Shigeharu Mukai & Astrud Gilberto -- Champagne And Caviar

 

Nope, no champagne and caviar above. I barely drink the former and I don't much like the latter but I did adore my dinner of Beef Tenderloin on the cruise ship.

I think that even the members of the current young generation have heard of "The Girl From Ipanema" whether in its original 1960s version or as part of the Muzak playlist on elevators or in department stores. There is nothing like the original, though, by bossa nova pioneer Joao Gilberto, his wife, singer Astrud Gilberto and saxophonist Stan Getz, as I first remember hearing it as a kid and even attempting to play it as a clarinetist in the school band way back when. Basically, "The Girl From Ipanema" is Bossa Nova 101 for anyone who's just started his/her exploration of the genre; it and Astrud are joined at the hip.

That's one reason that I was surprised to hear this song "Champagne And Caviar" by the Brazilian singer in collaboration with jazz trombonist Shigeharu Mukai（向井滋春）on his February 1983 album "SO & SO ~ Mukai Meets Gilberto". The other reason is that I've been using the expression "champagne and caviar" to describe the City Pop sound in the late 1980s for years, only to find out that Astrud herself had gotten access to it.😬

According to the YouTube video explanation, she is the one behind the really pleasantly peppy bossa nova melody and the lyrics. Now, usually when I categorize a song as a duet, it's because that there are two people singing away behind the mike, but I just so love both Astrud's adorable delivery and Mukai's trombone solo that I am willing to make the exception here for this song celebrating a great relationship, platonic or otherwise.

As for Mukai, he was born and raised in Nagoya, and he first started playing the trombone when he attended high school. He debuted in 1976 with the album "For My Little Bird" and has collaborated with other great Japanese jazz figures including pianist Naoya Matsuoka（松岡直也）, guitarist Kazumi Watanabe（渡辺香津美）and trumpeter Terumasa Hino（日野皓正）. Mukai went over to New York City for a year in 1979 to learn about fusion jazz. He was releasing albums up to 2011 and has been teaching jazz at the Senzoku Gakuen College of Music in Kawasaki.

Duck L'Orange, too.
It was a heavy meal.

KI:RA -- Cry, Cry, Cry

 

I have another one of those very obscure songs on display tonight that had me tracking down a few leads. One of them was that it was the ending theme for a short-lived 1992-1993 game show called "Quiz Donna MONdai?!"（クイズ どんなMONだい?!...Quiz, What Kind of QUESTions?!）hosted by TV personality Shinsuke Shimada（島田紳助）. From the fact that the "MON" was in all caps, I'd assumed that it was a Monday night program but actually it was a Tuesday night thing. Never caught it myself since I was back in Toronto between my two Japan stints.

The ending theme was "Cry, Cry, Cry" by this female trio called KI:RA（キーラ）who put out at least one CD single and one album from what I could find from Yahoo Images, and in fact, it was only there where I could find out just their first names: Rieko, Yuki and Mizuho. "Cry, Cry, Cry" was that one single released in early 1993 while "El" or "L"（エール）was that sole album also released in 1993 with the single included.

One interesting thing was who the fellows behind "Cry, Cry, Cry" were. Both of them came from the late 1970s City Pop days: lyricist Haruo Chikada（近田春夫）and composer Tetsuji Hayashi（林哲司）. This particular song is definitely not really from that genre that has imprinted itself in my memories of both Chikada and Hayashi. I'd say that "Cry, Cry, Cry" has that vibe of the 90s dance beat pop of Japan (I keep thinking of that famous Tokyo disco Juliana's) just before the advent of the Tetsuya Komuro（小室哲哉）Boom, and from how Rieko, Yuki and Mizuho are shown on the various covers, I gather that KI:RA was perhaps being touted as another sexy group along the lines of C.C. Girls which had started out in 1991. From looking at the cover for "El" in the thumbnail above, the obi also seems to be stating that the ladies also shared a commonality in tallness. 

Naomi Akimoto -- Telepathy

 

Listening to this "Telepathy", a track on actress/singer Naomi Akimoto's（秋本奈緒美）5th album from February 1984, "Poison 21", something was squirming about in the back of my memories: Where have I heard this before? It all sounds so familiar.

