Tarako -- Yuuwaku Game（誘惑ゲーム）

 

Just as William Shatner will always be known as Captain James T. Kirk and James Earl Jones will always be known as the voice of Darth Vader, Tarako will always be known first and foremost as the voice behind the impish Momoko "Maruko" Sakura（さくらももこ）in "Chibi Maruko-chan"（ちびまる子ちゃん）. The Gunma-born Tarako has worn a lot of hats in the entertainment industry: singer-songwriter, narrator, actress, scriptwriter, essayist, and of course, seiyuu since she began her career in 1981, but if you mention her name to anyone on the street, invariably most if not all people will mention Maruko right off the bat.

Seeing another episode of "Chibi Maruko-chan" last night as we usually do on Sundays, I did wonder about her singing career so looking things up on her J-Wiki file, I discovered that Tarako did release four singles between 1984 and 1991 along with ten original albums between 1983 and 1995. Her debut single in September 1984 was "Yuuwaku Game" (Temptation Game) for which she provided the lyrics while Kazuto Hiraga（平賀和人）of the band NSP composed the spirited melody which kinda hovers between pop and the more upbeat aidoru tunes of the day. There's quite a nice bluesy instrumental solo before the final chorus where Tarako finishes her story of a woman with some tsundere tendencies about a fellow.

You can also have a look at one of her commercials.

Momoe Yamaguchi -- Ai no Arashi（愛の嵐）

 

Happy Victoria Day for all of you in Canada and for the rest of you, Happy Monday!

I haven't watched much of any of his shows on television for years now, but Seth MacFarlane can still surprise me. It was about a decade ago when I found out about "American Dad" bringing in Perfume's "Monochrome Effect" for one of its episodes, and apparently a few weeks ago, there was an episode on his flagship "Family Guy" where he and Chris Griffin take a stab at the good ol' Toyota Cressida.

I took a look at the Wikipedia article for the model and it had been originally marketed as the Toyota Corona Mark II. Now, why I would even mention this specific vehicle in the pages of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" is that I actually was driven in a Cressida during my 1981 trip through Japan. The father of my host family during my 3-day homestay in Nara picked us all up in a Cressida and earlier in the trip, I had found out via a tour through Toyota facilities in Toyota City that supposedly the Cressida was second only to the Crown in terms of their sedan line. So I gather that this particular model back then was for the division head tier of executives but I'm wildly speculating here. It was a comfy ride since I did end up snoozing in the back.

Anyways, try as I might, I couldn't find a specific commercial for the Cressida that had a Japanese pop song as the jingle. But I opted to search through the J-Wiki list of songs that had been used in Toyota commercials in general, and I was surprised to see that even Momoe Yamaguchi（山口百恵）had gotten into the act.

Yup, her 26th single "Ai no Arashi" (Love [Jealousy] Storm) from June 1979 was used for the Toyota Tercel in which she herself appeared as well. The song itself was another collaboration between her and the husband-and-wife team of lyricist Yoko Aki（阿木燿子）and composer Ryudo Uzaki（宇崎竜童）with the arrangement of Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, as her persona of the world-weary woman of the city and the night has to deal with yet another romantic entanglement. The guitar and string combination weave the lady and situation perfectly as someone quietly ferocious in a delicate situation. From the pounding percussion that ends the song, I gather that things didn't end well.  I remember hearing this on my BEST compilation, thanks to that Aki lyric of "jealousy storm, jealousy storm, storm/storm/storm...".

"Ai no Arashi" peaked at No. 5 on Oricon and ended 1979 as the 36th-ranked single. It was also a track on Yamaguchi's 19th studio album "Harutsugedori"（春告鳥...Japanese Bush Warbler） which was released in February 1980 and it hit No. 5 too on the album charts.

Lindsey Buckingham -- Holiday Road

 

In a special holiday edition of Reminiscings of Youth...

I've had to remind myself that this is a long weekend, the Victoria Day long weekend to be specific, and in Canada, it's seen as the first summer vacation opportunity although of course, summer is not due here for another month. The main reason for my forgetfulness is that we really no longer do the family vacation. It's more of the staycation now and I'm good with that...no added stress.

