いま読まれてます
“When I Get Old”… Let’s Talk All Night About “Memories”
Here’s one sound source: the 1976 recording session outtakes when Yoichi Takizawa and Magical City recorded “Boku ga Toshi wo Tottara” (When I Get Old) under Robby Wada’s production.
It captures Jun Aoyama missing the opening timing, Hiroshi Shinkawa miscounting, Koki Ito bursting into laughter, Motoaki Makino exasperated by members’ mistakes, and Takizawa forgetting his headphones – revealing each member’s personality and relationships.
After repeated NGs frustrate Takizawa with Shinkawa, Aoyama plays “katsu-don!” (pork cutlet bowl) on drums, making Shinkawa, Ito, and Makino laugh. When Takizawa gets scolded for forgetting headphones, Aoyama immediately forgets his own and gets scolded by Wada.
Through such chaos, they completed the demo tape “Boku ga Toshi wo Tottara.”
This 48-year-old unreleased track contains the breathing of musicians who would later amaze the world.
These sound sources are valuable documents showing how twenty-something youth created new music through “head arrangement” methods. Magical guitarist Makino reflects:
“Unlike typical studio work of just playing written arrangements, the creative process of memorizing songs while creating our own parts was very enjoyable and creative. Listening to those sound sources after decades, though technically immature, they’re filled with spirit and represent work I’m proud of from my youth.”
After Magical’s natural dissolution, Makino continued experiencing live sessions with renowned jazz musicians and traditional Japanese instrumentalists, studying guitar at Berklee College of Music in 1986. After graduating, he moved to Chicago (where Van lives), spending 14 years as guitarist and musical director for Grammy-winning blues harp player Sugar Blue’s band. After about 18 years in America, he returned to Japan in 2004, now based in Okinawa and continuing live activities primarily in Japan.
Magical City members continue creating “new music” 48 years after formation.
Epilogue: The Newly Discovered “Greatest Mystery of City Pop”
Incidentally, the 1976 Robby Wada-produced “Tokyo Music Festival (Marina Highway original song)” by Yoichi Takizawa and Magical City introduced in Vol. 1 hid a major mystery.
It was discovered that almost identical lyrics were used in the city pop masterpiece now enjoying worldwide popularity: Minako Yoshida’s ‘Koi wa Ryūsei’ (Love is a Meteor) arranged by Tatsuro Yamashita (single and album ‘Twilight Zone’, 1977/RCA). Takizawa created this song after seeing Yoshida’s lyrics, later needing to replace lyrics for ‘Leonids’ inclusion as “Marina Highway” (lyrics by Kazuko Kobayashi). The “Marina~” melody was born from Minako Yoshida’s lyrics.
Yoshida’s “Koi wa Ryūsei” became famous in December 2017 when TV Tokyo’s popular program “YOUは何しに日本へ？(Why Did You Come to Japan?)” featured a Scottish man coming to Japan seeking this single. It’s that popular overseas and symbolizes the city pop boom.
How Yoshida’s lyrics reached Takizawa’s side remains completely unknown. Yoshida herself said in interviews: “I don’t know his name or remember being asked for lyrics.”
Incidentally, it was Robby Wada who convinced Yoshida to “release records from RCA rather than (Alfa’s contracted) Toshiba EMI.”
The greatest mystery of city pop – what is the truth?
The “city pop magic” that Magical City unknowingly cast – solving this mystery has just begun.
This series is dedicated to Yoichi Takizawa and Magical City members Jun Aoyama and Hiroshi Shinkawa. R.I.P.
Special Thanks (in no particular order):
Takizawa and Suzuki family members, Toshikazu Awano, Koki Ito, Hiroshi Shinkawa, Motoaki Makino, Yoshihito Murakami Munta, Kuriko Araki (Koki Ito office), Aoyama family members, Tasuku Okamura, Ryūji Amagai, Yutaka Iori, Toshikazu Kanazawa, Ryōhei Matsunaga, Takayuki Hamada, Yoshikazu Ozawa (TOKYO CITY POP), Satomi Morita (Sony Music Publishing), ALFA MUSIC, Sonomi Ari, Van Paugam, Kimikazu Uetake, Uramado Blog, Ether@Kotoshi mo Radio, Minako Yoshida, Jun Yamagami, Seiji Kobayashi
(Honorifics omitted in main text)
Series Archive
- Vol.1 Miraculously Discovered Mass of Demo Tapes
- Vol.2 Masterpieces Recorded on Demo Tapes
- Vol.3 The “Truth” That Neither Tatsuro nor Hideki Noticed (This Article)
![The Miracle of City Pop “Endless Summer,” the Masterpiece Neither Tatsuro Yamashita nor Hideki Saijo Noticed: Yoichi Takizawa and Magical City – [Vol.3] Final Chapter](https://www.mag2.com/p/news/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/yoichi-Takizawa-Magical-City014-650x401.jpg "The Miracle of City Pop “Endless Summer,” the Masterpiece Neither Tatsuro Yamashita nor Hideki Saijo Noticed: Yoichi Takizawa and Magical City – [Vol.3] Final Chapter")