NHK's Utakon (うたコン)

I just took a look back at the article I had written back in April 2013 for NHK's long-running kayo program "Kayo Concert"（歌謡コンサート）. Back then, there was no indication that change was coming, but early last year in 2016, it was decided that after 23 years, change was needed. And so from April, NHK unfurled the new "Utakon" (Song Concert).

When I first heard that new title, I just went "Uh-oh". Becoming more and more fuddy-duddy, my initial reaction to that name for a well-established kayo program was that the national broadcaster was trying to show some teen cred by reducing the title to something a kid might say as part of the trend toward abbreviating expressions. Just imagine a father trying to "impress" his daughter's school buddies by speaking "teen". Said daughter would crumple up like a wet napkin in mortification.

Well, I'm accustomed to it now. From that inaugural show of "Utakon" back in April, I got the immediate impression that the show was mixing in some more contemporary acts with the traditional kayo of enka and Mood Kayo. I believe the first act up was indeed Puffy who were definitely neither enka nor Mood Kayo. Admittedly, though, their heyday was all the way back in the 1990s.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7lp4ld

However, the contemporary acts have come in mostly being represented by the Alphabet groups such as AKB48 and Nogizaka 46. I poignantly remember writing down in the article for "Kayo Concert" that the predecessor for "Utakon" was reminiscent of the second half of the Kohaku Utagassen from years back when more of the enka and Mood Kayo acts would appear instead of the young folks. Well, "Utakon" is more like the New Year's Eve special as it has been for the past several years: much more of a mixture of those traditional singers and the new guys including rock bands and aidoru throughout the entire show.

On both the J-Wiki page and the Wikipedia page for "Utakon", it's been written that the genesis of the show came from the fact that not only "Kayo Concert" but also the 9-year-old "Music Japan", an NHK program focusing on current J-Pop, had come to an end. Therefore, what the producers had probably wanted was a 2-for-1 deal.

https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x6c7kud

And my initial observation was that the new show was definitely trying for a well-blended mix of the old and the new. However, I think some of the transitions among the different acts were not particularly smooth so my impression is that NHK has kinda pulled back on the J-Pop slightly although they are still represented on the show weekly.

What also wasn't too smooth was the chemistry involved in the two-host system. My family enjoyed having former host Tetsuya Takayama（高山哲哉）having his confident hand on the tiller, so to speak. So when the new hosts, actor Shosuke Tanihara（谷原章介）and NHK announcer Naoko Hashimoto（橋本奈穂子）as "the concierges for your songs", didn't exactly show themselves to be meshing too well, I was ready to make the call to Takayama to come back. However as of late, the two of them have settled into their positions comfortably although I still don't like the way the show now ends with Tanihara, Hashimoto and one or two of the guests sheepishly handing off the reins over to the next program on the schedule which happens to be a variety show about lunch. I still much prefer the old ending from "Kayo Concert" when everyone got together on the stage one more time to say goodbye while the orchestra gave that one final triumphant fanfare.

The other observation I had was that the producers were becoming somewhat more ambitious in their production values. "Kayo Concert" always had that lush stage setting as if the Kohaku were coming to our TV sets weekly, and the show also had its weekly themes. "Utakon" does that too but there also seems to be more in the way of dramatic camera angles and moves as well as more choreography. The show is getting to be a bit more glitzy in a way.

At the end of the "Kayo Concert" article, I mentioned that perhaps someday acts such as Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）and Dreams Come True might age enough so that they can also show up. Well, the potential is now there although I know that the latter group has yet to do so. Not sure whether Seiko-chan has already made an appearance, though. However, Kobukuro (コブクロ), Kome Kome Club（米米クラブ）and Toko Furuuchi（古内東子）among other pop acts have come up. I couldn't have imagined them getting invitations on the old show.

Speaking of that last singer, Toko Furuuchi, and let me preface by saying that although I am a big fan of hers, I was surprisingly disappointed by how off-tune she sounded when she did appear that one time. This brings me to my final observation that it seems as if sometimes the standards of singing have been allowed to drop in the transition from "Kayo Concert" to "Utakon". Obviously, I wasn't watching the earlier show throughout its 23 years but my memory was that everyone who came on the show played their A-game. However on "Utakon", along with Furuuchi, I've been seeing a few subpar performances by folks such as the lead singer of 70s folk group Godiego (ゴダイゴ) , almost to an ear-wincing degree. I'm not certain whether it's been nerves about performing in front of a TV audience as well as the audience in the hall but it's a bit of a strange thing.

