I've been a fan of Japanese popular music for 40 years, and have managed to collect a lot of material during that time. So I decided I wanted to talk about Showa Era music with like-minded fans. My particular era is the 70s and 80s (thus the "kayo kyoku"). The plus part includes a number of songs and artists from the last 30 years and also the early kayo. So, let's talk about New Music, aidoru, City Pop and enka.
Credits
I would like to give credit where credit is due. Videos are from YouTube and other sources such as NicoNico while Oricon rankings and other information are translated from the Japanese Wikipedia unless noted.
Ahhh...the southern entrance for Shinjuku Station. I remember when things really started to get moving for this side of the mammoth JR depot in the late 1990s...1997, I believe. Takashimaya Times Square, consisting of the venerable department store Takashimaya, Tokyu Hands and then Kinokuniya Book Store, was built just across the street from the station, and in more recent years, a commercial facility on top of a new adjunct for Shinjuku Station was constructed. Off in the distance on the left is Tower Records, a place that I visited very often.
Time for something older and more atmospheric, and for that, I can give you something along the lines of singer-songwriter Makiko Takada's（高田真樹子）"Blues Singer". A track from her 1974 debut album"Makiko first". Arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, I'm not sure how much of a blues song this would be since I'm not well-versed in the genre, but this is definitely in the New Music vein. From the delivery, I'd say that Takada reminds me of a certain Western singer but I can't say who right now. "Blues Singer" is a tune that would demand some sort of sipping alcohol and a contemplative mood in a darkened room. After all, I did say that it was rather atmospheric.
"Makiko first" also has a song that I covered in the past: "Watashi no Uta no Kokoro no Sekai"（私の歌の心の世界）. If I ever get back to Japan in the next few years, I wouldn't mind tracking the album down...maybe at that Tower Records by Shinjuku Station.
My ardor for the "Ultraman"（ウルトラマン）tokusatsu series really only lasted for those mere few years in the early 1970s, although it did spark my very first trip to Japan in 1972. A lot of my television memories from that time consisted of the Nebula M78 heroes popping up to destroy the bizarre monsters weekly, and for me, they were Ultraman Jack and Ultraman Ace. After returning back to Canada, I did realize that there were the next generation of Ultraman Taro and Ultraman Leo but beyond that, I lost my interest although the heroes kept getting churned out. Merchandise sales need to pay for a lot of mortgages, you know.
Of course, my image of the typical theme song for any of the "Ultraman" series was a male vocal group backed up by a children's choir singing a proud militaristic march echoing the virtues and heroism of the titular hero such as the theme for "Ultraman Ace". So you can imagine my surprise on finding out that for a 1990s version of the hero, "Ultraman The Ultimate Hero" or as he was known in Japan, "Ultraman Powered"（ウルトラマンパワード）, the ending theme sounded more like a swinging caviar-and-champagne song of that decade (although the Bubble had long burst by then).
Yeah, that's right. As the Wikipedia article will let you know, "Ultraman The Ultimate Hero" was a joint 1993 Japanese-American straight-to-video production starring a couple of people that I remember: Kane Kosugi as the hero (son of martial arts star Sho Kosugi) and American actor Harrison Page as the leader of the usual special squad designed to tackle alien threats. Page had played the long-suffering detective boss in the short-lived parody series "Sledge Hammer!" on ABC years prior.
Those straight-to-video episodes gradually made their way onto Japanese TV, specifically TBS from the spring of 1995, and that is when the urbane paint-the-town-red ending theme for "Ultraman Powered" appeared. "STARLIGHT FANTASY" was recorded by Hitomi Sudo（須藤ひとみ）, a singer who's another mystery figure since I could barely find anything about her outside of the fact that she released at least three singles including "STARLIGHT FANTASY" according to Oricon. This particular song was most likely her debut single from April 1995 and it was written by Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）and composed by Akihiro Yoshimi（良実明宏）.
It does beg the question, though. What would an Ultraman do for some decadent fun? Ah, I know!
