Shiro Sagisu with Somethin' Special feat. Keiko Sugai -- Fly!

 

I don't do it all that often, but I was cruising through some of the many YouTube City Pop compilations out there and I may have hit some pay dirt with one video.

(23:56)

For one thing, I discovered this great tune there by composer and arranger Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）called "Fly!". Now, Sagisu is a name that I've heard a fair bit over the years as he's performed his work for singers such as Kohmi Hirose（広瀬香美）and Kanako Wada（和田加奈子）. And speaking of Wada, Sagisu helped out on one of the number of songs that she provided to the 80s anime "Kimagure Orange Road"（きまぐれ・.オレンジ☆ロード）, "Natsu no Mirage" （夏のミラージュ）. Of course later on, he came up with the soundtrack for "Neon Genesis Evangelion".

I had no idea, though, that Sagisu was delving into the City Pop genre but indeed he did with his debut album "Eyes" (1979) under the name of Shiro Sagisu with Somethin' Special, and with "Fly!", I was immediately smitten. Not sure whether this would come under the disco or the post-disco banner (I'd slant toward the latter) but "Fly!" is as smooth as those clarified milk punches that the guy on the "Cocktail Chemistry" channel shakes up. Furthermore, although her name wasn't included underneath the title, Keiko Sugai（須貝恵子）is well worth putting up in my byline above. After all, Sagisu may have composed this banger of a song but Sugai is the singer with the soul punch in her vocals along with Martin K. Bracey on the lyrics.

There is at least one YouTube video with "Fly!" on its own but for whatever reason, it's been severely truncated from its 6 minutes and 7 seconds, so I've gone with the full album above since it has the full version of the song. All of the instruments come together for a great jam including the bass and a saxophone, although the last 30 seconds or so of the song suddenly make a right-angle turn into some furious jazz piano noodling. 

Yukari Ito -- Playboy Magazine（プレイボーイ・マガジン）

 

The last time that I wrote about Yukari Ito（伊東ゆかり）was back in February this year for her 40th single "Romanticist"（ロマンチスト）which was released in December 1977.

Well, this time around, I have the B-side which is simply titled "Playboy Magazine" and it was created by the same tandem behind "Romanticist", the dream duo of lyricist Takashi Matsumoto（松本隆）and composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）. I couldn't find the lyrics for this one online but the way Ito sings in that sultry and nonchalant style, I can imagine the whole story being a Japanese version of Hugh Hefner enjoying his typical luxurious day at the mansion.

"Romanticist" has that similar theme of the high life but unlike the breathless ride through the big city there, Tsutsumi's take on "Playboy Magazine" is more playful, relaxed and perhaps more take-it-easy Motown shuffle-y. No need to rush here...just grab a cocktail and float in the pool. It must have been quite the time at the Playboy Mansion.

b-flower -- Fuyu no Saigo no Yuki（冬の最後の雪）

 

Poetry was never my bag, I have to admit. Perhaps I know limericks that begin with "Once there was a girl from Venus...", and once in high school, I made up a poem about Superman which received a hearty round of indifference. But that's about it. 

In reading about this song, though, I found out about the American poet and author Richard Brautigan (1935-1984) who had the talent for zapping his works with a sardonic bite and dark humour. According to his Wikipedia profile, he inspired other later authors including Haruki Murakami and W.P. Kinsella. However, he also had some effect on musicians, too, such as the rock band Machines of Loving Grace and Neko Case. There's a poetry site called Poets.org and there I found one Brautigan poem called "The First Winter Snow".

The celebrated Murakami wasn't the only Japanese artist influenced by Brautigan. There is a Kyoto-based band called b-flower which has made references to the poet's works in their own words, and in fact, the band's name has its origins from him. Wikipedia has posted the following: "The band's name comes from a poem written by Richard Brautigan, in which he compared roadside drunks to exotic flowers. This led to the name "Brautigan Flower", which eventually became "b-flower"." The Brautigan reference continues with this particular song "Fuyu no Saigo no Yuki" which translates into "The Last Winter Snow", just a word different from that poem of his that I mentioned above. The official translation from b-flower, though, is "The Last Snow of Winter".

