Mika Nakashima -- Wish

 

I've been hearing about the manga and the anime "Berserk"（ベルセルク）for years, and in fact, one Sunday years ago, my buddy showed me the first episode of what I think had been the most recent anime series in the mid-2010s...or it could have one of the earlier incarnations. To be honest, for a fellow who prefers his calm and reassuring slice-of-life programs, "Berserk" was a little too berserk for me.

However, having said that, I also admit that the above videos for "Berserk Ougon Jidai Hen Memorial Edition"（ベルセルク 黄金時代篇 MEMORIAL EDITION...Berserk: The Golden Age Arc – Memorial Edition） on television from late 2022 do show a lot of nobility and grandeur. And what takes off the edge even further is Mika Nakashima's（中島美嘉）"Wish" which was released as her 47th single in November last year. Used as the ending theme, "Wish" is quintessential Nakashima: delicate vocals paired with soft piano and sweeping strings from another era. I gather that this would be the song to illustrate William Congreve's famous line, "Music has charms to soothe a savage breast".

"Wish" was written by Nakashima but there were a lot of composers behind the song: Penguins Project, Itsuka, Tatsumi Goda, Gakushi Ogi, MiRai, and Ryo Ito. As far as I know, it hasn't been placed onto any album by Nakashima although I'm pretty sure that it has been included on any soundtrack for "Memorial Edition".

For the music video for "Wish", I really have to admire Nakashima's hairdo which has that look from a century ago. And I had no idea that Chanel produced S&M gear.😉

Iri -- Sparkle

 

Making do with another water shutoff day because of pipe replacement nearby so not completely in the greatest of moods. But that's partially why I have a blog...to get my ya-yas out until the water does return.

A few years ago, I wrote about the singer-songwriter Iri from Kanagawa Prefecture who came up with her March 2019 "Wonderland". Brought back some good old-fashioned m-flo vibes. Plus, there is also that distinctive voice of hers.

Well, I've also found the title track from her March 2020 4th album "Sparkle", and it's not to be mistaken for another very different "Sparkle". This one, created by Iri and Kan Sano, has some spacey and nocturnal funk dance beats going for it melody-wise while the lyrics talk of what the future holds. Face reality or burrow into those happier yet false dreams? The album reached No. 39 on Oricon and tomorrow, Iri's newest album will come out, "Private".

Fishmans -- Baby Blue

 

I was reading the first comment under this video for Fishmans'（フィッシュマンズ）"Baby Blue". The fellow had apparently first heard the song a while back at his gym and being very intrigued, he went on a search for it. It took about two years before he finally pegged it down much to his delight. Yeah, I've been there. I've found long-lost songs and I'm still searching for some of them.

As I mentioned off the top, this is "Baby Blue", a March 1996 single from their album "Kuuchuu Camp"（空中キャンプ...Aerial Camp） which was released a month earlier. This is a relaxing reggae/pop song by multi-genre (pop, rock, reggae, shoegaze, Neo-psychedelia, dub and Shibuya-kei) band Fishmans and although the lyrics (along with music) by vocalist/bassist Shinji Sato（佐藤伸治）talk of some existential crisis regarding a man and a woman, the overall groovy effect of "Baby Blue" is simply to hit a hammock in some warm and sunny clime and enjoy that cocktail. It indeed puts me at ease especially since the weather here has finally warmed up and gotten sunny over the last couple of days. I really only need that frozen margarita. 

Fishmans started up in 1987 and has been active and inactive right up to the present day. Right now, according to their website, it appears that some form of the band had a March 2023 performance at the Liquid Room in Ebisu, Tokyo and they're slated to headline at a September event called Wind Parade in Chichibu, Saitama Prefecture. The original lineup consisted of Sato, guitarist/vocalist Kensuke Ojima（小嶋謙介）and drummer Kinichi Motegi（茂木欣一）but there have been changes there and the addition of support members. One major sad change was the passing of Sato in 1999 at the age of 33 due to heart failure.

Ulfuls -- Kawaii Hito（かわいいひと）

 

Happy Monday to you all! After several years of hearing about this legendary sketch on "Saturday Night Live" (I haven't watched the show in nearly 30 years), I finally caught it and had a good laugh. I might be enticed to catch the 50th anniversary of the NBC show in a few years but knowing how hit and miss it has been and the fact that I'm no longer one to watch network television, we'll all have to see. 

In the Sudden Delusion by J-Canuck department, if there were ever a Japanese band that could possibly fit into the dynamic on SNL as both guest musical act and guest participants in sketches, it would be the Osaka rock band Ulfuls（ウルフルズ）. Vocalist Tortoise Matsumoto（トータス松本）and the gang can do the wild n' goofy stuff and I can imagine them getting up in their cowboy outfits to do this very song.

