Original Love -- Kaze no Uta wo Kike（風の歌を聴け）

One of the earliest songs that I wrote about on the blog was Original Love's "Asahi no Ataru Michi" （朝日のあたる道）, the band's 6th single from April 1994. As I mentioned in that article, it was my first exposure to Takao Tajima（田島貴男）when he still had a number of people with him under the Original Love name, and I heard it in my friend's car one rainy day. "Asahi no Ataru Michi" was this blend of fun pop, soul and jazz that struck me as being quite different from what was hot during those times in music when the Komuro Boom was beginning its steamroller run and while guitar pop/rock bands such as Mr. Children and Spitz held sway.

Well, it didn't take long until I copied my friend and bought the album that had "Asahi no Ataru Michi", "Kaze no Uta wo Kike" (Hear the Song of the Wind), Original Love's 4th album released in June 1994. According to J-Wiki, it hit No. 1 and ended up as the 63rd-ranked album of the year. But for all that, I played the whole album on my Onkyo in my apartment in Ichikawa...and then put it into my shelf of compact discs for several years without playing it again. I gave the same indifferent treatment to Taeko Ohnuki's（大貫妙子）"History 1978-1984", and the reason was the same: as I would find out many years later, it wasn't at all the fact that the songs were bad; I myself was simply not quite ready to embrace either Original Love or Ohnuki because they both dared to provide songs which went in all sorts of directions.

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I'm definitely much older and a little wiser now as I appreciate both albums. With "Kaze no Uta wo Kike", there is a lot to chew on in terms of what vocalist and songwriter Tajima provided here. And here I start with Track 1, "The Rover".

Now when it comes to remembering anything called Rover, I'm someone who's very much in the minority since it's not a name of a dog that comes to my mind first. For me, Rover means that terrifying gigantic white balloon/enforcer from the 1960s British thriller series "The Prisoner". Rover scared me into the crack between sofa cushions when I saw it capture errant Villagers, and I think it actually got a shoutout in the final episode for Season 2 of "Kaguya-sama: Love is War" last weekend.

Ahhh, but now, I can sleep more soundly now that Rover can refer to "The Rover" by Original Love. Written and composed by Tajima (unless noted otherwise, all tracks have been handled by Tajima), the music video for this first track sure shows one heck of a crazy road trip accompanied by just-as-crazy film footage. I'm sure hoping that at least the driver didn't have any illicit chemical compounds in his system, but the video goes back-and-forth between frolicking in the desert and then whooping it up in some go-go dance club from the 1960s. I had been wondering what the deal was with those photos in the album's cover booklet...and it turned out to be colour shots of the dancers.

There's some good ol' James Brown-like funkin' going on with Tajima and the gang, and apparently according to the description of the song by Tajima in the J-Wiki article, "The Rover" was based on a re-arrangement of an earlier song "Ai no Circuit"（愛のサーキット...Love Circuit） from Original Love's 1992 album "Kesshou"（結晶...Crystal） and a whole lot of experimentation. It certainly sounds like the band enjoyed going into this song like me going through a tenderloin steak. Incidentally, the lovely Yuiko Tsubokura（坪倉唯子）provides backing vocals on a number of the tracks including this one.

Unfortunately, I couldn't find the actual track from "Kaze no Uta wo Kike", but "Jisa wo Kakeru Omoi"（時差を駆ける想い...Memories Running Through the Time Difference）, which is being performed here on Tajima's "Hitori Soul Show" (Soul Show by One) released in June 2012, is the one other song besides "Asahi no Ataru Michi" that I remembered even after that first listening to the album. I believe one reason is the bossa nova in the melody devised by Tajima and bassist Hideyuki Komatsu（小松秀行）, and although I hadn't realized it at the time, I was always quite attracted to the genre. There is something so very romantic and sweeping about "Jisa wo Kakeru Omoi", and yet according to Tajima, the lyrics are all just based on his childhood memories of running around with buddies and smelling that wonderful soup before dinnertime. Those memories came flooding back to him as he was on a plane either heading over to or coming back from Morocco in 1993 for filming.

There's some more of that home movie camera style for the video (taken down unfortunately) of "It's A Wonderful World", and according to Tajima, the song was inspired by the works of Curtis Mayfield. Tajima also remarked that it was the first time that he had ever sung an entire song in the higher registers of his voice so he had been a tad worried about how it would go at recording, but as it turned out, he did it in one take. Some fine 70s New York funk and soul included here.