Well, tracking the song on the JASRAC database, the realization of who created the song for Akimoto provided the instant resolution to my quandary. The singer did provide the lyrics but it was musician and composer Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）behind the music, and that's all I needed. "Telepathy" is another version of Sato's "Sweet Inspiration", the first track from his June 1984 5th album "Sailing Blaster" but with different lyrics by Akimoto ("Sweet Inspiration" had Cindy providing the words) and of course, with that different title.

Now, which version came first? Yes, I do realize that February is a long way before June, but after that article on Tetsuji Hayashi's（林哲司）"Back Mirror" over the weekend in which I describe about how his "Rainy Saturday & Coffee Break" was actually recorded before Junko Ohashi's（大橋純子）version although the latter came to the public's ears before the former, I'm no longer 100% sure whether "Telepathy" was released before "Sweet Inspiration" or vice versa. But no matter. I like both versions with Akimoto's take having the more straight-ahead pop arrangement (with Sato on backup vocals) although it begins with a bit of synthpop and contains a bit of that funkiness which really comes out on "Sweet Inspiration".

Hiroshi Itsuki/Akira Kobayashi -- Tooki Showa no...（遠き昭和の…）

 

Last night, NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）had its final episode for the year and not surprisingly, it wasn't quite the usual supremely festive show that would signify the end of another 12-month period before the Kohaku Utagassen because of COVID-19. However, it still had a good amount of energy and there was a bit more of a lean toward the kayo aspect.

Of course, being the final show for the next 6 weeks or so, enka legend Hiroshi Itsuki（五木ひろし）has got to show up, and sure enough, his contribution last night was a melancholy ballad titled "Tooki Showa no..." (Showa Far Away...). Heck, nice touch with the three dots at the end of the title which rather hints at the look back into the foggy past.

About a couple of months ago, fellow enka singer Shinichi Mori（森進一）was on "Uta Kon" to perform one of his most recent songs, something that he penned himself called "Showa/Heisei/Reiwa wo Ikiru"（昭和・平成・令和を生きる）as a joyful tribute to all that has come before him and what will lay ahead. "Tooki Showa no..." is, as I mentioned above, a little sadder as Itsuki wonders what has become of his old friends from decades past, namely in the Showa Era (1926-1989) when kayo kyoku was born and raised.

Lyricist Hiroo Takada（高田ひろお）and composer Masato Sugimoto（杉本眞人）took care of this enka which I believe was released for Itsuki just a few months ago. I specifically chose the video above since it appears that the series "Enka no Hanamichi"（演歌の花道）had another comeback special recently, and with its penchant for crafting the right mood and setting for many an enka tune, simply having this enka-and-Mood-Kayo-centered program showcase "Tooki Showa no..." was perfect.

The thing is, though, that Itsuki's rendition of the song is a cover. Actually, the original singer for "Tooki Showa no..." is singer-actor Akira Kobayashi（小林旭）and he first recorded it for an April 2010 release. Arguably, Kobayashi's original take may be even more melancholy since my impression of the singer himself is that he's lived even more of the rambunctious life alongside his friends, and perhaps the fading of at least some of his old buddies wasn't exactly due to happy reasons. Maybe there are some more scars on this performance.

Even though he seemed quite sanguine about it when he was briefly interviewed on "Uta Kon" last night, there must have been some bittersweet feelings surrounding Itsuki since this year was going to be one of celebration leading up to the 50th anniversary of his breakthrough hit of "Yokohama Tasogare"（よこはま・たそがれ）which was released in April 1971. Of course, COVID-19 got in the way of all that, but again, the anniversary is still not for a few more months, so there is still a fighting chance for Itsuki to pay tribute to that song and his career with his fans.

Chieri Ito -- Merry Christmas

 

Of course, since we're now into December, Xmas is around the corner and Rocket Brown from "Come Along Radio" has put up his nearly 3-hour J-Xmas extravaganza on Mixcloud, so do please have a gander at that. I think I was 15 minutes into the broadcast when I heard the following number.

