Masumi Hoshi/Yuka Onishi -- Nagisa Douri no Disco House（渚通りのディスコハウス）

 

From Soundfinder.jp

Although this isn't the sharpest image of the above record cover, I think that there is something in the design that yells "Inspiration for Vaporwave". The cover is actually for the first single that Masumi Hoshi（星ますみ）released in July 1976. Born in 1956 in Mito City, Ibaraki Prefecture, the only other information that I could dig up on her is at "Idol.ne.jp", and according to that information, she was scouted in Shinjuku as a high school sophomore after which she became a model and an assistant for an NTV music series.

Hoshi also had her time behind the mike but as indicated above, it was pretty short at just three singles and the time between the first two singles was actually almost seven years with the singer going under a different name, Masumi Okada（岡田ますみ）. But getting back to that first single, it was titled "Nagisa Douri no Disco House" (Disco House on Beach Avenue). The song begins just like a 1960s Connie Francis love ballad before a fairly bouncy pop melody by composer Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃）and arranger Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）rolls on out, although I wouldn't really call it too disco. The lyrics were provided by Konosuke Fuji（藤公之介）.

The music is pleasant enough but I think Hoshi's delivery seems almost a little too tenderhearted for the happy-go-lucky melody concocted by Hirao and Makaino. Hoshi did release that third single even further down the road under the name Masumi Nakamura（中村ますみ）this time in 2006. And the name change is significant here since in 1992, she married famed composer Taiji Nakamura（中村泰士）who passed away around last Xmas.

A longer and oh-so-80s cover of "Nagisa Douri no Disco House" with a Eurobeat sheen was released in June 1988 as aidoru Yuka Onishi's（大西結花）9th single with Tatsumi Yano（矢野立美）behind the arrangement. In fact, to further show the passage of time, the title was even changed to "Nagisa Douri no Discotheque"（渚通りのディスコティック）I think that there was a better match between singer and material here, and the song goes by pretty swiftly. Although this particular song had nothing to do with it, Onishi was a part of the "Sukeban Deka"（スケバン刑事）cast and since there had been only one other KKP article including her, it's pretty nice to be able to write about her second song in the blog.

Young Gun Silver Fox -- Kids

 

Nope, this isn't a special Sunday edition of Reminiscings of Youth per se although the sound in this particular song can definitely qualify. 

Actually, "Kids" is from Young Gun Silver Fox's 2020 album "Canyons" but it brings back the sound of the late 70s-early 80s AOR so lovingly and smoothly that I just had to invite it onto the blog. Plus, after all, if Japanese artists can adopt that particular sound in that time period and if non-Japanese artists can emulate Japanese City Pop and J-AOR decades later, well, why can't current American and British musicians give their love and devotion to the original American AOR? For that matter, why can't I? Ah, before I go any further, I have to mention that one of the commenters recommended "Kids" to me but I forgot who that was, so my apologies and thanks to that person!👍

Young Gun Silver Fox is a duo consisting of California singer-songwriter Andy Platts and London-residing multi-instrumentalist Shawn Lee who first decided to bring back that light and mellow brand of music from my youth with three albums beginning with 2016's "West End Coast", "AM Waves" from 2018 and then "Canyons" from last year. Watching the video and listening to "Kids" brought some pleasurable shivers up and down my spine as I remember those furnishings and décor from many a classmate's house, and I think I actually wore what that cute lad was wearing (and I've burned the photos, so don't ask); no way that I could dance like him and the lass, though. The music, the percolating background chorus and Platts' vocals are sublimely nostalgic and one commenter stated that there is a distinct Pages vibe to the whole wonderful musical exercise which I do agree with. Incidentally, Pages has been a member of the ROY club for a year now.

The lyrics by Platts are also interesting in that it turns the definition of kids being pre-formed adults on its head. This time around, it's the adults who are just overstressed kids who have forgotten how to play and have fun. Having a mortgage can do that to you. In any case, I think that the tracks from "Canyons" would probably be more than welcome on those BRIO compilations shown at the top.

Naotaro Moriyama -- Niji（虹）

 

Throughout this time of listening to singer-songwriter/actor Naotaro Moriyama（森山直太朗）, I've come to the conclusion that he can come up with some of the most wholesome and moving songs while possessing a very deadpan sense of humour.

However, it is the former that I've come to highlight here with his song "Niji" (Rainbows). This apparently was never an official single but one that he made in tandem with his songwriting partner Kaito Okachimachi（御徒町凧）as a song for chorus at the 2006 edition of The NHK All-Japan School Choir Competition. School competitions for chorus are a major deal in the lives of students throughout the nation during their time in education, and I was able to attend one such competition on the prefectural level when I was on the JET Programme.

Not surprisingly, even after the 2006 NHK competition, "Niji", which can really hit listeners in the heart, has been used at chorus competitions at the junior high school level among other events, according to the J-Wiki article on the song. I wouldn't be surprised if it's been used at the high school or even college levels as well. "Niji" has been included as a bonus track on limited editions of Moriyama's November 2006 album, "Kazemachi Kousaten"（風待ち交差点...The Intersection Waiting for a Favourable Wind）, which peaked at No. 19 on Oricon.

Maison book girl -- Yami-Iro no Asa

 

Hope everyone has been enjoying their weekend so far. I've just gotten up from a nap as would be the case for a guy my age.

