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.
Today would have been the 57th birthday of 80s aidoru Yukiko Okada（岡田有希子）, and as such, in tribute to her, maybe we can put up another song of hers.
I'm going to go with "Koi no Doubles" (Love Doubles) which was the B-side to Okada's 2nd single"Little Princess"（リトル プリンセス）released in July 1984. When I first saw the title, my mind went to a tennis analogy with terms like "ace", "love" and "match point" being used in many different ways. Actually, it's really just about a couple so heads-over-heels in love that even the odd spat doesn't derail things at all.
Written by Chinfa Kan（康珍化）and composed/arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, "Koi no Doubles" begins with some guitar-powered roar that hits me like an upbeat West Coast AOR tune and I couldn't help but feel that Hagita may have had some ELO on the brain when he concocted this one. Overall, it's such a really happy-go-lucky song that I think that the couple I just mentioned above will be hitting the altar in about ten minutes. I also have to mention those spirited strings as well. "Koi no Doubles" makes for a nice contrast with the gentler A-side.
Singer-songwriter Jun Horie（堀江淳）has always kept a special place in the "Kayo Kyoku Plus" heart all these years. His April 1981 hit tune, the zippy "Memory Glass"（メモリーグラス）, not only remains as one of the songs that finally got me to appreciate Japanese popular music but the article for the song is the very first one on KKP.
Well, as I've always said, never forget those B-sides, and so I bring you "Yume Fubuki" (Dream Blizzard). As expected, Horie was responsible for the melody but this time, lyricist Kaoru Asaki（麻木かおる） came up with the bittersweet words. Motoki Funayama（船山基紀）, as was the case for "Memory Glass", took care of arrangement. Listening to "Yume Fubuki", I've gradually gotten the impression that Horie is at heart more of a folk singer along the lines of the late and great Kozo Murashita（村下孝蔵）, and that is also true for "Yume Fubuki" which retains the same level of jauntiness as the A-side. The story behind this one involves a fellow who's putting up a brave front after a romantic breakup but is still hurting inside and the wintry evening outside isn't helping his mood any. An extra sweater, perhaps?
Of course, for all of the Studio Ghibli fans, the name Azumi Inoue（井上あずみ）should be pretty recognizable for her recordings of the theme songs for the classic "Tonari no Totoro"（となりのトトロ）late in the 1980s. But I wanted to also take a look at her very early material when she had begun her career as one of the many aidoru that went through the revolving door of Japanese entertainment.
Inoue (under the kanji of 井上杏美) made her debut behind the mike with "Star Storm" in April 1983. Written by Kayoko Fuyumori（冬杜花代子）, composed by Masashi Komatsubara（小松原まさし）and arranged by Kenji Omura（大村憲司）, the lass took on a slightly operatic tone in her delivery with this New Wave-ish tune. I like the overall song especially with the bass synth thrum and the wailing guitar. Not sure whether Inoue's first single made any significant dent on the charts, though.
Then, later in September that year, Inoue released her second single, a cover of Tomoko Ogawa's（小川知子） hit "Yuube no Himitsu"(The Secret From Last Night). This time with the arrangement of Koji Makaino（馬飼野康二）, in comparison with the contemplative kayo kyoku nature of the 1968 original, Inoue's "Yuube no Himitsu" still retains its fragile beauty but it also has a sound of a 1970s aidoru tune with the only thing showing its 1980s origins being the flourish at the end. At the same time, though, I'm also reminded of Yoshie Kashiwabara's（柏原芳恵）hit "Haru Nanoni"（春なのに）which also got released in 1983.
It's been over four years since I last wrote about the pop-rock band Polkadot Stingray via their "JET", and that came three years following T-cat's introduction of the Fukuoka group onto the pages of KKP. Yup, so I haven't exactly been prolific in my articles on them, but I've literally got a new song by them here and now.
Never mentioned it until now but their J-Wiki profile has given their motto: A supernatural high-quality guitar rock band from Fukuoka Prefecture that has plans.
Well, if this music video is anything to go by, then their most recent single from July 31st this year has really got the overdrive on their musical panache and cos-presentation via Harajuku or Shibuya. "JO-DEKI" (Good Job!) was written and composed by Polkadot Stingray vocalist Shizuku（雫）and it's such a blast of frenetic energy that I'm surprised that it hasn't been incorporated as the theme song for an anime somewhere on TV. The lyrics are interesting in that they seem to depict some of the sturm und drang involved in making a song...as potentially depicted on a reality show. Still, the video is showing that it is all a bit of fun and tongue-in-cheekiness within the proceedings.
The other day, commenter Robert B. gave his thoughts under the article for short-lived folk duo Do Do's（ドド）"Miyakowasure"（都忘れ）and "Kyou mo Higurete"（今日も日暮れて）which made up for the two sides of their 3rd and final single from 1975. Well, he also noted that he greatly enjoyed their debut single which was released in October 1974.
Simply titled "Ai" (Love), this was a song written and composed by one-half of Do Do, Yuko Shibuya（渋谷祐子）and it deals with the sad aftermath of a broken romance and how the man is wondering (perhaps in vain) about making it better again. Arranged by Mitsuo Hagita（萩田光雄）, even though this was a 1974 single, "Ai" sounds somewhat like a throwback to the 1960s era of Sunshine Pop and psychedelic rock. As I was listening to it, I hearkened back to songs like "California Dreamin'" by the Mamas & the Papas and maybe even The Animals'"The House of the Rising Sun", both of which dealt with their own personal crises.
