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.
When it comes to City Pop album covers, the one for Miharu Koshi's（越美晴）1980"On the Street ~ Miharu II" is one that stands out. Maybe it's just the way that the singer-songwriter is crossing the road in that white pantsuit. It just seems so disco for some reason although the disco days were pretty much over by then.
I've yet to get this one. The only Koshi albums I have thus far are the ones from her techno/New Wave era onwards although I was able to purchase her "Golden Best ~ RCA Years"BEST album which includes those early City Pop/AOR numbers between 1978 and 1981.
One track that is on both "On the Street" and that BEST album is "Tsuioku" (Reminiscences). Written and composed by Koshi, it has that light bossa in the City Pop with an intro that reminds me of Gino Vannelli and the keyboard Haze effect, that representative sound for 1970s City Pop. "Tsuioku" sounds oh-so-elegant although the lyrics rummage up a scene of a poor embittered fellow walking along the dark pier wondering what went wrong with a past romance. On the bittersweet level, this chocolate has at least 80% cacao in there.
Remembering Naomi Sugimura's（杉村尚美）"Sunset Memory"（サンセット・メモリー）, her first solo single in 1981 following the breakup of her folk group Higurashi（日暮し）, that song was a pretty jaunty kayo.
Sugimura's 3rd and final single released in June 1982 was "Kaze no Naka no Melody" (Melody in the Wind) is much more of an epic ballad with memories of some of the Carpenters' greatest love songs and some of those belonging to folks like Boz Scaggs. With those strings in there, I can only imagine that the protagonist must have gone through some major obstacles to finally reach her measure of contentment.
"Kaze no Naka no Melody" was written by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composed by Yayoi Tanaka（田中弥生）, and it was actually the theme song for a 1982 NTV drama called "Akkerakan"（あっけらかん...Indifference）about a newly-divorced nurse who still has to take care of her two young children.
I may have missed a golden opportunity of sorts by not doing a Father's Day or a Mother's Day special here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". After all, there have been several examples of double generations of artists in the Japanese music industry such as Seiko Matsuda（松田聖子）and her daughter Sayaka Kanda（神田沙也加）, singer/saxophonist Ayaka Hirahara（平原綾香）and her father, fellow sax player Makoto Hirahara（平原まこと）, and then folk singer Ryoko Moriyama（森山良子）and her son Naotaro（森山直太朗）.
Well, I just completed an article on Asako Toki's（土岐麻子）album"Ranhansha Girl"（乱反射ガール）earlier this morning, and while doing so, I found out that her father is veteran jazz saxophonist, Hidefumi Toki（土岐英史）. Hailing from Kobe, he specializes in the alto and soprano saxophones and has played in the jazz, fusion and R&B genres. After leaving the Osaka College of Music, he joined up with jazz bassist Isao Suzuki's（鈴木勲）group and other bands in the early 1970s before releasing his first solo album"TOKI" in 1975. Even more notably, he, along with keyboardist Toru Tsuzuki（続木徹）and guitarist Junshi Yamagishi（山岸潤史）formed the jazz/fusion band Chickenshack in 1985; sad to say, although I've already written a few articles on the group and even mentioned the main players in the first article, I never made the connection between Asako Toki and her father. Another notable fact is that Toki was a part of Tatsuro Yamashita's（山下達郎）concert tours between 1977 and 2011.
In 1978, Toki released his 2nd album"City" and the first track is "Speak Low", a jazz standard that made its debut in the Broadway musical "One Touch of Venus" back in 1943 and has since become popularized via singers and instrumentalists alike according to its Wikipedia article. I'm not even going to pretend that I'm anywhere near the level of a sage jazz critic, and I will simply say that Toki's "Speak Low" speaks to me as a cordial invitation to a classy bar in one of those skyscrapers of New York City which I think is where the cover of "City" was shot. As of 2016, Toki has released 10 albums.
For comparison's sake, you can listen to Sarah Vaughan's version from 1958 and then have a listen to John Coltrane's version with the Sonny Clark Sextet.
There's even a Speak Low cocktail! To finish off, I've been listening to the rest of Toki's "City" as I type this down and it's been a fine accompaniment as cool music on a hot day in my darkened room.
Happy weekend! We finally got some of that rain that we needed although things are still rather steamy out there if a bit cooler.
