Ami Ozaki -- Hot Baby

I loved Ami Ozaki's（尾崎亜美）"Wanderer In Love", wrote about it, and now I've gone ahead and bought the album it originated from. "Hot Baby" from May 1981 looks pretty darn cute with that envelope design of the times, and I kinda wished that the light blue flap actually worked, but I'm just griping a bit much there.

Anyways, "Hot Baby" is the love child project between Ami Ozaki and David Foster, with the former handling all of the songwriting while the latter took care of the arrangement. Plus, a few members from the band TOTO such as Steve Lukather and Jeff Porcaro helped out, and even Foster's partner from Airplay, Jay Graydon, joined in the fun. Talk about AOR from both sides of the Pacific!

Track 1 is "Love Is Easy", a rousing number that gets the album launched into the stratosphere via the City Pop airplane fueled by Tom Scott's sax solo and some fine keyboard work. There is also a hint of Latin in the mix so that I'm kinda reminded of some of Junko Yagami's（八神純子）songs from the late 1970s. "Love Is Easy" was also Ozaki's 13th single which came out on the same day as "Hot Baby".

"Prism Train" is another rollicking one backed up by Lukather's guitar and Porcaro's drums. Plus, if that's Foster helping Ozaki behind the keyboards, then he just brought back all of my memories of AM pop radio from my high school days.

Man, I know one has to suffer for one's art, but really?

Pretty amusing and ironic about "Cat's Eye"（キャッツアイ）since it was Ozaki who gave teenager Anri（杏里）her big break with "Olivia wo Kikinagara"（オリビアを聴きながら）back in 1978, and then Anri would get an even bigger hit in 1983 with another "Cat's Eye" (although that was created by other songwriters). Ozaki's "Cat's Eye" is a wholly different animal (no pun intended), and to echo kaz-shin from "Music Avenue", it's a very cute track to the point that I couldn't quite believe that Foster also arranged this one. I would say that it's probably the most Japanese poppiest song on "Hot Baby".

The final song for the article and the final track for the original album (two bonus tracks have been added to the CD version) is "Serenade"（蒼夜曲）, which was also Ozaki's 12th single from 1980. The single version is one of the bonus tracks while the album version was recorded in Los Angeles with the rest of "Hot Baby".

According to kaz-shin, reviews were mixed on the album version of "Serenade", with folks preferring to go with the original single version. Although both are fine to me, if I had to choose, I would go with the single version that you can hear immediately above this paragraph. This version is almost a minute longer than the album take, and has more time to breathe. Plus, I like its simpler and slightly more sweeping feeling.

Recently, the City Pop community on Facebook has been putting up their fine choices for recommendations through singles and albums. I would certainly put "Hot Baby" up there.

It's been a David Foster week for me. Not only did I get the Ozaki/Foster collaboration but I also ended up getting that Airplay album. Had no idea that Foster was even in a band until just a few months ago. I should hand in my Canadian passport in shame. 😁

LUVRAW & BTB -- Dori Summa

Since I first heard LUVRAW through the episodes of the wild n' zany anime "Space Dandy"（スペース☆ダンディ）with its great set of music, there was something that hooked me about this fellow with his vocoder/talkbox.

There's surprisingly not any J-Wiki article on LUVRAW or even a website dedicated to him (if anyone knows, let me know). And apparently he's got a partner-in-crime named BTB. So, perhaps LUVRAW & BTB are kinda like Chage & Aska in name....and kinda like Daft Punk in sound.

What I could find out was that their first album came out in 2010, "Yokohama City Breeze", and I've been in thrall to one of the tracks, "Dori Summa" which is that hard-to-categorize melange of music that I also like in a song. LUVRAW & BTB have been listed as an electronica duo but through "Dori Summa", I can hear some of that old-style funk and perhaps some City Pop in there, too. I'd say that there was old and new in this track, and it's darn tasty and catchy.

Perhaps if we go with the title of the album, "Dori Summa" would be a nice song to enjoy while driving with the top down over the Yokohama Bay Bridge.

