Kumi Nakamura -- Kimagure（気まぐれ）

 

I like to welcome actress Kumi Nakamura（中村久美）to KKP and I'd like to emphasize that being a thespian is her main bread-and-butter (no musical pun intended) since she only released one single and one album (both in November 1980) to accompany her very long resume of acting roles. In fact, the video above will take you to a commercial she did for a pharmaceutical company.

Anyways, I did find this B-side to that lone single she did in 1980. Titled "Kimagure" (Whimsy) with the A-side titled "Kaette Oide yo"（帰っておいでよ...Come On Home）, the melody by Fumiko Kikuchi（菊池文子）kinda fulfills the whimsical aspect with the funky disco flute and the Fender Rhodes/electric piano of the 1970s and it's a nice little skip down the city lane. Machiko Ryu（竜真知子） provided the lyrics and I think Nakamura acquitted herself pretty well on this one. Would be interested on how she did with some of those remaining songs she contributed to her album "Hiko Shojo"（飛行少女...Flight Girl）.

Probably for such a rare single, it has been fortuitous that DJ Notoya was kind enough to include it as the first track on his "Tokyo Glow" compilation.

Mami Ayukawa -- Smoky Town wo Samayotte（Smoky Town をさまよって）

 

Just for the record, the above from the good people at Good Free Photos is not a photo of San Francisco but of Högakustenbron, Sweden. The more you know, and all that stuff.

When I was listening to singer-songwriter Mami Ayukawa's（鮎川麻弥）"Smoky Town wo Samayotte" (Wandering Through Smoky Town), I was instantly attracted to her melody of samba/bossa nova via the synthesizers and such so that I was also reminded of the song stylings of Matt Bianco. However, I am hoping that the "smoky" in town is referring more to fog rather than photochemical smog. The last thing I need to hear that Ayukawa is suffering from COPD, although I can understand that both can lend to a very atmospheric nightscape in the city. Sorry, a bit anal retentive on my part.😋

"Smoky Town wo Samayotte" is a track on Ayukawa's October 1988 album "Smile". 

Makoto Iwabuchi -- Moonlight Flight（ムーンライト・フライト）

 

OK...I couldn't (and still can't as of this writing) embed Yasuhiro Abe's（安部恭弘）video into my article regarding his song a few minutes ago, but I'm fine here with singer-songwriter Makoto Iwabuchi（岩淵まこと）. Go figure on TGIF.

In any case, whereas Abe's "Kanojo ni Dry na Martini wo"（彼女にドライなマティーニを）is the equivalent of high and mighty and frenetic painting of the town red in Bubble Era Tokyo, Iwabuchi's "Moonlight Flight" is much more laidback and Margaritaville relaxing. The flute and the strings hint at that literal ride in the sky as the singer serenades listeners like a mix of lonesome cowboy and Hawaiian crooner.

"Moonlight Flight" is a track on his October 1977 debut album "Super Moon" which also shares space with "Whiskey Drive"（ウィスキー・ドライブ） which I wrote back in August. Interestingly enough, the song also came out as a single much later...in 1995. This year has been quite the good discovery of Iwabuchi.

Yasuhiro Abe -- Kanojo ni Dry na Martini wo（彼女にドライなマティーニを）

Good Free Photos

 

Well, it seems as if it's been the end of the week when Blogger and YouTube decide to not speak with each other, thereby preventing any embedding of videos here. It's happened twice before and it's happening now so I'll have to just provide the link to the video for now.

(October 7 2023: Ah, I got it back!)

Still, this song by City Pop crooner Yasuhiro Abe（安部恭弘）is well worth the extra step of heading back to YouTube. "Kanojo ni Dry na Martini wo" (A Dry Martini for the Lady) is a track from his awkwardly titled "Tune box the summer 1986" from July of that year. "Tennessee Waltz" (テネシーワルツ), which is the last Abe song that I posted up several months ago, is also a fellow track on the album.

I have to give props to the multi-instrumentalist and arranger Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）for his wonderfully thrumming City Pop style including "Kanojo ni Dry na Martini wo". He's been helping Abe and another City Pop veteran EPO (among other singers) for years, and it's come to the point where I'll probably have to feature him in a Creator article soon. Although Chinfa Kan's（康珍化）lyrics seem to be pointing out a scene in a bar where two people, both from broken relationships, find each other to perhaps build a new one, Abe's melody hints at a lot of hope and optimism in the big busy city. The time seems to be around Xmas although I don't really think that this would classify as a Xmas tune. Of course, Abe's falsetto is always a highlight and I read on one person's blog that Yasuhiro Kido（木戸泰弘）and Seishiro Kusunose（楠瀬誠志郎）are among the folks helping out on the smooth-as-silk background chorus.

Eiji Miyoshi -- Ame（雨）

 

It was just back on Tuesday that I wrote about another song titled "Ame" (Rain) which was a 2009 ballad by singer-songwriter Jun Shibata（柴田淳）. Well, I noticed that there was one other "Ame" right close to it in the backlog, so I've given that one a go, too.