I'm not quite sure when I first encountered Asako Toki（土岐麻子）and her brand of light pop. Certainly, it was when I was still living in Japan so probably in the late 2000s. Either it was her cover of Yellow Magic Orchestra's"Kimi ni Mune Kyun"（君に、胸キュン）or Seiko Matsuda's（松田聖子）"Komugi Iro no Mermaid" (小麦色のマーメイド）that I heard at the CD section of a department store in Funabashi, Chiba Prefecture, not too far away from my city of Ichikawa. Being a fan of both songs helped but it was also that coquettish but not supremely high-toned voice that lured me into her grasp. Eventually, I would get a couple of albums by the Tokyo-born singer, her 2011 BEST album"Light" and then her 2010 original album"Ranhansha Girl"(Girl of Diffuse Reflection).
Both albums have one song that I've already covered, her own cover of "Human Nature" originally by Michael Jackson for the amazing "Thriller" album and performed by her and Sho Wada（和田唱）of the rock band TRICERATOPS.
But today is on "Ranhansha Girl" which is her 4th major studio album from May 2010. It's been categorized on J-Wiki as a rock album but after listening to it a few times, I really don't think so. Case in point: there's the second and title track about a guy who's about ready to give up on the journey of love when he gets hit by the light of a lady who's apparently half-woman and half-extremely polished prism. He doesn't stand a chance. Written by Toki and composed by Daisuke Kawaguchi（川口大輔）, this is very twinkly pop with strings attached for that light sophistication.
That J-Wiki rock label gets further driven away with Track 3, "Nessa no Onna"（熱砂の女...Hot Sand Woman）. The title track had its elements of synthpop but "Nessa no Onna" gets even deeper into the synths with this bouncy and dreamy tune that tries to encourage the title lady to get back onto the romance track again. Toki was behind the lyrics here, too, with G.RINA providing the melody.
"Usubeni no CITY"（薄紅のCITY...Light Pink City） is one of my favourites on "Ranhansha Girl" as it takes on that contemporary form of City Pop while it describes a refreshing view of the life in the metropolis as the shackles of winter finally come off. Provide a romanticized model of your favourite city (Tokyo, Toronto or New York, for example) and "Usubeni no CITY" can be the theme song as you head downstairs to that brunch place for prosciutto-filled croissants and coffee. Junji Ishiwatari（いしわたり淳治）, guitarist for the band SUPERCAR, provided the lyrics while Hidetoshi Sakurai（桜井秀俊）of Magokoro Brothers（真心ブラザーズ）was behind the happy music.
Along with Michael Jackson's"Human Nature", Toki has also provided another cover of a song by a legend. This time, it's The Beatles' "All You Need Is Love" with that mix of Toki mellow pop and friendly small-town feeling. Kazumasa Hashimoto（カズマサ・ハシモト）arranged it, and I remember it well since it was used as the commercial song for docomo. Incidentally "All You Need Is Love" is the very first song by The Fab Four that I had ever heard...maybe it was because of my viewing of "Yellow Submarine" on CBS when I was a toddler.
My final song for the article today is "Sentimental" which is also another winner in my books. With lyrics by Toki and music by Kensuke Okuda（奥田健介）, guitarist/keyboardist of Nona Reeves, I love it for the sunny soulful groove. When I saw its involvement by someone from a band like Nona Reeves, I figured that it would get my aural stamp of approval. In addition to that groove, I also like the crystalline sound of the synthesizer that takes things into a more futuristic environment; I'm pushing it a tad far here, admittedly, but "Sentimental" almost sounds like the return of 70s/80s R&B in the 22nd century.
"Ranhansha Girl" had been another one of those albums that I let stew a while after my first listening to it but returning to it, I'm happy that I can appreciate it even more now. The album peaked at No. 32 on Oricon.
Well, giving myself the Gibbs Slap upside my head once more since I'm about 19 days late to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the release of Yellow Magic Orchestra's beloved creation "Rydeen". Yep, it was released as YMO's 2nd single on June 21st 1980, although it had already gotten its introduction through the album "Solid State Survivor" the previous year in September. I had just been wrapping things up for the night when I saw some of those YouTube videos for the tune and out of curiosity, I checked the J-Wiki article. Wow! 40 years...
