Rajie -- Appartement（アパルトマン）

 

Believe it or not, we're approaching a decade since one of our early contributors to KKP, nikala, was kind enough to post her article on Rajie's（ラジ）November 1980 album "Mahiru no Hodou" (真昼の舗道). Like myself, she gave her opinions on some of the tracks but not all of them. If I can, I usually like to save some of those remaining tracks for their own individual articles.

And I guess in a way, this is a cross-pollination situation where an album one of my colleagues had covered in 2013 now has a track that she didn't cover being covered by me in 2023. Therefore, I'm going to take the baton and write about "Appartement", which was the fifth and final track on Side A of the original LP. That's great since it's been a while since I've posted anything about the singer who had been born Atsuko Souma（相馬淳子）.

"Appartement" (The Apartment) was written and composed by Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）for Rajie. Starting out a bit avant-garde, we get some cool New Wave...well, some French New Wave (yes, I'm being cute about the art film movement that began in the late 1950s). Just like Ohnuki did, Rajie herself was making some transitions from City Pop into technopop and a certain French-ness in the arrangements as both were going into the new decade, and Rajie's vocals are reminiscent of Ohnuki's own delivery, albeit with a bit more gravitas.

Kohei Dojima -- Sore wa Isshun no Dekigoto datta（それは一瞬の出来事だった）

 

Yup, we're into September now with the arrival of the customary long Labour Day weekend. The only thing is that we're going to get into some really torrid weather for the better part of a week. So, let's hold off on the pumpkin spice lattes for now.

I think it was just in the mid-summer that I introduced singer-songwriter Kohei Dojima's（堂島孝平）"Soshite Bokura wa Kanade Au ~ We Play Music"（そして僕らは奏で合う）from 2005 which I compared to Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, Flying Kids and Original Love. I'm always interested in songs and singers that have a lot of inspirations.

By the same token, I'm getting much the same with "Sore wa Isshun no Dekigoto datta" (That was Something That Happened in the Moment) which was a part of Dojima's October 2005 24th single "So She, So I/Sore wa Isshun no Dekigoto datta". I gather then that the single was a double-A-side. Written and composed by Dojima, compared to "We Play Music", "Sore wa Isshun no Dekigoto datta" goes a bit more into the AOR via sophisticated pop (thanks to that lone trumpet) but there's also some nice 70s feeling with the electric piano. It's a seasonally appropriate tune about a rather awkward moment in a couple's relationship. I can only hope that it doesn't end up with a baby carriage several months down the line. 

Yutaka Kimura Speaks ~ Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100: MAMALAID RAG -- Café Terrace（カフェテラス）

 

Number: 021

Lyricist/Composer/Arranger: Hirokuni Tanaka

From MAMALAID RAG's 2002 album: "Mamalaid Rag"

Bringing in the feeling spanning between his "Velvet Hotel" and "Ki no Ha no Sketch"（木の葉のスケッチ...Leaf Sketch）, "Café Terrace" is a number rich in the flavour of Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）. However, the appeal of MAMALAID RAG is that it leaves a refreshing impression, far from being sarcastic at all. This is a song that I recommend in the sense that one can wholeheartedly experience Hirokuni Tanaka's（田中拡邦）vocals which have a quality that perfectly emulates Ohtaki's distinct ability to vibrate his vocal cords.

The above comes from "Disc Collection Japanese City Pop Revised" (2020).

Atsuko Nina -- Icebox & Movie

 

Icebox and a movie? Sure, I'll be right there. Nothing like watching a flick with a good friend while being able to raid the freezer for some ice cream. Surprisingly, I never did this myself, but I've had friends who would curl up in front of the small screen while opening up a tub of Neapolitan or Burgundy Cherry or Rocky Road and devouring half of it.

"Icebox & Movie" also happens to be the unlikely title of a breezy and summery City Pop tune by Atsuko Nina（二名敦子）. It's been a while since she's been up on KKP so I bid her welcome once more. The track hails from her 1985 2nd album "Windy Island". Written by Yoshiko Miura（三浦徳子）and composed by Ken Sato（佐藤健）, the song sounds more like "Frozen Margarita & Ocean View" but I'm not judging. 😎 Some very nice harmonies going on between Nina and the backup singers and the arrangement is as aquamarine and calming as the picture of that sea on the album cover.

The track also shares album space with Nina's "Soldier Fish" which was my first of her entries on the blog.