Akira Nishikino -- Mou Koi Nanoka（もう恋なのか）

For those who are into the old kayo, whenever the name Akira Nishikino（錦野旦）pops up, the usual song that appears in memories is his zesty 3rd single "Sora ni Taiyo ga Aru Kagiri"（空に太陽がある限り）, written and composed by the late songwriter Kuranosuke Hamaguchi（浜口庫之助）.

Of course, when Nishikino does appear on various programs (he doesn't show up as much as he used to) such as NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）, "Sora ni Taiyo ga Aru Kagiri" would be the go-to performance. However, on the "Uta Con" episode back on July 10th, which was devoted to the works of his old master, Nishikino not only sang his most famous hit but also his debut single from May 1970, "Mou Koi Nanoka" (Is This Love?).

It's always a treat when a veteran singer who seems to always go with his biggest hit on music shows finally decides to dig into his/her discography vaults and performs something that I had yet to hear. That was indeed the case with "Mou Koi Nanoka".

As was the case with "Sora ni Taiyo ga Aru Kagiri", "Mou Koi Nanoka" was also a HamaKura creation for his padawan (whose name at the time was written down in hiragana: にしきのあきら), and the song struck me for its innocent and questioning melody which matched the young Nishikino's words of figuring out this strange emotion roiling inside him. An interesting thing was that when the native of Oita Prefecture was given his promotion to the public, his catchphrase was "The Sony Enka Knight"（ソニー演歌の騎士）.

"Mou Koi Nanoka" does evoke images of cherry blossom petals and romantic walks near temples and ancient arched bridges, but at this point, I can't really say that the arrangement here places it as an enka tune. It just sounds like a romantic kayo ballad. And quite a successful one, to boot. It didn't break the Top 10 on Oricon but peaked at a respectable No. 24, selling a tad over 150,000 records. He also won Best New Artist honours at the Japan Record Awards and his first of 6 invitations to the Kohaku Utagassen during the 1970s.

Michiru Kojima -- Bayside Blue ~ Yorokobi no Asa no Tame ni（ベイサイド・ブルー〜喜びの朝のために〜）

I think I did mention earlier tonight about a cooling song for these blisteringly hot times on both sides of the Pacific.

Well, it looks like I've found another one in the form of this bossa-influenced tune by Michiru Kojima（児島未散）. This would be "Bayside Blue ~ Yorokobi no Asa no Tame ni" (For A Joyful Morning). A track from her October 1992 6th album which has the second half of this song title as its own title, it actually does feel like it would be perfect for morning listening while munching down on that slice of toast and sipping that cup of coffee. Composed by Toshiaki Matsumoto（松本俊明）, it is that mix with the amenable sophisticated pop music from the late 80s and early 90s and some mellow Brazilian; I could almost be describing a nice brand of java here in itself.

The lyrics were provided by Miki Fuudo（風堂美起）which is a pseudonym for former 80s aidoru Mie Takahashi（高橋美枝）. And since some of her aidoru tunes are up on YouTube, I will have to take a look at them as well. "Bayside Blue" was also the coupling song for Kojima's 10th single "Ren'ai Eiga wa Owari"（恋愛映画は終わり...The Love Movie Is Over）which came out in February 1993.

Keisuke Yamauchi -- Sarase Fuyu no Arashi（さらせ冬の嵐）

Tuesday's "Uta Con"（うたコン）also featured enka singer Keisuke Yamauchi（山内惠介）and his latest (his 19th) single, "Sarase Fuyu no Arashi" from March 2018. The host and perhaps one other singer were making a few good-natured jokes at Yamauchi about why he had to sing something wintry during a blazing summer. The handsome singer could have been downright stoic around it and merely replied "Because it's in my contract!" but that would have gone down like an anvil so he countered by stating that it could actually help listeners cool down. And considering how brutally hot it's been in Japan, even for a Japanese summer (it topped 40 degrees Celsius in Gifu), any sort of relief from the heat would have been welcome.

