Taeko Ohnuki -- Ai ni Sukuwaretai（愛にすくわれたい）

In the past number of months, I had been getting the feeling that my talk on the blog about Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）early material (1976-1984) was completed since I've gone over almost every one of her earliest albums twice and put a spotlight on many of her individual tracks and singles. But in the last few days, I was finding a few more nuggets here and there by the singer-songwriter.

Finding this particular Ohnuki entry has had me thinking about which to get, the original album before it gets sold out...perhaps permanently...or hope and wait for that remastered re-issue with extra tracks. I did snatch up her 4th album "Romantique" (1980) in its original CD state when I was back in Japan, but I've then heard that it was given a later re-release with an extra bonus song. This is "Ai ni Sukuwaretai" (Wanna Be Saved By Love) which was actually the B-side to her 7th single "Futari"（ふたり）from January 1981.

Now, I guess this is the point where I have to politely disagree with Ohnuki. I have enjoyed "Ai ni Sukuwaretai", a breezy Latin-flavoured uptempo tune in the same vein of a Junko Yagami（八神純子）number from around the same time. However from what I read in Ohnuki's description of the song through a couple of interviews (via the J-Wiki article for "Romantique") in both the October 1983 issue of "Music Steady"（ミュージック・ステディ）and in the liner notes for the re-release of "Romantique", it almost sounds as if she was willing to disown it. Well, perhaps, "disown" is a fairly harsh assessment of what she said but I could almost hear her shrug her shoulders when she gave her opinion, of which part could be translated as "I laugh sardonically at the fact that I had actually also crafted this kind of song". She also remarked that it really didn't sound like her.

Well, to be honest, my English translation of the title does sound cornier than an Iowa field in October, and her vocals sound a little different when compared to her other songs although it is definitely Ohnuki. Perhaps she was getting some of those post-traumatic vibes of "Mignonne" with "Ai ni Sukuwaretai" in which case the song could have been better placed on a remastered version of that album. However, considering that Ohnuki had been trying all sorts of genres at the time including Latin, technopop, European, etc., I don't think she should give this song any short shrift. It's a perfectly fine tune although it may not rate as one of her very best, and it's hard to imagine any of her individual songs as less than interesting. This one is no different since although I have classified it in the City Pop/AOR/Pop genres, ultimately it is most solidly pop in my estimation with some peeks into the first two genres.

In the end, maybe Ohnuki sees the song "Ai ni Sukuwaretai" in the same vein as she she views the album "Mignonne", a relative failure. And yet, in recent months, a few of the tracks from that 1978 release have become very popular on YouTube. I've certainly treated "Mignonne" as a redeemed favourite.

Keisuke Kuwata & Mr. Children -- Kiseki no Chikyuu（奇跡の地球）

Happy Sunday to you all! A little drier out there and some nice and comfy temperatures. Nope, still haven't caught "Avengers: Infinity War" but that should be rectified by around the middle of next week. Try as I might, I haven't been able to avoid some of the plot material leaking out, notably the death count.

Anyways, speaking of heroes...with all of us being fans of Japanese pop music to varying extents, imagine being back in the 1990s and hearing a couple of singing superstars collaborating on a single together. One has already become a legend of sorts while the other fronts a band that is eating up the rankings like candy.

Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）of Southern All Stars（サザンオールスターズ）and the band Mr. Children did just that when they joined up to do their part for the Act Against AIDS movement and released a charity single "Kiseki no Chikyuu" (Earth of Miracles) back in January 1995.

I remember "Kiseki no Chikyuu" always showing up on the Oricon rankings and the countdown shows, but for whatever reason, it wasn't quite enough for me to buy the single which only had a limited selling time between January and June of that year.

I have to admit, though, now that I have heard the full recorded version, that the funky arrangement with the horns makes "Kiseki no Chikyuu" hum pretty well. Almost think that Kuwata and Kazutoshi Sakurai（桜井和寿）of Mr. Children could have played cool and hardened police detectives out on a case in a conceptual music video. While Kuwata wrote and composed the song, Takeshi Kobayashi（小林武史）and Mr. Children handled the arrangements.

My initial indifference aside, the song blasted up to the top spot of Oricon and ended up as the 7th-ranked single for 1995, selling 1.7 million copies (Kuwata's top-selling single as a solo artist). I don't think that I've ever encountered a single that actually went Quadruple Platinum before, and in terms of the top singles in Oricon history, "Kiseki no Chikyuu" is ranked at No. 48.

I can imagine that the original single must be a pretty expensive and rare item at the auction sites, if it even exists there. However, the song is on Kuwata's 2nd BEST compilation "Top of the Pops" that was released back in November 2002. It also hit No. 1 for 2 weeks in a row and became the 4th-ranked album for 2003, breaking the 2-million barrier.

