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.
I gotta say that I have enjoyed the occasional delightful surprises that I've gotten while doing this blog for the past year. This is one of them. While I was looking up some information on another song that had been done by The Peanuts and covered by the aidoru trio Candies, I came across a J-Wiki entry on one of the latter's albums, "Candy Label".
As I was looking at the tracks, I came across this interesting one, a cover of The Carpenters'"All You Get From Love is a Love Song". Now, having become a convert to the cause of Karen and Richard during my years in Japan (as have millions of Japanese), this particular song became a favourite of mine because of its relaxing lying-on-the-beach AOR feel. So, when I discovered this track on "Candy Label", I just had to scoot over to YouTube and give it a listen. How would Ran, Su and Miki approach this?
I mean, my impression of Candies as one of the premier aidoru groups in the early 70s was of them cheerfully singing their uptempo hits such as "Haru Ichiban"（春一番) and "Un, Deux, Trois". Therefore, listening to the trio's cover of the song, titled in Japan as "Futari no Love Song" (A Love Song for Two), I was surprised to hear an even more languid version. I assume that it was Ran who was handling the main vocals here; she gives a very 'softly, softly' approach which definitely contrasts with Candies' usual high-octane delivery. It's certainly a more tentative version than Karen's rich and confident original.
With this video I've uploaded, a whole rush of Candies images appear. But it's the one that appears above before you push play that's the most striking. When I saw that, I kinda thought Candies looked a lot like the current big girl trio right now, Perfume. Last year, my profile on "Haru Ichiban" got flooded by a bunch of Perfume fans from another site when a fellow there linked that profile with his own article on a Candies-Perfume comparison.
Here is the original Carpenters' version from their 1977 album, "Passage". It was also released as a 45" single in May 1977. Written and composed by Steve Eaton, the song was translated into Japanese by Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞） for Candies' cover. "Candy Label" was released in September of that year., while "Futari no Love Song" was the B-side to the trio's aforementioned hit, "Un, Deux, Trois".
1. Miyuki Nakajima Kansuigyo
2. Tatsuro Yamashita For You
3. Southern All Stars Nude Man
4. Chiharu Matsuyama Kishoutenketsu II
5. Off Course Over
6. Seiko Matsuda Pineapple
7. Masatoshi Nakamura Memorial
8. Off Course I Love You
9. Yumi Matsutoya Pearl Pierce
10. Niagara Triangle Niagara Triangle Vol. 2
Would love to have any of those albums right now. Maybe I should've given my good friend a longer shopping list when he went off to Japan a couple of weeks ago. Certainly Tatsuro's"For You" is a City Pop classic. For Yuming, "Pearl Pierce" is her first Top 10 album in 5 years since 1977's"The 14th Moon". Niagara Triangle is a supergroup of sorts with singer-songwriters Eiichi Ohtaki, Masamichi Sugi and Motoharu Sano banding together.
CroonerYosui Inoue（井上陽水） came up with this slow-and-sultry number in June 1982. "Riverside Hotel" doesn't bring to my mind any of those 5-star places. The melody just seems to suggest a bit of dirty dancing in a seedy cafe of a rundown hotel in a steamy locale....where the men are men, and the women are--OK, I'll knock it off here. Well, in any case, the lyrics are suggestive of a tryst at this hotel. The tune was apparently just right for Fuji-TV since 6 years after its release, the network had the song used as the main theme for the famous romance-drama, "New York Koi Monogatari"（ニューヨーク恋物語....New York Love Story) starring actor Masakazu Tamura（田村正和） (who would later become the detective Ninzaburo Furuhata).
Unfortunately, neither Wikipedia nor J-Wiki has much on this tune. I found out that "Riverside Hotel", Inoue's 18th single, had also been a track on his 10th album, "Lion and Pelican" released in December 1982. Probably the single made some inroads up Oricon but neither it nor the album cracked the Top 100 in their categories for that year.
But I did find a wee bit of trivia on Japan's Yahoo via the Q&A section for this song. Apparently, Inoue may have found some inspiration via either or both of two hotels. First, there is the Bentley Hotel in Manhattan on East 62nd St, although I think that's a pretty classy and trustworthy place according to its website. The other is a hotel from Inoue's native Fukuoka, the Hakata Riverside Hotel which seems to be a much more modest form of accommodation, and perhaps more trystworthy (I thank you).
