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Tamao Koike - Unreleased Materials [REQUEST]

I first mentioned underrated YMO-associate Tamao Koike back in July '11 when I posted Asami Kado's La Fleur Bleue record, which covers Koike's "Automne Dans Un Miroir", which is simply one of the greatest technopop jams of all time. Koike was a model, actor and YMO back-up singer before releasing these songs. According to the JP Wiki, Koike worked on an album with Toshio Nakanishi for Sony that never came out. Shame!



This odds 'n' sods collection includes several versions of "Automne Dans Un Miroir", along with other assorted singles and compilation tracks. Lots of '80s Japan touchstones here: YMO-assisted technopop, island/fusion, molasses dub, Francophilia, studio collage, idol and Laurie Anderson-style avant-new wave. Check it out!



JP WIKI
DISCOGS
ENJOY

Nakayama Miho for Tokimeki High School

Urban Dance - Two and a Half (Two Half, 2 1/2) (1986)

We're not gonna let the death of Megaupload slow us down here at WAX MASK. I'm gonna check out Mediafire for a bit, see how it goes. I'm aware of the problems with MF, but since I don't have a ton of uploads or a zillion readers, I think we'll be ok. I'm slowly getting old links fixed, but I want to make sure I get caught up on new posts (I've got a lot of stellar jams on deck).

Here's the 1986 album from Urban Dance, 2 1/2, or Two and a Half (or "Two Half" as it's listed some places). This is a totally solid record, produced by Harry Hosono. This is on the more "out" end of Idol, similar to Peal Brothers but not as overtly comedic, and more Technopop.

Urban Dance – 2 1/2
Label: Teichiku Records
Released: 21 Jun 1986

TRACKS:
01. Psyco
02. Ceramic Dancer
03. Kiss X Kiss
04. Day After Day
05. Bara No Emilia
06. Dance A Go Go
07. Camera Opuscula
08. Crazy Love
09. Camp



CREDITS:
Executive Producer: Haruomi Hosono
Producer: Masaru Arakawa
Producer: Shinobu Narita

Discogs
ENJOY!

Rajie - 真昼の舗道 (1980)

A few days ago I posted Rajie's Quatre. Here's another album from Rajie, 真昼の舗道 from 1980. Alternately titled Pavement at Noon, A Midday Paved Road, or Le Trottoir Dapres-Midi, this album was originally released by CBS-Sony. A lot of the same YMO-family figures from Quatre appear, with the addition of Keiichi Suzuki and others.

01. ラスト・シーン/ Last Scene (Yoshitaka Minami/ Etsuko Kisugi)
02. 真昼の鋪道/ Pavement Midday (Yukihiro Takahashi/ Taeko Onuki)
03. 霧の部屋/ Room Mist (Etsuko Kisugi)
04. 偽りの鐘/ Bell Fake (Yukihiro Takahashi/ Kenji Omura)
05. アパルトマン/ Flat (Taeko Onuki)
06. ラジオと二人/ People and Radio (Sugi/ Shigesato Itoi)
07. ヨジレアン・ツイスト/ Yo Gillet Anne Twist (Keiichi Suzuki/ Shigesato Itoi)
08. みどりの声/ The Voice of Green (Akiko Yano)
09. 秋の嵐/ Storm in Autumn (Keiichi Suzuki/ Taeko Onuki)
10. 忘却/ Oblivion (Taeko Onuki)

Album Personnel (likely incomplete):
Production, drums, string arrangement: Yukihiro Takahashi
Synthesizer, bass: Goto (except 2,3,6,10)
Bass: Haruomi Hosono (2,6)
Guitar: Kenji Omura (except 3)
Keyboards: Toru Okada (except 3)
Synthesizer, keyboards: Ryuichi Sakamoto (2)
Keyboards: Akiko Yano (3,8,10)
Violin: Takashi Toyoda (1)
String arrangement: Nobuyuki Shimizu (3,6,9)



Discogs
YMO Works
Rajie Bio
Japan Wiki
More info
PLEASE ENJOY

Rajie/ ラジ - Quatre (1979)

Here's an eclectic 1979 album from Rajie/ ラジ, alias of Honda Junko, member of Moonriders spin-off group Pony Tail. The album is listed as Quatre (Cattle) in some places. Some really nice early technopop jams here, like track six, "星に乗って", and track eight, "月の光". I'm not as keen on the ballads and fusion songs here, although they're certainly sure-handed representations of form. The final track, "キリンのいる風景", is a really nice conclusion, sounding both cosmic and minimalist, and recalling the opening jam, "キャトル". Junko's classicist vocals float effortlessly through the album, almost defiant of form.

