Minor Tuning Band -- Soul Korekkiri desu ka（ソウルこれっきりですか）

Amazon.jp

Rather fascinating sometimes when I look for one song and then the trail leads to another song when I least expect it. A nice story comes out of it which is part of what this blog is all about. I was listening to my Techno Kayo CD which I had purchased several months ago and was planning to write about (and I will after this article) the first track. Then on the J-Wiki article for this group, I found out that this group's origins were quite intriguing.

I did this for one other kayo in the past but I'm going to start off by referring once again to "Hooked on Classics", a 1981 album of disco-infused classical music that caught fire over the radio and at the stores.

Now this is where I get into the meat of this article. It seems that this whole process of adding a disco medley to another genre's famous compositions wasn't started by the folks behind "Hooked on Classics". Half a decade back, in fact, a band of Japanese studio musicians had decided to put together their own medley of kayo hits by applying the disco sound.

The group came up with the rather sad name of Minor Tuning Band（マイナー・チューニング・バンド）and called their potpourri "Soul Korekkiri desu ka". Not sure if it's really soul but I think it's more of a disco-and-funk thing. As for the title, it came from the famous line in Momoe Yamaguchi's classic "Yokosuka Story": korekkiri, korekkiri mou korekkiri desu ka, and sure enough the medley starts off with the disco version of the song.

Well, then, allow me to provide the list of the songs involved in "Soul Korekkiri desu ka":

Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）-- Yokosuka Story（横須賀ストーリー）
Sakiko Ito（伊藤咲子）-- Kimi Kawaii ne（きみ可愛いね）
Candies（キャンディーズ）-- Haru Ichiban（春一番）
Masamitsu Tayama（田山雅充）-- Haru Urara（春うらら）
Junko Sakurada（桜田淳子）-- Nee! Ki ga Tsuite yo（ねえ!気がついてよ）
back to Yokosuka Story
Yasuko Naito（内藤やす子）-- Omoide Boroboro（想い出ぼろぼろ）
Masato Shimon（子門真人）-- Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun（およげ！たいやきくん）
Daniel Boone -- Beautiful Sunday
Hiromi Ohta（太田裕美）-- Momen no Handkerchief（木綿のハンカチーフ）
Kozue Saito（斎藤こず恵）-- Yamaguchi Sanchi no Tsutomu-kun（山口さんちのツトム君）
Teruhiko Aoi（あおい輝彦）-- Anata dake wo（あなただけを）
back to Yokosuka Story
Yuko Asano（浅野ゆう子）-- Sexy Bus Stop（セクシー・バス・ストップ）
back to Yokosuka Story
Harumi Miyako（都はるみ）-- Kita no Yado kara（北の宿から）

Perhaps even Minor Tuning Band hadn't expected it, but "Soul Korekkiri desu ka" became a hit soon after it was released in December 1976, peaking at No. 2 on Oricon.

Then came a slight dilemma. The powers-that-be wanted to get "Soul Korekkiri desu ka" performed on TV and perhaps the band kinda thought "Do we really have to go on TV?". Well, through an audition process within the NTV Music Academy cadre of students, three women were chosen to be the voices and faces for the song and the trio was dubbed Apache (although it was really the vocal group Singers Three who originally recorded the song). Problem solved.

And Apache was actually how I had wanted to start things off tonight. By the way, the following year, there was even an "Hooked on Enka" medley that became the talk of the town.

Ami Ozaki -- Kokoro ni Make-up（心にメイクアップ）

I've had this song bookmarked for several months so I gather that it's time to give its due on the blog.

One thing I gotta say about Ami Ozaki（尾崎亜美）. Not only has she been a great singer and songwriter but she has had this ability to come up with these upbeat tunes that are mainstream pop but have all of the energy of an aidoru number. I realize that she has also been seen dabbling into AOR and City Pop but I think her "Kokoro ni Make-up" (Make-up for the Heart) is just good ol' pop.

Written and composed by Ozaki, it was initially the B-side to her 9th single "Slow Dancing"（スローダンシング）from June 1979 but was also included in her 5th album later that October, "Little Fantasy". "Kokoro no Make-up" continues that kayo tradition of masking some melancholy feelings in some happy music that follows a woman getting over the shock of a failed romance. As much as she would apply the cosmetics on her face to cheer her up and get back into the world, she realizes that she also needs some of that make-up for her bruised heart.

