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.
As I mentioned last night in Kiyoko Suizenji's（水前寺清子）"Arigato no Uta"（ありがとうの歌）, I did say that I would give a proper introduction to enka singer Yukino Ichikawa（市川由紀乃）.
Ichikawa was born Mari Matsumura（松村真利）in Saitama Prefecture and at the age of 16, she won a karaoke contest sponsored by Saitama Shinbun after which she was scouted by a production company and in 1993, she made her debut as an enka singer with "Onna no Matsuri"（おんなの祭り...A Woman's Festival）.
I think Ichikawa has become one of the mainstays of the current generation of enka singers alongside folks like Kiyoshi Hikawa（氷川きよし）and Aya Shimazu（島津亜矢）. She has certainly been a fairly regular presence on the kayo shows such as "Uta Con"（うたコン）. However, it wasn't until her 26th single in April 2016 "Kokoro Kasanete" (Give Me Your Love One More Time) that she finally got the nod from NHK to come on board the Kohaku Utagassen. I saw the moment on TV when her manager rushed into her dressing room to give her the good news; I thought she was going to end up creating her own lake from her tears.
Shinichi Ishihara and Kohei Miyuki（石原信一・幸耕平）were responsible for words and music respectively. What kinda surprises me about "Kokoro Kasanete" is how it starts off with a bang with that wailing electric guitar and then goes into a really blowsy saxophone solo that had me thinking either a Mood Kayo or a Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）number. Then it goes into its main melody of gentle enka as Ichikawa sings about a woman who is begging for some of that love back from her paramour who has gone cold.
"Kokoro Kasanete" has got quite that interesting balance of oomph with the guitar and sax and gentility with the usual instruments plus Ichikawa's voice. The song managed to get as high as No. 19 on Oricon, a personal best for the singer but on the enka charts, it reached No. 1 for the fifth consecutive time for her releases.
Almost a year ago, I wrote about a new Hi-Fi Set（ハイ・ファイ・セット）song that I liked called "Memorandum"（メモランダム）that was recorded in the late 1970s, and on doing the search for any information, found out that it had originally been composed by a fellow named Yoichi Takizawa（滝沢洋一）. At the end of the article, I mentioned that I would love to get my hands on the 1978 album that had Takizawa's cover of "Memorandum", "Leonids no Kanata ni" (Beyond Leonids). At the time, I had assumed that it was going to be one of the rarest of the rare (it wasn't even listed in "Japanese City Pop") but in actual fact, Tower Records had started releasing the CD version of the original LP since mid-2015. So, it became one of my purchases during my annual Xmas binge.
"Leonids no Kanata ni" was the only album released by singer-songwriter Takizawa although he did put out some singles afterwards. I think even looking at the cover of the man bopping about in the heavens, he kinda reminded me of Le Petit Prince, and so I was expecting to have a pretty interesting time listening to this. Incidentally, all of the tracks were composed by Takizawa although he shares lyric duties with a number of pretty bigwig writers.
The album starts off with a romantic and bluesy/jazzy number called "Saishuu Bus"（最終バス...The Last Bus）whose lyrics were provided by Junichiro Yamaguchi（山口純一郎）. It seems to be about a fellow getting off that final bus for the night and schlumping his way home (yes, I definitely know the feeling). Not sure if he's broken up with his girlfriend or has gone through the wringer at work but he's not too content with his lot. Still, I love the music and that bluesy guitar solo at the end was wonderful.
From listening to "Saishuu Bus", I was reminded of Yoshitaka Minami's（南佳孝）"COOL" which was the first track from another similar-in-tone album of his, "Seventh Avenue South". And in fact, there is a certain similarity of Takizawa's vocals to those of Minami with a dollop of Shinji Harada（原田真二）who had his own debut album in the same year as Takizawa's launch.
The title track "Leonids no Kanata ni" which was written and composed by Takizawa has that rousing taking-a-drive feeling of the 1970s. Not surprisingly, the singer has written the song as a romantic adventure for a couple into the stars. Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）handled the keyboards (and arrangements) on all of the tracks, and in fact, the entire album had a lot of famous Japanese sessions musicians coming in on the project including Tatsuo Hayashi（林立夫）and Jun Aoyama（青山純）on drums, Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）on guitar and Jake H. Concepcion on alto sax.
"High Up To The Sky" is a nice slice of bossa-influenced Resort Pop with that familiar City Pop instrumentation of what I like to call Perrier keyboards (good on you, Mr. Sato, wherever you are). Machiko Ryu（竜真知子）handled the lyrics here.
The last song that I'm gonna feature is "New Caledonia". Now, I'm not sure whether this sort of Latin is native to New Caledonia but it seems to have that cruise ship-friendly beat of the Caribbean.Takizawa handled words and music here, too.
As opposed to the original LP, the "Leonids no Kanata ni" CD comes with bonus tracks that have the A and B sides to a couple of his singles. However, I will cover those (if possible) in separate articles since those tunes sound quite different from the album tracks. Basically, my feeling is that Takizawa's sole album is a solid but not classic release. The individual songs are fine but going through the whole disc, there was a slight feeling of sameness threatening to invade my ears so I was glad for those 4 bonus tracks. Also on that Tower Records article for the album, it is mentioned that Takizawa has gone on to create tunes in the aidoru and anime genres so I would be interested in seeing if I ever come across those (or perhaps I already have).
