All The Pretty Guardians!

 Since we've been talking about Hikaru, Hiroko Moriguchi and Fuyumi Sakamoto doin' the Sailor Senshi thing on the 1993 Kohaku, I think it's a great time to revisit that classic performance!!!

Interestingly enough, on Hiroko Moriguchi's own blog, she posted a FUN photo of a recent re-enactment by Hiroko, Hikaru and Fuyumi Sakamoto!

...and ALL looking as gorgeous as ever!!

A Hikaru Nishida Medley of Hits!

A svelte looking Hikaru belting out a few of her hits in 1994!

The Audrey Connection

Friends know of my obsession with actress Audrey Hepburn and her movies, especially the wonderful Breakfast at Tiffany's and it's bittersweet and moving theme song "Moon River",  and it was a treat to hear Hikaru covering the classic Henry Mancini song in her own warm and gentle way!

Hikaru looking particularly lovely here, BTW....

Hikaru is a Material Girl

Since the arrival of youtube you sure see some unusual things that you';d never have dreamed of before, such as this cute version of Hikaru doing Madonna's "Material Girl".

Yeah, seems like everyone was emulating Ms Ciccone back in the day, bet the crowd was more impressed with Hikaru's English than her singing prowess!

Hikaru Does Her Best John Denver

Years back, some music reviewer said that it was really the John Denver renaissance, citing all his songs that were suddenly appearing in current movies. But I noted that all of the times they used his songs, it was in an ironic way, its sweet and innocent tone perfect for playing over crude and violent things. Think Juice Newton's "Angel of The Morning" during Deadpool when he is killing everyone and you get my point.

Anyway, here's Hikaru doing "Take Me Home Country Roads"...

PS: Take Me Home Country Roads was another song "Hawaiian-fied" by Bruddah IZ back in the day, maybe Hikaru will cover his version like how she did his take on "Somewhere Over the Rainbow"...

Favorite Hikaru Nishida Songs: "Tokimeite"

 The wonderful album opener for Hikaru's excellent album "Esprit", this was Hikaru in her prime, all poppy, sunshiney sweetness and a perfect set-up for the rest of the tracks which together would collectively become my favorite record from her!

Already oozing with giddy goodness, Tokimeite was already a HUGE fave of mine, but it only got BETTER with the arrival of youtube where I was able to see her happily performing it for television!!!!!

Such a fun, genki performance!!!!!

“Tokimeite” had this elaborate fold out cover with pretty pictures of Hikaru throughout, packaging that made one wonder if Pony Canyon was making any money on the sale of these singles after spending so much on the presentation!

Oh, and Tokimeite is backed by another Esprit track "KISS", giving you double the fun for your dollar!

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Hikaru Nishida: "Kitto Ai Ga Aru"

As you all know, 90’s J-Pop idol/singer Hikaru Nishida is one of my All-Time Favorite Artists and even to this day not a month goes by without me taking out one of her CDs to accompany me on a drive or walk!
One of my favorite albums from hers is the 1994 release “Love Always”, and while I adore just about every track on it, I’ve never quite cared for the remix version of “Kitto Ai Ga Aru” included  in the tracklisting, MUCH preferring the single version. In fact, I liked the single version so much that at the time I made a cassette mix of Love Always with THAT version in place of the album remix!

Later I burned a CD proper of that mix, and after that ripped a similar version  for my ipod and MP3 players! I just HAD to have the single version on my album playlist!
“Aru A Ru-Ru-Ru!” Love Always just wouldn’t be the same without Kitto Ai ga Aru, and JUST  this past year, mere MONTHS ago, Hikaru appeared on a Music Show and wouldn’t ya know it, the song she did was NONE OTHER than that aforementioned single!!!

EDIT: Embed blocked, please watch here:

 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C3kkGk7wriI

Oh MY Hikaru looks as gorgeous as EVER, her voice still as impeccable as ever, and bless her soul, she still even does the dance moves!!!  Her vocal take is a bit more velvety as befitting the elegant lady that she is, but it’s still that awesome, catchy song I love so dearly!

It’s been a whopping 25 YEARS since Kitto Ai Ga Aru came out, but she has not lost any of her vitality, check out one of Hikaru’s performances of the song from 1994 and you'll agree that that woman singing now is every inch the same radiant performer!

