Perfume -- GLITTER

A lot of great songs can be found in Perfume’s discography. “GLITTER” is one of them.

The first contact I had with “GLITTER” was thought a Kirin commercial featuring 15 seconds of the chorus. I remember that at the time, July 2011, I was not very patient with this kind of marketing plan, so I decided to wait until the song was released in its full form on a single or album. Time passed by and “GLITTER” was released as the b-side of Perfume’s “Spice” single in November of the same year. It was included some weeks later on the “JPN” album in a remixed version.

First, let’s talk about the single version, the one featured at the beginning of the article. As the reader must have acknowledged after listening to the song, the single cut of “GLITTER” is very straight-forward with few surprises in the arrangement. What you get at the beginning you’ll get thought the whole song. That being said, the song is quite addictive and very house-infused as well (the beat that starts after the 20 seconds mark is a proof of that). The arrangement, clearly built around the loud synth melody, makes me think of some great video-game music from the classic 16-bits era, like “Sonic The Hedgehog” and “Megaman”. The verses are very unique, which combined with the cheerful chorus just makes this song incredible. And we can hear some tribal drums in some moments as well. All in all this song is very epic, and it’s surely in my top 5 of Perfume’s songs.

As for the remixed album version, it brings all the sounds that were present in the single cut in a different way. Yasutaka Nakata (中田ヤスタカ) deconstructed the straightforward single version and built this remix with nice tensions in some areas (the high synth note that starts around the 4:02 or 4:03 mark is an example of this tension). And the long intro is a great addition to the song. Listen to it below.

The “Spice” single reached #2 on the weekly Oricon charts selling around 92,000 copies. The single version of “GLITTER” was included on the best album ‘Perfume Global Compilation “LOVE THE WORLD”’, released in September 2012. This compilation reached #1 on the weekly Oricon charts and sold around 181,400 copies. As for the remixed version, it was the third track from the “JPN” album, which was released in November 2011 reaching #1 on the weekly Oricon charts and selling 354,095 copies (source: generasia). “GLITTER” was written, composed and arranged by Yasutaka Nakata.

To finish, here are some photos of my own copies of the "JPN" album and the 'Perfume Global Compilation "LOVE THE WORLD'", respectively.

AKB48 -- Dear my teacher

It’s kind of hard to be serious about AKB48. I must confess that I really tried a couple of years ago, but couldn’t handle the overall bad quality of the songs they periodically release. On the other side, as they have a very big discography, some songs are actually good, or at least entertaining. “Dear my teacher”, in my opinion, is one of these songs.

It must mean something that my favorite song of AKB48 is the b-side of their first single “Sakura no Hanabiratachi” (桜の花びらたち), released in February 2006, while the group was still in an indie label. What I’m trying to say is that their earlier songs were quite good. I was never the biggest of the fans of AKB48, but I can tell that their earlier songs were more sexual, challenging and risqué than the safe and happy-go-lucky songs they tend to release nowadays.

“Dear my teacher” is famous because of its clear and direct resemblance to “Oyoshi ni Natte ne TEACHER” (およしになってねTEACHER), a song released as a single by Onyanko Club (おニャン子クラブ) back in 1985. The producer and lyricist of both groups is, as we know, Yasushi Akimoto (秋元康), and the thesis that AKB48 is nothing more (or just a little more, if you prefer) than a rehash from Onyanko Club is not a surprise to anyone either. But besides all of those common points between both groups and songs, “Dear my teacher” is an interesting number by itself.

The arrangement, built around a dance beat and some disco elements, like the brass and the synth melody, is very well combined with the sexy, although young, vocals that are in charge of the sultry lyrics about a forbidden romance between a student and her teacher. Even the way which the lyrics are sung evokes provocative feelings from the girl narrating the story. It’s a very “Lolita” way of singing.

All in all, I find “Dear my teacher” a very good pop song. Of course it’s strange to have some 13 or 14 year old girls (some were older than that at the time) singing about losing their virginity with their school teacher, but it's exactly the presence of this risqué theme that makes the song work so well.

The “Sakura no Hanabiratachi” single reached #10 on the weekly Oricon charts and sold around 46,300 copies (source: generasia). “Dear my teacher” was written by Yasushi Akimoto, while the music was composed by Mio Okada (実音 岡田). As for the arrangement, it was done by Ei Ieatsu (景家淳).

Arashi -- A-RA-SHI

I'm not a fan of the currently top Johnny's Entertainment group in terms of their music, but my family and I are enjoying watching the boys on Friday nights on TV Japan through their two variety programs: "Vs. Arashi" (game show) and "Arashi ni Shiyagare" (interview show). And we've even caught some of their serial dramas. Just for the record, Arashi（嵐...Storm） is led by the usually unassuming Satoshi Ono（大野智） with the other members being Sho Sakurai（桜井翔）, Masaki Aiba（相葉雅紀）, Kazunari Ninomiya（二宮和也） and Jun Matsumoto（松本潤）.

