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.
The above photo is of the late Joe Yamanaka（ジョー山中）who was born Akira Yamanaka（山中明）in Yokohama back in 1946. He was a singer and an actor who I knew for just one song. I first heard it when I was watching an episode of "19XX Bokutachi no Natsukashii Melody"（僕たちの懐かしいメロディー）, a late-night Fuji-TV half-hour without any hosts which provided excerpts of news from a certain year along with the popular music at that time.
The song was "Ningen no Shomei"(Proof of the Man) and at the time I heard the song on "19XX", the video which accompanied it was apparently from the 1977 movie of the same name with a hat flying off into the sky. I had no idea what it was all about but later found out that it involved the death of a young man at the hands of his own mother.
"Ningen no Shomei" has a synopsis on Wikipedia but the story sounds like a neo-film noir which starred Yusaku Matsuda（松田優作）, George Kennedy and Joe Yamanaka himself as the victim which starts the plot off.
I never saw the movie but it's the theme song that has stayed with me all those years since it is such a soulful elegy. The lyrics by Yaso Saijo（西条八十）, Haruki Kadokawa（角川春樹）and Yamanaka rather reflect the latter's character's message to his mother from heaven, perhaps with some forgiveness for the heinous act that she had committed. Yuji Ohno（大野雄二）provided the music that would probably have folks in a bar contemplate life.
That's pretty hot. Um, I mean,
what a fine-looking gentleman.
www.kasugaomoidekan.jp/kinenkan.html
Wowsers, Hachiro Kasuga (春日八郎) was quite the looker back in the day! I would even say he looked rather dandy, and those are words I usually reserve for the likes of Hiroshi Tachi; the enka/ryukoka bunch... eh, not so much, or actually, not ever (until now).
Anyway, I've recently discovered this YouTube channel that uploads the First Enka Singer's works from around the time of his debut to his later days (70's into the 80's), and sampling many entries from his discography that hardly see the light of day was fascinating. Out of the gems I've grown to love and include in my playlist, I have to say that "I Love You, Madam" from 1958 was an entry I'd least expect to see as one of his original singles. At the same time, it was the one that had me at full attention just from the title alone, with it being in all-katakana and having a Western connotation. It ain't your standard Kasuga-bushi,alright, but it does fit the singer's look in the photo above.
Continuing with the deviation from a Kasuga-bushi, "I Love You, Madam" lacks a Japanese sound. Instead, Isao Hayashi (林伊佐緒), who was known for composing Western-sounding numbers just as well as traditional enka/Mood Kayo tunes, created a jaunty, jazzy melody that feels fit for a cabaret from the trumpets' sharp bursts and the hissing cymbals. Speaking of cabaret, Hachi used to perform at one such establishment named Moulin Rouge - nope, not the one in Montmartre, Paris, this one's in Shinjuku, Tokyo, if I'm not mistaken - before he became a prominent figure in the music world.
Coming back to the song itself, Juzaburo Tojo (東條寿三郎) was in charge of the flirty lyrics which has our protagonist professing his love for/trying to woo the lovely dame. Well, considering how suave 50's Kasuga was, I'm pretty sure the titular madam would be putty in his hands.
P.S. Ordinarily, I'd complete the Yonin Shu set of articles by writing one article each for Michi, Muchi, and Minami, but I've yet to come up with solid ideas for the latter veterans, so this Hachi one will be a standalone entry.
Noelle from 31/1/25: Having listened to more of Hayashi sensei's works, I have a hunch that "I Love You, Madam" may have been a redux of Hayashi's own earlier number which he also composed, "Daina Blues" (ダイナ・ブルース) from 1952. "Daina Blues" didn't become a hit, so perhaps Hayashi wanted to reuse the tune in hopes of bringing in success. After all, Hachi had become one of the biggest stars in 1950s Japan by 1958. Unfortunately, "I Love You, Madam" didn't take off either. As much as hearing "I love you, madam" from Hachi gives me butterflies, the objective me thinks that this tune still sounds too Hayashi for it to be Hachi, if you get what I mean.