Naoko Kawai -- 9 1/2 (Follow-Up)

Gotta say that Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）went to some beautiful and spectacular vistas in the United States when she was making her album "9 1/2" in 1985. Speaking of which, I've decided to cover a couple of more tracks from this release in which she embraces some of her inner 80s American AOR and pop. I decided to put on the original LP that I had bought at the old Sun Wa store in Chinatown on the old stereo earlier this afternoon.

The two tracks are more on the general pop side of things rather than the mellower AOR that I wrote about in the original article back in 2012. Case in point: "There's Not Many Left" was created by Stephen Kipner and Paul Bliss with Masao Urino（売野雅勇）providing the Japanese lyrics (as he did on most of the tracks) to Kawai. The arrangement had me definitely remembering the days of mullets and full denim outfits. Plus, some of the music reminded me of "Eyes of a Stranger" by the Canadian New Wave band The Payolas.

On the other hand, the final track on "9 1/2", "Only In My Dreams" takes things to the area of Japanese pop/rock band Rebecca, in my estimation. Eric McClure and Meredith Stewart were behind this somewhat smoky and mysterious song.

Generally speaking, I go more for the AOR tracks than I do for the relatively "harder-edged" material. However, there's no denying that Kawai is definitely not doing her aidoru thing here for this album.

Junko Ohashi -- Moetsukite（燃えつきて）

I listened to Junko Ohashi's（大橋純子）"Hot Life" album with her band Minowa Central Station（美乃家セントラル・ステイション）from April 1980 last night, and though I can't really say it's a classic (mind you, I've always admired the cover), there are a few tracks that I like, one being "Canadian Lullaby"（カナディアン・ララバイ）, her 14th single.

There were two bonus tracks added onto the original album and they were the songs that made up her 16th single from October 1980. "Moetsukite" (Light My Fire) was the A-side from that 45" record and it is one of the other entries on the album that I enjoy. The B-side, incidentally, was "Drop"（ドロップ）.

As much as some of us have come to know Ohashi for her disco side of City Pop such as "Telephone Number" (i.e. the AWOOOO song), "Moetsukite" goes more for the sultry and exclusive bar atmosphere of the genre. There's more of a low-but-constant heat for this song about being passionately in love...perhaps another one of those illicit affairs that further ramps up the temperature. Once more, Ohashi's vocals make all of the difference here.

Proven veterans took care of "Moetsukite". Yu Aku（阿久悠）was behind the lyrics, Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）took care of the music and Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）arranged everything. According to the J-Wiki article for Ohashi herself, the song was the image song for the movie "Shogun"（将軍）. I'm kinda wondering if that was indeed the NBC multi-night adaptation of the James Clavell novel starring Richard Chamberlain.

Takayuki Inoue/George Yanagi & Rainy Wood/Dave Hirao -- Hitori ~ I Stand Alone（一人）

Was logging into Mixi this morning when I read the headline that singer, guitarist and songwriter Takayuki Inoue（井上堯之）had passed away a few days ago on May 2nd at the age of 77. He was a member of the famous Group Sounds band The Spiders（ザ・スパイダース）and the New Rock band PYG before striking out on his own and creating his own group Takayuki Inoue Band（井上堯之バンド）. 

For the general public, he will probably be known best as the person behind the creation of one of the most famous police drama show themes on Japanese TV, if not one of the most famous Japanese TV themes, period, the title song for "Taiyo ni Hoero!"（太陽にほえろ！）from the early 1970s.

My tribute for him will be through the first track of his debut solo album "Water Mind" from 1976, "Hitori ~ I Stand Alone" (One Person). It's a lilting rock ballad composed by Inoue and written by Osami Kishibe（岸部修三）who would later be known as the veteran character actor Ittoku Kishibe（岸部一徳）. "I Stand Alone" sounds like the perfect 1970s theme tune for all of those lone wolves out there as Inoue sings about being left all to himself while he continues to sing his song. My image of the tune has him and his guitar in the loneliest but most beautiful environment, perhaps by the sea as the sun is going down, while singing to no one in particular.

I also have to give props to the creator of the video above. It was actually uploaded in January 2017 by Ryoichi Matsuura but it looks like it was created in notice of Inoue's passing, and the final images of the smiling young Inoue fading into the content appearance of the much older singer make it the perfect goodbye.

(7:01)

In 1978, George Yanagi & Rainy Wood（柳ジョージ＆レイニーウッド）performed a less intimate cover of "I Stand Alone" for their debut album "Time In Changes". The song still has plenty of that bluesy flavour.

However, there was an even earlier recording of the song by Yokohama musician-actor Dave Hirao（デイヴ平尾）as the B-side for his 1972 single "Boku-tachi no Yoake"（僕達の夜明け...Our Dawn）.

