AIRMAIL from NAGASAKI/Seiko Tomizawa -- Go-fun Dake no Wagamama（5分だけのわがまま）

Last month, I wrote about this band with the unusual name of AIRMAIL from NAGASAKI which was responsible for the anison "Melos no You ni - LONELY WAY"（メロスのように）, the theme song for "Aoki Ryuusei SPT Layzner",（蒼き流星SPTレイズナー...Blue Comet SPT Layzner） back in 1985. The band also struck me as rather distinct as a group that sounded a bit like a Johnny's Entertainment group from that era such as Shonentai（少年隊）and Hikaru Genji（光GENJI）but was actually a "homegrown" band with a slightly mellower approach.

After being around since 1980 under the name Band Liverpool and then AIRMAIL from NAGASAKI, there was just that one single "Melos no You ni" in 1985 and then a mini-album "DOGEN?" the following year after which the band broke up. From that album, I bring you "Go-fun Dake no Wagamama" (Just Five Minutes of Selfishness).

As with "Melos no You ni", "Go-fun Dake no Wagamama" was written by Yasushi Akimoto（秋元康）and composed by Hideya Nakazaki（中崎英也）as this pillowy love song. Not sure if this is a ballad about a final embrace before breakup or just enjoying that daily surreptitious hug and kiss before the lovebird high school kids take off for their respective homes. It's an interesting tune because of vocalist/guitarist Toshiya Noshita's（野下俊哉）singing which can't help but feel like something that the aforementioned Johnny's groups would croon, but at the same time, that singing and the arrangement by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）also reminds me of the works of other bands from that decade such as H2O and Omega Tribe. It's definitely got that sunset feeling.

I only found this out while I was writing this article, but "Go-fun Dake no Wagamama" also has that connection with "Aoki Ryuusei SPT Layzner" after all. The song was the first ending theme for the anime but was recorded by singer-songwriter Seiko Tomizawa（富沢聖子）who has provided her fair share of anison.

BaBe -- She has a dream

BaBe may have had a brief time in the spotlight as singing duos go and the baton was passed over to Wink from the late 1980s into the early 1990s, but Tomoko Kondo（近藤智子）and Yukari Nikaido（二階堂ゆかり）left a still-recognizable and memorable sound in my head, thanks to singles like their Eurobeat-y "I Don't Know!".

In total, BaBe released 8 singles and 5 original albums between 1987 and 1990, and as I mentioned, whenever I think of any of their songs, I remember that Kondo and Nikaido were the pre-Wink Eurobeat aidoru duo. However, listening to their final single "She has a dream" which was released in March 1989, try as I might, I didn't really hear any of that familiar Eurobeat.

Written by Ken Takahashi（高橋研）and composed by Mayumi Horikawa（堀川まゆみ）, I think BaBe and the powers-that-be behind them were trying to retool their sound somewhat into something more urban contemporary and sophisticated with "She has a dream". I certainly like the melody here and it was hoped that they would smash a hit out of the park. The song was even adopted as the official theme for the 1989 World Sports Fair taking place in Japan; the annual event lasted between 1983 and 1992 and included introducing various sports from around the globe.

Alas, "She has a dream" did just OK by peaking at No. 37 and sold around 14,000 copies. The song was also included on BaBe's 4th album from April 1989, "Brand-new". However, about a year later in March 1990, it was decided that BaBe would disband.

Masayuki Suzuki -- Motivation

Looks like Martin has been on a tear recently with his provision of theme songs for anime and live-action dramas.

This time around, Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）has provided a new song for the second coming of an NTV comedy-drama titled "Haken no Hinkaku"（ハケンの品格...The Pride of a Temp）. It had been given a lot of hype on TV Japan for quite a few weeks before Episode 1 showed up last Monday, and Ryoko Shinohara（篠原涼子）stars as a hypercompetent but extremely stoic temp employee. Perhaps she underwent the Kolinahr ritual on Vulcan.

Yup, Suzuki has come up with "Motivation" for those who love their cheer-up songs extra funky. Written and composed by John Acosta, Vincent Degiorgio and Manami, I got those old "Dry-Dry" vibes after my first listen, and perhaps Morris Day and even Tom Jones would indeed approve. I was reading at least one comment which breathlessly wondered whether this would be the new theme for Season 3 of "Kaguya-sama: Love is War". Man, the anime fans really want Season 3 badly!

The music video above shows that Martin is the guy who can make choreography with a lone chair and a brownout not only possible but very sexy. "Motivation" can be found on the 3rd disc of his "ALL TIME ROCK 'N' ROLL" Best compilation which was released back in April.

Shigeru Suzuki -- Rainy Station（レイニー・ステイション）

Although this song was first recorded probably some two decades before the arrival of the bayside community of Odaiba in Tokyo, "Rainy Station" has that beachside feeling along the lines of a Tatsuro Yamashita（山下達郎）feel-good song.

"Rainy Station" is the first track on singer-musician-songwriter Shigeru Suzuki's（鈴木茂）4th album "Caution!" from January 1978, and sure enough, the former member of Happy End provided the uptempo melody which would fit a summer car ride down to Shonan. His former bandmate, Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）, has spun a different story, though. Apparently the lyrics deal with a man taking his supposedly soon-to-be-former girlfriend to the station during a rainy day and getting ready to make his goodbyes.

But the crafty devil seems to know the tropes quite well and he even points that out in the words, since when the young lady is just about to board the train, she ends up doing an about-face and crumpling into his chest in tears. Just couldn't part from him. Somehow I can see him looking directly into the camera while he's reassuring his girlfriend and giving a knowing wink. Maybe the clouds are about to break.

