From Wiki The Blue Comets, the predecessor and parent organisation of Jackie Yoshikawa and the Blue Comets, was formed in September 1957, mainly by band members around the US military camps, including Ohashi Doji and Roger Shigeno (the son of Baron Shigeno Kiyotake and his French wife). In June 1959, the band was selected as the touring band for Gene Vincent's regional tours in Japan, and in September 1959, the group temporarily disbanded, but was re-established by their supporter Takashi Shikanai, and in April 1960, the band restarted with new members. In April 1960, the band was re-started with new members. At first, with Takashi Shikanai as the main singer, the group performed concerts and studio recordings as the backing band for numerous singers, including Mie Nakao, Yukari Ito, Mari Sono, the Komadori Sisters, Isao Odo and I George, aiming to become ‘the best accompaniment group in Japan’. The group began to attract attention after appearing on Fuji Television's The Hit Parade, and in 1965 they performed at the 16th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen with The Peanuts in the background.
Oda Keiyoshi joined the group in 1961, but moved to ‘Hisakatsu Tashiro and the Western Caravan’ within a year.
Kenji Takahashi joined in 1962 following Ohashi's retirement.
From 1963, Jackie Yoshikawa becomes leader (see Jackie Yoshikawa), Takahashi leaves and is replaced by Isao Eto as bassist. Tadao Inoue also joined.
In 1965, Eto left the group and Takahashi returned, so the band almost had all the members to establish the heyday of Group Sounds .
It was said that their activities as a group started when they sang as a substitute for Isao Odo, who missed his train at a regional concert, but according to Oda's testimony, ‘Inoue, who was fed up with appearing in Kohaku (1965) as a backing band, said, ’Backing bands are just backstage. We can only be a real group when we sing. He then consulted Koichi Sugiyama (later composer Koichi Sugiyama), director of The Hit Parade, which led to the band's debut on CBS Columbia. The detailed background is revealed as follows. Prior to their full-fledged debut, the Blue Comets received intensive chorus training from Shoji Wada, then second tenor of the Duke Aces, on the advice of manager Tatsuo Kawamura.
Their debut song (as a song with vocals), the English version of Blue Eyes, released by Nippon Columbia (the label's Western division, CBS Columbia [Note 1]) in 1966, sold 100,000 copies and the Japanese version, Blue Eyes, became a hit, selling 500,000 copies. In 1966, they joined The Drifters and Yuya Uchida to perform at The Beatles' Japan tour[3] as the front-runners. On that occasion, they performed the Beatles' hymn “Welcome Beatles”, composed by Tadao Inoue, on a stage set up slightly lower than the Beatles. The Beatles' emphasis on melody and harmony was passed on through them to the unique Japanese group sound . They continued to have a steady string of hits, including ‘Blue Shore’ and ‘Where to’, and ‘Blue Shaft’, released in 1967, became their biggest hit to date, selling 1.5 million copies and winning the 9th Japan Record Award in that year. In both name and reality, they became ‘Japan's No.1 group’.
In the 1960s, when the image of ‘group sounds = delinquents’ was strong, they were allowed to appear on NHK, along with The Wild Ones, among many other group sounds, and participated in the NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen three times in a row (four times in a row if you include backing The Peanuts the previous year) from the 17th edition (1966). This was, first and foremost, because the musical standard of the group was by far higher than that of other group songs. All members could read music, write and arrange, and the band was capable of performing all genres to a high degree of perfection, with outstanding instrumentation, ensemble and detailed chorus work.
The reason they were able to perform at the NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen was partly because they were recognised for their appearance: short hair and suits = banker-like salaryman. (They even earned the nickname ‘Jijikome’). However, from the members' point of view, they only wore their hair short because long hair did not suit them, and it was not their intention to appear on NHK. On the contrary, when they tried long hair by wearing wigs at concerts and other events, it was not well received by fans (however, Mihara and Jackie Yoshikawa began to grow their hair longer in the 1970s). It was not that they did not think about their visual image, but they all carried matching attaché cases when they travelled, based on the concept of James Bond played by Sean Connery (this attitude can be seen in the fact that their debut song was a cover of ‘Thunderball’).
