TUBE -- The Season In The Sun

Back in April 2012, when "Kayo Kyoku Plus" was but a wee 2 months old, I wrote about one of my favourite songs from the 1980s by a band that has rivaled other groups like Omega Tribe and Southern All Stars for the summer music beat. Of course, that would be TUBE. As soon as I heard "Season In The Sun", visions of white sand, coral reefs and blue water rushed into my head like a wave. I first heard the group's first big hit on a compilation tape and then I came across the subject of the above photo one day when I did one of my usual shopping runs at Wah Yueh.

Sure enough, the cover had everything I dreamed of when I heard "Season In The Sun", so I plunked down the cash and bought TUBE's 3rd LP from June 1986 (great release date). But the album title was "The Season In The Sun"...you might say it was the definite article (sorry, that was an inside "Doctor Who" joke). The J-Wiki article never mentioned the reason behind the adding of the "THE", but it never entered my mind back then and I won't let it bother me now. Moving on...

As with a number of articles I have done for other albums, there were no videos for most of the tracks on YouTube, except of course, "Season In The Sun". So I'm putting up the video here as well since it is just a great song and also to herald the return of plus-degree weather to my fair city. Just seeing the young Nobuteru Maeda in his T-shirt and semi-pompadour managed to de-age me by a few years. I have to also thank singer-songwriters Tomoko Aran（亜蘭知子）and Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）for creating this one.

Ah, before I forget, I should actually make the roll call on TUBE's behalf:

Nobuteru Maeda（前田亘輝）: lead vocal and guitar
Michiya Haruhata（春畑道哉）: guitar, keyboards and background vocal
Hideyuki Kakuno（角野秀行）: bass and background vocal
Ryoji Matsumoto（松本玲二）: drums and background vocal

http://www.amazon.co.jp/%E3%82%B7%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BA%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%A4%E3%83%B3%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B6%E3%83%BB%E3%82%B5%E3%83%B3-TUBE/dp/B0000A12DK
(excerpts from the album only)

It was nice to put the LP on the platter again for the first time in at least 20 years. Track 1 is "Weekend - NATU - Tsushin"（通信...Communication） which was written and composed by the lead singer himself. It's all about hitting the beach and having as much fun as possible. As I mentioned, "The Season In The Sun" is TUBE's 3rd album, but it was interesting listening to this first song since Maeda's voice sounds a bit like those male vocalists for anime themes back in that decade. I thought he was going to yell out, "YOU THE SHOCK!"

The track that follows "Season In The Sun" is "Ano Ko ni Q-Josho"（あの娘に急上昇...That Girl Really Turns Me On）, a bit of a humorous-sounding tune that has a Benny Hill saxophone and a 50s-style beat as Maeda sings about getting a date with that girl walking on the beach by any means possible. Speaking of Benny Hill, I could imagine if there were a music video, it would have Maeda and band running after that poor lass and causing all sorts of mayhem just like on the British comedian's show. Kyoko Hoshino（星野今日子）was behind the lyrics and Daiko Nagato（長戸大幸）took care of the music (Nagato was also the producer for the album).

"Right On!" seems to have Maeda in Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）mode with the vocal gymnastics (still can't decipher what he blurted about at the beginning)  he plies here. The theme is similar to "Ano Ko ni Q-Josho" except that the singer is much hungrier and more aggressive about his target. And the rest of the band is more than ready to follow his lead. It may start innocently enough but then the guitar just starts wailing away and then the music goes into warp drive. Nagato once again composed here while Reiko Yukawa（湯川れい子）provided lyrics.

https://music.apple.com/jp/album/the-season-in-the-sun/1535481258

(excerpt only)

Probably next to "Season In The Sun", "Have A Nice Trip" is my favourite song on the album. Hiroaki Sei's（瀬井広明）music takes things to the music of Anri（杏里）and Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）of 1980s Resort Pop. The beat is mellower and that saxophone was the biggest thing that had me thinking of Yamashita back then. And Shinji Moriyama's（森山進治） lyrics bring up a positive feeling about a breakup for a change. Perhaps the couple may have only wanted a summer fling...some good times on the shore and then head off back to their respective worlds once the fall comes in.

