well on the charts, hitting No. 5 at its peak and becoming the 59th-ranked single for 1975. Both A and B sides also made it onto Yamaguchi's 7th album from December of that year, "Sasayaka na Yokubo" which managed to get as high as No. 15. I've yet to hear that A-side incidentally which I'll have to do, but "Arigato, Anata" is another wonderfully sepia-toned 70s song for me.
I also featured a Momoe song which was also a theme song for the third entry in the "Akai Series". You can have a look at it right here.
It's been a few months since anyone has put up a BEST article. And as we were entering the New Year, I figured that it was high time that I covered what is arguably the representative group from Tsunku's umbrella of Hello Project, Morning Musume（モーニング娘。）. Mind you, my window for Morning Musume love was relatively brief considering the 17-years-and-counting life of the group, but boy, it was a pretty intense time for me and a lot of other folks nationwide and abroad when their first BEST album was released at the end of January 2001.
The window was about 2 years long (1999-2001) and spanned from their 7th single (Love Machine) to their 13th (Mr. Moonlight). And to add further specificity, that period encompassed the introduction of the 3rd generation, Maki Goto（後藤真希）, up to and including the 5th generation ofAi Takahashi（高橋愛）, Asami Konno（紺野あさ美）, Makoto Ogawa（小川麻琴）and Risa Niigaki（新垣里沙）. However, it wasn't just about the music. The ladies also had their high time on TV with at least three weekly programs on air at the time, including their flagship show on Sunday mornings on TV Tokyo, "Hello! Morning"(2000-2007) which I saw longer than I listened to their singles.
Yup, brings back the memories for me. But this isn't about the variety show. This is about the first of MM's BEST albums, "BEST Morning Musume ONE". And here is the lineup:
Of course, I gotta start with the song that broke Morning Musume out from pretty successful aidoru group territory onto the nationwide superstar category, "Love Machine". Single No. 7 went absolutely nuts on the Oricon charts and in the karaoke boxes, and the September 1999 release didn't hurt as bonenkai season wasn't too far off. Always love a good retro-disco.
Now, instead of the love machine, let's take the time machine back a few years to November 1997. The lineup of Morning Musume has varied a fair bit over its time but in the beginning, there were only five members: Yuko Nakazawa（中澤裕子）, Kaori Iida（飯田圭織）, Asuka Fukuda（福田明日香）, Aya Ishiguro（石黒彩）and Natsumi Abe（安倍なつみ）. And they were all losers. Well, that's a bit harsh but they did lose out in the "Sharam Q Rock Vocalist Auditions" that would eventually be won by singer-songwriter Michiyo Heike（平家みちよ）. However, a light went off in the head of Tsunku（つんく）, the leader of Sharam Q（シャ乱Q）and future Svengali for Hello Project, and he decided that he would give five of the runners-up another chance to get into show business. They would have to band together and sell 50,000 copies of their own single. The challenge was televised via the TV Tokyo show, "ASAYAN", and I remember seeing some scenes of the proto-MM setting up shop on a street somewhere in Japan and gratefully shaking hands with folks who lined up to buy the single.
That single was "Ai no Tane" (Seeds of Love), a cute, soft and cheerful aidoru song with the video showing the five doing their own individual thing in the city. Written by Kenzo Saeki（サエキけんぞう）and composed by Tetsutaro Sakurai（桜井鉄太郎）from Shibuya-kei band Cosa Nostra, I think the song even had a bit of Shibuya-kei swimming in there. I saw the video once before and then on seeing it again tonight, I just thought, "Wow! Kaorin has got short hair and there is Asuka! Wonder what she has been up to."
Obviously, the proto-single made its quota and Morning Musume was on its way. By the way, unless otherwise noted, just assume that the songs profiled today were written and composed by Tsunku.
"Morning Coffee" was the official debut for the five released in January 1998. The four girls and one former office lady were now decked in a uniform of sorts (according to the video) and they tackled something sounding a bit more Beatlesque. With Abe taking on the lead vocal position, the single was able to get as high as No. 6 on Oricon. "Ai no Tane" would also be included on the CD. The first two songs would be the last time that the five would be featured alone since Tsunku decided that the group needed a next generation.
