Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- Time Goes By

Well, the Pan American Games in Toronto wrapped up a week ago and the Parapan American Games are about to go in another week. A number of my fellow citizens in Toronto (including myself) didn't have all that great an opinion of the Games as they approached, but as it turned out, the Games ended up a success for Canada as they came in second only to the United States in the medal count. I didn't think we had it in us to do that well but I guess there is something to be said about home country advantage. Now, people are starting to get hyped about perhaps going for the 2024 Summer Olympics...whoa, now, let's take a breath here, shall we?

The Games here brought back a few memories going back some 24 years when Japan held The 1991 World Championships in Athletics in Tokyo (how those athletes managed to survive the heat and humidity in August is beyond me...I already hightailed it back to Canada after the JET Programme). I don't quite remember the television hype for those Games being as obnoxious as the commercials were for the Pan Am Games 2015. There was just this one ad where a high school girl ran up the steps of a deserted stadium and then yelled something defiant.

Meanwhile, there was soulful music playing in the background while the familiar throaty tones of Kahoru Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）came over the speakers. "Time Goes By" was not only Kohhy's 17th single from March 1991 but it was also used as the image song for NTV's coverage of that athletic meet. Written by the singer and composed by frequent songwriting partner Yoshiaki Ohuchi（大内義昭）, "Time Goes By" is surprisingly quite moving; I hadn't heard it in some time and when I saw the video above, I actually had a couple of chills crawling up my back at the way the music just flowed, especially when the sax solo came in.

Of course, I did get my copy of the single before I left Japan.

Anri -- Windy Summer

I was writing about Miku Hatsune's（初音ミク）"City Pop" last night and made that reference to that small artistic movement called Vaporwave. Well, I wanted to get down another summer tune before July 2015 finishes up in a few hours, and then I thought about Anri's（杏里）6th album, "Timely!!" which is one of the classic Anri/Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）collaborations from the early 1980s.

Anri's big anime hit, "Cat's Eye" is the opening track but I also remember the 2nd track quite well, "Windy Summer". Having just had a bit of exposure to Vaporwave, I can probably tell fans of the genre that they can listen to this dynamic summery cone of musical ice cream to find out where the folks who came up with it got inspired. Basically, Kadomatsu can be considered to be one of the godfathers.

Indeed it was singer-songwriter Kadomatsu who came up with the music and lyrics for this example of the Resort Pop subset of City Pop. The horns, the backup singers and the Jake Concepcion sax solo weave that picture of a chaise lounge by the Pacific seashore next to the beach umbrella and table with the cocktail on top. I also enjoyed the way Anri stretches out the title in the refrain "Here we are! Windy Summmmmmmer" (although the liner notes have it transcribed as "Here we're Windy Summer!!").

The trio of Anri, Yumi Yoshimoto and Yasuharu Ogura made a great trio during the late 80s and early 90s with their brand of American-style R&B, but I also have quite the affection for the work of the Anri/Kadomatsu pair.

Kiyoshi Maekawa -- Himawari (ひまわり)

I think he'd have looked better in a darker suit...

Most of what I consider to be "Summer songs" would ordinarily give me the image of soft sand beaches with the blue waters of the lagoon lazily lapping against the shore or, depending on the tune, eager surfers dudes, surf boards in hand... arm... dashing towards the large waves that would soon swallow them whole...Watch out for sharks! The latter would more often than not be derived from Yuzo Kayama's (加山雄三) discography. I can just imagine him in his Wakadaisho-movie days gliding across the surface of the sea on his board. But both of the aforementioned scenarios don't apply to Kiyoshi Maekawa's (前川清) "Himawari". Rather than the sand and the surf and tanned surfers, I think of the strong afternoon sun shining down on to rolling fields crowded with bright yellow sunflowers swaying away in the warm, gentle breeze. Actually, there is this old Oregon photo book that my parents have (they got it as a gift from friends there) that has got a picture similar to what I described above. I just love leafing through that book as it boasts the state's natural beauty.

The photo was taken by Ray Atkeson
from "Oregon III", "Cascade Range" section.

Anyway, written and composed by the popular singer-songwriter, Masaharu Fukuyama, who hails from Nagasaki as well, "Himawari" gives out this really relaxed and, in my opinion, lazy-weekend vibe with its slow yet cozy pace and Mae-Kiyo's deep, slightly husky delivery. Although it isn't one of my top favourite tunes from the veteran singer due to its length, clocking in at almost 6 minutes - I have gotten used to the briefness of most kayokyoku - and its lullaby-like music, I do appreciate it from time to time on bright, clear days with the scenery from the car or train carriage whipping by. The video below has Fukuyama's version, which is gentler and more deconstructed compared to the one he put together for Maekawa. He kinda sounds like a combination of ASKA and Keisuke Kuwata (桑田佳祐), if you ask me.

"Himawari" was released in June 2002 as Mae-Kiyo's 24th single, and by far, it his only solo single to break into the top 20 on the Oricon charts, peaking at 13th place, if I'm not wrong. He also sang "Himawari" once during his 12th appearance on the Kohaku on the same year.

