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.
Gotta admit that this is one strange if cool animal by the amazing AB'S. The uploader for this video categorized it as "Comedy", and to be honest, there is a somewhat hilarious element in the lyrics by Gregory Starr. I mean, the refrain in "CIA" sounds almost like a schoolyard chant making fun of the two most famous intelligence agencies on the planet, although the rest of the words takes on a serious air of suspense.
And yet, Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）has produced one heavy-duty City Pop melody for this track on AB'S' 3rd album"AB'S-3" from 1985. It's car drive-friendly and good golly, that bass is killer along with the following guitar solo. An agent who's into this Japanese urban contemporary genre will probably want to have this in his/her collection as much as a good hand-held computer (apparently most CIA employees aren't issued guns). I would be willing to get the album just for "CIA" alone although the song also came out as a 12" single. And apparently, the song was also used on a Fuji tape cassette commercial (and not microdots).
Found this singer-songwriter who has struck me as the Second Coming of Senri Oe（大江千里）with his happy-go-lucky pop sense. Plus, he looks good in a bow tie, and as a Whovian, I think bow ties are indeed cool.
Singer-songwriter Shin Rizumu（シンリズム）debuted in early 2015 and his second single here is "Music Life" from November of that year, with its fun old/new arrangement bringing in all sorts of good vibes. I simply like the beat and those horns mixed in there.
The lad hails from the city of Kobe and so far has released 4 singles up to 2016 and 2 albums, according to the biography on his website, he's quite the multi-instrumentalist, being able to play guitar, bass, keyboards, synths, drums and trombone. In his development as an artist, he's absorbed a lot of influences from New Wave, indies, roots rock, soul, funk and pop.
"I think the amateurishness fits this song perfectly."
This comment that I saw under the video for "Bobby ni Kataomoi" (Having a Crush on Bobby) by actress/aidoruSatomi Tezuka（手塚理美）is a good one, and most likely fits many an aidoru tune. Teenage love expressed by Japanese teenagers in a giddy way? Yup, a prime example is here. Nope, the singing isn't on Hiromi Iwasaki's（岩崎宏美）level at all but that's fine here since it's the story of a callow young girl's expression of one-way love in her own voice, something that a lot of listeners can relate to.
Moreover, the theory of not-so-great singers being elevated by some great songwriters can come into play here. "Bobby ni Kataomoi" was written by Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composed by Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）, and as soon as I heard the melody through the arrangement by Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）, I could peg it as a Yuming-penned number. There is that New Music flavour of the 1950s/1960s teenage idol pop with images of young Satomi surrounded by pink hearts while she savors a photo of this fellow Bobby in her bedroom.
"Bobby ni Kataomoi" was the second of two singles by Tezuka, released in April 1979. Only one album was released by her in 1976, "Juu-go-sai no Shouzou"（15才の肖像...Portrait of a 15-Year-Old）. Although her aidoru career fizzled away quickly, she has had a much longer career as an actress, including a role in one of the more famous trendy dramas of the 1980s, "Danjo Shichi-nin Aki Monogatari"（男女7人秋物語...The Autumn Story of 7 Men and Women）.
Her B-side is "Killer Angel" which can be found right here.
My friends and I waited about 20 minutes outside in some below-zero weather with a stiff wind to get our bowls of ramen today. It was indeed worth it.
I gather that as a counter-response to my early wintry experience this morning, my mind went to this summery number by guitarist-composer Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）,"On The Coast". A track from his 6th album"White Heat" from 1979, it's loaded with some musical talent including Suzuki on the guitar. There is Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）on keyboards which provide this scintillating sound at points reminiscent of falling water or pouring Perrier, Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）on bass, and Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）on drums. Plus, I'm assuming that it is Suzuki providing half of the vocals with Sarita Escobar（サリータ・エスコバール）which I hope is the proper spelling since I'm just going from the katakana.
Refreshing as that aforementioned Perrier, "On The Coast" is that cordial musical invitation to lying down on the beach as a happy couple and catching some rays. For a bit more of the man's solo stuff, you can also listen to his "Lady Pink Panther".
I've been going through the 2nd cour of the 2nd season of the anime"Hoozuki no Reitetsu"（鬼灯の冷徹...Hozuki's Coolheadedness）(2018), the slice-of-life comedy that takes place in Hell. It still hasn't struck me as one of my all-time favourites, as I mentioned in the article for the opening theme of the 1st cour, but at least, it's made for some more comfortable viewing.
Recently, there have been warnings about the dangers of contracting hookworms when walking on those tropical beaches barefoot. Well, one episode from this latest cour of "Hoozuki no Reitetsu" illustrated that caveat abundantly clear. Simply said...simply DON'T.
I couldn't find any video for the opening credits for the 2nd cour, but I was able to track down the full version of the opening theme song, "Haikei, Jigoku yori" (Greetings From Hell) performed by the main cast as the Jigoku no Sata All-Stars（地獄の沙汰オールスターズ）. Like the opener for the 1st cour in 2017, it's pretty catchy but most of it is done in an enka style this time compared to the country-style hoedown of "Dai! Jigo Jigo Bushi"（大！地獄地獄節）, although there is a semi-reprise of sorts from that song, along with a Vaudevillian "Coming Home" type of finish.
"Haikei, Jigoku yori" was created by the same folks behind "Dai! Jigo Jigo Bushi", Jun "JxJx" Saito（サイトウ "JxJx" ジュン）and Gokusotsu Ongaku Renmei（獄卒音楽連盟...Devils Music Alliance）. The premise behind the song seems to take on the feeling after a night of engorging eating and drinking during a typical enkai....something that I'd had personal experience with for many years. Yup, all of the emotions of satisfaction, shame and debauchery rolled up into one large ball.
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 1973album "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）.
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.