Still, "Utakon" is my regular Tuesday-night program where I can hear some of those goodies that I have already written about on the blog but can still find out some new oldies that I hadn't heard in years. I need that source of kayo kyoku and that feeling of that old-time kayo variety show that has largely disappeared from TV.

Teruhiko Aoi -- Anata dake wo (あなただけを)

A commenter sent a message back on New Year's Eve about a suggestion for a song that had yet to be talked about on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Titled "Anata dake wo" (Only You), as has been the case with many songs that we've covered over the years, the title didn't ring a bell but the melody itself certainly did, so I'm quite glad that he brought it to my attention.

Teruhiko Aoi（あおい輝彦）is a name that I've heard on TV shows and he's even been shown in the annals of this blog as one of the members of the very first Johnny's Entertainment group, Johnnys (ジャニーズ), back in the 1960s. Born in January 1948 in Tokyo's Suginami Ward, he has not only been a singer but also an actor and a seiyuu. In fact, fans of classic anime will know him as the original voice behind boxer Joe Yabuki from "Ashita no Joe" (あしたのジョー). Plus, he was the 3rd actor to take on the role of Suke-san, one of the two loyal samurai traveling with the vice-shogun-turned-roving man of justice Mitsukuni Tokugawa on the long-running "Mito Komon"（水戸黄門） (1988-2000).

Aoi's first solo single was "Boku no Himitsu"（僕の秘密...My Hidden Secret） released in August 1968, but it was with his June 1976 release of "Anata dake wo" that he made his big mark in music. Written by Masumi Ono（大野真澄）, the vocalist of folk group Garo（ガロ）, and composed by Nobuo Tsunetomi（常富喜雄）, this is a fairly swinging and breezy kayo about wanting to be with that special girl. I figure considering the date of release, this would be a nice walk-on-the-shore sort of tune.

The song also hit a chord with the nation's listeners as it not only hit No. 1 but stayed at the top spot for 6 straight weeks from late August to late September 1976. It eventually became the 7th-ranked song for that year, and so of course, NHK knocked on Aoi's door to have him over for the Kohaku Utagassen. This would be his only appearance on the show.

Anzen Chitai -- No Problem

Well I did promise that I would cover some more of the tracks from Anzen Chitai's（安全地帯）"(VI) Tsuki ni Nureta Futari" album. That was way back in 2013. Shows how much of a steel trap my memory is; it's actually more of a rusty rabbit hutch.

Anyways to recap, I did say that the Hokkaido band's 6th album from April 1988 was a continuation of Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二）and his fellows' intention to go beyond the distinct sound which got them famous in the first place back in the early 1980s. There was the bombastic launch of the opening track "I Love You Kara Hajimeyou"（I Love Youからはじめよう）which made the discovery of love sound like a triumphant air show, my funky favourite "Jirettai"（じれったい）and the dreamy "Juliet".

Now, here I'm introducing another track "No Problem". If you can imagine Tamaki doing a really distant gig in the famous Mos Eisley cantina on Tatooine from "Star Wars", this would be the song he would perform. The original song has some zoot-suited speakeasy jazz filtered through some techno thingies as Tamaki goes wild behind the mike. I've got a feeling that he was making like a young Duke Ellington in the recording booth, and he definitely gets a whole lot less stoic in concert above.

As with all of the tracks on the album, it was another Koji Tamaki and Goro Matsui（松井五郎）collaboration. Those two certainly kept the variety end up with "Tsuki ni Nureta Futari". And with "No Problem", I couldn't help but be reminded of another novelty hit fusing old-style jazz and technopop.

Kyoko Endo -- 27-sai no Seishun （27才の青春）

Being someone who has been enjoying Japanese popular music for many many years, there will always be aspects that I miss. I've mentioned this before but I miss some of the soul music that came into J-Pop in the early 2000s via songstresses such as bird and Misia. Even a decade earlier than that, there was also a brief dalliance in the early 1990s when there was a small cadre of female singers and/or songwriters providing some nice urban contemporary balladry.

Back on New Year's Day, I wrote about a nice song sung by Hikaru Nishida（西田ひかる）titled "Kinou to wa O-Chigai"（きのうとは大違い）which popped up by chance while I was searching for any more music by the songwriter of the piece, Kyoko Endo（遠藤京子）.