In 1967, at Misora Hibari's request, he took part in the recording of ‘True Red Sun’. She was highly praised for her musical abilities, and they performed together frequently thereafter. In 1968, she travelled to the USA to perform on the Ed Sullivan Show → . On this occasion, he performed a modified arrangement of ‘Blue Chateau’, featuring the sound of the zither in the introduction. Overwhelmed by Western rock and pop music, Tadao Inoue intended to disband the group immediately after his return to Japan, but decided against it due to opposition from those around him, and issued a ‘De-GS Manifesto’ by reviewing his own activities. The single ‘Sayonara no Ato de (After Goodbye)’, which was released in the same year and had a strong mood song tendency, became a hit. The mood song line continued for a while after that, but from 1971's “Ame no Hymn”, they returned to their roots, developing their own unique sound and releasing a string of songs.
Also released that year was the cover album ‘G.S.R.’, in which they tried their hand at Burt Bacharach-style arrangements of songs. However, the fact that they continued to be seen as ‘Group Sounds’ was a drag on them, and from 1969 onwards, record sales and popularity gradually declined. Inoue, Takahashi and Mihara left the group and new members joined, and in March 1973 they were transferred to Victor Music Industry (now Victor Entertainment [2nd generation]) (This was also the end of the Blue Comets as a GS band, and as the famous groups that had supported the GS boom had already disbanded early, it was the ‘last (It was also the end of the Blue Comets as a GS, and was reported as ‘the last GS break-up’ = too late break-up). The Mops, including Masaru Hoshi, continued their band activities after this.
ジャッキー吉川とブルー・コメッツ - 北国の二人
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https://cdn.tower.jp/za/o/8W/zaP2_G3764778W.JPG
From Wiki
The Blue Comets, the predecessor and parent organisation of Jackie Yoshikawa and the Blue Comets, was formed in September 1957, mainly by band members around the US military camps, including Ohashi Doji and Roger Shigeno (the son of Baron Shigeno Kiyotake and his French wife). In June 1959, the band was selected as the touring band for Gene Vincent's regional tours in Japan, and in September 1959, the group temporarily disbanded, but was re-established by their supporter Takashi Shikanai, and in April 1960, the band restarted with new members. In April 1960, the band was re-started with new members. At first, with Takashi Shikanai as the main singer, the group performed concerts and studio recordings as the backing band for numerous singers, including Mie Nakao, Yukari Ito, Mari Sono, the Komadori Sisters, Isao Odo and I George, aiming to become ‘the best accompaniment group in Japan’. The group began to attract attention after appearing on Fuji Television's The Hit Parade, and in 1965 they performed at the 16th NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen with The Peanuts in the background.
Oda Keiyoshi joined the group in 1961, but moved to ‘Hisakatsu Tashiro and the Western Caravan’ within a year.
Kenji Takahashi joined in 1962 following Ohashi's retirement.
From 1963, Jackie Yoshikawa becomes leader (see Jackie Yoshikawa), Takahashi leaves and is replaced by Isao Eto as bassist. Tadao Inoue also joined.
Oda returned in 1964 and Tsunaki Mihara joined.
In 1965, Eto left the group and Takahashi returned, so the band almost had all the members to establish the heyday of Group Sounds .
ReplyDeleteIt was said that their activities as a group started when they sang as a substitute for Isao Odo, who missed his train at a regional concert, but according to Oda's testimony, ‘Inoue, who was fed up with appearing in Kohaku (1965) as a backing band, said, ’Backing bands are just backstage. We can only be a real group when we sing. He then consulted Koichi Sugiyama (later composer Koichi Sugiyama), director of The Hit Parade, which led to the band's debut on CBS Columbia. The detailed background is revealed as follows. Prior to their full-fledged debut, the Blue Comets received intensive chorus training from Shoji Wada, then second tenor of the Duke Aces, on the advice of manager Tatsuo Kawamura.
