Masahiro Kuwana/Hideki Saijo -- Aishuu Tonight （哀愁トゥナイト）

Some weeks ago, I came across this YouTube video showing a recorded version of the late Masahiro Kuwana's（桑名正博）debut single "Aishuu Tonight" (Sorrow Tonight). I liked the song enough that I figured I would write an article about it sometime only to find out that the video had been taken down.

Fortunately, there were other uploaders who were also quite appreciative of the disco-rock number by Kuwana so I was able to get this performance of him on what I think is Fuji-TV's "Yoru no Hit Studio"（夜のヒットスタジオ）. Released in June 1977, this was another collaboration between lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）which probably had Kuwana channeling his inner Rod Stewart. It's quite the raucous love song and he may have sent a number of hearts a-flutter on that TV performance. And considering the melody was by the same man, the disco beat has some similarity with a Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）hit that would come out the following year "Cinderella Honeymoon" (シンデレラ・ハネムーン). I gather that Tsutsumi really liked that mirror ball back in the day.

Some years later, Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）would do his own version of "Aishuu Tonight" in his cover album "HIDEKI SONG BOOK" from March 1981. Listening to his amped-up version with the horns and all, I thought that Saijo was the ideal man to cover Kuwana's song. His energy and vocals matched those of the original singer quite well.

Takeshi Kitayama -- Muteki no Sakaba （霧笛の酒場）

Tonight's "Uta Kon" (うたコン) was given the extra half-hour treatment and deservedly so since the theme of the night was the one-and-only Yu Aku（阿久悠）. This year happens to be the 10th anniversary of his passing so a good chunk of the music on display consisted of his works. It was truly a passage down the old Showa kayo.

I will get to a couple of those songs by Aku since they are tunes that I had never covered in the blog. However, as with many an episode of "Uta Kon", the last 10 minutes of the show were given over to some of the newer numbers, and there was one by Takeshi Kitayama（北山たけし）that caught my ears immediately.

Mood Kayo is a genre that I've often associated with the songs of yesteryear...long back into yesteryear. So it's always nice when I hear such a song that was created in the 21st century. Such is the case with Kitayama's latest single "Muteki no Sakaba" (Foghorn Bar) which came out in November 2016. I only found out about the release date from the YouTube description instead of the singer's J-Wiki page.

Written by Toshiya Niitani（仁井谷俊也）and composed by Koji Tokuhisa（徳久広司）, "Muteki no Sakaba", as the YouTube description notes, is the welcome throwback to the good ol' days of Showa Era kayo. I mean, as soon as I heard it, I felt like things time-slipped back to the heyday of Frank Nagai（フランク永井）and Yujiro Ishihara（石原裕次郎）. Ishihara especially would be looking down at Kitayama with a wink and a smile and two fingers of whiskey as he listened to that bluesy sax and the languid keyboards. Even the lyrics have that well-worn theme of love lost and the fellow crying in his sake.

Would love to hit an Akasaka bar right now but since I do not own a Platinum credit card...

(karaoke version)

Denki Groove -- Asunaro Sunshine (あすなろサンシャイン)

Nice to welcome back Denki Groove（電気グルーヴ）!

When I was writing about their biggest album "Ace (A)" from May 1997, I hadn't realized how much hell the band had been going through at the time. Since the release of their previous 1996 album "Orange", Denki Groove had to deal with the collapse of the agency representing them, the disappearance of their manager (!). and various troubles with their recording company. Of course, the frustration levels grew to the point that the group made a declaration when it came to their next album: "We're gonna take revenge against this world that's beaten us down!". I guess there was something rather Howard Beale about that.

Sure enough, all of that angry energy paid off in a good hunk of dividends. Their biggest single in their career came from the album, "Shangri-La", and the album itself was their most successful release, hitting No. 3 on the charts. Plus, I remember very well the musical explosion that was "Volcanic Drumbeats"; Takkyu Ishino（石野卓球）, Pierre Taki（ピエール瀧）and Yoshinori Sunahara（砂原良徳）must have gotten a lot out of their collective system with that one.