PS January 5 2013....JTM was kind enough to let me know about a cover of this song by chanteuse Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）. I thought it came from one of her 3 "Utahime"（歌姫） cover albums, but according to J-Wiki, it doesn't seem to be listed (any ideas, folks?). This is a bossa nova version, and the song benefits from that rich-as-maple-syrup voice of hers (sorry for the Canadian analogy....but I am called J-Canuck, after all :))
My image of actress/singer Tomoyo Harada（原田知世） in the last several years has been of the young mother representing Blendy Instant Coffee.
But way back when in the 80s, one of my old friends gave me a homemade mix audio tape which included several of Harada's songs when she was a fresh-faced aidoru. I've still got it somewhere in the house, but I believe one of those songs is her most famous and most successful hit.
In 1983, Harada was just starting out on her career when she landed the starring role in the sci-fi flick, "Toki wo Kakeru Shojo"（時をかける少女....The Girl Who Leapt Through Time）. Nope, there were no British police boxes or American DeLoreans involved in this movie....just some chemicals, apparently (have yet to see the movie myself).
But Harada did double duty here since she also sang the theme song, only her 3rd single released in July 1983. And the fact that it was written and composed by Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由美） must have brought its own share of pride and pressure to the aidoru. However, she did well with the breezy single as it peaked at No. 2 on Oricon and became the 11th-ranked song of the year. The above is the original music video for the song.
Almost a quarter of a century later, Harada came out with a gentler bossa nova cover of her old song on the album "music & me" in November 2007. That album peaked at No. 27. It was her 3rd cover of the song. Other artists have also done their own version of "Toki", including Yuming herself for the early 80s album, "Voyager".
Hearing the original version, though, almost can make one believe that time travel is possible.
In the final years of the 20th century, a lot of interesting music was coming into play in Japan: Shibuya-kei, a new aidoru wave represented by Johnny's Entertainment (guys) and Hello Project (girls), and J-R&B with more hip-hop sensibilities. But one day when I was in my friend's car, my pal turned on the radio, and out came this irresistible grungy pop song (with whistling, no less) sung by a woman who sounded like she ran with a biker gang. I asked who this was, and he answered that it was a new singer by the name of Ringo (Yumiko) Shiina（椎名林檎）. The song was "Kabukicho no Jou"（歌舞伎町の女王...Queen of Kabukicho). Unfortunately, I couldn't find the original song on YouTube but this cover version by the tribute band Voce is well done.
(Jan. 26 2013....managed to track down the original at the Dailymotion video service Sorry but I couldn't bring it over here but it's easy to find www.dailymotion.com.)
I did see the original music video for "Kabukicho no Jou", and therefore Shiina herself. I thought she looked like Judy and Mary's lead vocal, YUKI, after spending several years in the house of The Addams Family; she had a facial expression that could probably melt several of the heavier elements. Shiina came up to Tokyo after a childhood and adolescence that spanned Saitama, Shizuoka and Fukuoka Prefectures, and one day after some scout for an S&M movie tried to recruit her while she was walking around in Shibuya, she got the inspiration to create this song about the sex trade in Kabukicho, the notorious area in Shinjuku (not really that bad an area although the sleaze can be seen especially on a weekend night).
The original single was released back in September 1998 as her 2nd single; it peaked at No. 50.
After listening to some subsequent songs by her, I decided to buy her first album, "Muzai Moratorium"(Innocence Moratorium) which was released in February 1999. The cover had a thinner Ringo surrounded by a gaggle of media types who are also crowding an official walking out of the end of a trial and sagely unfurling a banner with the title of the album. The album was interesting to say the least. Kinda like that box of chocolates that Forrest Gump talked about.
Along with Shiina's 2nd single, "Muzai Moratorium"also has a punky and frenetic version of her debut single, "Koufukuron"(幸福論...Theory of Happiness). Apparently, the singer had not been thrilled about the original version when it was released in May 1998, and didn't do all that well in its original release. However, with the rise in her star later on, the debut was re-released and it eventually hit the No. 10 spot. The above video has the album version while the one below is a shorter remixed version of the original by Rymdkraft. The original felt a little more techno.
There was another single from the album, "Koko de Kiss Shite"（ここでキスして...Kiss Me Here), but I will leave that for another profile. Actually a non-single track that I wanted to profile here is "Akane Sasu Kiro Terasaredo"（茜さす帰路照らされど...When It Begins To Get Dark) which also stands out for sounding like a 70s ballad with the piano and the strings. To go from screaming guitars to Loggins & Messina within the same album is an Olympic-sized jump.
