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.
Well, my age-old question has finally been answered. What if an aidoru-esque Midori Karashima（辛島美登里）and Michael Sembello from the 1980s collaborated?
Yes, rather tongue-in-cheek for a Tuesday but that's the favourable impression that I got when I first saw "CITY", a track from the mini-album "Moonrise" which isn't even due to be released until late September 2020. The singer behind it is Ai Furihata（降幡愛）who is also a seiyuu hailing from Nagano Prefecture.
Furihata wrote the lyrics with Akimitsu Honma（本間昭光）providing the music. That melody sounds so much like early 1980s Billboard-friendly pop that I felt like Honma must have been inspired by Sembello's "Maniac" from the immensely popular "Flashdance" soundtrack or maybe even Oliva Newton-John's "Twist of Fate" hit single. As for lyricist-singer Furihata, a good chunk of her voice reminds me a lot of singer-songwriter Karashima because of that nasality. Then, there's that music video which pretty much yells out "I LOVE VAPORWAVE!".
Along with her work on anime, I also found out that Furihata is also a member of the anime aidoru group Aqours found in "Love Live! Sunshine!!".Shuka Saito（斉藤朱夏）, who I wrote about recently, is also a member.
I mentioned this in passing in my article for Akiko Kobayashi's（小林明子）"Kokoro no Honoo"（こころの炎）, her cover version of "Somewhere Out There", the poignant duet between Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram for the 1986 animated movie "An American Tail". Although the single was released with just Kobayashi singing the tune, she actually did do a duet version of "Kokoro no Honoo" with singer-songwriter Jiro Sugita（杉田二郎）at one of her concerts which was recorded on her "In Concert ~ A Changing".
That was actually the first time that I had ever heard of Sugita, and from his performance of the song with Kobayashi, my impression was that he was more of a jazzy crooner like Akira Fuse（布施明）. Little did I know at the time that he was responsible for the 1971 folk hit "Senso wo Shiranai Kodomo Tachi"（戦争を知らない子供たち）when he was in his folk group Jiros（ジローズ）.
Last night, when I was listening to the New J Channel radio, I heard this haunting and attractive song from Sugita's first solo album "Apartment 1109"（アパートメント 1109）which was released in October 1972. "Hitori ni Nareba" (If I Were Alone) struck me with a woman's dreamy reprise of the title that swept through my headphones as Sugita gave his gentle view on loneliness. Written by Kohei Oikawa（及川恒平）and composed by the singer, "Hitori ni Nareba" has that folksy lilt but I think the melody even tilts a tad close to New Music or City Pop because I could envisage that individual young person making his/her way through life in the big city while cooped up in the danchi.
Although according to Sugita himself in the above concert video footage, it's Hiro Yanagida's band backing him up here, I read in his J-Wiki file that Off-Course（オフコース）had also been his backing group when they were still paying their dues. Regarding that video, it's just too bad that Sugita's live performance couldn't have that woman's haunting reprise included. For me, that's the secret sauce for "Hitori ni Nareba".
One of the more interestingly titled Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）songs that I've ever encountered, I kinda wondered what the deal was with "Harujoon/Himejoon".
The second track on Yuming's（ユーミン）5th original album"Benisuzume"（紅雀...Strawberry Finch） from March 1978 and her 10th single from that same month, it's got a lot of that exotic kayo atmosphere so I can compare it with a few of those songs which were popular for that feeling of overseas travel such as Judy Ongg's（ジュディ・オング）"Miserarete"（魅せられて）and Saki Kubota's（久保田早紀）"Ihojin"（異邦人）. Therefore, I was left wondering whether that unusual title was referring to a certain language's deep expressions or actual locations in another country.
As it turns out, it was neither. Actually, those two words refer to a couple of species of daisy of which only one is even mentioned in Yuming's lyrics. In English, those daisies are scientifically named Erigeron Philadelphicus and Erigeron Annuus. Speaking of those lyrics, my image is that a lady has returned to her hometown to give a final goodbye to a loved one who has unfortunately left this mortal coil far too soon, and realizing that although the town has remained the same, she hasn't. I guess that it might be like the expression "You can't go home again", and the melody has that certain melancholy feeling.
