Tatsuro Yamashita -- Boku no Naka no Shonen（僕の中の少年）

 

Well, it took me about six months after writing about the lead track, "Neo Tokyo Rhapsody"（新・東京ラプソディー）but I finally got my copy of Tatsuro Yamashita's（山下達郎）"Boku no Naka no Shonen" (The Boy in Me) album which was released in October 1988. Not surprisingly, this was another No. 1 hit for the singer-songwriter and it went Double Platinum. Rocket Brown and JM The Bard gave their own review on "Boku no Naka no Shonen" back in May so give that video a listen as well.

But this article is all about my take on this winner which is notable for the observation that it strikes me as being a transitional one in terms of Tats' stylings. As I mentioned in the article for "Neo Tokyo Rhapsody", "Boku no Naka no Shonen" was no longer really a City Pop entry like his albums from the late 1970s going into the 1980s. The pendulum swung a bit more into the straight pop and R&B territory although with all of the Yamashita flourishes such as the falsetto, vocal layering, hook-laden melodies intact. Speaking of "Neo Tokyo Rhapsody", I've already spoken on one other track from the album, the soulful and even elegiac "Soubou"（蒼氓）, and Marcos V. gave his contribution through the track "Odoroyo, Fish" (踊ろよ、フィッシュ) several years ago.

"Get Back in Love" isn't only the 2nd track following "Neo Tokyo Rhapsody", it was also Yamashita's 17th single from April 1988, released half a year before "Boku no Naka no Shonen" was itself released. The theme song for the TBS-produced drama "Kaigan Monogatari Mukashi Mitai ni..."（海岸物語 昔みたいに…Coastline Stories...Like in the Old Days）, I think that it prefaced the pop balladry that he would demonstrate with songs such as "Sayonara Natsu no Hi"（さよなら夏の日...Goodbye Summer Days) and "Endless Game" which would pop up on his following studio album "Artisan" in 1991.

Reaching No. 6 on Oricon, the liner notes in the album has Yamashita saying that being in his mid-30s at the time, he no longer felt like creating those uptempo Resort Pop songs from some years beforehand and was more in the ballad mood. Also during that period, according to the writeup on J-Wiki for the album, Yamashita was also helping out on Masayuki Suzuki's（鈴木雅之）"Radio Days" sophomore solo album and may have been considering the song for Martin. However, Martin's director told the songwriter that "Get Back In Love" was really more for Yamashita to sing. Still, I would love to hear The King of Love Songs give his rendition of this one. In any case, "Get Back In Love" is a great end-of-summer tune and the electric sitar that Tats also plays gives it a nostalgic 1970s twist.

"The Girl in White" all came about when Suntory Whiskey came knocking to ask if Yamashita could come up with a commercial tune for their Suntory White as performed by the acapella group 14 Karat Soul. The version here by Tats is the cover and it was also the coupling song for the single "Neo Tokyo Rhapsody".  I'm not sure how sales for Suntory White did afterwards but try to imagine how excited the company's Marketing division must have been on learning that Tats would create one of their jingles. However this time, it wasn't just the singer on songwriting duties; his friend Alan O'Day would provide the lyrics. One interesting point that Yamashita also makes is that he thought the finished product was something that late 50s/early 60s American singer-songwriter Dion would perform through a technopop filter.

(cover version)

"Samui Natsu"（寒い夏...The Cold Summer） is another collaboration with Tats but this time, his songwriting partner was also his partner in life, Mariya Takeuchi（竹内まりや）, on the lyrics. For me, this is also one of my highlights because of the overall arrangement, said to be based on the works by singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb, including the sublime strings provided by Katsuhisa Hattori/服部克久 (it's because of those strings that I get reminded of Pet Shop Boys' "Liberation"). This lush ballad is also a very melancholy one in that a man remembers that Thursday morning when the romance came to an abrupt end.

