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 gave another listen to CD 1 of veteran composer Kyohei Tsutsumi's（筒美京平）50th anniversary tribute album last night, and once again, it was good to hear the old kayo.
Over the past several months, I've peppered the Tsutsumi file with some of the songs from the album such as Ox's "Swan no Namida"（スワンの涙）and Zariba's（ザリバ）"Aru Hi"（或る日）, and here is another interesting entry by the late musician Hiroshi Kamayatsu（かまやつひろし）.
"Seishun Banka" (Elegy of Youth) was Kamayatsu's 5th single as a solo artist following the end of his old Group Sounds band The Spiders（ザ・スパイダース）and it was released in November 1972. With the help of the harmonica at the start, Kamayatsu sings a bittersweet (happily more on the sweeter side) folksy ballad that's so reassuring and tender like the 10 oz. sirloin that I had almost a couple of weeks ago. The cover of the single perfectly matches the mood of Tsutsumi's melody and for that matter, Yu Aku's（阿久悠）lyrics about a woman going through love and life through the representation of the four seasons. It's short and very sweet, but happily, even though the message is that youth goes by quicker than people would hope, there is still a measure of contentedness at the end as a full adult.
When I was reading about the subject of this article in J-Wiki, I discovered the term Being Boom. In terms of 1990s J-Pop, I knew about the Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）boom and then the later rise of Hello Project going into the 2000s but didn't know about this exact term. However, I knew about the success of the artists it depicted. Being Incorporated is the entertainment juggernaut that represented acts such as TUBE, Zard, Maki Ohguro（大黒摩季）, and Wands. And so, I went "Ah...naruhodo".
Of course, another mighty engine in the Being steamroller is B'z through the subsidiary Vermillion. Anyways, what got me to start the article on "Hadashi no Megami" (Barefoot Goddess) was finding its lyrics in one of my ancient copies of "Young Song", the booklet of the hit songs of the time which was always inserted in the monthly editions of "Myojo"（明星）, the famous music magazine. The thumbnail above is a shot of that page for those lyrics.
"Hadashi no Megami" was B'z's 13th single from June 1993 and what can I say...it's a darn cool tune. As usual, it's vocalist Koshi Inaba（稲葉浩志）taking care of the lyrics and Takahiro Matsumoto（松本孝弘）behind the music and arrangement. The story here is Inaba reassuring the titular barefoot goddess that though the world may be full of snakes and broken ladders ready to betray her in love as has been the case recently, she'll be able to push through and become stronger for it when the sun rises once more.
What got me hooked onto the song was that persistent thrumming throughout it, kinda like the world's most dependable vehicle to take folks out of harm's way. Usually with a B'z tune, I expect a lot of action and drama, and with "Hadashi no Megami", I also get the addition of an optimistic vibe. Inaba and Matsumoto promise a smooth ride and a happy ending over the horizon.
Not surprising as well was the fact that the song became yet another No. 1 for the duo for two straight weeks in June 1993, ultimately selling over 1.7 million copies and becoming their 6th straight million-seller which broke the record of consecutive million sellers that had been held by 1970s duo Pink Lady. "Hadashi no Megami" would become the 5th-ranked single of the year and is currently B'z's 4th-most successful hit. In terms of the Oricon historically successful singles, it ranks in at No. 47. It also first showed up on an album via their first BEST compilation "B'z The Best 'Pleasure'" from May 1998, which is in itself a historic album by being the 2nd-highest release in Oricon history.
Finally, as the cherry on the top of this sundae, "Hadashi no Megami" even became the commercial song for the Toyota Corolla Levin.
My previous article dealt with my return to the 90s pop band My Little Lover where I remarked on the melodic guitar pop that was one of my observed trends during that decade. Coming to this article, I realized that among the City Pop, frilly aidoru, enka and synthpop that liberally made themselves at home during the 1980s, there was also room for male bands that had their own their merry mellow melodies which skirted the line between light kayo and AOR. I'm talking outfits such as H2O and Picasso. Now, I've found another one.
Back in early May this year, I wrote about singer-songwriter Ryohei Yamanashi（山梨鐐平）and his "Taiyo ga Shitteiru"（太陽が知っている）, a snazzy and brassy City Pop tune about the good life that he recorded in 1982. I was able to find about it thanks to a purchase of a "Light Mellow" album, and upon reading the liner notes, I discovered that he used to belong to a trio called Do! that lasted about a couple of years perhaps between 1979 and 1981. Considering how impressed I was with "Taiyo ga Shitteiru", I decided to investigate Do!...after all, it isn't every day that I come across a band whose name consists of one consonant, one vowel and an excitable punctuation mark.
My whole knowledge about Do! came from two lines of text in the article for Yamanashi in J-Wiki (so I guess this was more about Don't! or Can't!). Basically, the trio consisted of Yamanashi and members from other bands: Takaaki Fujioka（藤岡孝章）from the comical band Mari-chans（まりちゃんズ）and Hideo Itagaki（板垣秀雄）who originated from another comical band Salty Sugar（ソルティー・シュガー）, famous for the cheerfully heroic "Hashire Koutarou"（走れコウタロー）. Do! released 6 singles and 2 albums during their time together, which is pretty prolific considering it was just a few years.
One of those releases came out in 1981 and it was titled "Yoake made Tenshi"(Angel Til Daybreak). It's listed on Amazon as a 7" EP record. I have to say that the three of them on the cover look like they're posting as a new breed of Tokyo cop in their own show. The song itself though is pretty grounded despite the comical background of Fujioka and Itagaki. Written and composed by Fujioka and arranged by Kimio Mizutani（水谷公生）, at first, I wondered whether this would be considered to be a New Music tune because I felt that there was something kinda European with Mizutani's arrangement, but with the probable influence of the strings, the melody brought me back onto the side of regular kayo. Still, because of the tug-of-war, I'm also throwing in the New Music label.