Do Do had entered the 7th Yamaha Popular Song Contest in May 1974 with "Ai". Looking at the original cover for the single, I rather like how Shibuya is standing nonchalantly against her partner Masako Kuriaki's（栗秋雅子）piano while playing away on the flute. The above advertising blurb at the top basically boasts that while Karen Carpenter made her debut on the drums and Suzi Quatro got her start on the bass, Do Do made their fresh beginnings with the flute. It almost comes across like that barb-trading between Loki and Tony Stark in "The Avengers": "I have an army!"..."We have a FLUTE!".
Of course, years later Shibuya would trade in the flute for a katana and a long gun for one of her solo albums when she jumped into the City Pop lake.
Since we are dead in the middle of summer, I'd like to share some songs that represent the hottest season of the year to me. They may not necessarily be summer-themed, but they are summer in atmosphere and spirit, or they simply remind me of summer.
This is a brain-off piece with simple comments rather than proper introductions of the songs. Most of the selection here already have their own entries, so if you'd like to know more about them, feel free to have a look. The idea is just to let you guys enjoy the songs with an unhinged comment or two on the side.
Since I've been talking about songs from the 1930s to the 1960s recently, perhaps some tunes here may come as a surprise as refreshing as a lemon soda on a 36 degree Celsius day. So, let's begin with those first.
I actually discovered this via KKP, so I'll have to thank J-Canuck for this. I think, more than a fun summery tune, this is a bop that just lifts my mood in general.
Perhaps I just so happen to like summer releases from the 1990s, but my "90s J-Pop" playlist tends to get more attention between June and August. Those three tunes, in particular, are my go-tos. Anyways, shall we move on to our usual suspects?
Tadaharu Nakano (中野忠晴) -- Kougen no Uta (高原の唄) (1932)
Ever since J-Canuck mentioned the idea of Mr. Nakano in lederhosen going on a mountain hike in relation this this song, that image has been burned into my mind's eye. I honestly cannot tell you if I like that image or not. It could be kinda hot like Saitama right now, but also lederhosen. I don't think I can handle seeing his legs. Not that I don't want to. Just not like this.( *｀ω´)
Mountains are a good respite from the heat, but so is the sea, so we have this breezy sailor ditty by Akira-san.
One of the funniest things my friend, Ms. C, has added to the not-necessarily-canon lore behind my beloved fellas is that Akira-san is ditzy and jolly in a "head empty" sort of way, but that's what makes him adorable (she got that impression from some snapshots I shared early on). Honestly, the more I find out more about him and dig up photos of him, I can't help but agree, and it's in "Minato Hanarete" where he sounds exactly like that.
Summer will now always remind me of Bin-san because of his death anniversary (29th July) and birthday (August 26th), as well as the memories of heading all the way up to his hometown of Odate, Akita, to pay tribute to him. Twice. Yes, I visited him this year too, and even met up with the lovely Uehara Bin Tsudoi (上原敏集い... Uehara Bin Get-Together). Also, somehow summer makes me feel like cranking up the matatabi mono. The tune that brings those two things together is "Oya Koi Dochu."
Summer also equals bon odori equals ondo, so, of course, we need our ondo ambassador, Haru-san. The temperatures have been sky high in Kanto and it is pain, yet I find it amusing in an ironic way when Haru-san happily goes, "Kyou wa seiten yokatta ne" (Isn't it great that it's a clear day?(°▽°)) Maa, ne.
From a sub-tropical island, we head to a tropical one. I found that "Jawa no Mango Uri" actually has three versions: The original duet from 1942, Hai-Katsu's immediate postwar solo, and another solo likely re-recorded around the 60s or early 70s. I have gone with the latter because its slower, more grandiose arrangement and Hai-Katsu's languid delivery. It screams island paradise.
Also, today happens to be Hai-Katsu's birthday (20th August)! Happy 113th!･:*+.\( °ω° )/.:+
Looks like Kayo Grace has some terrifyingly good skill in making sand castles. Maybe architecture will be her career if and when she decides to leave the aidoru business. Anyways, with the arrival of the annual Canadian National Exhibition here in Toronto, and the temperatures starting to cool off in the morning and night, I gather that the summer is beginning to make its way out of here. When I went outside today, it was only feeling like 16 degrees Celsius. Quite refreshing.
So, for those in my neck of the woods, enjoy your summer as much as you can in the remaining month. Meanwhile, I can introduce this rather rare 1980s tune by Tokyo-born actor Kazuma Mori（森一馬）. Nope, I've never heard of him either but he's had a long career since 1983 on stage and screen according to his J-Wiki profile.
Of course, being seen as an up-and-comer in the geinokai back then meant that eventually the entertainer (no matter in what area) had to cut a record, talent be damned! Therefore, Mori recorded two singles, only one of which got to get onto the store shelves (although he also released three albums); all of his audio output came out in 1984. That one single was "Natsu wo Oikakerou!"(Chase the Summer!) which was released in July with Ryo Shoji（東海林良）handling lyrics while Takayuki Baba（馬場孝幸）and Kazuo Otani（大谷和夫）took care of the melody and arrangement respectively. It was the typical upbeat summer pop tune with some of that rock-n'-roll regarding the usual hijinks on the beach which sounded like something that one or two of the Tanokin Trio would have tackled in those 1980s.
There's no explanation why Mori's mystery single wasn't released officially (maybe Mori got into some of his own real hijinks), but it apparently has seen the light of day via his debut album. The single is "Midnight Train" and the debut album is "Shoshin"（初心...Naivete）.
