Harumi Inoue's works

Source: http://m.iphotoscrap.com/Image/998/1222483134.jpg

It’s been a while since I last discovered one of these gravure aidoru turned singers from the early 90s. It’s no mystery that this has always been one of my favorite Japanese music niches, mostly because of how bad and really “in your face” it actually is. In fact, most of these artists were not even mainstream at all, being relegated to some shady variety TV shows that only wanted to show the girls in bikinis, but whatever. Really, it reminds me of how TV was decadent in Brazil during the 90s, but no complaining here.

Apparently, Harumi Inoue (井上晴美) was one member of a Onyanko Club-styled (おニャン子クラブ) larger group called Sakurakko Club Sakuragumi (桜っ子クラブさくら組). I’ve read this name a few times, but never listened to the group’s music, which is fine for me, since I’m not in a hurry to meet all B-rated aidoru groups from Japan’s past decades. And as I’m talking about B-rated aidoru, just to contextualize, I discovered Inoue’s songs after searching for some Aya Sugimoto’s (杉本彩) live performances on YouTube. So, nobody's more suited than the raunchy Sugimoto to pave my way for the awkwardly sexy Inoue.

Harumi Inoue only released two singles, in May and October 1991, respectively. The first was “Furimukanaide” (ふりむかないで), one very well known The Peanuts’ (ザ・ピーナッツ) song from the 60s, with a cover of Hibari Misora’s (美空ひばり) “Makkana Taiyou” (真赤な太陽) serving as the coupling song. As for the second single, it’s “Eve no Yuuwaku” (イヴの誘惑), a dance version of Beethoven’s “Für Elise”, which counted with a cover of Akiko Nakamura’s (中村晃子) “Nijiiro no Mizuumi” (虹色の湖) as the coupling song. In fact, with the obvious exception of Beethoven’s “Für Elise”, all of Inoue’s songs were covers from 60s hit singles.

Honestly, I don’t really care for “Furimukanaide” at all, and Inoue’s version does nothing to make the song stand out from the other million versions out there. Yes, this song is always pleasant, but it was probably meant to be a cute and safe debut song before launching Inoue’s brief music career into something sexier and cring… sorry, more interesting.

And with the b-side “Makkana Taiyou” things start to pick up, since Misora’s 60s hit is turned into a sexy funky house song with some slicky synths. Also, the clip is a must, since the seductive Inoue does everything to turn our attention away from the very low budget video. It’s almost as if we were watching one of those infamous image video, but with actual music (and not just some easy listening melodies) serving just as background noise. Well, it’s clear how Inoue’s looks were the true intended product here, but I like the cheesy music as well. I can groove in my chair and tap my feet to it.

Things are not very different in “Eve no Yuuwaku”... but maybe a little worse and less polished (which counts as better and more interesting to me, of course). If it wasn’t obvious enough how bad of a singer Inoue was (and dancer too, it that counts), this bizarre dance version of Beethoven’s “Für Elise” is here to scrub this fact in our faces. It continues in the sexy route and Beethoven would probably be a little bit upset – to say the least – at how one of his famous works turned into a piece of regurgitated pop in our times… or maybe he would be positively hypnotised by Inoue’s captivating persona (really?) and the strangeness of the whole thing. Who knows, right? 

To finish Inoue’s adventure in the music industry as a solo act, we still have the delicious “Nijiiro no Mizuumi” with its urgent synth-y arrangement that maybe could pass as a Tetsuya Komuro (小室哲哉) production for Alisa Mizuki (観月ありさ) or Yuki Uchida (内田有紀), or even a Minako Tanaka (田中美奈子) song from her early studio albums. I also like how Inoue is dressed in this video, just like the almighty Reiko Kato (かとうれいこ) did for her video promotions one year earlier. The fashion style of those gravure aidoru turned singers was really something at the time. And the male dancers around Inoue??? Well, I really love how bad they are. Not that I'm a better dancer, but I don't show up on some random aidoru videos. Shame on them, but it's really funny to see.

I can’t tell if I will still be fascinated by Harumi Inoue’s music in the near future, but I'm still having fun with her cute crooked smile and cheap early 90s dance-pop tunes. Long live the obscure late 80s/early 90s aidoru!

