NOVO/Akai Tori -- Mado ni Akari ga Tomoru Toki（窓に明りがともる時）

Ever since I first heard of NOVO back in spring this year via their wonderful cover of a Toi et Moi（トワ・エ・モア）commercial song, "Ai wo Sodateru"（愛を育てる）, I wondered about getting their 2013 album "Love Is There ~ NOVO Complete Works". And a couple of weeks ago, I finally pulled the trigger and purchased it from Tower Records. Just one thing...after the official e-mail from Tower that the order was being processed, those two weeks passed by without any word which is unusual. Then this morning, the folks there finally sent word that they were still trying to get a copy of it for which of course, the red alert sparked off in my head and disappointment has started to coalesce. From experience, that's usually not a great sign, although in one similar case, the CD was actually found and shipped.

Plus, there's the fact that Canada Post is going through rotating strike action right now so there is a load of mail and packages that's piling up everywhere at distribution points. The mail will get through but it will take several days and perhaps that will evolve into weeks. Not too great to hear as we approach the Holiday season.

But I will leave it at that and just hope that somehow I will be able to get the NOVO album. In any case, the final straw which happily broke the camel's back for me to decide on purchasing the CD was this song, "Mado ni Akari ga Tomoru Toki" (When The Light Comes On In The Window). This is another track from "Love Is There ~ NOVO Complete Works", and as with "Ai wo Sodateru", the original song was created by lyricist Michio Yamagami（山上路夫）and composer Kunihiko Murai（村井邦彦）for a 1970s folk group...this time it's Akai Tori（赤い鳥）.

As performed so lovingly by Yutaka Yokokura（横倉裕）and Diane Silverson (or Silberson), there is a feeling of 1960s Bacharach in Yokokura's arrangement as the two sing about putting that light in the window to welcome home a loved one...a nice thing to muse about especially when the days are getting shorter as they are now. But the song extends into the feeling of positivity for tomorrow and the hope that better days are ahead. At the end, though, "Mado" ends back in that cozy and warm house with the couple saying "Let's just enjoy the stew for dinner tonight".

As I said above, the original version was a folk/pop song by Akai Tori from their January 1973 album "Utsukushii Hoshi"（美しい星...A Beautiful Star）. I'm not sure but that may be the splendid Junko Yamamoto（山本潤子）as the main vocalist since she was part of the group; Yamamoto would later go off to form the vocal trio Hi-Fi Set（ハイ・ファイ・セット）. "Mado ni Akari ga Tomoru Toki" is slightly mellower here with some further assistance by some lovely honeyed horns.

According to J-Wiki, "Utsukushii Hoshi" has the dreaded haiban status, but now I'm interested in getting that BEST compilation by Akai Tori. The band is even more famous for first singing the high school chorus standard, "Tsubasa wo Kudasai"（翼をください）.

BLU-SWING -- Rain

Well, did get that major burst of precipitation today. It actually came down as snow north of us but over here in my neck of the woods, it was simply rainy and windy. Not exactly the greatest conditions to purchase a kitchen appliance but that's life for you.

This, on the other hand, is a much nicer "Rain". Provided by this sweet band, BLU-SWING, I definitely want to get one of their albums but those things are getting pretty rare...which is a good thing, I suppose where the band's popularity is concerned.

BLU-SWING's "Rain" comes from their 2012 album "1212", released ironically enough in December. I think that I was talking with one commenter on how the band's music is hard to categorize, but that adds to the appeal. Perhaps this might be one of the relatively few fusion ballads that I've heard via this blog, and I'm happy to say that it's a winner. Strangely, I get more of an image of sun rather than rain on listening to this. At this point, I will be satisfied enough simply to get any BLU-SWING album before Xmas.

Miharu Koshi -- Sarigenaku Ginger Ale/Pocket Ippai no Love Song（さりげなくジンジャエール・ポケットいっぱいのラブソング）

Got to hear both sides of this 1981 single by Miharu Koshi（越美晴）so I decided to put my thoughts down about it. Perhaps it can be seen by her fans as a turning point in the singer-songwriter's early part of her career.

Side A, "Sarigenaku Ginger Ale" (Casually Drinking My Ginger Ale) is a classic City Pop number. There are those certain keyboards, horns and guitar adorning Koshi's breathy vocals about a woman thinking that things aren't completely set as far as her romantic relationship is concerned. That's fine, Miharu...some of that Canada Dry will be great for settling your stomach; it worked for me. Lyricist Yu Aku（阿久悠）and composer Shunichi Tokura（都倉俊一）worked on what was probably her final single before she made that change from City Pop princess to technopop diva a few years later. And both Aku and Tokura had been responsible for a number of Pink Lady's（ピンク・レディー）hits in the 1970s.

Side B, "Pocket Ippai no Love Song" (Pocket Full of Love Songs) is an interesting one since it goes a bit technopoppy which makes me wonder whether this was one hint for Koshi that perhaps she could explore this genre a little deeper. Even her vocals here seem to be making that transition into something higher and lighter although I can still hear the deeper tones that characterized her first City Pop phase. Aku also provided the lyrics for "Pocket Ippai no Love Song" but Koshi was the one behind the melody this time.