Their debut song (as a song with vocals), the English version of Blue Eyes, released by Nippon Columbia (the label's Western division, CBS Columbia [Note 1]) in 1966, sold 100,000 copies and the Japanese version, Blue Eyes, became a hit, selling 500,000 copies. In 1966, they joined The Drifters and Yuya Uchida to perform at The Beatles' Japan tour[3] as the front-runners. On that occasion, they performed the Beatles' hymn “Welcome Beatles”, composed by Tadao Inoue, on a stage set up slightly lower than the Beatles. The Beatles' emphasis on melody and harmony was passed on through them to the unique Japanese group sound . They continued to have a steady string of hits, including ‘Blue Shore’ and ‘Where to’, and ‘Blue Shaft’, released in 1967, became their biggest hit to date, selling 1.5 million copies and winning the 9th Japan Record Award in that year. In both name and reality, they became ‘Japan's No.1 group’.
In the 1960s, when the image of ‘group sounds = delinquents’ was strong, they were allowed to appear on NHK, along with The Wild Ones, among many other group sounds, and participated in the NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen three times in a row (four times in a row if you include backing The Peanuts the previous year) from the 17th edition (1966). This was, first and foremost, because the musical standard of the group was by far higher than that of other group songs. All members could read music, write and arrange, and the band was capable of performing all genres to a high degree of perfection, with outstanding instrumentation, ensemble and detailed chorus work.
ReplyDeleteThe reason they were able to perform at the NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen was partly because they were recognised for their appearance: short hair and suits = banker-like salaryman. (They even earned the nickname ‘Jijikome’). However, from the members' point of view, they only wore their hair short because long hair did not suit them, and it was not their intention to appear on NHK. On the contrary, when they tried long hair by wearing wigs at concerts and other events, it was not well received by fans (however, Mihara and Jackie Yoshikawa began to grow their hair longer in the 1970s). It was not that they did not think about their visual image, but they all carried matching attaché cases when they travelled, based on the concept of James Bond played by Sean Connery (this attitude can be seen in the fact that their debut song was a cover of ‘Thunderball’).
In 1967, at Misora Hibari's request, he took part in the recording of ‘True Red Sun’. She was highly praised for her musical abilities, and they performed together frequently thereafter.
In 1968, she travelled to the USA to perform on the Ed Sullivan Show → . On this occasion, he performed a modified arrangement of ‘Blue Chateau’, featuring the sound of the zither in the introduction. Overwhelmed by Western rock and pop music, Tadao Inoue intended to disband the group immediately after his return to Japan, but decided against it due to opposition from those around him, and issued a ‘De-GS Manifesto’ by reviewing his own activities. The single ‘Sayonara no Ato de (After Goodbye)’, which was released in the same year and had a strong mood song tendency, became a hit. The mood song line continued for a while after that, but from 1971's “Ame no Hymn”, they returned to their roots, developing their own unique sound and releasing a string of songs.
Also released that year was the cover album ‘G.S.R.’, in which they tried their hand at Burt Bacharach-style arrangements of songs. However, the fact that they continued to be seen as ‘Group Sounds’ was a drag on them, and from 1969 onwards, record sales and popularity gradually declined. Inoue, Takahashi and Mihara left the group and new members joined, and in March 1973 they were transferred to Victor Music Industry (now Victor Entertainment [2nd generation]) (This was also the end of the Blue Comets as a GS band, and as the famous groups that had supported the GS boom had already disbanded early, it was the ‘last (It was also the end of the Blue Comets as a GS, and was reported as ‘the last GS break-up’ = too late break-up). The Mops, including Masaru Hoshi, continued their band activities after this.