Just before their 2nd single, "Summer Night Town", three more girls would join the flock, Mari Yaguchi（矢口真理）, Kei Yasuda（保田圭）and Sayaka Ichii（市井紗耶香）. Wow! Ichii....natsukashii! Coming out in May 1998, along with the increased membership, Morning Musume decided to go into more nocturnal and sultry territory, and they explored a bit more choreography according to the video. The song went even a bit higher in the rankings, peaking at No. 4.
Seeing the tiny Yaguchi on screen here, it's hard to imagine considering how gabby she could be on TV through "Hello! Morning" and the load of other variety shows she's appeared on, but she used to be soooo quiet....I guess, perhaps in deference to her sempai who did the talking. And Leader Yuko always struck me as someone who ran a pretty tight ship.
I remember seeing bits and pieces of the video for 3rd single, "Daite Hold On Me!"(Hold Me, Hold On Me! [?!]) on the late-night ranking show "CD Countdown". At the time, I was still not really a fan of the group so I didn't really push myself into seeing the whole video. Now that I have been able to finally do so, I just gotta say that one shouldn't watch it in a dark room....the director really must have loved MTV jump cuts. Plus, the nighttime sultriness continued. I also realized that in a decade in which the female aidoru had been assumed to be basically extinct, Tsunku had launched the latest wave in a more dynamic and frill-less form of aidoru. The vocals were still not all that polished as would usually be the case for the genre but the members seemed a bit more down-to-earth instead of residing on some sort of cloud.
"Daite Hold On Me!" (September 1998) was the first break for the 8-strong group. It was their firstNo. 1 which got them their first invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen. It also earned Morning Musumea Newcomer Prize at the Japan Record Awards, and was a big success on the Oricon Karaoke charts, staying at No. 1 for 8 consecutive weeks. It eventually landed at No. 53 for the year.
Cue ahead about 18 months. A few of the originals have left (Fukuda, Ishiguro and maybe Ichii) but the 3rd and 4th generations have arrived. Goto is there along with Hitomi Ishizawa（石澤ひとみ）, Rika Ishikawa（石川梨華）, Ai Kago（加護亜依）and Nozomi Tsuji（辻希美）. My heyday with them was in full swing, and my favourite new song was "Dance suru no da!"(You Will Dance!) Well, no I won't and no I didn't. But it was still fun to listen to. I kept hearing excerpts of this one on "Hello! Morning" but got a bit frustrated that it never came out as a single. Fortunately, I was able to get it on the BEST album along with the music video on the VHS of the group's music videos. Tsunku wrote and composed it but it was the arrangement of Dance Man (ダンス☆マン...the man who brought the disco beat to Morning Musume) that made that special combination of disco and aidoru(just looking at the video, perhaps I was a bit hasty about them not living on a cloud). I mean, the yells of "Get on up!" (transcribed often as Geronppa) and "Check it out, yo!" were almost cringeworthy, but it was such a happy skippy song and quite a change from the above two singles. The song originally appeared on MM's 3rd album, "3rd - Love Paradise" (March 2000).
Man, it's been a long time since I heard this one. "I Wish" was Morning Musume's 10th single from September 2000. Maki Goto was lead vocal and there was a noticeable difference in tone between it and the disco songs that Dance Man had been arranging. Shin Konno（河野伸）was responsible for the arrangement here, and the song had a more heroic feel to it. It was less boogie and more triumphant. And there was a reason for that since it was used as the theme song for TBS' coverage of the Sydney Olympics, but there was still a bit of that gospel in the intro and hip-hop in the main body of the song itself. "I Wish" was another No. 1 for the group and was the 33rd-ranked song of the year.
Yup, for those Morning Musume fans out there, I realize that there are still quite a few left to cover, but heck, I'm exhausted. And I will be able to cover some of those in future entries as singles. Besides, I've only covered the very early years...lots of material out there. And as for how "BEST Morning Musume ONE" did on the charts, it hit No. 1 and became the 5th-ranked album for 2001.
And now, back to our regularly scheduled "Hello! Morning".