Man, Hikaru seriously has the prettiest hazel eyes which simply twinkle whenever she’s onstage singing her heart out! HOLY COW DO I LOVE THIS GIRL!!!!

PS: Not only is "Kitto Ai Ga Aru" a great single, it's coupled with "Jun'ai Monogatari", a terrific non-album track and well worth seeking out! But if you can't find it, Kitto Ai Ga Aru single version is also included on her compilation album "Very Best of Hikaru" Theme Song and CF Song Collection!

Hikaru Still Looking and Sounding as AWESOME as ever!!!

Hikaru was on a television show recently singing her song "Jinsei Kaechau Natsu Kamone" and besides looking as pretty as could be, when she took to the mic, her voice was as awesome as ever!!!

Hikaru is On Top Of The World

 
As a HUGE fan of the Carpenters, I heartily APPROVE of this sweet performance of Hikaru doing "Top Of The World!

PS: Where are all these Pops Performances of Hikaru coming from anyway???

Favorite Hikaru Singles: "Meguriai"

One of my most beloved Hikaru songs off of her excellent 19 Dreams album comes the sweet "Meguriai"... I love the wind-up treasure box opening, the 60's easy listening flutes and Hikaru's sweet refrain "Kamisama, Arigato!"

Jinsei Kaechau Natsu Kamone

WO Wo Wo My SUMMERTIME!!! 

Jinsei Kaechau Natsu Kamone, from Hikaru's "A File Of Life"

Favorite J-Pop Singles: Nishida Hikaru / Oh My God!! Da Ne~

It's been a Nishida Hikaru kind of weekend here! In my last post I talked about how J-pop artist Nishida Hikaru had taken one of her slower, jazzy songs and turned it into a quick-tempo’ed rocker with Bibidebu, and now here’s one of her songs where she went the OPPOSITE way, turning her fast paced pop tune “Oh My God!! Da Ne” into a smoky, bluesy number!

Oh My God!! Da Ne is a song off of one of Hikaru's early albums , the 1990 "Tokimeki No Prologue", but I've always thought of it as one of her later songs because I first heard it on her 1994 compilation album,  "The Very Best Of Hikaru Nishida" (which came after her Sundance album). In any case, it was a song I dug very very much!

This song has always been a staple of Hikaru's Live Concerts, this particular performance of the song is from her 1991 tour MANATSU-JOUZU promoting her new album “Esprit” . This is the beginning of the “classic” Hikaru Era for me, with Hikaru as bright and peppy as a Pony Canyon Idol should be:

Fast forward to over half a decade later, late 1997 from her last tour and concert video “Hippy Happy Groove”, Hikaru has grown up and become a fetching young woman and her stage set refelcts this- this show is a LOT more like a regular club performance (though she does get genki and peppy as the show progresses) featuring a female vocalist and her band!

Such a strong, tuff take on Oh My God (love the parts where she’s struttin’ across the stage, so cool!) And though I wasn't able to get a CD release of Bibidebu Dance Version, I WAS able to get a copy of this slow blues version of Oh My God when they released a Live CD of the Hippy Happy Groove Tour!

So great listening to it again- And if you wondered just how much more mature this Hikaru Concert was compared to the earlier ones, THIS is what Hikaru was wearing under that overcoat :

HOLY COW that ain’t standard Idolwear!! Ya know, we always knew that Hikaru had the goods but this is the first time I think we get to see her rockin' it onstage! Thass a real LADY up there! 

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Favorite J-Pop Songs: Nishida Hikaru / Bibidebu

Though most of Queen’s radio-listening public only know of their “stadium stomp-and-chant” version of “We Will Rock You”, those who have heard and seen their live concerts know that there is in fact a FAST (and incredibly catchy) Rock N Roll Version of the song (at the time of the “News of the World” tour, it was their opening song, no less) with pounding drums, droning bass and sonic guitarwork! This version was so different from the studio recording that BOTH versions were featured in a single concert!

 Speaking about Queen and J-pop in the same breath might draw ire from some, but when I hear the two versions of We Will Rock You, I can't help think about Nishida Hikaru and her song "Bibidebu" off of her album Love Always, because when she performed it live in concert, she did just about the same thing, giving the audience TWO versions of the song- one paced slowly and one played fast!  

