Whenever I listened to those 70s Oricon-friendly pop songs, I would usually hear the battery of strings and/or that sharp trumpet, but for "Omoide no Ki no Shita de", it was the first time to hear a French horn start things off which is how I remember this Iwasaki entry. The horn popped up one more time, I guess, in the song but it certainly left an impression. It peaked at No. 7 and ended the year as the 54th-ranked single. It was also a track on her 4th album, "With Best Friends" that came out in May 1977 and also went as high as No. 7 on the album charts.
The team of Aku and Tsutsumi would also create another uptempo hit for Iwasaki over 18 months later, "Cinderella Honeymoon".
Going by what I find o the tubes, some of Hiromi's earlier songs are performed a lot. Romance, Cinderella Honeymoon and Shishuuki are almost her representative standards from that era. Some other songs seem to have been performed only when they were released, such as Dream and Kiri No Meguri Ai. I used to think this song was one of them, so that clip of her singing it in 1981 was surprising.
ReplyDeleteAnother song that's surprised me is Haru Oboro. It didn't reach all that high in the charts, but there are performances from its release in 1979 through to 2011 or later. I suppose it's another of her songs that's got better with age.
As much as I like Hiromi's work in the 80s (and the 70s), my impression is that a lot of her fans probably would go more for her aidoru tunes as the songs that they love listening to.
DeleteAzumi Inoue on Star Tanjou. Omoide no Ki no Shita de, followed by Natsu ni Dakarete.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDjxcUpxKCI
Can you tell me what they're saying?
Hi, Jim. Well in the first minute, what I got was Inoue's real name (Midori Miyazaki) and the age (around 6 or 7) when Yuuyuu started her vocal lessons. Apparently, Inoue's earliest opportunity for stardom came on the "Kimi Koso Star da" audition program.
DeleteThe 14-year-old Miyazaki was stating how she was practicing in the drama club at school. After her rendition of the Hiromi song, judge Koichi Sugiyama (of "Dragon Quest" fame) compliments Miyazaki on the clarity of her voice but says her vocals aren't quite up to satisfactory levels in her lower registers. Inoue and Yuuyuu remark how harsh he was in his remarks though they admit that he was right.
Yuuyuu also makes a humourous remark at how the contestants just have to quietly nod and smile to the judges' comments.
The next clip goes into her 2nd try in the program when she got into the semi-finals where Miyazaki says that she's still in the drama club. After performing "Natsu ni Dakarete", I think that it is judge Masaaki Hirao and he compliments her on her presence despite only being 14. He also remarks that she's using her face too much to express her singing and that she still needs to work on those lower registers.