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.
I actually have a karaoke sample of this song by Sing Like Talking included in the article for its album "Discovery", but I just had to get the real McCoy included when I found out of its existence. Yup, I think it's that good.
The video above has a shortened version of "Kokoro no Tobira" (The Door to your Heart) but it's still worthy of praise. As with pretty much all of Sing Like Talking's songs, it was written by keyboardist Chiaki Fujita（藤田千章）and composed by vocalist Chikuzen Sato（佐藤竹善）. Since "Discovery" was my first experience with SLT, it took me a while to get to know the songs in depth but "Kokoro no Tobira" was one of the first tracks to finally get me onto the bandwagon.
Whispery synths and the soulful vocals by Sato kinda label this as a romantic stroll of a ballad, and of course, I'm a sucker for a good flugelhorn. I would probably put it in as a good sunset or early evening tune. It's about as AOR a song that anyone will ever find in J-Pop and a fine introduction to the wonders of Sing Like Talking.
At this point, I think it's the Texas Rangers and their fans who may be naichaisoudayo right now after losing a second straight game to the Blue Jays in one of the American League Division Series. I've gotta say that I am one of the guy eating a bit of Blue Jay crow right now since I had some big doubts about them even getting into the playoffs due to a lousy wheels-coming-off-the-wagon September but they are currently just one win away from getting into the American League Championships.
Now, as for the song "Naichaisoudayo"(Feel Like Crying), that was Misato Watanabe's（渡辺美里）23rd single from June 1992. Instead of the usual happy-as-all-get-out girl power songs, this one is a relaxing soulful ballad combining Watanabe's lyrics and J-funkster Yasuyuki Okamura's（岡村靖幸）music. The link above unfortunately doesn't have the full song but I still love the arrangement with those sharp horns. Of course, there are those wonderful Watanabe vocal cords as well.
The first evidence of "Naichaisoudayo" on an album is as a track on her self-cover release "Hello, Lovers" which was released a month after the single. It hit No. 1 on the album charts and ended up as the 22nd-ranked album for 1992.
First off, I hope folks in Florida are doing OK considering that media outlets such as CNN are reporting that Hurricane Matthew could be one of the truly horrible storms to hit the area in years. Hurricanes are pretty much non-existent here in my neck of the woods although some of the old-timers still remember Hurricane Hazel from 1955. The only natural calamity that we face on any regular basis is the seasonal snowstorm.
I have to say that I love this video of Shinjuku representing Toko Furuuchi's（古内東子）"10%". East Shinjuku may have its gaudy and seedy side but even the most amateur of photographers (such as myself) can get the good side of the district in Tokyo. It is that photogenic.
And the music for the video is mighty fine as well. "10%" is some nice night music which was written and composed by Furuuchi as a track for her 12th album, "Cashmere Music" from November 2005. The song indeed has that luxurious cashmere feeling, thanks to the music and the singer's silky vocals. Plus the lyrics could describe a scene from any sort of romantic J-drama. It's sung from the man's point of view as he harbors feelings for a woman from a distance (perhaps a friend, a work colleague or an acquaintance) although she is already with another guy. As for the title, it refers to one line in Furuuchi's lyrics where the man states that he will once again hide 10% of his awakening love for the lass. Not sure what hiding a mere 10% will prove, but I digress; it's still a lovely song.
Another one of my purchases this time around from CD Japan was "Golden Best - Yasuha"（GOLDEN☆BEST 泰葉）which was a bargain at only 953 yen before taxes! But it wasn't just a bargain financially speaking. Having only known singer-songwriter Yasuha for her only hit, "Fly-Day Chinatown"（フライディ・チャイナタウン）from 1981, I was pleasantly surprised that a lot of her tracks were pretty solid songs which didn't just stay in the realm of City Pop which is where "Fly-Day Chinatown" resides.
I had said in the article for that song that Yasuha Ebina（海老名泰葉）reminded me of some of the more powerfully-voiced kayo songstresses such as Junko Yagami（八神純子）and Junko Ohashi（大橋純子）. But when I went through the album last night, I discovered that Yasuha could also take on a tone similar to a few other singers.
One of those singers is Mieko Nishijima（西島三重子）, and for those readers who have tried listening to her material either through YouTube or this blog, Nishijima has straddled the line between gentle folk and AOR. Yasuha does the same with her 3rd single from August 1982, "Mizuiro no One-Piece" (Aqua-Coloured One-Piece Dress).
As with "Fly-Day Chinatown", Yasuha took care of the music while Toyohisa Araki（荒木とよひさ）provided the lyrics. However, instead of a fun night down in Chinatown, Yasuha's music is very wistful and sweet here while Araki's words plumb the singer's own experiences of heartbreak. Vocally as well, Yasuha also seems to approach the delivery of future pop singer Mariko Nagai（永井真里子）during the refrain.
But there is more to explore with the discography of Yasuha and so I will most likely whip up a BEST article for the singer soon.
Dinah, Is there anyone finer In the state of Carolina? If there is and you know her, Show her!
One of the verses from "Dinah". It was a song I used to hear almost daily when I was a kid since one of the talk shows that seemed to populate the airwaves from morning to night was Dinah Shore's programs, either "Dinah's Place" or "Dinah!" Of course, being that kid, I had assumed that the song had been made just for her.
Well, not so fast. Actually, it was a popular tune that had been published all the way back in 1925 (when Shore was just a kid herself) by Harry Akst, Sam M. Lewis and Joe Young for the show "The New Plantation" (thank you, Wiki). Ever since its first recording, it has become a standard covered by many jazz artists.