Referring back to my first paragraph, based on what I've heard in "Yoake made Tenshi", my impression is that Do! could have belonged to that type of male group with that distinct melange of harmony (and there is some nice harmony in the chorus...somewhat reminiscent of Anzen Chitai and Alfee) and mellow melody. I have to listen to more of their work to make sure, though. My initial thought was that Do! was a City Pop act based on Yamanashi's "Taiyo ga Shitteiru", but that's not the case here.
Well, giving myself a Gibbs slap on the back of my head tonight. The reason is that it's been over 4 years since I've put up a My Little Lover song on the blog. No excuse for that since when listening to their stuff again after so long, I got those warm and fuzzy feelings once more that I've often gotten with that brand of 90s indies-ish guitar pop from acts like Mr. Children and Spitz. My Little Lover was also part of that sound and I even played "Hello, Again" just now...because it was really like hello again.
Just by chance last night, I came across the music video for "Destiny", My Little Lover's 11th single from May 1998, and that's when the need for the Gibbs slap arrived. This was a video that had a lot of heavy rotation on the music channels back in Japan, and there was that shot at the 0:03 mark of "Destiny" with the svelte vocalist Akko sitting tiredly on her chair wearing that short dress and open shoes which I think is the iconic image of the band. The words and music by keyboardist Takeshi Kobayashi（小林武史）were also instantly familiar, and all I could do was wonder how I could even forget about this one for so long since starting the blog.
In addition to the Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）dance pop and the rise of J-R&B and Morning Musume（モーニング娘。）near the end of the decade, it's also been the wistful sounds of bands like My Little Lover that get the nostalgic sighs emanating out of me. I think the soft whispery voice of Akko and the combination of guitar and strings are perfect here for "Destiny".
The song hit No. 4 on Oricon and later became the 46th-ranked single of 1998, going Double Platinum with over half a million copies sold. "Destiny" was also used as the theme song for the Fuji-TV drama "With Love". Hearing the song again after so long reminded me of another similar sounding mellow ballad, "Overjoyed" by Ramjet Pulley which came out a few years later.
Looking at my Facebook feed a couple of hours earlier, I found out that it was 80s aidoru Yukiko Okada's（岡田有希子）birthday today (August 22nd)! She would have been 52 years old. Of course, I can only speculate but I imagine that she could have either continued on TV as a veteran tarento or actress.
Over the years among JTM, nikala, Marcos and myself, we've managed to cover all of Okada's singles, at least the A-sides. So, in tribute to her birthday, this time I'm going to go with a non-single track from her 2nd album"Fairy" that came out in March 1985.
"Walking in the Moonlight" is a mid-tempo ballad that sounds as if it had been created from the mind of Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）, but it actually was composed by Mayumi Horikawa（堀川まゆみ）, sister of Reimy（麗美）, and then given lyrics by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）. The song kinda dances about the genres; of course, it's an aidoru tune but the melody flits around a fair bit so sometimes it ventures into City Pop territory but then I wonder if it's a bit more technopop.
Miura's lyrics are about regret and uncertainty. The woman in the song is taking a lonely walk at night after having a fight with her boyfriend and ends up sitting on a swing in the neighbourhood playground. She knows full well that she loves him and he loves her but would appreciate it if he could say express his feelings of love somewhat more, although she admits that she may have overreacted to the entire situation. All the while, Yukko's tenderhearted delivery comes through clearly. There is a similarity with Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）vocals but Okada's voice is still distinct.
Y'know...it could be 30 years ago that I first heard the dreamy late summer pop ballad "Natsu no Claxon"（夏のクラクション）from 1983 by City Pop/AOR balladeer Junichi Inagaki（稲 垣 潤 一）, thanks to that late night/early morning music video show on Fuji-TV. It was the song that got me hooked on one of the Japanese princes of urban contemporary music.
Well, I found this Inagaki song recently that came out as a track on an album released by him in that same year of 1989. This is "Stay With Me" from "Heart & Soul", his 9th studio album, and before anyone gets any ideas, this isn't a cover of the Miki Matsubara（松原みき）classic. Instead, Inagaki's "Stay With Me" is a mellow strut dominated by synthesizer and some nice vocal breeze, thanks to the chorus. As usual, images of taking a walk along the beach in the summer come to mind here.
"Stay With Me" was written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composed by guitarist Junichi Kawauchi（河内淳一）with arrangement by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光男）. It's also nice to point out that Inagaki recently celebrated his 66th birthday last month.
When I checked out what this "Utakata no Koi" was all about, I could only find various adaptations of a romantic tragic novel titled "Mayerling" by Claude Anet, including a 1968 movie starring Catherine Deneuve and Omar Sharif.
The spark that started off my curious search was that I found this enka ballad with the same title performed by veteran Ayako Fuji（藤あや子）. The direct translation for "Utakata no Koi" is "Fleeting Love" and the lyrics by Yasuteru or Yasutoshi Miura（三浦康照）relate a love between two people...most likely walking through the streets of Kyoto while wearing traditional Japanese garb...although that love is temporary for some reason (extramarital affair, going off to war, illness, etc.). The music by Hideo Mizumori（水森英夫）is the thing that has struck me...although it sounds like a typical enka, there is something in that arrangement that hits a pleasurable nerve. Despite the ephemeral nature of the romance, the melody sounds fresh and optimistic and bubbly like a young creek as if it is trying to tell listeners that the couple is making every moment of their brief time together count.
It took me a while to find out when "Utakata no Koi" was released or even if it had originally been a Fuji song. My wrong assumption was that the song came out recently when in fact it had been released all the way back in March 1997 as Fuji's 10th single.