Anyways I'm happy to say here that one of our Kayo Kyoku Plus contributors, Joana Bernardo, has come up with her own twenty-minute video regarding a major segment of Japanese popular music titled "A History of Japanese Idols" so I hope that you can give that a gander. Very proud of her hard work there. I was able to learn some good information from the video including someone who has been called the very first aidoru, Matsuko Ashita（明日待子）, from the early 20th century. I rather liken her to a Japanese version of Mary Pickford who was known as "America's Sweetheart" but was actually born right here in Toronto.

I'd actually been hoping to track down a YouTube video of Ashita's first recorded song from 1946, "Tanoshiki Ashita"（楽しき明日...A Happy Tomorrow）, but alas I couldn't find anything of it or even anything substantial on Ashita herself unfortunately. Maybe someday.

However, in keeping with the theme of aidoru, I've decided to devote this article to one of the more contemporary aidoru groups with that indie streak. I have already written one article on Maison book girl through their song "lost AGE" due to what I discovered in a local free magazine, and then Joana herself was even able to see them live in Brighton, England back in May 2018.

"Yami-Iro no Asa" (Dark Morning) is a track on their July 2019 single "umbla", and one commenter under the video made a humourous remark about the song and the music video traumatizing the kids if NHK's "Minna no Uta"（みんなのうた）ever got their hands on them. Musician-songwriter Kenta Sakurai (サクライケンタ), the man who brought together everyone for Maison book girl, was behind the words  (translation by Kimono Beat) and music for this brightly-sung and nimble-footed song whose whole effect with the video is a mix of despair and a Salvador Dali painting. The only thing missing is the melted clock.

Cindy -- Destiny

 

Earlier in April this year, Marcos V. gave his impressions on Miho Nakayama's（中山美穂）September 1989 album "Hide n' Seek" and one of the songs that he covered was "Destiny", this bubbling New Jack Swing tune. It was actually a tune that has been familiar to me for years.

And the reason for that was "Destiny" was also used as the commercial song for a Hitachi component stereo system with Miporin herself strutting away in the ad. I used to see it quite a bit on the old telly in Gunma Prefecture.

Well, as has often been the case for a Miho Nakayama dance-pop number, it was the late singer-songwriter Cindy who provided words and music for "Destiny". When she released her own 1990 album "Angel Touch", Cindy also recorded her own cover of that very song. It's about a minute longer than the Miporin original and it still has plenty of that percolating New Jack Swing goodness in Cindy's cover as well as some sultry vocals.

Satoshi Nakamura & Splaash -- City Lights

 

I was rolling through the backlog of songs that I could write about, especially an urban contemporary one since it is Friday today, and I did find one which might possibly have listeners irresistibly grab some sort of sipping libation, sit on a sofa and sigh peacefully. Even better would be having a high enough balcony to enjoy a sunset view.

Coincidentally enough, I was just talking about musician/arranger Satoshi Nakamura（中村哲）a couple of days ago for his work with the band Platinum 900 in the 1990s, and I mentioned even then that he's had a long and varied career helping all sorts of singers. Well, I tracked down his J-Wiki file and he's got a mighty huge block of clients for whom he has provided composing and arranging services. I've also read that he provided the soundtrack for a 1978 TV drama starring internationally famous action star Sonny Chiba（千葉真一）who passed away a couple of weeks ago. As well, Nakamura has helped out a few bands such as Spectrum（スペクトラム）, Prism, Paradigm Shift and Anzen Band（あんぜんバンド）.

Well, it looks like he had been able to gather some top-notch musicians to form a group called Satoshi Nakamura & Splaash (and yeah, the double-a is intentional) which released an album in 1979 titled "Splaash". Categorized on Discogs as a fusion and Latin jazz album, I gave the first track, "City Lights", a whirl and as I said in the introductory paragraph, this is a sipping liquor-friendly tune.

Of course, Nakamura not only composed and arranged "City Lights" but he also shared tenor sax duties with Yasuaki Shimizu（清水信之）. Katsutoshi Morizono（ 森園勝敏）and Kenji Omura（大村憲司）, who are also represented on KKP, are on guitar, and Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）is on the acoustic piano among other stars who all help provide some relaxing bluesy fusion. Nothing better than this on a Friday night before a weekend (especially a long one that we will be having here in Toronto over the next few days) to chill out.

Naomi Miyanaga -- Love Collector

 

Uncertain where I took this photo...Japan or Canada? The massive size of those strawberries and waffles would indicate my hometown of Toronto (maybe at Café Demetres) but the date on that photo in the bottom right seems a tad early for my Holiday trips back home. So who knows? I'm sure that it was a delicious dessert.

https://www.bilibili.com/video/BV1i34y1n7Qp/

(12:56)

Anyways, we have singer Naomi Miyanaga（宮永尚美）for her third time on "Kayo Kyoku Plus". In her first two articles on the blog, I featured a couple of her tracks from her 1984 debut album "Moment": "Summer Rain" and "Party ni Furarete"（パーティーにふられて）. Having a listen to those two once more, I found them on the mellower side of City Pop. 

Miyanaga's 2nd album (and possibly her final album) was "Che~!"（チェッ!...Tsk!）in 1986, and the cover has the smiling singer looking like she's about to paint the town as red as that background. "Love Collector", a track provided to her by lyricist Ken Takahashi（高橋研）and composer Yuji Toriyama（鳥山雄司）, is definitely more laden with the beats. There seems to be an infusion of Hitomi Toyama（当山ひとみ）dynamism which would imagine some of that American West Coast danceable form of R&B of that decade. As I said, Miyanaga looks ready to party hearty and her voice has taken on some more sultriness.