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.
I've had Marcos V. and Joana kindly introduce me to the wonders of the aidoru group Dance for philosophy（フィロソフィーのダンス）, and I even wrote my own article featuring them because of their fun rockabilly jazz tune "Dance or Dance" (ダンス・オア・ダンス).
But that's definitely not the genre on display here for Dance for philosophy's 3rd major single from August 2021, "Double Standard". There's some gorgeous Neo Disco action going on here that had my mind wandering back to some of Mondo Grosso's stuff from the early 2000s, and the music video appears to have the group going into action spy mode. With words by SHOW and music & arrangement by Yoji Noi（野井洋児）, "Double Standard" also became the ending theme for a spinoff anime titled "Mahōka Kōkō no Yūtōsei"（魔法科高校の優等生...The Honor Student at Magic High School） which had its run between July and September 2021.
Happy Saturday! Another cold start to the weekend and a few more centimetres of snow on the ground, but at least it's sunny out there. Still, I'm happy to be here inside working on the blog as usual.
From Discogs
Almost four years ago, I was surprised to encounter this album titled "Complete Samples" which got its release in 1988. First off, the tracks that I was exposed to were darn catchy in the synthpop sense, and secondly, the duo behind the music, KEDGE, had a very young Tomita Lab（冨田ラボ）, aka Keiichi Tomita（冨田恵一）, as one of the two members while lyricist-singer Naoko Sugimoto（杉本直子）was the other one. It was most definitely quite the revelation since I'd been accustomed to the smooth groove and soul of Tomita Lab's subsequent works many years later as compared to the techno perkiness of the KEDGE tracks on "Complete Samples".
I just had to include the photo of the younger Tomita and Sugimoto via Fondsound since I'd never seen KEDGE in the flesh before. Of course, as a disclaimer, if Fondsound comes across this article and doesn't appreciate the inclusion of the photo, they can let me know so that I can take it down.
(4:40)
Now with that first article on "Complete Samples" which, I assume, had all of its tracks composed by Tomita and written by Sugimoto, I put up only three of the tracks so it was actually an incomplete sample of "Complete Samples". So for today, I hope to take care of the remaining six tracks on this most distinct album. We can start off with Track 2, "Merry-Go-Round"（メリーゴーランド）, a very Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）French song of elegance with the synthesizers and piano that mellows things right down after the supremely poppy opener of "Chime". I thought at one point that "Merry-Go-Round" could have made for a nice contemplative ballad in a musical.
(refer to 8:30 in the above video)
I recall the Art of Noise making a similar song with this propulsive dance beat and the callout chorus. This is Track 3 "It's So Easy". Mind you, I'm not sure whether Tomita had meant it to be a dance tune, and there are some rather fascinating tangents coming off the melody with perhaps some influences as varied as Hiroshi Sato（佐藤博）and Howard Jones, both of whom I've compared to each other in the similarities of their voices. The other fascinating thing about "It's So Easy" comes from the credits on Discogs since one of the backup singers was identified as Sachiko Suzuki（鈴木早智子）, and when I pressed on her link, it led me to the Sachiko Suzuki of Wink.
Judging from the thumbnail above, I gather that "Rolling Like A Heaven" was released as a KEDGE single with the lovely "Sosutenuto"（ソステヌート）as the B-side. It's a somewhat more pensive technopop tune approaching the YMO home world with that shimmering synthesizer aural wall sounding like it could have been concocted by The Professor himself. At one point, Sugimoto even goes into a Blondie-like rap although I'm fairly sure that she isn't talking about eating cars.
"Rondo"（ロンド）has listeners join KEDGE on a strange and slightly trippy waltz. Not being a classical music expert, I discovered that the most famous example of a rondo is Beethoven's "Fur Elise". "Rondo" by KEDGE though feels slightly like going through Dr. Strange's first trip through the multiverse thanks to The Ancient One in a playful and somewhat mean-spirited mood. However, the pace is considerably more genteel and reminiscent of PSY-S.
"Fushigi na Shinnyusha"（不思議な侵入者...Mysterious Intruder） is one of the more upbeat tunes and the closest to straight summertime pop on "Complete Samples". Not sure what the connection is between that ominous title and what is a very bubbly happy-go-lucky song, but the remarkable thing about Sugimoto here as she sings this one is how her vocals alternate between the aforementioned Ohnuki and any 80s aidoru. Another interesting point is how Tomita ends "Fushigi na Shinnyusha" with repeated phrasings of the refrain as if it were the end of an old American variety program or game show. I can hear the announcer saying "Thanks for joining us tonight! We'll see you again next week!".
