Meiko Nakahara/TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND feat. Sumire Uesaka -- R-R-R-Russian Roulette（ロ・ロ・ロ・ロシアン・ルーレット）

I'd heard of the expression Russian Roulette a number of times as a kid but never actually knew what it meant until that famous scene from "The Deer Hunter" starring Robert De Niro and Christopher Walken. The scene didn't exactly sit well with me since up to then roulette had always been about that fun spinning game in Las Vegas (or as my high school history teacher used to say: Lost Wages).

Many years later, I found out that the concept behind Russian Roulette also lent itself to many a humorous scene in anime (and it has occurred in real life, usually at year-end parties). Not that cute girls put guns to their heads but they would have a game in which there were some cream puffs that they had to ingest with only one of them containing something atypical and gross such as spicy mustard. That was indeed the case in one episode of "Gabriel Dropout".

Even more recently, the concept came to the fore with balloons in the second season of "Kaguya-sama".

I never expected that there would ever be a kayo with an actual title of "R-R-R-Russian Roulette", but indeed there was and it was written, composed and performed by Meiko Nakahara（中原めいこ）. For the past several entries, the articles have been mainly focusing on her purely City Pop material in the 1980s going into the 1990s such as "Friday Night", but I remember that the first song that I had ever heard by her was "Kimi Tachi Kiwi Papaya Mango da ne" （君たちキウイ・パパヤ・マンゴだね）, the zany tropical fruit boogie-woogie tune.

Arranged by Jun Sato（佐藤準）, Nakahara's "R-R-R-Russian Roulette" was Nakahara's 9th single from July 1985, and it was the opening theme for the television anime "Dirty Pair"（ダーティペア）. With a high-octane vibe bringing in elements of City Pop and rock (and some dance remix tropes), it's raucous and sexy and perfect as the song for the show of two troublemaking trouble consultants. In all likelihood, for anyone within 100 metres radius of the Dirty Pair, it was pretty much playing Russian Roulette with their lives.

I figured that "R-R-R-Russian Roulette" would be ripe for covering some day, and sure enough, it got its opportunity thanks to TECHNOBOYS PULCRAFT GREEN-FUND with the inspired help of quirky seiyuu/singer Sumire Uesaka（上坂すみれ）who is famous for her studies of Russia/USSR culture. The Technoboys and Uesaka turn the song into a delectable synthpop treat which made its way onto the former's November 2017 single "Magical Circle", although it didn't have any direct connection with the updated anime "Mahoujin Guruguru"（魔法陣グルグル...Magical Circle Guruguru）.

For another "Dirty Pair" anison sung by a City Pop legend, try out Miki Matsubara's（松原みき）"Safari Eyes".

Trade Love (ELIKA) -- Sunny Summer Days

Yesterday, it was a drive from San Francisco to California's wine country via J Utah's marvelous driving videos. Today, it was down south through Malibu, and the reason for another virtual drive this hot weekend is that this time I was listening to YouTube channel Sentimental Tokyo's "Summer Edition IV: The Lost Summer「90s」" compilation of City Pop/AOR tracks (which has unfortunately been taken down).

It was another pleasant drive although this time around there was quite a gap in times with the Malibu drive lasting around 40 minutes while the City Pop compilation video was a little over an hour, but that's fine. If you wanna give it the City Pop Radio treatment, you can always choose another J Utah video to finish things up. The wonderful thing is that while listening and enjoying the drive, I got to hear some new stuff; the second track, for instance.

And that would be "Sunny Summer Days" by Trade Love, aka ELIKA. Actually, I posted an ELIKA tune around 18 months ago "Kono Mune wo Dakishimete"（この胸を抱きしめて）, a coupling song for her 5th single "Midnight Party"（ミッドナイト・パーティ）in June 1992. However, some time into the 1990s, she decided to take on a new moniker for a while, Trade Love, and her first single under that name was "Sunny Summer Days", a dynamic and refreshing splash of pop music that came out in April 1995.

I mentioned this in the article for "Kono Mune wo Dakishimete", but I think that similarity in Trade Love's vocals with those of ZARD is also in "Sunny Summer Days". The lyrics were provided by the singer under her real name of Erika Shimakage（島影江里香）while Kazuya Daimon（大門一也）was responsible for the happy music which I could imagine being categorized as Resort Pop. It definitely heralds a pleasant summer drive down to the beach.

"Sunny Summer Days" was the first of two singles that came under Trade Love, and the song was also a part of Trade Love's sole album "paradise door" which was released in July of that year. Incidentally, "Sunny Summer Days" was also used the ending theme for a sports show on NTV. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this song as well as the drive and the City Pop compilation as well.

