Tomita Lab featuring Yumi Matsutoya -- God Bless You!

(cover version)

Had the windows open today since my room needed some airing out with some cool fresh air...only to get smacked down with a heavy case of allergies. I was sneezing up some of my internal organs until I got hold of that Reactine pill...and sorry, it didn't take 20 minutes to activate as advertised. It was more like 2 hours, just in time to have a nice Italian dinner with a couple of my friends in uptown Toronto.

Sneezing...a very appropriate segue into today's song "God Bless You!". This came from Tomita Lab's（冨田ラボ）2003 "Shipbuilding" album which I featured in an article that I wrote more than 3 years ago on KKP. As I intimated back then, I bought the album since I enjoyed the relaxing groove it brought through the speakers to my ears, and the collaboration between Tomita Lab and Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）is no different. "God Bless You!" starts off with a jazzy R&B riff before settling down into a fairly happy-go-lucky rhythm that would have made for some nice background music for a walk along the lakeshore.

Tomita was behind the music while Yuming took care of the lyrics. I had wondered what the deal was behind the title, so looking into the words that she wrote, I found out that the song is (possibly) about a young lady who believes that she is the target of rumours over her latest romance but frankly doesn't give a care what the gossipers think. One of the little things I learned in Japan was that sneezing signified that other folks were talking about the sneezer...thus the title. The protagonist of the song and I probably earned quite a lot of that title today.

I may have mentioned in one of the other Yuming articles that my listening heyday to the Queen of New Music ranged from the time of her debut in the early 70s to the early 90s. "God Bless You!" is one of the exceptions. Nope, it won't pop up in the Top 10 of any Yuming fan's list but I still think it is one of the cute little gems to be heard on a sunny Sunday.

Kiyoshi Hikawa -- Sasurai Bojou (さすらい慕情)

I think I can safely say that I do indeed like this song now. I wasn't much of a fan of "Sasurai Bojou" and was merely alright with it when I first heard Kiyoshi Hikawa (氷川きよし) belt it out on the "Kayo Concert" stage before Grandpa enka Sabu-Chan ended the show with "Tairyo Bune" (大漁船). It was a rather satisfying episode, I must say, with the theme featuring Showa era songs (60's to 80's) and of course, Kiyoshi Maekawa (前川清) was there as well in a pretty fashionable suit.

But after hearing it 2 more times via "Nodojiman" and another recent episode of "Kayo Concert", the song grew on me, especially in terms of the music that Kenji Miyashita (宮下健治) composed, which I find pretty cool. It sounds enka when the flute and strings come in, yet the wailing of the electric guitar and the trumpets blaring away makes it seem un-enka-like. I feel like there's some sort of Latin influence there, but I'm not entirely sure. Toshiya Niitani (仁井谷俊也) penned the lyrics for "Sasurai Bojou", and if I'm not mistaken, it's about missing and wanting to return home, which in Hikawa's case is Fukuoka, and there is mention of Nagasaki and Kagoshima too.

"Sasurai Bojou" was released on 4th March 2015 and has been doing fairly well on the Oricon charts, where I had first taken note of the singer's 28th single. On the week where I had first saw it, it was No.1 on the enka-yo charts (not surprising) and No.8 on the regular charts, but it did not stay there for long, often being overtaken by newer singles by other artistes, though it does still come back up to the Top 5 (enka charts) on some weeks.

I managed to find the full MV of "Sasurai Bojou" on Dailymotion, you can check it out here. Just like his other songs, we have Hikawa happily dancing away to the music. Again, the normal teenager in me really appreciated that... although I thought he looked a bit odd doing so in a suit. And I bet that bit at the end when he turns his back to the audience before swinging his head to the side with the cheeky grin is a real crowd pleaser.

blog.goo.ne.jp

Original Love -- Words of Love

"Words of Love" by Original Love, aka Takao Tajima（田島貴男）is a track on his 1996 album, "Desire" which also contains the dramatic "Primal" and exotic "Hum A Tune".

