Chage & Aska -- Yah Yah Yah

Want to liven up that karaoke party? A bit too many enka ballads? Well, click on this song. This is probably one of the most adrenaline rush-inducing fist-pumping uptempo tunes in all of J-Pop, provided by Chage & Aska. Less than 2 years after coming up with their most successful song in their career, "Say Yes"(the 4th-ranked song in Oricon history), the duo from Fukuoka came up with another blockbuster...one that also has one of the easiest-to-remember titles, "Yah Yah Yah". Simple is best, indeed.

The song was released in March 1993. At that time, I was in the middle of my 3 years back in Toronto...between my Gunma and Tokyo stints. The Japanese-Canadian Students Association at the University of Toronto had a weekly Wednesday program of showing Japanese dramas at the International Student Centre, and one of the popular shows for the folks who came out (undergrads, Japanese working-holiday visa students) was a medical drama, "Furikaereba Yatsu ga Iru"(振り返れば奴がいる....If You Turn Around, You'll See Jackals). Starring Yuji Oda and Ken Ishiguro, the pair played rival doctors at a hospital; Oda played  the embittered surgeon with a past. "Yah Yah Yah"was the theme song for the program, and Ryo Aska（飛鳥涼）even helped out with the score for the episodes. The song was an often-heard tune on those Wednesday nights.

As you can see on the video above, "Yah Yah Yah" is a real crowd-pleaser. And Chage & Aska get everybody jumping when the refrain gets screamed out and the winds blow through their trench coats. You can even bring your own "Yah Yah Yah" kit to karaoke. Just make sure you and your mate wear those coats, and bring along a small electric fan to plug in.

The song became the No. 1 song for 1993 and sold at least 2 million copies. And in the history of Oricon, it is currently the 11th-ranking hit. It is also on the duo's 16th album, "Red Hill", released in October 1993, which also enjoyed its time at the top of the album charts and was ranked 8th overall for the year.

Above is the opening credits sequence for the drama with Ishiguro and Oda running on the beach. For such a dark drama, "Yah Yah Yah" just seems so atypically up-with-people. And if you look at the complete sequence, Chage and Aska themselves show up for a few seconds. In retrospect, it's strange seeing Oda as a villain of sorts considering that a few years later, he would take on the character of his career, the fecklessly idealistic Detective Sergeant Shunsaku Aoshima in "Odoru Dai Sosasen"（踊る大捜査線...Bayside Shakedown).

A piece of trivia about the drama itself. The screenplay was by famed director Koki Mitani（三谷幸喜）, who, a year later, would come up with the Columbo-like detective, Ninzaburo Furuhata（古畑任三郎）. However, he was shocked to learn of his script undergoing so many re-writes on set....an unpleasant experience that he used to write one of his movies, "Radio no Jikan" (ラジオの時間.... Radio Time).

THE BOOM -- Kaze ni Naritai （風になりたい）

For many years, I'd thought that THE BOOM had originated in Okinawa, but actually the four founding members are actually from the landlocked prefecture of Yamanashi on the main island of Honshu. But they were inspired by the music of Okinawa, and they created their band in 1986 to perform initially as buskers on hokoten...the pedestrian paradises....streets that were closed off from vehicular traffic during the weekends so that people could enjoy a nice stroll.

However, THE BOOM also explored Brazilian music in the middle of the 1990s, and my favourite song by them is "Kaze ni Naritai"(I Want to Become the Wind). It's just a glorious percussion-happy Japanese samba that leader and vocal Kazufumi Miyazawa（宮沢和史） had always wanted to write. Originally on the band's 6th album, "Kyokuto Samba"（極東サンバ...Far East Samba) (1994), it was released as a single in March 1995. It took four months, but the song finally broke into the Oricon rankings and peaked at No. 19.

The music video for "Kaze ni Naritai" was filmed on the Ginza.....the biggest hokoten in Tokyo which, weather permitting, is open on Sundays. It looks like the weather was permitted to be just as happy as the band.

Good ol' Ginza
Yamano Music is just on the right across the street.

Akina Nakamori -- Desire

Get up, get up, get up.... BURNING LOVE!

For me, it's hard to say which song is the ultimate Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）tune. Is it "Tattoo" or is it "Kazari ja nai no yo Namida wa"（飾りじゃないのよ涙は）? Or is it "Desire"? Probably a lot of her fans, casual or devoted, would pick that last one.

Released in February 1986, it was composed by Kisaburo Suzuki（鈴木キサブロー）, who has woven songs for everyone from Mariko Takahashi to Kenji Sawada, and written by Yoko Aki（阿木耀子）, who had written several of Momoe Yamaguchi's latter hits the decade before. Aki had written a track for Akina's 1983 album, "Etranger"（エトランゼ）, but "Desire" was her first Akina song released as a single. I'd heard in the past that Nakamori was seen as the musical heir of Yamaguchi (and the former had sung the latter's "Yume Saki Annainin" on the talent TV show "Star Tanjo"（スター誕生） when she was starting out), so perhaps writing for Nakamori was a bit of deja vu for Aki. Her husband and fellow collaborator on those Yamaguchi songs such as "Imitation Gold" and "Playback, Part II", Ryudo Uzaki（宇崎竜童）, wasn't involved in "Desire", but composer Suzuki certainly amped up the dynamism in the music; I could've imagined Yamaguchi trying this song if she had continued her career beyond 1980.

As for the singer herself, Akina took "Desire" and crafted that now-husky voice of hers to ride the music like a roller-coaster veteran. Velvety in the relatively quiet sections, she unleashes the full force of that voice in most of the refrain, including the lyric written above.... a challenging but fun song for all those karaoke fans.