"Futatsu no Te no You ni"（二つの手のように...Like Two Hands） sounds like the perfect summer love song as created by Tajima and keyboardist Ryutaro Kihara（木原龍太郎）. All it needs is a park to stroll in. Love the harmonies between Tajima and the rest of the band as well as the horns. The singer stated that he realized that there were at least some spiritual similarities between the song and Yumi Arai's（荒井由実）"Kitto Ieru"（きっと言える）, so perhaps this would be the New Music entry of the album?

One more track that I will provide here is "Fiesta"（フィエスタ）. Now throughout the years of writing in "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I've been able to gain names for some of the famous musical riffs that I've heard over and over again from various sources including The Doobie Bounce and Steely Dan's Mu Chord. Recently, I found out about The Bo Diddley Beat from TV Tropes, and it's been a rock n' roll rhythm that I've also heard in a number of songs such as George Michael's "Faith" and "I Want Candy" by Bow Wow Wow as mentioned in the TV Tropes article.

It looks like I'm hearing that now in "Fiesta" and just from the happy raucous music, my initial impression was that Tajima was channeling some wonderful experience down in New Orleans or somewhere in the Deep South of the United States. However, Tajima in the J-Wiki article for the album has remarked that he was using a Second Line rhythm; the remark has a direct link to the J-Wiki and then the English Wikipedia article on the Second Line tradition of people following a parading band with their own dancing and walking. He also said that he had initially wanted to create something that was comforting in the form of a hymn. Perhaps the end result didn't come out as a hymn, but personally speaking from what little I know of funeral traditions in New Orleans, "Fiesta" is still quite comforting since I assume that the funeral procession down there is one of some celebration and joy over the life that was lived by the person.

Finally, Tajima states that "Fiesta" may be the one track on "Kaze no Uta wo Kike" to reflect what the album is all about. If that is indeed the case, then I think the vocalist was trying to illustrate the celebration and joy of music in general through different modes. Why keep the music chained to one style in one album when there are so many other styles to explore and have fun with? Be free!

REICO -- Navigator Lover（ナビゲーターラヴァー）

All these years, lyricist Shun Taguchi（田口俊）has been quite well-represented on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" through his works for other artists including enka singer Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）for which he provided the jazz torch song "Whiskey ga O-Suki deshou?" (ウィスキーが、お好きでしょ）. Well, he actually started out as a singer in 1980 with the band Lorelei and then began the songwriting aspect of his career from 1982. Just a little after that, he teamed up with Kazuo Horiguchi（堀口和男）to form the singing duo REICO.

Their debut album "REICO" was released in October 1983 as you can see in the thumbnail above and the first track is "Navigator Lover". Man, the sound and the appearance of that album cover couldn't get more 1980s. Throw me that Rubik's Cube, will ya?

"Navigator Lover" has got that West Coast AOR sound down pat right to the fine print, and listening to Taguchi and Horiguchi, who wrote and composed all of the tracks on "REICO", I get nostalgic vibes from their contemporaries at the time such as H2O and Off-Course（オフコース）. That guitar and their vocals had me thinking of a motorcycle ride on the Ventura Freeway one sunny Sunday.

Yasuko Agawa -- Canadian Star

Welcome to July 1st and Canada Day! Our nation is celebrating its 153rd birthday today and though there will be no fireworks displays or parades this year, hopefully everyone in Canada is having a safe and happy day today.

As has been the case each year in tribute to the Maple Leaf, I've been trying to find a kayo or J-Pop song that would actually at least have Canada in the title. This has been a tradition of sorts since I first put up that old karaoke-friendly chestnut "Canada kara no Tegami"（カナダからの手紙）all the way back in KKP's inaugural year of 2012.

Furthermore, I've heard of jazz singer Yasuko Agawa（阿川泰子）for years and was aware that she had even contributed songs in the City Pop/AOR genre early in her career, but it was always one thing or another that I never got around to putting any of her tunes onto the blog. Well, I'm killing two (snow)birds with one stone (from the Canadian Shield) on this Canada Day and putting up the first Agawa article with "Canadian Star".

"Canadian Star" is a track on her 1983 album "Night Line" and it's a nice way for me to start the Agawa file because I find it a soothing City Pop/AOR lullaby of sorts. The lady in the lyrics (provided by Ralph McCarthy) seems to be in some hotel in the Great White North writing a letter (not quite sure if there were some inspiration from "Canada kara no Tegami"...ha, ha) to that mystery man of love who swept her off her feet and then swept on out. I wouldn't be surprised if she were penning the letter in the middle of the night as her light is the only one on in the entire hotel.