The technopop songs here definitely have the YMO sound, as Yukihiro Takahashi produced the album. YMO Works says Akiko Yano and Sakamoto worked on the album. Discogs and Wiki don't offer much information. Yoshitaka Minami is the second voice on duet "ときと き魔法". Thanks to Youtuber "slimglam", here's some YMO/YEN-heavy information about some of the tracks:

02. "ときとき魔法"
Vocals: Rajie, Yoshitaka Minami
Drums: Yukihiro Takahashi
Bass: Tatsuya Honda
Guitar: Masaki Matsubara, Yuuji Toriyama
Keyboard: Ryuichi Sakamoto
Production: Yukihiro Takahashi

05. "風の道"
Vocals: Rajie
Piano, Synth: Ryuichi Sakamoto
Production: Yukihiro Takahashi

07. "クリスマス"
Vocals: Rajie
Drums: Mikiya Kazama
Bass: Tatsuya Honda
Guitar: Yuji Toriyama
Keyboard: Hiroshi Matsumoto
Keyboard: Ryuichi Sakamoto
Production: Yukihiro Takahashi

09. "一枚のフォトクラフ"
Vocals: Rajie
Lyrics: Kazumi Yasui
Production: Kazuhiko Kato
Production: Yukihiro Takahashi
Production: Ryuichi Sakamoto

If readers have more information I'd be very interested to learn more about Rajie. This biography doesn't cite any sources, but states Rajie worked with Yukihiro Takahashi, Tsugutoshi Goto, Ryuichi Sakamoto, Akiko Yano, Keiichi Suzuki, Yoshitaka Mitami, Taeko Onuki and Masamichi Sugi. You can check out her earlier album Heart to Heart over at Fenikon's Fusion World, where Fenikon claims that her early work was a big influence on fusion-lord Toshiki Kadomatsu.

Discogs
YMO Works
Rajie Bio
Japan Wiki
PLEASE ENJOY

Two from Etsuko Sai

Some of the most interesting videos are coming up in today's menu of Wax Mask, and getting back with Etsuko Sai: "Nagisa Fame". Basically a version of "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "Nagisa Fame" fulfills my current desire for "island sounds" Idol pop, as the summer winds down here is New England. Even better is Pygmalion, which finds a slight Technopop edge during the chorus.





Passio album from 1986, found on the Let's Get Funk blog.

Two from Tomoko Tane

Enjoy two from Tomoko Tane, "You're the One" and "Pumps Race Song." "You're the One" is such a jam, with lots of dynamic movement in the arrangement, a perfect dramatic Idol composition. Also: dig the animated, English-language fable that precedes the video for some reason, and Music Tomato Japan's Michael's reliable introduction. Michael lets us know what's up at the start of "Pumps" also.

Hayase Yukako

I don't know too much about Hayase Yukako. Archived here on Youtube is either two separate Laserdisc "albums" or a single double-laserdisc. Music is of varying style and quality, from Idol to fusion and some more esoteric material. Definitely continuity between clips, but no narrative to speak of. The album Love Your Life from 2008 is here. Working on finding the older stuff.

This is the second laserdisc album I've written about here, with Dip In the Pool's Dipping being the first. Do any listeners know if this was a common thing in the 80s and early 90s? An interesting format!

Unique vibe to "Sadist", jittery fusion funk mixed with paranoid, haunted house backing vocals. Great video effects in the clip.


"Suiyoubi Madeni Shinitaino" is another successful video, a mysterious presentation of lonely spaces both domestic and public.


Here's an ice-cold clip to close out disc one, "Trois Quarts". Hayase kills herself at the end! This track's Francophilia is in keeping with not only the album (the first track is titled "Last Year at Marienbad") but with Japanese Idol music of the time in general. The second disc (or album?) is much more cheerful (almost "island-fusion") and uptempo.


Fantastic synthesized voice and new age pop on "Anata No No Ga Shiru" from laserdisc number two, which seems to take place in a desert or maybe some tropical island.


Do readers want me to create an artificial album by ripping tracks from the Youtube videos? I'll try to get around to it eventually but if enough folks want me to I'll make it a priority.

Complex - Romantic (1990) [REQUEST]

As promised, here is the second (and final studio) album from Complex, Romantic. Romantic was Released in 1990, again by Toshiba EMI, a year after the self-titled album. Go here for the first album.

PERSONNEL:
Koji Kikkawa - vocals
Tomoyasu Hotei - guitar, vocals, keyboard
Takeshi Fujii, Tsukasa - Keyboard
Hideo Yamaki - Drums
Miyawaki Satoshi - Drums
and more here.

TRACKLISTING:
01. Romantica
02. Propaganda
03. Love Charade
04. 1990
05. Blue
06. Modern Vision
07. The Wall
08. No More Lies
09. Good Savage
10. Half Moon
11. Dragon Crime.
12. Majestic Baby
13. After the Rain (For China)

US WIKI
JP WIKI
ALBUM WIKI
PLEASE ENJOY

Complex - Complex (1989) [REQUEST]

Here is the self-titled Toshiba EMI debut from Japanese rock band Complex, released April 26, 1989. Complex is guitarist Tomoyasu Hotei and singer Koji Kikkawa. Don't know too much about this one beyond that. Note that the track-listing is slightly different than what Wikipedia says. Couldn't find a Discogs entry for the band. Second album Romantic coming soon.