Another "stress reliever" probably came in the form of Track 8 "Asunaro Sunshine". Not only was this an over-9-minute dance track, but this sounded like a semi-religious experience. According to the J-Wiki article on "A", Taki took vocal training specifically for this epic as he slowly exhorted "ASUNAROOOOOOO........SUUUUUUUUNSHINEEEEEEEEEE!!!" It's the one thing I've always remembered about the song all these years.

Does anyone remember "Indiana Jones & The Temple of Doom" where that mad Thuggee priest screamed out "KALI MAAAAAAAAAAA"? Just imagine Taki in place of Mola Ram exhorting his disciples in the Temple of Rave under the bright lights of Tokyo. Yup, it's half cult anthem, half dance tune. And Taki really throws himself into the performance...he basically strangles himself with his screaming halfway through "Asunaro Sunshine", although I'm not sure whether his tongue got in the way while it was heading to his cheek. Plus, along with the rave and operatic aspects, Ishino even includes a bit of 70s funky bass in there, too.

I would probably think that after the recording of "Asunaro Sunshine", the guys needed a short vacation for that one track alone.

I've heard the word asunaro bandied about in Japanese pop culture. For example it was used as part of the title for an especially popular drama in the 1990s titled "Asunaro Hakusho"（あすなろ白書...Asunaro White Paper）. Apparently the word refers to a certain type of cypress tree. So "Asunaro Sunshine" means "Cypress Sunshine", but with the usual Denki Groove sense of humour and wordplay, the lyrics play around with the title so that the guys also yell out the title to also mean "Let's become tomorrow!" before Ishino tells everyone in the flock to "Let's become cypress trees tomorrow!"

Cypress may have a wonderful scent but there are also plenty of folks in Japan who are very allergic to its pollen. Just thought I should let you know.

Seiko Matsuda -- Sleeping Beauty

As a Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）ballad, it's awwwwwwwwwwwwww-esome!

Perhaps I put in a few too many 'W's than needed but I just wanted to let everyone know how adorable this album-ender called "Sleeping Beauty" is. I believe it's on one of the Seiko BEST compilations I have but originally it came from her 9th original album "Tinker Bell" which came out in June 1984.

And if it strikes you that those two titles seem to have a connection, then you are quite correct. The album had its songs titled with various fairy tales in mind such as "Peter Pan", "Cinderella" and "Sleeping Beauty". Of course, that last track pretty much had Seiko giving the slo-mo play-by-play of the prince providing some mouth-to-mouth resuscitation to the young lady who was out like a light.

Written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed by Masaaki Ohmura（大村雅朗）, "Sleeping Beauty" has that potpourri of aidoru-ness with some contemporary balladry reminiscent of Yuming and/or David Foster. I mean, it's so adorable and gushy that it could also be mistaken for a Xmas song.

As for "Tinker Bell", it hit No. 1 on Oricon.

Tomomi Kahala -- I Believe

Time is marching on...and I can believe this since it's been over 20 years since Tomomi Kahala（華原朋美）debuted on the scene. I recently saw her on an episode of "Uta Kon" (うたコン) and she happened to perform her old hit "I Believe".

Now for me, Kahala grabbed my attention when she released her 3rd single "I'm Proud" but according to J-Wiki, it was her 2nd single from October 1995 "I Believe" that marked her breakthrough. To be honest, I didn't quite believe when I first heard it through commercials and TV appearances but then hearing it again on "Uta Con" years later and then on YouTube, I'm actually starting to finally enjoy the arrangement by Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）. I think the one thing that had me reluctant initially was the wobbliness of Kahala's vocals.

However I think over the years, her voice has gotten stronger so "I Believe" and her other hits have gotten better in delivery. And I'm sure Kahala must have been very grateful for the chance since it had originally meant to have been sung by another entity under the Komuro umbrella, her mentor's band globe. But the Urayasu native got the assignment and the rest is history.

