They named Tulip because they thought the sound of the name resembled the one of the Beatles’ record label of Apple.  Yes, they were deep fans of the Beatles, the sound they made was pretty much like Beatles flavour.

Some of the songs they produced actually reminds me of the Beatles songs as they are really similar to the Beatles numbers.

Tulip recorded some hit songs while they were active and their concerts were full of fans then.  Especially for the people of Hakata, Fukuoka, Tulip still is a memorable music group as the sound of them colorfully painted the beautiful time of their home town, Fukuoka.

Next video contains a song called Hakatakko Junjo, which should be translated like Purity of Hakata Guys.  They sing the mental colors of Hakata people through this song, which introduces tears and memory of people who live there in the city.

This song was not a big hit then but I comparatively like it rather than choosing other well known hit songs.

My girl friend at the time liked talking about music and movies then, with talking on the phone,  she started mentioning Off Course as I being bored with the name of the music group with repeated information from everywhere then.  Indeed, such they were popular then.

We kept conversation with trifle topics and as usual, we would notice we had such happy time and sad time over the past years. Maybe I got a little sentimental just after the lovely talks with her.

Coincidentally I found the record of Off Course, WE ARE, after that.  I put it on and the melody coming out was just how my heart faced then.  That was my first recognition about this music group.

Since then, I have scarcely listened to their music.  However, sometimes the tenderly familiar music for my ears flows on from somewhere, I soon notice like ” that’s it”.  Also the pastel colored memory of my past time begins to play on my mind screen inside with the one and only music of the time.

For many of our generation, Off Course could be such a love story like music group. They made hits and they made times, and they lived with us…maybe still lives on.

The leader of Off Course, also the lead singer and main composer of this group, Kazumasa Oda, later left the group and kept solo career.  His sucess was propably promised then, as supposed by many, he is an icon of Japanese POP music still and forgood.

If my memory was right, the name, Off Course, was decided because the 2 main members, Kazumasa Oda and Yasuhiro Suzuki, dropped out the promised routes of top notch college graduates for music business tryout.  For them, Off Course means they stay OFF the standard COURSE.

But in the end, they went ON COURSE of honor with huge success in music business.

We often hear an strange name of a disease called Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease on TVor at hospitals in Japan, however, it had been a strange illness for some recent years.  By the upsurge of oily Western food consumption in Japan, this strange disease has been on the increase.  This is not a cnacer but a inflamation of the esophagus, which means people are suffering from the decline of digestive power.

Probably this new illness trend symbolically expresses how people need to be afraid of the sudden notice of Esophageal Cancer. 

Actually Esophageal Cancer was found in 2 big music icons of Japan recently.

Seiji Ozawa, the conductor and the director of Wiener Staatsoper, announced his  Esophageal cancer some months ago and now he is already back in harness to work again with orchestra. When his new photo after he was discharged from the hospital appeared in media, we were deeply moved by his attitude to music work through his drustically changed appearance as an old man in the photo. He didn’t lose his artistic passion even after the hard illness struggle.

Some days ago in July, a popular music icon, Keisuke Kuwata, was reported to be sick in the same disease.  He had already taken the surgical operation and now he seems to be OK in the bed at a hospital. He is widely known as the leader of Southern All Stars, whcih has been the top popular music group of Japanese POP music scene.

Both Seiji Ozawa and Keisuke Kuwata probably will be working as enthusiastically as ever.  They are moved by the power of talent inside them, as far as it remainds inside, cancer can’t stop them creating new things.

Looking at them makes us know how human life power strongly continues by the desire of living action.

Actually this CM song is partly quoted from a full version, so the total image of this song is not like Moon Child but this part is really similar to Moon Child.

Many of old Japanese rock music fans point out this fact.  I’m not sure if the composer really thought of the song when he made it.   But the songwriter was very popular especially in 60′s and 70′s of Japan, so the timing of the composition was not far from the Moon Child release.

This CM song is now a million hit CD in Japan with a repeating on air influence. Anyway, it may be just a coincidence. But to my ears, it sounds like Moon Child fro the first time I heard because I really liked King Crimson when I was a student of University.

As opposed to our expectation, recent popular pianists like Kieth Jarret  or Chick Corea were not in to top 5 group. Bud Powell, Winton Kelly, Oscar Peterson, and Herbbie Hancock were liked by Japanese next to Bill Evans although Bill Evans was the super top favourite being far above from them all.

