The Last Show -- Blue Lonesome Lady（ブルー・ロンサム・レディ）

I gather that Rocket Raccoon had another partner before he met up with Groot. Anyways, it's a lovely day outside with the sun filtering in so maybe something mellow to start off another "Kayo Kyoku Plus" day.

There was a song on one of the "Light Mellow" series of CDs by this band The Last Show（ザ・ラストショウ）but the one featured here isn't it. Consisting of co-vocalists Koichi Matsuda（松田幸一）on harmonica and Ritsu Murakami（村上律）on steel pedal guitar, guitarist Hirofumi Tokutake（徳武弘文）, drummer Eiji Shimamura（島村英二）and bassist Tetsuzo Kawai（河合徹三）, The Last Show came together as the backing band for folk and rock singer Shigeru Izumiya（泉谷しげる）in 1974 but has also worked as a session band behind other singers including Jiro Sugita（杉田二郎）and Agnes Chan（アグネス・チャン）. In addition, according to their J-Wiki entry, it was named after Peter Bogdanovich's 1971 film "The Last Picture Show" which was actually known as "Last Show" when it was featured in Japan.

Just two albums, a single and a contribution to a movie soundtrack have totaled their output thus far. Their second album "Last Show 2" was released in 1978, and from it, I have "Blue Lonesome Lady", a country-blues creation which ought to have listeners kicking back with their beer in relaxation. Written and composed by Matsuda, it's the type of tune that possibly would have had country singers such as Crystal Gayle and Charley Pride sitting up and taking notice at the fact that the Japanese could come up with their own ballads of the genre. Listening to "Blue Lonesome Lady" a few times now, I find that Matsuda has a similar voice to that of Yoshitaka Minami（南佳孝）; in fact, I could imagine Minami covering this one.

I think The Last Show probably called it a day in the late 1970s but apparently, they came back together in 2008 to perform live, and in 2010, a new album by them was released. According to the writeup for the above song at YouTube, guitarist Amos Garrett was a guest performer on "Blue Lonesome Lady" or throughout the album. Garrett was born in Detroit but also grew up in Montreal and Toronto.

Kinniku Shoujo Tai -- Norman Bates (ノーマン・ベイツ)

Yeah, I just had to get that thumbnail of psychopath Norman Bates up there for this article. I finally saw Alfred Hitchcock's classic "Psycho" a few years ago, and to be honest, considering some of the gory flicks that have gushed onto the screens in the decades since "Psycho" (especially during the age of torture porn), that movie is pretty tame and I certainly didn't expect something like that near-PSA at the end at the police station. Still, the late Anthony Perkins could have earned an Oscar nomination just for his final stare at the camera, and I'm sure at the time when the movie was released, it may have had folks eschewing showers in the same way that 15 years later people didn't dare go into the ocean because of "Jaws".

I'm also fairly certain that there have been a number of rock bands everywhere in the last 60 years that have created and performed songs with the title "Norman Bates", and I did find a German punk band called The Bates which was named after cinema's most terrifying hotel proprietor.

Commenter Fireminer asked me about this band called Kinniku Shoujo Tai（筋肉少女帯...Muscle Girl Band） which I hadn't known about, to be perfectly frank. However, when I saw the kanji name for the vocalist Kenji Ohtsuki（大槻ケンヂ）, that rather lit a light bulb over my head but for the like of me, I couldn't initially figure out why. He has created songs for other performers but didn't know those, and he also provided anison (as a songwriter and performer) but again, these weren't tunes that I was aware of. Then, I realized that his name has popped up in my hard drive of anison that my anime buddy was very kind in giving me years ago, so that was the recognition factor there. But he's not just a rock musician and songwriter; he's also been an actor and according to his Wikipedia entry, he has been a novelist and essayist, even winning the Seiun Award for speculative fiction one year.

But getting back to Kinniku Shoujo Tai and "Norman Bates", Ohtsuki first got the band together in the early 1980s. They released a couple of indies albums in 1985 and 1987 before their major debut took place in June 1988 with the album "Buddha L"（仏陀L）and the single "Shaka"（釈迦…Gautama Buddha）. On that album, sure enough, was "Norman Bates". Normally, growly hard rock or punk rock isn't my thing, but there is something interesting about this tune that was written and composed by Ohtsuki, and I believe it's that persistent keyboard riff which I wouldn't hear in a song of this genre. It gives the song a slightly more classical feeling and at the same time, something suspenseful perhaps along the same lines of those screeching violins from "Psycho". Looking at those lyrics by the songwriter, it seems like he was really trying to get the essence of Perkins' Norman as they speak of the protagonist waxing about his relationship with his significant other...perhaps Mother. Moreover, there is that one line that Ohtsuki continues to spit out accusingly like that stabbing knife in the shower on poor Marion: Ikiteku dake daro（生きてくだけだろ...You just want to live on）. Maybe I should have saved this one for Halloween. As for "Buddha L", it peaked at No. 58 on Oricon.