The final song on Side A of the original LP is "Odoroyo, Fish" and as noted above, Marcos V. gave his two cents about Tats' 16th single from May 1987. I also had a personal connection to it since it was a song that I used to hear either through a segment on either the Fuji-TV morning news show or the following "Ponkikies"（ポンキッキーズ）kids' program. And why not? It's just a happy beach tune although I remember from a few paragraphs previously that the singer was tired of doing those sorts of songs but instead of some kids asking for the tune, it was All Nippon Airways making the request for their annual Okinawa campaign. Maybe after getting "Odoroyo, Fish" done, Tats said to himself, "OK, that's it! I'm done with the upbeat Resort Pop". As it was, the single peaked at No. 19.

"Luminescence" is an atmospheric beginning to Side B with Yamashita handling all of the instruments save Koki Ito（伊藤広規）on electric bass. According to both J-Wiki and the album's liner notes, the tune was brought to fruition when Tats had come back home from a very late night of recording and was walking the dog just before sunrise. He suddenly saw the constellation of Orion in the summer which surprised the heck out of him. 

One thing that I've always admired about the singer has been bringing in instruments that I would no longer have associated with a contemporary pop song such as a glockenspiel that I'd thought was something that belonged to the 1960s with DeVol. But Tats plays it here and I think it really adds some fascinating spice to "Marmalade Goodbye" which begins with one stomping bass by Ito again and is further carried by Shigeo Fuchino's（淵野繁雄）tenor sax. "Marmalade Goodbye" was created for a 1988 Honda Integra commercial and apparently Tats got the inspiration for it through Jack Nicholson's "Five Easy Pieces".

The final track and title track was also commissioned for the Honda Integra back in 1986, and as the title hints at, the song does talk about boyhood but also about the man's parting from it after becoming a parent himself. Yamashita states that he was of the postwar generation which begat Japan's moratorium society and the concept of eternal boyhood, but all that changed when he and Mariya had their baby daughter. The song might be something along the lines of "OK, I've grown up...now what?". The music itself is appropriately introspective and fun to listen to as the singer handles all of the instruments. I also enjoyed the Tats harmonies but when I first heard "Boku no Naka no Shonen", I was slightly taken off course with that ending that begins a little after three minutes. It sounds like a toy drum parade with an electric organ and supposedly he had wanted to come up with something distinctive along the lines of The Beach Boys' "Pet Sounds" or The Rascals' "Once Upon A Dream". In addition, Tats was also very interested in emulating a drum roll realistically through a computer which seems kinda reminiscent of Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）and Hiroshi Sato's（佐藤博）fascination of bringing together technology and music.

In any case, I have another proud Tatsuro Yamashita to add to the collection.

Yoko Kanno (Gabriela Robin) -- Moon

 

Last night, as I was doing my usual browsings (grazings 🐮?) through YouTube, I found this video of the great Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）on a 1988 TV show introducing his backing band, and one of those musicians happened to be an adorable-looking mid-20s keyboardist by the name of Yoko Kanno（菅野よう子）. Yes, that Yoko Kanno who would come up with one of the most iconic anime theme songs in history along with other musical delights.

I then decided to see if there were any other Yoko Kanno compositions that I could explore. She did provide the soundtrack for one of the shows in the "Gundam" franchise, "Turn A Gundam"（∀ガンダム）in 1999 following her winning turn for "Cowboy Be-Bop". My exposure to the most famous Japanese robot of them all has been limited to just the first three movies in the late 1970s and early 1980s, though.

Therefore, "Turn A Gundam" was never in my viewscreen (and frankly my anime buddy may either laud or slam it) but I did encounter this beautiful piece from Kanno's soundtrack for this particular entry in the franchise. "Moon" was of course composed by Kanno and then written and performed by Gabriela Robin. From what I've read, folks had been wondering who this lovely Gabriela Robin was for years but then Kanno finally let the cat out of the bag and admitted that she was the Robin.