"Kawaii Hito" (Cute Guy) was Ulfuls' 15th single from October 1997 and it's a son's tribute to his Mom (Awwwww), so I think putting it on now is appropriate since Mother's Day is just around the corner. Created by the band and Ken Yoshida（吉田建）, "Kawaii Hito" is a sunny and jangly tune that probably did lead to the idea of having a music video based on a good old-fashioned gunfight in a Western town. The old vet in the video was portrayed by the late tough-guy actor Joe Shishido（宍戸錠）. 

The song managed to get as high as No. 5 on Oricon and it went Platinum. It was also seen as a good tune for the commercials since it was used for Pocky (above), a brand of Asahi Beer, and the cosmetics giant Shiseido over the years. "Kawaii Hito" was even brought on as the ending theme for an NTV medical information program.

Miyuki Kosaka -- Kimagure Juu-dai（気まぐれ10代）

 

What I'm covering here is "Kimagure Juu-dai" (Capricious Teen) by aidoru Miyuki Kosaka（香坂みゆき）. I have a number of adjectives to describe my teens, and capricious isn't one of them. Awkward and depressing are two of them.😞

But I digress. I was just entering adolescence when "Kimagure Juu-dai" as a track on Kosaka's 3rd album "Sugao no Mama de"（素顔のままで...Just the Way You Are） was released in December 1978. Written and composed by Kaoru Ito（伊藤薫）and arranged by Kei Wakakusa（若草恵）, it's a typical aidoru tune of that time with the twangy guitar, the breezy strings and Kosaka's light and happy vocals. It's also one of the shortest aidoru tunes I know at a mere 2 1/2 minutes.

This is the earliest song by Kosaka that I've covered in her discography to date. She has explored some other genres going into the 1980s as well including synthpop and City Pop.

Chakra -- Nanyo de Yoisho（南洋でヨイショ）

 

Yes, I know...Jamaica isn't in the southern Atlantic Ocean but I merely wanted to put up something tropical for this particular song.

When I wrote the first article on the band Chakra, it was for their 1981 "Myun Myun" (ミュンミュン) which was adorably nutty, and with Mishio Ogawa's（小川美潮）loopy vocals and the synths bombing away, the New Wave was strong with this one.

Recently, I discovered another song by Chakra, the title track from their final May 1983 album "Nanyo de Yoisho" (Heave Ho on the South Seas). Though there are whispers of the technopop and New Wave here and there, "Nanyo de Yoisho" actually does sound more like a calming tropical pop tune, and there are even hints of Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）and Tin Pan Alley especially when some of the percussion taps in. It feels like the band decided to relax a bit and take a cruise somewhere in the South Atlantic. Band guitarist Bun Itakura（板倉文）took care of the music with Ogawa and Itsuro Shimoda（下田逸郎）helping out with the lyrics.

Masaki Ueda & Junji Ariyama -- Osaka e Dete Kite kara（大阪へ出て来てから）

 

Among the many YouTube channels that I'm subscribed to, one of them is "VIRTUAL JAPAN" which has had plenty of video walks around Tokyo, but then this one came up a few years ago which features a stroll in good ol' Osaka. The Kansai metropolis will be hosting a major Expo in 2025 but I think that even without a world exhibition, it ought to be bringing in the tourists from all over.

But let's head back almost half a century, shall we? Considering Masaki Ueda's（上田正樹）huge hit of "Osaka Bay Blues" in the early 1980s and this song, fans could be forgiven for assuming that the soul singer and songwriter had been a native Osakan. However, he was born in Kyoto and as far as I know, I don't think that he had ever been raised in Osaka although his career started in the nightclubs and discos there.

"Osaka Bay Blues" is a soulful City Pop ballad but back in the 1970s, Ueda was probably more into the blues and rock scene. His debut album from May 1975 was "Bochi Bochi Iko ka"（ぼちぼちいこか）, a title in the Kansai dialect meaning "Shall We Get a Move On?" and it was a joint collaboration with singer and guitarist Junji Ariyama（有山淳司）. One of the tracks is the amiable "Osaka e Dete Kite kara" (Since Coming to Osaka), a bluesy and jazzy number written and composed by Ueda about a fairly schlumpy fellow quickly going over his five years and counting in the city within four and a half minutes. In that aforementioned Kansai dialect, Ueda sings about the guy not exactly making his fortune there but still getting pretty comfortable in his adopted home. Considering how open and gregarious the Osakans are, I'm not surprised.