Just checked out the new reuse shop ECO TOWN (a subsidiary of a Japanese chain) over the weekend, and what an interesting visit it was! With shelves full of preowned electronics, cookware, toys, DVDs, collectibles and more, it was fun browsing around to see what goodies lay in store...
My musician friend Jason discovered it because of Eco Town's huge section of collectible guitars, but when he saw all the other things the store offered, told me I'd enjoy checking it out and he was right!
He spent the trip looking over the guitars and equipment, but I stayed most of the time in the Record , CD and DVD section. Lots of old alums there, and i was surprised to find lot of Japanese LPs, including a HUGE collection of old PINK LADY records that someone gave up! I told Jas, "I gotta take a pic of this!" so he held 'em in place for me, but even after I took the picture I found a few more under the bottom shelf!
At a mere three dollars I should have picked a few of them up, but decided to hold out for some Momoe Yamaguchi, LOL! I DID end up picking up an old keyboard for my older mac as I spilled honey chamomile tea all over my last one. Gotta visit this place again soon!
Just came across the most exciting find at the local Book Off today- walking past the store window we came across them selling an LP of the old Kamen Rider X soundtrack, which already piqued our interest, and when we got inside, we were to find a whole treasure trove of 60's and 70’s Japanese collectible LPs and singles! Looking through the stacks of vinyl I came across some sweet 45’s of Aki Yashida and Sayuri Ishikawa (back when she was “still one chick” and before she adopted her obaasan kimono enka goddess persona), but the piece de resistance was a beautiful copy of Ayumi Ishida’s Greatest Hits LP, in PERFECT SHAPE, crisp corners and still retaining is glossy lustre.
I wanted to grab all of them, but upon searching my pockets found I only had enough for the singles (which were an amazingly cheap 3-5 dollars each) but not the Ayumi album which was $30.00. I hemmed and hawed and finally i decided if the store took credit cards then I would grab it in a heartbeat, and sure enough, when i found they took VISA, those singles and albums were brought to the counter in a jiffy! even better, when I had my items rung up, the lady at the counter told me the LP was actually 20 bucks, NOT 30! HOW AWESOME!
The album has all of Ayumi’s greatest hits including “Taiyo wa Naite Iru”, “Kyo Kara Anata To”and of course her signature tune “Blue Light Yokohama” and the Aki Yashida and Sayuri Ishikawa singles were classics as well; Aki’s “Ushiro Sugata” and “Koi Azami”, Sayuri’s “Anata No Tamenara”, “Hatoba Shigure”and even the Sayuri SIGNATURE Kohaku tune “Tsugaru Kaikyo~Fuyu Geshiki”!!) Looking over the vast amount of albums and singles they had for sale, it’s obvious that they all once belonged to someone who truly loved and treasured them, and I hope they know it has gone to a good home! A beautiful addition to my meager J-Pop Vinyl Collection! Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com
As a modern fan of Momoe Yamaguchi, my catalog of Momoe albums exists totally in Boxed CD Collections like Momoe Premium, Momoe Premium Live and the Momoe Update collection. Though I can boast that I have all of her released albums and singles on CD, the artistic side of me has always lamented not owning any “real” Momoe records: i.e.: Vinyl Albums and Vinyl 45” Singles.
Though it would be crazy to try and get ALL of her back albums in vinyl (especially since I already have them in CD), I’ve always wanted to get at least my favorite albums from her... Sometimes I’d see favorite Momoe albums or single go up for auction online, and feel a tug of longing on my heart…"someday, someday...."
When Sony Music originally released MOMOE PREMIUM, they’d left out her singles and b-sides, an oversight corrected with the MOMOE PREMIUM UPDATE. Having been listening to the first box set’s albums incessantly for quite awhile before I could get my hands on the Premium Update, by the time I got it, these singles, B-sides and unreleased tracks were like manna from Heaven for a starving Momoe fan like me!
Like most J-pop releases, the b-sides (or, as they call them, coupling tracks) are true collectable gems as they are songs that are not only not on any album, but are usually just as good as the lead single and sometimes even better! So many of these songs have become HUGE faves of mine, tunes like INTRODUCTION: HARU, CYNICAL and probably my all-time fave B-Side of hers, the pop masterpiece “Shinsenjou No ARIA”, the flipside of her equally stunning “Otomezakyu”. This was ONE single I just HAD to have!
