Ruriko Kuboh -- Hayaku Shite yo （早くしてよ）

Now, here's a name I haven't come across in a long while. I may have first heard of the name Ruriko Kuboh in the last year of my Gunma stay since she debuted in 1990, but I only really found out about her some months into my new life in Ichikawa from late 1994.

Kuboh hails from Kobe and started voice training during her high school years before making the big move to Tokyo in 1988. She started her career in 1990 with her debut single, "Plastic My Life", but her first big hit came in 1993 with "Otoko"（男...Men）, her 9th single, which earned her first invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen that year.

However, when I hear the name Ruriko Kuboh（久宝留理子）, I will always be reminded of her 11th single, "Hayaku Shite yo" (Get A Move On). It was a song that I had actually heard first through karaoke, both in personal visits to the karaoke boxes with friends and then viewings of tarento performing the song themselves on TV, before I finally got to see and hear Kuboh take the mike. Written by the singer and composed by SORCE, "Hayaku Shite yo" would have been the ideal theme song for the Peanuts' character, Peppermint Patty, in her love/hate relationship with Charlie Brown. If Miss Reichardt (yep, that IS her real name) could speak Japanese, those lyrics would have her trying to harass and tick ol' Chuck off just to get some sort of real emotion from him. And through the official music video above, Kuboh also has that smart-alecky tomboyish character to her. Her singing and music also remind me a lot of some of the high-toned and high-energy singers from that time such as Kohmi Hirose（広瀬香美） and Mariko Nagai（永井真理子）.

"Hayaku Shite yo" was released in July 1994, and went as high as No. 8 on Oricon before finishing the year as the 53rd-ranked song. The song went Platinum and also earned Kuboh a second straight appearance on the Kohaku. It also got used as a jingle for an NTT DoCoMo pager (remember those?) commercial. It is available as a track on Kuboh's 6th album, "COLORS" which was released in November 1994 and made it all the way up to No. 2. I was able to finally get an old copy of the single at RecoFan many years later.

Sing Like Talking -- Friend

(karaoke version)

Always love a fine Sing Like Talking ballad, and this is one of my favourites. "Friend" by SLT members Chiaki Fujita and Chikuzen Sato（藤田千章・佐藤竹善） is one of those bittersweet love songs that would kinda fit Valentine's Day. It's another one of those songs about one person wanting to take things beyond the "good friend" stage with a buddy but, gosh darn it, not having quite the gumption to make the confession. I think we've all been there at some time or another.

I first heard "Friend" on Sing Like Talking's BEST album of ballads, "Round About" which was released in June 2001 (it reached No. 9 on Oricon), but it originally came out as a track on the band's 2nd album, "City on My Mind" from July 1989. I love the harmonica intro and just the overall mellow arrangement involved here. And there is that lyrical echo acting as internal discourager and fine finishing touch, "Who's foolin' who?" by the background vocals while Sato sings about the love he has for that special someone but could never say to her.

It wasn't until Sing Like Talking's 5th album, "Humanity", that the band finally got widespread notice in the early 90s so I think there are some hidden gems in their earlier albums. I'm glad that "Friend" got its due through "Round About".

Apple iTunes link

(brief excerpt)

TM NETWORK -- DIVE INTO YOUR BODY

Last week I went to the post office to get my TM NETWORK’s “CAMP FANKS!! ’89” DVD (the “cheesy” performance above is from that DVD). The band was at their peak and was relying heavily in eurobeat, especially after Tetsuya Komuro (小室哲哉) spent some time in England in 1988. As he went there to “study” the type of pop music which was topping the British charts at the time, he truly experienced the Stock Aitken Waterman (SAW) Empire. The contact he made there was important to the future of TM NETWORK and his own as an artist and producer (Pete Hammond, the resident “mixmaster” and sound engineer of PWL worked with Komuro a lot of times. “GET WILD ’89”, for example, was mixed by him).

I’ve already talked about “GET WILD ‘89”, the eurobeat version of “Get Wild” (1987), in the past, but “DIVE INTO YOUR BODY”, which was released in July 1989, was their true hit of the year. When I think of it, the word “anthem” really comes to my mind because of the extensive use of “lalala” with high eurobeat synths and a groovy bass in the background. It’s just like a big party held by TM NETWORK.

The song is also very catchy, especially during the chorus when Takashi Utsunomiya (宇都宮隆) sings the “dive into your body” line backed by Komuro’s high synth notes. According to J-Wiki, Tetsuya Komuro’s solo debut, “RUNNING TO HORIZON” (released in October 1989), which was done at the same time of “DIVE INTO YOUR BODY”, shares some similarities with TM NETWORK’s hit. Besides the fact that a very similar melody was used during the verses, the “lalala” is also present in both songs. Here’s Komuro’s “RUNNING TO HORIZON”.

“DIVE INTO YOUR BODY” reached #2 on the Oricon charts, selling around 302,000 copies. It ended the year as the #24 best ranked single of 1989. Lyrics were written by Mitsuko Komuro (小室みつ子) while music and arrangement were done by Tetsuya Komuro.

Here's the TM NETWORK’s “CAMP FANKS!! ’89” DVD.

The Off-Course -- Gunshu no Naka de （群衆の中で）

One of my Off Course（オフコース）BEST albums took the tack of having the songs go back in reverse order of time, so the very last track happened to be the band's very first single, "Gunshu no Naka de" (Loneliness Along The Crowd). Up to that point, I had been listening to Off Course for some years and so I was quite familiar with their sound.