I found out that Agawa's "Canadian Star" was a cover of an original instrumental track recorded by fusion group Dr. Strut for their 1979 self-titled album. Apparently, the band was once called The Legendary Groovadelics but when they joined up with Motown Records, Berry Gordy insisted that they change the name; perhaps not a bad idea.

Anyways, the big surprise actually happened earlier in my check on this song. Last night, when I wanted to find out who had been responsible for words and music, I did my usual due diligence at the JASRAC database and saw a name: BECKER WALTER CARL. Hm...OK, looks like an application for car insurance, I thought, but the name did ring with some familiarity. Then I looked further and saw the name: FAGEN DONALD JAY.

Wait a metric minute here! Steely Dan composed this tune?! The answer is an absolute yes. The band that provided plenty of inspiration and chords to City Pop artists in the late 70s and early 80s was indeed behind the composition of "Canadian Star" for Dr. Strut. And the interesting thing is that it doesn't really sound like the prototypical Steely Dan song to me, although even more devoted fans can probably indicate a tune of theirs that might illustrate a similar arrangement. In fact, when I heard Agawa's cover for the first time, I thought that there was something more Eagles' "Desperado" to it.

As for Agawa, her real name is Yasuko Sato（佐藤康子）and she hails from Kamakura City in Kanagawa Prefecture. According to a June 1981 issue of the journal "Shukan Asahi"（週刊朝日）via J-Wiki, she's also been given nicknames such as Sugar Voice, The Idol for the Necktie Crowd and The Idol for the Old Guys (not quite sure if that last one is particularly complimentary). She made her start in show business in the early 1970s and was also an actress at one point, appearing in movies and TV shows such as "Ultraman Leo"（ウルトラマンレオ）as an alien and the famous cop show "Taiyo ni Hoero!"（太陽にほえろ！）. The singing part of her career began in 1973 when she was introduced to jazz clarinetist Shoji Suzuki（鈴木章治）and then became part of his band Shoji Suzuki & The Rhythm Aces（鈴木章治とリズム・エース）. However, as I said up above, she did have her dabble in City Pop, and I would like to have a listen to her "L.A. Night".

To finally put a bow tie on this article, it's interesting to note that there is a famous train tour in the northern part of my province Ontario, and the region is actually called Agawa Canyon.

Shuka Saito -- PaPaPa（パパパ）

Didn't catch this anime "Ore wo Suki nano wa Omae dake ka yo"（俺を好きなのはお前だけかよ...Are You Really the Only One Who Likes Me?）when it came out for the Fall 2019 season. Then again, since my anime buddy has declared that nothing good has recently come from light novels in the last decade, it's not a surprise that he didn't select this one for viewing. From what I've read of the synopsis at Wikipedia, it sounds like the story of a love polygon filled with (initially, at least according to TV Tropes, unlikeable) high school students, and it's certainly got a few names in the seiyuu industry that I recognize such as Haruka Tomatsu（戸松遥）, Nao Toyama（東山奈央）and Yuuma Uchida（内田雄馬）.

One of the seiyuu in the cast is Shuka Saito（斉藤朱夏）and she's also the one behind the very upbeat opening theme "PaPaPa". Written and composed by Kei Hayashi（ハヤシケイ）, the reason that I put this on the bookmark list is that I am such a sucker for happy horns in a J-Pop song and there is something slightly Shibuya-kei-esque about the arrangement. This was released as Saito's debut single in November 2019 and it reached No. 12 on Oricon.

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I gotta say here that despite hearing all of the parodic riffs from two seasons' worth of "Kaguya-sama: Love is War"（かぐや様は告らせたい〜天才たちの恋愛頭脳戦〜）soundtrack, I was still surprised to come across this take on one of the most famous themes from "Star Wars" being used to describe a bench.

Naniwa Express -- Charcoal Break

Well with this pandemic, Canadians will be approaching what will be the most unusual national holiday stint they've ever experienced but with restrictions slowly and carefully being lifted, I think the good old-fashioned barbeque can still take place (although the season of traditional Ribfests is cancelled this year). Because Canada Day tomorrow will be falling on a Wednesday, a lot of folks (including my anime buddy) have managed to tie up the previous weekend with July 1st to create a Canadian equivalent of the Japanese Golden Week. I hope then that all of those families have a delectable BBQ with all of the fixins.

As such, I can perhaps introduce something BBQ-related to the blog today with "Charcoal Break", a song by the fusion band Naniwa Express（ナニワエキスプレス）from their 1984 album "Modern Beat". I've never written about this group so it's great to have them over on the blog alongside acts such as T-Square and Casiopeia.

