Here are the liner notes for every song on KAN‘s first three full-length studio albums, written by the artist himself. The albums featured here are TV no Naka ni (1987), NO-NO-YESMAN (1987), and GIRL TO LOVE (1988).
These liner notes were originally published in the 1992 book Boketsu Bari Hori.
Text: KAN
English translation: Henkka
KAN links: Website, Twitter, YouTube
Note: You can buy KAN’s physical releases on CDJapan.
TV no Naka ni
1987/04/25
1.
“SPUNKY DANCE ～Nigiyaka na Shuumatsu～“
I’m singing the word “comaway” at the beginning of the song, and it’s something that was already there on the demo tape before I wrote the lyrics. I just happened to sing it for some reason and then kept it on the final recording—it doesn’t actually mean anything.
I wanted the arrangement to have the feel of Scritti Politti’s “Small Talk.” There’s so much overly intricate movement throughout the whole song. It’s good—it sounds like the work of a total amateur brat who’s into music programming.
The sax solo all came from a written musical score. Sato Kimihiko had his job cut out for him in playing it.
Lyrics by Mori Hiromi.
2.
“Celluloid City mo Hi ga Kurete”
This is a song I’ve sometimes been playing live as of late. I wanted to play the piano in the style of Billy Joel’s “Summer, Highland Falls.”
When I play it live, I enjoy it when people start applauding as they hear the intro. That’s why I’ll often just go right into it without introducing the song beforehand.
3.
“TV no Naka ni”
My celebratory debut single features lyrics that I wrote myself… with thoughts of Kyonkyon in mind.
The completely absurd brass section phrase in the interlude is something that everyone on the staff was opposed to, but I forced my way and recorded it anyway. It was around this time that people first started going on about how I’m supposedly an “egomaniac.” While that may be, to this day I’m very pleased with the end result.
I remember using two tracks solely for all the shouts—the waoh’s and the ooh’s and the like—and screaming my head off.
You can hear the influence of stuff like Billy Joel’s “Easy Money” in this song.
4.
“ARE YOU READY TO BE ～Chakui no Mama de～”
This is a song I’ve hardly ever played live since 1988. To tell you the truth, it’s the melody line—it just doesn’t feel like me.
Hirose Noriyuki said he absolutely would not play the sextuplet drum fill in the chorus because it sounded “lame,” immediately creating a rather volatile mood in the room. However, after taking him out to Shimokitazawa and buttering him up night after night, he finally gave in. As a result, this fill alone was overdubbed later on.
Lyrics by Kawamura Masumi.
5.
“Kanashiki GRADUATION”
Like “SPUNKY DANCE,” it’s another really good “programmer brat” arrangement.
However, this is another song I’ve hardly ever done live. For some reason, when I’m singing it I feel this rift between me and the song. Even now I feel like this song could’ve been a hit had it been C-C-B singing it in a real flashy way.
6.
“TOP SECRET ～Dare ni mo Shaberu na～”
Receiving an Encouragement Award for this song at the Young Jump Sound Contest in 1984, it became one of the catalysts towards my debut.
When I play it live, I often include it as part of my “Dance Song Medley.”
During the recording, we did things like using two basses and recording the chorus in reverse and such, so you can tell I was pretty particular about all the little details with this song.
7.
“Koisuru DISCOMAN”
A song about a flirtatious disco store clerk who falls in love at first sight, in a major way. Maybe it’s because I wrote the lyric myself, but I just don’t feel much intelligence in the whole scenario.
I wanted to give the arrangement the feel of Hall & Oates’ “Family Man,” but it came out as something totally different. The re-arrangement of it I did for my 1990 “Yakyuu Senshu ga Yume Datta Tour” called the “Rolling Stones Japan Visit Memorial Version” was pretty good. Going forward, I’ll probably be doing mostly that version.
8.
“GOOD NIGHT”
This one’s a rarity among my early work, being a singer-songwriter-esque song.
I wonder how many people there are out there who saw me perform this song at my 1987 Shibuya LIVE INN performance where I tried to play a harmonica solo, only to fail horrendously? If any of those people are reading this, I hope that by this point they can just pass it off as a good memory.
The lyrics are by a person called Kobayashi Masami. Although the lyrics didn’t click with me so much at the time, they feel strangely moving to me as of late.
9.
“FAIRY TALE”
This is currently my favorite song on the album. That programmed drum machine that should’ve just been played live… It’s yet another “programmer brat” arrangement.
I played this one again for the first time in a while on my 1991 tour “Kaasan wa Wakatteitan da yo,” and I was very pleased with it.
10.
