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.
Still on the 1st-year anniversary kick for this blog, my choice for the second profile (along with Yukio Hashi's 1966"Muhyou") is Yumi Matsutoya's（松任谷由美）"Love Wars", her 21st original album released in November 1989. This was during my time in Gunma Prefecture when I discovered singers like Miki Imai, Mariko Nagai and Princess Princess. However, with Yuming, I had known about her for some years before I made the post-university leap to Japan in July of that year. I came across songs like "Dandelion" and "Ano Hi ni Kaeritai" via "Sounds of Japan" on CHIN-FM in Toronto, and then some more of her tunes via karaoke at Kuri.. Her songs appeared enough times so that I was familiar with her and her enjoyable music, but still wasn't aware how much of an effect she'd had on Japanese pop music. But a few months after my arrival in Japan, I saw the promotion commercials for this album, and decided to plunk down the 3,000 yen for my very first Yuming CD.
The first track is "Valentine's Radio", a sunny start to the album complete with American radio DJ doing a bit of Valentine's Day banter. Although Yuming created the song for February 14th, I've always pictured this more for a Spring day, and my image city has always been San Francisco for some reason. Perfect with a breeze.
Yumi Matsutoya -- Love Wars
The LP version was the last one Yuming would release.
In retrospect, after getting to know all about The Queen of New Music and buying a lot of her previous albums going back to the early 70s, it's kinda strange looking at this cover, seeing her decked out in a PG-13 version of a Barbarella outfit. It didn't chime in with my initial image of Yuming since I'd always listened to her much older stuff. But apparently since the mid-80s, the singer had been moving ever forward into a more American mainstream pop mode, complete with horn section and synths.
Another surprising thing I found out about Yumi Matsutoya was that she was coming up with some monstrously epic effects-laden concerts. I bought a videotape of her 1991 "Wings of Light" tour, and was just floored that she could put on a show that reminded me more of Madonna. And she could hoof it big time as well. Anyways, in the above video, Yuming performs the 2nd track, "Wanderers", one of my favourites on the album, an urban strut of a song which made me realize this was not my teenage year Yuming. There is an actual video for this one but it seems to be as rare as an Elvis sighting. However, according to J-Wiki, it can be seen on her official site (well, only 45 seconds of it). Just go to the DISCOGRAPHY section on the homepage and then there is PROMOTION VIDEO near the bottom of that page.
Track 4 is "Kokoro Hodoite"（心ほどいて....Unwrap My Heart), a wistful ballad that sounds even better unplugged as it is done here in the above video. The scenario is someone going to the church to see a former flame getting married, and having his/her heart say goodbye one final time.
Having bought "Love Wars" as my first Yuming album, it was a bit of a revelation to hear all these little toe dips into genres like urban and AOR along with general pop, and the shifts between uptempo and ballads. Up until this purchase, I'd always heard her as primarily a balladeer. And then when I saw some of her concert footage...!
The final track is "Anniversary", the only song to be released as a single from the album. Despite the title, though, it has been made as a song for the blushing bride on her wedding day. And I'm sure a lot of wedding parties since this song was released in June 1989 have made ample use of it. As Yuming's 23rd single, it peaked at No. 2 on Oricon. It would be her last single for the next few years until 1993.
As for "Love Wars" itself, it won The Best Rock/Pop Album Award at the 1990 Japan Record Awards, and was Yuming's 2nd million-seller. In fact, it was the No. 1 album of the year on Oricon, something that she would repeat the next year with her 22nd album, "Tengoku no Door"(天国のドア...The Gates of Heaven).....yup, bought that one, too.
Well, it's the 1-year anniversary of KK Plus! And I had been kinda wondering which songs I would be putting up on this day. Then, a few weeks ago, I was watching an episode of NHK's "Kayo Concert", and enka veteranYukio Hashi（橋幸夫） sang this song which immediately turned on a switch. I decided then and there that this would be the one song I would be putting up on January 31 2013, exactly a year after I put up "Memory Glass" by Jun Horie（堀江淳）.
"Muhyou"(Silver Frost) just happens to be one of the very first songs I had ever heard....period, so I'm talking about the late 60s. As I've mentioned a few times before, as a toddler, my place was often in front of one of the speakers of that old RCA Victor, and this song was a Japanese standard in our 5th-floor apartment.
Hearing it again with re-tuned ears, I realized how haunting it was with the chorus and the sad arrangement. This is Mood-y Kayo! Written by Tetsuo Miyagawa（宮川哲夫） and composed by Ichiro Tone（利根一郎）, the song is about a melancholy breakup and its aftermath. I can imagine the dumped guy walking down a lonely street on a cold winter night while the song is playing. Now that I've heard it again, I kinda think that the arrangement sounds somewhat reminiscent of a particularly serious 60s James Bond theme, thanks to the shimmery strings in the background.