I did say that Ozaki's upbeat numbers have the energy of aidoru tunes but there is something about the arrangement that elevates things from the usual teenybopper song. "Kokoro no Make-up" starts with the melodic equivalent of a motorcycle rumble before launching into the air. And then there are the disco strings, the synths and the thumpy bass. Come to think of it, perhaps I should label it as a City Pop tune after all.

There are some heavy hitters in the band, too. Along with Ozaki herself on the Prophet 5, there is Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）on guitar, Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）on bass, Jake H. Concepcion on alto sax, and Hideki Matsutake（松武秀樹）with the synthesizer programming.

Eikichi Yazawa -- Tomaranai HA~HA (止まらないHA～HA)

I hope everyone had a good start to the new year. I kind of did with Okinawan food for dinner with the family on New Year's day - I've finally acquired the taste of bitter gourd (goya)! - but the persistent cold I caught from the bug flying around the extended family Christmas party was quite a dampener.

That aside, here's my first article for 2018. Looking back at my previous write-ups, I had always been beginning the year with enka, so I thought it'd mix things up a little this time around with what I consider as one of my guilty pleasures - no, not "Kiyoshi no Zundoko Bushi" (きよしのズンドコ節) - Eikichi Yazawa's (矢沢永吉) "Tomaranai HA~HA".

I don't know all that much about Yazawa, save for his shibui persona and beer adverts, but it seems like "Tomaranai" is one of his most iconic hits and is a real crowd pleaser when it comes to his concerts. Not surprising considering it got me hooked the moment I heard it via those best-selling hit medleys. The strong 80's vibe from the synths, the excessive amount of electric guitar, and the screaming sax (my favourite bit) all make for an indulgence for the ears; Yazawa's husky howls and that defiant way in which he yells out "____ HA HA!" is awesome. I'm not one to listen to music at high volumes, but whenever I do get reminded of "Tomaranai" that's hiding somewhere in my "Liked Videos" playlist on YouTube, I make an exception. It's so LOUD, but it sounds so GOOD. Oddly enough, I find that it serves as sort of a stress-relief song - the almost anarchic vibe of the singer and the rockin' score makes one feel like they can let loose and go ballistic. Not like I actually do, though. It's just the feeling of it.

Definitely not my usual cup of oolong tea that is enka, that's for sure. I suppose it's more like a lemonade soda slushie that can give you brain freeze. "Tomaranai" is wild and so is the man behind the mike, but does it make for one heck of a palate cleanser!

Yazawa himself composed the music, and Tetsuya Chiaki (ちあき哲也) was in charge of penning the lyrics. "Tomaranai" was never released as a single, but it first came packaged in the album "Tokyo Night" (東京ナイト) on 25th July 1986. And then it was also included in "FLASH IN JAPAN", his album aimed at the American market, but in an English version titled "HURRICANE" - that'd be interesting to hear.

2017 was quite a rough year, but it had its merits. I hope 2018 will be more smooth-sailing. I wish you readers and writers alike a Happy New Year!

Various Artists -- Tribute to Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子トリビュート・アルバム）

Kinda too bad about the photo but I really did get the "Tribute to Taeko Ohnuki" album for Xmas this year. After discovering the delicious cover of "Tokai"（都会）by Ryuichi Sakamoto & Yasuyuki Okamura（坂本龍一・岡村靖幸）back in October, I checked out a few more tracks on YouTube and decided that I just had to get it.

The tribute, which was released back in December 2013, is in the form of a 2-CD set with Disc 1 featuring new recordings of Ohnuki's songs for this particular album by various singers whereas Disc 2 has songs created by Ohnuki that had been recorded long before on other artists' albums.

Along with Sakamoto & Okamura's "Tokai" which starts Disc 1 off, the second track is a cover of the unusual "Labyrinth" which was originally on Ohnuki's "Cliche" LP from 1982. Under the name of The Beatniks, Sakamoto's old YMO bandmate Yukihiro Takahashi and Moonriders' Keiichi Suzuki（高橋幸宏+鈴木慶一）give a slightly janglier and more organic version although it still retains that weird moodiness of the original.

