Sold Date: July 3, 2021
Start Date: January 7, 2021
Final Price: £20.00 (GBP)
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VARIOUS ARTISTS "Nippon Girls (Japanese Pop, Beat & Bossa Nova 1967-69)"
(Big Beat International HIQLP 001)

Brand new limited edition LP pressed on 180gram YELLOW VINYL + bonus fold-out poster!
To quote legendary music archivist Alec Palao: “There was a time not so long ago when credibility in pop and rock music came only from success within the American or British marketplace. No matter how accomplished they might be, foreign acts and their attendant music scenes were frequently viewed with condescension, and anything not sung in English deemed a novelty. Even when its practitioners were aping American or UK acts, each country added something of its own identity. The raucous abandon of Iceland’s Thor’s Hammer or the Antipodean beat groups contrasts with the sophisticated pop oozed by a French chanteuse. In 60s Japan, you got both sides of the coin – sometimes even within the same record.”
Compiled by DJ Sheila Burgel, a former Tokyo resident, the “Nippon Girls” CD (released in 2009) raised a few eyebrows at Ace HQ, but girl-pop maven Sheila knew what she was doing. The collection drew rave reviews, becoming something of a left-field hit with the club crowd and young hipster types. This vinyl version contains 12 choice cuts from that set.
Sheila also supplied the fascinating and scholarly liner notes, from which we learn that bikini-clad cover girl Jun Mayuzumi’s ‘Black Room’ “boasts booming bass lines and a dancefloor readiness that’s already caught the ear of freakbeat collectors, while Mie Nakao’s fuzz-rocker ‘Sharock No. 1’ takes ‘Green Onions’ as its template. ‘Tsukikage No Rendezvous’ by Keiko Mari is a tamer affair, with Latin rhythms and cute banter between Mari and her all-male chorus. J Girls were sisters Shinobu and Jun Hazuki. Their ‘Kiiro No Sekai’ was recorded in 1969 but remained under wraps until 1995’s “Cutie Pops Collection”. Reiko Ohara’s ‘Peacock Baby’ was released in 1968 and came in a mouth-watering gatefold sleeve. Mieko Hirota was a music heavyweight, close to Dusty Springfield in the ability to inspire awe with her voice. In the mid-60s, she was paired up with Kyohei Tsutsumi, one of Japan’s greatest pop writer/producers. His love of Anglo-American records is clearly audible on ‘Nagisa No Tenshi’, its backing track not very subtly swiped from ‘Cool Jerk’.”
The second side makes for an equally compelling listen. Opener Rumi Koyama was “a go-go dancer for TV show Beat Pops. Her debut single is rather square, but its jazzy flip ‘Watashi No Inori’ is just the right amount of raw and teenage. A year after the Carnabeats hit paydirt with a reading of the Zombies’ ‘I Love You’, re-titled ‘Suki Sa Suki Sa Suki Sa’, Nana Kinomi included the same song on her album “Let’s Go Nana!” with GS band Leo Beats. You can hear half-American, half-Japanese model Miki Obata struggle to hit the high notes on ‘Hatsu Koi No Letter’, but it’s considered a Japanese girl-pop staple. Ryoko Moriyama’s ‘Ame Agari No Samba’ attests to the high quality of Japanese bossa nova – as laidback and atmospheric as the Brazilian originals it emulated. Former figure skater Ayumi Ishida’s ‘Taiyou Wa Naite Iru’ is total melodrama, a whirlwind of harpsichord and strings. The star of over a hundred films, Sayuri Yoshinaga appealed to the Japanese mainstream with her modest image and ability to leave audiences in floods of tears. Her ‘Koi No Yorokobi’ is the perfect Japanese girl-pop primer – dark yet upbeat, with all-girl chorus the Schoolmates chirping in the background.”
Factory-sealed from new in gatefold sleeve, direct from the label.
Tracks:— Black Room - Jun Mayuzumi Sharock No. 1 - Mie Nakao Tsukikage No Rendezvous - Keiko Mari Kiiro No Sekai - J Girls Peacock Baby - Reiko Ohara Nagisa No Tenshi - Mieko Hirota Watashi No Inori - Rumi Koyama Suki Sa Suki Sa Suki Sa - Nana Kinomi & Leo Beats Hatsu Koi No Letter - Miki Obata Ame Agari No Samba - Ryoko Moriyama Taiyou Wa Naite Iru - Ayumi Ishida Koi No Yorokobi - Sayuri Yoshinaga with Schoolmates