But that's where the comparison ends since the lyrics for "Fuyu no Saigo no Yuki" by vocalist Hideshi Hachino（八野英史）doesn't seem to poke fun at a woman as in Brautigan's "The First Winter Snow", but describes a person alone in a dreary February snowscape, something that a lot of Torontonians have probably found themselves in. On the other hand, the music by bassist Masaru Miya（宮大）is oddly comfortable like a warm blanket and hot cocoa even with the guitars crashing in. I think that Hachino's vocals are a very relaxing guide through the song.

One interesting thing that I've read about J-Wiki's description of b-flower is that the band is representative of a genre called Neo-Acoustic with the name that was coined in Japan, and not to be confused with New Acoustic Music as mentioned on Wikipedia. I'd never heard of the genre before but apparently in the 1980s, Japan felt that bands such as Aztec Camera, Prefab Sprout and The Dream Academy were part of Neo-Aco, although I always considered them to be more in the sophisti-pop arena. Neo-Aco also includes 90s bands such as Belle and Sebastian along with The Trash Can Sinatras.

However, Wikipedia has cited b-flower as being "...heavily influenced by the British independent music scene of the 1980s, most notably alternative rock" which makes more sense to me. I would even say that there is something even 1990s about their sound. But the main thing is that I really like "Fuyu no Saigo no Yuki" for the arrangement and Hachino's vocals. The band has had a changing lineup but at the time that this particular song from their June 1994 mini-album "Clover Chronicles I" came out, I believe that the other members were drummer Wataru Okabe（岡部亘）and guitarist Hiroshi Suzuki（鈴木浩）.

Incidentally, the "Clover Chronicles I" version is a cover of the original which came out in b-flower's 1992 2nd album "Mukudori no Me o Shita Shonen"（ムクドリの眼をした少年...A Boy with Gray Starling Eyes） but I couldn't find that one on YouTube. As well, give me your thoughts on this song and b-flower in general if you like. I'm not the rock ace here so some expert comments would be appreciated.

Bill Conti/Maynard Ferguson -- Gonna Fly Now

 

When it comes to Sylvester Stallone, folks have known him to be the tough-as-nails cop or military maverick who will take down the worst of the worst in various guises whether it's Rambo or the first Judge Dredd or Cobra. He's even shown up in the Marvel Universe in the "Guardians of the Galaxy" sequel a few years ago.

However, despite all those roles and decades in show business going all the way back to the late 1960s, I will always recognize Sly as Rocky Balboa, the local boxing palooka from Philadelphia who gets his miraculous shot at greatness against the world champion Apollo Creed. Even though I never caught the very first "Rocky" as a kid on the big screen, I remember seeing the iconic montage of Rocky training and running up those steps to the Philadelphia Museum of Art. At the same time, reading the "Cracked" magazine parody of the movie helped me to learn about eating raw eggs, feeding turtles and punching frozen sides of beef. On a more serious note, the movie was one of the first examples that I discovered about a guy winning even though he still lost.

Of course, the theme song for "Rocky", "Gonna Fly Now", was the secret sauce for the greatness of the movie. When it was first created by composer/conductor Bill Conti and performed by his orchestra, it was all about following the epic rise of the boxer through 1970s downtown rock n' soul music (launched by that horn fanfare) as the chorus of DeEtta West and Nelson Pigford kept pushing forward with "Trying hard now", "Getting strong now" and "Gonna fly now". Since then, it's not only been the go-to song for any training montage but also the inspiration number for any tough project.

I hadn't been aware that "Gonna Fly Now" was nominated for an Oscar for Best Song (losing to Barbra Streisand's "Evergreen"), although the movie itself won for Best Picture. Released as a single in November 1976 on the same day that "Rocky" came out, it hit No. 1 on the US Billboard Top 100 and finished the year as the 21st-ranked song.

Canadian trumpeter Maynard Ferguson also put out his own faster and disco take on "Gonna Fly Now" in 1977. I've heard this version as often as I've heard the Conti original.

