Kingo Hamada -- Dream is Alive

 

A little over a month ago, I wrote up an article about a song by the pop duo Milk who contributed it to the 1988 soundtrack for the anime "Earthian"（アーシアン）. "HANASANAI" has that downtown City Pop vibe which brings to mind Roppongi and any of the disco-populated areas of Tokyo.

Then I found this track which leads the album off, "Dream is Alive" by the producer of the album himself, singer-songwriter Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）, and while this song still keeps things nice and urban, the arrangement seems to deposit listeners higher up in altitude...namely, they are left floating up in the night sky. Hamada is indeed behind the mike for "Dream is Alive" and he was also the composer while Kazuko Kobayashi（小林和子）took care of the lyrics. Hamada and Kazuhiro Hara（原一博）arranged everything. 

The intro's synthesizer is so appealingly spacey (following 18 seconds of percussion) that at first I was wondering whether the good folks at PSY-S had something to do with the song, but nope, it's all Hamada. We all do drop down from suborbital space into the more pleasant and breathable nitrogen-oxygen mix (and probably some smog) over the city...still floating over the skyscrapers and pretty lights below (thank you, sax solo). I think that both "Dream is Alive" and "HANASANAI" could also make good additions to a "City Hunter" soundtrack.

Sentimental City Romance -- Akegata Kobanashi（明方小話）

 

We've started off with a sunny Saturday which isn't too hot and not too cool either. I had lunch a couple of hours ago so I've also just come out of a short afternoon nap which has become all too common in the last few years. Still feeling a bit woozy in parts.

Well then, it's the perfect kind of day and time then for this particular track by the band Sentimental City Romance（センチメンタル・シティ・ロマンス）from their 1976 album "Holiday". "Akegata Kobanashi" (Dawn Anecdote) is a lovely laidback song written, composed and comfortably crooned by SCR guitarist and vocalist Tokuo Nakano（中野督夫）who had passed away back at the end of July this year. Fans are probably still mourning his departure from this mortal coil, but perhaps this ballad has helped put them at ease.

With that touch of country in the arrangements, "Akegata Kobanashi", despite the title, sounds like it can be heard at any time several hours following the indicated sunrise, and thematically it makes for a nice setting involving a couple or a parent-child combination sitting on the porch or stoop in the wee hours of the morning. I don't know about the city in this case, but there's definitely a sentimental romance going on with this track.

RAMU -- One and Only

 

Indeed, it is another Friday night. I'm hoping that at least some of you are enjoying some careful group outing on a patio somewhere with some tasty libations.

To complete my usual Friday night quartet of the urban contemporary in Japanese music, I have another track from the band RAMU's one and only "Thanksgiving" album from September 1988, "One and Only". As I mentioned back in the March 2017 article regarding a fellow track, "Rainy Night Lady", I, as a callow youth not so experienced in the language of music, hadn't been quite so sure how RAMU with 80s aidoru Momoko Kikuchi（菊池桃子）as the lead vocalist was going to be categorized.

Although I don't own "Thanksgiving", I can guess with a fair amount of confidence that the album would fall under the City Pop category, and having come out during the Bubble Era of Japan's crazed economic fireworks, there would be that feeling of champagne and caviar in the music itself. Sure enough, the composer for this track was none other than Kiyotaka Sugiyama（杉山清貴）, the first main vocalist for Omega Tribe（オメガトライブ）with Keiko Aso（麻生圭子）as lyricist and Hiroshi Shinkawa（新川博）as arranger. "One and Only" is as cool and smooth as a ride in that convertible running through West Shinjuku. Will always appreciate a good sax solo.

Back when I was relying mainly on those rental videos of "The Best 10" and "The Top 10", I only saw Kikuchi as the mid-80s aidoru who sang the twinkly stuff like "Sotsugyo" （卒業）, and so when I first saw her come out fronting RAMU, I was rather shocked at the turn of events in terms of genre. However, if I had been a fan of hers living in Japan, I probably wouldn't have been surprised at all since there were these parallel tracks occurring in her young career with the aidoru music on one hand and then the more City Pop material on the other, through songs such as "Mystical Composer" (ミスティカルコンポーザー).

Lily -- Mizukagami no Naka（水鏡のなか）

 

The show must go on, as they say. The annual Toronto International Film Festival premiered yesterday with a mix of live showings and online presentations following a year where TIFF was all online. A lot of folks were caught off-guard by the realization that the festival was back on which, according to the organizer, was intentional since he didn't want a whole ton of stargazers amassing downtown for their favourite stars in the middle of the pandemic. If I'm not mistaken, one of the big movies tonight is "The Power of the Dog", based on the 1967 novel by Thomas Savage, starring Benedict Cumberbatch who is also in town to promote it.

Anyways, getting back to kayo, I have another song by the late singer-songwriter Lily（りりぃ）who passed away nearly five years ago at the 64. Though I don't have a large selection by her on the blog, I've realized that she's dabbled in a number of genres: folk, New Wave and bluesy rock. Now I see that she may have also contributed somewhat to 1970s City Pop or New Music in general.

"Mizukagami no Naka" (In the Reflection of the Water), just from the title, might sound something rather dreamy and contemplative, but as I mentioned in the last sentence, it's a Lily creation that sounds quite City Pop for the decade. Speaking of which, the song was the B-side to her February 1978 single "Sawagashii Rakuen"（さわがしい楽園...Boisterous Paradise）. Lily provided words and music with Akira Inoue（井上鑑）arranging both the A and B sides which gives a big indication at how "Mizukagami no Naka" would sound.