"The Season In The Sun" was TUBE's first Top 10 album, getting as high as No. 3 on the weeklies and ending 1986 as the 12th-ranked album. Selling 600,000 albums meant that TUBE finally broke through. As I mentioned in the article for "Season In The Sun", Maeda was thinking that this would be their final stab at stardom before packing up and going home. I don't think they have looked back since then.

Momoko Kikuchi - Seishun no Ijiwaru （青春のいじわる）

Time to get back to those 80s aidoru....and it's been a while since I've put up anything by Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）, so I'm going with her debut single, "Seishun no Ijiwaru" (Youthful Teasing). I went to the J-Wiki article for the song first and when I saw that the composer was Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）, I figured that the melody would be properly mellow and urban contemporary. And sure enough, it was. However, those first few bars made me wonder if it was gonna end up a techno kayo but as soon as I heard those soft keyboards come in, I was reassured that it was a Hayashi concoction. I could even hear a bit of Omega Tribe in there.

The lyrics were provided by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and Kikuchi's delivery didn't sound anything drastically different from her later hits. Her whispery vocals marched in step with the music quite nicely. "Seishun no Ijiwaru" was released in April 1984 and peaked at No. 13 on Oricon. It had some good staying power as it ended 1985 (!) as the 95th-ranked song. It also was a track on her debut album, "Ocean Side" which came out in September 1984. I remember it for the cover photograph of Momoko just floating on the sea in some blue-and-white striped bathing suit. I saw that album quite often whenever I entered Wah Yueh but never took the bait. Kinda regret that now.

Teiichi Futamura/Frank Nagai -- Kimi Koishi （君恋し）

Another deep dip into the musical vault of time here. A couple of weeks ago on an episode of "Kayo Concert"（歌謡コンサート）, there was a rendition of a song called "Kimi Koishi" (I Miss You) which had that finger-snapping rhythm of a cool Mood Kayo from way back, so I decided to look it up. Well, it looks like I had to go further back in time.

"Kimi Koishi" started life in the early 1920s as a kayo kyoku, or ryūkōka（流行歌...popular song）as it was known back then, written and composed by Kouka Sassa（佐々紅華）. However, the following year, lyricist Otowa Shigure（時雨音羽）provided new words with the prominent jazz singer Teiichi Futamura（二村定一）supposedly recording it. However, no surviving records of that recording exist and apparently it was never put on sale. But later in the decade, Futamura finally made another recording which did get released in December 1928. Shigure whipped up a new batch of lyrics but the original composer Sassa just asked that the original line of "kimi koishi" be retained in this version. Meanwhile, just before this version went on sale, Futamura declared that he would include "Kimi Koishi" in the song list for his Asakusa show, the "Denki Kan Review", and it went on to become one of the big hits in his career.

There is a lot of scratch on the old record in the video but if you listen carefully, the arranger Ichiro Ida/Ita（井田一郎）put in near the end an excerpt of "Home Sweet Home", a song that I used to hear all the time on those Warner Brothers cartoons with Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. And according to the J-Wiki article, Ida arranged it so that it was set lightly to the rhythm of the foxtrot which was the popular dance at the time.

The version I heard on "Kayo Concert" was the Frank Nagai（フランク永井）version. Released in 1961, the Man of Mood Kayo gave it a bar-friendly swinging delivery with a good amount of oomph. I wonder if he ever performed it with a hat worn rakishly over his head with a trench coat slung over his shoulder a la another Frank...Sinatra. This also became a hit for Nagai, and it earned him the Grand Prize at the 3rd Annual Japan Record Awards. Enjoy it on the rocks!

Hideki Saijo -- Hashire Shoujiki Mono （走れ正直者）

Wow! Hideki Saijo's（西城秀樹）66th single...the man's had a career and he would continue to do so, releasing a total of 86 singles up to 2006.