Actor-enka singer Eiji Miyoshi（三善英史）has been mentioned once before on "Kayo Kyoku Plus" for a 1979 cover of "Shinjuku Jouwa"（新宿情話）. But right from the start of his career, he was suddenly given tons of accolades and popularity. First, if I can add a little more to his profile, Miyoshi was born Teruhiko Tamura（田村照彦）in Shibuya Ward, Tokyo as the son of a geisha and as a teen, he was scouted for his good looks and size.

However, much to everyone's further delight, Miyoshi also had a voice to match, and in May 1972, his debut single "Ame" was released. Given the tags of both enka singer and aidoru, the 17-year-old's light and dancing voice tripped the light fantastic over Kazuya Senke's（千家和也）melancholy lyrics of a woman waiting in the rain on Saturday afternoon, perpetually waiting for the man who will never arrive to court her for some reason. Keisuke Hama's（浜圭介）oboe or clarinet-led melody adds to the bittersweet situation with some lower strings taking the baton as well.

"Ame" did hit a nerve with listeners. The song managed to earn the Best New Artist prize at the Japan Record Awards that year, along with a Silver award at the Shinjuku Music Festival, and another Best New Artist prize at the Japan Kayo Awards. On the Oricon weeklies, "Ame" went as high as No. 2 and it could have hit the top spot but the eventual song of the year, Shiro Miya & The Pinkara Trio's（宮史郎＆ぴんからトリオ）"Onna no Michi" (女のみち）didn't relent. As it was, though, the song sold over half a million records and eventually became the 18th-ranked single for 1972. Ironically, although Miyoshi performed in the Kohaku Utagassen three consecutive times from 1973 to 1975, none of his songs were "Ame".

Pat Benatar -- You Better Run

 

It says something about how iconic MTV was when Pat Benatar's "You Better Run" has been noted on Wikipedia as the second video ever presented on the channel (above at 5:40) right after The Buggles' "Video Killed The Radio Star". 

Here's a slightly sharper form of the music video for "You Better Run" which came out as a single in July 1980 and was my introduction to the snarly and sexy Benatar, although I've enjoyed "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" even more. As such, it was the first Benatar song to be placed as a ROY article on KKP. Unfortunately, I didn't get to see it on that legendary first broadcast of MTV since we couldn't get it on our cable. Actually, I saw it on some local late-night music video show probably while my parents were out socializing one Saturday night. Listening to "You Better Run" and watching the singer strut around, I could imagine myself fleeing from the lady whenever she yelled out the title. Not someone to cross. Although "Hit Me With Your Best Shot" was a Top 10 single, "You Better Run" did more modestly by ranking in at No. 42 on America's Billboard.

I keep getting educated as I do these ROY articles about how many of these 80s classics are actually covers of earlier originals. As has been the case with "Bette Davis Eyes" and "They Don't Know", I've found out that "You Better Run" was originally recorded by the rock band The (Young) Rascals back in 1966, as something that may have preceded the whole punk craze a decade later. The original rose to No. 20 on Billboard.

Now, what was scoring in the Top 3 of Oricon in July 1980?

1. Monta & Brothers -- Dancing All Night

2. Toshihiko Tahara -- Kimi ni Kettei! （キミに決定！）

3. Shinji Tanimura -- Subaru （昴）

Yoshie Nakano, Yu Sakai & Shuri -- Happy Boogie（ハッピー☆ブギ）

 

A few days ago, another NHK morning serial was launched and has been the case in the past, "Boogie Woogie"（ブギウギ）is based on a fictionalized account of a real-life celebrity (with the names changed to prevent any complaints). During the pandemic, there was the drama "Yell"（エール）which was based on the kayo kyoku songwriter Yuuji Koseki（古関裕而）.

"Boogie Woogie" shows the life and times of the brassy singer Shizuko Kasagi（笠置シヅ子）whose trademark song was "Tokyo Boogie Woogie"（東京ブギウギ）, and as you can see above, the production staff didn't waste any time making that point clear right from Episode 1. That is indeed Shizuko Kasagi Suzuko Fukurai（福来スズ子）performing the famous upbeat kayo kyoku from 1947. Pretty darn happy way to start one's day.

(not the opening credits but a good video nonetheless)

I also saw the opening credits to "Boogie Woogie" and I was impressed with the different animation styles being used. Even the design of the title looking like four people cutting up the rug is fantastic. And the wonderful thing is that the music for the series is created by Takayuki Hattori（服部隆之）, the grandson of the composer of "Tokyo Boogie Woogie", Ryoichi Hattori（服部良一）.

Grandson Hattori was also responsible for the theme song "Happy Boogie" and it fulfills both words very well in the sound. I was automatically attracted of course by the jazz but also by the three singers behind it: Yoshie Nakano（中納良恵）of bohemian jazz and indies group Ego-Wrappin', Yu Sakai（さかいゆう） who's often collaborated with Tomita Lab（冨田ラボ）, and actress/singer Shuri（趣里）. Could get people dancing from the breakfast table.

The Hattoris aren't the only intergenerational celebrity association in "Boogie Woogie". Main actress Shuri happens to be the daughter of Candies' Ran Ito（伊藤蘭）and actor/singer Yutaka Mizutani（水谷豊）whose character has continued to solve crimes in the long-running "Aibou"（相棒）.