Well, it turned out that I found this wonderful ballad written, composed and sung by Endo called "27-sai no Seishun" (My Youth at 27). Also arranged by Yoko Kanno (菅野よう子...who would later be responsible for a number of amazing things, including one of the most iconic themes in anime history), this song is one of the prime examples about that urban contemporary balladry I was referring to earlier.

"27-sai no Seishun" was released as Endo's 14th single in March 1993 and was also a track on her 7th original album "Koibito ni Naritai"（恋人になりたい...I Want to be a Lover） which also came out on the same day as the single. The singer-songwriter-actress had already been in the music business since 1981 but never quite hit the huge fame that some of her clients such as Nishida or Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）did. Not that it would really matter; her ability to not only write but also deliver a tune probably has garnered a very dedicated group of fans, yours truly included.

This particular song may or may not be categorized as City Pop. However, I am since from the music I can't imagine any place other than a big city where the music or lyrics can be played out. With that slight sense of bossa nova in there, "27-sai no Seishun" has that romantic flair masking a deep sadness in the words. That title may look and sound like something to be envied but according to Endo, it's quite the opposite as described in the wording. The heroine is describing perhaps yet another failed relationship, something that she had thought would only be occurring with any frequency during her true adolescence when she was younger, more reckless and more willing to roll with the punches. Well, in Japan, she's now 7 years past her official inclusion into adulthood and disillusioned that this part of youth has not let her go yet, and perhaps she's wondering whether it will ever do so. Certain listeners may want to have a stiff belt of scotch with this one.

Still as I've said, it's a lovely song although very bittersweet. It has renewed my nostalgia for those ballads from over 20 years ago.

Hiroshi Sato -- Last Trick

One of my "running gags" when it comes to what I've written in the blog for nearly 5 years is that all of those Oricon hits occupy the mere top fraction of the iceberg that is above water. There is still a huge chunk underwater left to be explored. Taking the 1970s as an example, while all those aidoru such as Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）and enka singers like Saburo Kitajima (北島三郎...still miss him now that he's retired from the Kohaku) were showing up all the time on Japanese TV, there were albums coming out by musical artists who stayed firmly below the water line.

I'm now coming to the conclusion that I have to start exploring some of the New Music/City Pop material of the 1970s in further detail. I did put into my original mission statement for "Kayo Kyoku Plus" that those two decades of the 1970s and 1980s were my central years, but I think I have done quite a bit for the latter decade. There is still a fair amount to be mined in the 70s in my estimation.

My case in point here is an album by the late singer/musician/songwriter Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）. Titled "Time", it was released in January 1977 as his 2nd album. Now as of this writing, there are 7 articles representing the man in the blog but I think the big one for him was my first one for him featuring his classic and dreamy 1982 City Pop album "Awakenings".

Now I'm quite interested in "Time" as well. I've only listened to one of the tracks so far, "Last Trick", and it's a winner for me. It is just that one track but, yes, it sounds very different from the very 1980s sound of "Awakenings", and yet I can plug "Last Trick" as very much a City (Resort) Pop tune of the 1970s. Perhaps that can be extrapolated for the rest of "Time", too.

For one thing, Sato didn't sound anything in "Last Trick" like he would in the 1982 album. I frankly thought his vocals reminded me so much of British pop star Howard Jones in "Awakenings" that I was actually tempted to send word to Jones' Twitter account. My statement on the 70s feeling comes due to his keyboard work which for this particular song was reminiscent of jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi who also expanded his instruments into organ and other keyboards into the 1970s. And yep, it's the same guy behind those "Peanuts" classics such as "Linus and Lucy". The arrangement of "Last Trick" directly reminded me of Guaraldi's soundtrack for "A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving". I did mention in the other article that Sato spent a few years in America from 1980 to 1982 so I'm sure that some changes occurred during that time in Los Angeles.

I think I've already blown my money over the past few weeks on music purchases so I'm gonna have to wait a while before going ahead. However, "Time" will be on my side eventually.

Megumi Hayashibara -- Give a reason

If someone asked me what song represents Megumi Hayashibara’s (林原めぐみ) career in terms of success and popularity, I would easily answer “Give a reason”.

The first time I listened to it I was fourteen years old (2004) and, although it wasn’t the first song by Megumi I’ve listened to, it was THE song that made me turn into a fan of her music work. Now you ask: Is it my favorite nowadays? No, it isn’t my favorite since 2005 or 2006, but it’s impossible to dislike the song, even if I’ve listened to it a thousands times in the last thirteen years.

