Buffalo Daughter -- Cold Summer

 

A few years ago, I put up an article on the rock band Buffalo Daughter. The particular song that I focused upon was "Oui Oui" which appeared on their 2014 album "Konjac-tion"（コニャクション）, and that one sounded more like a funk/pop tune so it went against the grain in terms of what I'd assumed their sound was. But perhaps that was the point by Buffalo Daughter...to be as unpredictable as possible.

My mind then wondered about the type of music that suGar Yoshinaga（シュガー吉永）, Yumiko Ohno（大野由美子）and MoOoG Yamamoto（山本ムーグ）were putting out in their very early days which began in 1993. So, after checking out their J-Wiki file, where I also discovered that there had been a fourth member, drummer Chika Ogawa（小川千果）, during their indies days, I saw that there was their very first album "Shaggy Head Dressers" from 1994.

I found one track called "Cold Summer", and yep, all I can say is that if Quentin Tarentino ever gets that final picture of his out, perhaps he can consider putting this one in. The Discogs website has a homegrown term called Leftfield to describe any album or song that is quirky and can't be easily defined. It's been used as one of the terms for "Shaggy Head Dressers" and I can certainly use it for "Cold Summer" which is a ball of alternative twangy film noir Western rock and some synthpop with a sprinkling of INXS attitude.

One big message that I got from "Cold Summer" is that the members don't really like cold winters. As a Torontonian who's been through one major snowstorm this season and several days of frigid temperatures (gotta another snowstorm coming in tonight), I can totally understand their feelings.

Naked Eyes -- (There's) Always Something There to Remind Me

 

Well, after our special Valentine's Day edition of Reminiscings of Youth, we're back with the usual Thursday ROY article, and this one is another song whose history with me goes all the way back to the late 1960s or early 1970s, but it really struck pay dirt in the early 1980s.

The golden songwriting duo of Burt Bacharach and Hal David came up with "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" in 1964 for Lou Johnson. Yet, I only heard this and any vocal covers in the immediately following years for the first time in just the last few weeks. For me, my childhood exposure to this standard involved me in the back seat of the car listening to the radio putting forth an instrumental version. However, it was catchy enough (after all, we are talking about Bacharach and David) that it has stuck inside my head for decades.

But then, during my high school days, a new version of "Always Something There to Remind Me" was released by a British New Wave group called Naked Eyes. This band consisting of Pete Byrne and Rob Fisher actually added the arrangement version of a warp engine to this Bacharach-and-David creation that I'd been hearing for years and made it epic. It was like giving scrawny Steve Rogers the Super-Soldier serum to become Captain America, and I admit that I'm being a little florid here in my description, but considering that at the time I was fully into my synthpop, hearing these new amazing crashing synths being applied to this old chestnut had me feeling really giddy.

The original single came out in November 1982 in the UK (it was released Stateside in January 1983) and then came the 12-inch remix which I liked even better since of course, we got more of those synthesizers. Kinda like what the music video was showing, I could envision one really New Wave-themed wedding in a massive church while this song is playing. 

I recall Naked Eyes having a goodly amount of fame for a few years thanks to this one and a couple of other singles by them that made it onto the weekly Top 50 radio and music video shows. "Always Something There to Remind Me" broke into the Top 10 in both Canada and the United States at No. 9 and No. 8 respectively.

So, what were the top singles coming out of Oricon in November 1982? Well, here are No. 1, 3 and 4.

1. Seiko Matsuda -- Nobara no Etude （野ばらのエチュード）

3. Toru Watanabe -- Yakusoku (約束）

4. Masahiko Kondo -- Horeta ze! Kanpai（ホレたぜ!乾杯）

MAX -- Seventies

 

MAX is that 1990s song-and-dance group that I've known for their association with Namie Amuro（安室奈美恵）when they were collectively known as Super Monkeys, and then when the two parted in their own directions, MAX also gained their fame for their catchy J-Eurobeat tunes during that decade. Nana, Mina, Lina and Reina were also quite the popular guests on television, especially with a running gag involving their home prefecture's (Okinawa) wetlands of Lake Man which when said in their original Japanese has the same pronunciation as the term describing a certain part of a woman's anatomy. Ah, much mirthful embarrassment was had by all!