Listening to "Gunshu no Naka de" for the first time was interesting to me in that it wasn't Kazumasa Oda（小田和正）as the main vocal but Yasuhiro Suzuki（鈴木康博）, and neither of them had any hand in the writing and composing of it. Instead, it was Michio Yamagami（山上路夫） providing the lyrics and Betty Dean with the music. And at the time, the band was known as "The Off-Course". This debut single may not have had the distinct Off Course sound to it, but it still had a sad but lovely lilt and the lyrics told of how lonely life could be in the city, especially one as big as Tokyo. In a way, I feel that it also had a bit of Simon & Garfunkel flavouring along the lines of "Scarborough Fair".

The single was released in April 1970 after the song had been first performed at the November 1969 3rd Annual Yamaha Light Song Contest at the Tokyo Kosei Nenkin Hall in Shinjuku. At the time, the members of The Off-Course (Oda, Suzuki and Michio Jinushi) had been thinking about wrapping things up for good once the contest was over, but with a 2nd-place finish in the Folk category just behind Akai Tori（赤い鳥）, they decided to keep things going for at least a little while longer. Guitarist Jinushi（地主道夫）, who had been with the band since high school, left The Off-Course in 1971 to later become an acclaimed architect. Of course, The Off-Course would eventually get their own fame....minus a definite article.

The above video is Yasuhiro Suzuki's cover of "Gunshu no Naka de" at a 2008 concert.

Misato Watanabe -- 10 Years

The years...they sure go by fast. I went out for dinner with some old friends the other night, including my anime buddy who I've known for over quarter of a century. Most of the others I've known for just a little over a couple of decades.

I first heard Misato Watanabe's（渡辺美里）"10 Years" on her 10th anniversary BEST album, "She Loves You" from July 1995. For some years, I'd thought the song was one especially made for that anniversary but have since discovered that it actually was the B-side to her 12th single, "Kimi no Yowasa"（君の弱さ....Your Weakness） from October 1988. "10 Years" was written by Watanabe and composed by singer-songwriter Senri Oe（大江千里） as a young adult's story about how far he/she has come in the past decade since high school vis-à-vis an old flame, and what could be in the offing over the next ten years.

Despite the title and my description, though, the song isn't a sepia-toned nostalgic tune but an upbeat hopeful one which fits my image of the singer and her collaborator Oe. The remarkable thing about the melody is that it seems to have that feeling of time passing by, especially in the instrumental bridge. I could just see years suddenly flashing by on the screen when that bridge comes in. If there were ever a musical based on Misato's life, "10 Years" would be the perfect coda.

"10 Years" was never placed onto an original album but as mentioned appears on "She Loves You" and also the next few BEST albums, including "Sweet 15th Diamond" which came out in July 2000.

KMM Dan -- Witch Activity （ウィッチ☆アクティビティ）

Not too long ago, I wrote on Yasuyuki Okamura's（岡村靖幸）funky little number, "Viva Namida", the opening theme for "Space Dandy"...one of the number of anime that I've been watching since the beginning of the new year. Well, during the same showing, I was also witness to another anime by the title of "Witchcraft Works" which seems to have become the big hit of the season.

As I did with "Space Dandy", I will also give my brief fractured description of "Witchcraft Works" through comparison with examples of old TV programs and movies. The show seems to be a mix of "Terminator", "Bewitched" and "I Dream of Jeannie" with some pretty nifty special effects. However, as much as I have enjoyed the first few episodes featuring the adventures of Honoka and Ayaka, my ears and brain pricked up at the very end of the episodes when this Ceti Alpha Eel of an ending theme managed to burrow deep into my brain where it still resides.

This would be "Witch Activity" by KMM Dan（ＫＭＭ団...The KMM Group）, the coven of teenage witches which has so far antagonized our aforementioned heroes with all manners of hocus pocus, giant bears and bunnies. And I think the coven is having better success breaking the fourth wall and ripping us anime fans down to size with this earworm than getting at Ayaka the witch. The technopop unit TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND was responsible for unleashing this infectious melody. The unit itself was formed all the way back in 1995, but with their first album, "music laundering" coming out over a decade later in 2006.

The music alone should be investigated by the CDC, but what got me at "Hello" was the staccato opening by the KMM girls (voiced by their respective seiyuu) themselves. With the music and the vocals, I didn't stand a chance. I ended up listening to the YouTube video for the ending credits of "Witchcraft Works" a few times after getting home from my anime buddy's place that night, and then a few more times after that until the official single was finally released a few days ago, and a Good Samaritan uploaded the song onto YouTube. Frankly, I don't think the full version of "Witchcraft Activity" actually adds any further audio Valhalla than what I have already heard through the credits, but it's early days.

From CD Japan

Now, when you check out the photo above for the single, you will see the cover in which the KMM Dan is positioned eerily like the famed German techno band, Kraftwerk, for "The Man-Machine". My anime buddy also pointed out that "Witch Activity" also sounded like the band's "Radioactivity".

Well, I'm not quite sure about that....perhaps if the melody for "Radioactivity" were sped up? But in any case, I did enjoy seeing the parody cover.

JTM's Romantic 80s Playlist

Image courtesy of http://valentinetipsandtricks.blogspot.com/2011/05/romantic-love-pictures.html

With Valentine's Day just around the corner, I thought it might be timely to share some of my favorite J-Pop love songs from the 80s. There is certainly no shortage of romantic songs to chose from but I wanted to select songs that may not necessarily be your atypical or conventional love songs. This list is just my personal list of favorite songs that tug at the heart strings.  So without further ado here is my 80s Love Songs Playlist...