“MEMORIES OF FUTURE”
On my demo tapes, I like to give tentative titles to all my songs before they have lyrics. The title I gave this one was “Masterpiece.”
I was personally impressed by my own sensibilities as a melody maker with this song. I still like it even now, but when it comes playing it live I always struggle with where it should fall in the setlist just because of the way the song is constructed. Thus, I only perform it live very, very rarely.
General Commentary
Produced in the summer of 1986.
The songs were chosen out of the hundred or so songs I’d written in my amateur years (’81 to ’86). The album could, in effect, be considered a “Best of KAN” of that time period.
There was no strategy as to how and in what image I ought to try introducing the public to this person by the name of “KAN.” And so, as an album it’s honestly very scattered and hard to grasp. However, as I arranged it all by myself—despite having zero recording know-how—you can really sense the vigor and inexperience on this work, in a good sense.
People in the radio broadcasting industry seem to rate this album highly for some reason.
Mixed by Takeda Kazutoyo.
NO-NO-YESMAN
1987/10/25
1.
“Konya wa Kaesanai yo”
This was originally a song called “Moshi Moshi, Kimura desu” that I made for my answering machine. The feedback I received from friends and acquaintances who’d telephone me was so positive, I decided to record it for inclusion on a CD. I then rewrote the lyrics for the album version, and the song became “Konya wa Kaesanai yo.”
The arrangement, simple and to the point, is pretty much as it was on my answering machine. It feels like I’d graduated from the “programmer brat” of my first album. I was in many ways able to “take it easy” on this song.
2.
“Boku wa Naku”
This song is quite invaluable in that it has one of those really peculiar melody lines you haven’t heard on my work since my third album, GIRL TO LOVE. However, it is for some reason also a song I seldom choose to play live.
As for the lyrics, I initially wrote the chorus bit by myself, and for the rest I asked Nagashima Michio to help. My lyrics were becoming a bit ideological starting around this time.
Features Kubota Haruo on guitar.
3.
“STYLISTIC”
My sole bossa nova song. While I initially wrote the lyrics myself I just wasn’t quite happy with the results, so I asked Matsuo Yukio to revise them.
When playing it live, we often do a simple arrangement featuring only percussion, bass, and acoustic guitar.
4.
“Kimi wo Omou Yoru”
My first song where the lyrics came before the music. A college friend of mine, Suzuki Takeshi (presently a sociologist), had a lyric called “Minato no Onna” to which I wrote a melody. Some years later I took that melody, and this time Matsuo Yukio wrote for it this perfectly pathetic lyric—almost like a premonition of the kinds of worlds in my lyrics on and after my third album—and the song became “Kimi wo Omou Yoru.”
Karasawa’s flugelhorn playing on this is just so heartrending.
5.
“SILENT SIREN”
This a song I’d been trying to re-arrange several times since 1983 during my time in the band Annette, but even though I knew it was a good song I just wasn’t able to make it the best it could be. Thus, I left the arrangement completely to Matsumoto Akihiko.
At a 1988 Nippon Seinenkan concert of mine, we experienced computer troubles during our performance of this song due to which I still don’t have a particularly fond impression of it.
6.
“ONE NIGHT KISS”
This was a song I originally wrote for Moritaka Chisato’s debut album. While it was not chosen for inclusion, I was personally pleased with it so I decided to do it myself.
While it’s a comeback to the “programmer brat” sound of the first album, the bass drum, bass, and synth phrases are all connected like pieces in a puzzle, making it sound more polished than my previous work. It also features a specialty of mine: the guitar-less arrangement (aside from the solo, that is).
This song was used for a time as the ending theme of TBS radio program “SURF&SNOW.” Still, I can’t help but wonder what the song might’ve become had it been included on Moritaka Chisato’s album.
7.
“BRACKET”
Single cut. It’s a good representation of the overall color of this album’s sound.
While there were way more synths and percussion instruments present when we were actually recording the song, during its mixdown me and the mixer, Inoue Tsuyoshi, had a conversation, and—without telling Matsumoto Akihiko—we actually cut some of them out.
My scatting during the interlude is just some random katakana that happened to fit the music, and so the words themselves don’t have any actual meaning.
There also exists a music video for this song made by director Obayashi Nobuhiko.
8.
“NO-NO-YESMAN”
The title song of the album. I wrote the lyrics right after my debut, so you can sense in them the disconnect between idealism and reality that speaks to how I had started to think about things more… But at this point, as far as this song is concerned, who cares about any of that?!
If I were to write about how we play this song live… It’d probably take half the pages in this book. And besides, even if I did do just that, it’s not like the emotion could be conveyed with a mere string of printed words.