Yu Imai -- A Cool Evening

 

Starting from mid-August, the evenings here in Toronto tend to get a little cooler, a little crisper. And so, we get out heads-up from weather that the autumn is not too far away. Warm days and cool nights...not too bad a thing.

This is the first post for keyboardist Yu Imai（今井裕）that's getting onto KKP, but I can give you a quote from my fellow writer and friend on the blog, HRLE92, via his YouTube channel:

Yu Imai (Born March 31, 1949) is a Japanese musician, This is his only solo album. Although not heard a lot, he participated in many well-known Japanese musicians' releases and live shows, for example, he played keyboard in Taeko Ohnuki's "Sunshower" album and was a member of the Sadistic Mika Band.

Just to add some of my own information about the Osakan keyboardist, when he was with the Sadistic Mika Band, he was known as Hiroshi Imai. His career began around 1970 when he played both the keyboards and bass in the folk group Rock Candies（ロック・キャンディーズ）alongside Shinji Tanimura（谷村新司）. Imai was influenced by singer-songwriter Leon Russell and musician Nicky Collins. 

Imai may have also been inspired by the Sadistic Mika Band and maybe even Tin Pan Alley when he recorded his one and only solo album in 1977, "A Cool Evening". The video above has the title track which launches the album with Imai handling the music while Takeshi Matsuyama（松山猛）and Gregory Starr are behind the lyrics. "A Cool Evening" is a long song to be sure at a shade over eight minutes, and HRLE92 has opined that it's a little overlong which I can understand. Usually for me, four to five minutes is an ideal length for a pop tune, but considering how musicians (especially the progressive rockers) liked to trip the light fantastic in the recording booth back in the 1970s, I'm not that surprised by the length of this one. 

One thing for sure is that Imai did like to bring in some of that swing jazz (including that tribute to "Blue Moon") and tropical pop...maybe even a tad of disco near the end. There is also some sprinkling of City Pop that gets dusted onto the sung portion of "A Cool Evening". I'm not proof positive on who's singing but it could be Imai himself along with a female vocalist. Hip Tank Records lists only one female singer in its description of the album and that is Haruko Kuwana（桑名晴子）which would mean that she participated before her official debut in 1978. I gather that a cool evening was had by all.

DEW -- Aki（秋）

 

Back in late spring, I posted an article on the City Pop duo DEW consisting of guitarist Hiroshi Yasukawa（安川ひろし）and keyboardist/producer Nobuo Kurata（倉田信雄）. They didn't last too long together but were able to put out one single and one album in 1980.

Whereas the first one was on the single "Atsui Sasayaki"（熱いささやき）, this article will look at one track from the album "1st", and though we're still three weeks away, the title is "Aki" (Autumn). Written by DEW and composed by Yasukawa, we learn pretty quickly that the two really did like their bossa nova or samba, but "Aki" kinda stumbles out the gate before everyone and everything right themselves into something smoother and more pleasant. Not sure who's singing here but he's evidently decided to go the Akira Terao（寺尾聰）route by going low and soft with the vocals. 

Ruiko Kurahashi -- Ku-gatsu no Mado（九月の窓）

 

Well, welcome to September 2023! In tribute to the entry of the 9th month, I had considered just putting up my three favourite September-themed tunes onto "Kayo Kyoku Plus", but I would have been repeating myself since I had already done so with a larger number of songs a couple of years ago. So, why don't you have a look at my "September Songs" from 2021 instead?

Usually this being Friday, I would be going into the Urban Contemporary category with the songs today, but I've figured to begin with this number because it has something to do with September and it's been in the backlog for some months, ready to get its debut on the blog. And of course, since I'm a big Ruiko Kurahashi（倉橋ルイ子）fan, I have to give her my due.

"Ku-gatsu no Mado" (September Window) is a track from Kurahashi's June 1981 debut album, "Without Sugar". The album is something that I've cherished since getting it from a fellow Mixi friend years ago, knowing that it has been one of the rarest of the rare to get. True to Kurahashi's style, "Ku-gatsu no Mado" has that delicate Fashion Music style (although the chorus gets a little jumpy) and I can easily imagine the singer herself in a melancholy mood in a Parisian café as she breathes some condensation on the window as it's raining outside. Katsuo Ono（小野克夫）was responsible for the gently lilting melody while Fumiko Okada（岡田富美子）wrote the lyrics about the coming fall, a season in kayo kyoku land known for the end of romance.