Well, after all, folks can just watch "National Lampoon's Vacation" from 1983 to see how un-relaxing a family vacation can be although they can laugh their guts out at the plight of the Griswolds. The success of Chevy Chase's movie begat an entire franchise right into the next generation. Surprisingly, I never saw that first movie in its entirety; I've seen key scenes though.

However, I have shown more loyalty toward the theme song for the movie and the franchise, "Holiday Road" by Lindsey Buckingham from Fleetwood Mac. It has gone down as one of the more enduring and beloved movie theme songs of the 1980s despite its very short play time at a little over two minutes, but that's OK. Like guests staying at friends' places, no one or thing should overstay their welcome. I will always cherish the chorus and the barking dog at the end.

Released in June 1983, it only hit No. 82 on Billboard but again time told the tale of "Holiday Road" as a popular tune. I can only imagine how it's received at any of Buckingham's concerts. But I found its usage again in the opening credits of "Vacation" (2015), the most recent entry in the franchise with the second generation of the Griswolds in the driver's seat, absolutely hilarious.

What was hitting the Top 3 of Oricon in June 1983?

1. Hiroko Yakushimaru -- Tantei Monogatari (探偵物語）

2. Rats & Star -- Me Gumi no Hito （め組のひと）

3. Akina Nakamori -- Twilight - Yugure Dayori （トワイライト -夕暮れ便り-）

Akari Machi -- Ramen wa Keihanzai（ラーメンは軽犯罪）

 

The above is a steaming bowl of Spicy Miso ramen at Santouka that I had when a few friends got together back in April. It was good but perhaps a bit too spicy even for me. Fortunately, there was a gelato parlour across the street so that I could calm my gastrointestinal tract.

Well, that photo above should tip off the veteran viewers of "Kayo Kyoku Plus" that I managed to find yet another ramen-themed song. Tokyo-born singer-songwriter and tarento Akari Machi（町あかり）is someone that I mentioned several months ago when she helped out the techno band Denki Groove（電気グルーヴ）for their "Denki Groove San-juu Shuunen no Uta"（電気グルーヴ30周年の唄）back in 2019.

Machi is a pop singer who also likes the old kayo style, and for this song of hers, "Ramen wa Keihanzai" (Ramen is a Misdemeanor), she's plugging into a bit of that old bright disco-pop...and some rap at that. Written and composed by Machi, it's about savoring that bowl of ramen or some of the instant stuff quietly without tipping off the significant other. However, the music video for the song has the now boyfriend-less lass in somewhat more uncertain times with the gas company clamoring at Machi to pay her monthly bill and turning the utility off. 

But it's all good...she still has the portable gas burner and a saucepan (which looks exactly like the one that I had in Ichikawa) to get her favourite dish ready. Still, that apartment she occupies doesn't look like she's in dire straits so I hope that she will pay Tokyo Gas posthaste. "Ramen wa Keihanzai" is on her most recent studio album released in June 2022, "Soutenzenshiki Tsuukai Ongaku"（総天然色痛快音楽...Technicolour Thrilling Music）. Why not give the karaoke track below a try?

Machi began her career in 2010 and has had many releases including 8 original albums. According to her website, she's been influenced by Southern All Stars（サザンオールスターズ）, Kenji Sawada（沢田研二）, Hiromi Iwasaki（岩崎宏美）, composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）, and songwriter Yukinojo Mori（森雪之丞）.

Skoop On Somebody -- sha la la

 

Just a month into the history of "Kayo Kyoku Plus", I wrote the first Sing Like Talking article in February 2012 for "Together", the really fun single riffing off of Django Reinhardt's "Dinah" . However, I also related there how I first came to know Chikuzen Sato（佐藤竹善）and the rest of SLT, and it was purely by mistaken identity. Some time before I ended up buying SLT's "Discovery" (1994) at the neighbourhood CD shop in Ichikawa, I had watched a totally different band on Fuji-TV's venerable "Music Fair" and gotten interested in them. Thinking it was that band, I bought "Discovery".