I described "Primal" as being that serenade of love to that person who just won't reciprocate. It's a lovely ballad that I enjoyed more in its single form (which is the one that I've displayed in the article) than the album version. But lyrically it is somewhat sad since there will apparently be no happy ending between the two folks. "Words of Love", on the other hand, seems to represent that wake-up from that melancholy dream to a happier reality.

The song starts with Tajima and a piano instantly creating this "morning" feel...that waking up I told you about in the last paragraph. I could smell the coffee in the first verse. And to the relief of the waking protagonist, he (sorry, I'm going with the male point of view here just to shorten the need for pronouns) can see his lady love waiting for him at the breakfast table. Tajima's music isn't nearly as bold and dramatic as his melody was for "Primal". It just has that feeling of something as warm and comfortable as a well-worn pair of slippers or sandals. The two folks are as happy as two peas in a pod and will probably head off for a nice drive down the coast according to the sounds of the song. It makes for a good Sunday pancake breakfast sort of tune.

Could make for a fine Valentine's Day track, to boot.

Quruli -- Liberty & Gravity

As a person who’s into fun and bizarre videos, I’m tempted to hand the trophy to “Liberty & Gravity”. It’s a wonderland of showy nonsensical visuals joined with equally chaotic music. So far, it won the “Best Video of the Year” award at 2015 Space Shower Music Video Awards thanks to the directorial efforts of Jun Tamukai (田向潤), the man behind many Kyary Pamyu Pamyu videos including “Pon Pon Pon”. Since Quruli (くるり) is an alternative rock band and not a Harajuku fashion icon, he doesn't use any of those fanciful colors but his taste for visual madness is still recognizable here.

There’s no need for me to write out the whole biography of the band because you can learn plenty about them through English-language sources such as Wikipedia and generasia among other places by plugging their romanized name into Google. But since most of those sites haven’t updated their Quruli pages for a while and so haven’t kept up with the band’s recent membership changes, I just want to set things straight on their current line-up: Shigeru Kishida (岸田繁) (vocals and guitar), Masashi Sato (佐藤征史) (bass), and FanFan (ファンファン) (trumpets and keyboards). The first two members have been around since the band's birth in 1996.

The song and the video have received significant attention since being shared on English J-Entertainment blogs late last year. It certainly feels like a breath of fresh air even within Japan’s already diverse music market. At first it sounds like it’s all over the place because of its progressive nature and the way it throws so many influences into the blender: Okinawan music, Moldovan trumpets, and rap, just to name a few. Yet it’s obvious that the song is marketed to the pop-loving crowd despite those experimental elements. Yep, it is super catchy. I like the way Lendsey C. summarized the whole thing on the Black on the Canvas blog: Dave Matthews meets Lady Gaga. Let's see what you think.

According to another music blog beehype, Kishida was influenced by his impressions of Vienna while composing this song. He observed how many cultures from around the globe blend together in the Austrian city: from music and arts to food and architecture, so he decided to do the same in “Liberty & Gravity”. This fusion of cultures is also the backbone of Tamukai’s entertaining video.

Another reason why this song captivates me so much is because I haven’t heard Quruli sound this good in a long while. I first became interested in them circa-2004 when Japanese Alternative crowd on the net was raving about this band a lot. I was impressed by their playfulness and ambition in their then-recent albums “Team Rock” and “The World is Mine”, and“Liberty & Gravity” also showcases those qualities, although the actual song sounds nothing like the stuff they've done before. The band went through a folk rock phase for a while which brought some nice songs along the way but lasted for way too long, so I wanted the quirky Quruli back. “Liberty & Gravity” may as well be just another one-off effort, but I’ll stay optimistic until I hear their recent album “The Pier” to see if the rest of it lives up to this track.