The final track, "Gate to the Mood", is neither a ballad nor an uplifting song but is a mid-tempo instrumental being set in a techno tropical paradise. Again, I'm drawn to Tomita's arrangement because of the key shifts as if he's trying to bring in some story of intrigue along the lines of a Hollywood adventure of the 1940s or 1950s. But yes, I'm trying to keep aware that this is a synthpop finale to a fascinating and rare (and probably very expensive) album.
I mentioned Fondsound earlier and the site has its own article on "Complete Samples" which you should also take a gander at.
On February 21st 2022...so just a few days after this writing, velvet-voiced singer-songwriter Toko Furuuchi（古内東子）will be releasing her newest album, "Taion, Kodou"（体温、鼓動...Body Temperature, Pulsation）, exactly 29 years following the release of her very first single, "Hayaku Isoide"（はやくいそいで）in 1993. Being the late bloomer that I am, I found out about Furuuchi a few years later when I was living in Chiba-ken and first heard the wonderful ballad of hers, "Dare Yori Suki Nanoni" （誰より好きなのに）in 1996.
I thought it would be nice then to introduce what seems to be the advance single from "Taion, Kodou", "Ugoku Hodou"(Moving Walkway) to finish off Urban Contemporary Friday on KKP on a very elegant note. And after getting those six CD albums just in the last several days, I'm now gritting my teeth at the temptation of getting this album (and a few more) on the strength of "Ugoku Hodou" which was written and composed by Furuuchi.
Just from remembering Furuuchi's songs in the past, "Ugoku Hodou" has that quintessential feeling of AOR and soul. Basically, I see and hear her as someone akin to Anita Baker in the Quiet Storm vein, although I know that their vocals are very different, but this song also incorporates some pleasant and light piano jazz. Plus, that background chorus which helps launch things really sets the relaxing mood.
Furuuchi does have that career 30th anniversary coming up. All my congratulations to her!
For a song titled "Nemuru Kioku"(Sleeping Memories), it's pretty bright and bushy-tailed. This was a track on Yui Murase's（村瀬由衣）album"YUI MURASE" from June 1994, and it starts off like the beginning to a night out on the town before the protagonist gets deep into the dancing and frolicking about downtown. It's a pretty nice 90s City Pop tune that we have here and maybe that electric guitar solo has a tinge of Steely Dan influence.
And it appears that Murase wanted to have some more Y folks on "Nemuru Kioku". There is of course the singer Yui herself, but Yumi Yoshimoto（吉元由美）came up with the lyrics while singer-songwriter Yudai Suzuki（鈴木雄大）was the melody maker. But alas, there is one M in here, too, with Motoki Funayama（船山基紀） handling the arrangements.
I'm going to have to ask my student tomorrow about how the night life in Tokyo has been. Japan has been behind us in terms of the Omicron Wave but I am hoping that things will be looking up for them in the coming weeks.
Last month, I discovered the late Kazushi Inamura（稲村一志）and his band Dai Ikkan Dai Hyakusho（第一巻第百章...Volume 1 Chapter 100）through his light and mellow song "Ni-gatsu no Nioi"（二月の匂い...The Smell of February） which doesn't sound or smell anything like February at all. On the contrary, the senses activated here are the ones for July or August.
Inamura was known as a folk singer-songwriter but listening to "Ni-gatsu no Nioi", I'd say that the song lands more in the J-AOR or even City Pop file. However, I found another Inamura song that happily takes things further down the urban contemporary rabbit hole with "Go-Youjin". This one is an even more interesting specimen since according to the HMV website, this particular song had never been put onto any of Inamura's albums, but it did get onto the B-side of his 1982 solo single"Frozen Heart".
This very kakkoii tune reminds me of Boz Scaggs (notably "Jojo") and perhaps TOTO. It's got that slow funky beat and some wonderful keyboard stuff which has me thinking of going down the highway in a car at sunset. As for the meaning of the title, I went to Jisho.org and found the definitions of "care", "caution" and "precaution". But the way that Inamura coyly sings out the title, I feel that perhaps "Take Care" might be the translation as if he were warning the listener that there are wolves everywhere out in the big bad city. Well, it might be a dangerous metropolis out there but dang, I like the soundtrack for it.