The ballad was also used as the commercial song for Suntory's Cocktail Bar drinks. Shiina rarely made appearances outside of concerts, so to actually hear her do some narration for the ad probably got the fans talking.
The final song for this profile is "Tsumiki Asobi"（積木遊び...Playing With Blocks), which Shiina has described as being somewhat of a fun palate-cleansing song. It's definitely eclectic: a rock song with a trombone and koto thrown in for good measure. And although it's just a small part of the song, but I like the way she ends the verses with a somewhat English-sounding pronunciation. for a kanji-laden line.
"Muzai Moratorium" became a million-seller in Japan, and peaked at No. 2. It took a while but it eventually became the 42nd-ranked album of 2000. And a legend was born.
Hope all of you have had a Happy New Year. Some of you may still be reaching for that champagne, others may be going for that bottle of aspirin. I know at the time I'm writing this in the Eastern Standard Time Zone, Japan is already well into its 2nd day of celebrating O-Shogatsu. Unlike over here, where most of us will be morosely heading back to work on January 2, in all likelihood, a lot of folks in Japan will still be having days off for much of the rest of the week as they visit those temples and enjoy that o-sechi and watch all of the special Holiday TV. Of course, friends and family will be dropping by each other's homes for some in-home revelry. In other words, it's traditionally a very festive beginning to the year.
And so my very first entry on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for 2013 will be based on Sabu-chan. Notably, his 68th single from November 1984, "Matsuri" (Festival). Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）goes all out musically describing the joyous raucousness of the typical Japanese festival with its dancing, loud chanting and raising of mikoshi (portable shrines). Those festivals may not show up until much later in the year, but the feeling of celebration is always there in the first few days of a New Year....helped greatly by goodly quantities of beer, shochu or sake. And there's no one better than a veteran enka master to make that abundantly clear as is evident in the above video of a past Kohaku Utagassen. All the festival tropes are there, including the traditional Sabu-chan whiteout of confetti. Kitajima has performed this favourite 5 times on the annual New Year's Eve show, with the most recent performance being in 2009.
His final line is rather modular. "Kore ga Nihon no matsuri da yo!"(これが日本の祭りだよ！...This is a Japanese festival!) is the official ending to the song but depending on the circumstances, Kitajima has substituted "Nihon" with other words, such as place names if he is singing the song in a certain area. In the above video, he substitutes it with "Kohaku".
By the way, "Matsuri" was written by Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼） and composed by Joji Hara....which happens to be Saburo Kitajima's pen name.
Now that the New Year will be arriving in about 20 minutes, I think it rather appropriate to introduce this song as my final entry for 2012. Of course, I used to hear "Auld Lang Syne" by that old bandleader Guy Lombardo as a kid on New Year's Eve whenever the clock finally struck midnight, years before the late Dick Clark became a household word in the United States on December 31st.
Just to give a bit of background, "Auld Lang Syne" came about from the poem composed by Scotland's Robert Burns in 1788. Somehow, it made its way to Japan a century later in 1881 into a songbook, and it is assumed but not proven definitively that Chikai Inagaki（稲垣千頴）, a teacher at an institution that would eventually become the Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, provided the Japanese words to the song, first known as "Hotaru"(Fireflies) and later to become "Hotaru no Hikari" (The Light of the Fireflies) (thank you, jprockwell of everything2.com and J-Wiki for that information).
"Hotaru no Hikari" is, of course, heard on New Year's Eve, notably at the end of NHK's Kohaku Utagassen at about 11:45 p.m. But it is far more prolific in Japan on virtually a daily basis, as it is also used at school graduation ceremonies and as the musical cue at department stores, pachinko parlours, supermarkets, etc. for customers to skedaddle home at the end of the business day. So, when I was living in Japan, my impressions of hearing the song were not of lifting a glass of champagne but of quickly scrambling for that final bento in the supermarket before the doors slid shut for good for the day. Guy Lombardo was far from my mind during those years. And that version is in the video above.
This video contains the sung version of "Hotaru no Hikari"....not sure if it's a Vocaloid, though.
But in any case, I'm finishing this with four minutes to spare before the song gets played for real. I wish all of you all the best for a Happy New Year, and I look forward to hearing from you in 2013!
