A Tribute to Shinji Tanimura（谷村新司）

 

Singer-songwriter Shinji Tanimura passed away on October 8th 2023 at the age of 74. Most of us had only heard about his death late on the 15th or early on the 16th, and according to NHK and Wikipedia, though at this point, the cause of death hasn't been announced, Tanimura had been suffering from enteritis earlier this year.

Born in December 1948, he was the son of a couple who ran a hot spring in Nagano Town in Metropolitan Osaka. In 1965 while in high school, he along with Chizuko Shimazu（島津ちづ子）and Mineyuki Yamamoto（山本峰行）formed the folk trio The Rock Candies（ザ・ロック・キャンディーズ）, a group in the style of Peter Paul and Mary. Several years later in 1971, Tanimura and Takao Horiuchi（堀内孝雄）created the folk group Alice（アリス）which had a more folksy rock style and begat hits such as "Fuyu no Inazuma"（冬の稲妻）.

While with Alice, Tanimura was also providing songs for other singers, notably "Ii Hi Tabidachi" (いい日旅立ち) for Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）, one of her last big hits in 1978. Tanimura would cover the song in an even more genteel manner in 1986.

As I mentioned in the original article, Tanimura and his partner Horiuchi would come up with the hit "Kimi no Hitomi wa Ichi-man Boruto"（君のひとみは10000ボルト）in 1978, and though I had thought it was an Alice song, it was officially a single pegged to Horiuchi.

Alice may have been known for its good time rock n' roll folk but Tanimura's solo work could be described as elegant. At one point, I was wondering whether the singer had actually opted to become an enka singer but his material wasn't quite that traditional-sounding. Instead, I would categorize it as that middle ground between kayo kyoku and enka known as New Adult Music. It was often classy, epic, orchestral and dignified. His 1980 "Subaru"（昴）was the first Tanimura song that I'd heard as a soloist at my old karaoke joint Kuri, and I can imagine that on hearing of his passing, a lot of karaoke singers gave their tribute to him by tackling this one.

Another ballad that had some shivers going up my spine when I first heard the intro was his 1983 "Nijuuni Sai"（22歳）. It had the folksy beat from his past and the epic dignity of his present (at the time).

Through Noelle Tham's article in 2014, I found out that Tanimura along with fellow songwriter and singer Yuzo Kayama（加山雄三）had been the ones behind "Sarai"（サライ）, another epic ballad of inspiration and reassurance. I had assumed that the song was a lot older than its 1992 birthdate considering that it's been used for a certain NTV telethon year after year just like how "Auld Lang Syne" has been used to signal the end of every edition of the Kohaku Utagassen on NHK.

The final song that I'll leave here in this tribute to Tanimura is a new one on KKP. "Gunshou"（群青...Ultramarine） was his 4th single released in July 1981 and it was the theme song to the August 1981 Toei Studios movie "Rengo Kantai"（連合艦隊...Imperial Navy） which described the downfall of the Japanese Navy in World War II. According to the J-Wiki article on the song itself, Tanimura had initially turned down the request by the movie's director Shūe Matsubayashi（松林宗恵）to create a theme song for "Rengo Kantai" because of the subject matter. However, Matsubayashi was finally able to persuade him by relaying his approach and opinions, and "Gunshou" was the result. The late Katsuhisa Hattori（服部克久）arranged both "Gunshou" and "Subaru", and when Hattori passed away in 2020, Tanimura himself gave great praise on Hattori's arrangements.

Tanimura leaves behind three children including singer-songwriter Shiori Tanimura（谷村詩織）. I offer my condolences to his family, friends and fans.

Rats & Star -- Summer Night Train（サマーナイト・トレイン）

 

One of the YouTubers that I'm currently subscribed to, Kuga's Travel, has just put up a new video featuring a new luxury train, the Tobu Railway Spacia X (no, I don't think Elon Musk has anything to do with this one), which runs between Asakusa in Tokyo to Nikko in Tochigi Prefecture. Considering the distance between the two points, it's definitely not an overnighter unless it's running at the speed I was doing my half-marathons when I was a junior high school kid, but hey, it looks really posh. I'm just afraid of the price.

P.S. 3,740 JPY/25 USD total for a 2-hour ride?! 