Well, that knocked folks out for a loop. I'm fairly sure that people wondered why she hadn't considered a recording career but I think that there are some artists who prefer to just be on the songwriting end of things, and that's fine. But indeed, Kanno as Robin has a wonderfully ethereal voice in "Moon", and though I've never seen a single episode of "Turn A Gundam", I can imagine that this track was used for a quiet introspective scene on the eve of one spectacular battle with the last half of the song reflecting the preparations of the gigantic Gundam itself.

Hamako Watanabe/Yoshiko Yamaguchi/Tokyo Taishu Kayo Gakudan -- Itoshi Ano Hoshi (いとしあの星)

From the moment I unwittingly uttered an "Ah, Ko-san!" when the scrawny, pale fellow stepped up onto the Noh stage at the Asakusa shrine, I knew that the Takashima Brothers from Toyama prefecture have officially become my muse for this Autumn. In hindsight, I should've seen it coming: Smart-looking, Kotaro's (孝太郎) mellow vocals, high definition versions of ryukoka tunes, and having them constantly in my ears as I hack away at my readings. It was only a matter of time. Don't know how I feel about associating the Liberal Democratic Party with the likes of  "Midori no Chiheisen" (緑の地平線), though, but here I am. 

Anyway, a while ago I wrote about the pre-war piece that was "China Tango" which Tokyo Taishu Kayo Gakudan (東京大衆歌謡楽団... lit: Tokyo public music group) had covered. And today I bring you another one of their remakes, this time "Itoshi Ano Hoshi". 

Similar to "China Tango", what first caught my interest in this song was its rhythmic beat albeit at a much quicker tempo. In fact, the frenetic pace at which the bass and banjo are plucked and the blaring notes of the accordion are almost reminiscent of a steam train chugging away, or even the rumbling of a horse carriage headed off to some far off town. Either way, I wonder if this rousing melody was what made "Itoshi Ano Hoshi" somewhat of a mainstay in many of the quartet's performances. 

Since I was able to fish out the title from the comments, I didn't have to dig deep to find the original take of "Itoshi Ano Hoshi". Hamako Watanabe (渡辺はま子) had first recorded this in January 1940. Hearing her falsetto lightly dance over the words written by Hachiro Sato (サトウハチロー), the image of a girl infatuated by her special one and yearning for him can be envisioned a lot easier in comparison to Kotaro's hearty warbling. Watanabe was known as the purveyor of hits with connections to the Chinese continent and this song is no exception, made obvious by the Chinese sound in its melody, courtesy of Ryoichi Hattori (服部良一). 

In fact, "Itoshi Ano Hoshi" was actually the theme of the movie "Byakuran no Uta" (白蘭の歌) from 1939. It starred Chinese-Japanese actress-singer Yoshiko Yamaguchi (山口淑子) a.k.a Li Xianglan (李香蘭), who also had her rendition of this tune. Incidentally, Watanabe was supposed to be something like the Japanese mainland counterpart to Yamaguchi, who was active in China in the time before all hell broke loose... again. 

I believe the video here is Yamaguchi's version and it shows snippets from that film. The plot, set in the 1930s in Imperial Japan's annexed Manchuria, revolves around a love story between a Chinese girl of elite Manchurian descent, played by Yamaguchi, and a Japanese fellow who's working as an engineer at the South Manchurian Railway Company, played by Kazuo Hasegawa (長谷川一夫). But, really, in true propaganda film fashion, our main character here is really the railway being built. Why? Well, while our main characters do end up together, they end up sacrificing themselves to protect the railway's construction progress during the Marco Polo Bridge incident... Sarcasm aside, "Itoshi Ano Hoshi" does illustrate how our leading lady feels as she awaits letters from her engineer beau.  

On an end note, even though I hoped to hear "Itoshi Ano Hoshi" during my first viewing of the Gakudan's regular Asakusa Shrine performances on 31st October, it wasn't on their setlist for the day or, at least, during the 2nd of their 2 showings. Ah, well. I have many more opportunities to hear it and other favourites of mine in time to come... In fact, I intend to be doing so very soon on November 10th. 

Welcome to the wall, fellas.