Going on ebay recently, I was excited when I found a Japan dealer who not only had Otomezakyu, but a handful of her OTHER singles as well, among them the stellar CARNIVAL, (with its the aforementioned b-side Introduction Haru) Zettai Zetsume, Imitation Gold, Be Silent, and my favorite A-Side of hers, “Yumesaki Annainin”!
They even had Momoe’s “Rock N Roll Widow”, which, though the B-side “Apocalypse Love” WAS on an album, (the excellent MOEBIUS GAME) was such an iconic 45 that I HAD to have it anyway! Needless to say, I bought them ALL up and HALLELUJAH, just today, my package came in, and as you can see, THEY’RE FREAKING BEAUTIFUL!
An OBVIOUS plus about having these singles is how cool the sleeves are! Picture sleeves as a rule are nice to look at (seeing as they’re there to promote purchasing), but Momoe’s are a step up because she is so freaking pretty on them, I mean my GOSH, look at how she looks on the cover of Yumesaki Annainin, she is so, so, damn BEAUTIFUL! I could just eat her up.
Another thing that’s so interesting is how DIFFERENT she looks in each of these 45’s. Like the Beatles(yes, I’m going there), Momoe was active for only about 7 years (Beatles 1962-70, Momoe 1972-80), but just like them, managed to musically advance from album to album in giant strides, so much that her early sunshiney, bubble-gummy output barely resembles her later work which was more serious, melancholy and hard-rock edged… and this is evident just by how she LOOKS on the sleeves! From bright wide eyed cutie to dark, smouldering siren , Momoe is the TOTAL package!
Sure, for a person like me whose phonograph has long ceased to function in any proper sense, you could say that these 7” platters are a fairly useless commodity, but as a COLLECTOR, these seven inch gems are a priceless addition to my Momoe Yamaguchi collection! I don’t know, maybe only someone who grew up in the 70’s can know the real thrill of getting a new 45 inch single of a song you’ve just fell in love with off the radio, holding the sleeve in your hands and poring over the credits as you spun the disc over and over and OVER again on the phonograph…that’s how I felt unpacking these treasures this morning! Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com
As a huge fan of Momoe Yamaguchi, I’m always on the lookout for nice pics of her, and in this regard, the internet has been a real godsend- soooo many pretty pics of the eternal idol herself and in such high quality, too! Through my collecting, besides the usual bright idol stuff, occasionally I’d come across pics of Momoe showing a decidedly more risqué tone- shots of her in very sexy and sultry poses (and in equally provocative outfits), far removed from the freshly scrubbed innocent face of her early “schoolgirl” years.
As I collected more and more of these interesting pictures, I noticed that among these tantalizing shots were off-shots of what I identified as past Momoe Album covers, and it was here, checking the album credentials, that I discovered that the photographer who’d taken all of these sexy Momoe pics was none other than Legendary Photographer extraordinaire Kishin Shinoyama. KISHIN SHINOYAMA!
Like most people out there, I first heard the name of Kishin Shinoyama as the photographer for that classic and highly controversial Celebrity Photobook “Santa Fe”, Miyazawa Rie’s infamous nude “Shashinshuu”, but I really began loving his work when when I began getting into Japanese dramas: Shinoyama shot the photobooks of two pretty actresses I loved, Riona Hazuki and Saki Takaoka, and I mean to tell you, those bawdy photobooks blew me AWAY! This guy is a MASTER of the sexy and seductive stuff, I tell you! Eventually getting ALL THREE books, I would look at them impressively and tell my friends “Kishin Shinoyama is my HEROOOOOO!”