Well, that band was actually Skoop On Somebody, and as it turns out, there are similarities between them and Sing Like Talking. Both consist of three main members and both tackle a mixture of soul, pop and gospel. Whereas SLT has been around since the late 1980s though, Skoop On Somebody only started out in 1995, although by the time that I bought SLT's "Discovery", even SOS had been around for a few years.

One of Skoop On Somebody's big hits and possibly their breakthrough hit was "sha la la", their 14th single from Halloween 2001. It's a gently calming song that was given the catchphrase "The Greatest Love Ballad for This Fall" (translated from the Japanese) which certainly goes against the old kayo kyoku tradition of having romantic heartbreak as a theme within autumn-based tunes. The vocal talents of members TAKE, KO-HEY and KO-ICHIRO expressing their love through the microphone remind me of the songs by The Gospellers. Natsumi Kobayashi（小林夏海）and SOS provided the lyrics while music production unit Face 2 fAKE composed and arranged the song.

"sha la la" peaked at No. 18 on Oricon and went Gold. It also became the commercial tune for Nivea Cream. It was also included on SOS' ballad collection "Nice' n Slow Jam" released in December 2001. 

Between the time that the three members had met in Osaka to form the group in the mid-90s and around 2000, the trio was known as SKOOP but on hearing that the word in English, namely "scoop", could also actually mean "ensnare" or "exhumed", it was decided that the extra two words would be added. Just my personal opinion, but a scoop could also refer to a tool to pick up ice cream and who doesn't love ice cream?🍨

Off-Course -- Save The Love

 

Lest it be said that Off-Course（オフコース）was simply a folk group gone AOR/pop from the late 1960s into the 1980s, I found one song that might counter the earlier clause.

I've known for a while that the band consisting of Kazumasa Oda（小田和正）, Yasuhiro Suzuki（鈴木康博）, Hitoshi Shimizu（清水仁）, Kazuhiko Matsuo（松尾一彦）and Jiro Ohma（大間ジロー）also possessed and exercised their rock chops. As well, I have heard of this song in brief snippets through TV and the like, but I hadn't been aware that "Save The Love" from their October 1979 7th original album "Three and Two" was quite on this level of an odyssey. Clocking in at over 8 minutes, vocalist and guitarist Suzuki's creation seems to go into a progressive rock direction just on the length of time alone. A song that alternates between intrepid guitar rock march and reassuring balladry, the song tells the story of a man who loves a woman from afar; he's been witnessing her repeated heartbreaks and has been quietly encouraging her to cry her eyes out but also to fight like Hell and know that there are far better men out there.

Folks have been telling me that if I am to get any original Off-Course album, "Three and Two" would be the one, and original purchasers seem to have agreed. The album peaked at No. 2 on the Oricon weeklies and not only ended up as the 48th-ranked release of 1979, it also went further up on the 1980 charts by ranking in at No. 37. "Three and Two" also has the folksy ballad "Ai wo Tomenaide"（愛を止めないで）which became the topic of my second article for the band all the way back in 2012.

Iyo Matsumoto -- TV no Kuni kara Kirakira（TVの国からキラキラ）

 

I know that Robert Altman's "The Player" was still a decade away from being released in theatres, but I couldn't help but think of this Hollywood movie satirizing Hollywood when I first listened to this single by aidoru Iyo Matsumoto（松本伊代）.

Her 3rd one, to be specific, "TV no Kuni kara Kirakira" (Gleaming from the Land of TV) was released in May 1982. It seems as if lyricist Shigesato Itoi（糸井重里）, composer Kyohei Tsutsumi（筒美京平）and arranger Shiro Sagisu（鷺巣詩郎）all decided to concoct a tongue-in-cheek aidoru tune about the whole fantastical mystique surrounding an 80s aidoru while having the lass herself wonder where the line between reality and illusion appears.

Iyo-chan certainly sells it with her puppy-dog happy nasal delivery and Sagisu's arrangement is just as peppy with all of the horns and strings bouncing about. The song fits what the teenybopper entertainers were all about during the Golden Age of the Aidoru: supremely kawaii, bouncy and flouncy. "TV no Kuni kara Kirakira" hit No. 15 on Oricon.