The single didn't do all that well on Oricon, only getting as high as No. 80, although the album "Benisuzume" peaked at No. 2 and finished the year as the 25th-ranked album. Still I'm pretty certain that "Harujoon/Himejoon" has gained in favour among Yuming fans considering that it's been placed on her concert playlists, and also it plays quite well in my head.
I don't know when Keiko Terada（寺田恵子）from the rock band SHOW-YA did her slightly more urban contemporary pop cover of "Harujoon/Himejoon", but according to the video below, it looks like Terada did a one-shot of this song that she has always loved. Perhaps, though she may have included it as a track in one of her albums.
There is a fair share of people over here in Canada and the United States who have an interest in the supernatural, and that is also true for the Japanese. Folklore abounds there with tales of long-necked women, kappa sprites, and other creatures, and there are plenty of scary tales to chill listeners right down to the bone even in the hottest of summers.
One of the more recent phenomena to get folks' hackles up is the shinrei shashin（心霊写真...ghost pictures） in which faces or other body parts mysteriously pop up behind people and in structures. Personally, I think it's more of a visual coincidence or a double exposure in those photos than anything else but I've watched variety shows in which the tarento turned multiple shades of blue and grey and screamed their heads off at all sorts of weird shots. The above video has about 7 minutes' worth of shinrei shashin so watch...if you dare.😝😝
Another phenomenon is the audio version of the shinrei shashin...ghost sounds. Years ago when I was living in Ichikawa, a couple of my good single friends who used to visit me all the time at home (they are now both happily married with kids) dropped in one time and told me about the urban legend that a Dreams Come True single "go for it!" had some weird voice pop up near the end. Now, I did write about that song all the way back in 2013 but never mentioned this part since frankly I had forgotten the whole incident, but I did have the CD so I played it on the Onkyo a couple of times for them with the volume way up.
Now, the supposed weird voice pops up at about 2:54 in the above video (Sorry but the recorded version has been taken down so you'll have to rely on your own copies) for "go for it!". My good buddies' faces froze when they heard it but I couldn't quite get it myself since I had heard it every time that I played the cheerful DCT song. To me, it was just an added spoken vocal for flavour...not an anguished cry from Hell.😏 I looked at them, both of who were/are far more kakkoii than me, and wondered what the problem was here.
There was a similar story regarding rock band B'z. Their November 1990 album "Risky" was a big No. 1 hit to be sure, but it also garnered some more infamy and the story even reached the popular Fuji-TV noon hour show "Waratte Ii Tomo!"（笑っていいとも！）one day in 1993. Supposedly, certain CD copies of the album didn't start off with that 1-minute-and-change instrumental which was the title track. Instead, as host Tamori and comedy duo Utchan-Nanchan found out, it started out with a moaning female voice. Consider your hackles risen!😱
Anyways, here is that first track "Risky" from the album of the same name, sans spooky voice (although there is some sexy exhalation in there...I'd take that). At the end, vocalist Koshi Inaba（稲葉浩志）poses the question "Where do we go?".
Well, let's go to another track "Itoshii Hito yo Good Night" (My Dearie, Good Night) which also happened to be the duo's 7th single released in October 1990. The song was also tagged as the first B'z ballad to be released as a single, and it sounds like a song that should have been added to the "Top Gun" soundtrack. Just something about that proud and elegiac guitar in the intro and the more emotional heft in Inaba's vocals.
However, it was actually made into the ending theme for the TV Asahi drama "Daihyo Torishimayaku Deka"（代表取締役刑事...Representative Director Detective） from that same year. Well, we've had a busybody maid, two housewives and high school students become sleuths on live-action TV from my memories. Why not a representative director?
Not surprisingly, "Itoshii Hito yo Good Night" hit No. 1 and went Platinum, selling 354,000 copies according to Wikipedia. It would become the 62nd-ranked single for 1990. As for "Risky" the album, it was truly the gift that kept on giving (spooky-voiced copies aside) because it wouldn't only be the 26th-ranked album of 1990, but also the 10th-ranked album for 1991and finally the 50th-ranked album for 1992. In total, it sold almost 1.7 million copies! For the record stores and supervising studio, not risky at all! Incidentally, "Easy Come, Easy Go!", a previous single, is also included on the album.
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 H2Oand 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 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 Fairtaking 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.
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.
