Akiko Yano -- Ongaku wa Okurimono（音楽はおくりもの）

 

Well, it was quite the "Uta Con"（うたコン）episode with a number of songs to peruse and place onto the blog last night. I did get the s**t kingz as scheduled and it was kinda cute to hear the NHK announcer pronounce that name without any sort of irony. Then again, all of us here have been able to say the title of vaunted comedy "Schitt's Creek" for the past several years without giggling.

Anyways, another wonderful guest last night was the incomparable Akiko Yano（矢野顕子）. I never thought that I would ever see the veteran singer-songwriter appear on any television music show, let alone "Uta Con" but there she was, sitting beside enka singer Sayuri Ishikawa（石川さゆり）. I found out that the two of them have been good buddies for years, and they even apparently visited that spot on the top of the stairs for the Philadelphia Museum of Art where Rocky Balboa showed his power and determination.

In celebration of her 45th anniversary since releasing her debut album "Japanese Girl" in 1976, Yano released a new album, her 28th, in August this year titled "Ongaku wa Okurimono" (Music is a Gift). The singer performed the title track on the show last night with the same musicians who recorded with her: bassist Rei Ohara（小原礼）, guitarist Yoshiyuki Sahashi（佐橋佳幸）and drummer Tatsuo Hayashi（林立夫）. Plus, another treat is that Misia herself provided the chorus.

"Ongaku wa Okurimono" is a gentle but strong opinion on the power of Yano's medium all these decades and I enjoy the relaxing lilt of the arrangement as she plays on the piano. I was struck by her shoutouts to her friend, Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）, and Carole King within the lyrics as she invited listeners to have a listen to their works. And I can imagine Ohnuki covering this very song with Yano accompanying although I wouldn't be surprised if the singer demurred simply because it would sound somewhat self-serving. What was also nice was seeing actress Non in the music video along with that splendid setting of the Tokyo National Museum. I've been to the huge institution in Ueno Park but I don't think I've ever made it to that particular area where Yano was playing. Gonna have to visit the place again.

In any case, a happy 45 to Yano! And indeed, music is a gift.🎁

Mimi Hagiwara -- O-share na Douyoubi（おしゃれな土曜日）/Stand Up（スタンド・アップ）

 

Commenter James Noah and I had a bit of a talk on some of those female wrestlers in Japan who gained enough popularity that they also cut some records. I told him about Beauty Pair（ビューティ・ペア）and then he told me about Mimi Hagiwara（ミミ萩原）who began her wrestling career shortly after the above duo provided their pop music.

The future wrestler was born in 1956 as Taemi Hagiwara（萩原妙美）and is one-quarter Swiss. She actually spent the first fifteen years of her life growing up in Switzerland before coming to Tokyo. Her childhood nickname was Mimi so it also became her stage name when she debuted on television as a teenager in the tokusatsu series "Kamen Rider"（仮面ライダー）as one of the Rider Girls who appeared in several episodes.

Under that same name of Mimi, the trilingual (English, French and Japanese) young lady also made her debut in the recording debut with "O-share na Douyoubi" (A Stylish Saturday) as an aidoru. Released in October 1973, it was the typical 1970s uptempo tune about enjoying that precious weekend day with the boyfriend. Lyrics were by the prolific Kazumi Yasui（安井かずみ）with music by Masahiko Aoi（葵まさひこ）.

Mimi would also release four more singles up to 1975 and even one album. However, tiring of the stresses of being in show business and then hearing of the fame that Beauty Pair was enjoying in the late 1970s, she would expand her stage name to Mimi Hagiwara and leave the geinokai behind to enter the world of wrestling in 1978. According to her profile in J-Wiki, she had always enjoyed martial arts since she was a kid so perhaps this was one way to make a happier living.

It was as Mimi Hagiwara that she would make her debut as a singing wrestler as well with "Stand Up" coming out in July 1981. Written by Fumiko Okada（岡田冨美子）and composed by Daiko Nagato（長戸大幸）, the song has that certain Pat Benatar pop/rock vibe to it but Hagiwara's vocals still retain some high-pitched delicacy. Over the next few years, she would release three more singles. And then in the 21st century, Hagiwara has appeared in several musical productions.