Another scorcher in the city...relatively speaking. I still remember the really hot summer days and night in Tokyo, and I try to use the memories of those to keep myself cooler. Yet, the ancient fan behind me keeps rotating.
Truly, I wasn't trying to create some haiku up there (since obviously I was breaking the strict rules on the number of syllables in each line). In any case, let's get onto the topic of this fellow that I've only discovered recently, Makoto Shimizu（清水誠）who usually goes with his nom de guerre, Makoto. His track, "Time", from his inaugural album in 2003, "Human Elements", is quite the banger.
Makoto and British vocalist and composer Cleveland Watkiss created this snappy and propulsive "Time", which also came out as a single in the same year, and considering when "Human Elements" was composed, I've additionally been getting those Mondo Grosso vibes. Perhaps that might be because as much as Makoto is known as a drum n' bass man, he also brings in that 70s soul into the mix (maybe some Bill Withers?). I also read on his J-Wiki page that he was also influenced by Ryuichi Sakamoto（坂本龍一）, and that legend of course is someone who knows his way around a hook.
The fan reviews on Discogs for "Human Elements" haven't been all that amazing but for me "Time" is a nice way for me to greet Sunday and even get me to move around in my seat despite the sweltering heat out there.
The brothers Shuya and Yoshihiro Okino（沖野修也・沖野好洋）as Kyoto Jazz Massive applied their jazz and electronica to "Time" for a remix version of the Makoto original. However, I couldn't find out when exactly this version was produced. Speaking of Mondo Grosso, I first mentioned about KJM when the brothers contributed a song to the former's "Sakurahills Disco 3000" compilation back in 2000.
Happy Saturday! Hope wherever you are, you're enjoying the weekend. Right now, I'm trying to get through the typically hot and humid weather that is normal for the dog days of August. Had a nice brief conversation with Rocket Brown, and just like myself a couple of weeks ago, he will be co-hosting with Van Paugam soon on a podcast centering upon Toshiki Kadomatsu（角松敏生）so I'll be looking forward to that.
But for starters today, I'd like to get onto a track from Yumi Matsutoya's（松任谷由実）12th album from November 1981, "Sakuban O-Aishimashou" (昨晩お会いしましょう）. I wrote up an article about that No. 1-hitting release back in the early days of the blog, and as I will also mention here, "Sakuban O-Aishimashou" is arguably the most City Pop of Yuming's（ユーミン）albums although not every song is of the genre.
One track that I had yet to cover from the album rather straddles the line between regular pop and City Pop. "Yuyami wo Hitori" (Walking Alone In the Dusk) is definitely one cool cat of a Yuming track. It's about a woman heading home perhaps but without that young fellow that she aches for holding her hand. It's got quite a nice smoky rhythm with the goodly assistance of a thrumming keyboard and the horns, especially an urbane saxophone to finish things off. A lonely walk hasn't sounded so kakkoii.
Actress and tarento Yoshiko Miyazaki（宮崎美子）, who incidentally shares the same initials with Yuming, provided a cover of "Yuyami no Hitori" in her December 1981 album, "Mellow". The arrangement isn't too different from the original aside from some extra backing vocals, more Fender Rhodes and no horns aside from that bluesy sax. I've already covered one other track from "Mellow", the technopoppy "Ima wa Heiki yo"（今は平気よ）.
The above photo is from the top of the Marine Tower in Oarai, Ibaraki Prefecture. For those anime fans, you know why I was there. Oarai is the pilgrimage town for all those who are mad for the franchise "Girls und Panzer". I decided to make a stop there during my Tokyo trip in 2017 just to see what an anime pilgrimage is like. I actually took the shot from a restaurant specializing in "Girls und Panzer" paraphernalia and the theme was a classroom where I could partake in one of the kyushoku that the tank-driving girls had at school.
Well, this was my lunch with the main dish being stewed mackerel and since I do love my mackerel (not everyone does), I was quite satisfied with my meal overlooking Oarai Harbour.