Released in April 1996, “Give a reason” was the opening theme to the second season of one of the most popular anime series Megumi has been involved with: “Slayers” (スレイヤーズ). Also, by the time “Give a reason” was released, the “Slayers” franchise was already big, with a popular first season aired in 1995, manga, radio dramas, movies and, of course, many singles and OST albums associated with it. Megumi, of course, was featured in all of them as she was the voice actress (seiyuu) responsible for the series’ main character, a red-haired, short-tempered and powerful sorceress specialized in black magic called Lina Inverse (リナ＝インバース).

“Slayers” is not complex at all, being just that type of carefree comedy series with Medieval thematic and various recurring light sexual gags. It has a special spot on my heart, since Megumi is a main part of it, and also because I like silly comedies, but I wouldn’t recomment it to someone who’s in need of a great series with a good story and character development. It’s perfect to watch with a couple of friends on a sunday afternoon.

As for the songs associated with “Slayers”, they’re famous for being upbeat and catchy high energy electronic pop music that pushes you forward and makes you feel like in a sort of adventure (well, “Slayers” is the embodiment of a Medieval RPG game, so it makes sense). In some way, the music can be described as typical stuff from 90s shounen anime, but I personally think of it as a highlight from its era. And “Give a reason” – with Megumi’s girly voice, the powerful and full of encouragement chorus, but also an arrangement with various layers of electronic sounds combined with guitars – is probably the epitome of it.

To finish, here’s Megumi performing a short version of “Give a reason” in one of her rare concerts (this concert was recorded in 2000).

“Give a reason” reached #9 on the Oricon chart, selling 232,850 copies. The song was then included in Megumi’s seventh album, “bertemu” (released in November 1996), and in many compilations later on. Lyrics were written by Satomi Arimori (有森聡美), while music was composed by Hidetoshi Sato (佐藤英敏). As for the arrangement, Tsutomu Ohira (大平勉) was the responsible.

"bertemu's" front and back covers, respectively

Miki Imai -- Goodbye Yesterday

Not sure whether I've mentioned in this in any of my previous postings on Miki Imai（今井美樹）but there is that Japanese social media site called Mixi which is composed of various communities for people to join depending on the raison d'etre of those communities. There are a few for the singer with one specifically geared for her early career....namely before she hooked up with Tomoyasu Hotei（布袋寅泰）as her songwriter and later on, her husband.

This is not to say that I've particularly disliked Imai's music since the mid-1990s; in fact, I've already written about a number of her songs (which were indeed hits) and even one album with Hotei's contribution. But to be candid, if I had to choose between pre-Hotei or post-Hotei Imai, I would go with the former option. There was just some sort of thing between her and the arrangement of those songs back in the 1980s and very early 1990s that was special which I think was lost. However, of course, I know that a singer has got to evolve over time which means gaining new fans, losing some old ones and keeping the really dedicated ones.

Basically then, although I bought Imai's albums well into the 1990s, I've really only put her CDs from her debut in the mid-80s to the early 90s with any sort of regular rotation. Still as I said, her hits were still coming out well into the 21st century.

For example, one that comes to mind is "Goodbye Yesterday" which is a title that I often hear at karaoke and on any TV program which highlights any of Imai's music. Released in February 2000 as the theme song for the Fuji-TV drama "Brand" starring the singer herself as an employee at a fashion company, this was another hit with Hotei's stamp on it in terms of words and music. From the English portion of the lyrics, it's fairly obvious that the message from the song is about pushing ahead into the future which was probably the overarching theme for Imai's character in "Brand", and perhaps I can use it here to wave goodbye to 2016 and look forward to this coming year.

Listening to "Goodbye Yesterday", which is Imai's 18th single, I think the observation I can make here is that her ballads from the mid-90s onwards have taken on that rather epic quality, thanks to Hotei and especially those electric guitar instrumentals. Any official music video that may have existed for "Goodbye Yesterday" probably would have had, budget willing, Imai standing and singing atop a precipice overlooking hundreds of square kilometres of canyons while the sun is either rising or setting. Compare that to her 80s material which I found a lot more intimate as in spending quiet time in a local cafe.

"Goodbye Yesterday" went Double Platinum and peaked at No. 5 on Oricon. It ended up as the 46th-ranked single of the year as it sold over half a million copies. It was also included in Imai's 12th album "Taiyo to Hemingway"（太陽とヘミングウェイ...The Sun and Hemingway）which was released later in August 2000. The album also did very well by peaking at No. 2.