Sachiko Kanenobu -- Aoi Sakana（青い魚）

 

Now and again, I've mentioned that one of my favourite Japanese singers, Taeko Ohnuki（大貫妙子）, greatly admired Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. Recently, I've discovered a singer-songwriter who was once called the Japanese Joni Mitchell.

Sachiko Kanenobu（金延幸子）is a folk singer from Osaka who started her career around 1968 when she participated in an annual folk camp at Houshaku Temple in Kyoto and from that experience, she became part of a band called Folk Campus. Another member of that unit was Kyozo Nishioka（西岡恭蔵）. The following year, Kanenobu then joined another folk group called Gu（愚 ...Folly） which also included Ichizo Seo（瀬尾一三）.

From 1972, she went solo and her first album, "Misora"（み空...Beautiful Sky）, was released in September. Some of the tracks on "Misora" were produced by Happy End's Haruomi Hosono（細野晴臣）, and members of that band also helped out in the production of the album such as the late singer-songwriter Eiichi Ohtaki（大滝詠一）who contributed one song and guitarist Shigeru Suzuki（鈴木茂）who played on one of the tracks.

Indeed that one track is "Aoi Sakana" (Blue Fish) which also had Hosono arranging and playing bass while Tatsuo Hayashi（林立夫）was on drums, and Kanenobu was on guitar and (beautiful and slightly haunting) vocals. The splendid melody by the singer is as comfortable as a pair of beloved slippers right from Note One although her lyrics describe a melancholy reality of nature including the titular fish and their environment being lost forever, presumably due to industrialization. There is no mention of a keyboardist in the "liner notes" provided on the J-Wiki article for "Misora", but the playing there adds that extra feeling of poignancy. "Aoi Sakana" feels like that "smell-the-roses" type of song.

On the English Wikipedia article for "Misora", there has been a lot of acclaim given to the album even outside of Japan, and that includes famed sci-fi author Philip K. Dick who was a friend of music journalist Paul Williams. Williams married Kanenobu in the year that "Misora" was released although they would later divorce.

It was just one single and "Misora" released by Kanenobu during the 1970s after which it wouldn't be until the 1990s that she released albums and one more single again.

Theme Songs for Some of Masakazu Tamura's Dramas

 

I did forget that Masakazu Tamura（田村正和）also had his fun in commercials as well. Anyways, I promised in my first tribute to the actor whose passing had been announced within the last few days that I would come up with a further tribute through the theme songs that adorned some of his 1980s and 1990s dramas. They all have their own articles on the blog so I will just treat as a hub to get in touch with those pages. However, I will mention the song, singer, drama and year of broadcast.

Minako Honda -- Oneway Generation / Papa wa Newscaster (1987)

Miki Hirayama -- Joudan janai Asa / Atsuku naru made Matte! (1987)

The Alfee -- Weekend Shuffle ~ Hanayaka na Shuumatsu / Papa wa Nenjuu Kurou Suru (1988)

Yosui Inoue -- Riverside Hotel / New York Koi Monogatari (1988)

Kyoko Koizumi -- Anata ni Aete Yokatta / Papa to Natchan (1991)

Yusuke Honma -- Theme from Ninzaburo Furuhata / Furuhata Ninzaburo (1994)

Katsuji Amazaki -- Blue Ocean

 

Ah, yes. The above is a view from the top deck of the Harmony of the Seas on the morning of Day 2 of our cruise a few years ago. I took it while we were on our way to the Windjammer for breakfast. Turkey bacon wasn't one of my favourite items on the buffet but everything else was fine and dandy in double quantities.

I thought for a photo like that, a record such as "Morning Breeze" by guitarist Katsuji Amazaki（尼崎勝司）would be just the thing. This was released back in 1983 as this AOR album and it was a bit difficult tracking down any information on Amazaki. 

However, I actually found the guitarist Amazaki through a J-Wiki article about Sound Space（サウンド・スペース）, a folk/rock duo that consisted of him and pianist Tetsu Ueno（上野哲）. Performing for only a year between 1975 and 1976, Sound Space put out one single and one album. That album, "Kagami no Naka no Shouzou"（鏡の中の肖像...The Portrait in the Mirror）, was released in September 1975 and supposedly it's the first album in Japan to have introduced synthesizers in a recording. I would actually like to know that if this is indeed true from any of the Yellow Magic Orchestra or Isao Tomita（冨田勲）fans out there.

