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.
Well, I hope everyone has enjoyed their Xmas. Perhaps some of you are already getting into Boxing Day Sale mode. As for me, I was on turkey roasting duty today, and I realized how much of a Halo game making a traditional Xmas dinner can be. The bird took longer to defrost and took longer to roast, and the stuffing didn't quite work out by my estimation. All I can say to you who may be interesting in taking up the baster someday, DO NOT take any advice from the Internet at face value; take it as a guide but not as the hard rule.
In any case, now that I've gotten that (and other things) out of my system, allow me to give you (and me) some mellow time with Kyoko Nakazawa's（中沢京子）"Machi-wabite" (Pining For You). Who she, you ask? Yes, well, that was something I was also pondering myself. Her brief story reminds me a lot of another young singer of the 1970s who had also come and went like the wind, Kayoko Ono（小野香代子）with "Sayonara no Kotoba"（さよならの言葉）.
Like Ono, Nakazawa had entered the Yamaha Popular Song Contest (the 1974 edition) with her own creation of "Machi-wabite", won a prize, and then basically left show business. Mind you, Nakazawa had written and composed a few more songs whereas Ono made just the one, but "Machi-wabite" was Nakazawa's only single released in April 1975. And although I admit I haven't nosed around too hard, I think there is even less information on this singer than what I could find for Ono.
Ono's "Sayonara no Kotoba" is this sweet innocent waltz but "Machi-wabite" seems to be a somewhat more grounded and wistfully introspective ballad with the girl from the first song becoming the more mature woman in the second, still pining for that lost love whether he was a love-'em-and-leave-'em cad or a boy who just merely drifted away into history. There is something about this song that would make it sound perfect for listening in some cafe during a rainy day.
In any case, this is another one of those intriguing musical mysteries. By the way, the video directly above is a radio broadcast which only seems to come through just one speaker so please be advised.
Sorry I have not written anything for almost an entire year. What can I say? Just plain laziness and lots of things happening, work as well as personal. It's been a pretty rough 2015, and I can't wait for it to be over. Meanwhile, looking back on the past year, I think I've still achieved something. At least, I feel like I've corrected some mistakes, or bad decisions really, that dated back 4 years ago. I think what I've corrected is going to pave for a better future, or at least that's what I hope.
Before we jump into the topic of the day, a few words about Kouhaku (紅白歌合戦). First, I'm happy to see new faces for the hosts. Technically, Haruka-san (綾瀬はるか) is not really a new face since she had hosted before. On the other hand, if my memory serves me well, it's been a while since they have a new host for the white team that's not called SMAP or Arashi (嵐). Second, I hope Seiko-san (松田聖子) would redeem herself from her subpar performance last year. They honor her again as they make her the last red team singer. I wish her well and hope she doesn't screw up. Lastly, I like Akina (中森明菜), but I don't hate Matchy (近藤真彦). I don't know any of his songs because I don't listen to them. I hold no grudge against him. So, I also am going to wish him well and a sparkling performance. Sorry to all Akina fans out there but it's been 26 years since the "incident". I think Akina herself has already moved on, so I think it's time for all her fans too... I mean, it's as though you guys got hurt more than Akina herself...
Sometimes, I wonder why such a strong emotional attachment still exists among some of Akina's fans. In fact, some of harshest critics of Matchy are female fans! When we fall in love with our idol, are we unconsciously personalizing our idol's experience, albeit filling in a lot of spaces with our own imagination? When we saw first reports of Akina dating Matchy, did we feel as if we ourselves fell in love with Matchy too? And therefore when Akina and Matchy finally broke up, did we feel the same outrage and heartbreak as if we were breaking up with our lovers? Now, 26 years later, when NHK announced that Matchy will be performing at Kouhaku, did it invoke a kind of feeling akin to bumping into our ex-lover?
And so, suppose you bump into your ex one day at a train station or bus stop on your way home after work, what would be your first reaction? If he/she didn't see you, would you alert him and say hi to him/her? Or would you rather put your head down, trying to hide from him/her? What if he/she recognized you and said hi to you? Would you feel bitter? Would you feel nostalgic? Would you secretly glance at his index finger, trying to spot any signs of a wedding ring? What if he/she deliberately hide his/her hand in the pocket? Would you feel jealous? Would you have mixed feeling? And if you're still searching for your true love, how would you feel when you're walking alone towards home that day?