Judy and Mary -- Brand New Wave Upper Ground

Good heavens! It's been exactly three years to the day that I put up my last Judy & Mary song. Must rectify. However, I do have to warn you that if you have some problems in viewing the gutting of fish, you might want to avoid watching the end of the music video below. Instead, enjoy the above photo of my sushi plate.🐟

Wow! It's really natsukashii hearing YUKI's voice once more after so long on "Brand New Wave Upper Ground", J&M's 18th single from February 2000. And YUKI really throws it (and herself) out there in this one especially (Ah-HOW! Ah-HOW!). My memory engrams did register hearing this one either through the countdown shows and watching the video on those same programs. Since I only got to see just excerpts of the band reveling about on their instruments, I'd assumed that the setting was one of the most chill underground lounges in the city when it was something else entirely.

Written by YUKI and composed/arranged by guitarist Takuya, "Brand New Wave Upper Ground" has that familiar Judy & Mary raucous rock sound that I've always knew them by back in my Ichikawa days. And man, I almost forgot how much of a rabid pixie YUKI is on stage and in videos. The single made it as high as No. 4 on Oricon and made it onto the band's first BEST compilation, "FRESH", from March that same year.

The song was also used to advertise another round of Pocari Sweat commercials back in the day.

s**t kingz -- Egao! feat. PES（えがお！）

 

For all those fhana fans, remember when I put up the article for "Aozora no Rhapsody" （青空のラプソディ）years ago, noting that that had been the first time that I ever fell for and wrote about an anison before even catching the first episode of "Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon"（小林さんちのメイドラゴン...Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid）?

Well, holy s**t and f**kin' yay! It's ha**ened again (oops, I guess I went a little overboard with the asterisks there). I had heard about this group called s**t kingz before but couldn't quite place them which is rather amazing considering that name. However, when I went to their Wiki bio, I found out that they had backed up singer-performer Daichi Miura（三浦大知）, formerly of the 90s song-and-dance group Folder, and they were the guys with him when he showed up on NHK's Kohaku Utagassen.

Now to set the record straight, s**t kingz isn't a singing group but a choreography quartet consisting of shoji, kazuki, NOPPO and Oguri, and I read on NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）schedule that they were up tonight to perform "Egao!" (Smile!) featuring hip-hop unit RIP SLYME member PES. And seeing the short-and-sweet music video above, just like with "Aozora no Rhapsody", I've rather fallen for the song, whistle and all, before catching "Uta Con" tonight.

"Egao!" has been up for digital download under PES' discography since last month with Masaki Tomiyama, PES and s**t kingz handling the music and the last two providing the lyrics. I'm glad that the four fellows don't take themselves too seriously but are seriously having fun with the dancing, especially while wearing clothes that seem to have come from the Sears Fall Catalog, circa 1982.

My compliments on whoever chose the setting of that house and an open-air art class. The former appears to be a mansion that YouTuber Erik Conover would explore...and yup, I've subscribed to him. In any case, I'm looking forward to seeing s**t kingz later tonight.

Stardust Revue -- Ryuusei Monogatari（流星物語）

 

As I'm writing this, I'm also keeping an eye on the count board at CBC because there is a federal election on tonight, so I'm rather curious to know who will be continuing on or getting the new job as Prime Minister. Interestingly enough, there is that party election within the governing Liberal Democratic Party in Japan next week to find out who will be the next President of the LDP and therefore the next PM of that nation.

OK, let's get away from the political and head over to the more enjoyable sights and sounds of the band Stardust Revue（スターダストレビュー）. I can always depend on Kaname Nemoto（根本要）and company to provide some of that wonderfully upbeat and oft-funky pop. Case in point: we have "Ryuusei Monogatari" which I will translate as "Tale of a Shooting Star" as a slight pun.