"I Believe" went all the way up to No. 4 and became a million-seller. In fact, although it was the 86th-ranked single for 1995, it climbed further up for the annual sales in 1996, reaching No. 38. And on the Oricon karaoke rankings, it was the 4th-most popular song. Kinda too bad that I couldn't find the original music video, though.

the Indigo -- Under The Blue Sky

It was the usual Sunday outing with my anime buddy today although we did catch some of the Super Bowl during dinner tonight. Got home less than an hour ago to see that things were looking pretty exciting down to the wire....when it shouldn't have been. The Falcons were supposed to have had this game in the bag.

Anyways, earlier in the day, there was anison time. And I got to hear something again that I had forgotten to write about last year so this is me making amends right here.

I never saw the 2003 anime "Mahoutsukai ni Taisetsu na Koto"（魔法遣いに大切なこと...Someday's Dreamers）but from what I've read in the Wikipedia summary, it sounds like a show that I would have liked...a pretty gentle storyline about magical folk living in the bohemian Tokyo neighbourhood of Shimo-Kitazawa. Perhaps it was something akin to another anime that I had seen early last year, "Flying Witch".

Considering the continuing gloomy weather out there today, it was comforting to hear the ending theme for the original series, "Under The Blue Sky" by pop group the Indigo. It has that sunny and laid-back feeling (love the guitar especially) that fits it quite well with Shimo-Kitazawa. I only know the band through this song but it currently consists of vocalist Miki Taoka（田岡美樹）and Yuuichi Ichikawa（市川裕一）on composition and arrangements although it started out as a trio back in 1998. Taoka took care of the lyrics for this song with Ichikawa providing the music.

"Under The Blue Sky" was released as the Indigo's 7th single in February 2003 and peaked at No. 67 on Oricon. Up to this point, the band has released 10 singles with the last one being in 2005. And there have been 8 albums between 2000 and 2010.

I visited Shimo-Kitazawa a few times in the past and in a number of ways, it reminded me of Toronto's Kensington Market, thanks to the funky atmosphere and eclectic shops and restaurants. There was one okonomiyaki restaurant, I think it was called Otafuku, which I visited with a few friends; it specialized in Hiroshima-style okonomiyaki and it was there that I could believe that half a head of lettuce could be reduced to a flat mass of green to fit between the two large discs of okonomiyaki.

During my NOVA days, I had the opportunity to be transferred to the Shimo-Kitazawa branch but at the time, I was too tied to my students and teachers in Asakusa to accept. I have had some mixed feelings about not accepting the offer since then, and if I head over to Tokyo on a visit again, I will drop by the neighbourhood.

Eir Aoi -- Sirius (シリウス)

It's been a few years since I've seen one of the craziest anime to greet my eyes and ears, "Kill La Kill" (キルラキル) with its battle scenes...well, pretty much every scene...on acid. I did write about the first ending theme, "Gomen ne, Ii Ko Ja Irarenai" (ごめんね、いいコじゃいられない) which is still my favourite of the four theme songs used during the original run from 2013.

However, the first opening theme, although it never became an earworm to me, is not too bad either, in retrospect. Eir Aoi's（藍井エイル）"Sirius" helps all of us viewers blast into the action along with the opening credits. A fluffier song wouldn't do the show justice and every time I hear "Sirius", I always see Ryuko and Satsuki trying to bash each other into pulp.

"Sirius" is Aoi's 5th single from November 2013. According to Aoi herself on J-Wiki, the song was meant to be an upbeat work filled with the brightness of the teenage years. Well, if it's anything like the adolescence experienced by any of the main characters from "Kill La Kill", I would probably replace that word "brightness" with concepts such as "craziness", "psychosis" and "insanity".

Written by meg rock and composed by Ryosuke Shigenaga（重永亮介）, "Sirius" peaked at No. 21 on Oricon. It is also included on Aoi's 2nd album "Aube" from January 2014. That album got all the way to No. 6 on the charts.

Unfortunately, due to ill health, Aoi brought a stop to her career in late 2016 and for the meantime, it's unknown when or whether she will pick up the mike again.

Now here is Ryuko to show how NOT to drive a bus.