Yukio Hashi debuted in 1960, and between then and the release of this song in October 1966, he released so many singles (at least 70), I couldn't tell you the exact number of this single. Back in 1962, he did a duet of another kayo kyoku classic with actress Sayuri Yoshinaga, "Itsudemo Yume wo" (already profiled) which was a far more happier piece. "Muhyou" was released before Oricon, but a couple of accolades it did get was the Grand Prize at the 8th Japan Record Awards, and a place at that year's Kohaku Utagassen.
Maybe somewhere in one of the family lockers, the record is still sitting somewhere....
After getting that great launch to her career with the jaunty "Mayoi Michi"（迷い道）in 1977, Machiko Watanabe（渡辺真知子） may have felt a bit let down with her 2nd single,"Kamome ga Tonda Hi"(The Day That The Seagulls Flew). Or to be more accurate, she may have been more disappointed with her recording company's reaction to it. Although "Mayoi Michi" was a megahit in sales with over 800,000 records sold, "Kamome" was apparently treated as a relative failure since it "only" did half as much business. According to J-Wiki, Watanabe was somewhat crushed when some of the staff remarked at the time that the song should've been relegated to the B-side.
Surprisingly, though, a lot of kayo kyoku fans and myself see it as one of Watanabe's most representative works. It may not have broken the Top 100 of 1978, but after its release in April of that year, it did earn The Best Newcomer Prize for Watanabe at the Japan Record Awards, giving her some vindication, since she did compose the song., while Akira Ito（伊藤アキラ） wrote the lyrics. As for the lyrics, they talk of a relationship going sour as Watanabe sings about walking along that harbour alone while the seagulls fly and squawk about. One doesn't usually hear about seagulls getting such a lyrical treatment, especially when they're usually seen as the rats of the avian kingdom.
Along with the fact that "Kamome" has now entered the annals of kayo kyoku legend, it has also become immortalized in some other interesting ways. For one thing, at Horinouchi Station in Watanabe's hometown of Yokosuka, Kanagawa Prefecture, an excerpt of the song is played as the warning chime for passengers to get on the train.
And for a bit of Japanese baseball trivia, the song is the mascot's theme for the Chiba Lotte Marines, the regional baseball team when I was living in Ichikawa (and it had been Bobby Valentine's old team before he entered....and fled....the Boston Red Sox last year). In the above video, it looks like the real singer dropped by to sing her old chestnut right at home plate itself a few years ago.
I've already profiled a couple of Misia's songs in the past few months, her biggest hit, "Everything" and a song that had never been released as a single but still rates as one of my favourites by her, "Sunny Day." Well, I figured it was time to do the album that both came out on. And so as they say, let's give a big hand for the little lady:
Misia - Marvelous...and it is!
I bought Misia's first album, "Mother Father Brother Sister" on the strength of her debut single, "Tsutsumikomu yo ni"(包む込むように). It was a fun album that not only brought hip-pop but also some of that old R&B/disco of the late 70s. But then a few years later, on the strength of three singles in 2000 and 2001, "Everything", "Escape" and "I Miss You", I had to get her 3rd album,"Marvelous", released in April 2001.
"Escape" was Misia's 6th single, released in July 2000. Written by Misia and composed by Misia & Sakoshin, the song has a bit of a spiritual relationship with Michael Jackson's"Thriller" at least in the somewhat spooky-sounding beginning and ending. But the video is more of a psychological horror tribute that Freud and Jung may have wanted to sink their teeth into than the old-fashioned Vincent Price flick that "Thriller" had been. The video is also notable for Misia going for a bit of choreography there. It's a song that I liked to play back in Japan around Halloween for obvious reasons.
The song peaked at No. 7 on the weekly Oricon and actually squeaked into the Top 100 of the year at No. 100.
I think the other reason that I've enjoyed "Marvelous" is that even the non-singles are great listening. "Sunny Day" is one example; this is the other, "Ano Natsu no Mama de"(あの夏のままで...That Summer). I think you can split it down the middle in terms of genre....it has elements of R&B and AOR....but whatever you or I think it is, it's still a wonderful ballad that perhaps I should've profiled half a year ago. Misia can do ballads like a maestra. Of course, "Everything" is the showstopping highlight of the album, but "Ano Natsu no Mama de" is different in that it really does sound like a summer's-end song. to be heard at sunset. This song was also written by Misia and composed by Hidetoshi Yamada（山田秀俊）.
(karaoke version)
The 7th single was indeed "Everything", but right on New Year's Day 2001, her 8th single, "I Miss You" came out in stores....at least, the stores that would open on January 1st in Japan. It's a short but sweet song that kinda had me reminiscing about the last years of disco/pop. And the other notable thing about this final song on the album is that it was the miracle collaboration of Misia and Dreams Come True. DCT vocalist, Miwa Yoshida（吉田美和）, was supposedly one of Misia's inspirations to enter the music world in the first place, so I could only imagine what the first meeting was like between them.