It’s interesting to know Japanese jazz fans prefer old jazz to recent jazz.  As for the reason of Bill Evans popularity,it’s firstly because probably Japanese aren’t bluesy and soulful like original black people musicians. I love Miles Davis, Monk, or Coltrane too, but listening to them, I often feel a kind of distance from their mind of music.  I feel they are playing for life with their history.  Not just for the music but their music include such a long history of human as black musicians. Of course it’s a real treasure of music because the music are coming from such soul of human.  But for us Japanese, maybe it’s hard to realize what they have in their soul just by listening to their music.

It’s true that precious human mind makes up the music to the higher place as godsent treasure.  And that’s why Jazz music is never dying.

Bill Evens of course had such soul inside, but he soul was hidden under the beautiful notes.  I can’t tell why. Some say Bill Evans music is not original jazz, his notes are whiteman music. If so, Bill Evans music might come into our heart without understanding the soul of original jazz.

One thing we can say is Bill Evans feeling match Japanese feeling.

But it was Miles Davis that Bill Evans was first introduced into major music scene as a pianist of KIND OF BLUE.  The Genius, Miles Davis, chose Bill Evans.  Probably it means the genius know the truth, and they genius have something in common.

Maybe only the critics and avarage listners are always telling the needless story and reasons for the music difference.  Genius are known by the genius only.

Today, a rock music magazine of 60s to 70s annouced it would use larger font in the magazine because the readers became old and they can’t read it now.  Funny. Really funny.

Rock music used to be a word for young generation with anti-society mind. But today’s young music fans don’t read magazines, they like internet more. This magazine readers are all 60′s and70′s rock music fans, which means they are already more than 40 years old now.

So this magazie could survive because the target readers are selected well.  But funny.  The music of this magazine is still good music but readers are apparently living in the past memories of their younger time. They still read music information which they already know repeatedly from the magazine and they get satisfied with it. Also the mind of the readers are also old even if they still think they are young. So the readers are not rock music leaders any more. They are just fans of old time.

This magaizne is like an old fan club with only 40 years old or more.  For the readers it’s the only world they can stay happy and the magazine meets the demand of consumers at this point.

The news also said that the editor of this magaizne is using far sighted glasses to make scripts…..they all live in their dream in this magazine indeed.

His songs are really unique. Maybe his voice leads us to his atmospher. When we hear his music, we feel we are in Japan.  But we can’t say his music is the typical Japanese music.  It means Yosui Inoue is already one of the Japanese tradiional things just like Sushi or Kimono.  When we eat Sushi after the long vacation, we feel we are back in Japan.  Wearing Kimono, we feel the ancient heart of Japan and we get relaxed.  Like that, Yosui Inoue music sets us feel in Japan.

Not all the songs are really expressing Japan. But he himself already is one of the Japanese things.

Next songs are Riverside Hotel, and Shonenjidai ( my childhood ).

30 years ago or so, Japanese national TV station, NHK, had a popular program telling about SILK ROAD, which existed in the ancient time from middle east world to Asia.  The ending point of the road was Japan.  So many were carried to Japan through the route.  People, culture, and foods came to Japan then.

The image song of the program was composed and played by KITARO.  He still plays this song at his concerts as the video.  Probably he thinks this number is his top work in his career.

Actually, when I watched the program, I didn’t have any interest in history or the Silk Road.  I turned on the TV to listen to this beautiful song.  Keeping watching the program, I gradually got interested in the ancient time of Japan.  Maybe that was my starting point of mental world tour.

I believed Japan was independent and Japan was formed by Japanese people only. After knowing the history of the Japanese culture through the Silk Road, now I think the roots of Japanese may exist in the ancient Israel or Assyria.

I still listen to this song of Kitaro.

TO be honest, for me, I have some other favourite musicians before enjoying Bob Dylan’s music.  It’s not interesting for me to enjoy his music on the records, I like to know himself.  So listening to his music is sometimes boring. But when I wants to know something important for our life, his songs often gives me a hint to reach the answers.

Not many musicians or artists are like Bob Dylan.  If he was not existing now, maybe the music industry would have been more commercial, and listeners might have been still enjoying thin and shallow dance music.

Apparently Bob Dylan gave me ( or us ) a way to think correctly through his works. 

Now he is playing songs before Japanese fans, and the concert halls are small music house in Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya.  It’s a good chance for us to get to know him more in the near distance.

He is 69 years old this year.  Age doesn’t matte for an artist as long as he plays.  For me, he himself is more important than his music played on the records. But I want to see him on the stage to know his existence.

They made some hits, especially when they produced a TV program song album in Japan, they had the big time.

MONKEY MAGIC was the hit number then as the video in the bottom.  This song is like a Western musician’s song with clear beat and English words.  But the melody is oriental. The exotic atmosphere in the oriental music base was really new then.

With this number, there was one more big hit song called Gandhara.  This is also a beautiful song singing about the utopia in the country of Budda.