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.
Perhaps I could have done this one about three weeks later when autumn has officially arrived. However, it's already starting to feel like summer is making its way to the finish line although the leaves have quite turned yet.
But I digress. "After Summertime" by the late Yoko Maeno（前野曜子）is a refreshing pitcher of sangria. From her final original album"Twilight" in 1982, the song is a laidback tune on changes of all types with a bit of Latin thrown in there. It's wistful but not maudlin and has that feeling of "Tomorrow's another day". Lyrics were provided by Chikara Ueda（上田力）and the music was by Kayoko Fuyumori（冬杜花代子）.
There's another track from "Twilight" that I contributed an article about back in 2019: "Winelight".
One of my regrets when it comes to providing thumbnail photos in KKP articles is that I don't really have very many beach shots. At the time when I was living in Japan, I obviously had no idea that I would be doing a music blog that would be going for ten years and running, but I also have to confess that I was never a seashore-loving sun worshipper like so many other people.
I did have my walk along Shonan during my 2014 visit to Japan but never quite got to Chigasaki in Kanagawa Prefecture which is why I'm providing this YouTube video from Japan Life Channel. Of course, the city is the birthplace of Keisuke Kuwata（桑田佳祐）, leader of the legendary band Southern All Stars（サザンオールスターズ）which has been the pop cultural symbol of the summer life.
However, today's first article on Urban Contemporary Friday on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" doesn't involve SAS though it is all about the wonders of Chigasaki. Actually on the mike here is Mitsuko Horie（堀江美都子）, a singer that I've usually associated with anison such as the theme songs for "Candy Candy"（キャンディ♡キャンディ）and "Don Don Domeru to Ron"(どんどんドメルとロン), but on the first day of summer 1982, she released her third studio album"Ready MADONNA" and sometime in that June, she also put out her 5th single which is on that LP, "Chigasaki Memory".
"Ready MADONNA" was produced by Ichiro Nitta（新田一郎）, musician, songwriter and Spectre No. 1 of the dynamic band Spectrum（スペクトラム）, and he arranged all of the tracks along with composing most of them including "Chigasaki Memory". It's nice that it was Horie on vocals since she hails from Yamato City which is only about 32 kilometres away from Chigasaki or a short drive away. Yashuhito Miyashita（宮下康仁）wrote the lyrics of pining for the titular city and the summery spell that it casts on folks.
"Chigasaki Memory" really is one upbeat disco-powered pop tune and Horie sounds as if it were indeed Nitta channeling through her, and I think that it is Nitta on the trumpet in the refrain. In fact, I think the song is so up with the area that I swear that the Chigasaki Chamber of Commerce could have requested Nitta to come up with the tune.
March 23 2023: Today, I was informed through the Comments that the song that I had thought was "Energy" wasn't right, so I've made the appropriate corrections with amended commentary. "Energy" is the second one below here while the happier-go-lucky song has been put down at the bottom.
I'm not sure whether the JCCC as you can see in the photo above is still holding the Toronto Anime Matsuri, but as of today, the Autumn version of Fan Expo is back in town. So, our local CP24 reporter, Steve Ryan, a former cop in Homicide Division, was rather bemusedly interviewing cosplayers having no clue which anime or sci-fi property they were representing. I did attend the pop culture convention a few times a decade ago when I began this blog but the high prices and crowds were starting to get me down. However, I'd like to give it another go although I'm probably going to wait another year before taking the leap.
Going back into my anime-viewing career, I remember back in the 1980s when I first met my anime buddy. Sometimes a few of us would visit his old place downtown near Little Italy to see his collection of video tapes and laser discs for anime features. Oh, the technology back then...😊
In getting information about the song for this article, I found out that the laser disc did have a rival format of sorts known as the VHD (Video High Density) that was mostly produced in Japan by JVC. According to Wikipedia, it only lasted four years between 1983 and 1987 before it joined the ash heap of technology history. It was on the VHD format that a video magazine known as "Anime Vision"（アニメビジョン）had its twenty volumes sold between 1986 and 1989.
From what I've gleaned from the J-Wiki article for "Anime Vision" and the opening for Volume 1 above, the magazine seems to come off as an "Entertainment Tonight" for anime of that time, filled with segments such as some original anime, interviews with seiyuu, and general information on existing or upcoming projects.
However, all of that jazz about "Anime Vision" didn't come about because I discovered the actual show. It was through one of the two theme songs (below) for it as edited by YouTuber Marty McFlies v2. What attracted me to the song was the joy of the arrangement (a mix of spritely City Pop and bright jangly technopop) thanks to the work by composer Kenji Kawai（川井憲次）and the delivery by a lady who sounds like she sings jazz for a living. It's short and very sweet.