Still, having said that, I do like a couple of their songs including their debut, "A-RA-SHI" from November 1999, just because of that bouncy refrain, "You are my SOUL! SOUL!" Composed by veteran Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）and written by Tsunetoshi Kikuchi（菊池常利）, under the stage name of J&T, the CD single hit the No. 1 spot on Oricon and quickly became the 23rd-ranked song of 1999, selling close to a million copies and still their best-selling song. The song was also part of their debut album, "Arashi No. 1: Arashi wa Arashi wo Yobu" （嵐は嵐を呼ぶ...Arashi Calls The Storm), which was released in January 2001 and also hit the top spot on the album charts. According to Wiki, though, the really big commercial success would take the better part of a decade.

At my last English school before returning home, I had a regular Wednesday-night student who was a huge Arashi fan, and most notably, an Aiba-kun fan. In fact, the first several minutes of every lesson was basically the weekly Aiba-kun report.....and she gave it in English. As long as she was using her 2nd language, I was game with it.

Mina Aoe -- Isezakicho Blues （伊勢崎町ブルース）

"Ahh....ahh..."

For paella, it's saffron. For the "Iron Man" franchise, it's Robert Downey, Jr. For this song, it's the late Mina Aoe's（青江三奈） throaty moans that spike it. "Isezakicho Blues"is all about style over substance, but that's not a criticism...it's a compliment. The lyrics by Kohan Kawauchi （川内康範） aren't suggestive at all; the words only describe a night in the commercial district of Yokohama. But the music by Yoichi Suzuki（鈴木庸一） (who also composed Mari Watanabe's "Tokyo Dodonpa Musume") is sexy and flirtatious, and paired with Aoe's sultry vocals, the song is the kayo kyoku equivalent of a striptease that never goes all the way but still leaves the listener/customer happy.

When my brother and I were kids, and we just happened to hear this song, we started getting the case of the giggles (as was our immature right) which only earned a half-admonishment from Mom for developing dirty minds. Hey, she was the one singing it, not us!

When Aoe appeared on television to perform one of her biggest hits, I think her looks helped to sell the song as well. She had that face which suggested a knowing expression of what was what in the mizu shobai (水商売....the nightlife business)...friendly and enticing at the same time. I could've easily envisioned her working at some hostess club, tying some drunk salaryman into a knot around her finger...and yep, I'm sorry if that sounds somewhat insulting to her. But that face, that melody and that voice....

"Isezakicho Blues"was Aoe's 7th single released in January 1968. Born in Tokyo's Koto Ward in 1941 as Shizuko Ihara（井原静子）, the singer took on her stage name from a character in a short story. Following her graduation from high school, she worked for a short while in a Seibu Department Store before starting her music career performing in clubs. Once she started recording, her career went into overdrive with her debut single "Koukotsu Blues"（恍惚ブルース...Ecstasy Blues). Her songs often had the name "Blues"in them....for example, "Koukotsu Blues", "Isezakicho Blues", "Sapporo Blues" and "Nagasaki Blues"...even "Blue Blues". Also, another trait in her titles were that they often gave a shout out to Japanese geography, but then again, back in those days, the names of cities and neighbourhoods were a treasure trove for enka/Mood Kayo songwriters. Yokohama was one of the big names.

The moaning certainly worked. "Isezakicho Blues" won Aoe a Japan Record Award (among other awards) and was a million-seller. In fact, her 4 singles in 1968 alone sold a total of 3.2 million records. This single peaked at No. 5 and eventually became the 11th-ranked song of the year. Kohan Kawauchi and Yoichi Suzuki （川内康範・鈴木庸一）wrote and composed the song respectively.

Aoe did get an appearance on the Kohaku Utagassen of that year on top of all of the other accolades accorded her. However, those sexy moans (euphemistically referred to as "sighs") had to be cleaned up a little during the performance on the national network (the indication was that kids would definitely be watching the special), which meant using a kazoo (!) in place of her voice when those sighs were made. Not sure what Aoe thought of that, but apparently Kyu Sakamoto, who was the captain of the Men's White Team, remarked that the "revisions" sounded not unlike "an ostrich's sighs". Ouch! And strangely enough, even in the 1982 Kohaku when Aoe appeared to perform her trademark song, the moans were apparently cleaned up again! I gather that Aoe didn't mind things too much, though, since she ended up appearing a total of 18 times with her final appearance in 1990.

Regrettably, about a decade later, Aoe would pass away at the age of 59 in 2000 from pancreatic cancer.