Anyways, at this juncture of my life, it sure sounds nostalgic hearing the group's 4th single "Seventies" from July 1996 (following "Tora Tora Tora") because of all of that J-Eurobeat again although the lyrics by Kazumi Suzuki（鈴木計見）hearken back to all that disco of the titular 1970s. Heck, they even refer to the hairstyles, fashion and some of the popular songs from that decade. All in all, it's the type of song that reminds me that the video game Dance Dance Revolution would become a thing a couple of years later.

"Seventies" became MAX's first Top 10 hit by placing in at No. 7. The song composed and arranged by Groove Surfers was also included on their first studio album, "Maximum", released in December 1996 which hit No. 1. And to top it all off, the song was actually a cover of the 1994 original by Mega NRG Man.

Sadao Watanabe/Yuki to Hide/Toi et Moi -- Shiroi Nami（白い波）

 

The good news is that it's feeling really balmy out there with temperatures being on the plus side of things. However, the bad news is that we're supposed to be getting smacked around again with a wall of precipitation and a lot of that will be in the form of cold hard rain before it changes into snow. Then, the temperatures will plummet once more.

For this Wednesday smack dab in the middle of February, allow me to give you a song that is rather soothing. Bossa jazz always has that effect on me. The folk duo Toi et Moi（トワ・エ・モワ）provided something that was a little out of their folk toolbox, and yet, Emiko Shiratori（白鳥英美子）and Sumio Akutagawa（芥川澄夫）handle their "Shiroi Nami" (White Waves) as if they were born to sing bossa nova. It's just a pity that I couldn't track down when they had released "Shiroi Nami" although it is located on their "La Belle Epoque" compilation from 2001. I could only find out that through another YouTube video featuring this particular song that it had made its presence known sometime in the early 1970s, so I'll just plant it as a 1970 concoction.

But then, there was one comment that I saw under that video for Toi et Moi's "Shiroi Nami" that said something to the effect that they "...also liked this version" by the folk duo. And so I thought "Oh, was there an original version of it?". Once again, I was happy to go into the rabbit hole to search for a story on this comforting "Shiroi Nami".

And sure enough, I found out that the first sung version of "Shiroi Nami" was recorded by another duo that specialized in Japanese-style bossa nova, Yuki to Hide（ユキとヒデ...Yuki & Hide）. In fact, "Shiroi Nami" was their very first single released in July 1967, and yep, I can "taste" an even more pronounced bossa nova flavour in this version. 

The lyrics were provided by Hide himself under his other stage name of Eiji Mizuki （水木英二）, and for very keen readers of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" and/or true believers in kayo kyoku, both of those names might strike you as being very familiar because they both popped up in my February 2015 article for Hide & Rosanna's（ヒデとロザンナ）"Ai no Kiseki"（愛の奇跡）. Yep, same fellow but different duo. There was one more single released by Yuki to Hide later in October but the act broke up sometime in 1968 with Hide meeting Rosanna soon after that. In fact, there were two Yukis during the Yuki to Hide era with the original, Yuki Sato（佐藤ユキ）, taking on the geimei of Mariko An（アン真理子）in 1969 and going onto a career of singing, songwriting and acting.

Up to now, I haven't revealed the composer for "Shiroi Nami" but I will as of this sentence, and it is jazz saxophone legend Sadao Watanabe (渡辺貞夫...Yuki to Hide during their short time together enjoyed covering his songs). The original is quite a bit peppier than then sung versions and it is a track on his June 1967 LP, "Bossa Best Collection".