To help with the cool down from the above intensity, perhaps you can finish off with the parody of the shower scene within Mel Brooks' "High Anxiety". I do believe that is future director Barry Levinson as the crazed bellboy...he probably didn't get a tip.

Yukihiro Takahashi -- Ongaku Satsujin（音楽殺人）

Commenter Michael pointed it out to me earlier this morning and I had also read an article about it on the Mixi news feed a day before, but a few weeks ago, singer/musician/songwriter Yukihiro Takahashi（高橋幸宏）, famous as one-third of the technopop group Yellow Magic Orchestra had to go into surgery to get a brain tumour removed. I did find an article at "Arama Japan", in which apparently he had the operation in which the tumour was successfully removed on August 13th, and according to the man himself, things are looking pretty good, although there is currently no timeline for his return to music. I would tell him to take things easy and smell the roses and coffee really deeply.

As such, I wanted to provide a tribute to Takahashi tonight and so I'm going with his second solo single and the title track from his second album "Ongaku Satsujin" (Murdered by the Music), both of which were released on June 21st 1980.

First off, I want to offer my apologies to anyone who may think, considering the contents from that initial paragraph, that it may be a little tasteless and a little too soon to go with a Takahashi song with that title, but for one thing, the prognosis for Takahashi is good, and for a second thing, "Ongaku Satsujin" is pretty darn good as well, and it was the song that caught my ear hard as I was searching for a new Takahashi number to cover.

I have yet to listen to the rest of the album but Wikipedia has an article devoted to "Ongaku Satsujin", and his YMO bandmates, Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）and collaborator Hideki Matsutake（松武秀樹）were involved. Additionally, vocalist Sandii of Sandii & The Sunsetz and guitarist Makoto Ayukawa（鮎川誠）of Sheena & The Rokkets also gave their contributions to "Ongaku Satsujin". As I said, YMO was basically in the house on this album, but just from the title track, this isn't the usual technopop although synthesizers are indeed involved. Aside from the intro, the single "Ongaku Satsujin" is some jolly New Wave about a fellow who got a little too far into his radio-listening hobby and ended up dead in that "pool of sound".

Chris Mosdell provided the lyrics of overindulging the FM while Takahashi and the aforementioned Ayukawa came up with the music that had me thinking of "Pump It Up" by Elvis Costello & The Attractions and "Shake It Up" by The Cars. A lot of skinny guys in their skinny ties and skinny slacks there. I think it's also Mosdell playing the victim who sounds like Mr. Bill getting attacked by water. Also, some great solo guitar work there perhaps by Ayukawa.

The album "Ongaku Satsujin" peaked at either No. 12 or No. 14 on Oricon according to the J-Wiki article. Once more, I'm extending my good wishes to Takahashi on an excellent convalescence and if he ever encounters this article, this was never meant as an unfunny poke at his situation.

Hibari Misora -- Tsugaru no Furusato（津軽のふるさと）

NHK's "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）returned after a hiatus of several weeks due to the pandemic, and though it wasn't a complete comeback with the usual audience and participants in this most public of karaoke outings, it was still nice to see veterans such as Saburo Kitajima（北島三郎）back on the show to talk about some of those highlights of episodes past. Of course, those highlights consisted of folks everywhere around the nation performing kayo kyoku and J-Pop galore in which one was an early Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）kayo titled "Tsugaru no Furusato" (My Home of Tsugaru).

There's something about that part of Aomori Prefecture which must be so profound to invite songwriters to create odes to the area. Naturally, one famous song is "Tsugaru Kaikyo Fuyu Geshiki" （津軽海峡・冬景色）by Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）. If and when I return to Japan once more, I will have to see if I can visit that area.

Anyways as mentioned, I heard one lady perform Misora's "Tsugaru no Furusato", and since it was a song by her that I had never known until last Sunday, I was instantly interested. According to the J-Wiki article for it, it was the B-side to the legend's January 1953 45" single "Umakko Sensei"（馬っ子先生...Umakko The Teacher）, and "Tsugaru no Furusato" serves as the thematic sequel to her more famous "Ringo Oiwake"（リンゴ追分）as both delve into life on that apple orchard, have a fairly melancholy melody and were created by Masao Yoneyama（米山正夫）.

Listening to the original version a few times now, I can't really say that it's an enka tune (although I've classified "Ringo Oiwake" as both enka and pop) and indeed the J-Wiki article has categorized it as a straight kayo. There's something about Yoneyama's melody that makes it sound even European operatic at points and it even comes across as a ballad that I could have heard in some film of nearly a century's standing.

According to the uploader msk for the above video (that video has been replaced), this performance is from 1985 and just from the stage and the subtitles, it was probably on some NHK stage somewhere. Of course, more than thirty years on following its release, Misora's voice had deepened and become more complex, plus the arrangement for this performance had become fancier but the innate sadness of the original song still remains. Once again, the lyrics seem to suggest perhaps a form of survivor's guilt by the young Misora and others back then as they live and work in the postwar idyllic Tsugaru while remembering those who didn't make it through the war years.