If I asked anyone in Japan about a song from the anime "Chibi Maruko-chan"（ちびまる子ちゃん）, the answer would naturally be "Odoru Ponpokorin"（おどるポンポコリン）by B.B. Queens which just happened to become Song No. 1 for 1990. However, I have also covered some of the other lesser-known opening and ending themes for the long-running show such as Yumiko Seki's（関ゆみ子）bright and breezy "Yume Ippai"（ゆめいっぱい）and Kahimi Karie's（カヒミカリィ）jazzy "Humming ga Kikoeru"（ハミングが聞こえる）.

Well, I completely forgot about Hideki's contribution. In fact, it was the 2nd ending theme song after the aforementioned "Odoru Ponpokorin". "Hashire Shoujiki Mono" (Run, Honest Guy) came out in April 1991, and once again, as with the super-hit from last year, the collaborators here were composer Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）and lyricist/creator of the original "Chibi Maruko-chan" manga, Momoko Sakura（さくらももこ）.

But instead of the comical pop of "Odoru", Oda and Sakura decided to give "Hashire Shoujiki Mono" a peppy ska beat. And that is, of course, Saijo's distinctive nasal vocals behind Sakura's loopy lyrics. I'm not sure how the veteran singer was approached to do the song but the inspiration must have been pretty easy since Saijo has had a presence in "Chibi Maruko-chan" since the show is set in the 1970s and Maruko-chan's big sister, Sakiko, is the biggest fan of Mr. YMCA. I found the title a tad ironic as well since the lead character, who happens to be the alter ego of the author, has the penchant for "embellishing" the truth from time to time (I can only imagine Maruko doing a home stay with The Simpsons in Springfield).

I was surprised to find out from the J-Wiki article that "Hashire Shoujiki Mono" is supposedly the first J-ska song to become a hit in Japan, although the genre was starting to get its feet wet in the late 80s. Still, when I think of bands like LA-PPISCH and Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, the information was an eye-opener for me. The song peaked at No. 17 and was also on Saijo's 1991 album, "Mad Dog". Perhaps it wasn't the monster hit that "Odoru" was, but it was still good to hear a 90s Hideki hit for the first time in a long while.

Koji Wada & AiM -- an Endless tale

The nostalgia in this one just hits me like a bus. "an Endless tale" takes me way back to the days when "Digimon Frontier" was shown on TV, and I would watch it together with "Pokemon: Advanced Battle" back-to-back every evening at 6... if I remember correctly. I didn't watch the entire show, I think I just tuned it about halfway through the season, so the ending theme was the aforementioned song. Being easy on the ears, I quickly fell in love with it, and the best part was the scene where the 3 powerful Digimon creatures were standing around in the forest. I just found that really cool - foreshadowing the Sannin no kai (三人の会)?? Those were some good times, and times where I wished I had that device armed by the protagonists to turn into one of those creatures. Actually, that'd still be pretty rad... ...

Anyway, this duet was performed by singer Koji Wada (和田光司) and voice actress AiM, or Ai Maeda (前田愛). Wada had sung the theme song and the first ending theme for the show as well before singing this second ending theme for episodes 27 to 50. By isolating their voices from "an Endless tale", I can't say that I'm particularly fond of their vocal delivery. It's pleasant but too high for me, however, I'll make an exception for this song.

The only live performance I could find.

"an Endless tale" was written by Hiroshi Yamada (山田ひろし), and for the longest time I never knew what the song meant, even up till now, mostly because I never bothered to have a look at its lyrics. It was only while doing this article did I finally read its translation. Basically, it seems to be talking about friendship and how it'd still remain despite the characters having to say goodbye. Very common topic for such anime shows, I realise. The music was composed by musician Michihiko Ota (太田美知彦).

I liked the red one...

amazon.co.jp

Minako Tanaka -- Anata no Mistake (あなたのMistake)

I hope this song stays up on YouTube, but I doubt that.

Recently, I received an used copy of Minako Tanaka’s (田中美奈子) second album, “Gimmick”, which was released in September 1990.