Toshiyuki Honda -- Burnin' Waves (single track)

Last month, I presented saxophonist Toshiyuki Honda's（本多俊之）"Living in the City", a sunny and mellow track from his 1980 "Easy Breathing". Well this time around, I'm going back further to his 1978 debut album "Burnin' Waves" for that title track.

"Burnin' Waves" the track starts off the album, and it just sounds so New York back in the day with those tight horns, the funky bass and the keyboard. I think the only thing missing here is its own TV detective show set in Brooklyn for which it can act as the theme song. I can just imagine the streetwise private eye strutting down the street like John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever" saying hello to all of the shop owners, romancing a lot of women, and crushing perps under his fists while having that love-hate relationship with a police lieutenant. Good golly, it's even got jazz flute in there.

A small bit of trivia about Honda. As I was scrolling down the J-Wiki article, I discovered that he had an uncredited role as a Self-Defence Forces soldier in the 1992 "Godzilla vs. Mothra".

Masaharu Fukuyama -- Kazoku ni Narou yo（家族になろうよ）

For the very first Masaharu Fukuyama（福山雅治）article I provided on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", "Gang★", I actually described the comely singer-songwriter and actor as a Japanese incarnation of the Doctor from "Doctor Who". At the time I was a pretty big fan of the sci-fi franchise and Fukuyama himself was starring in the drama "Galileo" as that eccentric crime-solving physicist.

Nowadays, though, I've been seeing the fellow as one of the nicest invitees to a party that one could ever have (David Tennant seems to be that, too). He just strikes me as the guy you want to have to take care of the conversation on the sofa or even provide some music while the host of the party is busy with other things such as cooking and greeting more guests at the door. I haven't really seen too many of his interviews but from what I have watched, perhaps I can say that he's one of the more down-to-earth celebrities that I've seen on TV.

If guest Fukuyama were to entertain his fellow partygoers, then this is the song that I would envisage him performing. His 27th single from August 2011, "Kazoku ni Narou yo" (Hey, Let's Become a Family) is so homey and comfortable that a fireplace and a pot of soup would miraculously appear right by the stereo. Written and composed and arranged by Fukuyama with help by Akira Inoue（井上鑑）, the lyrics were created during the downtime faced by the singer when his nationwide tour had been interrupted because of the 2011 earthquake in the Tohoku region. The song then became the campaign tune for a Recruit magazine specializing in weddings called "Zexy".

"Kazoku ni Narou yo" hit No. 1 on Oricon and became the No. 20 single for 2011. On CD, the song went Platinum with it selling 155,000 copies in its first week of release alone. Even bigger news was that, according to "Oricon Music", with the success of this single, Fukuyama became the solo male artist in Japanese pop music history to sell the largest number of singles and albums combined (approx. 13 million singles and 8 million albums), taking over from Tsuyoshi Nagabuchi（長渕剛）who had held the record for 22 years.

The song also garnered an invitation from NHK to the Kokahu Utagassen for 2011 in which Fukuyama performed it at the Pacifico Yokohama Convention Centre. "Kazoku ni Narou yo" is also a track on his 11th original album "Human" which was released in April 2014. This album was in the No. 1 spot for 2 weeks running and was the No. 7 album of the year, going Platinum.

Tatsuro Yamashita -- Sunshine ~ Ai no Kin Iro（愛の金色）

Yes, I took a lovely virtual drive from San Francisco down to California wine country, thanks to the latest J Utah video, and my musical accompaniment for most of it was Come Along Radio's latest entry, Rocket Brown's "Summer Connection: City Pop Mix #1". It's nice to have the likes of Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）, Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）, Circus（サーカス）and the others being your sidekick in the passenger seat while taking that road trip in the Golden State.

(33:19)

One of the songs on the playlist was one that I hadn't heard by the great Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）, "Sunshine ~ Ai no Kin Iro" (Love's Golden Colour), because I have yet to get the source album "Moonglow" from October 1979.  Incidentally, the album also contains "Storm", "Hot Shot" and "Touch Me Lightly", songs that I have also covered.

"Sunshine" seems to be the right song for that J Utah drive into Napa Valley just from the title alone, but of course, there's more with this one. There's simply that melody of happily moving somewhere, the sunny chorus and Tats' repeated mantra of SUNSHINE. He could break the clouds and let the rays penetrate. Would like to know though who was on the synthesizer during the instrumental break and would like to confirm whether it was indeed Minako Yoshida（吉田美奈子）and/or Taeko Ohnuki backing him up. However, we did get that famous Tats falsetto right as "Sunshine" was fading away.