My Other Shinoyama Books: Miyazawa Rie, Hazuki Riona & Takaoka Saki
So yeah, it was pretty cool to realize that this gentleman, who had shot three of my favorite Photobooks was ALSO the guy who shot all of Momoe Yamaguchi’s iconic covers- as well as those sexy photos I’d found online…but where did these pics COME FROM? Come to find out that these awesome pics came from a limited Momoe Yamaguchi Photobook Kishin Shinoyama shot called MOMOE:
WHAT! A Momoe Photobok shot by Kishin Shinoyama!? When I found out THAT, I REALLY wanted to get my hands on it, but the funny thing about collectibles- it's their scarcity that MAKES them collectible, so I didn't get much chance to buy one.But only a month ago I'm browsing around online and...JACKPOT! Now, through the magic of that wonder called Ebay, after all these YEARS of desire, I can happily say that I'VE FINALLY GOT A COPY!!
Damn, this Photobook is SOO damn beautiful, roughly the same dimensions as a regular 12” Album with the thickness of about an inch, this glossy hardcover book is like a collectible COFFEE TABLE BOOK, such high quality glossy paper pages and BOY is it heavy! Such awesome details to quality, no wonder the Japanese love their collectible goods, this book is really a beauty!
And the PHOTOGRAPHS inside, Oh My GOSH, these were as SEXY as ANY that I’d seen before, turning the pages, I was constantly BLOWN AWAY by how RISQUE is was- Momoe is shot in the most seductive of poses in bikinis, lacy gowns, and even (clutches heart) see-through blouses, sooo smoky and sultry, this is Momoe at her most entrancing, the moment when idol becomes GODDESS, and we have it all on print!
Gazing longingly at these shots, I once again loudly proclaimed, O YEAH, after all these years, KISHIN SHINOYAMA is STILL my HEROOO!” Man, one cannot ignore the awesome strides he made during the “golden” age of J-actresses and Idols!! My Hat’s off to this guy. Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com PS: Shinoyama is married to Saori “Seventeen” Minami? RESPECT! PPS: Kishin Shinoyama shot the cover to John Lennon’s Double Fantasy Album? Holy Crap! Respect keeps going up and UP!!!
I love After School's Lizzy and I'm also a big fan of 70's J-pop group Candies and so when I heard that Lizzy's offshoot group Orange Caramel was going to cover the Candies' awesome "Yasashii Akuma (Sweet Devil)", I was all for it! Then thinking about it later, I have to wonder why they chose a classic J-POP song for their first foray into the Japan market...isn't this like having an Italian Restaurant come to Hawaii and then serving up LauLau and Poi dinners? Oh wait, looking at the track listing, looks like the Candies song is going to be released along with a Japan version of Orange Caramel's popular "Magic Girl" song, so I suppose they're covering all bases as they ease into the J-pop scene, LOL. Til we can hear the song, here's the Candies doing their classic original...
As documented here on the zdorama blogsite, I was a relatively late-comer to the awesomeness that is the eternal idol Momoe Yamaguchi, and though I had a few of her singles from various Hit Record Collections, it wasn’t until the arrival of Youtube that I realized what a cool, charismatic singer and performer this girl was! impressed by what I was seeing and hearing, I ran out and purchased a double CD Collection of hers, and was then so blown away by what I heard, I made it a point to try and get all of her regular releases!
Momoe Premium Box Set
The most sensible way for me to get those albums was, of course, to purchase her epic PREMIUM BOX set which contained all of Momoe’s albums as well as bonus disc of Karaoke and unreleased tracks, but unfortunately for me, by the time I came around to it, the Box Set was long out of print, and I had to do some SERIOUS wheeling and dealing (and shelling out quite a bit of the green, truth be told) to get that Box Set sent to me from Japan! Even more riling was when I had to go through the business all over again when I realized there was an equally out-of-print Two-Disc Premium Box Set ADDENDUM (featuring all of Momoe’s non-album tracks and Singles), that came separately!
Momoe Premium "Update"
Anyway, throughout all of those shenanigans, the one set that kept coming up in my searches and queries was ANOTHER box set in the “Momoe Premium” Catalog, and that was the Momoe Premium LIVE Box Set, containing all of Momoe’s Live Concert Album Releases. Live Concerts? At the time that I was still trying to get all of Momoe’s albums and singles proper, that last thing in the world I needed was her live stuff! Or so I thought…
Well, after getting the aforementioned Momoe Box Set and the Momoe Premium Extra set, I hunkered down and began immersing myself in the glory of all that is Momoe, and over time, she slowly but surely became one of my very, very favorite J-pop performers of all time! As time went on and EACH and EVERY Momoe Album became beloved and precious to me, and one night as I was out blasting Momoe’s awesome “MOEBIUS’ GAME Album and just LOVING every single track on it, that I realized: You know what? All these songs you love so much on Momoe’s albums are all performed LIVE on those Live Concert Albums! I realized the truth: I NEEDED TO GET THAT LIVE CONCERT BOX SET!