It's also been mentioned in the Wikipedia article for the song, but although "Gonna Fly Now" has often been used at sports events, especially in Philadelphia, in my Toronto, both the Conti and Ferguson versions have been used for the "Citypulse" news broadcasts on City-TV for years. I gather that there's nothing like this particular song to pump up the reporters. Also in my final year in band class in high school, our class tried to play the song. Let's say that neither Conti nor Ferguson had anything to fear but we had something to fear in the form of Stallone punching us in the side!

Once again, we come to the part in our weekly ROY article where we do the comparative thing and find out what singles were released in Japan at around the same time. As usual, a couple of the songs have some discrepancies in terms of when they were released depending on the source. "Showa Pops" says that all of them were released in November 1976 when the Conti original came out but J-Wiki has stated other months which I will also now include.

Naoko Ken -- Abayo （あばよ）(September 1976)

Shogo Hamada -- Ai no Kakehiki （愛のかけひき）(October 1976)

Kentaro Shimizu -- Shitsuren Resutoran (失恋レストラン）(November 1976)

Miyoko Yoshimoto -- Tokyo Sickness（東京Sickness）

 

Quite an interesting discovery here.

I hadn't been a great purveyor of the works of 80s aidoru Miyoko Yoshimoto（芳本美代子）when she had her heyday back in the 1980s so I'm as much a contemporary explorer when it comes to her as are some others who are now delving into the teenybopper tunes of Japan from 35-40 years ago (uhh...just aged myself again). Therefore, it is with some intrigue that I'm listening to "Tokyo Sickness" which was Yoshimoto's 10th single from June 1987.

Yesterday, I wrote about Mina Aoe's（青江三奈）"Ginza Blue Night"（銀座ブルー・ナイト）, a bluesy Mood Kayo about love and loneliness in one major area in Tokyo. It seems that we have something similar in theme with "Tokyo Sickness" but of course, the arrangement is all different...and done by Etsuko Yamakawa（山川恵津子）, someone that I will always be interested in for her ways of creating and weaving melodies. This time, she took care of Ken Sato's（佐藤健）melody with Masami Tozawa's（戸沢暢美）lyrics.

As I said, melodically speaking, "Tokyo Sickness" is worlds apart from the 1974 "Ginza Blue Night". It's perky and it seems to have a mix of styles going on in there. Commenters for the video have indicated that it is a City Pop-themed aidoru song although I'm not sure whether Yamakawa, who did have her time with Tohoku Shinkansen, meant it to be City Pop. I'm not sure totally myself although I hear hints here and there with the bass and one particular ghostly keyboard. There is that aidoru perkiness although it's a bit more subdued; at the same time, there also seems to be that Tiki bar-friendly Resort Pop vibe. It's definitely got my attention for that reason. Yoshimoto's delivery even has that slight sultriness which reminds me of NOKKO from Rebecca（レベッカ）.

Underneath Sato's melody, Tozawa's lyrics describe a young woman's Tokyo sickness as something afflicting her as a general malaise against another round of heartbreak in the cold megalopolis. She's become coldly immune to the romantic roundabouts in the various dance clubs and hangouts but doesn't show any hints of sadness. However, she can't quite get out of Tokyo or get Tokyo out of her system. In a way, the whole story behind "Tokyo Sickness" reminds me of Mariya Takeuchi's（竹内まりや）"Plastic Love" from a few years earlier.

Hideaki Tokunaga -- Koibito（恋人）/You and Me

 

Last night's edition of NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）was considered to be an episode of anniversaries of sorts. For one thing, the hosts announced that it was the 200th show under its current title. As well, some of the guests were celebrating their own auspicious occasions, too. One of them was veteran pop singer-songwriter Hideaki Tokunaga（徳永英明）, and I've likely mentioned this before, but he is one J-Pop star who started out looking so shy and innocent with his puppy-dog eyes whenever he showed up on the music ranking shows in the 1980s that he probably attracted not just the teenagers but also the mothers of those teens.

Plus, he also has that softly rasping and plaintive voice which has had fans cooing for the past 35 years of his career, and indeed "Uta Con" did make mention of the fact that at age 60, he's celebrating a 35th anniversary since beginning his singing. So many congratulations to him.