Not Isezakicho, but a part of the old Tokyo setup
in the Ramen Museum in Yokohama. Still,
the sentiments are there!

Katsumi -- Just Time Girl

Katsumi's "Just Time Girl"was the song for a Kao shampoo commercial that was just so sunny and bouncy that I decided to get the single. And shouldn't all hair be sunny and bouncy? It's also one of those nostalgic songs from the early 90s because of those synths back then.

Katsumi was born Katsumi Watanabe（渡辺克己） in Ibaraki Prefecture and was playing in bands in the Tokyo area during the 80s when he gave his demo tape to someone in the music industry. He officially debuted in 1990 with "Shining in the Night". "Just Time Girl" was Katsumi's 4th single, released in April 1991 which ended up being the 35th-ranked song of the year. I also bought his 2nd album, "One", which has "Just Time Girl" and whose title track was basically the singer's tribute to all things Freddie Mercury, his inspiration.

And here is the commercial with "Just Time Girl".　Sunny and bouncy forever!

Kozo Murashita -- Yuko/Kagero （ゆうこ・陽炎）

I decided to cover both the A and B sides to Kozo Murashita's（村下孝蔵）4th single (April 1982) since I re-discovered the B-side song, "Kagero"(Heat Haze) on one of my ancient tapes of "Sounds of Japan" today. One of my old classmates from Japanese Language School, Mio Inokuchi, just happened to be the co-host on that broadcast, so it was a bit poignant to hear her voice from 30 years back as a high school student.

As has often been the case with Murashita's songs, "Yuko" is a beautifully woven creation but with that little kernel of pain. His biggest hit, "Hatsukoi"（初恋）, involved the angst surrounding that feeling of first love. "Yuko" was named after his wife, and Murashita sang about the title character, a former fiancee, shutting herself off from the protagonist. According to J-Wiki, the singer's divorce was finalized in 1985. The single itself peaked at No. 23 on Oricon.

"Kagero" is a summery song which I could see Murashita singing while in a hammock by the sea as he reminisces about that long-ago girl (Yuko again?) through a photograph. The even more relaxed melody here makes me wonder if the singer had written and composed the song while in the middle of that titular heat haze. There is also a chorus backing him up in there which kinda acts like a Japanese wind chime trying to cool things down. With all of those high-energy summer songs that usually come out, it's rather nice to have one that gets you to lie down and lay back.

The two songs also made it onto Murashita's 1982 album "Yume no Ato"（夢の跡）.

Mi-Ke -- Omoide no Kujukuri Hama （思い出の九十九里浜）

In the last several months of my Gunma stint, I started hearing a song that harkened back to some of those old Group Sounds songs of the 60s, although at the time I didn't know the genre term....I just simply used "Japanese oldies" or Yuzo Kayama songs. There was a trio of women who decided to go somewhat retro in the final decade of the 20th century.

Mi-Ke was an offshoot of B.B. Queens, the motley crew of musicians led by Yuiko Tsubokura and Furanosuke Gendo who came up with the No. 1 song of 1990, "Odoru Ponponkorin"（おどるポンポコリン）, the ending theme for the long-running anime, "Chibi Maruko-chan". The B.B. Queens chorus of Keiko Utoku（宇徳敬子）, Mami Watanabe（渡辺真美） and Haruka Murakami（村上遥） made their debut as Mi-Ke, named after the Japanese word for calico cat, in February 1991 with this ode to all things Group Sounds, "Omoide no Kujukuri Hama"(Kujukuri Beach of Your Memories). Kujukuri Beach is a 60-km strip of sandy beach along the northeastern coast of the Boso Peninsula in Chiba Prefecture which has been a favourite place for swimmers and surfers, and what better venue is there to remember those days of hedonistic suntanned beach bums when Japan was starting to rev up its economic engines.

Written by Daiko Nagato（長戸大幸） and composed by Tetsuro Oda（織田哲郎）, the lyrics were almost literally a list of song titles from the Group Sounds era. In fact, shoutouts were given by the ladies to 13 GS songs such as "Hana no Kubikazari"（花の首飾り） by The Tigers and "Yuuhi ga Naiteiru"（夕陽が泣いている） by The Spiders, and all wrapped up in a melody that Kayama-san would've been happy to jam in on (heck, I think Ms. Moritaka could've gotten in on the action). Even Mi-Ke's choreography seemed to take a step back in time.

The song peaked at No. 5 on Oricon, was the 32nd-ranked song of the year, and took the Newcomer's Prize in Pop/Rock at the Japan Record Awards. It also got them their appearance on the Kohaku Utagassen.

And I didn't know this but it was also used as the theme song for the comedy-drama "Nurse Station".