So, here's Midori Karashima's (辛島美登里) story in her song "Ieji" (家路), or "Way Home".
Why are you calling my name?
Didn't we agree that we would not see each other ever again?
Time has stopped for the two of us
While the crowd is hurrying home
The days when there's nothing but love between us
The days when we both hurt the person we cared
"Now that I understand everything, however...."
Those were the last words you softly whispered
Please don't let my memories come back to you, I'm begging you
Your kindness, once again, makes me crumble
Your clothes and hair have changed
But how could this alone suppose to make me forget that it's you?
You're trying to hide the wedding ring in your pocket, aren't you?
I knew it already... but still I can't overcome my endless jealousy
I cannot bring myself to treat this as just two friends meeting coincidentally
On the other hand, I feel a never ending nostalgia
Without asking me anything, you sent me off
There's no one home waiting for me, however
I begin walking under the twilight
As none of us are able to return to those days
**************************************
Do you have similar experience and feeling like the girl in the song?
In scene 2, Midori Karashima will tell her 2nd story of "Suppose you bump into your ex one day..." through another song of hers. I hope you don't need to wait too long. Until then, enjoy this X'mas holiday season.
It's been well over a year since I put up a globe article. To be honest, I've put up pretty much all of the songs by Tetsuya Komuro's（小室哲哉）band that I've really enjoyed, so "FACES PLACES" wasn't exactly one of my favourites with the biggest proof being that I never bought the CD single when it came out in March 1997 as the band's 9th single. I think the biggest reason was that the music was more in a rock format instead of the technopop that I had usually associated the band with.
However, it was a song that got lots of airplay on the various music shows in Japan whether they were the late-night ranking programs or the performance shows. globe was still very much a band on a high in the late 90s, and it seemed as if it took up permanent residency in the wee hours for some reason. I always saw Komuro's proteges, Namie Amuro（安室奈美恵）and Tomomi Kahala（華原朋美）, as being the early evening entertainment followed by the prime time TRF. Not that I thought that globe was too subversive for the early hours but it just looked like they popped up past midnight.
In any case, there were a couple of things I did wonder concerning "FACES PLACES". One was the significance of the title and the other was the significance of the years that popped up in Komuro's lyrics (as usual, TK was responsible for words and music with co-writing credits going to bandmate Marc Panther). The years 1970, 1981, 1984, 1994 and 1997 were sung by lead vocalist KEIKO, and I was wondering whether they were thrown into the song in the same way certain years were plugged into the Pet Shop Boys'"Being Boring".
Well, I could finally find out thanks to the article on the actual song on J-Wiki. They all signified important landmarks in Komuro's life. So, to translate that particular excerpt:
1970: Osaka Expo 70. A 12-year-old Komuro discovers electronic music pioneer Isao Tomita（冨田勲）, synthesizers and multi-monitors.
1981: Komuro joins the rock band Speedway, a predecessor of sorts to TM Network.
1984: TM Network debuts.
1994: TMN (the name of TM Network from 1990-1994) disbands. Komuro starts work as a producer.
1997: The year that Komuro changed psychologically.
I translated the above statement from "Seishinteki na switching no toshi"（精神的なスイッチングの年）. And I couldn't quite glean any further insight from this even though I checked Komuro's own article in J-Wiki. However, in the Wikipedia article on him, he started his overseas career as a musician-composer by creating his own version of the theme song for Keanu Reaves'"Speed" for its sequel. I remember his version fondly although it was too bad that the movie itself sank underwater.
As for the title, I felt that Komuro was talking about all the people and places that had influenced him through the years whether it was Tomita, his old bandmates from TM Network, and perhaps even his young padawans in TK World.
"FACES PLACES" peaked at No. 3 on Oricon and eventually became the 82nd-ranked song for 1997, going Platinum.