Note: This article was meant to go up last month, but due to the number of things stacked on my plate from late April till the end of last week, I decided to give writing a break. Things have mostly settled down for now and I'm done with slothing around in the aftermath, so, I'm back! When reading this post, imagine that we're still in the middle of April.
Just a couple of weeks ago, everyone's favourite talented nice guy from the 60's hit 80 years of age as of 11th April 2017 (whew)! Congrats to Yuzo Kayama (加山雄三) on this milestone, and may he last as long or longer than Yoshio Tabata (田端義夫) did - my other guitar hero lasted till the ripe old age of 94. As mentioned on "Uta Kon" last week, in commemoration of his 80th birthday, or Sanju (傘寿), Kayama's title of Wakadaisho seemed to be upgraded to "Eien no Wakadaisho" (永遠の若大将... The Eternal Wakadaisho) - none before him, and none after.
While it was definitely wonderful to still be able to see such a cool icon from way back in the day alive and kicking and strumming his shiny, red electric guitar on the NHK stage, I couldn't help but feel a hint of poignancy as the episode also payed the late Peggy Hayama (ペギー葉山) a tribute. She was only a few years Kayama's senior when she passed on, which reminded me that the Wakadaisho is not as immortal as his new title suggests... Man, when he's gone I'm pretty sure it'll hit me like a ton of bricks.
Alright, sorry for being morbid there, it was just something that crossed my mind. On a lighter note, I too wanted to pay Kayama a little tribute with an article. It took me a while to think of what song to talk about since most of my favourites have been accounted for in KKP, but I eventually found "Black Sand Beach" via the medley at the start of the write-up.
This instrumental piece is filled with the deep twang from the electric guitar and the soaring synths at the "chorus", and it's got a strong beach/surfer dude vibe fitting of the Wakadaisho's image during the mid 60's. One can imagine the tanned Kayama catching some waves and wiping out along the Hawaiian coast/a black sand beach. I'm not a fan of instrumental pieces because part of why I enjoy listening to music is a singer's vocals, but "Black Sand Beach" is one of those rare exceptions; it's way too cool and catchy to ignore.
"Black Sand Beach" was released on 5th December 1965, together with Kayama's eternal hit, "Kimi to Itsumademo". Accompanying him in this single was the Group Sounds band The Launchers or as J-Canuck mentioned in "Mafuyu no Kaeri Michi" (真冬の帰り道), The Launchers 2.0 that includes Kayama's cousins. "Black Sand Beach" was featured in the 6th installment of the Wakadaisho movie series, "Ereki no Wakadaisho" (エレキの若大将). You can check out a snippet of it in the second video where the Wakadaisho, looking preppy and as stiff as a board, and his band are competing in some sort of electric guitar version of Nodojiman, and of course, with skills like that, the welcomed chime of the bells came immediately after. (Hai, tsugi no kata dozo!)
I was sampling some of Stardust Revue's（スターダストレビュー）earlier singles and got the impression that the band started life as a somewhat quasi-retro unit bringing some good-time honky-tonk jazz and swing to kayo kyoku.
Case in point: their 2nd single from November 1981, "Ginza Neon Paradise". I couldn't track down the original recorded version but it sounds like the song was a crowdpleaser at their concerts. Written by vocalist Kaname Nemoto（根本要）and also composed by him along with Akira Tejima and Noriko Kinai（手島昭・きないのりこ）, I could even hear that feeling of Dixieland; the only instrument missing perhaps is a banjo. The more I hear it, the more I think it's pretty fun to take part in the chorus.
From what I've heard from folks and other sources, Ginza was once a very well-lit place during the boom years of the Japanese economy. However, even during my time there which was supposedly well after the era of the Bubble, things still looked pretty bright in one of Tokyo's tony neighbourhoods. I still couldn't really place an early 20th-century jazz song there, though. It still sounds like a place for Mood Kayo.
Spoke about "Guardians of the Galaxy, Vol. 2" in my last article and one of the big guest stars in there was Kurt Russell as Ego, The Living Planet.
However, I first knew about Russell when he was acting in all those crazy Disney comedy movies of the 1970s...titles like "The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes" and "The Strongest Man in the World".