According to the YouTube video's explanation, Suzuki had a lot of famous musicians helping out on "Rainy Station", which was also his 2nd single released in 1978. Keyboardists Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）and Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, bassist Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, and percussionist Nobu Saito（斉藤ノブ）among others were there, and I'm assuming that they were also contributing to at least some of the other tracks on "Caution!".

Kei Marimura -- Watashi dake no Le Mans（私だけのル・マン）

I first heard about Kei Marimura（真梨邑ケイ）since she had a splendid song on one of the "Good Times Diva" series CDs that I'd been collecting for a few years in Japan. Unfortunately, I have yet to find that song but she's still got plenty of tunes represented on YouTube.

Marimura is a jazz singer, TV/movie actress, novelist and porn actress. Yep, you read that last one correctly. I figured that I might as well get that particular occupation out of the way.

From what I've seen of her discography on her J-Wiki profile, the Tokyo-born actress has released many albums but only 4 singles up to 2016. From her 1985 album "Tiempo de Amor", here is "Watashi dake no Le Mans" (Le Mans Just For Me). Outside of the famous motor race, I know next to nothing about this French city, but from how Marimura's song sounds (shimmery light Latin Resort Pop with some jazzy highlights), it seems like there is a very pleasant high life there, although she is mentioning aspects of that race. Maybe it's like Monte Carlo?

Well, we'll just have to take a look, won't we? In any case, "Watashi dake no Le Mans" was written by Masako Arikawa（有川正沙子）and composed by Akira Okamoto（岡本朗）. Okamoto had a stage name earlier in his singing career, Issei Okamoto（岡本一生）, and he's got an entry on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", "Moonlight Singing".

Kaze -- Umikaze（海風）

For an October 1977 album that has been categorized as a folk release, "Umikaze" (Sea Breeze) by the folk duo Kaze（風）starts off with something that really doesn't sound like a languid or strident folk tune.

The first tune is the title tune. Beginning with a guitar riff that reminds me either of Simon & Garfunkel or "Kimi Janakya Dame Mitai" （君じゃなきゃダメみたい）, the opening theme for the hilarious anime "Gekkan Shojo Nozaki-kun"（月刊少女野崎くん...Girls' Monthly Nozaki-kun）, "Umikaze" is a darn rollicking City Pop/J-AOR song. Performed by Shozo Ise（伊勢正三）and Kazuhisa Okubo（大久保一久）, it really demands a car, a car stereo and a bayside highway to go along with the attractive funkiness of it which includes a cool sax solo.

Words and music were provided by Ise, who's no stranger to the urban contemporary, and his "Umikaze" is delivered as his recommendation of a sea breeze to cure all that ails you. Well, driving in a top-down convertible during a summer sunset along the coast, I think that many can relate to that. As for "Umikaze" the album, it hit No. 1 and became the 43rd-ranked release for 1978. I'll have to check out some of the other tracks.

However, when I was living in Japan, there was another Sea Breeze that provided the pause that refreshes.

Ami Ozaki -- Angela

Welcome to Friday! The long history of pop music here has included songs with people's names as the titles, probably the majority being women's names. I remember "Laura", the title theme for the famous film noir of 1944 (man, that original rendition actually sent a wonderful shiver up and down my spine). Then, there is "Sherry" by Frankie Vallie & The Four Seasons that I used to hear when I was a kid...mostly through those K-Tel LP Greatest Hits commercials. Plus, I can throw in TOTO's "Rosanna".

But along with "Rosanna", there was another pop hit that became one of my touchstone songs for my beloved decade of the 1980s and that would be "Gloria" by the late Laura Branigan in 1982. I heard this on loud and heavy rotation from a radio that one resident in the townhouse complex where I had been painting fences during my summer job period. Recently, "Gloria" was adopted as the victory song for the NHL's St. Louis Blues in their successful march to the Stanley Cup championship last year. Nice to hear that one again after so long.

I've found that Japanese popular music has been no stranger to "name" song titles, either. Hirofumi Bamba（ばんばひろふみ）came up with his ballad for "Sachiko" and Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）provided her melancholy cautionary tale with "Natalie".

The tradition continues here with Ami Ozaki's（尾崎亜美）"Angela", a track from her 1981 album "Hot Baby". As I mentioned in that article, the album is a City Pop/J-AOR classic thanks to Ozaki's collaboration with Airplay (David Foster & Jay Graydon) and members from the aforementioned TOTO. My feeling is that Ozaki most likely went over to the United States for recording instead of the other way around. But if Steve Lukather and Jeff Porcaro had gone to a Tokyo recording studio and needed to use the washroom, would the staff member have cheekily said "TOTO, meet Toto"?😛

OK, well, we'll flush that down the toilet right now. Getting back to the main part of the story, I think the album really has that Airplay touch, and hearing "Angela" with that drum rush, those specific keyboards and those guitars, it's so Airplay/TOTO, it hurts! I have that sudden craving to either wrap a pink cardigan around my waist or get a mullet haircut.

Ozaki provided words and music with Foster handling the arrangement. And it's unmistakably her song due to her vocal style and the original melody. The really bouncy music is set alongside lyrics that describe Angela as a real handful. In fact, this may be a song about either a tsundere or the masochistic guy who adores her, despite her temper tantrums. I'd probably say the combination would make for an ideal theme song for some sort of rom-com live-action TV series or anime.