"Desire" debuted on Oricon at the top spot from the get-go and became the 2nd-ranked song of 1986, just behind Akemi Ishii's（石井明美）"Cha-cha-cha", although I think "Desire" has probably stayed in the memory a lot longer. It won a number of awards, three from the Japan Record Awards alone: Best Artist, Gold Prize and Grand Prize. Not surprisingly, the Kohaku came knocking as well.

But one of the other factors that helped launched "Desire" into the stratosphere was her performance at concerts and on the various music shows. Akina may have been known for that cute peacocky ponytail in her early years, but with this song, it was the short bob wig. It was also her wish to wear a stylized kimono and the high heels. As for the dance, there is that one point in her performance where she cries out "nante ne" and suddenly bends like a ratchet going down; apparently that was inspired by a baseball pitcher's windup. In any case, it would be hard to separate the song from the choreography. And it will be impossible to separate Akina from "Desire" in any retrospective on her.

Sachiko Nishida/Yoko Oginome -- Coffee Rumba （コーヒー・ルンバ）

The first time I'd ever heard of this Latin number done J-Pop style was back in the early 90s when 80s aidoru Yoko Oginome（荻野目洋子） sang it. At the time, I didn't know that Oginome was doing a cover of Sachiko Nishida's（西田佐知子）original back in 1961, itself the Japanese version of "Cafe Moliendo", an instrumental made by either Venezuelan composer Hugo Blanco or his uncle Jose Manzo Perroni (whichever side of the lawsuit you're on) back in 1958.

In Japan, "Cafe Moliendo"was re-titled "Coffee Rumba"and given lyrics by Seiji Nakazawa（中沢清二）. Osaka-born Nishida debuted in 1956, but it looks like her big year was 1961 as she got one hit earlier with her version of "Never On Sunday"and then an even bigger hit with "Coffee Rumba". Strangely enough, she wasn't a coffee drinker at the time but after she got married to current TV announcer and personality Hiroshi Sekiguchi（関口宏）, she started downing the java.

As I mentioned, Yoko Oginome did a fun, synthed-up version of "Coffee Rumba" as her 25th single in May 1992, along with plenty of choreography and dancers when she performed it on the various music shows and ultimately, the 1992 Kohaku Utagassen. The song didn't make it into the Top 100 singles of the year on Oricon but her 14th album, "Ryukou Kashu"（流行歌手...Trendy Singer) got as high as No. 3.

And this is the original, "Moliendo Cafe" by Hugo Blanco.

July 11th 2021: I found another different cover by Yuka Kamebuchi （亀淵友香）.

Ego-Wrappin' -- Katsute （かつて）

I mentioned this song in my first profile for this Osaka jazz/rock duo, Ego-Wrappin'. That profile was for the raucous "Psychoanalysis" in which vocalist Yoshie Nakano（中納良恵） rips through the song like a buzzsaw. It certainly got my attention....went out and bought the album, "Michishio no Romance"（満ち汐のロマンス....Tide Flow Romance) (May 2001).

"Katsute"(かつて。。。Never Before) is the first track on the band's 2nd album, before the craziness of the second track which is "Psychoanalysis". On the other hand, "Katsute" starts out for the first minute with just Satoru Takeshima's lone soprano saxophone playing out in the night before this jazz waltz starts dancing in. Then, Nakano brings out her other voice: sweeter, slightly higher but with a bit of that downtown ragged edge still in retention. There's a violin solo by Hiroo Mutou which reminds me of Stephane Grappelli when he was jamming with gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhardt back in the 1930s.

Nakano provided the lyrics while she and partner Masaki Mori（森雅樹） composed the song. Since Ego-Wrappin' is a band that also should be seen live, here is a concert version of "Katsute".

Anzen Chitai -- Anata ni （あなたに）

"Anata ni"(For You) is a filet mignon ballad....yep that tender. One of the tracks from Anzen Chitai's（安全地帯） second album, "II"(May 1984), composer (and singer) Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二） and lyricist Goro Matsui（松井五郎）, it's an early Anzen Chitai song which was seemingly meant to be played at a wedding banquet for karaoke or that first dance. Tamaki just belts this one out of the park. I remember listening to this on a car stereo at night for the first time....would've bought the stereo right then and there.

Allow me to throw in another concert version of the song as well. This one came from Yokohama Stadium in 1985. I recall watching another concert video in which Tamaki sang this song. The camera panned into the audience....not a dry eye in the girl-heavy crowd.

"II"was released in May 1984 and peaked at the No. 2 position on Oricon.

Mieko Nishijima -- Ikegami Sen （池上線）

"Ikegami Sen"(Ikegami Line) is arguably Mieko Nishijima's（西島三重子）most famous hit. It was her 2nd single, originally from her debut 1975 album, "Fuusha"（風車...Windmills） before it was given its own release in April 1976. Written by Jun'ei Sato（佐藤順英）and composed by Nishijima, the title refers to one of Tokyo's private train lines on which a young couple is undergoing a sad but quiet breakup. Listening to Nishijima's soft but unyielding vocals, her description of the situation and the couple's neighbourhood creates an intimate atmosphere; something akin to one of the most famous folk songs in Japan, "Kandagawa"（神田川）by Kaguyahime（かぐや姫...Princess Kaguya) a few years back (already profiled). It would probably make a lot of listeners give off a wistful sigh.

Although Nishijima has had a career for the past few decades as an illustrator, less than a couple of weeks ago, she released a new single titled "Ikegami Sen Futatabi"（池上線ふたたび...Ikegami Line Revisited), created by her and lyricist Kenji Kadoya（門谷憲二）.