Speaking of Walt Disney, another oft-seen movie series from the Mouse House on Sunday nights on TV was the "Love Bug" series starring Dean Jones with a seemingly sentient Volkswagen Beetle called Herbie. I enjoyed plenty of hilarity as a little kid watching all these movies on NBC.
So you can imagine several decades later my surprise when I heard that there was a song with that title "the Love Bug" by m-flo and BoA. Not sure whether VERBAL and company had been giving a shout out to the Disney character but then again, the guys did pay some tribute to another American TV chestnut "Star Trek".
As part of the "m-flo loves..." series, this was released in March 2004 although no VW Beetles were involved. I've featured some of the other songs from the series such as "Summer Time Love"with Emi Hinouchi and Ryohei, and they all follow the similar formula of a pretty upbeat arrangement with the guest singers putting in their part while VERBAL floats in and out like a takekoputa (inside joke) plus provides some mid-song rap. "the Love Bug" is apparently the second in the series and I remember it best for BoA giving her "hip hop" patter.
The song was m-flo's 16th single which went Gold as it peaked at No. 8 on Oricon. It also appeared on the group's 3rd album"ASTROMANTIC" from May 2004. That album hit No. 2 and ended up as the 42nd-ranked release of the year, going Double Platinum.
Well, happy Victoria Day to my fellow Canadians. I can hear some of the fireworks outside. Got together with a couple of my movie buddies in Toronto to catch one of the more anticipated blockbusters for 2017, "Guardians of the Galaxy, Volume 2". And it didn't disappoint. My anime buddy last week told me that he wasn't all that thrilled with it but I still had a good time, and strangely enough, there were even some poignant scenes at the end...I can guarantee if this had been released closer to Father's Day, there would have been some major waterworks from the guys. Finally, I did love the ending credits with most of the cast boogeying down (even Karen Gillan) along with David Hasselhoff chiming in.
Yesterday when I was doing the routine with my anime buddy, he put on a song that he hadn't done before during the music section of our session. It happened to be "Kaze no Lullaby" (Lullaby of the Wind), a ballad that had been included in the anime "Megazone 23" from 1985.
I barely remember that particular show although it was shown at U of T by somebody back in the day. Mind you, I do remember one scene from the 2nd part of "Megazone 23" in which a jet pilot gets ripped apart by a bunch of tentacles....I couldn't remember anything else including the sex scenes, and yet I remember that evisceration....kinda wish I could un-remember it.
"Kaze no Lullaby" was recorded by Kumi Miyasato（宮里久美）who actually had a starring role in the anime and my buddy told me that she had been groomed to be another Mari Iijima（飯島真理）who was immortalized because of her iconic character Lynn Minmay from "Macross". Miyasato didn't quite make that level of fame apparently (she left showbiz in 1989) but I did enjoy "Kaze no Lullaby" which has that gentle and classy European-sounding melody reminiscent of Gazebo's"I Love Chopin" which was famously covered by actress-singer Asami Kobayashi（小林麻美）as "Ame Oto wa Chopin no Shirabe"（雨音はショパンの調べ）. I've heard other songs by young female Japanese singers with a similar arrangement in the 1980s which makes me wonder whether the Gazebo hit had become quite the influence.
The song was written by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composed by Hiroaki Serizawa（芹澤廣明）, and it was a track on Miyasato's debut album"Hitomi de Whispering"（瞳でウィスパリング...Whispering With My Eyes）from October 1985.
Got Kengo Kurozumi's（黒住憲五）2nd article here as one of those mysterious singers who I could only find out about through "Japanese City Pop".
I swear that listening to "You and Me" which is a track on his 5th album"Pillow Talk" from 1989, the groovy orange mimosa-friendly tune was something out of the mid-1980s or even earlier. The arrangement might be more updated but I could feel the Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）in there. The music was by Kurozumi with lyrics by Dereck Jackson.
With all those horns and guitar in there, I think this would have been something that Sing Like Talking could have done this as well. And what a group of session musicians in there: Jeff Porcaro and Michael Landau among others. Another one of those feel-good summer songs.