Both sides also made it onto her 3rd album, "Make Up" from 1981. The following album "Tutu" from 1983 would see Koshi embrace that New Wave aesthetic.

Naoko Ken -- Roppongi Rain（六本木レイン）

Almost a year ago, I wrote about chanteuse/actress/tarento Naoko Ken's（研ナオコ）"Kishuu"（帰愁）, a City Pop cover of a Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）song that I enjoyed even more than the original by the Queen of New Music.

Well, just before that 37th single came "Roppongi Rain" in May 1985. Also written by a couple of veterans, Masao Urino and Takuro Yoshida（売野雅勇・吉田拓郎）, I would also consider Ken's 36th a contemporary City Pop tune but this time, it seems to be mixed in with some old-style kayo arrangement of the 1970s. In a way, I can also think of it as a Mood Kayo.

As would befit the title, the story that plays out here is a woman heartbreakingly finding out that her paramour has been pulling a romantic con game all this time in the entertainment district. Again, Ken does a fine job with it due to that resigned and slightly cracking voice, but I can also imagine folks such as Akina Nakamori（中森明菜）and Yosui Inoue（井上陽水）giving their own spins on "Roppongi Rain". Perhaps by this point, Ken was probably more popular for her comical appearances on television than for her singing career, but I think "Roppongi Rain" is a hidden gem.

Chika Ueda -- Hurricane（ハリケーン）

Well, I just wrote about her in my last article and it's been quite a while since I've put pen to paper (or I should really say finger to keyboard) about one of her own songs. So it's time to give some space to Chika Ueda（上田知華）the singer again.

Ueda did compose this opening song "Hurricane" for her first solo album without Karyobin, "Classiest" (August 1984) as she did all of the other tracks. I read on Amazon.jp that Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）was responsible for writing the lyrics for most of the songs on "Classiest" but I couldn't confirm whether "Hurricane" was an Akimoto project (November 30 2022: Actually, I found out that Ueda did both lyrics and melody with Nobuyuki Shimizu「清水信之」 handling the arrangement).

"Hurricane" is an interesting Ueda find since compared to her sweet music days with the string quintet Karyobin in the late 1970s and early 1980s and her torch song ballad "I Will" from 1991, it's a very uptempo contemporary pop tune. I was wondering whether Ueda was channeling some EPO or Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）from the same time period when she created the melody and arrangement for "Hurricane". It doesn't quite reach the same pace as a hurricane but it is pleasantly breezy and summery.

J-Canuck's Fashion Music（ファッション・ミュージック）

This is something that I've said almost on an annual basis but there are two signs in Japanese pop culture that the end of the year is indeed near: 1) the announcements of the participants in this year's Kohaku Utagassen (may be as early as next week) and 2) the announcements of the nominees for Top Catchphrases and New Words of the Year. The latter was announced earlier today and apparently, the nominees include No. 19 "Sho Time" for Los Angeles Angels phenom Shohei Otani, and No. 23 "TikTok" which I had to look up some minutes ago.

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Well, speaking of catchphrases, I want to throw an old and probably not very well-remembered one at you: Fashion Music. Back in the early days of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I wrote about a singer by the name of Asami Kado（門あさ美）and her song "Fascination". When I looked up the J-Wiki article for her, I found out that the catchphrase that was used by her people to describe her brand of musique was indeed Fashion Music (and not Fashion Pop that I may have erroneously used in other articles...🙏).

According to that article, Fashion Music may have become a brief sub-genre under the New Music banner in the late 1970s and early 1980s to describe an especially refined sort of popular kayo, perhaps somewhat like the sophisticated pop (Manhattan Transfer, Swingout Sister, etc.) of the West. However, although I punched in the katakana for this genre into Yahoo.jp, I got bupkis so perhaps to all concerned, Fashion Music was more Kado's catchphrase.

However, according to my memories, I think a case can be made that there was indeed Fashion Music featuring female singers for a few years at least around the turn of that decade to accompany the exotic kayo involving chanteuses singing about traveling through foreign countries and of course, the first high point of Japanese urban contemporary via City Pop. But unlike the inclusion of jazzy elements within sophisticated pop, my impression of Fashion Music is that it was distantly akin to the sweet music of American popular music of nearly a century ago as opposed to the "wild and immoral" jazz of the 1920s. Fashion Music is still perhaps not considered to be a true sub-genre, so my examples of what I consider to be part of it have been categorized under different genres ranging from New Music to general Pop, but in terms of sound, there is a certain Old World European feel often involving strings and maybe an accordion. The melody is also very mellow and occasionally melancholy or dramatic. Visually, I think the singer is on a chaise lounge performing the song while reaching for that solitary grape on a tiny wooden table.

But I've written enough for now here. Allow me to give my own examples of Fashion Music.