A track from Stardust Revue's 6th album from July 1988 "RENDEZ-VOUS", "Ryuusei Monogatari" seems less about anything astronomical and more about the happily romantic as it sounds as if vocalist Nemoto is willing to take a lucky lady for a trip around the stars. The song was written by Nemoto and band percussionist Toshikatsu Hayashi（林紀勝）with keyboardist Yasuhiro Mitani（三谷泰弘）providing the synth-driven perky music. Although I've also categorized "Ryuusei Monogatari" as a City Pop tune since it has some of that urban feel, I'm wondering if it's more of some of that regular pop goodness.

"RENDEZ-VOUS" peaked at No. 17 on Oricon and later reissues of the album have also included a live version of "Ryuusei Monogatari" to wrap it all up.

Yasuko Agawa -- Skindo-Le-Le

 

Last week, I read Marcos V's "Special Selection: Love Letter to Brazil Part II" and enjoyed it very much since I've had a predilection for bossa nova and samba in my music since I was a kid and that includes the liberal infusion of the genres into kayo kyoku. The Japanese have also had a love affair with Brazilian music for decades according to what I've been remembering.

Jazz and City Pop singer Yasuko Agawa（阿川泰子）provided her own cover of "Skindo-Le-Le", originally by the band Viva Brasil, in her 1981 album "Sunglow". It's a steady-on rendition with the good dollops of samba and fusion, and it feels like something to be played one evening in a nightclub in Shinjuku or Roppongi.

It took some digging since Viva Brasil doesn't have a Wikipedia entry but I was able to track down the site "Bay Area Bands" and finally get some information on the band. I'd initially assumed that Viva Brasil was from Brazil but actually it was born in San Francisco thanks to musician Claudio Amaral who had come up from his country to the Bay Area in 1972. 

At the time, Amaral was more into the rock and pop scene and not so much into the music of Brazil since he hadn't seen it as anything special in his native land, but during that decade, he got to know the music environment and some of the local musicians. Even more importantly, he began to realize and appreciate the music from his own country. The various associations and gigs eventually led to the formation of Viva Brasil and a self-titled 1980 debut album which included "Skindo-Le-Le", their most famous number created by Amaral and Jay Wagner. Since then, Viva Brasil has been pioneering the Brazilian music scene and folding some of that into the jazz world within the San Francisco area.

From what I've seen on YouTube, "Skindo-Le-Le" has become a standard of the genre and has been covered by a number of other musical acts including Agawa, and here she is in concert performing the song. I have to admit that "Skindo-Le-Le" has gotten into my head and heart, and I almost can get up and dance but I will save your minds from that horrifying image. However, the whole thing about this classic is that I do remember one time in Japan when a group of us were at a karaoke box in Tokyo, and one of our number was a young Japanese-Brazilian woman. When one samba song got put up onto the speakers, she immediately stood up and went into a frenzied dance as if the spirit of Carnaval took hold of her. Very charming performance!

Misia -- Namida no Present（涙のプレゼント）

 Too bad about the breakup but some really fine music.

Groovy and cool are the words that I would use to describe "Namida no Present" (A Present of Tears), a track on Misia's 12th single, "Kokoro Hitotsu"（心ひとつ...One Heart） which saw the light of day in August 2003. With the singer providing lyrics and Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）behind music and arrangement, as can be guessed from the title, it's the story of the end of a romance at some café, all tied up in a bow with a final present from the guy. I definitely do not want to be the wait staff servicing that table. Really awkward.

However as I said right off the top, that is some really nice melody by Sagisu flowing through my ears. There is elegance, soul, an urbane tone, a steady rhythm and even a touch of humour at the beginning as if "Namida no Present" were the theme song for a Tokyo-based rom-com that begins with the tabletop breakup that needed to be done to launch the plot. Misia's songs have been used as theme songs before but there's no sign that this particular one was used in that manner.

As for "Kokoro Hitotsu", it peaked at No. 7 on Oricon and earned a Gold standing. According to J-Wiki, the single was recorded in London. Hopefully, the breakup was done over high tea. I do love those scones with the clotted cream.😁