Paradise Lunch -- Gun's & Roses/Makoto Yoshimori -- Nagai Nagai Yume no Naka no Utage（長い長い夢の中の宴）

I'd heard of this anime "Baccano!"（バッカーノ！）for years here and there but never got to see it, and I found out that it was based on a light novel. My anime buddy has largely soured on the quality of light novel adaptations into anime over the past number of years with him feeling that "Suzumiya Haruhi no Yuutsu"（涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱...The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya） was the peak of that genre targeting high school students around the mid-2000s, so he's never opined about "Baccano!".

Well, just by coincidence, the opening credits for "Baccano!" happened to fall into my YouTube recommendations yesterday so I took a look at them, and then I read up on the 2007 anime on Wikipedia and TV Tropes. From my impression, the light novel and subsequent TV series was a mix of "The Godfather" and "Highlander" with that overall sheen of one of those epic miniseries that used to be televised over a work week on the American networks during the 1970s and 1980s.

I don't think I will try to search for the entire series although I will ask my buddy about it next time I talk to him on the phone, but I gotta say that those opening credits do have that jazzy panache. The producers for "Baccano!" must have taken a page out of Yoko Kanno's（菅野よう子）"Tank!" and swung for that Big Band swing.

When I saw the title for the opening theme, "Gun's & Roses", I had automatically thought that it was the band Guns & Roses coming up with a rock tune. But as it turned out, it was the title of the song itself, performed by the all-female 9-piece jazz/rock band Paradise Lunch. I couldn't find out a whole lot about them but I recall over 15 years ago that thanks to a 2004 movie called "Swing Girls", there was a brief boom in Big Band jazz (strangely enough, I believe from this decade that it will be a century since The Jazz Age), and maybe Paradise Lunch was one result of the renewed interest; I recall seeing an all-female jazz band taking the stage on TV somewhere when I was still living in Ichikawa.

In any case, "Gun's & Roses", composed by pianist Akane Noguchi（野口茜）, is quite the frenzied ride, perhaps along the lines of some of the crazy sequences in "Baccano!" itself (the title means ruckus in Italian) that I've read about. The song weaves in and out between the various players taking on the main theme like me on a tenderloin steak and some good ol' improvisation which is one vital ingredient in the genre. Let's just imagine a Battle of the Bands between Paradise Lunch and the Seatbelts!

There might actually be a Battle of the Themes, though, in my fragile mind. Pianist Makoto Yoshimori（吉森信）was responsible for the soundtrack for "Baccano!", and he came up with "Nagai Nagai Yume no Naka no Utage ~ Theme for 'Baccano!'" (Party in the Long, Long Dream). Sounding like a beefy challenge against "Gun's & Roses", "Nagai Nagai", as it would for a show that mostly takes place during Prohibition-age America, simply reeks of speakeasies and their stench of sweat, stogie smoke, alcohol, gunpowder and occasionally the odd splash of blood. And from around the 3:00 mark, it sounds as if one speakeasy had Eliot Ness and his Untouchables raiding the place with all of the subsequent chaos of gunfire, quick escapes and thrown punches. If the rest of the soundtrack is similar to both themes, then I gather that if I do catch an episode, I will be in for a lot of action on the level of "Indiana Jones" and Brian DePalma's "The Untouchables" with Al Capone's baseball bat reprimand on one unlucky lieutenant being fairly calm in comparison.

Anri -- Lady Sunshine

First off, I will have to apologize to Anri（杏里）for putting that crease across her nose. Secondly, because our spring here in Toronto has gotten off to frankly an unusually cold and lousy start, I feel that I will need her assistance in bringing some of that summery feeling to this blog at least.

So, why not go with "Lady Sunshine" from her 5th album "Bi-Ki-Ni", released in June 1983? This was written, composed and arranged by Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）with the strings and brass arrangements handled by Jun Sato（佐藤準）. The song also served as Anri's 12th single from the same release day. From just from how summery and boppy "Lady Sunshine" sounds, veteran City Pop fans would already know that this is a Kadomatsu creation (frenetic bass...check, tight horns...check). And of course, "Bi-Ki-Ni" was one of the famous Anri-Kadomatsu collaboration albums from the 1980s.

Kadomatsu's lyrics relate the story of how the summer has managed to tear one woman away from her beau. Why be stuck with one guy when she can embrace an entire season and a beachfront? I can only hope that our summer will eventually do that with us (mind you, we'll have to be careful under COVID-19). I don't know how "Lady Sunshine" did on the charts but as for "Bi-Ki-Ni", it did hit No. 27 on Oricon, and two of its track mates are songs that I've already covered: "Surf City" and "Goodbye Boogie Dance".

The Rock Candies -- Dokoka ni Shiawase ga（どこかに幸せが）

Considering the name of the group and the year, I probably would be forgiven for thinking that this trio was another in the long line of guitar-jangling Group Sounds bands just like Ox or The Spiders.

However, The Rock Candies（ザ・ロック・キャンディーズ）was a folk group in the style of Peter, Paul & Mary that first formed up in the Kansai area in 1967 and went on until their disbandment in 1971 according to their J-Wiki entry. I actually have mentioned about this group in a past article, since one of the three members happened to be vocalist/guitarist Shinji Tanimura（谷村新司）who would join up with the more famous band Alice in the succeeding decade. The other two members of The Rock Candies were vocalist Chizuko Shimazu（島津ちづ子）and vocalist/guitarist Mineyuki Yamamoto（山本峰行）.