Hope you folks are enjoying your Xmas wherever you are. It's Xmas Eve here as I write this but Japan is enjoying Xmas morning while many commuters there may be "enjoying" a hangover after the annual hijinks the night before. We've probably broken several weather records here in Toronto including the high temperature which reached a torrid 15 degrees Celsius today. Definitely a Green Christmas here.
Anyways, this isn't an Xmas article. Thought it might be nice to throw in an 80s City Pop tune by one of the singers of the genre, Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）. Found this one on YouTube, "Refrain", which happened to be the B-side to one of her singles, "Nagareru Mama ni"（流れるままに...As It Flows） from 1986. Couldn't find out who created the funky tune (love the bass as usual) but it was placed as an extra track on a remastered version of her 2nd album from 1987, "Steps".
"Refrain" doesn't exactly break the mold when it comes to classic City Pop but it makes for a pleasant enough song of the genre to listen to. Ahhh, I found out who was behind this one. A couple of vets: Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）.
Yes, I guess I'm on the "GochiUsa" kick tonight after writing about "No Poi!"（ノーポイッ!）earlier. But I came across a rather delightful version of the first opening theme "Daydream Cafe" so would like to show that to you but allow me a little space for some prefacing.
Along with the main female cast of "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka?"（ご注文はうさぎですか？...Is The Order A Rabbit?）, there are a couple of minor characters. One is Blue Mountain (Midori) Aoyama（青山 ブルーマウンテン）, the somewhat spacey-sounding author as played by Saori Hayami（早見沙織）whom I've seen in other anime such as "Mangaka-san to Ashisutanto-san to"（マンガ家さんとアシスタントさんと...The Comic Artist and Assistants）as the oft-harassed Sahoto Ashisu and "Soul Eater Not!" as the slightly snooty Anya Hepburn. In "GochiUsa", her character of Blue Mountain is truly mellow (maybe that's not just coffee in her cup) although she has a rather disturbing habit of staring at Sharo's lower extremities.
The other character has far less time on the show: Chino's father, Takahiro Kafuu（香風タカヒロ）, the master of Rabbit House the Bar, and a truly amiable ex-soldier with a darn fine voice. He is played by veteran seiyuu Show Hayami（速水奨）, who is incidentally no relation to Saori Hayami (as you can tell from the kanji). I was surprised to find out that he had voiced Maximilian Jenius, the bespectacled ace pilot from the original "Macross" decades back (only knew Max from "Robotech"; can barely remember him from the "Macross" movie).
I tried to find a scene from the anime with the two of them conversing together but couldn't find the particular scene I wanted, but at least I have them in one short video.
Enough prefacing. Purely by accident, I found a version of "Daydream Cafe" on YouTube featuring the Hayamis dueting. I will always enjoy the original by Petit's Rabbits but this cover has got a fun vibe to it. I'm not quite sure if it's an especially upbeat Xmas version or a take of the song filtered through snazzy Shibuya-kei, and I have no idea where it came from (please let me know if any of you know). Still, it's amusing to listen to especially with Takahiro sounding so self-controlled usually on the show.
Well, almost 3 months ago, I put up an article about what could be one of the most diabetes-inducing anison themes of the year with "Tokimeki Poporon"（ときめきポポロン♪） which has been the ending theme for the mellow "Gochuumon wa Usagi desu ka??"（ご注文はうさぎですか？？）
Now that the 2nd series of moe girls in cafes is about to wrap up this weekend, I thought it was as a good time as any to talk about the opening theme "No Poi!" Compared to the adorable "Daydream Cafe" from the 1st series, "No Poi!" has more of a dynamic streak which rather fits the slightly more fantastical opening credits. I would say that there was even a bit of Swinging 60s pop fueling the song created by Aki Hata and Kaoru Okubo（畑亜貴・大久保薫）, the same duo behind "Daydream Cafe".
(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)
I've got to give my compliments to XLEZZYTECHNIKA, the YouTube uploader and one of the folks who brought the band together to give their extended take on "No Poi!" After listening to this version, I'm now reconsidering whether I like the opening or ending themes better. I had thought that "No Poi!" was in an unenviable position being the 2nd opening theme after the great and still my favourite of all the themes for "GochiUsa", but listening to the full version on a cloud service, I've come to appreciate the joyful aspects of the song especially with the main voice cast being further challenged here.
