I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Maybe it's just my opinion but one of the cornerstone City Pop tunes that appeared when the genre became known to ears outside of Japan was Yuiko Tsubokura's（坪倉唯子）"Tsukanoma Yotogi Bito"（一瞬夜伽伴侶）. Funky to the max, it is for any genre fan in the car, at home or at your local City Pop party, and it was a part of the singer's debut album"Always In Love" from June 1986.
Some of that great bass can also be found in the title track for the album; the Japanese part of the title basically means the same as the English part. "Always In Love" isn't quite as spectacular as "Tsukanoma Yotogi Bito" but I don't think that this is meant to hit the dance floor and stomp up a cloud. It's got its own groove but there is more of that feeling of a cool-down tune and what helps is that keyboard work which could have some of those Vaporwave fans swooning.
Tsubokura was responsible for the lyrics while bassist and prolific songwriter Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）took care of the melody. Looking at the J-Wiki article for the singer, the album finished outside of the Top 100 on Oricon back in the day which might surprise some people, but then again, a lot of City Pop albums didn't get their appreciation until many years later.
I was actually conversing with someone a bit earlier today about how directly translating some of those Japanese lyrics in a song can lead to misunderstandings and unintended hilarity. And so, I come across this particular song by one of my favourites, Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）, titled "Yasashiku Shikatte" which, I gather, can be switched into English as "Kindly Chew Me Out". Sounds a tad odd to me. It would be like taking the inverse of that meaning and saying "Ferociously Caress Me". And remember, the safety word is apples!😜
But I think that I'll go with "Gently Scold Me". In any case, a commenter for "10th Anniversary Special: 10th Anniversary Songs" left this Iwasaki recommendation, and yep, "Yasashiku Shikatte" is a most enjoyable song especially since the arrangement had me reminiscing when I first discovered Hiromi-chan over 40 years ago. It seems to have that mix of styles combining a bit of that aidoru City Pop and disco that she had been dabbling in the late 1970s going into the 1980s a la "Cinderella Honeymoon"（シンデレラ・ハネムーン）, and then some of the gentle balladry through songs like her cover of "Sumire Iro no Namida"（すみれ色の涙）which often punctuated her time in the early 1980s. There's also a jigger of bossa nova thrown in there for good measure, I see.
I should not be surprised then that master composer/arranger Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）was behind the creation of the melody here. Prolific lyricist Yoko Aki（阿木燿子）was responsible for the words, and as much as I teased a bit about that title up above (and considering the context above in the first paragraph, don't think about "teased" too deeply), I was able to find out from an Ameba blog that the situation presented here involves a woman about to be taken away by a Lothario on a trip while another fellow (that she may actually like) who's not quite as confident and brave but is in love with the lass is on the precipice of losing her permanently. She's daring that second fellow to call her bluff and tell her to get back here right now. This probably would be a cliffhanger in any drama or anime.
As my mystery commenter said, "Yasashiku Shikatte" is an Iwasaki song that hadn't been released on any album or single before its revelation on her December 1981 BEST compilation"EXCEL ONE ~ Iwasaki Hiromi no Subete"（EXCEL ONE 岩崎宏美のすべて...The Complete Hiromi Iwasaki） as one of a handful of new songs among the past hits; that album ranked in at No. 57. It is also included as a bonus track on the 2007 CD version of her cover album "Disney Girl" from October 1983 which peaked at No. 20.
On Tuesday, I saw a couple of singers that I hadn't seen in quite a while on NHK's "Uta Con"（うたコン）. There was singer Rimi Natsukawa（夏川りみ）known for "Nada Soso" (涙そうそう) and tenor Masafumi Akikawa（秋川雅史）who became famous for "Sen no Kaze ni Natte"（千の風になって）. The two of them along with Kazufumi Miyazawa（宮沢和史）of The BOOM sang a song of hope titled "Asu to Iu Hi ga" (The Day Known as Tomorrow), and considering that the last two entries tonight also involved songs of hope and optimism, I thought that I would finish things up tonight with this one.