That preamble ramble is to introduce "Summer Night Train" by Rats & Star（ラッツ&スター）featuring the golden tones of Masayuki Suzuki（鈴木雅之）. Not being a Masters student when it comes to the discography of The Chanels before they made the name change to Rats & Star in the mid-1980s, my bet is that the group may have also made a slight stylistic change going from doo-wop onto a more contemporary soulful path, although they didn't leave their roots totally behind. 

The Chanels/Rats & Star have popped up in the last little while via the ROY articles and special features, so the last time they actually popped in a KKP byline was all the way back in June 2014 when I posted their popping April 1983 hit "Me Gumi no Hito" （め組のひと）. "Summer Night Train" is a much mellower animal from their November 1984 album "See Through". The opening verse sounds like a slower version of "Plastic Love" but otherwise it's a groovy soul tune, ideal as an accompaniment for a night ride on the aforementioned Tobu Railway Spacia X (scotch not included). I also like how the rest of the Rats as backup chorus sounds like a train whistle off in the distance. 

Masao Urino（売野雅勇）was responsible for words while Tsugutoshi Goto（後藤次利）provided the music. Goto, along with Suzuki, also produced the entirety of "See Through" which peaked at No. 26 on Oricon.

Yui Nishiwaki -- Shichi-gatsu no Ame nara（7月の雨なら）

 

I'm kinda gobsmacked right now on realizing that although I've had singer-songwriter Yui Nishiwaki（西脇唯）represented on the blog since 2016, she's always been included as just the songwriter for other artists. For instance, she composed Hiroko Moriguchi's（森口博子）"ETERNAL WIND~Hohoemi wa Hikaru Kaze no Naka~"（ほほえみは光る風の中）in 1991 which helped earn the singer-TV personality the title of Gundam Oneesan. As well, I have to admit that I actually have Nishiwaki's 1998 Xmas album "Noel〜yui's winter collection〜" but the songs never quite clicked with me for the most part. I'll have to give them another go after so many years.

Well, allow me some redemption then. It's interesting all of the songs that I have posted thus far which were composed by Nishiwaki had all been released before the lady herself actually put out her own official debut single in May 1993 under her kanji name. "Shichi-gatsu no Ame nara" (July Rain) is a dramatic pop song about impending doom over a romantic relationship that was used as one of the many ending themes for the late-night information variety program "Tonight" on TV Asahi, although I think that it could also have sufficed as a theme song for a J-Drama. Arranged by Nobuyuki Shimizu（清水信之）, "Shichi-gatsu no Ame nara" went as high as No. 25 on Oricon.

Nishiwaki released most of her own discography in the 1990s and of course, she's provided many songs for other singers over the years.

Hiroshi Yoshimura -- Maple Syrup Factory

 

A few times in my childhood up to my time in university, I was able to head to some of the maple syrup farms north of Toronto to witness the annual sugaring off. We could see the extraction of the sap from the trees and the buckets would be transported to the sugar shacks to be melted down to the various grades of maple syrup. The flapjacks that got made there were always the best I've ever had especially with the fresh butter and syrup on top.🥞

I was reminded of those times when I saw the title of this song "Maple Syrup Factory" under the YouTube video. This was by Hiroshi Yoshimura（吉村弘）, a Yokohama musician-composer who went beyond those labels to become an artist in sound design and graphic design before his untimely death in 2003 at the age of 63.

"Maple Syrup Factory" was a track on Yoshimura's posthumous album "Flora 1987" from 2006 and consisted of pieces that had been recorded in 1987 but never released. There's something very innocent and quietly joyful with this song as if it were Santa's special but more reserved maple syrup branch working hard in comparison with its far more boisterous North Pole main factory. At the same time, there's a certain instrument in the back working its magic to the effect that I think it could have been included in the "Loki" soundtrack.

Diego Olivas of FOND/SOUND gave his own review of the album and "Maple Syrup Factory" in particular back in 2017 that you can take a gander at right here.