Momoe Premium Live Box Set
As with all of Momoe’s Box Sets, the Momoe Premium Live Box Set was out-of-print, (shimatta!) and I prepared myself for another stressful and confusing time trying to coordinate a purchase via Yahoo Japan or the like. More daunting was the fact that this Live Concert Box Set was selling upwards of $700 on the Amazon Used Dealer listings! GADS!!!! At that point I thought it might be easier to try and get the individual Live CDs myself, but not only was that even MORE scarce, the set offered a bonus DVD, remastering and BEAUTIFUL and collectible packaging. I just HAD to get the Box!
The searching went on for months before I finally hooked up with a dealer from Japan who was not only willing and able to sell and ship to America, but had it listed for a (while still expensive) price range that I was a LOT more comfortable with! So when my tax return came, I pledged a chunk of it to that Dealer in Japan, and in DAYS, my beautiful, beautiful MOMOE PREMIUM LIVE BOX SET arrived! YATTA!
Momoe Premium Live Box Set Contents
Japan has ALWAYS set the bar for beautiful packaging, and the Momoe Premium Live Box was NO EXCEPTION! So much detail and CARE went into this thing- not one single thing was missed in its recreation of the original albums; CD Booklets and picture inserts had all been faithfully re-created, as well as the breathtaking double and even TRIPLE gatefold jackets themselves!
Momoe On Stage Gatefold and Picture Booklets
Budokan At Last Triple Gatefold, Booklets and discs.
And Man, if that weren’t enough, they’ve even recreated the sleeves of each album’s corresponding “single” release with two selected karaoke tracks on eight 3” discs! What a gorgeous package!!!
3" discs featuring Karaoke Tracks
Momoe’s Live Concert Album output consisted of six double albums (!) and as the bonus for this set, they also included the heralded “Final performance” Concert at Budokan on DVD, making for a total of 13 discs!(heck, 21 if you count the 8 mini karaoke discs!)
Momoe Premium Live Digipak CDs, front
Momoe Premium Live Digipak CDs, back
Momoe Live Premium Box Set Contents:
MOMOE LIVE- MOMOE CHAN MATSURI YORI (10.01.75)
MOMOE ON STAGE (10.21.76)
MOMOE IN KOMA (11.01.77)
MOMOE-CHAN MATSURI ’78 (11.21.78)
RECITAL- AI GA UTA NI KAWARU TOKI (11.21.79)
DENSETSU KARA SHINWA O- BUDOKAN…AT LAST (11.19.80)
Momoe released a live concert album about every three records or so, so her entire body of work is covered nicely. Since each Live Album focused on the Momoe albums that were at the time current, you got to hear a lot of the more obscure tracks from the albums that were played only for those tours (and never again, or only in medley form) and it’s nice to listen and hear Momoe growing as an artist as well- from the first live album where she sounds very much like her Star Tanjo idol days, through her big theatrical events and onto her final at Budokan where she’d matured into this smoky chanteuse before giving her thanks to the audience and leaving the stage forever…
I’ve already got the first concert disc all set up in my car’s CD deck, and we’re off to give ‘er a spin! I plan on making these Momoe discs the main event this coming weekend, and one thing’s for sure- It’s gonna be one HECK of a ride discovering these NEW TREASURES for the first time!
I’d just dug out my Momoe Yamaguchi Yoru No Hit Studio DVDs and had spent the entire evening being blown away once again by her total AWESOMENESS, and when I went online to look for live clips of some of the songs, it came to my attention that today is Momoe’s BIRTHDAY!!! What a happy coincidence!
Ah man, since discovering her late in my j-pop life, Momoe and her music has gone on to become one of my very, very favorite performers, and watching these discs again its like I'm seeing her anew all over!