Considering that January 30th is the anniversary for the blog, I think this song is pretty appropriate, and it just happened to fall into my lap.
On last week's edition of NHK's "Uta Kon"（うたコン）, one of the guests performed this happy tune titled "Arigato no Uta" (The Thank You Song), and I found out that it had been originally performed by none other than Kiyoko "Cheetah" Suizenji（水前寺清子）. Listening to the original single (her 33rd) from May 1970, the song fits Suizenji's onscreen and onstage personality: brassy, cheerful and larger-than-life. Hiroko Ohya（大矢弘子）wrote the lyrics while Gendai Kanou（叶弦大）provided the music.
If you're wondering about Suizenji performing "Arigato no Uta" in a nurse's uniform, that was because the song was the theme song for her own TV series, "Arigato" which lasted 4 seasons on TBS from 1970 to 1975 (although there was a 14-month gap between the end of the first season and the start of the second season). Cheetah appeared in the first three seasons with each season having her play a different character in a different setting. So, Season 1 had her being a rookie police officer, while in Season 2, she was a nurse and then finally in Season 3, she took over her family's fish shop.
A bit of a coincidence but I was having lunch at Touhenboku Ramen today in midtown with a couple of friends and mentioned in passing that "Kayo Kyoku Plus" would be celebrating its 6th anniversary any day now. Well, it turns out that TODAY is the 6th anniversary! So let us give a brief celebration.
Thank you, Fred, Barney and...police officers (although we all know this was for Wilma).
So, what song would be the one to commemorate the 6th? Actually, I had been thinking about this one for about a week and I have realized that it meshes quite well since the very first article I wrote for "Kayo Kyoku Plus" was for a male singer's hit song in 1981: Jun Horie's（堀江淳）"Memory Glass"（メモリーグラス）. And as veteran readers for the blog may already know, that year was the year that all of the switches within me were turned on permanently when it came to my love for Japanese music (and music in general).
Therefore, I'm going to go with another 1981 song that was yet another hit for the band Off Course（オフコース）. I had assumed that I had already covered "I Love You" sometime in the past 6 years since the group's 21st single from June of that year has become one of their mainstays. But as I have come to realize, there are songs that have managed to slip through the cracks of my memory so catching up is warranted for me.
The very first version of "I Love You", which was written and composed by Kazumasa Oda（小田和正）, that I heard was through one of Off Course's compilations (not the one pictured at the top). Apparently, that BEST album decided to include the version that was performed live at the Budokan in 1982.
That Budokan performance still remains my favourite take by Off Course for "I Love You" since it is performed very intimately (despite the thousands of fans in the audience). I mean, the recorded version is fine but compared to the concert take, it comes off as being a little too bouncy. What really made the performance special was how Oda whispered off the lyrics "I Love You"; that must have gotten the fans weeping up a storm.
But in the Budokan performance and the recorded version that I have on the CD pictured at the top "Off Course -- Single A-Side Collection", one thing that intrigued me was the barely audible English voices during the instrumental break before the final verse. I had kinda figured from how they sounded that they must have been radio announcers. Well, looking up the J-Wiki article on "I Love You", I found out that the voices were indeed announcers reporting the death of John Lennon in 1980. As I said, the versions that I have really muted down the narration but the one video at the top has it played at full volume although it is just a male announcer. According to J-Wiki, there was one take with a female and then male voice doing the reports that was recorded onto the single version. I'm assuming then that the male-only announcer version was the album version for Off Course's 10th album"I LOVE YOU" from July 1982. Perhaps then the version with the barely audible announcements could have been the very first recording of the ballad on their 2nd BEST compilation, "SELECTION 1978-81" from September 1981.
In any case, it's all good for me. The single version for "I Love You" made it up to No. 6 on Oricon later becoming the 81st-ranked single for 1981. The 1982 "I LOVE YOU" album hit the top spot and was even the 8th-ranked album for that year while "SELECTION 1978-81" was also another No. 1 hit. That album also did very well in the yearly rankings as it scored No. 15 in 1981 and then No. 33 in 1982. While I'm at it, I should mention about the very first Off Course song that I wrote about, the classic "Aki no Kehai"（秋の気配）from 1977.
Now that we have reached 6 years, again let me give my gratitude to all those who have been helping out on the blog: fellow veteran collaborators Marcos V. and Noelle Tham along with collaborators such as T-cat, Karen, Francium and Larry Chan, and those who have contributed in the past such as JTM and nikala. Of course, I also appreciate the commenters and all of those who have dropped in to see what's been going on from time to time on the blog, even if it is just for a minute. It's been fun and let's see how much further "Kayo Kyoku Plus" takes all of us.
At first, subways were a mighty struggle to get through in Tokyo. When the Tokyo Metro, as it is now called, printed out its maps, it looked no better initially than a mass of multi-coloured pasta.