The story behind "Asu to Iu Hi ga" started in 2006 when composer Satoshi Yagisawa（八木澤教司）and poet Sakurako Yamamoto（山本瓔子）created the song for an Osaka-based junior high school to perform at the 30th All Japan Chorus Education Study Group National Convention in Osaka itself. However, it took on special meaning in 2011 due to the Tohoku Earthquake on March 11th when the Fukushima Vocal Ensemble Competition that had been slated to be held on the following 19th was cancelled. One of the participating groups, Hachiken Junior High School, performed "Asu to Iu Hi ga" as a musical prayer for recovery.
Later that year, Natsukawa released a single version of "Asu to Iu Hi ga" on September 21st as this very gentle pop song backed by guitar, strings and piano. Depending on your feelings, you may want to have some tissue nearby.
On the same day, Akikawa also released his version of the song and my advice on Kleenex also holds here as well. His take has more of a classical orchestral arrangement. Not surprisingly, both him and Natsukawa appeared on the Kohaku Utagassen at the end of 2011 to perform a duet of "Asu to Iu Hi ga".
An officially recorded duet was a track on Akikawa's BESTcompilation released in February 2014.
I've been referring to The Beatles on various articles within KKP basically since I started this whole thing in 2012, but it wasn't actually until late in 2020 that I finally featured a song by The Fab Four here via Reminiscings of Youth. That was for "Strawberry Fields Forever", an alternately sweet and dark concoction by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.
However, my second Beatles ROY article is on "All You Need Is Love", a single by the band that was released in July 1967 and I can safely say that it is probably the very first Beatles song that I remember hearing as a toddler. There is something about that refrain "...all you need is love..." that caught onto the synapses in my tiny brain (trivia tip: it hasn't changed much in size since then) and has held on for the past 50+ years.
I probably did hear it all over the radio but I can say with certainty that I saw it performed on that psychedelic animated film starring John, Paul, George and Ringo, "Yellow Submarine". It's too bad that I can't find that scene on YouTube. As I said that refrain has stuck with me for decades, but over the years, I've also learned to appreciate how it wasn't just The Beatles but also the backing of an orchestra behind this British pop/rock band that helped make "All You Need Is Love" work and all of the shoutouts to various other songs including the French national anthem, "In The Mood" and even the earlier Beatles' hit "She Loves You". And then, I read which people were providing the backup vocals. And wouldn't one say that this is the ultimate singalong song?
Considering all of the No. 1's around the world's music charts that "All You Need Is Love" would garner, I guess that it was good luck that a kid who wasn't even two years old got to know this song so early.
In any case, what was getting released in July 1967? Although I picked them out of Showa Pops for that month, a couple of them have differing release months according to J-Wiki although you can check those out in their individual articles.
Van Paugam sent out a tweet reminding all of us City Pop fans that February 4th is Tatsuro Yamashita's（山下達郎）birthday, and since it is indeed already the 4th in Japan, may we wish him a happy 69th birthday! And thanks to Van for the notice.
Some years ago, I wrote about City Pop/jazzsinger Kimiko Kasai's（笠井紀美子）"Vibration" which was a track from her 1977 album"Tokyo Special", and I revealed that Tats provided the melody with the added information that it had the alternate title of "Love Celebration".
Well, that "Love Celebration", as it turns out, was more than just an alternate title. It was actually Yamashita's alternate take on the original melody with James Ragan's new English lyrics replacing Kazumi Yasui's（安井かずみ）original Japanese ones in "Vibration". This "Love Celebration" would inhabit Tats' December 1978 3rd studio album"Go Ahead!" as the first full track after the 48-second overture which starts things off.
There's also more story behind "Love Celebration" thanks to the liner notes in "Go Ahead!" via the J-Wiki article on the album. Back in the spring of 1978, Yamashita had planned to have this song and one other included in a release for singer Linda Carriere which was being produced by Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, but unfortunately for whatever reason, Carriere couldn't quite hit the heights with either of them, so her recordings were left as demo takes. Seeing that as a waste, Yamashita then decided to use "Love Celebration" for "Go Ahead!".