Sadly, I forgot which one of the main characters actually preferred the mackerel lunch, but no matter. The topic of this article also has nothing to do with "Girls und Panzer". I only put up the photo because it does reveal some seaside parking, and that is also the title for the late Junko Hirotani's（広谷順子）song "Seaside Parking". That's about as disjointed a segue that I have ever come up with recently.
Right from the start, we can all hear the sunny Doobie Bros. Bounce in the melody by Hirotani herself with the arrangement by Ichiro Nitta（新田一郎）from the fusion band Spectrum（スペクトラム）. Yumi Morita（森田由美）provided the lyrics that probably depict a far more romantic and cheerful scene than my top photo as perhaps a couple is enjoying that drive out by the ocean. This is Track 4 from her February 1983 album"Enough".
That is the Marine Tower.
And that is the huge cast of characters from "Girls und Panzer". It was a nice time in Oarai but I wish that I had been in as good a mood as Hirotani was. I almost sprained my ankle on the way to the Marine Tower so I was in a bit of pain. Luckily, the mackerel helped.
It's almost been a couple of years since I've had singer-songwriter Kengo Kurozumi（黒住憲五）up on the blog as a performer. The last song that I've covered by him behind the mike was "Lusia", the B-side to his 1982 single"My Sweet Lady".
This time, the Kurozumi file is being added through his "Moonlight Serenade", and nope, this has nothing to do with the jazz classic by Glenn Miller. A track on his 2nd album"Still" (1983),"Moonlight Serenade" is a very different animal which is still in his wheelhouse of bouncy party-atmosphere City Pop with AB'S member Yoshihiko Ando（安藤芳彦）providing the lyrics. It's got those soaring strings for a bit of that sophisti-pop taste but at the same time, there is also a Tats-friendly sax solo and bass that makes me wonder whether the setting for the song is some bayside hotel...with a full moon out, of course.
Although his album releases started in the 1980s, Kurozumi did release a couple of singles in the 1970s and there is his output as the vocalist of the band Boomerang（ブーメラン）in that same decade. Unfortunately, none of his works back then are available on YouTube as of yet.
Commenter Justin, a few days ago, referred me to Xerf Xpec's recent upload, smoky singer Naomi Chiaki's（ちあきなおみ）January 1978 studio album"Amagumo"(Rain Clouds) . She recorded quite the conversation piece since it brings together three musical acts that I hadn't expected would work together. For one thing, Chiaki, someone that I've usually associated with Mood Kayo and regular Japanese pop, has the backup of the band Godiego（ゴダイゴ）, and for another, all of Side A of the original record was written and composed by the late singer-songwriter Eigo Kawashima（河島英五）, the man behind the introspective folk classic and karaoke favourite, "Sake to Namida to Otoko to Onna"（酒と泪と男と女）.
I've heard the first couple of tracks including the title track from "Amagumo", and I think that all involved including Chiaki were going for something different from their own worlds. At this point, I'd say that the album was perhaps going into a more City Pop direction but without having heard the other tracks thus far, I will go with 1970s New Music for now.
However with the first track, "Amagumo", there is something very sensual and sultry which matches the smokiness of Chiaki's voice. In the first several seconds of the song, there is a feeling of early morning hours but when all of the instruments come into literal play, I realize that it is most likely a case of a setting sometime during a rainy day as the title hints at, with Chiaki or her avatar being in a very hip coffee house somewhere in Shinjuku or Roppongi while she stares through the window with spatters of raindrops.
Kawashima's melody weaves among City Pop, jazz and the more urbane corner of New Music so it's not particularly easy to categorize "Amagumo" into one particular genre. But there are obviously no complaints from me about it as this song also reminds me of how another wonderfully cool chanteuse, Mai Yamane（山根麻衣）, started out a few years later. One last observation about the album itself is how similar the silhouette of Chiaki is to the one given on the cover of Bill Evans' famous "Waltz for Debby". Was this some sort of homage to the amazing jazz pianist?