Minako’s sophomore album was way different from her debut album, “Kimi no Hitomi ni Yasashiku” (君の瞳に優しく), which was a dance-pop/Eurobeat-oriented work with great covers such as “Namida no Taiyou” (涙の太陽) and “Be My Baby”, but also strong original songs like “Tell me” and “WeekendPain”, among others. “Gimmick”, on the other hand, relied more on an edgy pop-rock sound, even though some pure dance numbers, such as the single “Dancing in the Shower”, for example, were included as well.

“Anata no Mistake” is not only the final song from “Gimmick”, but also one of my personal highlights from the album. The arrangement with nice guitar riffs and a bouncy bass line, coupled with Minako’s tough girl attitude, resulted in a very interesting hybrid of dance-pop and pop-rock. In a somewhat pretentious and not fair comparison, it was probably what Donna Summer accomplished in 1979 with her hit “Hot Stuff”.

In the end, although not a strong fan of pop-rock, I was able to enjoy most of the songs included in “Gimmick”. So, even though Minako’s first album is still very higher in my list, I surely liked “Gimmick” a lot too. Now, I already ordered Minako’s third album, “Mou Daremou Aisanai” (もう誰も愛さない), which was released in 1991, but I’m not quite sure of what type of sound she will try out next. Let’s see in a near future.

Gimmick reached #46 on the Oricon charts. Lyrics for Anata no Mistake were written by Yoko Sawaguchi (沢口葉子), while music was composed by Joey Carbone. As for the arrangement, Tavera Michael was the responsible.

predia -- Na mo Naki Shiroi Hana wa Kie Iku (名もなき白い花は消え逝く).

I had a lot of interesting experiences with J-Pop since I wrote my last entries almost two weeks ago. One of them was aidoru group predia’s first major album, “Koko no Dahlia ni Kuchizuke wo” (孤高のダリアにくちづけを), which was released in February 2015.

I’ve been aware of predia since December when they released “Utsukushiki Kodokutachi” (美しき孤独たち) as a single, and I even planned to write something about this great retro-sounding dance-pop song, but I ended leaving it behind and prioritized other songs on the blog (I’m not proud of that decision, though). However, their new album came out as a surprise, and a really good one, with interesting and mature dance-pop songs that can be compared to Avex’s successful “aidoru-group-aimed-at-teenage girls” E-girls or even the now-defunct SDN48, which was AKB48’s “older sisters” group.

predia is alive as a group since 2010~11, but it wasn’t until early 2014 that they signed a major label deal and started releasing strong songs like the aforementioned “Utsukushiki Kodokutachi” and, now, the album promo “Na mo Naki Shiroi Hana wa Kie Iku”.

Classier and more polished than the majority of Japanese aidoru groups, predia, just like the aforementioned E-girls, was surely created with the Korean brand of mature and womanly aidoru pop in mind. Thankfully, it came out classier than most Korean groups, and it’s great to see an aidoru group with a couple of strong vocalists like this one (the short haired girl can really sing).

“Na mo Naki Shiroi Hana wa Kie Iku” is an emotional dance-pop song with a strong melody and some hints of R&B. Even though I love the arrangement with the synths and piano (minus the out of place guitar solo, but that’s a common feature in J-Pop), the vocals are what really makes me smile while listening to this song, as, like I said before, predia was blessed with some very good vocalists. In fact, even the “not most talented girls” in the group are very technical and competent in the harmony department.

“Na mo Naki Shiroi Hana wa Kie Iku” is such a well crafted pop song, and most of the album consists of songs with the same level of quality as this one. In the end, predia’s “Koko no Dahlia ni Kuchizuke wo” is surely one of 2015’s first standouts, and I hope the girls mantain this great identity and pop sensibility, something that sets them apart from the other aidoru groups out there.

The “Koko no Dahlia ni Kuchizuke wo” album reached #23 on the Oricon charts. As for “Na mo Naki Shiroi Hana wa Kie Iku”, lyrics were written by Satomi, music was composed by hirao (SpiralS) and arrangement was done by mukai (SpiralS).

Source: generasia.com