But in any case, there is Amazaki's solo 1983 album "Morning Breeze", and the first track is "Blue Ocean". I certainly got those rich Corinthian leather vibes from Amazaki's guitar playing as the song starts with the familiar Fender Rhodes and some cutting disco strings, and maybe it's a tad dramatic to hear over breakfast at the Windjammer but it's still a nice morning instrumental to hear as an aural digestif. According to JASRAC, Amazaki and Katsuhiko Sasaki（佐々木勝彦）were responsible for the creation of "Blue Ocean".

Haruo Minami -- Sekai no Kuni kara Konnichiwa (世界の国からこんにちは)

If you've lived long enough, I'm sure you would have encountered at least one thing that'd make you go "Oh, no. But, oh, yes." Something that shouldn't exactly exist and yet it does but it ain't bad. Something that you shouldn't like but you do. Perhaps a pizza topped with something that shouldn't be a pizza topping. Or the hairy chest of your favourite sumo wrestler. Or a zany remix of a song you never liked. You wonder why the affinity to it, but eventually you just settle with a "It happens."

I now think corn-mayonnaise pizza ain't as bad as it sounds. I kinda enjoy Tochinoshin's pecs glaring at me through a carpet each sumo tournament. And I jam to Haruo Minami's reggae rendition of "Sekai no Kuni kara Konnichiwa". It happens.

I think J-Canuck had mentioned some time back that after nearly a decade, he, Marcos V. and I managed to "meet up" to talk "in person" for the first time. During the chat, if I remember right, the topic of song remixes came up. Amidst a discussion of remixes that can last up to half an hour per song, "Plastic Love", and an introduction to what stuttering in music means, I was reminded of Haruo Minami (三波春夫) and his little adventure into "young people music" in the early 1990s. While dear Haru-san had some original techno-beat and rock n' roll stuff, he predominantly focused on reinventing his past works, which you can enjoy in his 1992 album "Omantaseshimashita! HARUO IN DANCE BEAT" (オマンタせしました！HARUO IN DANCE BEAT). The whole album's up on Spotify, so you can check it out in the link below.

https://open.spotify.com/album/6hmbhN5rIcVYnPLcS0s2s0

The album name says it all, really. And when the House version of the iconic "Tokyo Gorin Ondo" (東京五輪音頭) is the most normal entry in this collection, you know things will get real weird real quick. Case in point, the final song in the list: "Sekai no Kuni kara Konnichiwa". Reggae version.  

Yessiree, you read that right. I don't know what was going through Minami's head at the time when he gave this the green light, but he definitely made the right decision. "Why?" you may ask in bewilderment. How could a Rasta remix of the beloved 1970 Osaka World Expo theme song be anything but sacrilegious? Well, for one, I actually never liked the original "Sekai no Kuni kara Konnichiwa" (well, now, maybe that's the sacrilegious statement). As quintessentially Minami as it is, it's just too infectiously annoying and there's one too many konnichiwas for my liking. But slowing it down a notch and adding some stutters somehow made it a lot more palatable to me.

When this remix of "Sekai…" first hit my ears, two rather contrasting vibes hit me. The slow tempo and funky synths gave off a very relaxed, beach resort sort of vibe, and one can imagine Minami in a gaudy print shirt (he actually used to wear stuff like that off-stage - go figure) swaying about in a hammock by the sea... No - no dreadlocks (that's a cursed image right there). Whereas the singular konnichiwas from individuals that replace the konnichiwa chorus of the original and piano solos throughout the melody actually give it some quirky, modern vibe. It almost feels like something I'd hear on the weird NHK World show "JAPANGLE" or at some postmodern art exhibition. Either way, I ended up vibing with it way more than expected, and it gets decent airtime whenever I tune in to my Spotify playlist. Feels kinda strange to say that I now like "Sekai…", even if it's only in this warped style. Nevertheless, well played, Haru-san.

For reference, here is how "Sekai…" originally sounds, and you can check out J-Canuck's article on it here. Indeed, there was no one more fitting for the role of welcoming visitors to the Land of the Rising Sun with a warm konnichiwa and a wonderful smile than the kimono-clad Haru-san. 