And as it turned out, "No Poi!" has become the most successful of the themes on Oricon, getting as high as No. 4 on the charts.
As with the RED Team article for my Fantasy Kohaku Utagassen, I will be splitting the WHITE Team into 2 sections. One observation is that I've got a lot of bands here.
I had first thought about starting the White Team's stint with Arashi（嵐）since they would be going up against Pink Lady, but then I decided to go with Sing Like Talking's"Together". The band has never been on the Kohaku, and I think "Together" would be the ideal rocket fuel to get this team going. Of course, with this being a Fantasy Kohaku, SLT would be performing the entire tune including the "Dinah" intro.
Artistically speaking, one missed opportunity was not having YMO on the Kohaku for 1980 or 1981. But logistically speaking, NHK may have had a nightmare trying to build a background set appropriate for the Lords of Japanese Technopop on the Shibuya stage (then again, the 1981 Kohaku did have that light display for "Ai no Corrida"). Plus, I could imagine Sakamoto-san and the guys politely declining the offer, thinking themselves a little too hip for the program. But the band is here on the Fantasy Kohaku, and of course, they are performing "Rydeen". Just imagine if they had been successfully recruited for the 2015 edition. A ton of "Hibike Euphonium" fans would spike the ratings like the tallest stalagmite.
Even though I hadn't even known the term City Pop at the time of the 1981 Kohaku, one of the most successful examples of the genre was performed on the show via Akira Terao's（寺尾聡）"Ruby no Yubiwa"（ルビーの指輪）. And yet, one of the masters of City Pop at the time, Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）has yet to appear on the special. Well, his wife, Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）, is on my Red Team so I'm going to include him on the White Team as he does the really mellow "Amaku Kiken na Kaori". I'm sure the horns for the NHK Orchestra would appreciate the opportunity.
Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）has appeared on the Kohaku Utagassen at least once, I believe, I don't think it was to perform "Wakare no Machi". Just bring on the cool lighting performance while Martin is singing this super-cool song. And since Off-Course is on my White Team as well, why not have the guy responsible for crafting the song, Kazumasa Oda（小田和正）, backing him up on vocals?
To start off the second half, we bring back the old-style sophistication of "Tokyo Nightclub" with the original singers, Frank Nagai and Kazuko Matsuo（フランク永井・松尾和子）. I've got the urban contemporary City Pop covered in the first half but there is nothing like some good ol' Mood Kayo to bring back the Latin mood of the 1950s and 1960s. Nostalgia is always welcome on the Kohaku.
In addition, I just gotta have my old karaoke tune of "Yukiguni" by Ikuzo Yoshi（吉幾三）. Cities like Tokyo and Nagasaki are represented on my White Team but I also have to do my shout out to the north country. My regrets to Osaka fans, though. The reason that Yoshi's magnum opus has been my go-to song at the mike is that the melody and lyrics aren't too difficult to navigate so that even a tone-deaf fellow like me can handle it without too many folks running for the doors. And all you need on the Shibuya stage is a good hunk of snowscape.
Because I have a special guest on the Red Team, it is just proper to offer the same courtesy to the White Team. And who better than Kyu Sakamoto（坂本九）and what better song than "Ue wo Muite Arukou"? You would have everyone on both teams on stage, the judges, the entire audience and the folks around their kotatsu singing along with a goodly amount of smiles and tears. It would be the largest singalong in Kohaku history.
Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）has retired from the Kohaku...it's gonna be hard to imagine life on the Shibuya stage without his figure and the billowing paper snow at the end of the show. I can still put him on here, but I'm going to go with Shinichi Mori（森進一）and "Erimo Misaki" just for argument's sake. Mori has already performed one of his most famous hits on the 2010 Kohaku but I would like him to sing it in the final position. It is an epic enough ballad with his forthright delivery. I don't think he would eclipse Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）but it would still be a fine ending to the White Team's run in my Kohaku.
And that is my 16+1 for the White Team. As for who would win, well, I will leave that up to you to decide since that was never my intention for these articles. Still, despite the large amounts of thinking, the embedding and the typing, I did enjoy this existential blog exercise. Perhaps I might give it another go next year.