"Furimukanaide" (left) and "Eve no Yuuwaku" (right)

Source: http://lovephoenix.typepad.jp/photos/cd_single/photo_5.html

Masamichi Sugi -- Mirai Seiki no Koibito e（未来世紀の恋人へ）

Forgot to mention this but it's currently the Golden Week holidays in Japan so would like to wish all of my friends over there a happy holiday season. Also, as I write this, it is now May 1st in my former country of residence so the final year of the Heisei Era has officially begun. It may be several months yet before the government announces the name of the new reign period, though.

https://www.amazon.co.jp/MADE-HEAVEN-紙ジャケット仕様-杉真理/dp/B00122DV10

(excerpt only)

I was enjoying listening to the "Twilight" disc of the Light Mellow series of J-AOR/City Pop music last week. And since I don't listen to the CDs all that often, it's always nice to be able to get that repeat of the first bloom of interesting music. So indeed I got that wonderful revelation again, this time through Masamichi Sugi's（杉真理）"Mirai Seiki no Koibito e" (To Lovers of a Future Century).

Originally a track on his 12th album "Made In Heaven" from June 1991, one would think that with a title like "Mirai Seiki no Koibito e", the song would be all spacy and synthesizers galore. In fact, it is a very warm and inviting number with all of the atmosphere of a vacation in the Caribbean (and guess where all of us were last May?) and plenty of cocktails with those paper umbrellas in them. Masahiro Ando（安藤まさひろ）of the fusion band T-Square contributed his lovely guitar to Sugi's words and music.

Nikala once mentioned it in the very first article on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for Sugi but although the singer-songwriter never quite reached superstar status, he provided lots of mellow songs for other songbirds. In fact, his file on the blog shows more of his clients' names than his own which is partially why I decided to put him up front and centre tonight. Of course, the other reason is that "Mirai Seiki no Koibito e" is such a nice song to hear on a Monday.

Kahoru Kohiruimaki -- Like A Factory

Looks like I won't really ever need to do an article on Kahoru Kohiruimaki's（小比類巻かほる）7th album "Distance" from October 1990 since I've covered almost half the album already through "Moving Action", "Twilight Avenue" and "Crazy Lover". Today, I get to do the oddly-titled "Like A Factory".

I gotta say that Kohhy has hardly aged since her debut in the mid-1980s which would put her in the same enviable category as Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）. Sometimes I wonder if there is an ominous picture of Dorian Gray hidden in her home somewhere.

Anyways back to the song. "Like A Factory" was also her 15th single from November 1990 as well as a track on my favourite Kohhy album. When I first saw the title, I kinda thought that this song must have been about the most joyous manufacturing depot on the planet, but of course it was actually about the singer's metaphor for bringing all these different parts in life together to create the wondrous whole that is love. In any case, it's a fusion tune with some gospel overtones and a nice kick of horns to bring some happiness into people's lives.

"Like A Factory" was written by Kohiruimaki and composed by her and the late Yoshiaki Ohuchi（大内義昭）.

Yuko Asano -- Koi wa Dan Dan（恋はダン・ダン）

Somewhat belated news but I heard about actress Yuko Asano（浅野ゆう子）getting married late last year with the announcement coming out in early January of this year 2018. So many congratulations to her and the lucky fellow who is just a civilian not involved in the entertainment industry.

Well, I can't just let this piece of happiness go by without paying some tribute to the happy couple. And sure enough, I found this cute little song about love titled "Koi wa Dan Dan" (Love is B-Bump) which was Asano's 2nd single when she had been an aidoru. She was all of 14 years old when she released this ditty of a girl trying to make the leap to some more mature love.

"Koi wa Dan Dan" came out in August 1974. It was written by Mieko Arima（有馬三恵子）and composed by Makoto Kawaguchi（川口真）, the same duo behind Asano's debut single "Tobidase Hatsukoi"（とびだせ初恋）which had come out in May of the same year.

Hideki Saijo -- Moonlight Dancing（ムーンライト・ダンシング）

Happy Sunday night folks! Earlier in the day, a friend and I managed to catch the Spielberg flick "Ready Player One" which was actually quite a sweet and Spielbergian sci-fi story. I heard that it did come out in Japan a week before the onslaught that is "Avengers: Infinity War", so I'm wondering if viewers there may have had reason to squee a bit on seeing an icon of anime appear (and no, I'm not referring to Sailor Moon) in the final battle.

