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.
I'm kinda surprised that this single by Lindberg has yet to be arranged as some sort of enlivening theme song for an anime such as was the case for "LITTLE WING", which became the ending theme for the not-so-well animated "Brave Witches".
The title says it all. "GAMBAranakucha ne" (Gotta Do Our Best), Lindberg's 19th single from March 1994 has got those inspirational lyrics by vocalist Maki Watase（渡瀬マキ）and rocking beat by drummer Makinori "Cherry" Koyanagi（小柳"cherry"昌法）to spearhead any motley crew to give it their all in some kind of adventure.
The melody does sound familiar to me but didn't quite stay in the mind like some of their other hits such as "Ima Sugu Kiss Me"（今すぐkiss me）or "Believe In Love". Still, this was another No. 1 hit for Lindberg and became the 88th-ranked single for 1994. The song was also present on the band's "LINDBERG VII" which came out in June of that year. It peaked at No. 3.
Try to imagine: three of the most distinct pop singers in Showa Era Japanese music together on a song.
Mind you, this was way early in their careers but back in the early 70s, Yumi Arai（荒井由実）, Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）and Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）were all there in the recording booth to sing "Juu-ni-gatsu no Ame" (December Rain). Yuming's 4th single from October 1974, I remember having this included on a mix tape by an old friend and it was this rather jaunty number although despite the title, I never thought that this was an Xmas song. I think the rain had something to do with it...Tokyo during my time there rarely got any snow in December, and perhaps rain wasn't all that plentiful either at that time.
Getting back to the fact that Yuming, Tats and Tabo were all together, the latter two were still involved with their band Sugar Babe（シュガー・ベイブ）so they were providing the backing chorus behind Ms. Arai as she sang about a woman one cold December morning still having some faint feelings for her former beau but accepting the fact he will always be her friend. It does sound like a quintessential Yuming tune.
No idea how it did on the Oricon singles chart, but it did get onto her 2nd album"MISSLIM" which came out on the same day as "Juu-ni-gatsu no Ame", and that was a Top 10 release by peaking at No. 8. I figure I ought to do an article on the album as a whole.
Well, it's wet and gloomy out there but the worst is yet to come. Ice Storm II is slated for either tonight or tomorrow.
Anyways, to let you in on my viewing habits to a small extent. Usually after dinner, it's the news at 6 for most of the hour after which I switch over to TV Japan at 6:55 before the NHK morning news comes on. For the past few years, the 6:50-7:00 pm slot has been filled with episodes of the kids' program "Nyanchu World Hosokyoku"（ニャンちゅうワールド放送局...Nyanchu's World Broadcast Station） and then "PythagoraSwitch"（ピタゴラスイッチ）for the last several months. Since a couple of weeks ago, we've now been getting a couple of songs via NHK's long-running "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた...Everyone's Songs）series. To be frank, I'm always a bit "worried" about watching "Minna no Uta" since there have always been at least a few songs that tug at the heartstrings, and I'm not exactly one who likes to show too much in the way of emotions.
(cover by Cassandra)
Last night, one of those songs popped up. It's titled "Yume no Tochuu de" (In The Middle of a Dream) by singer-songwriter Ayako Ikeda（池田綾子）, and it was played originally between August and September 2017 before getting another run between last December into this January.
Gah...the feels! I'm playing it again right now as I write this and my throat is already starting to lump up. The video of that penguin going through life in a human city and dreaming of home doesn't help. As I was watching it for the first time, I thought that the penguin was heading for that iceberg in the sky, but he was just dreaming. If it had been that first assumption, I probably would have been rather devastated. But man, does this song work! The arrangement, the video, Ikeda's vocals, everything.
Ikeda was born in Tokyo and attended the Musashino Academia Musicae where she specialized in German lied. As a recording artist, she made her debut in 2002 with "Yasashii Uta"（ヤサシイウタ...A Gentle Song）and has thus far released 10 singles and 6 albums according to her website.
Looks like this will be my second sophomore article for another City Pop musician tonight. The inaugural article was just a little over a year ago for the Katsumi Horii Project's（堀井勝美PROJECT）"Skyscraper" from 1993, a musical tribute to the hustle and bustle of downtown in the city.
A few nights ago, I found an earlier number created by Horii from his June 1988 3rd album"Ocean Drive" called "Through The Sky" that's also quite a treat to hear. It starts out dreamily enough but then jumps like an enthusiastic diver flying from a cliff into the sea into a guitar riff and smacking drumbeats reminiscent of Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）which ought to garner some appreciation from his fans.