As much as I would've liked to hear the Meatball Sub and Philly Cheese Steak or any kind of sandwich in existance being mentioned in Koji Tsuruta's (鶴田浩二) "Machi no Sandwich man", this song has got nothing to do with the food itself and 'Sandwich man' is just a term for a human billboard...bummer. Nevertheless, it still makes me envision a hoagie every time I listen to it.
I came across this song just about a week ago while feeling bored and a little more adventurous in the music department. While on this YouTube channel by the name of 'subaru enka' that uploads Enka and Kayokyoku from the 50's (or even farther back) to the 70's from time to time, I decided to just pick a random video from the unfamiliar lot and listen to it, and hopefully like it. So I ended up choosing Tsuruta's first big hit (unbeknownst to me yet) since I recognize the fellow's name and the title sounded fascinating.
The 1979 performance I first watched.
"Machi no Sandwich man" occurred to me as quite a catchy, slightly jazzy tune with the trumpets, the sharp, high notes of the violin (I think), and the prominent bass in the background, or at least it does in the 1979 version where I had first heard of the song. The original from 1953 doesn't have such a full arrangement, and it sounds a little like one of those Disney tracks from the 50's... I can just see one of those walking brooms/mops marching away to this. It was composed by Yoshida Tadashi and written by Tetsuo Miyagawa (吉田正.宮川哲夫).
I had some extra points in my CD Japan account following that spending surge on its website for Xmas, so of course, I took full advantage of my status and did a bit more shopping. One of the two discs that I trained my target scope on happened to the one pictured above: "Moonlight Island" by husky-voiced Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）. I first saw this listed in "Japanese City Pop" and wondered about the tracks in it. Looking at the cover, I had also assumed that the designer must have pulled out part of a photo of a bathing beauty from the 1940s....except that it was actually the lower half of Kuwana herself (oops!). In sheepish apology, I do have to say that she had nice gams in that photo.
"Moonlight Island" was Kuwana's 4th album from 1982, and it is an album of cover songs of New Music material given an urban sheen. The one reason I decided to pull the trigger on this one was on the strength of her cover of Bread & Butter's"Ano Koro no Mama"（あの頃のまま）which I found on YouTube and is one of the tracks of this album.
Another winning track is her version of the New Music/City Pop classic, "Downtown" originally by Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）and Ginji Ito（伊藤銀次）. The video above is actually another songstress doing the Kuwana version (a cover of a cover, as it were), but notice that I did not use the word "unfortunately" at the beginning of this sentence. It is a good take of how I heard it in "Moonlight Island". The Kuwana version is in English (lyrics by Linda Hennrick) and skews a bit more to the 1975 Yamashita arrangement rather than the 1980 update for EPO's debut. Still, no complaints from me here though when push comes to shove, I'll always go with the Princess of City Pop.
"I Love You" is a track that was written in English in the first place as a B-side to soulful Hiro Tsunoda's（つのだ☆ひろ）1973 single,"Mary Jane". Tsunoda was the composer here with Christopher Lyn as the lyricist. Kuwana does a fine job with her vocals, and liner notes in her album mention that this is probably not the only time that "I Love You" has been covered.
Another lovely ballad from the album is "Yoru no Umi"(夜の海...Night Ocean) which is a cover of her late brother's (Masahiro Kuwana...桑名正博) song from his debut album "Who Are You?" (1976). Much like the rest of the songs on "Moonlight Island", Halko's version has that soiree feel of 80s City Pop compared to her brother's quiet Latin-tinged original. But after listening to the live version above, you can listen to both siblings' takes in the video below. By the way, Halko was the backing vocal on Masahiro's original.
Considering my early impression that this was a pretty rare album, I think I'm pretty lucky to have been able to find the videos for the tracks on "Moonlight Island". Like any new purchase, some of the songs leaped right out at me while others I'll have to break in gently. Still, I'm happy to have spent my points on Haruko. I may even be interested in investing in her debut album from 1978, "Million Stars".
My two new purchases, Haruka Kuwana
and Ginji Ito
P.S. July 22 2019: Come Along Radio has provided his own take on the album on Reddit.