(The "Kayo Concert" video was taken down but 

here is another performance by Maekawa.)

As for the video here, it was from a "Kayo Concert" episode last August, and it happened to be the first time I caught Mae-Kiyo performing on TV. Needless to say, I was... delighted. Ecstatic. On cloud nine.

Yup, that's the very expression that
sums up "Himawari" perfectly.

amazon.co.jp

Miku Hatsune -- City Pop （シティポップ）

As probably a lot of the readers of the blog know, I have put in a number of Miku Hatsune（初音ミク）covers of other much older songs (everything from YMO to Ruiko Kurahashi) when the opportunity presents itself although I know that the prime Vocaloid has sung original material in the past.

However, I encountered this new original song by Hatsune that came out just a couple of weeks ago (July 2015), and it's kinda stuck to my brain right now. Titled "City Pop", it has that usual techno touch and the familiar Hatsune vocals but the melody (and lyrics) by Tama（たま）seems to be filtered through a jaunty City Pop atmosphere (or perhaps Vaporwave might be more accurate) complete with rousing electric guitar solo. In any case, it's a short-but-sweet-but-fun song, and I was somewhat amused by this artificial persona trying to gut out a day in the big city. We've all been there, Miku, especially when we are from Tokyo heading home on a blistering hot night.

Good ol' Shibuya

Shizuka Kudo -- Again

Not being a supremely huge fan of Shizuka Kudo（工藤静香）, I can probably say that I have heard this song, "Again", on some of the old retrospectives or on reruns of "The Best 10". This was her 2nd single from December 1987, and as with her debut outing, "Kindan no Telepathy"（禁断のテレパシー）, the creators of the song were Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）.

I'm not sure if it would be accurate to say that there was a "Kudo sound" since I'm not totally well-versed in her discography, but it seems that a number of her early singles at least had that steady balance of rock guitar and fast-paced synths (perhaps with the exception of her 3rd single "Daite Kuretara Iinoni " which sounded a bit more 50s to me). As soon as I heard "Again"...again...I just thought, "Yep, that's a Shizuka song alright". Perhaps it's also Shizuka's distinctive voice.

Lyrically, the song has all the makings of a typical 2-hour suspense program as the heroine tries to disavow herself of a romance with a dangerous fellow although her heart still isn't quite convinced it's time to go. I can only jokingly imagine if Kudo and her hubby, Takuya Kimura（木村拓哉）, would have ever dramatized the song through some 12-episode series. In any case, "Again" managed to peak at No. 3 and became the 53rd-ranked song for 1988.

Sing Like Talking -- Perfect Love

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/sm15265964

Sing Like Talking's "Perfect Love" is the final track from the band's 8th album, "Discovery" for which I already went into some detail a few years back. As I mentioned for that article, it was by pure blissful accident that I ended up buying the album, and as I continued to listen to my "mistaken" purchase, I realized that I had a keeper on my hands. "Discovery" has a potpourri of songs which are jazzy, spacey, funky and just plain cool. I now think that the album title was very well-placed.

"Perfect Love" seems to be the logical antithesis of the opening track for "Discovery", "Subarashii Yume no Naka de" (which is featured on the article for the album). That opening song was pretty experimental and had that daytime vibe. The nighttime final track also has, to a lesser extent, that same sort of vibe with the quiet groovy jazziness mixed in with an orchestra that seems to be channeling John Williams at times. It doesn't quite work completely but it makes for a nice enough finish for "Discovery" and vocalist Chikuzen Sato（佐藤竹善）does his usual fine crooning.

m-flo loves Emi Hinouchi & Ryohei -- Summer Time Love

For those who love summer time here, they are certainly getting it now. I wouldn't mind frolicking about with those folks from m-flo in the above video but I don't think I quite pass the beauty index or the waist size conditions.

In any case, I do remember watching this video for m-flo's June 2006 20th single, "Summer Time Love" a fair bit on the music stations around 10 years ago, and what better choice for a summer article than this one. When it comes to the "m-flo loves..." series, I've known some of the folks helping out the DJ such as Bonnie Pink and Chara, but there are also these other hip folks that I had never heard of and for that matter, haven't heard since.

This time, it's Osaka-born urban singer-songwriter Emi Hinouchi（日之内絵美）and Kyoto-born singer-producer Ryohei who m-flo loves this time helping out in the writing and performing of this tune which is bursting with the atmosphere of an island paradise. It's kinda weird saying this considering that this was produced less than a decade ago, but the music sounds so natsukashii since I haven't heard this sort of retro-disco portion of J-R&B that I often heard from bird and Misia in recent years. I wouldn't mind hearing a revival (neo-retro-disco?) again someday.

"Summer Time Love" made it as high as No. 12 on Oricon and got onto m-flo's 5th album, "Cosmicolor" from March 2007 which peaked at No. 3.