Every performance on this set rocks, but special attention must be given to the fourth and fifth discs covering her 1980 period with tracks like “Aizenbashi” and “Rock n Roll Widow”, the bittersweet ballads “This Is My Trial” and “Sayonara No Muko Gawa”, and my personal favorites, performances of “Shanikusai~Carnival” , "Phoenix Densetsu", and the awesome “Ichie”, such INTENSE perfs!
I wasn’t able to rip the discs to a format I could work with, however I DID discover clips some kind soul had uploaded on youtube, so I'm able to upload em here! Such an aweome performer, SUCH a talent! I LOVE, LOVE you, Momoe-san! Happy Birthday, and many more to come!
While we’re on the subject of great 1970’s songs, there’s been this story I’ve been meaning to tell for years now, and finally got around to getting it up!
Back in the 70’s, all our 45’s were scattered around the house like leaves off an autumn tree, and when you wanted to listen to a song, you had to hunt through your room, the cabinets, shelves and boxes til you (hopefully) found it, and even then you had to hope it wasn’t too scratched to play!
My mother made sure that HER music didn’t go through this kind of abuse, and kept all of her 45’s in a shoebox which she would take out when she felt like listening to her music. Among them I remember songs like “Top Of The World” by the Carpenters and “Laughter in the Rain” by Neil Sedaka. There was also this curious single in Japanese that she would play from time to time, and me and my sister just loved it!
The song was called “Goodbye My Love", a catchy, VERY 70’s sounding tune with Japanese lyrics alternating with English words. When we would ask her if it was a record from Japan, my mother would say, “this is a girl from “here”singing this! At the time, I took “here” to mean, from HAWAII, so for YEARS I thought it was a curious Japanese song played only in our state, on OUR Radio stations.
Growing up, from time to time I would remember that song, and when I got in Japanese Music in a BIG WAY in the mid-ninties, I really wanted to get my hands on that single! Unfortunately, I couldn’t recall either the artist OR the name of the song, and even worse, when I asked my mother about it, she didn’t recall ANY of the 45’s she had when we were growing up, not even a Japanese one, which you would have thought would have stood out or something. Shimatta!
In the days before the internet, there wasn't a whole lot of places to get information about anything you were interested in. What To Do! I remember I would try and sing it as best I could remember to Yametekudasai, who listened to Japanese music played on the radio growing up in the 70’s, but did not know this one at all, no matter how much I crooned at him. LOL! “I guess it really was some obscure local girl, then”, I sadly concluded.
Years later I get a call from my friend Golden, who was the J-pop Buyer at Tower Records in town, and he asks me, “Can I ask you something? Have you ever heard of a Japanese singer named Ann Lewis?” I said that the name sounded familiar but I didn’t really know of her music. “Listen to this story,” he began with flourish!
Apparently, some old guy had come into the store and looked at the J-pop section before demanding ‘Where’s the ANN LEWIS?!’ When Golden told him he wasn’t familiar with the artist but would be glad to special order anything he wanted, the customer huffed, “WHAT KIND OF JAPANESE RECORD BUYER ARE YOU IF YOU HAVEN’T EVEN HEARD OF ANN LEWIS?!” before storming out.
I laughed hearing the tale and told him sympathetically, “I’m in the same boat as you, dude, I really don’t know her.” But I SHOULD have known... for of course, Ann Lewis was none other than that elusive artist, the girl who SANG “Goodbye My Love”!
I didn’t make the connection at the time. While I became aware that this “Ann Lewis” that the customer was yelling about was a Japanese entertainer from America in the 70’s, it was only through the magic of Youtube that I FINALLY made the discovery of my J-pop loving life, when scrolling through various 70’s clips I came across a videoclip labelled:
“Ann Lewis: Goodbye My Love”.
GOODBYE MY LOVE? As soon as I read it, something clicked in my head, and I suddenly KNEW it was going to be THAT song even before I clicked on the link and heard the song.
WOW! What memories came up listening to that song again after SO MANY YEARS! I think the last time I heard that song was back in 1977 at our old house, SOOOOO NATSUKASHII!