Y'know, the Gakudan members do look like 4 copies of a product with some variations that make them relatively discernable. They're all great and I like them all. But. Admittedly. I do have a very, very marginal preference for Yujiro (although it does regularly shift to Kotaro). If you haven't read the "China Tango" article, I'll have you figure out which of the 3 instrumentalists Yujiro is. 

P.S. A few friends had accompanied me to see the quartet in action that afternoon, and it did amuse me that they seemed fascinated by the band's get-up and instruments. It then made me realise that in not usually seeing such an image and hearing such a sound regularly or ever, it would indeed be fascinating. I did greatly appreciate their willingness to take it all in. Rain and ryukoka.

Kaoru Sudo -- Shiawase no Basho（幸せの場所）

 

Lost one of my happy places as of Halloween. Not long after having returned from Japan in 2011, a good friend of mine, Danny, introduced me to the new izakaya Kingyo in the Cabbagetown district of Toronto. For the years afterward, it provided me with some fine tasty fare in a comfortable atmosphere, and in fact, it ended up that my group of friends would have their Xmas parties there for a number of years. Fellow KKP contributor Larry Chan and I often got together at the place for lunch or dinner during the Holidays.

But as the saying goes, all good things must come to an end and after about nine years of service, I was told in September that Kingyo's days were indeed numbered. I think that the pandemic was one factor, but also the owner has apparently wanted to take things in a new direction. In what new direction I have no idea although Danny feels that it will still be cuisine-oriented. Anyways, we will find out early in 2022, but in the meantime, Danny, his wife and I had a final repast at Kingyo on October 23rd, and it was difficult for me to choose which of my favourites that I wanted to have, but in the end, I decided to opt for the limited Makunouchi bento that you see at the top. Yes, I did engorge myself and drank things down with their homemade ginger ale which I will also never see again.

As I said, Kingyo was a happy place and that is enough of a segue for "Shiawase no Basho" (A Happy Place), a track from the late Kaoru Sudo's（須藤薫）November 1983 album "Drops". It's been a long time since I've put up a Sudo article so I'm happy to reacquaint everyone with her musical stylings. A trackmate with "Mayonaka no Shujinko"（真夜中の主人公）, this is certainly a mellow City Pop ballad about someone's happy place being the memories stored in their heart while their significant other is elsewhere, temporarily or forever. It has an interesting combination of the usual City Pop Fender Rhodes and beefy bass along with a disco flute and a jazzy muted trumpet. Quite a classy number and certainly seeing that album cover for "Drops" adds to the atmosphere.

"Shiawase no Basho" was written by Shun Taguchi（田口俊）, composed by Takao Kisugi（来生たかお）, and arranged by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）. I can hear a bit of Yuming（ユーミン）taste in that arrangement, in fact, because of her husband's involvement. "Drops" peaked at No. 49 on Oricon.

The final homemade ginger ale!

The Molice -- FATEMA

 

I heard last night on CNN that there were going to be a number of elections in the United States today including the mayoral ones in Atlanta, New York City and Buffalo. Well, in the last several months, Buffalo, New York has kept reminding me of this Japanese band, but first in keeping with the tradition when it comes to an article about The Molice, I will provide another memory of a Buffalo-based television show from my childhood.

Looking at this wonderful rewind video of "The Commander Tom Show" through the YouTube channel "Forgotten Buffalo Tour", I hadn't realized that: 1) it started on WKBW-TV in 1965, the year of my birth (I'd thought it was around a whole lot longer), and 2) it was once called "The Superman Show". And sure enough, Commander Tom was how I was first introduced to The Man of Steel via the 1950s show "Adventures of Superman" in both its black-and-white and colour versions with its star being George Reeves.