Track 3 is Etsuko Yakushimaru's（やくしまるえつこ）tribute to the singer-songwriter through her cover of the whimsical "Peter Rabbit to Watashi"（ピーターラビットと私）which also came from "Cliche". Like "Labyrinth", the original "Peter Rabbit" was more in the technopop vein but Yakushimaru provides a mellower guitar pop take.

The clincher song for me to get this album though is from Disc 2. Akiko Yano's（矢野顕子）cover of "Umi to Shonen"（海と少年）from her 1986 album "Touge no Wagaya"（峠のわが家...Our Home on the Ridge）is pure fun. Compared to the first couple of songs from Disc 1 above, Yano goes the other route by taking the sunny New Music original and putting it through the technopop filter and setting the machine to Happy Happy Joy Joy. Not that Ohnuki made her tune a brooding shoegazer of a song when she recorded it in her 1978 "Mignonne", but Yano just perks it up with extra musical caffeine. In those three and three-quarters minutes, I got that happy-go-lucky Yano pop from the 1980s, even a bit of Prince's funk guitar with some rich piano and at the end, some PSY-S flourish. Pop songs should always be this happy.

As much as Yano was dabbling in her quirky technopop in the 1980s, actress/singer Miki Nakatani（中谷美紀）was also doing the same thing in the 1990s. Her contribution to the tribute album came from her 3rd album in 1999, "Shiseikatsu"（私生活...Private Life）through her cover of "Natsu ni Koi suru Onna Tachi"（夏に恋する女たち）. The original by Ohnuki was from her 7th album "Signifie" and had that romantic French pop sweep to it; I'm now wondering if it even could have been treated as a precursor to Shibuya-kei. In any case, Nakatani's cover has got the technopop touch to it.

"Tribute to Taeko Ohnuki" has no fewer than three versions of "Shikisai Toshi"（色彩都市）which was another nice mix of old-fashioned and technopop from "Cliche". The one that I like the best is Tomoyo Harada's（原田知世）version which veers fully into the former area with strings and harp. Feel like having a cup of tea in a parlour after listening to this version. The Harada cover is a track on her 2007 album "music & me" and apparently was selected by Ohnuki herself for the singer.

It's been quite a long and happy journey for me when it comes to the Ohnuki file. After hearing her name in the wind for so many years, I got that BEST album of hers to listen to it once and then let go fallow for many more years before I finally saw and heard the light. Then I made it the mission to collect her first several solo albums and enjoy them before getting this tribute album. The artists who came together for this project certainly respect her and so do I.

Megumi Hayashibara -- Kagirinai Yokubou no Naka ni (限りない欲望の中に)

It’s a been a long time since my last entry for Megumi Hayashibara (林原めぐみ), and the main reason is that most of her songs are not on Youtube anymore.

“Kagirinai Yokubou no Naka ni” is not one of the songs I listen to the most from her, but it’s one I know for a long time, since I was 14 or 15 years old in 2005. At the time, I liked to watch everything related to the Slayers franchise (スレイヤーズ), from movies and OVAs to the anime itself… and “Kagirinai Yokubou no Naka ni” happened to be the theme song for the “Slayers Special” OVA (スレイヤーズすぺしゃる), which got aired in three separate episodes between 1996 and 1997.

Since I’m talking about a song from my favorite singer, it has a lot for me to like, with Megumi’s very professional vocals (she shines as a singer here) being important to notice. Besides that, what I like the most here is the build… from the mysterious verses and warm pre-chorus, to the explosive and strong chorus. And the arrangement, with all the keyboard and wild guitars punctuating the song, is typical from its era. All in all, “Kagirinai Yokubou no Naka ni” succeeds in being what it is: a good Shounen (少年) anime song.

 “Kagirinai Yokubou no Naka ni” was released in May 1996, reaching #20 on the Oricon chart and selling 69,510 copies. Even though not included in any of Megumi’s original albums, it was finally part of her “Slayers Best album”, which is called “Slayers MEGUMIX” (スレイヤーズ MEGUMIX) and was released in June 2008. Lyrics were written by Satomi Arimosi (有森聡美), while music was composed by Hidetoshi Sato (佐藤英敏). As for the arrangement, Sho Goshima (五島翔) was the responsible.

