Pedro & Capricious -- My Lover's Eyes

Back in the late 1980s when I was still struggling through university, I became friends with a Japanese fellow who also had some affinity for the old pop music in his home country. He was quite impressed and surprised on finding out that I was also a fan of kayo kyoku. In one of our conversations, I mentioned that I enjoyed the song stylings of Mariko Takahashi（高橋真梨子）and even stated one of her most famous ballads "Go-ban Gai no Mari e"（五番街のマリーへ）. He then stated her old band which I needed a few requests for him to repeat since I couldn't quite understand it.

Pedro & Capricious（ペドロ&カプリシャス）, with all due respect to the band itself, doesn't exactly smoothly roll off the tongue and into the ears when said for the first time. I know now that the first part of the name is based on the founder Pedro Umemura（ペドロ梅村）. As for the "Capricious" part, I still have no idea.

Anyways when it comes to Pedro & Capricious, although I even mentioned in my first article for the band (which was the aforementioned "Go-ban Gai no Mari e") that it dabbled in folk, Latin, jazz and adult contemporary, I had always mentally slathered the group as a folk outfit based on songs such as "Go-ban Gai no Mari e". Well, that image was shattered last night...happily, I might add... when I discovered this treat on YouTube.

I never would have identified this as a Pedro & Capricious number without seeing the band and the song identified under the video. Indeed, this is "My Lover's Eyes" by P&C through their 1980 album "Oasis"（オアシス）, and it's about as far from their folkie days that I could hear. Just brimming with AOR goodness and given that slight technopop sheen thanks to Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, "My Lover's Eyes" is a wonderful feast for my ears that deserves its own sun hat and a glass of Perrier with a pink sweater wrapped around my waist. And last but certainly not least, there are those sexy and mellow vocals by Naoko Matsudaira（松平直子）who was the third vocalist for the band after the departure of Mariko Takahashi into her own very successful solo career. I'm not sure if Matsudaira had ever gone solo herself but that voice would have been perfect for R&B from those days.

Would love to hear more of "Oasis" if "My Lover's Eyes" is of any indication (love the cover, by the way). There's not a lot of information on the album and in fact I had to look at a brief blurb on the search results on Yahoo to find out that Sakamoto had anything to do with the song and that was synthesizer arrangement. So I don't know whether he actually composed the song and for that matter, who took care of the lyrics. And "Oasis" seems to be one of those albums that has yet to get the remastering treatment so maybe it's only the LPs out there, perhaps available for auction.

April 4 2018: Actually I know some more information now thanks to Daemonskald. Ken Sato（佐藤健）took care of the music while Simon Browne provided the lyrics.

Iruka -- Bara no Ojousan（バラのお嬢さん）

Been a good long while since I wrote about folk singer Iruka（イルカ）so here she is tonight.

And this one is a high-flying tune that I had never heard of before by the singer-songwriter. I've known Iruka for her contemplative folk ballads such as "Ame no Monogatari"（雨の物語）and mid-tempo City Pop numbers including "Yoake no Goodbye"（夜明けのグッドバイ）, but "Bara no Ojousan" (The Young Rose Lady) is a new animal for me.

Coming from her 3rd and most successful album of her career, "Shokubutsushi"（植物誌...Flora）, from April 1977, "Bara no Ojousan" is quite uptempo, and I think it fits generally more into the New Music genre than folk...or perhaps it's a fusion of the two. In any case, that rollicking piano sets the pace from the beginning and Iruka's voice takes on a higher timbre although it is unmistakably hers.

Written by Iruka and composed by folk singer Takashi Nishioka（西岡たかし）, the song is performed from the point of view of a young man who has seen a young lady whom he has known since childhood grow up to become a beautiful lass. Along with her, his feelings for her have grown as well although it seems as if he has yet to confess his love to her. The love story lyrics aside, "Bara no Ojousan" would also have made for a fun road song on the radio back in those days...perhaps in a Volkswagen van.

As for "Shokubutsushi", it scored a No. 1 ranking on the Oricon weeklies with all of the tracks being recorded in Los Angeles over a two-week period in February 1977. The album also has that classic "Ame no Monogatari". I'm starting to wonder whether it's also time to invest in a few Iruka original albums since I only have that one BEST compilation.

Aya Matsuura -- Momoiro Kataomoi（♡桃色片想い♡）

The warmer weather may be a bit slow in coming to my neck of the woods but that doesn't mean I can't bring in some sunniness to "Kayo Kyoku Plus".

For today, there is no one better than Ayaya, aka Aya Matsuura（松浦亜弥）, and no song better than her "Momoiro Kataomoi" (Peach-Coloured Unrequited Love). This was her 5th single from February 2002, and the one thing I remember about it is that day-glo video set in a peach cannery that looks like it was built in the same town where H.R. Pufnstuf (Google it!) lived.

Being a member of Hello Project at the time, Tsunku（つんく♂）was of course the one behind words and music for "Momoiro Kataomoi", about as bouncy as an aidoru tune that I've ever heard. The song's title might be hinting at something sad but I certainly can't tell from the music and the video. Not surprisingly, it has become one of Ayaya's trademark tunes with J-Wiki stating that it was her breakthrough song. It did get as high as No. 2 on the Oricon weeklies. It was also included in her second album "T・W・O" from January 2003 which peaked also at No. 2.

With that twangy arrangement, I think the song would also have been ideal for Chisato Moritaka（森高千里）.