THREE1989 -- Private Castle

 

I only discovered this trio known as THREE1989 earlier this week but when I first heard their latest single "Private Castle", I got these vibes of them being the ones to take the baton of urban contemporary music from Sing Like Talking.

THREE1989 got their name from the fact that the three members, vocalist Shohey, keyboardist & guitairst Shimo and DJ Datch, were all born in the year 1989. According to their J-Wiki profile, they were all students at the same music school, and starting up the band from 2015, they incorporate the sounds of the 70s, 80s and 90s with a measure of dance music mixed in to create that is contemporary yet nostalgic at the same time.

The trio already have quite a few videos up on YouTube but I did get drawn to their May 3rd 2021 release of "Private Castle", their 2nd digital download single, which is apparently set in Sapporo although according to their website bios, the guys actually hail from Nara, Kumamoto and Osaka. Shohey's soulful vocals and the rich warm beat remind me a lot of Chikuzen Sato（佐藤竹善）from Sing Like Talking, and the melody is given an extra oomph thanks to that jazzy piano and fluegelhorn. As I often do with SLT and Tomita Lab's（冨田ラボ）music, "Private Castle" is the type of song that I would love to hear in that stylish café in Tokyo.

Fujimal Yoshino -- Not What I'm Looking For

 

Y'know...I was thinking that it's been a while since I've had one of the mainstays of City Pop up here on "Kayo Kyoku Plus", so I figure that it's time to have good ol' Fujimal Yoshino（芳野藤丸）back for an article.

Luckily, there is some more goodness from his 1982 self-titled album "Yoshino Fujimal" to explore after writing about it back in 2017. Here is "Not What I'm Looking For" which is exactly what I'm looking for during this City Pop Friday.

With the music by Yoshino and lyrics by a fellow named Jeffrey Paul Keeling according to the JASRAC database, "Not What I'm Looking For" is the story of someone driving on the highways and byways when he decides to take a break at some bar along the way. He sees a most dangerous lady hanging around in there and being the jaded veteran of roads and romance, he immediately turns off the love alarm.

Again with the rest of the tracks on "Yoshino Fujimal", "Not What I'm Looking For" is so cool that it needs shades and it's so bright that I need shades. Can't help but hear the Steely Dan/Doobie Bros. influence in the chorus, and the entire song through the melody alone helps embellish the lyrics with the sultry and mysterious beginning, the potential promise of a good night and then Fujimal's declaration of a rather snarky "No Go" with this lady via the SD/DB chords. It may be one of the few truly kakkoii public safety warnings on LP. The other thing is that whenever I hear the lyric "...sun's getting low in the sky...", I think of Black Widow's calming phrase for the Hulk in "Avengers: Age of Ultron".

Kangaroo -- Popcorn

 

Back around the end of last year, I wrote about the fusion band Kangaroo（カンガルー）which was called the Japanese Shakatak and I was drawn to their "A Night In New York" which was one of the last things that they had recorded before breaking up in 1986. It was quite the surprisingly affecting love ballad as sung by Midori Fukuhara（福原みどり）.

As I also mentioned in the article for "A Night In New York", Kangaroo started its three-year life as more of an instrumental band centered around keyboardists Ikuko Arakaki and Hitomi Maseki（新垣郁子・柵木ひとみ）, and this is one of their tracks, "Popcorn" from their sophomore album "NICE! NICE!! NICE!!!" which came out in 1984. 

Created by Maseki, "Popcorn" does indeed live up to its title with its popping keyboards with Toshiro Matsuda's（松田俊郎）bass and Keiichi Hidaka's（日高恵一）guitar also livening the proceedings. It's simply a funky and happy-go-lucky creation. My good friend and KKP collaborator JTM once told me that he had been looking forward to seeing some vintage Japanese music videos. Well, the video for "Popcorn" couldn't appear more Japanese 1980s especially with what looks comically like the ancestor for the smartphone.

"Popcorn" was so percolating that some of the song was actually used to introduce a segment in a long-running TV Tokyo game show "Quiz Chikyuu Maru Kajiri"（クイズ地球まるかじり...Quiz Taking in the Earth Whole） during the late 1980s.