Unfortunately the original music video at the top is only available in its truncated form and there don't seem to be any performance videos of Yamauchi, so we'll have to go with the karaoke video for the full version. Composed by Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）and written by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）, "Sarase Fuyu no Arashi" weaves between bittersweet and hopeful as a man apparently goes out into a snowstorm demanding absolution from his woes (perhaps romantic). The single peaked at No.4 on Oricon and ended the year as the 71st-ranked single.

I wasn't quite sure about how to translate that word sarase in the title. Looking at jisho.org, there are quite a few definitions for the verb with the closest ones for the purpose of this song perhaps being expose or bleach. Glancing through Matsui's lyrics, perhaps I could go with cleanse or maybe even the more high-falutin' term absolve so that the title could be translated into "Cleanse Me, Winter Storm". Yamauchi pretty much dares nature to whip him dry since he ends each refrain with a defiance stating that he will not die from the blizzard. Perhaps "Sarase Fuyu no Arashi" is just the tonic at karaoke to sing off that stress.

Yoko Katori -- LIBRA

Didn't make any articles yesterday since I was out all day enjoying some off time with friends. I caught "Ant-Man & The Wasp" which I thought was even better than the first "Ant-Man"...but man, that mid-credits scene! It's about as cliffhanger as one can get in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Getting to the issue at hand, though, I first heard Yoko Katori's（鹿取洋子）"Goin' Back to China" from 1980 on one of the "Good Times Diva" series, and it's this short but quite exciting disco tune with some really bouncing bass. It does seem to pack a lot of travel and intrigue in its less-than-3-minute time. Quite the whirlwind romance.

At first, I had thought the Japanese version of "Goin' Back to China" was its own original creation, but then I read on J-Wiki that it was actually a cover version of a song by Dutch pop/rock band Diesel which was released in 1979. Their "Goin' Back to China" surprised me in that it was a slower-paced number more in the rock vein. Plus, the lyrics in the original version are sadder in that it sounds as if Annie had gotten the love-em-and-leave-em treatment by a cad. The Japanese lyrics for Katori's cover were provided by Fumiko Okada（岡田冨美子）. Diesel's song peaked at No. 34 in the Netherlands but only got as high as No. 105 in the US.

Katori was born Hisae Yasui（安井久恵）in 1961 in Aichi Prefecture. Her "Goin' Back to China" was her debut single which peaked at No. 42 on Oricon. Both the J-Wiki article and one other site mentioned it, so I will mention it here as well; she debuted alongside Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）, Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）, Yoshimi Iwasaki（岩崎良美）and others.

Now, I decided to put the title of her debut and only album "LIBRA" instead of that of her most famous song up on top since I also wanted to feature one other track from her 1980 release. The final track is "Savannah Sunset"（サバンナ サンセット）, a dreamy City Pop/AOR piece that seems to match the titular time of day. Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）handled the lyrics while Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）took care of music and arrangement and guitar. The song doesn't quite go anywhere but I think it is pleasant enough as something to listen to while lying on the sofa in air-conditioned comfort.

Machiko Watanabe -- Hoshi Furu Yoru ni Ki wo Tsukete（星降る夜に気を付けて）

I actually heard this on YouTube's J-Channel last week and I was rather glad that I could find it elsewhere on the site.

Not knowing too much of Machiko Watanabe's（渡辺真知子）material after the 1970s, it's great to know that she's been behind songs such as "Hoshi Furu Yoru ni Ki wo Tsukete" (Be Careful on the Night When The Stars Fall) which was a track on her 1987 album "Soi".  Written by Watanabe and composed by Minoru Komorita（小森田実）, the song is an appealing mix of that late 1980s sophisticated City Pop, sultry Latin and perhaps even a hint of Matt Bianco. It's pretty darn classy; I can only see this in the setting of some of the more expensive parts of Tokyo, and Watanabe's voice gracefully adorns any imagined couple tripping the light fantastic on the tango floor.

https://itunes.apple.com/jp/album/soi-%E3%82%BD%E3%82%A2/1210622249

It's too bad that the original recorded version can only be heard as an excerpt at iTunes or on the J-Channel radio if you're lucky to catch it when it comes up. Still, I've heard it and now I want to get it.

Well, thanks to uploader and commenter Midori, here is the full recorded version! My gratitude!