I don't know whether I am the only one who has this opinion, but I think that there is quite a difference in feeling and sound between "Vibration" and "Love Celebration". Kasai's "Vibration" has that steamy and sultry sensation while Tats' "Love Celebration" is one fist-pumping up-with-life sprint down the road. To be honest, if I hadn't been told of the connection, I wouldn't have noticed that the songs have the same main root.
One other thing I found out about "Love Celebration" from those liner notes is that Yamashita planned to incorporate a tone of 1970s Chicago R&B while at the same time, bassist Akihiro Tanaka（田中章弘）and drummer Yutaka Uehara（上原裕）as part of the rhythm section brought in more of a Miami feeling. What I've just stated is something that makes me wish that I was a musicologist or a music historian since I can only provide the information without any particular knowledgeable insight. So I will leave this for my fellow City Pop fans including Van Paugam and Rocket Brown to digest that rather long first sentence of this paragraph and give us any further opinions. In any case, this is another feather in Tats' cap, so much so that I figure that the cap might evolve into a real bird.
You can also try out another track from "Go Ahead!", "Let's Dance Baby".
Also as a final PS, Rocket himself has created his own Top 10 Tatsuro Yamashita song list so have a gander right here.
There is that saying "If life gives you lemons, make lemonade". Well, according to this chipper song, the lass frankly just kissed off those lemons and walked away.
Perhaps that is also what this particular singer by the name of Mako Shibuki（志吹麻湖）did as well after releasing her one-and-only single in January 1973, "Lemon ni Sayonara"(Goodbye to Lemons). There is nothing of her at all at J-Wiki and barely anything at "Idol.ne.jp" except for the fact that her real name could be Akemi Uezu（上江洲明美）* of Okinawa and that she was born in 1956. Lyricist Natsu Kotani（小谷夏）and composer Kunihiko Suzuki（鈴木邦彦）were behind the song.
Though I couldn't find any concrete proof that Shibuki had been groomed as an aidoru singer, the facts that she is listed at "Idol.ne.jp" and she is tackling "Lemon ni Sayonara" with a high nasal not-too-bad voice along an arrangement that basically demands a butterfly net cheerfully chasing Lepidoptera in a summery field pretty much bear out my opinion. Also, that opening riff reminds me a lot of "Georgy Girl" by The Seekers. In any case, I think that Shibuki could have released a few more singles but she was probably one of the many teenage idols to go in and out of the revolving door of the entertainment industry, never to be heard from again.
*Once again, we've got a lot of readings for the kanji representing this family name but I'll stick with Uezu for now, until I'm corrected.
As I've done so before, I've often referred to Wednesday as Hump Day, far away from last weekend but not close enough to this weekend, so it's not exactly the happiest day in terms of the work week. However, taking into consideration the observation that the dreaded snowstorm that I'd been expecting to invade the Greater Toronto Area has yet to appear, I'm not feeling too bad right now. I am knocking really hard on my wooden desk, though.
Still, in matching the day, here is something a little more maudlin called "Hane ga nai" (No Wings) by the late singer-songwriter Rabi Nakayama（中山ラビ）. I introduced her on the blog late last year through her 1980 single"Komatta Onna"（困った女）and she was once called the female Bob Dylan of Japan.
"Hane ga nai" shares track space with "Komatta Onna" on her October 1980 album"Aeba Saiko"（会えば最高...It'd Be Great If We Met）, and like the single, although I'm not sure if it really comes across as a City Pop tune, it's still a cool and bluesy New Music song. Nakayama both wrote and composed "Hane ga nai", and although I couldn't track down its lyrics, it strikes me as being somewhat of a woe-is-me ballad about a woman who can't quite get out of her doldrums and perhaps she's drowning those sorrows in copious drink in some hidey-hole in Shinjuku. I wouldn't be surprised if the weather outside that bar is dreary and wet.
Well, it's looking dreary outside here too but not too snowy. Let's hope that it stays that way for the next little while.