Their debut single in September 1968 was "Dokoka ni Shiawase ga" (Happiness Somewhere), a gentle ballad about seeking that joy in the world, and I have to say that it is a short and sweet song. The harmonies are wonderful, but the young Tanimura stands out for me especially because his voice back then seems to sound almost like Roy Orbison's famous tones.

During their time together, The Rock Candies released a total of 4 singles and one studio album titled "Sanbika ~ Rock Candies' First and Last Album"（讃美歌...Hymn）in 1971.

Ayumi Hamasaki -- Evolution

Another one of those Ayumi Hamasaki（浜崎あゆみ）songs that had me going "Oh yeah! I remember this one." With Hamasaki all over the pop culture spectrum at the time, "Evolution", like many of her other hits, had that refrain which refused to go away on television. No surprise since it was used for a Kose cosmetics commercial and it hit No. 1 a few weeks after its release in January 2001 as her 20th single, so I probably got to hear it a lot on the countdown shows.

According to the Wikipedia article on "Evolution", apparently the critics didn't particularly like her way of delivering the lyrics (those were provided by Hamasaki herself with the melody provided under her pen name of crea). I don't really mind it myself (kudos on that rapid-fire patter) and I think that having her go into a more rock mode added a fresher angle after hearing so many ballads from her.

"Evolution" became the No. 7 single of the year selling around 950,000 copies in Japan, and was placed onto Hamasaki's 4th studio album "I am..." released in January 2002. It also hit the top spot on the album charts and became the 2nd-ranked album of that year. On the top albums in Oricon history, "I am..." has placed in at No. 57.

Takuro Yoshida -- Senkou Hanabi（せんこう花火）

Holiday Monday here with it being Victoria Day today. Normally, there would be the usual fireworks display down at Ashbridges Bay to highlight the first unofficial summer long weekend, but of course, as with many events now and for the foreseeable future, there won't be any of that tonight. Did hear some individual firecrackers going off last night somewhere in the neighbourhood, though.

Fireworks are part and parcel of the Japanese summer festival experience so I am wondering what will become of events such as the Sumida River Fireworks Festival and similar happenings this summer in Japan, although things seem to be improving quite nicely over there. The quintessential scene of anything summery on television and movies whether it be poignant dramas or anime is family and friends dressed in yukata holding those sparklers at home while the professionals launch the big boys into the night sky.

Sparklers are known as senkou hanabi in Japanese, and I managed to find this Takuro Yoshida（吉田拓郎）song with that very title last night. Located in his 3rd album "Genki desu."（元気です。...I'm Fine.）from July 1972, "Senkou Hanabi" and some of the other tracks there definitely have that summer theme in mind. The thing about this particular song is that it has nothing of the usual festival music of traditional instruments such as taiko drums or shamisen involved. Instead, it has more of a North American folksy flavour with the banjo and a flat mandolin played by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）.

Yoshida provided the melody while novelist Nobuko Yoshiya（吉屋信子）wrote the lyrics to "Senkou Hanabi". "Genki desu." hit No. 1 on Oricon, and was not only the 2nd-ranking album for 1972, it was also the 4th-ranking album of 1973.

Clammbon -- Whiskey ga O-Suki deshou? (ウィスキーが、お好きでしょ）

As the expression goes, "Hey, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.", or something thereabouts. That's probably been the case with the long-running Suntory Highball commercials since they've been using variations on the same song for about 30 years.

"Whiskey ga O-Suki deshou?" (You Like Whiskey, Don't You?) all started with Sayuri Ishikawa's（石川さゆり）torch song original back in 1990 and since then, the torch has been passed down to a number of other singers and bands including acapella group The Gospellers（ゴスペラーズ）about a decade ago. This time, it's Clammbon's（クラムボン）turn.

A couple of nights ago, I was listening to a "Light Mellow" CD and in it, I heard one rendition of the venerable song as a duet by original composer Masamichi Sugi（杉真理）and the late Kaoru Sudo（須藤薫）. Unfortunately, that version isn't on YouTube but this time, with Clammbon's contribution to the latest series of Suntory ads, the band has a fresher take on "Whiskey". The jazz is still there but it's more of a spritely French tango with a jigger of a reggae beat for good measure.

Clammbon released it as a digital download single about a couple of weeks ago, and at one point near the end, recording stops for the band to get a few laughs in. Perhaps they were sharing highballs during the session. Hey, if it smooths out any rough edges at the studio, then I'm not judging.🍻

For those who may be curious in creating a highball, you can take a look at the above. Along with the whiskey, all you need is some ice and soda water. Though I was never a fan of the hard stuff, I may have had a highball at the izakaya once or twice during my Japan days.

Kingo Hamada -- Rainy Heart

The above is a shot from the platform of JR Ichigaya Station near where I used to work for several years. Just off to the right, you can see some man-made fishing ponds where Tokyoites can execute their hobby right in the middle of the megalopolis. Never did it myself since I left that childhood custom years ago.

Some Sunday City Pop to start off today. I've got Kingo Hamada's（浜田金吾）(although I'm aware that he now goes by the kanji 濱田金吾) "Rainy Heart" from his August 1983 album "Mugshot", and the song has got his brand of good ol' funk backed up with some pumped-up horns and Hiroshi Sato's（佐藤博）keyboards while he trips the light fantastic with his vocals. Nice tune to accompany that brunch of Eggs Benedict and coffee.

The title might have precipitation but the overall song has plenty of sunshine or moonlight depending on which time you would prefer to imagine. Whatever the case, the skies are nice and clear while listening to this one. Hamada was behind the groovy music while Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）took care of the lyrics.