But then comes this elegant piano-and-harmonica combo which takes things from the ocean and back to the outdoor hotel lounge for some refreshing drinks. However, the electric guitar isn't cowed by this and is more than happy to come back along with the piano and harmonica. As you can imagine, compared to the later "Skyscraper", this is more of a Resort Pop tune. I've always had a soft spot for a well-placed harmonica ever since I first heard the late Toots Thielemans.
Happy Friday! Back in late 2013, Toronto was pounded with a huge ice storm which took out power to several areas in the city including my neighbourhood for a couple of days before Xmas. Well, it looks like its little brother will be wreaking havoc for this weekend, so there is a good chance that the electricity will be going down once again. If so, I may not be doing too much blogging for the next couple of days. Just wanted to warn you.
Yes, this is happening in mid-April. Anyways, simply to take things away from that meteorologically unpleasant topic, let's go for something more summery, shall we? For example, how about some So Nice with "Love Sick". I mentioned about this band back in 2015 as a unit that sounded so much like the New Music group Sugar Babe with Tatsuro Yamashita and Taeko Ohnuki（山下達郎・大貫妙子）that I almost pegged them as Sugar Babe themselves.
This is another track from their debut album in 1979, "Love", called "Love Sick", this time vocalized by Misako Matsushima（松島美砂子）rather than Katsuyuki Kamakura（鎌倉克行）. To be honest, aside from the different vocalist, "Love Sick" doesn't sound all that much different from "Kousoku Douro"（光速道路）which I featured for the first article but listening to each of them apart from each other, it's nice to hear some of those mellow sounds of 70s City Pop. Not sure how rare "Love" is but if other tracks show some more variety, I could be tempted to part with my yen.
I didn't set out to write about an entire Charan-Po-Rantan（チャラン・ポ・ランタン）album, especially when I have yet to buy anything by sisters Momo and Koharu Matsunaga（松永もも・松永小春）. Through one commenter's tip a few years back, I first listened to them and found their brand of accordion pop and jazz refreshing in an era of aidoru-dominated pop on the Oricon charts.
It's just that I discovered this cover of "Koi to Machine Gun"（恋とマシンガン）originally by Shibuya-kei duo Flipper's Guitar and found it perfect for Charan-Po-Rantan, only to find out that the video is an abbreviated version. Kinda too bad since it looks like the Matsunaga sisters were having some fun going through the trendier areas of Tokyo.
"Koi to Machine Gun" is a track from their special September 2016 album"Karimono Kyousou"(Concerto of Borrowed Things), a release of covers of English and Japanese songs. Since the video for "Koi to Machine Gun" was so short, I felt that I needed to compensate with at least one more of their singles. However, I realized that it was part of this album and then saw that there were other tracks up on YouTube, so I decided that I would feature some of those entries.
For example, "Shangri-La" originally by techno group Denki Groove（電気グルーヴ）. Not a bad cover all things considered but I think "Koi to Machine Gun" is still in the lead. The video for "Shangri-La" is even shorter. However, we get to see the Shibuya for old folks, Sugamo.
(Sorry but the video has been taken down.)
Then, there is the sisters' cover of "Saudade"（サウダージ）by Pornograffiti which is here in its full glory and which I think fits the bill better in terms of transition. It's too bad, though, that none of their covers of English-language tunes are up since personally I would love to hear their version of The Buggles'"Video Killed The Radio Star".
Ahhh...Anzen Chitai's（安全地帯）1986 "V" album...the opportunity to hear the band spread out in various ways musically. Let's see, going away from their early moody sound, Koji Tamaki（玉置浩二） and company tried themselves out with jazz, blues and AOR/fusion and perhaps a couple of other genres to great success.
Then, with "Parade ga Yatte Kuru" (A Parade is Coming), Anzen Chitai embraced some child-like fun. Lyricist Goro Matsui（松井五郎）and composer Tamaki created this one (as they did for almost every track on the epic album) to sound as if a parade truly was coming down the main street. If you ever wondered how Tamaki would look like as the Pied Piper of Hamelin, well, this is the song for you. He could pretty much march his delirious fans outside the arena with "Parade ga Yatte Kuru". And I think the song could have become a nice addition to the long list of tunes featured on NHK's children's music vignette "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）.
Well, whaddaya know? He is marching on the stage here with the concert rendition. It's got a bit more oomph and less whimsy with those horns but it's still the amazing Tamaki and his voice. Within the large number of tracks on "V", "Parade ga Yatte Kuru" really does stand out as a happy purely pop song.