I remember seeing the image of a picture 45 sleeve, and wouldn’t you know it, that picture sleeve was the very one my mother had! I even remember that it was wrapped in plastic, which made it stand out from the other singles. Man, how did I FORGET all of this?
I excitedly played it for Yametekudasai but he still shrugged and said he never heard of it it. Was this some secret song that only my Mom's friends played?? LOL!
At our next family gathering, I grandly told my Mom, “Hey, remember that Japanese Song I was asking you about? It’s called Goodbye My Love!”, to which she dismissively said, “Oh, the Ann Lewis One?” D’OHHH!
Now that we knew what song I was talking about, I asked her how she came to buy a single from a Japanese artist, apparently she got introduced to the song from one of her friends and not the radio at all! What a long strange trip of discovery for the VERY FIRST J-POP SONG I EVER HEARD!
After that whole Kisarazu Cat’s Eye brouhaha, I was online looking for older live performances of Akiko Wada. Not only did I want to see some videos of her doing “Ano Kane Wo Narasu No Wa Anata”, but I REALLY wanted to see some clips of her doing “Waratte Yurushite”, which in fact was the first song I ever saw the “young” Akiko Wada singing, a very, very KAKKOI song!
Anyway, after watching Akiko for awhile, I began to browse around, and since I was in Akiko’s 1970’s clips, the sidebar featured a whole slew of other 70’s artists, and I spotted a thumbnail of Ayumi Ishida in the options, and thought to myself, “Wow, Now there’s a girl I haven’t watched in a while…”
Now, I love Akiko Wada to death, but MAN, going from watching clips of Akiko Wada to Ayumi Ishida is like eating a New York Steak Dinner and then eating a Strawberry Parfait with cherries on top! From blustery and Powerful to Demure and Refined…
An author I read (can’t remember who, if pressed, however, I’ll go with Tom Robbins) once said (probably half jokingly) that the surest proof that God exists is by looking at the pretty face of a beautiful woman, and O How that quote was running through my head watching these performances! From YouTube:
It’s one thing to be watching Ayumi singing her signature song “Blue Light Yokohama” in 1994 or 1986 or 1977 (and YES I watched them all), but watching her in 1968 is another thing entirely! Ayumi is so achingly beautiful it’s almost hard to watch! ARIGATO, KAMISAMA!
After an anxious two week wait, I received an awesome gift to myself: the Yamaguchi Momoe DVD collection called YAMAGUCHI MOMOE LIVE in YORU NO HIT STUDIO, and, as the title suggests, is a set featuring of all her TV appearances on said TV program through the years! MAN, those Japanese know how to PACKAGE their items- this Box Set is fricking GORGEOUS!!!! Though I paid a pretty hefty price for the discs (Two bills plus!!), this was money well spent because this collection is truly a Momoe Yamaguchi fan’s DREAM!
The Goods!
Contents include 6 DVD Discs housed in a deluxe gatefold box with intricate hinged DVD holders and a beautiful 44 page retrospective booklet, and featuring all 54 performance she did on the Yoru No Hit Studio Television show, from her single Natsu Hiraku Seishun in June of 1975 all the way through to Sayonara no Muko Gawa in October of 1980, great live performances backed by sensational LIVE musicians, and including all the interviews and MC pre-song patter, and all in crystal clear clarity!
Thumbnails of the Chaptered Performances:
CRAP! Willya LOOK at alla those PERFORMANCES!!!
Also included are treats such as four hilarious SKITS (or rather, mini-dramas) Momoe participated in, and it’s thrilling to see her having fun with other artists like Megumi Asaoka, Yashida Aki, Amachi Mari and of course her two counterparts, Mori Masako and Sakurada Junko! Additionally, they included every introduction she did for the other guests as well, so you see her handing off the microphone to artists like Four Leaves, Mori Shinichi, Minami Saori, and all the other luminaries of the time…an incredible slice of the 70’s!
Another thing I really love about this set is that it's arranged in chronological order, so as you watch the performances, you see Momoe grow from a shy and wide-eyed beginner to savvy and genki act, and finally transform to her smoldering, sultry look as a seasoned pro towards the end of the 70’s! So damn pretty, I don’t have to tell you, I was falling so SO MUCH in LOVE with her, all OVER AGAIN!!!