Marty gives his thoughts on "Anime Vision" and the song so you can switch over to the YouTube screen to read about it. At the time, he uploaded it in February this year, he wasn't quite sure about who the golden voice belonged to (Miki Matsubara（松原みき）?) or what the official title of the theme was. We both agree that it's a pity that it wasn't ever sold on a single or a CD.
The song above though, the other theme, is called "Energy". Kawai indeed composed and arranged the song with Miho Matsuba（松葉美保）providing the lyrics. It has more of that urgent 80s West Coast dance club arrangement that people probably did aerobics to back then. The interesting thing is that halfway through, "Energy" literally changes gears to show off a faster reprise of the theme that I'd thought was "Energy".
"Energy" was sung by Naomi Masuda（増田直美）who has sung plenty of anison including the theme for the 1982 mecha anime"Ginga Reppū Bakushingā"（銀河烈風バクシンガー...Galactic Gale Baxingar）. Unfortunately, she doesn't have a J-Wiki or a Wikipedia entry, but composer Kawai does and he has been making music for many television shows, movies, video games and anime.
I gotta say that being an old viewer of the 1960s sitcoms, I was tickled pink on seeing this YouTube video compilation by Retro TV Central from 2012 since it had all of those familiar characters from my childhood cutting up several rugs to "Keep On Dancing" by the American rock n' roll band The Gentrys in 1965. According to the Wikipedia article for the song created by Allen A. Jones, Andrew Love and Richard Shann,"Keep On Dancing" had been originally recorded by the R&B group The Avantis in 1963, but apparently, The Gentrys were the guys to popularize it.
Regardless, although I knew about Barbara Feldon's and Elizabeth Montgomery's prowess on their gams, it was nice to see good folks like The Addams Family, Dick Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore and Lucille Ball go loose on the floor. Of course, Batman couldn't be left out doing his Batusi!
Now the reason that I've unearthed the tremendously happy-happy-joy-joy "Keep On Dancing" is that I found a Japanese-language cover version of the song done by Pink Lady（ピンク・レディー）, "Asa made Odorou" (Dance Til Morning) which was included on the iconic duo's first studio album"Pepper Keibu"（ペッパー警部）released in January 1977. With Japanese lyrics by Fumiko Okada（岡田富美子）, it's still plenty of fun to hear with Mie and Kei behind the microphone.
I see that the original also got its release in Japan!
Got together for a ramen lunch with an old friend whom I hadn't seen in a few years in person and made a new friend today. It was good to have the Meat Lover's Ramen at Touhenboku; good soup and plenty of protein. Unfortunately, I may have overdone it with the Fuwa Fuwa pancake dessert and then the usual dinner at home a few hours later, but my gastrointestinal tract (or what's left of it) was gradually able to process everything.
Anyways, as I told Gary over pancakes this afternoon, I said that I would be doing DeBarge tonight for the weekly Reminiscings of Youth article. I've already written up on a couple of articles on this family of talented singers and songwriters from the 1980s. "All This Love" and "Love Me In A Special Way" are some of the most wonderful love tunes this side of Quiet Storm that I had ever heard from this Michigan-based group, but this time, I wanted to re-check their more upbeat and party-hearty work as well as get a vicarious workout from today's large ingestion of food.
It's too bad that the original music video for "You Wear It Well" is not up on YouTube but that's OK. The song on its own is just smashing to listen to. It's cool, it's 80s, it's downtown and it's darn funky. Created by El and Chico DeBarge as an October 1985 single, it just pops like a pan of Jiffy-Pop popcorn and it seems to be the perfect song for a slow-motion montage during a scene of paint-the-town-red luxury.
According to the Wikipedia article for "You Wear It Well", El and the stylish song made their appearances on a few shows such as the stylish "Miami Vice", and though I couldn't find a video, I swear that it also got used in a montage scene of "Moonlighting". And yep, it was a pretty luxurious scene, too.
Of course, being the 1980s, "You Wear It Well" did get a few dance remix versions including the M&M Club Mix. The song hit No. 46 on the US Billboard Top 100, but it did hit the top spot on its Hot Club Dance Play chart. It was also included on DeBarge's "Rhythm of the Night" album released in March 1985.
So, how was Oricon doing in the month of October 1985? Here are No. 1, 2 and 4.
The Mood Kayo band Toshi Ito and Happy & Blue（敏いとうとハッピー&ブルー）formed up in the early 1970s and later came up with their enduring hit "Hoshi Furu Machikado" (星降る街角）in 1977. However, they actually had a predecessor group going back a few years. The name was only slightly different in that the group was known as Toshi Ito and The Playsmen（トシ伊藤とザ・プレイズメン）. As for that final word which doesn't exist in English, I couldn't find any romaji form so I have put it in as "playsmen" under the wild assumption that it was inspired by "playboy".