I wanted to make this a 2-in-1 tonight for Tokunaga then. The first song here is "Koibito" (Lover) which is his 7th single from April 1989 and was written and composed by him, and arranged by Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）. His vocals fairly caress the ears as he sings about affectionately reminiscing over a past love, trying to re-live happier days. The melody is sad and introspective as it rather reflects that those days are now definitely days of the past to only be seen in retrospect.

"Koibito" seemed to enjoy the number 7 a lot since not only was it Tokunaga's 7th single, it peaked at No. 7 on the Oricon weeklies and it ended up as the 70th single of the year. Also, it was used as the commercial song for Matsushita's (now Panasonic) Eolia air conditioner, and maybe in a way, getting that cold air coming on your head might be appropriate with this song. Of course, Tokunaga fans know that the same appliance had a namesake song by the man a year earlier.

Tokunaga performed this song last night on "Uta Con" as a commemoration of his 35 years in the music business, and he said that he created "You and Me" to acknowledge that he didn't get his success all on his own but also thanks to the many fans who have supported him all these decades. On his J-Wiki profile, "You and Me" isn't listed as a single but it is a track on his 18th studio album "Love Person" which came out a week ago.

His voice may have gone a tad lower but that characteristic wispiness is still intact as he sings along his melody which is also soft and mellow. However at the same time, there are those feelings of hope and gratitude. Not sure myself, but I think the music is also a bit Beatles in arrangement. "Love Person" has gone as high as No. 3 on Oricon and it's his first album in almost 4 years.

Hikaru Genji -- Yuuki 100%（勇気100%）

 

In the midst of prepping for this particular article, I came across this article on Wikipedia: "List of anime series by episode count". "Sazae-san" (サザエさん）, which has been going on non-stop since October 1969, is at the very top which doesn't surprise me. The epic anime about the Fuguta family has over 7,000 episodes and it's far above its nearest competitor. Speaking about that 2nd-place series, I'd heard about "Nintama Rantaro"（忍たま乱太郎...Rantaro the Ninja Boy） but never watched a single episode. Yet, it's been going strong since April 1993 with over 2,200 episodes under its belt. I would have thought that "Chibi Maruko-chan"（ちびまる子ちゃん）was fairly close to the top but it's actually in 11th place with a little under 1,300 episodes.

Anyways, "Nintama Rantaro" is about little Rantaro and his cute friends as they go to ninja school. Interestingly enough, Rantaro is voiced by veteran seiyuu Minami Takayama（高山みなみ）, the same voice actor behind genius detective Conan Edogawa, and that show is in 16th place!

However, let's get away from the anime itself since I'm here to write about the opening theme song for "Nintama Rantaro". I actually heard "Yuuki 100%" (Courage 100%) for the first time yesterday afternoon when one contestant on NHK's "Nodo Jiman"（のど自慢）showed up to perform this very tune. Liking the cut of its jib, I decided to dig a bit more into the song.

I've primarily known Johnny's group Hikaru Genji（光GENJI）for their late 1980s heyday with hits such as "Paradise Ginga" (パラダイス銀河）but it's already been shown on the blog that the roller-skating group did go on successfully into the 1990s with numbers including "Kouya no Megalopolis"（荒野のメガロポリス）. "Yuuki 100%" was their 21st single from May 1993 and it has remained the theme song for "Nintama Rantaro" right to the present day.

Listening to the original version by Hikaru Genji, I can understand why it was another Top 10 hit for Kazumi Moroboshi（諸星和己） and the rest of the group (peaked at No. 7). Lyricist Goro Matsui（松井五郎）and composer Koji Makaino（馬飼野浩二）created quite the anison banger with "Yuuki 100%". I'm not sure when the anime was televised on NHK but if this has been a morning show, then the song should be acting as the kids' happy OJ. The good vibes emanating from this one reminds me of the same feelings that I've gotten from "AMBITIOUS JAPAN" by Hikaru Genji's kohai group, TOKIO, which came out a decade later. 

In fact, according to J-Wiki, "Yuuki 100%" has been used frequently at the Sports Day activities for kindergarten and elementary school students. Additionally, the song would prove to be Hikaru Genji's final invitation to the Kohaku Utagassen that year. Some more trivia includes the fact that composer Makaino was on keyboards, City Pop maestro Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）was on guitar and Eiji Arai（新井英治）was on trombone.