 The Love Always album is really more of a Mini Album, with a mere 8 songs to its register, but what GREAT songs they are! Performed in a variety of styles, the “Bibidebu” track is Hikaru’s ode to those classic old jazzy torch songs, with tinkling ivory piano, brassy horns and a cool, smoky shuffling beat:

Though Hikaru did a tour for the Love Always album, it was the following year’s “Sophisticated Yanchya Lady” tour (promoting her next album “A File Of Life”) which REALLY showcased Bibidebu and made me love it! Unlike the previous tour which played all the Love Always tracks equally,  in THIS concert , they OPENED the show with Bibidebu!! The Concert starts in darkness, and as Hikaru appears on top of the stairs, WHAM, the horns blare out, and then Hikaru enters the stage, shuffling out as cool as a cat! I was like WHOA, what a beginning!!

What a cool and SASSY song this was! I never realized how good this song was until seeing it performed here! And from there they went right into another Love Always song "Tsukiyo No Mermaid" which was great, too, and then they moved on to the new FILE OF LIFE songs as well as a few old favorites. I was thoroughly immersed in the show, Like most Pony Canyon artists, Hikaru was blessed with awesome stage musicians and the charismatic dancers and background singers, all of which helped to make a SOLID show!  Little did I know that the best was yet to come!

After the end of the "main" portion of the show, (giving her fake "goodbyes" which everyone in the audience knew was a sham) Hikaru left the stage, but she returned for her ENCORE set to perform two more songs, one the playful "Go Paradise" with singers SWEET BEAT SOUL whom I've mentioned before here) and then, to my surprise, they did Bibidebu AGAIN...but WHOA- this was a version I'd never heard before- fast, poppy and FUN! 

Queen used their rocking version of We Will Rock You as the opening song to their concert, conversely, Hikaru uses the dance version of Bibidebu as the CLOSER of her concert, since she'd opened the show with the slow version, having this peppy version seemed like a perfect "reprise" to it, perfectly "Book-Ending" the entire show!

I gotta tell you, the first time I watched this, I was so freaking blown away- I already loved the jazz version, but to have this dancey track with Hikaru, her band and the dancers all rocking out and wrapping up the big show with so much happiness and passion my GOSH, it made me love the song even MORE! So, so catchy!!!

Just about the only drawback being that since it was at the end of a very energetic show, Hikaru is really out of breath for most of the song, and it’s times like this that I really, really wish that there was a proper STUDIO recording of the fast version. But twas not to be! 

 I found out that they released a CD of the 1994 Sophisticated Lady Concert and leapt up with happiness thinking that AT LEAST I’d have the LIVE version! But I guess that since they already included the song ONCE  (and space was limited) they CUT the fast version from the CD! ARGHHH.

Sophisticated Lady Live CD 

Watching the live performance again, it occurs to me that maybe Hikaru's voice was a bit TOO MUCH out of breath to justify releasing it on CD, but my GOSH does it ROCK live, in context of the whole concert video, this is such a powerful ending, everyone’s spirits are high and they’re all happily exhausted knowing they’ve given the audience a GREAT show! Lucky for us, we can watch it over an dover again!

Sophisticated Lady Video. Couldn't they have used the Live CD cover?

PS, I have a confession to make- Much as I LOVE Hikaru’s Sophisticated Yanchya Lady Concert, my GOD, I HATED the Laserdisc Cover,  featuring Hikaru in this prickly shag wig-(she wore wigs in a couple of sets in the concert, I didn't like either but this was by far the worst, UGH!) MAN, why couldn’t they have used the CD COVER as the Laserdisc cover, too?

Ooh, wait, the paper insert has the CD artwork!

 But then I happily realized that the Laserdiscs’s inside photobooklet had the CD cover as its picture, and by sliding the booklet insert inside the laserdisc plastic  OVER the offensive cover, I could recreate the CD cover! 

What if I slide it OVER the crappy cover?

SUCCESS! Now my Laserdisc has the cover I Like!

I stuck it over the other cover, and until I removed it to take this picture, I’d never taken it off! Egh, WIGS, how I HATE them! OK, time to put the good over back on….

Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com

Favorite Hikaru Singles: "Pun Pun Pun"

Silly song name, but CATCHY tune! As the opening track for Hikaru's third album in 1990, it immediately grabbed you...til you thought about the title and went "...whaaa?" Song credits say it's written by CHAGE. Is this like, CHAGE of CHAGE and ASKA? Did he write this for Hikaru? We need info!

I remember talking to Golden about Tokimeki No Prologue and him sheepishly saying "Hey you know, that Punpunpun song...it's pretty good!" I had to laugh and wholeheartedly agree!!!

Favorite Hikaru Songs: Kimi No Yukini Kampai"

I had mentioned how Mochida Maki's song Anata No Yukini Naritai reminded me of Nishida Hikaru's song Kimi No Yukini Kampai, and I thought that there may be a few of you out there who'd like to hear just what that song sounded like!

While this song was never released as a single, it's one of the best songs (on a record already filled with great stuff) on Hikaru's 1991 album ESPRIT, and in fact has been one of my favorite songs of hers for years! I went ahead and ripped the track into an MP3, then figured, what the heck, I'll get out my Hikaru Laserdiscs and share a performance of her singing the song in concert as well!

This genki live performance off of Hikaru's 1991 Concert Manatsu Jouzu!

PS: Wonder if we'll ever get an official DVD release box set of all Hikaru's concerts. Some real gems in them and would love to have them on DVD or (if we're dreaming ) blu-ray!

Favorite Hikaru Singles: Watashi No No.1~ You're the Only One~

A Svelte and SEXY Hikaru belting out the SASSY "Watashi No no.1" off of her album two-four:

.

Oh My look how SLINKY she is here....Same outfit she was wearing in the PV, oh my heart..

I remember back in the day, the ONLY live performance I ever saw of Hikaru doing this song was for some special where she sang to a sumo wrestler who looked on with mild boredom, LOL...

this perf is MUCH better!!!!

Namida No Pearl Moon

Single "Namida No Pearl Moon", off of Hikaru's Tokimeki No Prologue"

Favorite Hikaru Singles: "Melody"

My first exposure to Nishida Hikaru was through a zany comedy on NGN called “Natsu! Depart Monogatari” starring TOKIO’s Tatsuya Yamashita and Hikaru. Though it barely showed Hikaru at all in it (more of a cameo character), she did sing the ending song "C'mon, C'mon, C'mon," which piqued my interest!

Then during a chance viewing on MUSIC FAIR, I caught Hikaru singing a variation of Oldies with fellow guests Uchida Yuki and a woman whose name I can't recall for the life of me , including an extremely cute rendition of "Kissing On The Phone", before she broke out her new single “Melody”…and boy, did that voice blow me away! Sultry and silky, I had to have that single, so I immediately went out and got it!

It could have ended there, but I loved that song  so much (as well as the Natsu Depart Monogatari song),that I was DYING to hear her other stuff!

At the same time, Golden, the Tower Records J-pop buyer in town, told me he'd ordered Hikaru's entire catalog of stuff, which got sent to the wrong store and did I want to go along with him and pick it up? Hell YEAH! Seeing All of Hikaru's wonderful back-catalog, I couldn't WAIT to purchase them and start DIGGING IN!

Clear, Esprit, Nineteen Dreams, Silhouette, Sundance, File Of Life, Love Always…. Over time, I managed to acquire her entire back catalog of CDs and Singles, (through such outlets as Tower Records, Shirokiya's BOOK OFF and the good old OTOKICHI PREMIUM), and I have to tell you that each and every CD and single has incredible sentimental value to me. I’d just moved to another town, and I spent many days taking walks around the neighborhood, listening to my walkman, Hikaru as my only and dearest companion!

Probably my greatest Hikaru moment was watching a video collection of hers. In the PV for her song “Kitto Aiga Aru”, she is riding her bicycle through what I immediately recognized as my own town! She rode past my neighborhood park, down my street, and THEN RIGHT PAST MY APARTMENT! I was in utter shock! Hikaru-chan had ridden right by my house ! Where the heck was I at that time?! :)

Hikaru-chan rides past my apartment!

I know that you all are wondering how it is that I even can tell that it's my apartment Hikaru's ridin' past in this screen capture. While it's true that there really isn't too much to go on, the CM for Kitto Aiga Aru shows a few different camera angles of this scene, including a pulled-back shot where you can clearly see Hikaru and my humble abode! AHAHAHAHAHA!