(came from tokyometro.jp)
However, once I got used to commuting in the big city, I discovered that I could figure out some nifty and economical ways to get around plus make it into a game to figure out the best way to reach a destination. Still, I would advise folks who are heading to Tokyo on vacation to get a copy of the map beforehand to at least get an idea of what the network looks like.
Mind you, I also sympathize with anyone who gets a headache trying to pore through the various lines and stops on the Tokyo Metro (and that's not including all the JR and private lines criss-crossing through the city). May I suggest then a Tylenol and a listen to some nice Shibuya-kei via paris match's"Metro"?
"Metro" was a track on paris match's 2008 album, "Flight 7", and as one commenter said underneath the YouTube video, this song would be just right as something to play in a car bounding down the Tokyo highway at night, as opposed to listening to it on the subway. However, I think from the video and the thumbnail image, I gather that the trip involved other cities including Paris and New York. No problems, it's all cool.
But even listening to it at home on a Monday night, "Metro" is a nice and calming experience even though the musicians involved must have worked hard to generate that fine collective groove.
Having lived in a megalopolis that has high heat and humidity in the summers, encounters with insects are pretty much a given, especially cicadas whose distinctive wail has become a sign of late summer. Entomophobes would not be too happy especially when it comes to the size of cockroaches in Japan.
Yep, that is indeed the sound of a cicada at full volume. I actually have quite a few stories about my meetings with the bugs. And perhaps those who are about to have a meal may want to wait a few hours before reading the following.
One such encounter was back in 1972 when as a (not-so-little) lad, I went to stay at my grandfather's farm in deep Wakayama Prefecture (an area where all sorts of huge bugs the size of a Toyota reside) for a few weeks. One night for several minutes, my butt was starting to feel really sore and pinchy for some reason. It turned out that some rogue scarab beetle had invaded my underwear when I wasn't looking. The fact that it actually survived the voyage was a minor miracle.
Of course, the Japanese cockroach is the big bugbear. It can get pretty big and shiny. One time in my Ichikawa apartment, I had a small infestation of the insect so I bought myself a roach motel to put on my kitchen floor. Went to sleep one night and then the next morning, I realized that the accommodations were full vacancy! Yup, twenty of the living tanks (yes, I did count them) managed to check in but not check out, to paraphrase an old commercial. The scary thing was that the motel was actually crawling by itself...yep, it was a mobile home.
All that grisly preamble to introduce an earworm that invaded Japanese pop culture in the year 2007. "Oshiri Kajiri Mushi" (Bottom Biting Bug) was one of the tunes in the long-running "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた...Everyone's Songs）series on NHK that became a huge hit. I remember it being played on heavy rotation on TV as the cute little ass-gnawer did his little song and dance.
It was created and performed by a husband-and-wife duo under the name of Uruma Delvi（うるまでるび）. From what I've read on their J-Wiki article, songs on "Minna no Uta" typically get a 2-month run but "Oshiri Kajiri Mushi" ended up becoming the longest-running song on the show, going on for 5 months. For a nation that has often proclaimed its dread of its native cockroach, the song really had legs (6 of them, maybe).
In fact, after its release as an official single in July 2007, it crawled up the charts to No. 6 and became the 43rd-ranked single for 2007. On the Oricon Indies (!) chart, it even became the top-selling single for the entire year. by September that year, it had sold 220,000 copies. Although I couldn't remember it, the song apparently did get some representation on that year's Kohaku Utagassen with a comedic duo and a children's chorus performing it. The only similar songs that I could equate its success with are "Dango San Kyodai"（だんご３兄弟）and "Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun"（およげ！たいやきくん）.
And there has been an anime series featuring the bug and his buddies since 2012 on NHK. That's some lasting power there but I can't be too surprised since rumour has it that the cockroach can supposedly outlast all of us on the Earth.
Sunday night and another weekend is coming a close. JTM and I got together for another two hours of talk, and part of the conversation dealt on what our latest purchases in the world of Japanese music were.
Well, I think I already know which item will be on my GET list although this could be another one of those rare albums that could need a good amount of money to acquire. I encountered this one purely by accident on YouTube last night but on hearing that sublime groove thing happening, I needed to know who this fellow was.
Found out that "Do What You Do" was a track on an album titled "Noriki" recorded by Kyoto-born pianist Soichi Noriki（野力奏一）. Debuting in 1974 in the musical group Bellamy All-Stars（ベラミ・オールスターズ）led by his father, Noriki also participated as a session musician alongside fellow artists such as saxophonist Sadao Watanabe（渡辺貞夫）and jazz trumpeter Terumasa Hino（日野皓正）. He also helped out in albums by Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）,Yutaka Ozaki（尾崎豊）, etc.
That's pretty much all of the information I could get from his J-Wiki file although he does have his own website Noriki Studio. However, there's no disguising the fact that I'm really enjoying the tracks on his debut album from 1983, "Noriki", starting with "Do What You Do". I can definitely categorize it as City Pop but there's also that taste of American 80s funk in there. Plus, from the information on one other blog, I found out that the female vocals were provided by Yurie Kokubu（国分友里恵）, a singer that I've come to associate quite nicely with the genres mentioned.
Always love it when I discover someone new and cool.