"The Commander Tom Show" was an afternoon show so I saw it after racing home from school, and it along with the morning "Rocketship 7" made for my Buffalo children's TV tandem. The handsome WKBW weather forecaster Tom Jolls (reminded me of The Professor from "Gilligan's Island") was the host of the show. I never knew about the human characters that had popped up early there; to me, the Commander's buddies were the puppets such as Dustmop the Dog. Of course, being the callow not-so-little boy at the time, I had always wondered why he appeared later in the evening on "Eyewitness News" out of his red uniform and giving out those numbers called temperatures.

And once again, we're back here to introduce another raucous number and accompanying super-trippy music video by rock band The Molice. I'm still unsure whether vocalist Rinko, guitarist Yuzuru Takeda and drummer Hirofumi “Paro” Katsumoto have been able to get back to Buffalo from Japan, but considering that a translating colleague is finally going to be able to make her way back from that country to Toronto very soon, I'm pretty hopeful that the band will also be able to head over to Western New York once more as well.

"FATEMA" is a track from The Molice's 2012 album "Neugravity" and apparently this Fatema is one of the most influential folks around since Rinko sings about wanting to join them on their adventures worldwide. The guys rock out as usual and the melody is fun and easy to follow just like it is with following Fatema. Plus the video is something that is weirdly wacky enough to have its slot in my old "City Limits" late-night show of the musically strange.

Yoshimi Tendo -- Chindo Monogatari（珍島物語）

 

In recent months, "Kayo Kyoku Plus" has covered enka singer Yoshimi Tendo's（天童よしみ）more recent discography in the 21sth century. However, I've now got the opportunity to go a little further back finally when it comes to her songs.

The reason is that I was able to catch the NHK regular special "Waga Kokoro no Osaka Melody"（わが心の大阪メロディー...The Osaka Melodies of Our Hearts） the other night, and of course, anyone who's anyone in the Japanese music world from the Kansai district appeared to perform. One of those must-appears happened to be Tendo who hails from the ancestral home of my family, Wakayama Prefecture.

Possessing one of the finest voices this side of Hibari Misora（美空ひばり）, Tendo performed the song "Chindo Monogatari" (The Tale of Jindo Island) which was released as her 28th single from February 1996. Written and composed by veteran Daisaburo Nakayama（中山大三郎）, who had come up with the lyrics for Chiyoko Nakamura's（中村千代子）"Jinsei Iroiro"（人生いろいろ）and Takashi Hosokawa's（細川たかし）"Onna no Juujiro"（女の十字路）, the singer delivers a smooth heartfelt message of yearning for a loved one separated by an ocean with South Korea's third-largest island as the motif.

My highlights for "Chindo Monogatari" include those strings, that trumpet and that singing by Tendo. The singer can provide plenty of throat-rumbling brio into other songs but for this particular enka, I was pleasantly surprised by her clear and smooth vocals this time around. They could be compared with the finest sake, if I can make that analogy. 

The song peaked at No. 35 on Oricon but more importantly, it provided Tendo with her first million-seller with more than 1.3 million copies sold. It also earned her a Best Performance prize at the Japan Record Awards at the end of 1996. With her career going all the way back to 1970, I ought to check out one of her very early singles when she was just a teenager.

Kingo Hamada -- Gipsy

 

Welcome to November 2021! The photo above is the picture that accompanied the months of September and October on my Seizo Watase（わたせせいぞう）calendar. I'll have to show off the one for November and December but the picture is more suited for Xmas so it'll have to wait a few more weeks at least.

Looks like I'm not the only Watase fan. Singer-songwriter Kingo Hamada（濱田金吾）was able to get a Watase on the cover of his 7th and final studio album to date "Fall In Love" which was released in October 1985 on vinyl and then CD a few months later in December.

One groovalicious track is "Gipsy". Not sure about the reason behind the spelling error in the title but perhaps there was some kind of method in the madness. However, what was lacking in proper letter arrangement has been more than compensated by the groovy bass synth propelling the rhythm forward. There's definitely that city beat living in there. Along with Hamada providing the basic nocturnal-friendly melody, it was Makoto Matsushita（松下誠）arranging all of the tracks in "Fall In Love" and Akiko Kosaka（小坂明子）providing the lyrics.