PERSONNEL:
Koji Kikkawa - vocals
Tomoyasu Hotei - guitar , backing vocals, bass (4,5,7,9,10,11,12)
Takeshi Fujii, Tsukasa - Keyboard Programming
Hoppy Kamiyama - Keyboard
Junji Ikehata - Drums (3,10,12)
Further credits here.

TRACKLISTING:
01. Pretty Doll
02. Crash Complexion
03. Koi wo Tomenaide
04. Can't Stop The Silence
05. Hutarino Another Twilight
06. Imagine Heroes
07. Clockwork Runners
08. Be My Baby (Album Version)
09. Venus
10. Rambling Man
11. 11 そんな君はほしくない
12. Cry for Love

US WIKI
JP WIKI
ALBUM WIKI
PLEASE ENJOY

Taeko Onuki 大貫妙子 - Best 1978-1984

Here is one of several Taeko Onuki collections. Hopefully I'll follow this post with her early albums. I don't have personnel for a lot of the tracks, but certainly the members of YMO and Kenji Omura are involved, as well of Onuki's old Sugar Babe band-mate Tatsuro Yamashita. I could likely compile a list of players by cross-referencing the tracks with the albums and singles they originally appeared on, so perhaps I'll do that. For now, enjoy this best-of, which confidently pulls in fusion, technopop and dramatic idol directions.



From Discogs:
"Active since the early 70s, Taeko's first role was as a member of Sugar Babe with Tatsuro Yamashita. In the mid-1970s she began to release solo albums, regularly collaborating with Ryuichi Sakamoto and other members of the Yellow Magic Orchestra. Taeko appeared on Sakamoto's No More Landmine single in 2001 alongside David Sylvian and Cyndi Lauper and in 2010 is releasing an album and touring with Sakamoto."

The tracklisting on Discogs doesn't match the tracklisting on my rip, so I really don't know what's up. Anyway, here is the Discogs tracklist, and here's mine:

01 - 夏に恋する女たち
02 - 海と少年
03 - ピーターラビットとわたし
04 - 黒のクレール
05 - RECIPE (調理法)
06 - 新しいシャツ
07 - 恋人達の明日
08 - じゃじゃ馬娘
09 - 雨の夜明け
10 - 色彩都市
11 - CARNAVAL
12 - グランプリ
13 - 横顔
14 - 夏色の服
15 - 若き日の望楼
16 - 宇宙みつけた
17 - メトロポリタン美術館
18 - 風の道
19 - 突然の贈りもの



Discogs also says:
Label: BMG Japan
Catalog#: BVCR 18007-8
Released: 23 Jun 1999

Backing Vocals: Epo
Bass: Haruomi Hosono
Drums: Yukihiro Takahashi
Guitar: Kenji Omura
Keyboards: Ryuichi Sakamoto



DISCOGS
OFFICIAL SITE
LAST.FM
JP WIKI
PLEASE ENJOY

Asami Kado - Early Best Collection

I'm not exactly sure which of the many Asami Kado "best of" albums this is. This material is older than the Toshiba EMI material I've posted, and quite different.

TRACKLISTING:
01. FASCINATION
02. LONELY LONELY
03. BLUE
04. SEASON
05. ハート半分
06. 月下美人
07. Mr.K
08. セ・シボン
09. HONEY
10. お好きにせめて

ENJOY

Yumi Tanimura/ 谷村有美 - WITH (1991)

Jam! Love this song and video--the kitten, tumbling groceries, word processing, the "NO!" button, the whole "just woke up" scenerio, and the "It's My Life" caption at the end. Enjoy this nineteen-second making-of clip as well. がんばれブロークン・ハート was released as a single/video in 1989. Yumi Tanimura's first album, Believe In, came out in '87. Not my up, but I found a link for this best-of compilation, WITH, but hard to attribute the source. Many blogs offering dead links. Apparently Tanimura released the sequel WITH II, a few years later. Working on it, along with the original albums.



EXENSIVE JP WIKI
PLEASE ENJOY

Reimy

Ribbon - Yurusenai!! (ゆるせない !!)

More Sakamoto/Imawano footage

Not sure how I missed this before



Not sure what the song at the very beginning is. This clip (series of clips?) really expresses the romance of the collaboration.

From the comments section:

"I vividly remember seeing the second one on TV (I was only 10!) Both of them were live TV shows. The first one is from "Yoru no HIt Studio" ("Hit Studio At Night" in Japanese) by Fuji TV, the second one is from "The Best Ten" by TBS (Tokyo Broadcast Station.) Kiyoshiro was one of the few Japanese rock stars who I cared. (Rest in peace.) Thank you for uploading this."

jvcforce 5 months ago jvcforce 5 months ago

Rebecca - Vanity Angel (1989?)