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.
Man, we broke some Olympian records in meteorology today. We had a Humidex of 43 degrees Celsius in Toronto...time to fry those eggs on the car hood! Plus, my friend and I lugged a bunch of computer parts from his neck of the woods back to my place to construct a second machine. I definitely think we earned multiple rounds of cola. We may be begging for fall weather by the weekend.
To the matter at hand, though. I've been the faithful fan of Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）for the past few decades since I saw her for the first time on videotapes on shows like "The Best 10" from 1981 and I have been fortunate to hear the lady with the magnificent smile on episodes of "Sounds of Japan" during the 1980s on the radio. Then, my brother got me the single 45" of "Madonna Tachi no Lullaby"（聖母たちのララバイ）in 1982 followed by a couple of audiotapes from my mother a few years later of the singer.
One of those two tapes was a BEST compilation of Iwasaki in which Side A had most of her singles from the 1980s while Side B had a few more of those followed by her 70s singles going backwards to her very first single in 1975, "Duet". It was an interesting way to place the tracks since as I sat listening to her, her voice became higher and and more conventionally aidoru-like.
"Duet" was released in April 1975, and apparently the above video was filmed less than a month after the release...and in Hawaii, of all places. Man, some folks had all the luck! All of 16 years of age, she was, and yet she still looked pretty mature in that outfit. The song by Kyohei Tsutsumi and Yu Aku（筒美京平・ 阿久悠）had all that bouncy aidoru melody about a girl and a boy falling in L-O-V-E so it's definitely that tune that Iwasaki fans would love to hear just to remember how it all began for her.
Her first big single did modestly well by climbing as high as No. 19 on Oricon and then finishing the year as the 88th-ranked single. But of course, bigger and better things were well on the way for her starting with her 2nd single,"Romance"（ロマンス）. There was even a catchphrase to sell "Duet" with: "Ten made hibike, Iwasaki Hiromi"（天まで響け 岩崎宏美....Echoing all the way to heaven, Hiromi Iwasaki）. Yup, she did that alright.
I just discovered on J-Wiki that there was a name to cover the music sung by these mellow female singers and singer-songwriters in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Apparently the easy name of Girl Pop was used to describe the works of ladies like Miki Imai（今井美樹）, Mariko Nagai（永井真理子）, Reimy（麗美）and Midori Karashima（辛島美登里）.
Another name I have encountered now and then over the years that was also listed as being part of this genre is Shoko Inoue（井上昌己）. Up to now, I hadn't explored any of her work but listening to "Kamisama no Mystique" (Divine Mystique), I feel that I should have gotten onto the bandwagon a whole lot earlier.
"Kamisama no Mystique" was released as Inoue's 5th single from May 1990 and though realizing that it may not be an iconic song, it's still very pleasant to listen to. Inoue, who hails from Ehime Prefecture, even sounds a bit like Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）as she sings about the trials and tribulations of entering a romance fraught with all sorts of potential pitfalls. The lyrics were provided by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）while Kenjiro Sakiya（崎谷健次郎）took care of the gentle but fairly bouncy melody that hints at the action taking place in the big city.
The song also belonged to Inoue's 3rd album"matiere" from the same month that the single was released. All of the tracks were written by Matsui with folks like Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）, Chikuzen Sato（佐藤竹善）and Chika Ueda（上田知華）joining Sakiya in weaving together the songs. With a composer lineup like that, I can imagine that the album was pretty AOR in character.
Inoue had started composing songs straight from elementary school and when she came to Tokyo to study at university, she even won the rookie audition for the very first Taurus Records Super Vocalist Contest. From there, she made her debut in May 1989 with the single "Mary Laurent no Shima"（メリー・ローランの島...Mary Laurent's Island [not sure whether that name is spelled correctly]）and the album "Kanojo no Shima"（彼女の島...Her Island）.
Although in her first decade or so, Inoue did have a lot of songs created for her by other songwriters, she has written and composed almost all of her works since 2002.
A few nights ago, I was watching a documentary/concert film on one of the premier Japanese bands of the 1980s, Anzen Chitai（安全地帯）. Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）was quite the charmer with the ladies in the audience. He even popped on out all of a sudden before the actual concert and did an impromptu acapella performance of "All I Do"right in the middle of the hall. The audience got a proper thrill although I'm sure the security folks were probably muttering all sorts of curses.
The other thing I saw but had already realized was that Tamaki and his band were all very smiley and jovial in comparison to their earlier appearances on TV when they were basically ordered to keep their stoic faces to enhance the coolness factor.