Well, a couple of nights ago, I had some reason to squee on catching the above Hideki Saijo（西城秀樹）video. I don't think a lot of you would remember, but for a couple of articles, I mentioned that I once had an ancient Canadian Tire Mastercraft tape on which I had dubbed a "Sounds of Japan" episode which I subsequently erased by stupid accident. Those two articles were on songs that had been on that tape, Kenji Sawada's（沢田研二）"I am I" and Ai & Aki's（あい&AKI）"Roppongi Atari"（六本木あたり）.

Now I have found the final song that I can remember that was on that erased tape, and that would be Saijo's "Moonlight Dancing". I remember the lyric "Dancing in the moonlight, dancing in the moonlight...", and back on Friday, I merely threw in Saijo's name and the word "moonlight" into the YouTube search engine and voila. The song was indeed the one, much to my pleasure.

"Moonlight Dancing" was actually the B-side to Saijo's 33rd single "Ore-tachi no Jidai"（俺たちの時代...Our Times） from June 1980, and it is almost 4 minutes of Saijo dancing away to what sounds like a mix of Barry Manilow disco (with some synth steel drums) and perhaps some New Wave thrown in. Talk about a transitional tune here! Love the guitar solo as well.

Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）provided the lyrics while Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）came up with the rumbling music. "Ore-tachi no Jidai" peaked at No. 6 on Oricon and became the 99th-ranked song for 1980. Both sides of the single ended up on Saijo's 13th album "BIG SUNSHINE/Saijo Hideki" from August of that year.

I can finally close the door to one mystery that had lasted over 30 years.

Circus -- Ai de Koroshitai（愛で殺したい）

When it comes to the vocal group Circus（サーカス）, I will always remember the quartet for "Mr. Summertime", the cover of the 1972 Michel Fugain song "Une Belle Histoire".

Well, I found out that their 3rd single following "Mr. Summertime", "Ai de Koroshitai" (Kill With Love), was another Michel Fugain cover, this time of "Chante la vie chante" from 1976, I believe. Released in July 1978, just a few months following "Mr. Summertime", "Ai de Koroshitai" has got a bit more of the Latin spice infused in there, trying to get folks onto the disco floor.

I will be honest...I'm not sure whether Circus' choreography during their onstage performances would have gotten viewers off their duffs here. Well, the song is still pleasant as an exotic kayo and perhaps even as a City Pop tune.

"Ai de Koroshitai" didn't rank as highly as "Mr. Summertime" but it still placed in at a respectable No. 28 on Oricon. Pierre Delanoe and Fugain were responsible for the creation of the original song but it was Rei Nakanishi（なかにし礼）who came up with the Japanese lyrics.  The song was also a part of Circus' 1st album, "Circus 1"（サーカス1）, also from July 1978.

This is the original "Chante la vie chante" by Fugain. It's a bit more laid-back.

Yuki Koyanagi -- be alive

A bit sheepish to admit, but I haven't heard this CD in a long time. And yet, Yuki Koyanagi's（小柳ゆき）5th single, "be alive", from July 2000 is her most successful song according to the Oricon charts.

Perhaps it's just my impression but her star never quite reached the heights of other similar singers at the time such as Misia and Hikaru Utada（宇多田ヒカル）for some reason. That is a pity since she does have a glorious voice. Looking at her discography, Koyanagi has released 27 singles up to 2015 and 7 original albums up to 2007, and though she hit the Top 10 on the Oricon weeklies 5 times early in her career, she subsequently ended up more in the 20s and 30s.

But still, as I've pointed out above, that doesn't negate her talent and she is not alone when it comes to underrated singers...I'm thinking bird and Monday Michiru, for example. "be alive" was well-deserving of its No. 1 status, Koyanagi's only top-ranking single up to now. It's an R&B power ballad that I enjoy even more than her debut hit single "Anata no Kiss wo Kazoemashou ~ You Were Mine"（あなたのキスを数えましょう）.

I guess it's because it reminds me of some of the power ballads that I knew from the past in the 1980s and 1990s through Whitney Houston, Celine Dion and Mariah Carey. I still have a soft spot in my heart for the R&B of those days. Perhaps it doesn't push any envelopes melodically speaking, but it's still a solid song for me and it was the first single that I got by Koyanagi.

Along with hitting No. 1, "be alive" also managed to become the 47th-ranked single for 2000. Yu Higuchi（樋口侑）and Koyanagi wrote the lyrics while Kazuhiro Hara（原一博）came up with the music. The song also showed up on an album for the first time via the singer's 2nd release "EXPANSION" in August 2000 which was also a No. 1 hit, eventually becoming the 12th-ranked album of the year, becoming a million-seller.