Jun Togawa - The World of Tosh Berman

Togawa Jun (aka Jun Togawa) is a unique and essential music figure in underground Japanese Pop Music. An associate of Yellow Magic Orchestra's (YMO) Haruomi Hosono, mostly releasing her albums on his label, Yen Records. Togawa was in a band called Guernica, with Composer Koji Ueno and artist/lyricist Keiichi Ohta, that brought up images of Pre-war Japan, a time that flirted with Western decadence. Togawa released a series of solo albums in the 1980s that, to a Westerner, sound like a crazed combination of Sparks, French Yé-Yé, with a touch of Kate Bush. Her musical roots are primarily in Japanese or Asian folk music, but she acknowledges Serge Gainsbourg and Rosie & The Originals' "Angel Baby." John Zorn and Jim O'Rourke are both fans, and you should also be! - Tosh Berman, your host of "Tosh Talks."

Without a doubt one of the great albums from the 1980s and a work that is still as fresh as the first day of spring.  For one, the production does yell out the 1980s, but like Sun Records is from the 1950s, this is almost a militant version of that era.  Jun Togawa is a vocalist that is very difficult to explain because she is a rare artist that goes beyond her limitations of the pop (Japanese) world.  Most Japanese pop music exists to please, but something dark and disturbing about the Togawa sound is hyper-emotive, and one feels traces of Bipolar expressions within its groove.  One very noticeable thing is that a Jun Togawa recording is unique.  There is nothing like it in this world.  Making comparisons is always fun, but I'm not sure if comparing her to other artists would be accurate.  Saying that "Suki Suki Daisuki" has traces of French Yé-Yé sound but updated to the 80s, and she does cover Serge Gainsbourg's  "Comment te dire adieu," yet it sounds very much like her own material.   The song is sung in Japanese, and I'm not sure if it's just translated lyrics from French to Japanese or if she may have written her own words to the song.  The sound is more Togawa than Gainsbourg, yet respectful of the original melody/song.  

She also does a beautiful but bizarre cover of "Angel Baby," the great Rock n' Roll ballad of the 1950s initially recorded by Rosie and the Originals.  The original version is a fantastic timepiece of out-of-this-world pop, and Togawa does this song in English, which reminds me of Yoko Ono if she did a cover of this song.  I'm not saying that because they are both Japanese women, their voices have a similar vocal range.  Togawa can go from the lower notes to the highest, and she is an amazing singer. In a nutshell, I think of her work as a combination of Sparks, Yoko Ono, and French Yé-Yé with a touch of Kate Bush's ambition.   I know that both John Zorn and Jim O'Rourke think of her work highly, and it's a shame that she is not better known in the West.  Then again, I suspect she could care less about the music market outside of Japan.  Truly a unique music artist.  Also, she did the design work for this album, and it's a great package. 

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