Strangely enough, this video right here is from the beginning of that documentary with Anzen Chitai performing "We're Alive". Y'know, if I actually had an Anzen Chitai Fan Club card, I would probably be asked to hand it in right now in shame since after close to 5 years writing this blog, I had yet to write an article on this particular song. I mean, it wasn't an A-side to a single but a B-side. Mind you, it was the B-side to the band's breakthrough hit, "Wine-Red no Kokoro"（ワインレッドの心）from November 1983, and even according to the J-Wiki page on their 4th single, "We're Alive" doesn't get any sort of mention outside of the credits.
Granted, it is easy for the song to be overshadowed by the atmospheric "Wine-Red no Kokoro", but "We're Alive" is also a nice happy tune that has that ability to cheer listeners up. I guess it would be the Light side to the A-side's Dark. In fact, compared to the band's other hits from the 1980s, "We're Alive" truly has that lighter and airier feeling right down to Tamaki's vocals.
I do remember (now) hearing it on "Sounds of Japan" many moons ago, so I gather my error was in assuming that I had already talked about it on the blog.
Tamaki was indeed behind the composition while Yukio Matsuo（松尾由紀夫）took care of the lyrics. It's nice to see this video of Anzen Chitai in 2012 performing "We're Alive" especially since my impression of the band since they started to get on the road again was that they were singing somewhat subdued versions of their big hits. Also if I can be allowed to be a bit snarky, maybe that title could also be used nowadays as a declaration of their current existence. The guys definitely look older, bigger and greyer but they are still putting out the good music.
I've mentioned it before but the single did hit the top spot on Oricon and was the 2nd-ranking song for 1984.
As soon as I saw the words FLIP-FLAP pop up on some page online, certain memory engrams lit up in long-awaited recognition. There was a point in the late 1990s when these twin sisters, Yuko and Aiko Kadoi（門井優子・門井愛子）, from Funabashi City, Chiba Prefecture, were being seen fairly frequently on TV such as the ad above. From what I've seen of their list of television shows, they were quite the presence for a few years anyways.
(Sorry but the video has been taken down)
Of course, music would come calling for FLIP-FLAP, and the girls released a smattering of singles, mostly in the period between 1998 and 2000. The one song that I remember fairly well was "Happenings", their 5th single from December 1998 because of the video which had Yuko and Aiko doing the usual cute things twins would do in a music video, especially the scenes where they were mugging for the camera in the the convertible. However, the song which was written and composed by Nobuhiko Kashihara（樫原伸彦）isn't too bad in terms of earworm status, in particular with the "Everybody's waitin'..." refrain. Basically, I think the message is not to sweat the small stuff too much and just chill.
Not sure how well their singles fared but apparently the Kadois are still active according to their website, at least in terms of their own personal blogs.
Of course, Miku Hatsune（初音ミク）has gotten into the mix although I'm not sure the performance is too twinny.
Happy Labour Day to you folks out there, and my sympathies to the kids who will be heading for their first day of school tomorrow.
I was doing a bit of cleaning in the middle room of our place since I will be placing a homemade 2nd computer in there the day after tomorrow thanks to my old friend. Lo and behold, I was surprised to find a couple of 45"s behind the desk! Apparently, they must have fallen out of the plastic bag filled with my Dad's collection of ancient kayo records. One of those 45s is as you see in the photo above.
To divert briefly, I remember reading on "TV Tropes" regarding Alan Silvestri's amazing theme song for Marvel's "The Avengers" (2012) that listening to it, one would be so pumped up that he/she would be more than willing to head into battle against the monstrous Chitauri that invaded New York City. And I gotta say that I can totally understand that feeling. That scene where the camera rotated around the team as they readied themselves for the final fight as the theme was playing? I was squeeing inside.
Anyways, getting back to the matter at hand, that 45" is one of the many singles by the late Hideo Murata（村田英雄）, "Sugata Sanshiro" (Sanshiro Sugata). This one was released in December 1963 for one of the TV versions of the depiction of the fictionalized character who helped launch the martial art of judo in the late 19th century.
The reason I brought up a superhero team and its theme song is that I think Murata and his work here may have had the same effect on his fans. When it comes to the late singer and his arrangements, Murata introduced a lot of masculine brio into the subjects of the songs whether it be the game of shogi or the martial art of judo. I'm convinced that he could have pumped up tiddlywinks into something epic and ancient.
Murata's "Sugata Sanshiro" is another musically grand entrance into the world of judo composed by Sanechika Ando（安藤実親）and written by Shinichi Sekizawa（関沢新一）. Sekizawa would also write another pomp-filled song about the martial art for Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）a year later called "Yawara"（柔）. In his lyrics for "Sugata", he would relate about the hardships and hell of going up the ranks of not only judo but also life itself. Sentimentalism is one of the quintessential Japanese things that I've referred to now and then on the blog; suffering for one's art is another such feature. The way Murata sings it, it is truly an honour to feel the pain over and over again to finally achieve that well-earned success.