Monari Wakita -- Espadrilles de Tsukamaete（エスパドリーユでつかまえて）

From ebay.co.uk

Espadrilles...I've heard the term but wasn't 100% sure on what those were but thanks to Jisho.org and Wikipedia, I realized that they were a form of casual shoe. Perhaps they are trendy now but I wouldn't know about anything about that.

The reason that I have begun this article with a shoe is that I found out about this song by former Especia member Monari Wakita（脇田もなり）titled "Espadrilles de Tsukamaete" (Grab Him With the Espadrilles). This is Wakita's most recent single that came out over a year ago in July 2019. Earlier today, I had completed an article on a Satellite Young song and compared it to some of the stuff that Especia was doing, and I then wondered what other delights I could find of the now-disbanded group and then I stumbled onto Wakita's solo material.

I'll tell you...as soon as I heard those lovely synths in the opening of "Espadrilles de Tsukamaete", I knew that I was in for something good. Marcos V. introduced her solo stuff through a couple of Author's Pick compilation articles but I'm also happy to add an article in the Wakita file with her name in the actual byline above, especially for something this catchy. The synths are just the beginning here; the overall rhythm and chords involved are very appealing to me as I get hints of Neo-City Pop, soul and some of that synthpop. I think the arrangement is such that I can probably drop the aidoru tag for her here.

Moreover, "Espadrilles de Tsukamaete" and its urban contemporary goodness got the naruhodo remark from me when I read that it was genre mainstays Hitomitoi（一十三十一）behind the lyrics and dorian who took care of the cool blippity-bloppity beats. The two of them had also worked together almost a decade previously on the song "summer rich".

Finally, I have to also thank the video for pointing out what those espadrilles were all about. It was made pretty plain to me.

Satellite Young -- Modern Romance

Last week, I had a talk with an old friend of mine who's been extremely busy managing one of the movie theatres here in Toronto because of all of the safety concerns regarding COVID-19. Not sure when I'm going to have the opportunity to talk with him in person again, but hopefully before the autumn comes in earnest and the chances of infection rise once more, maybe we can grab dinner a couple of times. In any case, he told me that he's become a fan of the synthwave trio Satellite Young which rang a few bells, and I remember that both Marcos V. and I had written articles on this band that has had a love for all things pop cultural from the 1980s. The Eighties are also the decade that I've associated myself with the most.

Their November 2017 single "Modern Romance" isn't an instant classic with me but listening to it, it's got that retro-futuristic aidoru feeling that has been a mainstay theme for Satellite Young, especially punctuated by those nostalgia-sparking synthesizers. The sound actually reminded me of the work of the now-disbanded group Especia. And I gotta say with that official video, I do wonder whether Apple, Nokia and Blackberry among other companies got their piece of the action; plus, I do miss my kaiten sushi.🍣

Seeing those models of the Macintosh being hugged by vocalist Emi Kusano（草野絵美）in the video, my memories go back when I bought a Mac IIsi in the early 1990s following my return from Gunma Prefecture. That cost me a whopping $5000 plus I threw in the laser printer for an extra grand! If I'm not mistaken, the IIsi wasn't even the top of the line...I think the title went to the Quadra. One of my other friends had that one and when I went to his place, he was wondering why I was looking so green (with envy).

Y'know...I actually like this brinq -Neo Tokyo- remix even more. Perhaps it's the even shinier synths!

MALTA -- A Letter From September

Indeed, welcome to September! I figure that we ought to start with something that has a September theme to it.

Therefore, we have "A Letter From September" by jazz saxophonist MALTA from his 1987 album "My Ballads". Those honey tones possess a warmth-filled sensation of a lovely dinner in the penthouse apartment with some added class thanks to those strings and some fine piano, but MALTA is definitely the leader of this band here. Maybe this would be the song to hear after a hard day of work today.

Strangely enough, this isn't MALTA's first rodeo on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". Years ago, I featured him on the blog as a composer for music that was completely outside of his jazz-fusion roots. Back in 1991, he took care of a Eurobeat tune for the duo Yamadakatsutenai Wink（やまだかつてないウィンク）composed of comedienne Kuniko Yamada（山田邦子）and aidoru Chisa Yokoyama（横山知枝）, "T-Intersection -- Anata ni Modorenai" (T-Intersection -- あなたに戻れない...I Can't Return to You).

MALTA is actually the nom de plume for Yoshiaki Maruta（丸田良昭）from Tottori Prefecture. Born in 1949, he started playing the saxophone in junior high school and soon professed his intention to go professional, but his parents maintained that he should become a teacher. However, it looks like there was probably more intense negotiation after that, since after graduating from Tokyo University of the Arts in 1973 with that degree in music, he promptly went over to Boston to study at the Berklee College of Music. Once he graduated from Berklee in 1976, he even started lecturing there, but a few years later, he worked with fellow artists including trumpeter Randy Brecker, trombonist Jimmy Knepper and guitarist Larry Coryell on bassist/pianist Charles Mingus' "Me, Myself An Eye" (1979), although by that point, Mingus had been too ill to perform. His first solo album "MALTA" came out in 1983 after which a long stream of other albums have flowed over the years if you take a look at his discography.