Dick Mine

Artist: Dick Mine

LP: Dick Mine's Favorite Song Collection

Song: "Hell Blues"

[ listen ]

 

Here's something nice and mellow from classic Japanese crooner Dick Mine for a nice and mellow Sunday afternoon in spring. I really was going to try to not make fun of Mr. Mine's unfortunate name, since that seemed a little too obvious... but then I was faced with this sort of thing, even with the 'safe search' turned on, when trying to scrounge up images of the singer on the Web. Oh well. 

 

Dick Mine had his first hit with "Dinah" in 1934, and his last big number was "Modern Age," a duet with Noriko Awaya in 1982. More on Mr. Mine can be found on Wikipedia here, and "Hell Blues" lyrics are included below in both Japanese and English, the latter thanks to my Google Translate app...though the English version reads a bit like the lyrics to a Cocteau Twins song.

 

[ Dick Mine: October 5, 1908 — June 10, 1991 ]

Hibari Misora

Artist: Hibari Misora

LP: A Woman's Poem

Song: "A Woman's Poem"

[ listen ]

Song: "Mirror"

[ listen ]

Song: "Hometown Station"

[ listen ]

Hibari Misora is a national treasure in Japan, and one can certainly see why. Hibari's parents reportedly realized early on that they had something special in their young Kazuo Katō (she changed her name to Hibari Misora, meaning "lark in the beautiful sky," with the advent of her recording career when she was 12) and her father, a fishmonger, spent a big chunk of family savings to launch her musical career. Her first hit single, released in 1949, was called "Kappa Boogie-Woogie." Hibari went on to release a whole slew of records, including the 1972 album I've posted here. She also appeared in more than 160 films, including this one: 

[ "Hiyodori Sōshi" — 1954 ]

From the picture on the cover of her "A Woman's Poem" LP and in the photo below, Misora reminds me of a Japanese Barbara Stanwyck! Does anyone else see that too? In 1957 Hibari was attacked with hydrochloric acid at the Asakusa International Theater by someone Wikipedia describes as "an overly enthusiastic fan." (I'd say I'm an overly enthusiastic fan of Doris Day... Is it strange that I've never considered throwing acid on her?) Song lyrics are included below, in Japanese.

[ Hibari Misora: May 29, 1937 — June 24, 1989 ]

Plastics

Artist: Plastics

LP: Welcome Back

Song: "Diamond Head"

[ listen ]

 

My dear friend Refugio gave me a gift certificate for Singles Going Steady in Belltown for my birthday back in August and, after one false start trying to use it (they've got new COVID hours and aren't open on Tuesdays), I met with success with attempt number two. This drop-dead amazing Plastics LP from 1981 is one of the physical manifestations of that success. Both the B-52s and Talking Heads are big fans of this band. Duh. Oh yes, and if you haven't voted by now...then don't bother. You're obviously a lost cause.

 

[ Plastics ]

Southern All Stars

Artist: Southern All Stars ( サザンオールスターズ )

LP: Hot Uneasiness ( 熱い胸さわぎ )

Song: "Willfully Sinbad" ( 勝手にシンドバッド )
[ listen ]

I didn't realize when I picked up this 1978 Southern All Stars LP at Everyday Music a few years ago that I was acquiring the debut album of the #1 most influential Japanese rock group of all time. (According to a 2003 list, anyhow.) At one point Southern All Stars' songs held 44 spots in the weekly Top 100 Japanese singles chart. That hardly leaves room for anyone else! You can read about the group here and go here to find their entire discography.

I'm afraid my smart phone English translations may be a little off—at least I hope so. Otherwise the Southern All Stars are simply full of nonsense. Wikipedia provided the translations above. (With mine, the album title came out as "Hot Chest Rave," with their debut single called either "Sinbad Without Permission" or "Arbitrarily Sinbad.") Anyhow, I've done the best I could. Google-translated English lyrics to "Willfully Sinbad" included below. Enjoy!