Come to think of it, perhaps the song is actually creamy and contemplative in that I could imagine drinking a Brown Cow while listening to this.🍸 Then again, "Mizukagami no Naka" might be perfect for that sunset stroll on the boardwalk. The keyboards and those horns add to the groovy urban and urbane aural experience, no matter the setting in which you would listen to it.

Chickenshack -- Emotion

 

Fell pretty hard for "Emotion" when I first heard it on Chickenshack's 1987 album "Loving Power" which is a release of covers of past songs such as "La La Means I Love You" and "Me And Mrs. Jones". I will always be a sucker for the genres of soul, funk and Quiet Storm, and I think "Emotion" has plenty of that old soul. Looking at the video above, the band had guitarist Jun Yamagishi（山岸潤史）, the late Hidefumi Toki（土岐英史）on saxophone, Toru Tsuzuki（ 続木徹）on keyboards and bassist Darek Lane Jackson. As for the male and female vocal parts, looking at the Discogs page featuring the album, it included Carl Moore, Gwyndia Griffin, Joey McCoy, Tyrone Hashimoto, and Wornell Jones. I love the song but would have preferred it not ending as if someone had suddenly pulled the plug for the record player.

"Emotion" is indeed a cover of Webster Lewis' "Give Me Some Emotion", a single from 1980 which was created by him, Cheryl Pitts and Ray Barnes. It had an earlier appearance as a track on Lewis' 1979 album "Eight for the Eighties". Also in 1980, soul and gospel singer Merry Clayton covered it as a single under the shorter title of "Emotion", and it was also included as the title track of her own 1979 album. In any of its versions, "Emotion" is just a splendid reminder of that special music from my youth.

Yukari Ito -- Gigolo（情夫）

 

Last night, I wrote up an Off-Course（オフコース）article on an atypical song by them whose lyrics relate the story of a couple having a really good time one night. Well, the lusty number below takes things to an even larger level.

(30:58)

Yukari Ito（伊東ゆかり）started off as one of the cute 1960s teenage aidoru covering tunes such as Connie Francis' "Where The Boys Are", the ultimate in innocent pining songs. Well, twenty years later, Ito has definitely grown up if this song, "Gigolo", is of any indication. Incidentally, the kanji actually reads as "Joufu" which translates as "male lover".

That cover of the October 1981 album where "Gigolo" resides, "Aisuru Uso wo Shittemasuka. Onna ni Kansuru 10-shou"（愛する嘘を知ってますか。女に関する10章...Know Any Loving Lies? Ten Chapters About Women）(which is one progressive rock-level length of a title), seems to be the perfect backdrop for this song. There is a woozy intro with Ito's vocals to match as if one half of a couple is just rousing up from a deep satisfying sleep and admiring her partner still in slumberland. Of course, that part has got to end with a sexy saxophone before the melody suddenly rushes into a bass-driven City Pop beat, and then we return to bed...shampoo, rinse and repeat. Finally, Ito goes into some major moaning and groaning, and no, it isn't because she's fed up. Yoko Yamaguchi（山口洋子）was in charge of the lyrics while Nobuo Kurata（倉田信雄）provided the smoking hot melody. 

If the rest of the album is anything like "Gigolo" and if you can get your hands on it, make sure they are wearing oven gloves.

Off-Course -- Ai Yori mo（愛よりも）

 

I gotta say...in all these years of admiring Off-Course（オフコース）songs, I don't think any of their fans or I have encountered a single such as this one by Kazumasa Oda（小田和正）and company. A couple of years ago, I wrote about the band's 25th single from April 1984, "Kimi ga, Uso wo, Tsuita"（君が、嘘を、ついた）, a seething and sinister song of romantic betrayal and a furious need for payback. It wasn't just the fact that the song was far and away from their usual folk and/or AOR tunes but it was also about the observation that this time this wasn't a ballad about the aftermath of a slow and sad breakup which used to be Off-Course's lyrical bread and butter.

Then, there is the B-side to "Kimi ga, Uso wo, Tsuita", "Ai Yori mo" (More Than Love) which is as much a thematic flip as it is a literal one of the original 45" single. Oda didn't have anything to do with the songwriting here. It was actually two other members: bassist Jiro Ohma（大間ジロー）and guitarist/keyboardist Kazuhiko Matsuo（松尾一彦）who created this down-and-dirty song.

The lyrics are short but they are to the point. I think that it's all about the sex act here...a lot of talk about two people melting into each other. Nothing extremely graphic, mind you, but the image is fairly easy to imagine. And once again, melodically, "Ai Yori mo" feels quite different from the usual Off-Course tune; it's more of a bluesy rock showcase. Unfortunately, I don't know my rock bands too well, so perhaps one of you readers can identify what type of rock and rock band Ohma and Matsuo were trying to emulate here. My thought for this one is way out of left field...perhaps from that part of the parking lot behind left field. Listening to "Ai Yori mo", I get that feeling of British band Tears for Fears but with no synths and all brass included.

As with "Kimi ga, Uso wo, Tsuita", "Ai Yori mo" was also a track on Off-Course's June 1984 album, "The Best Year of My Life" which hit the top of the Oricon chart. Maybe with "Ai Yori mo", the dude had the best night of his life. 😈