This is "Merry Christmas" from late 1980s aidoru Chieri Ito's（伊藤智恵理）debut album "Hello", and it's a pretty rollicking addition to the J-Xmas collection. Written by Masami Tozawa（戸沢暢美）and composed by Haruhiko Kawakami（川上明彦）, the one reason that I threw in the Eurobeat label in there was because of those banging synths in the intro and throughout the song, but otherwise, "Merry Christmas" relates itself as a pretty upbeat aidoru tune with a constantly driving beat. Maybe it could be something to listen to while putting up the decorations on the tree.

Also have a look-see at the two other Ito articles that have been put up so far: "Coconuts no Kataomoi" (ココナッツの片想い) by Marcos V. and then my story on "Paradise Walker"（パラダイス・ウォーカー）.

Kyoko Furuya -- Harumi Futou（晴海埠頭）

 

Another person that I've been indebted to in terms of his contributions to "Kayo Kyoku Plus" has been JTM. About a week ago, I received "Pacific Breeze 2" from him, and the album is the second in another playlist of City Pop and AOR treats.

One such song on "Pacific Breeze 2" is Kyoko Furuya's （古家杏子）"Harumi Futou" (Harumi Wharf) which is named after the shipping facility by Tokyo Bay. It's close to the residential and commercial complex of Odaiba and though I've never been to Harumi, I think things were quite different in that area back in the time that "Harumi Futou" was released which was 1982 as a track on her album "Tsumetai Mizu"（冷たい水...Cold Water）. At night, it must have been quite the huge, dark and mysterious area. Maybe it still is.

Strangely enough, though it's included in "Pacific Breeze 2", I can't really admit that "Harumi Futou" is City Pop or AOR. In the liner notes for the compilation, the hints are quite clear that Furuya was more into the avant-garde and unusual flavours of pop, and though I won't even say that "Harumi Futou" is avant-garde (I think it's quite accessible), it's definitely a different type of pop music for the time. It sounds and feels like a modern film noir with the characters having the final late-night face-off in the titular wharf. The song starts off with a guitar scream that sounds like a plane going down in flames before Furuya gives a measured but sultry delivery with some heavy emphasis on the percussion provided by Shunichi Murakami（村上秀一）and Pecker.

To be honest, there have been other examples of "Tsumetai Mizu" on YouTube and I probably found out about them via New J Channel, but I think that those songs are probably more on the avant-garde side. May I also compliment the design of the cover for Furuya's original album?

Izumi Yukimura -- Jingle Bells Mambo（ジングル・ベル・マンボ）

 

Hard to believe but we've reached December 2020 and I think that there are probably not a small number of people who can't wait for this year to be tossed out...including myself. However, having said that, let's see if we can at least start this final month with some Christmas cheer.

It certainly seems that the 2020 Xmas season on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" may end up as one of the busiest right up to the first year that I began including J-Xmas tunes onto the blog since I've been bookmarking some of the Japanese Yuletide stuff for several months and then corresponding with Scott who is quite the enthusiast for the rarefied genre of J-Xmas songs. Yesterday, I was able to get a sampler of some of those special songs from him which range from the 1950s all the way to the early 2000s.

Right off the bat, I was able to hear this one which is the topic of this article, Izumi Yukimura's（雪村いづみ）"Jingle Bells Mambo" from 1955. As probably I've mentioned this before, I first got to know the vivacious Yukimura through her appearances on television music shows and by that point, she was already well into middle age (currently she's 83) but back in the 1950s, she definitely left the impression of her being very much of the young spark plug.

And as she recorded the spicy "Yume no Mambo"（夢のマンボ）earlier in that same year of 1955, she came up with a feisty bilingual mambo version of "Jingle Bells" that practically screams for dirty martinis and candy canes to be served in a lounge. Yukimura really sank her teeth into the vocals like me into turkey. Seiichi Iida（井田誠一）, who had written the lyrics for "Yume no Mambo", provided the translated words for "Jingle Bells" that have probably become the standard Japanese delivery of the James Pierpont song including that version by Bob McGrath that I wrote about a couple of days ago. As for this cover, I couldn't find it on her J-Wiki discography and from the thumbnail for the video above, it looks like it probably wasn't an official single by her since it was placed on one side of that 45" record while Frank Nagai（フランク永井）had his cover of "Good Night Sweetheart" on the other side.

Considering that I've given two different Japanese-language takes on "Jingle Bells" in short order, I think that I will retire the song for the rest of the season and see if there are any versions of some of the other Xmas classics out there.