1. Asami Kado -- Fascination (1979)

Well, why not start with the lady who first got the phrase coined? This is one person who I would also automatically picture on that chaise lounge on a balcony in some really ritzy hotel in the south of France. With Asami Kado's "Fascination", there is a tiny hint of bossa nova in there, another easy genre to relax to.


2. Ruiko Kurahashi -- Last Scene ni Ai wo Komete (1981)

I also mentioned in that article for Kado's "Fascination" that Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）, one of my favourites, would also make for a fine member in Fashion Music. Her appearances on TV and her album covers have her looking very ennui-laden. The one song that seems to be one of her trademark tunes is "Last Scene ni Ai wo Komete"（ラストシーンに愛をこめて）which seems tailor-made (especially the instrumental bridge) to accompany an Oscar broadcast montage of classic romance scenes (such as the final one between Rick and Ilsa in "Casablanca"). Visually, I can only imagine a night walking along a canal in Venice.


3. Chika Ueda + Karyobin -- Aki Iro Kesho (1981)

Sweet music, indeed. Chika Ueda's（上田知華）strong vocals and a pop melody from the 1970s that has been given an arrangement dating back 40-50 years earlier really made an impression on me when I first heard it on "Sounds of Japan" decades ago. It's those strings by Karyobin which finally sparked me into writing this article. "Aki Iro Kesho"（秋色化粧）does sound like something that I would like to hear in an old-fashioned cafe while the master is expertly grinding those coffee beans.


4. Mieko Nishijima -- Kamome yori Shiroi Kokoro de (1978)

Through listening to Mieko Nishijima's（西島三重子）music via "Sounds of Japan" for many years, I've categorized her brand of music as ranging from folk to AOR. As I put it in the original article, "Kamome yori Shiroi Kokoro de"（かもめより白い心で）is a reminder of a walk through sylvan woods in Europe, although perhaps with that titular seagull in the title, maybe Nishijima had meant the setting to be somewhere along the beach.


5. Mayumi Itsuwa -- Sayonara Dake wa Iwanai de (1978)

I could have done without the horns in the "Yoru no Hit Studio"（夜のヒットスタジオ）performance by Mayumi Itsuwa（五輪真弓）, but listening to the original recording of "Sayonara Dake wa Iwanai de"（さよならだけは言わないで）, it almost describes a scene from a 1960s French movie with Alain Delon and Charles Aznavour. It's one of my favourites by Itsuwa, and for other fans, I wouldn't be surprised if they said they had been transported to France.

Considering that I envisaged a trip to an old-style café for a couple of these songs, perhaps Fashion Music can also be known as Café Kayo. Any of these songs could call for a really finely brewed cup of coffee with a slice of pie or cake. The one word that I have yet to use here, though, is elegance. I guess the common denominator for all of these songs and perhaps songs that I have yet to come across is the elegance within them.

Naoko Kawai -- Izayoi Monogatari (十六夜物語)

Although not my overall favorite aidoru (that would be Chisato Moritaka [森高千里]) or singer (and this one is surely Megumi Hayashibara [林原めぐみ]), I believe Naoko Kawai (河合奈保子) had everything in her favor. Besides getting some well-crafted songs from professional songwriters and composers during her early years, she also had the looks and talent to succeed. Always really cute in her aidoru dresses, but sometimes sexy in bikini fashion, later she surprised her audience with the new look of a beautiful and classy mature young woman. On top of that, Naoko Kawai was gifted with true talent and was able to develop a solid singing technique.

After starting a singing career as the typical cute aidoru in the early 80s, Naoko Kawai chased some West Coast trends during the mid-80s with albums such as “Daydream Coast” and “9 ½” (links to part one and two, respectively)… just to finally rediscover Japan around 1986~1987.

In a somewhat bold move, Kawai embraced Japanese traditional elements, mixing them with standard pop structures, while also leaving the obvious Western adaptations behind – in opposition to what her fellow colleagues were doing at the time, voraciously incorporating Western trends into their music. In fact, it was during this rediscover of Japan’s musicality that she released, in June 1987, the beautiful album “JAPAN as waterscapes”, which was followed by the recut single “Izayoi Monogatari” in July.

Just like the big “Half Moon Serenade” (ハーフムーン・セレナーデ) from 1986, “Izayoi Monogatari” is also a dramatic ballad, but this time with some typical Japanese sounds in the arrangement. Now, let’s just put it clear: her embrace of Japanese elements is nor overwhelming, nor really rooted in the country’s traditions, serving more as a stylized Japanese flourishment on top of a more 'universal' foundation. However, based on Kawai’s early image as the cute and smiley aidoru in “Smile For Me” or “Moonlight Kiss”, it’s astonishing how she was able to mature herself and adapt to this type of emotional ballad. It truly showcases her as a professional vocalist, just like “Nanpasen” (難破船) did to Akina Nakamori (中森明菜) around the same time.

“Izayoi Monogatari” reached #10 on the Oricon chart. Lyrics were written by Yumi Yoshimoto (吉元由美), while music was composed by Naoko Kawai herself. As for the arrangement, Ichizo Seo (せお いちぞう) was the responsible.

"GOLDEN BEST: A-Side Collection"