"Slayers MEGUMIX", from my personal collection

SHISHAMO -- Ashita mo（明日も）

I was watching TV some weeks ago when I saw this young female band called SHISHAMO on "Music Station" in the middle of a performance. My first thought was suddenly thrust to food and izakaya since I have eaten the shishamo fish on a number of occasions.

Later on, I heard that SHISHAMO, who are currently made up of vocalist/guitarist Asako Miyazaki（宮崎朝子）, bassist Aya Matsuoka（松岡彩）and leader/drummer Misaki Yoshikawa（吉川美冴貴）, got their invitation to the 2017 Kohaku Utagassen. So I finally got to view them perform a full song called "Ashita mo" (Tomorrow As Well) with the backing of a high school horn section behind the band.

Their performance was one of the reasons that I enjoyed the Kohaku a bit more than usual (despite the 3rd-worst ratings ranking in the history of the show as has been reported in Nikkan Sports). "Ashita mo" struck me as being an encouraging song written and composed by Miyazaki about young folks doing their best and overcoming the usual obstacles to keep on going. No, it's not exactly the most original idea for a song but the sound and message are fine.

(karaoke version)

One reason that I enjoyed the song was because the overall arrangement of "Ashita mo" and the presence of high school kids reminded me of a fairly acclaimed anime that popped up twice in the last couple of years, "Hibike! Euphonium"（響け! ユーフォニアム）and its opening theme songs. I guess it's not just 80s British horns or American R&B horns from any decade that entice me but also cheerful horns from Japanese high school bands.

"Ashita mo" didn't come out as a single but as a track on their "SHISHAMO 4" which was released almost a year ago in February 2017 and peaked at No. 8 on Oricon. Apparently, the number got traction in the public when it was used as a commercial song for the mobile phone operator, NTT DoCoMo.

Mamiko Takai -- Yakusoku（約束）

I've chatted a few times here and there on the blog with folks like Marcos V. on the point that aidoru in the late 1980s had the interesting benefit of having some rather lush arrangements granted on their singles which elevated things a good bit despite perhaps some of these ladies not possessing the strongest of vocals. Added to that fact is that back in that same decade, I was able to listen to a number of aidoru tunes through borrowed tapes or even through the radio program "Sounds of Japan" without ever finding out the lasses' names or even the titles.

Well, that got me started in trying to track some of those "lost" tunes down. So where do I begin? I figured that I would launch my trek through the largest source of aidoru in that particular time frame: Onyanko Club（おニャン子クラブ）. This great ancestor to all of the current alphabet aidoru groups such as AKB48 and NGT48 was quite the modular teenybopper organization since a number of the members had their own solo careers with others forming smaller sub-units. Therefore, I think it is quite the mother lode to search for these aidoru and their songs.

It didn't take me too long to make a catch...or a re-catch, if you catch my drift. As soon as I heard this on YouTube, my Spidey Sense of nostalgia and recognition lit up like a flare at night. Let me introduce Onyanko Club Member No. 16, aka Mamiko Takai（高井麻巳子）and her 3rd single "Yakusoku" (Promises) from December 1986.

Wowsers! As soon as I heard those urgent strings and classy keyboards start "Yakusoku" off, the hair on my arms stood up at attention. How long has it been since I heard this one? Takai's vocals don't sound too bad here but it's that sweeping arrangement by Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）of Masahiro Hatta's（八田雅弘）melody and Masao Urino's（売野雅勇）lyrics that had me hooked on this song. The beat keeps things moving along at a pretty fast clip, too.

"Yakusoku" hit No. 1 on Oricon and ended up as the 55th-ranked single of 1987. The song also made it onto Takai's 2nd album "Kokoro Biyori"（こころ日和...The State of Affairs of the Heart）, released in July 1987. Between 1986 and 1988, the aidoru would release 8 singles and 4 original albums. In May 1988, she retired from show business for a good while after getting married to songwriter Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）. So did that make her a den mother of sorts to all of the ladies in AKB48 and beyond?