NOVO/Toi et Moi -- Ai wo Sodateru（愛を育てる）

Rather inspired by my discovery of Tomoko Fujita（藤田朋子）as a singer today and then coming across Yutaka Yokokura（横倉裕）as the producer for her debut album "The Woman In Me", I was interested in finding out more about Yokokura who also goes by the full-cap name of YUTAKA. According to his Wikipedia and J-Wiki entries, the Tokyo-born singer is also well versed as an instrumentalist being proficient on piano, other keyboards and the koto.

The above video has a track from a 2013 album, "Love Is There ~ NOVO Complete Works" paying tribute to the band NOVO of which YUTAKA was a member in the 1970s. The song "Ai wo Sodateru" (Nurturing Love) with its English title of "Love Is There" on this particular release is a lovely bossa version with Aoi Fujikawa（藤川あおい）sharing the mike with Yokokura. There is something very 1980s David Foster and even Carpenters about the arrangement here. Wouldn't mind sipping a cup of coffee by the sunset as I listen to this.

http://www.nicovideo.jp/watch/nm14343601

NOVO's original version of "Ai wo Sodateru" was released as the band's first single in 1973. Although I prefer the new and improved version from "Love Is There ~ NOVO Complete Works", original "Ai wo Sodateru" is also quite sunny with that feeling of the 60s and 70s.

But the source doesn't lie with NOVO, at least not completely. The very first version of the song was as a lush commercial jingle for the Asahi Kasei Corporation which focuses on chemicals and materials science according to its Wikipedia entry. The band behind "Ai wo Sodateru" here was the folk group Toi et Moi（トワ・エ・モア）, and not seeing the song in their discography, I surmised that it was probably never released as an official single but as truly something just for the company. The commercial supposedly came out in 1971.

Kunihiko Murai（村井邦彦）was behind the music with Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）taking care of the lyrics which incorporated the Asahi Kasei name. I'm assuming that one of the members of NOVO, perhaps YUTAKA himself, made the appropriate changes to the words when making "Ai wo Sodateru" their own.

Tomoko Fujita -- The Woman In Me

Tomoko Fujita（藤田朋子）....never thought I would ever see her in the pages of this blog. Who is she, you ask? Well, she's an actress and variety show panelist who has also been quite commonly seen on commercials such as the one above. Probably her most famous role was on the long-running TBS prime-time soap opera "Wataru Seken wa Oni Bakari"（渡る世間は鬼ばかり...The World We Walk On Is Full Of Demons）.

It has taken a fair bit to shock me when it comes to discovering new songs on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". A few examples of being stunned (in a good way, of course) was when I found out about Makoto Matsushita's（松下誠）"One Hot Love" and the famous City Pop album of Takako Mamiya（間宮貴子）, "Love Trip".

Well, my jaw fell a couple of nights ago and bounced off the rug not once but twice when I found out that Fujita had actually owned a discography. The true shock, though, was not because she sang but she actually sang pretty well...and in English (she majored in the subject at Tamagawa University), too! In fact, on looking and listening to the video above, I had to make some checks that this was indeed the same Tomoko Fujita the actress and tarento although that photograph did indeed show a young and fetching version of her.

Sure enough, Fujita did wear another cap as songstress. Her first album was "The Woman In Me" released in October 1989. And the first song here is "Wait For Me". I've listened to it a few times already, and although the music by Dave Grusin and the lyrics (don't know who wrote them) are nowhere near revolutionary, they are very AOR-pleasant. Furthermore, Fujita's singing kinda threw me for a loop; listening to it, I immediately put her in the same stylistic club as pop singers such as Akiko Kobayashi（小林明子）and Reimy（麗美）. This was the same voice behind all those products such as plum wine!

"Summer Without You" is another nice bossa-tinged song. From reading the write-up on "The Woman In Me" on the Japanese-language music blog "Music Avenue", Yutaka Yokokura（横倉裕）was behind the creation of this song. Yokokura also took care of the overall production and arrangement for the album. His inspirations in his career are the aforementioned Grusin and Sergio Mendes, the latter's influence explaining the sound of the music for Fujita here.

https://www.bilibili.com/video/av21050444/

Bunny Hull wrote and composed the title track. Listening to this one, I think it is almost a throwback to the mid-80s style of love song. As I'm looking at the video of her on Fuji-TV's "Yoru no Hit Studio"（夜のヒット・スタジオ）, it's still hard for me to believe that she is actually singing this in excellent English. If I were still a NOVA teacher, I probably would have given her a level-up to 3 (the second-highest level).

The author for "Music Avenue", kaz-shin, even thanks Yokokura for producing "The Woman In Me", and he even mentions at the bottom of the article that he was able to buy an old copy of the album at a local BOOK-OFF for 250 yen! I wish I were that lucky and I will see if I can get my own copy of the album at Amazon.

Help her out...buy some aojiru!