Qujila -- Yuuyake（夕やけ）

 

Always nice to encounter a band or singer for the first time that sounds as if it's taken another side road off the main highway, melodically speaking.

I never heard of the band Qujila（くじら）but there is something about their "Yuuyake" (Evening Glow) which begins with some light if striking percussion before a gentle melody wafts in involving a steel pedal guitar. Qujila has been listed on J-Wiki as a rock band but on the Discogs site, it's been categorized as rock, funk/soul, pop, folk, world and country. Maybe the last two genres sum up the aural experience on "Yuuyake" although a buzzy electric guitar comes in halfway through this otherwise very genteel song. Vocalist and guitarist Yasuo Sugibayashi（杉林恭雄）is our most reassuring vocal guide, and the image that I get from this one is just sitting out contentedly on some rock somewhere in Sedona, Arizona and watching the sun set. The band has me thinking of other groups such as Sentimental City Romance（センチメンタル・シティ・ロマンス）and Sing Like Talking.

"Yuuyake" is a track on Qujila's 5th studio album "Melon"（メロン）from July 1990. According to that J-Wiki profile, the band started out with Sugibayashi, drummer Hitoshi Kusunoki（楠均）and Kioto（キオト）on bass in the early 1980s but it eventually grew to a 9-person group. Their first major single and album came out in 1985, and they've been continuing to release both into the 2010s.

Yu Hayami -- MERMAID 1984

 

This could come down as one of the bigger coincidences that I've ever experienced but this particular song by 80s aidoru Yu Hayami（早見優）came out as part of her 5th album "Recess" on March 1st 1984, a little over a week before the release of Ron Howard's "Splash", the story of Tom Hanks' Allen Bauer encountering Darryl Hannah's Madison the Mermaid. As crazy as this may sound, I never saw the movie.

Sure enough, the track is called "MERMAID 1984" and I'm not sure whether lyricist Ikki Matsumoto（松本一起）, composer Yutaka Mogi（茂木由多加）or any of the powers-that-be in charge of the record production had been inspired by any of the trailers for "Splash", but perhaps Matsumoto's words might reflect the romance between Allen and Madison. Anyhow, the music by Mogi is quite slick as it kinda straddles between City Pop and synthpop but not going fully into either genre so I'll be happy to keep it aidoru.

"Recess" peaked at No. 5 on the Oricon album charts, and it would be her final full studio album to get into the Top 10. By the way, I have to give my compliments to her snazzy cab driver get-up on the cover.

Jun & Nene -- O-Atsui Hou ga Suteki!（お熱いほうがステキ!）

 

Actually, I had this song on the backlog for months so I didn't particularly select it for Valentine's Day, but considering the subject matter, I thought it would fit February 14th.

"O-Atsui Hou ga Suteki!" was pop duo Jun & Nene's（じゅん&ネネ）4th single from September 1969, and it's a surprisingly saucy tune wrapped in innocence as the lasses sing about a young lady who's quite the affectionate type, and although it isn't explicitly expressed, perhaps her beau is becoming beet-red. In fact, the final verse has her inviting her boyfriend to enjoy and savor her like a very delectable piece of candy. Thank you for those lyrics, Akari Yamaguchi（山口あかり）!

And yet, the music by Masaaki Hirao（平尾昌晃）does have that traditionally innocent sound, and early on, I thought that things were approaching an enka level. To add onto that, something about the arrangement of "O-Atsui Hou ga Suteki!" is also reminiscent of The Ventures' approach to composing some of their songs for Japanese singers.

Never thought that I would find a performance by Jun & Nene back in the day, but here they are singing "O-Atsui Hou ga Suteki!", and it's actually within a second-season episode of "Heishiro Kiki Ippatsu"（平四郎危機一発...Heishiro in the Nick of Time） in 1969. The show revolved around Heishiro Kujo（九条平四郎）, a businessman who has a love for being an amateur sleuth. In any case, the song peaked at No. 48 on Oricon.