"I Miss You" comes across like a breezy piece that would be perfect for a montage scene in a movie, and sure enough, the official video above has that feel while the ladies produce the song and enjoy the sights of New York at the same time. One wonders if they even bumped into Carrie Bradshaw and her posse somewhere in Manhattan. Written by Misia and composed by her and DCT leader Masato Nakamura（中村正人）, it went as high as No. 3 and became the 38th-ranked song of 2001. In a way, I'm a bit disappointed that it wasn't a bit longer.
As for "Marvelous" itself, the album hit the coveted million mark in sales and hit the top spot on the weeklies before finishing the year as the 8th-ranked song. I don't need to tell you Misia fans to buy it since you already have.
After taking music fandom by storm in 1986 with the top-selling single of the year (and her debut one at that), "CHA-CHA-CHA", Akemi Ishii（石井明美） decided to stay on the pop-with-a-bit-of-Latin track with her 2nd single, "Hibiki wa tutu"(Echo is tutu....perhaps that last word is the Japanese onomatopoeia for kisses?).
(karaoke version)
Written by Yoko Aki(阿木耀子...who had written a lot of Momoe Yamaguchi's later hits in the 70s), and composed by Kyohei Tsutsumi (筒美京平）, the two of them try to get that feel of a Latin jazz club with Ishii as the headliner. Although I'm not sure how it fared week-by-week on the Oricon after its release in November 1986, it didn't break into the Top 100 unfortunately. But since I've enjoyed the Latin jazz genre (thank you, Tito and Desi) for most of my life, I still have a sweet spot for this very short song (less than 3 minutes)...especially when the baritone sax comes barreling in. I never even actually saw Ishii perform on any of the music shows, but it did come on her 2nd album, "Joy" the year after.
A J-Folk song I've been hearing for years and years although it wasn't until recently that I finally learned what the title was and who had actually sung it. "Ano Subarashii Ai wo Mou Ichido"(That Wonderful Love, One More Time) is a gentle mid-tempo kayo kyoku classic that still pops up from time to time on those retrospective specials on Japanese TV. Unfortunately, Kazuhiko Kato（加藤和彦） passed away a few years ago, but such is the song's evergreen popularity that a lot of other artists ranging from Naomi Sagara to members of Morning Musume have continued to keep the legacy going.
Kato first started out in the 1960s, and started up an amateur folk group, The Folk Crusaders, along with four other people, including the lyricist for this song, Osamu Kitayama（北山修）, while in university. Some years later, after the group broke up, Kato decided to go on a solo career in 1968, and it was his 6th single that was "Ano Subarashii Ai wo Mou Ichido", released in April 1971.
According to J-Wiki, there were a couple of different stories as to the song's origins. The first, more romantic story had Kitayama coming up with the lyrics with Kato composing the music and then giving the whole song to his first wife, Mika, as a Christmas present. The second origin story, which turned out to be the true one according to Kitayama back on a talk show in July 2010, had the two men being asked to create the debut song for another Japanese folk duo, Simons. However, Kato and Kitayama decided to sing the song themselves leaving the other duo to go with another tune to launch their career.
The song managed to peak at No. 10 on Oricon and it became the 46th-ranked song of 1971. For those who might think that Japanese music is all about the enka and aidoru stuff, have a listen to this one.
Kato had some fame in the anime world as well. He, along with his second wife, lyricist Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）, created the theme tune for the movie version of the 80s anime"Macross", "Ai wo Oboeteimasuka"（愛をおぼえていますか....Do You Remember Love?).
For the past month, I've been kinda avoiding putting up any profiles of Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子） or any of the other singers who got the Xmas treatment last month since I think I did throw up quite a few songs from each of them, but now that I've passed the 25th of this month, I'm back in the safe zone again.
"Nobara no Etude"(Field Rose Etude) should come with a medical warning: May cause tendency to sigh wistfully. And yep, since it's been a REALLY long time since I heard this one, I almost blew off the screen of my netbook here. I first saw Seiko-chan perform this, her 11th single, at the 1982 Kohaku Utagassen. It was the 2nd time for me to see her perform on the annual New Year's Eve programme, and she came out wearing this yellow summery aidoru-ish frock. Unlike the previous year, when she performed "Natsu no Tobira"(already profiled) bouncing around like mad, "Nobara no Etude"was her just singing the pretty ballad like a summer breeze. The opening "Tu-ru-ri-ra, tu-ru-ri-ra..." still resonates over 30 years later.
The song was written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆） and composed by Tulip's Kazuo Zaitsu（財津和夫）, and was released back in October 1982. Despite the relatively late release, "Nobara no Etude" managed to become the 41st-ranked song of the year, and yep it did hit No. 1 on the Oricon weeklies as just about every single of hers did in the first half of the 80s. Even in 1983, it finished at the No. 75 position at the end of that year.