Not sure, but I think "Rydeen" may be the one song on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" that has gotten the most follow-ups, including this one. I remember that Marcos V. covered its cover by E-Girls in 2014 and then anime fans got reminded about it through "Sound! Euphonium".
Now, how do I celebrate it? Well, I can mention that "Rydeen" has been used in a commercial.
This is the one for Pocky with Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）, Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）and Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）themselves appearing in 2014. They just had to be there!
I've been hearing about it for years, but "Rydeen" was also used as the theme song for a long-running game show in Italy called "Bis".
I also just learned that "Rydeen" has been used by Tokyo Giants supporters to cheer on their baseball team.
Plus, it has been used as the entrance theme for pro wrestler Ricky Steamboat whenever he comes to Japan.
Finally, there are all of the remix versions for "Rydeen" on YouTube of which I've enjoyed Chick Norman's tributes above and below. If any of you have any other recommendations, please let me know.
What can I say about one of the cornerstone songs that helped usher me into the wonderful world of popular Japanese music? Fell in love with "Rydeen" and have yet to fall out. I've loved all of YMO's catchy technopop tunes all these years but why has "Rydeen" pulled such a spell on me? I guess it's because when I do hear it, I recall how Japan was simply bursting with energy, industry and technology at the time of its release. If there are homemade music videos using the song, I will always envisage tons of Japanese commuters, trains and other vehicles racing all over TO-KI-O at breakneck speed. Maybe one fellow was right..."Rydeen" was the theme song for Japan in the 1980s.
My only wish right now is that somehow it gets used in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 (if the Games do occur). Anyways, Happy 40th!
I gather that there is some sort of record in this. To explain, this is the first time probably in "Kayo Kyoku Plus" history that I've written about two City Pop songs by two different female singers, each with the Japanese word sasowarete on the same day. One is the first article I did earlier this afternoon, Eri Hayakawa's（早川英梨）"Sasowarete Natsu"（誘われて夏）.
This article is on pop singer Chiyono Yoshino's（吉野千代乃）3rd single"Slow Dance ni Sasowarete" (Invite Me for A Slow Dance) from October 1986. Sweet, sultry and smoky, nonetheless I was at first wondering whether the song could still be categorized as a City Pop number, but I couldn't help but feel the urban contemporary nature of it all. Even though there isn't a really huge boppy bass in there, there is the bluesy saxophone, and the strings and keyboard bring that certain air of sophisticated pop.
"Slow Dance ni Sasowarete" was written by Goro Matsui（松井五郎）and composed by Hideya Nakazaki（中崎英也） and is the first track on Yoshino's 2nd album"SLOW DANCE" which came out on the same day as the single. I've just got the one album by her, "Montage" as you can see in the photo at the top but from listening to some of her other tunes on YouTube, I really ought to invest some more of her back catalog. She's starting to strike me as one of the more underrated pop singers in the 1980s.
Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）, who is currently the sophomore anison singer, has been given the eternal title of The King of Love Songs. Well, to share the wealth so to speak, perhaps I can knight another wonderfully cool crooner as The King of Kansai Soul. The recipient of that sword tap on the shoulder is Masaki Ueda（上田正樹）, born in Kyoto and partly schooled in Hyogo Prefecture, and who's been most famous to me for his "Osaka Bay Blues" originally recorded in 1982.
In the same year that Martin came out with one of my favourite songs by him, "Mou Namida wa Iranai"（もう涙はいらない）, Ueda released his September 1992 single"Wagamama" (Selfish). When I first heard "Wagamama", I automatically recognized his similarly smoky vocals but this time with a City Pop arrangement that reflected those early 1990s, primarily through the synths and other keyboards. Once again, it's all about the champagne-and-caviar feeling for that era of City Pop although I think by 1992, the Economic Bubble had already burst.
Written and composed by Ueda, the mellow and loving melody also has lyrics of some consternation from the protagonist who's actually hoping the affair will end but not because of any loss of love. Apparently the whole thing has been too exquisitely painful.
To end the article, I guess my final comparison between Suzuki and Ueda is that whereas the former looks like a nightclubbing tough guy, I've always found the latter to be more of the professorial cool guy. Would be interesting to know whether the two soul singers have ever collaborated.