Junichi Inagaki -- April

Obviously, it's April. Still not quite the spring temperatures we've been hoping for but at least it's sunny out there. Plus, the unusual start isn't just in a meteorological sense; apparently we can now have April Fool's fall on the same day as Easter Sunday. I only hope that there wasn't anything nasty in those chocolate Easter eggs for the kids.

Well, to commemorate the arrival of the fourth month, here is "April" by J-AOR crooner Junichi Inagaki（稲垣潤一）. Only that it's not really an AOR number. This was the flip side to Inagaki's 24th single "Ichi Das no Iiwake"（1ダースの言い訳）from December 1991, and the song by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and Yasuhiro Kido（木戸やすひろ）has that 60s doo-wop feeling compared to the Motown sound brought about by "Ichi Das". Both songs also existed as separate tracks on his 6th album from March 1986 "Realistic".

Although I mentioned that there was a bit of that doo-wop in there, the arrangement by Masaaki Omura（大村雅朗）includes some synth-y keyboards which rather brings "April" into the 1980s especially during the instrumental.

Mashinomi -- Stoic ni Detox（ストイックにデトックス）

Well, the Ryuo won his shogi match, Hakumei & Mikochi have come to appreciate their home, Kokonotsu and Hotaru are back together again, the adventures of ramen-loving Koizumi-san continue and Takagi-san & Nishikata-kun may have entered a new level in their relationship. Yes, Winter 2018 of anime has come to an end.

And that includes the pleasant "Takunomi."（たくのみ。...Drinking at Home）, the weekly 15-minute show paying tribute to all of those drinks we love to imbibe in Japan after a hard day of work. I mentioned this in the article for the opening theme "aventure bleu", but "Takunomi." is probably a show that my buddy will not purchase the Blu-Ray for since it's rather inconsequential for him, but I wouldn't mind catching it on Crunchyroll again.

Of course, the final episode paid tribute to Asahi Super Dry beer.

The ending theme for "Takunomi." is "Stoic ni Detox" (Stoically Detox) by technopop singer-songwriter Mashinomi（ましのみ）from Chiba Prefecture. This one took a while longer than "aventure bleu" to get into my system but the blippity-bloppity beats finally got to me by episode 12. The slightly whisper-voiced Mashinomi debuted in 2015 according to J-Wiki with her first album, "Happy End ga Miemasen"（ハッピーエンドが見えません...I Can't See A Happy End） coming out in September 2016. "Stoic ni Detox" is included in her latest album "Pet Bottle Literacy"（ぺっとぼとリテラシー）that was released in February this year.

Jin Kirigaya -- Weekend Game（ウィークエンド・ゲーム）

Singer-songwriter Jin Kirigaya（桐ヶ谷 仁）is starting to strike me as the equivalent of mellow singers such as Bobby Goldsboro and Michael Franks. From what I've heard, he is quite the tonic for some much-needed relaxation.

Case in point is his "Weekend Game", a track from his 4th album "Vermilion" from June 1984. That opening guitar sounds as if we're about to hear an indie pop tune but then enters that familiar AOR melody by Kirigaya. Suddenly, I hear that Evian being poured into the tall glass and blue sky fills everything overhead. It certainly isn't City Pop...it's not about being amid the bright lights and big buildings. In fact, Masako Arikawa's（有川正沙子）lyrics are about a fellow biding time lazily at a resort hotel outside of the metropolis while wondering (not too fitfully, I might add) whether his significant other will actually drop the pen and paper and stress at the salt mines, and make it out to the beach. Take your time, kid, while I have another margarita on the chaise lounge.

I've got Kirigaya's first couple of albums while he was at Alfa Studios. Pretty good stuff there and now I'm considering getting "Vermilion" as well, just judging from "Weekend Game". Hope your weekend has gotten off to a relaxing start as well.

Hi-Fi Set -- Too hot day

As I've said before, the Japanese summer is one of the very few things that I've never missed when it comes to Japan following my return to Canada. I can only imagine how the athletes, journalists and tourists might be feeling when they hit Tokyo in July 2020 when the Olympics finally start off. Luckily, there are plenty of vending machines around but then again, the problem is with that much added population for the Summer Games, the machines may quickly run out of drinks. Let us hope for a cool and refreshing solution.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCppDP4y1L-5TWttVOkBDm7A

First off, let me introduce to you another YouTube channel connected to the genres of City Pop and J-AOR. Van Paugam's City Pop radio is still chugging along those night highways but in the last several days, I've also discovered that New J Channel has its own non-stop stream of like-minded tunes. From there, there have popped up a lot of obscure but pretty good tracks that I have started to scour the rest of YouTube for.

One such number is "Too hot day" by Hi-Fi Set（ハイ・ファイ・セット）from their 16th album "Eyebrow" which was released in March 1988. I've also reiterated that although I've known the trio during their 1970s heyday for a lot of their songs including their covers of Yuming's（ユーミン）classics, I knew next to nothing about what Hi-Fi Set was up to in the next decade.

Well, perhaps for "Eyebrow", they were embracing their inner late 80s City Pop/sophisti-pop because "Too hot day" has that arrangement which was urban contemporary for that time. The familiar vocals are there, led by Junko Yamamoto（山本潤子）, but those synths and saxophone feel like a drive through Tokyo during the Bubble Era. In addition, I've noticed that Yamamoto's vocals are not quite subdued but they sound as if she had wanted to keep things very much to the lower register; interesting since I've been accustomed to her voice often soaring to the heights. Plus the rumbling bass in there reminds me of Minako Yoshida's（吉田美奈子）epic "Town".

Yamamoto provided the lyrics for "Too hot day" while Ryo Koizumi（小泉亮）took care of the lyrics.