Source: http://beehy.pe

Yosui Inoue -- Kokoro Moyo （心もよう）

Among my old Canadian Tire tapes, I managed to find this song in an episode of "Sounds of Japan". There was, unsurprisingly, a fair bit of hiss and scratch, so I was a little surprised to find out that it was a young Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）singing this ballad, "Kokoro Moyo", his 4th single. Depending on the DJ that Saturday night, he/she would wait until the end of the broadcast to announce who the singers were and what songs they sang. Perhaps it was the hiss and scratch but I think I was so accustomed to his more recent voice that I couldn't quite recognize Inoue when I first heard the song.

But perhaps I should have known "Kokoro Moyo" (State of the Heart) as an Inoue creation since even with the age of the song (released in September 1973), I could pick up the singer's familiar warble and the fact that it was such a tenderhearted ballad. In it, Inoue sings his heart about how much he misses that woman back in the ol' hometown and how dark his soul feels right now. By the refrain, he gives full vent to his frustrated emotions.

"Kokoro Moyo" got as high as No. 7 on Oricon and would eventually become the 39th-ranked song for 1974. It was also a track on his acclaimed 3rd album, "Koori no Sekai"（氷の世界...World of Ice） from December 1973 which would not only hit No. 1 on the weeklies but become the No. 1 album for both 1974 and 1975. Now that is lasting power!

I read that "Kokoro Moyo" has been covered by many an artist over the decades. Above you will find enka singer Aki Yashiro（八代亜紀）giving her take. And there is Hiroshi Itsuki （五木ひろし）and a whole bunch of others.

Junko Ohashi -- Lost Love: Ai no Odori Ba （ロスト・ラヴ～愛の踊り場）

Ahhh...Junko. Welcome back, it's been too long! It's always nice to hear a Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）song after a while away since there are those vocals and that classic late 70s/early 80s City Pop arrangement. It's the same thing here with her 20th single, "Lost Love: Ai no Odori Ba" (Dance Floor of Love) which came out in November 1982.

Written by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composed by Ken Sato（佐藤健）, "Lost Love", with that wailing guitar and the keyboards just gives me that craving to walk around the skyscrapers of West Shinjuku at sunset. It has that sort of look and feel that "Lost Love" would have been perfect to act as background music. I wouldn't mind going through her old albums once more.

Petitmoni -- Chokotto Love （ちょこっとLOVE）

Man, was this a heavy rotation video on TV way back when! It was definitely the heyday of Morning Musume（モーニング娘。）, and by extension, the Hello Project. "Love Machine" was just ripping through the charts and the karaoke boxes at the end of the century, and I guess the base group of MM was getting so big (size and fame) that it just had to undergo mitosis.

So, these splinter groups were formed...one of them being Petitmoni（プッチモニ）. The first incarnation had the trio of Kei Yasuda, Sayaka Ichii and Maki Goto（保田圭・市井紗耶香・後藤真希）, and their first song ended up becoming their most successful, "Chokotto Love" (A Wee Bit of Love). Hello Project's den father, Tsunku（つんく♂）, once again took care of words and music, but unlike the 1970s disco of "Love Machine", I think "Chokotto Love" had a wee bit of 1960s US game show/sitcom DeVol-inspired twinkle music mixed into the caffeinated proceedings.

As I said, the official music video was a constant presence on the music shows and video channels, especially with Yasuda, Ichii and Goto kickstepping all over the CG stage. Strangely enough, I didn't see the whole video until tonight so I was caught a bit off-guard during the first several seconds; I had thought the uploader accidentally put up "Love Machine" instead. Also, the other thing that stuck in my mind during those months of the song's fame was the "maru, maru, maru, maru" lyric.

"Chokotto Love" became a million-seller after its November 1999 release and hit the No. 1 mark on Oricon for 2 consecutive weeks. It would become the 9th-ranked song of 2000.

Not too long after, Swedish bubblegum group, Smile.dk, did their own cover of the song under the title of "Petit Love".