Friends -- NIGHT TOWN

 

Perhaps things have improved a bit since the early days and nights of my time in the Tokyo area when the transit system in one of the world's largest metropoles shut down just shy of midnight. Yes, as crazy as it might sound, Tokyo wasn't and isn't a 24-hour city...well, it could be, provided that one didn't mind staying up at an all-night café (regular/Internet/manga) or got a taxi that charged a whole lot more overnight. At least now it seems as if Tokyo Metro and the JR are at least closing down at around the sinful time of 1 am, and that is for the very latest trains. My student told me that during the pandemic, things were shutting down even earlier to get folks to not carouse all that much in the big city. So, the moral of the story is...always check your schedules if you want to paint the town red in Tokyo.

But for those who are OK with a relatively early evening, try "NIGHT TOWN" by the pop band Friends（フレンズ）. I wrote about this Tokyo-based group right in the middle of the pandemic with a 2016 song titled "Yoru ni Dance"（夜にダンス）that probably had a lot of KKP viewers swooning back then about being able to have a night out on the town. Well, several months later, the fun continued with a November 2017 mini-album "Petit Town"（プチタウン）that got up to No. 33 on Oricon.

I don't know whether a lot of Friends' discography revolves around nocturnal activities in the big city. However, "NIGHT TOWN", which was written by band members singer-songwriter and vocalist Emi Okamoto（おかもとえみ）and keyboardist/rapper Hirose Hirose（ひろせひろせ）, has taken the baton from "Yoru ni Dance" with another copacetic melodic trip through the trendier areas of Tokyo in both the song and the music video. Would like to know exactly where everyone was tripping the light fantastic.

The current official membership of Friends is around four to five including Okamoto but Hirose took a leave of absence at the end of 2020 and then announced his official departure from the band in April 2021.

Midori Hagio/Yoshiko Miyazaki/Keiko Masuda/Yumi Matsutoya -- Tamerai（ためらい）

 

OK, just to confirm...that is indeed a thumbnail photo of Yumi Matsutoya（松任谷由実）above and the song involved here is a Yuming-penned tune but not a Yuming-performed one in its entirety since an original Yuming tune has become rather scarce of late on YouTube. However, the legendary singer-songwriter looms large over the ladies that have also performed "Tamerai" (Hesitation).

First up is Midori Hagio（萩尾みどり）who's had a long career as an actress and TV personality but there has been no mention about her being a singer on her file in J-Wiki. In fact at this point, I only know of one 1977 single that she's recorded called "Dairen Bojou"（大連慕情...Yearning for Dalian）. The B-side is "Tamerai" and both songs were created by Yuming and arranged by Masataka Matsutoya（松任谷正隆）. The first several notes had quickly pegged this one as a tune by the Queen of New Music herself and it comes off sounding like a breezy 1960s love ballad of pining away. The lyrics describe a walk between a man and a woman who may be on the cusp of elevating their relationship to bona fide boyfriend-girlfriend but the lass is sulkily grinding her teeth because the lad has yet to commit.

Pretty much all of the songs that I've covered on Yoshiko Miyazaki（宮崎美子）have revolved around her 1981 album "Mellow" and just from my memories, my impression of that album has had me thinking technopop. However, Miyazaki's cover of "Tamerai" has the arrangement of how Yuming and her husband would have taken care of their own discography at that time: with a bit of rock anchoring the breezy pop.

Last but not least is Keiko Masuda（増田恵子）, aka Kei formerly of Pink Lady（ピンクレディー）. She gives a breathier performance of "Tamerai" which was her 2nd single from June 1982. Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）arranged things here but the arrangement is similar to that for Miyazaki's take. As for Yuming's own cover, you can listen to an excerpt at Apple. The song was a track on her 9th album from June 1980, "Toki no Nai Hotel"（時のないホテル）.

Yutaka Kimura Speaks ~ Japanese City Pop Masterpieces 100: Haruomi Hosono -- Koi wa Momo Iro（恋は桃色）

 

Number: 027

Lyricist/Composer/Arranger: Haruomi Hosono

From Hosono's 1973 album: "Hosono House"

"Koi wa Momo Iro" is a masterpiece with a country rock flavor, recorded at Hosono's house in Sayama at the time, in the style of The Band's "Big Pink". "If rain falls/Inside of you/I wonder whether I'll get wet when I close my umbrella" is a splendid phrase and "Koi wa Momo Iro" is a wonderful title. At this point, this is a precious legacy by the quintessential singer-songwriter known as Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）.

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