Beautiful Momoe
As anyone who’s spent any time watching her many, many musical performances uploaded onto Youtube and the like knows, Momoe is one helluva performer and there’s always something extra in every song she sings, so these TV appearances are soooo incredible to have! Such an awesome collection, and there’s even ANOTHER DVD Box Set for the Television Show THE TEN BEST that I’m hoping to get, however, that one will have to wait til I can afford it- TEN BEST DVD costs a crippling 3 BILLS!!! Ahh, but if it’s as good as this Yoru No Hit Studio set is, I MUST HAVE IT!!!
Along with my precious Momoe Yamaguchi DVD Box Set, I also ordered this four disc set from 1970’s girl pop trio Candies called Candies Treasure Vol. 1-4 featuring a series of performances the girls gave through the years.
I came across the set while researching the various Momoe Yamaguchi DVD collections out there, imagine my surprise when I saw a Candies Collection, and then to see that not only was it available in BLU-RAY, but REGION-FREE, as well!!! SUGOI!!!
As I mentioned in an earlier entry, the first time I saw Candies was on a 70’s Retrospective show, and the live clips they showed of the girls performing just blew me away! The concert footage was particularly captivating: her fans were going nuts, yelling the girls names as they sang!! I remember telling a friend, MAN, if they had their concerts for sale, I would TOTALLY buy them! Alas, at the time, no such shows were available in VHS OR Laserdisc.
So you can imagine my excitement upon realizing that the first two discs contained two COMPLETE Concerts from 1977, (the second one a pretty frickin’ AWESOME one too, I might add!) and Disc Three contained a complete Concert from 1978!
Probably the cherry on top of this set is Disc Four which features a “Video Singles Live” collection, with the girls giving a live TV performance of each of their singles from Anata Ni Yume Naka through to Wana, a PERFECT way to end this collection!!
Like the Momoe discs before it, this is GREAT STUFF!! For some reason, these shows shot in the 70’s were really clear to begin with, and having them in the latest in Video technology is INCREDIBLE! And Hey, if that wasn't enough, each disc came with a booklet and collectible POSTCARD! So cute!
Bonus Postcards
Yes, these Discs (along with the aforementioned Momoe DVD set) did put a major DENT in my wallet, but its SO worth it for the awesome footage here, and there’s also that undeniable “Pride Of Ownership” that comes with plinking down the change to own the actual discs for my collection! And it's encouraging to know that the powers that be are realizing that there are fans who are waiting for these treasures to be released, and will hopefully be releasing even MORE stuff! CoCo Producers, Take Note!
Was extremely saddened to hear that Yoshiko Tanaka passed away from cancer the other day. Ever since discovering the magic of the Candies wonderful Seventies j-pop, she's been my favorite member of the group, and besides her singing, I'd been seeing her every week as Kuninaka Ryoko's mother in Churasan, so the news was quite a shock.
Funny, out of the two great J-pop girl groups of the 70's, when it comes down to either Pink Lady or Candies, I've always sort of gravitated towards the latter, possibly because watching Ran, Sue and Miki always seemed like the inspiration for 80's trio ribbon! Investigating further, I was amazed by how much great songs they had! So many instantly catchy songs and sweet ballads, they were one of the first early j-pop groups I purchased on CD!
Below: In their Heyday, performing one of their many signature songs,
Shochuu Omimai Moushiagemasu:
In recent years as an actress, she's been pretty prolific playing the "loving mother of the young heroine" in many of my favorite dramas; it was such a thrill to see her in shows like Kamisama Sukoshi Dake (as Fukada Kyoko's Mother), Seigi No Mikata (as Yamada Yu and Shida Mirai's mother), Tatta Hitotsu no Koi (as Ayase Haruka's mother), and even Hitsudan Hostess as Kitagawa Keiko's Mom! And of course, I'm still currently watching her as Kuninaka Ryoko's mother in Churasan, and it will be nice to continue seeing her each day!
Above: Another fave song: Aishu No Symphony
A~ah, I'm watching some of my fave Candies video performances right now, and it's making me SO SAD! Such and awesome group, such a fine actress, Yoshiko Tanaka will surely be missed!