Even so, according to one Japanese blog, Toshi Ito and The Playsmen may have also originated from an earlier band known as Takami Shoji to Novelty Hawaiians（高見昌児とノベルディ・ハワイアンズ...Shoji Takami and The Novelty Hawaiians） in the early 1960s. Regardless of where they ultimately came from, The Playsmen made their debut in 1967 with what seems to have been a double A-side known as "Kitaguni no Hito/Kimi wa Doko e"（北国の人・君はどこへ...The Man From The North Country/Where Have You Gone?）.
Listening to "Kimi wa Doko e", this Minoru Endo-penned（遠藤実）song sounds like a mix between Mood Kayo and a wistful and mournful ballad about a man wondering about the whereabouts of a lost love. From what I've read in the comments below the YouTube video, the main vocalist was Yuji Mori（森雄二）, who would later create another Mood Kayo band, Mori Yuji to Southern Cross（森雄二とサザンクロス）.
Looking through Yahoo Images, The Playsmen put out at least one more 45" titled "Niigata Blues"（新潟ブルース）. According to J-Wiki, which had virtually nothing about this group aside from the fact that it existed before Happy & Blue came into being in the 1970s, it did take on an intermediate name of Toshi Ito & Blue Candle（敏いとう＆ブルー・キャンドル）before finally settling on its most famous incarnation.
Seeing that I've recently been getting hooked on one particular Kahoru Kohiruimaki（小比類巻かほる）song again after a while, I've decided to start off this week's Hump Day with my favourite line of Kohhy tunes. For me, the period of time that I paid the most attention to her was from the late 1980s into the early 1990s, and even that segment can be divided into two: her early pop/rock years and then the R&B from the 90s onwards. All good stuff! As usual, I'm not putting them into any particular error.
And we start off with that one song that I've been playing daily over the past few days. "Keep On Dreamin'" is one of the horn-and-string tunes that I've often accessed to get my mood back up and revved since it's such a cool jammer. I've already given my accolades in the original article, but suffice it to say that "Keep On Dreamin'" is one theme that is in need of a tongue-in-cheek cop or spy flick.
Starting off with a synth riff that sounds somewhat ominous, "Mirage Mirror" then gives those bass addicts a fix that will probably last a good month before a 1990s City Pop melody showing that everything is good in Tokyo emerges. Let me remind all those out there that Kohhy's vocals are also an important part in every song.
I never said it outright in the article for "Dreamer" but I think that it was with this single that signified the transition of Kohiruimaki from pop/rock to R&B. So with all of those musical influences thrown in there, her 12th single may not have made much of a dent on the charts, but it still remains one of my favourites and a pop cultural touchstone for my time on the JET Programme.
I wanted to include one ballad on the list and I'm going with "Tonight". As I mentioned in the article for her BEST album "So Real", Kahoru's 10th single was a theme song for a TV drama but it was also a polished love song among the skyscrapers of Tokyo. I give thanks to those strings, too.
As one commenter for this YouTube video has stated, this is the coolest track on Kohhy's 7th studio album"Distance" from October 1990. This was also her 16th single released on New Year's Day in 1991, and I'm just repeating myself here, but along with the above "Keep On Dreamin'", this is also another horn-driven funk fest that needed to have its own spy show although it did get used for a diamond commercial starring supermodel Linda Evangelista.
There was no way that I was going to leave this one out. I think that as much as Ruiko Kurahashi's（倉橋ルイ子）"December 24" is the masterful combination of City Pop and Xmas, Kahoruimaki's inaugural opening theme for the animated debut of "City Hunter" is one of the classic pairings of anime and City Pop smack dab in the Bubble Era of thousand-yen cups of coffee and million-dollar golf club memberships. If there's an old-fashioned theme song for West Shinjuku, this is it.
Finally, we come to the beginning...the very first Kohhy song that I ever heard and it turned out to be the one that first got the singer to the Kohaku Utagassen. One thing that I didn't mention in the original article was that it was the first time that I (or perhaps any of the audience at NHK Hall and beyond) ever experienced a camera operator swoop all over the stage to capture a participant's performance. "Hold On Me" was such a catchy tune that I was quite ebullient when I was able to get a J-Pop compilation album in Chinatown and discovered that the song was one of the tracks.
Yep, just seven tunes out of the many Kohhy songs of dynamism and balladry and it wasn't too easy to make the choices but these are indeed my favourites. Hopefully, you can let me know what yours are.