"Go-Youjin" has also come out as a coupling song for a posthumous release of "Koi wo Suru nara"（恋をするなら...If You're Gonna Fall in Love） which was released in December 2018, almost 5 years following Inamura's passing in January 2014. "Koi wo Suru nara" was originally a track on the band's 1977 album"Free Flight" and a reissue of that album now has "Go-Youjin" as one of five bonus tracks. It has also appeared on a compilation series known as "Wamono A to Z"（和モノA TO Z...Japanese Things A to Z）, specifically on the December 2020 album titled "Wamono A to Z Presents Blow Up Trio Hen"（和モノA TO Z PRESENTS“BLOW UP"TRIO編...Blow Up Trio Edition）. So, for anyone who has fallen for this song, they now have some options.
Not sure if this had been meant to be a Neo-City Pop number by the longstanding aidoru group Negicco, but the observations that Hitomitoi（一十三十一）is behind words and music (along with track maker PARKGOLF), her lyrics seem to have a couple setting up the ideal City Pop-themed date late Friday night, and the video was filmed around Yokohama Bay might have genre fans thinking that the trio is flexing their urban contemporary muscles.
Whatever the case may be, "Gozen Rei-ji no Sympathy" (Sympathy at 12 AM) is a cool and glossy number that was released as Negicco's 24th single in August 2020. With those trip-the-light-fantastic synths in play, the song is also pretty light and trippy. I can only hope that I can spend another couple of nights in Yokohama once more.
Perhaps I'm a little late to the party, but City Pop-themed dates may have already taken place before the pandemic with couples coming into Tokyo or Yokohama to enjoy that midnight drive over the bridge. And once things settle down for safe tourism, they can resume. 💖
Ai Kawashima（川嶋あい）is a singer and a songwriter from Fukuoka who gained fame as a teen who came up to Tokyo in 2002 with her keyboard to sing on the streets and become known as Rojou no Tenshi（路上の天使）or The Busking Angel. I remember seeing a feature on the Fuji-TV morning show about her as she diligently carried her keyboard to places like Shibuya and Yotsuya to busk up to a thousand times in 2005. In the history of this blog, I'd only mentioned her once and that was because she wrote and composed the opening theme to the anime "Koi Suru Asteroid"（恋する小惑星...Asteroid In Love）.
During that runup from 2002 to 2005 to reach that golden number of 1000, though, Kawashima was already getting CDs produced. The first example of this was through the duo of I WiSH which consisted of Kawashima and composer/arranger Naohiro Sugawara（菅原直洋）. Sugawara had encountered the singer during one of her busking sessions after which a deal was made to create the duo with their names being ai and nao during their existence.
Their first single, released on Valentine's Day 2003, was "Asu e no Tobira" (The Door to Tomorrow), a sweet pop song which managed to stay on the Oricon chart for many months leading to a year. I recall it well since the video was popping up seemingly permanently on the weekly music ranking show "Countdown TV" on TBS with the scenes that I remember being all sorts of people giving ai a peck on the cheek. Meanwhile, folks everywhere were wondering who this lady was with the voice of an angel.
The truth eventually revealed itself as "Asu e no Tobira" hit No. 1 and went Triple Platinum, ending 2003 as the No. 6 single. Kawashima was responsible for words and music while Sugawara and Jun Ozawa（小澤純）took care of the arrangement. The song would also appear on I WiSH's debut album"Tsutae Koboba ~ Namida no Ochiru Basho"（伝えたい言葉 ～涙のおちる場所～...Words that I Want to Convey ~The Place Where the Tears Fall Down~）which was released in October that year, and it would peak at No. 2 and ended up at No. 36 on the yearly album chart. "Asu e no Tobira" would also become the theme song for a popular Fuji-TV reality program called "Ainori"（あいのり...Love Ride） which lasted from 2002 to 2003.
In total, I WiSH released 6 singles and 2 albums up to 2008 along with a couple of BEST compilations. But Kawashima would also start off her solo career in the recording booth just a few months after the release of "Asu e no Tobira", and this has continued to the present day.