I hear that Van Paugam has got his own mix up. Maybe I can try that one out along with J Utah's drive through Malibu tomorrow.🌞

Should also mention that realizing the current situation in the United States regarding COVID-19, I hope that everyone down south is keeping safe but enjoying their Fourth of July.

Momoe Yamaguchi -- Rinne（輪廻）

Happy weekend as I slowly broil in my own juices. Yes, it's a hot one in the big T.O. today and will be for at least a week. Perhaps I can interest you in a mild segue as I provide another smoldering Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）song.

Commenter Jim Laker and I were talking about one of the most famous 1970s aidoru and he was kind enough to introduce this first track "Rinne" (Reincarnation) from Yamaguchi's album "This is my trial" from October 1980. As I've probably mentioned before, I haven't been a die-hard fan of hers but definitely knew and enjoyed her hits to the extent that I've got a couple of her BEST compilations, so it's still a time of exploration when it comes to her original studio albums of which "This is my trial" was her 22nd and final album before retiring from show business at the age of 21. It did very well on Oricon by placing in at No. 4.

"Rinne" is a bewitching number. It starts off rather spookily before the late-career sultry vocals of Yamaguchi come to the fore as she purrs about being a woman of ice who will always prefer coming back over and over as a woman so that she can cloud men's minds and wrap them around her fingers in one grand game. I guess that my description almost describes Yamaguchi as a superhero or supervillain on the same level as The Shadow, Dr. Strange or Catwoman. The music by Ryudo Uzaki（宇崎竜童）and arrangement by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）strikes me as being rather appropriate as a theme song for a larger-than-life figure of the darkness. Of course, if Uzaki is there, then his wife Yoko Aki（阿木燿子）is also there with the lyrics.

Overall, I found "Rinne" to be emblematic of the songs that she put forth when she collaborated with Uzaki and Aki such as "Imitation Gold"...about that cynical and hard-bitten woman wiser beyond her years. And a question popped up in my noggin about which era of Momoe-chan I preferred. Was it the early 70s when I kept envisioning her in that very short haircut and high school uniform while singing lyrics that may have shocked listeners with their rawness a la "Hito Natsu no Keiken"（ひと夏経験）or was it the late 70s when that more mature image of the singer caught up to her and her songs? Mind you, even during that latter part of her time on the stage, she had hits through more innocent entries such as "Yume Saki Annainin"（夢先案内人）, which had also been created by Uzaki and Aki, and the classic "Ii Hi Tabidachi"（いい日旅立ち）.

For me, although I've enjoyed Momoe all throughout that decade that she held court in the fans' eyes on stage, TV, radio and movies, I would probably go with her late 70s era. The reason for that is because of that collaboration with Uzaki and Aki and that persona of a toughened and older seen-it-all, done-it-all woman in the fancy dress (have I mentioned that she retired at the age of 21?) with the lower and more intimidating voice. When she was performing, she came off as attractive yet hard-to-approach, hard but maybe(?) with a soft centre.

Stardust Revue -- Omoide ni Kawaru made（想い出にかわるまで）

Wow! Haven't used this photo as a thumbnail for a long time, and this was taken over 10 years ago when the English school where I was teaching at was located in Nakano-Sakaue, Tokyo (west of Shinjuku). The view was from the window right by the table where the student and teacher had their lesson, and it faced east toward the skyscrapers in West Shinjuku including the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building (basically City Hall). Always loved the fact that I could take this shot at sunset.

Appropriately enough, I have another City Pop tune for tonight, but this one is straight out of the 1980s. This would be the band Stardust Revue（スターダストレビュー）and their 6th single "Omoide ni Kawaru made" (Until My Memories Change) from January 1985.

Nice beat in there carrying the melody along, and it reminds me a lot of the rhythm in Minako Yoshida's（吉田美奈子）classic "TOWN". Words and music were provided by band keyboardist Yasuhiro Mitani（三谷泰弘）and those lyrics tell of a melancholy story of the breakup and resulting shock for a fellow possibly at high noon and by a major intersection. Not exactly looking for privacy, I take it? Well, the music is pretty jaunty anyways. The single was also included in Stardust Revue's March 1985 3rd album "Thank You".

Another reason that I went with vocalist Kaname Nemoto（根本要）and his band was that I just saw them on an episode of NHK's "Lunch ON!" show about working folks and their lunch habits. Apparently, Nemoto does love his spicy curry!