As I mentioned before, Murata's song was the theme for the Fuji-TV drama that lasted from November 1963 to May 1964. However, the adventures of Sanshiro Sugata, who was based on one of the earliest disciples of judo Shiro Saigo, have been shown repeatedly over the decades through 9 movies and 6 TV dramas. There have even been 2 anime versions based on the character.
The first movie was made in 1943 as the directorial debut of the legendary Akira Kurosawa（黒澤明）. According to the article on the movie, Kurosawa applied "....many of his directorial trademarks such as the use of wipes, weather patterns as reflections of character moods....", so all of you "Star Wars" fans may want to watch this movie if you can track down a copy. The above video has scenes from the 1943 film although the uploader has thrown up a wall of Japanese script.
The video here may be from the 2007 TV drama. Apparently, the producers thought that Sanshiro should have been a recruit for The Avengers. No, we're not talking about Kurosawa here.
I've known veteran Masako Mori（森昌子）for her teenage love song towards a teacher, "Sensei"（せんせい）back in the early 1970s. However, she is also famous for a much more mature tragic ballad that she recorded a little over a decade later in 1983 titled "Ettou Tsubame"(Hibernating Swallow).
The title may sound no more dramatic than something from a show on the Nature Channel. However, reading the lyrics by Shinichi Ishihara（石原信一）, there is the sad tale of a woman whose love has gone sour since the supposed man of her dreams has found other women to fulfill his flock. And yet, she can't or won't leave the jerk.
Yoshihiko Shinohara（篠原義彦）composed the music whose guitar and strings ebb and flow with the tide. So whenever I hear the song, because of the kanji for winter in the title, I always imagine the poor woman from the song stuck in some house near the shores of one of the northern prefectures during the cold months. The other notable part about "Ettou Tsubame" is the refrain of "hyururi~, hyururi~rara~..." which may signify the cry from that swallow in the title. By the way, Shinohara also happens to be the real name of Hiroshi Madoka（円広志）, who had become famous some years earlier for a catchy pop song of his own.
Although I don't think the above video is from the 1983 Kohaku Utagassen, she gave such a moving performance there (her 11th appearance on the NHK special) that she got quite weepy in the middle. This was apparently not lost on the powers-that-be since Mori was awarded Best Vocal Performance at the annual Japan Record Awards. "Ettou Tsubame" was her 42nd single from August 1983, and it peaked at No. 27 on the charts.
A number of cover versions have been done of "Ettou Tsubame" over the years including Madoka's own version from 1984.
Man, is this a hammock-friendly album! This is another one of my wonderful accidental discoveries on YouTube, and as one Japanese website put it, it's "a mysterious but famous recording".
"Summertime Love Song" was an album put out by a band called The Milky Way in 1979, and according to that same website, the group was put together by guitarist Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）and keyboardist Kazuo Nobuta（信田一男）. I knew that voice dreamily putting out the title track sounded very familiar and indeed it was Matsushita. Basically, the band consisted of teachers and students (with Nobuta being the Jedi Master and Matsushita the Padawan at the time) from what is now the Yamaha Music Academy getting together to put out some of that mellow music.
The album mostly had Japanese-language covers of AOR songs with the last three tracks being original compositions including the title track. "Summertime Love Song" is just the perfect track to sway in that hammock by the shoreline while sucking back a mai tai or some other cocktail. Matsushita's smooth voice definitely helps out in the relaxation process and that mesmerizing repeating rhythm at the intro and outro pretty much sets up the listener for the horizontal position.
"Surfin' Summer" is the cover of the late Natalie Cole's"La Costa". I'm gonna have to listen to the original but this version by The Milky Way is suitably dreamy in all of its bossa nova-ness. However, I think it's also one of those tunes that would go well with a light dinner jacket and a reservation at a darn good restaurant near the coast. Two martinis, please.
My final track here is "Jamaica Moon", aka "Under The Jamaican Moon" originally recorded by Nick DeCaro which is another mellow bossa nova tune for a nice evening listen. I'll have another rum & coke. The original songwriters were Stephen H. Bishop and Leah Kunkel with Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）providing the Japanese lyrics.
Supposedly, some of those old and used music stores I know in Tokyo may actually be selling the original LP of "Summertime Love Song" for as much as 7000 yen, although I wouldn't be surprised if it were going for even higher. But hey, if it's available as a CD, I would be happy to invest in it.
If I'm not mistaken, this may be the Natalie Cole original of "La Costa".
And this is Nick DeCaro performing "Under The Jamaican Moon" from his 1974 album, "Italian Graffiti".