"Modern Beat" is smooth sailing as saxophonist and jazz pianist Makoto Aoyagi（青柳誠）and guitarist Kazuhiko Iwami（岩見和彦） takes us on the most relaxing and lowest-altitude magic carpet ride. In a way, it's reminiscent of Tomoko Aran's（亜蘭智子）"Slow Nights" which came out in the same year. Not sure if this would be something that one would hear at a picnic with the Coleman grill in operation, but "Modern Beat" can make for some fine accompaniment over drinks at that seaside bar while the sun is going down.

Along with the two members mentioned, Naniwa Express also has Kenji Nakamura（中村建治）on keyboards, Ko Shimizu（清水興）on bass, and Rikiya Higashihara（東原力哉）on drums. The band had its initial run between 1977 and 1986 before getting together now and then going into the 21st century. Including their BEST compilations and live recordings, the band has released 13 albums up to 2012.

Sumiko Yamagata -- Ashita Anata ni（明日あなたに）/Ame no Nichiyoubi（雨の日曜日）

Long time, no see for singer-songwriter Sumiko Yamagata（やまがたすみこ）, so I've decided that this article will be a two-for-one, just to show that transition from folk to AOR within a few years.

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I think it's a soprano saxophone which launches the calming "Ashita Anata ni" (You, Tomorrow), the B-side to Yamagata's 2nd single "Natsu ni Nattara"（夏になったら）released in June 1973. Written by the singer and composed by fellow folk singer Ryoko Moriyama（森山良子）, "Ashita Anata ni" is not quite as brisk as the A-side but it still has plenty of wistfulness as Yamagata sings about wishing to meet the guy she likes but probably not being able to pull it off due to the usual shyness issues. Somehow, I can picture Yamagata singing this while sitting by her window in her room. "Ashita Anata ni" is also a track on Yamagata's 2nd album "Ano Hi no Koto wa"（あの日のことは...The Event That Day） from September of that same year.

A few years later in 1976 through her 6th album, "Summer Shade"（サマー・シェイド）, Yamagata came up with an AOR-friendly number called "Ame no Nichiyoubi" (Rainy Sunday), and it has that melodic trope of the keyboard Haze effect which adorned many a 1970s City Pop/AOR number along with a nice jazzy guitar solo. The singer came up with the lyrics about enjoying that precipitation on her day off while heading over to her beau's house and pouring him a cappuccino (Wow! Did they have those back then too?). Toshiyuki Watanabe（渡辺俊幸）provided the music here.

Especially listening to "Ame no Nichiyoubi", I rather thought that 80s aidoru Naoko Kawai（河合奈保子）sounds just like Yamagata in her own mellower works. Indeed, I recall Kawai has also contributed to the AOR genre.

I Re'in For Re'in -- Private Girl

Happy Monday as we approach the end of June 2020. And we start this week with a band with an unusual name. I suppose that it's never a bad thing for publicity when a band has a unique moniker, and I think I have come across one of the most unusual ones in I Re'in For Re'in（アイリーン・フォーリーン）. This is a rock band that began life in 1985 but I couldn't find out in J-Wiki the origin for that name and their website seems to be out of commission.

But according to a blog entry in March 2018, apparently a manager for another "huge band" slapped the name on, and I Re'in For Re'in means "I reincarnate for reincarnation's sake". The members didn't seem to mind so why should I? I'm not even going to inquire about the apostrophes.

Speaking of those members, when I Re'in For Re'in first started up in the mid-1980s, the band consisted of Takaaki Yasuoka（安岡孝章）, Asao Hori（堀麻夫）, Isao Kuwamoto（桑本勲）, Itsuo Nakagoshi（中越五雄）, and Yoshiaki Arisawa（有澤由明）. Their first run lasted until 1988 but the year before, the last three members listed left the band with guitarist Hirokazu Ogura（小倉博和）joining in.

It was during that incarnation as a trio that I Re'in For Re'in's fourth album "Body & Voice"（ボディ&ボイス）was released in 1988, and one of the tracks is "Private Girl". Perhaps while the band was a 5-piece setup, it had more of a rock sound, but "Private Girl" takes things more into the cool and sultry R&B arena surrounded by tons of Shinjuku skyscrapers. Written by Yasuoka and Hori with the former handling the melody, I get echoes of Hall & Oates' "I Can't Go For That" and "Lonely Chaplin"（ロンリー・チャプリン）by the Suzuki siblings.

Although I Re'in For Re'in broke up in 1988, the original members at the time of their debut all got together again two decades later in 2008 to release a new album "Big! Bam!! Boom!!!".