I was watching "Uta Con"(うたコン) as usual last night and it was one of their expanded versions at 75 minutes with the theme being autumn, and although I didn't think any of the songs had too much of a fall feeling to them (it seemed to emphasize those regional songs), I was happy to hear that most of those kayo have already been covered in this blog. However, I was surprised to find out that Dick Mine's (ディック・ミネ) debut song from December 1934 was a cover of "Dinah".
Just before Dick Mine became known to Japan, he had been an unknown band singer, Tokuichi Mine（三根徳一）, before he came across "Dinah", translated the lyrics by Lewis and Young under the pen name of Koichi Mine（三根耕一）, called himself Dick Mine (the inspiration for that name can be found in this article) and sang it. His version became the first hit for Teichiku Records as well as for him. If the custom had existed back then, Mine probably would have dropped the mike intentionally.
If Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）ever got tired of enka, she could go into a more Western genre easily. In the Wikipedia article on "Dinah", there is even a section based on the Japanese versions of the standard. And personally, I know that the groovy band Sing Like Talking used the Django Reinhardt cover to start off one of my favourites by the band, "Together".
A couple of days ago, I got my periodic delivery of CDs from CD Japan once more, and one of the purchases was from the "Light Mellow" series of City Pop/AOR songs. This time, the latest entry is labeled "Travellin'" and the primary reason I got it was for one particular track from guitarist Makoto Saito（斎藤誠）with his cool and groovy "Aru Gray na Koi no Baai "（或るグレイな恋の場合）.
However and happily, I was able to hear some other nice tunes from "Travellin'" such as this one from Nona Reeves (ノーナ・リーヴス), the band that seems to wear a number of hats: pop, rock, Shibuya-kei and disco soul according to their J-Wiki article. But I have always seen Gota Nishidera（西寺郷太）and his crew as that group fulfilling that last genre, much to my satisfaction.
And Nona Reeves came through again on "Travellin'" with "Sweetness" which was originally a track on their 5th album from July 2003, "Sweet Reaction". Starting with that piano riff and then launching into a sunny weekend groove, it's all good for "Sweetness". Nishidera himself wrote and composed this ode to the beginning of a wonderful relationship, probably with a pleasant stroll through a park during the summer.
The album itself peaked at just No. 128 unfortunately but I think Nona Reeves has amassed enough of an audience over the years that they don't have to worry about such things as rankings.
Now, this article has also come about due to an announcement that I read just in the last hour or so. In this year, when it seems as if so many folks in the music industry have left this mortal coil already, it's sad to read that Rod Temperton, the master songwriter responsible for so many funky songs and some of the biggest hits for Michael Jackson such as "Rock With You" has also passed away at the age of 66.
For me, it had been just the song and the singer behind the mike that I was interested in but Rod Temperton was one of the first songwriters that became a beacon to me when I was identifying and searching for the the stuff that I liked. And although I don't think he ever created anything specifically for any of the Japanese artists along the lines of David Foster and Burt Bacharach, I'd say that his influence was felt on the music created by groups such as Nona Reeves.
This is another Rod Temperton piece for the Manhattan Transfer, "Mystery" that was also covered by Anita Baker in her debut album.
Well, I gotta say that it isn't everyday that two beloved anison produced years apart share the exact same title. Therefore, today will be that special day. The one that I've already known about for years is "Omoide ga Ippai" by the folk-pop duo, H2O, the touching ballad that ended the anime "Miyuki"（みゆき）back in the early 1980s and has since become a graduation ceremony favourite, usually guaranteed to induce tears in the students.
"Ranma 1/2"（らんま1/2）is an anime that even I have heard about but only through reputation based on the original manga by Rumiko Takahashi（高橋留美子）. Even so, I have been listening to the theme song, also titled "Omoide ga Ippai" (Full of Memories) for the second entry of the anime franchise, "Ranma 1/2 Nettohen"（らんま1/2 熱闘編...The Fierce Fighting Edition） which went on for almost 3 years (1989-1992). The song often came up as part of my anime buddy's anison hour and I've got it in my collection of anison without having known its source for a number of years.
The aidoru group CoCo recorded the original version as the coupling song to their 3rd single"Natsu no Tomodachi"（夏の友達...Summer Friends） from May 1990. Written by Neko Oikawa（及川眠子）and composed by Masayuki Iwata（岩田雅之）, the cute anison sounds like something Misato Watanabe（渡辺美里）would have sung in her junior high school days; I think it is the synths that make me think that way. The single peaked at No. 3.
But to be honest with you, my preference is for the cover version by the female seiyuu from the cast of "Ranma 1/2". Forming the quintet DoCo in 1990, the members were Kikuko (17 forever) Inoue（井上喜久子）, Noriko Hidaka（日高のり子）, Megumi Hayashibara（林原めぐみ）, Minami Takayama（高山みなみ）and Rei Sakuma（佐久間レイ）. Their "Omoide ga Ippai" was recorded for one of the franchise's OVAs "Super Vol. 2" in November 1995.
For me, the difference was just the added depth in DoCo's performance when they recorded it and that soaring instrumental bridge near the end. Incidentally, when asked how their collective name, similar to CoCo, was created, the answer provided was apparently that "D" was next after "C". Plus, there is the fact that the Japanese word "koko" means "here" whereas "doko" means "where".