Willfully Sinbad

Chigasaki people of sand and sand and waves disappear 

and memories of summer days disappear into eyes a little

Even so, my tears do not stop

How awful like a lady a little hot tonight

I'll burn a burst of burns

* I remember you until a while

I remembered you 

Shy heart I can not stay like 

the rouge color just came floating * 

** What time is it?

Well what kind of temples are you?

Wait a moment and what time is it now?

It is still an early magical thing

Looking at you, it is the essence of the Moon Raw Row... **

When can I meet Ai Nami lover

Why do not you draw your eyes 

like crowding yourself together

Even the house where Enoshima got to see 

is forgetting that a woman crawling nearly as a dream

No, no I got the sound of the waves tonight

Talking to the man's heart

Waist of the chest of the breasts

[ Southern All Stars ]

The Tigers

Artist: The Tigers

LP: 7" single

Song: "Mona Liza's Smile"
[ listen ]

Last weekend I returned to the place of my birth to attend my (ahem!) 30-year high school reunion. While driving around town late at night on my way to the Bali-Hai Motel, I was sad to see that the main record store in town, Off the Record, had finally closed its doors. The next day I went to Doug's Used Records in the heart of downtown Yakima; it's connected to Ron's Coin and Book store, a junky place that sells comics and DVDs...and coins, of course. And probably books. Doug's is a little disorganized, but I usually find something I like. 

While I was there some guy went up to the counter and asked if the other record store was still in town on Summitview Ave. The clerk said that they were still around, but that they'd moved west a few blocks into the plaza at 16th and Summitview. So Off the Record hadn't actually closed its doors, someone just moved its doors up the street a little ways! (If you know Yakima, Off the Record is in the plaza right across from Fiddlesticks, next to a Japanese restaurant.) Their new space even has an area for live in-store performances!

I arrived with about 90 minutes to browse and found several neat things, including four singles by The Tigers, a Japanese group that was popular in the late 1960s. They were basically the Bee Gees of Japan. I was awfully glad that I'd chanced to overhear that Off the Record was still around. It was almost as if fate was guiding me toward those vintage Japanese singles—knowing full well that I simply musn't leave town without them! You can read about The Tigers here. 

Oh, and the reunion. It was fun, and a little weird of course. We all attended a country music concert at the Apple Tree Resort and Golf Course and I ate pulled pork nachos. Yakima was sweltering. It got up to 97º while I was there.

[ The Tigers ]

[ Off the Record — Yakima, WA ]

Peggy Hayama w/ Hibari Children's Choir of Leon San Jonet

Artist: Peggy Hayama w/ Hibari Children's Choir of Leon San Jonet

LP: 7" single

Song: "The Lonely Goatherd"
[ listen ]

I couldn't find anything quite so organically endowed with as much gay pride as this 1966 Japanese cover of Rogers & Hammerstein's "The Lonely Goatherd" from the 1965 Julie Andrews musical THE SOUND OF MUSIC. There's even rainbow-colored lettering on the cover. Sadly, Peggy Hayama did not live to see this tribute; she passed away from pneumonia just over two months ago at the age of 83.

[ Peggy Hayama: December 9, 1933 — April 12, 2017 ]

Ricardo Santos and His Orchestra

Artist: Ricardo Santos and His Orchestra

LP: 7" single

Song: "Song of the Pearlfisher"
[ listen ]

It's Gay Pride weekend! In other news, here's a lovely instrumental tango (with ethereal mermaid vocals) that you can let wash over you on this overheated Seattle Saturday afternoon. The track, from 1957, is performed by the prolific and mysterious Ricardo Santos and His Orchestra. There are plenty of Ricardo Santoses on the internet—like this one and this one and this one and this one and this one—but it's impossible to tell which one of them has, or at some point in the past has had, an orchestra. I'm putting my money on this one.