In any case, just know that if you hear the intro to this song at a concert, that means something outrageous is about to happen.
9.
“ALL I KNOW ～Boku ni Wakaru Koto wa～”
This song was originally written as a theme song candidate for a certain TV drama, only for it to be rejected.
Personally, as a melody maker, I think it to be of rather high quality. However, I’ve never performed it live since 1989, and I’ll tell you the reason why in a couple of pages from here.
10.
“Boku no GENUINE KISS”
The rare jazzy piece among my work. I often play it live, too, just because it’s so easy to groove to.
On the recording, I got a lot of flak for inviting over a jazz piano trio only to have them play on the 16-bar interlude. Everything before and after those 16 bars was programmed, making the rest of the arrangement expressionless on purpose.
Oh, and I was only 24 when I wrote this one.
General Commentary
Produced in the spring of 1987, just after my debut.
On this album, I was trying to create the so-called “cafe music” sound that was in vogue around 1983 and 1984 with artists like The Style Council, Sade, and Matt Bianco.
Having produced my first album, TV no Naka ni, by myself, I found myself thinking, “Making all the arrangements on my own just isn’t mentally feasible. But I also don’t want to just be told what to do by some know-it-all expert either. I want someone of my own generation for support.” And so, I was introduced by a friend to Matsumoto Akihiko (who was at the time a touring member in Oe Senri’s band, having just begun arranging as well). With him as my supporting arranger, we worked on the album together. But while working with someone brings a wealth of ideas, it also leads to a fair share of fights. In that sense, too, mixer Inoue Tsuyoshi’s involvement on this album was indispensable.
I was still quite simple-minded emotionally, and looking back now, the imbalance between the songs and the lyrics does stand out. This factor may have been something that motivated me to write all of the lyrics on my next album.
This album is held in high regard by my musician friends. Also invaluable are the back cover illustrations that I drew myself.
GIRL TO LOVE
1988/06/25
1.
“Tekireiki LOVE STORY”
As per the title, this song depicts the emotional confusion around a romantic relationship on the verge of marriage. While I did have to rewrite the lyrics twice, I’m still rather pleased with them even now.
When playing this song live I used to always play a very rock’n’roll version of it ever since my amateur years, and so on the recorded version I gave it very much a computer-like sound on purpose. I’m never going to forget about the hellish backing vocal dubbing sessions we did at Kitty Studio, Izu, that went on until dawn.
Like “NO-NO-YESMAN,” this song is also one where we do a different version of it with each tour. To list a couple of the best ones… The “Morita Koichi Goes to Hakodate” version, the “What’s with the Sword on the Highway?” version, and the “Kameda Arare Senbei Crackers” version.
2.
“Kimi wa Urusai”
I want to declare this as one of the best songs among all of my works.
A comical, witty love song where the melody, lyrics, and arrangement are all in perfect balance. If a friend ever asks you, “What kind of music does KAN do?,” don’t say anything and just play them this song.
3.
“Icchomae ni Koukyuusha”
Like “Kimi wa Urusai,” this is another song about which I am proud to say that no one besides me could have written or (properly) sung it.
The intro and the melody in the first couple of lines were something I wrote as a big Paul McCartney freak back in high school. A major work, this song took me eight years to complete.
After much deliberation over whether the phrases in the background during the “demo kono mama ja…” bit should be played by brass or by strings during the recording, I eventually decided to go for brass. But then I started to have second thoughts, thinking if maybe strings would’ve worked better, and so when we play it live we use the strings for those phrases.
The last three lines of the lyrics perfectly encapsulate my mental state at the time.
ぼくもいつかは高級車
そのうち高級レストラン
人間性は高級ブランド Oh, oh, yeahOne day I’ll have that luxury car
One day I’ll go to that luxury restaurant
My humanity will be a luxury brand, oh, oh, yeah
4.
“France ni Tsuita Hi”
This is something I’m only now able to talk about, but this song is about my thoughts in regards to having moved record companies. For this reason, I often don’t feel great when performing it.
While it’s credited as a joint arrangement, it’s really mostly just Matsumoto Akihiko’s work.
By the way, my personal first France ni Tsuita Hi—arrival in France—was three years after the release of this song, in the early morning of August 31, 1991.
5.
“WAITING SO LONG”
This is a song I’d been playing live since my amateur years. But while I really wanted to record it I was always unable to come up with an idea for the lyrics, and so I ended up asking Matsuo Yukio to write them.
While it feels like the worldview of the song is a little bit out of place on this album, musically I do think it’s of rather high quality.
6.
“Tokyo no Ojousan”
With this one I was going for a sound along the lines of Duran Duran’s “The Reflex.” That whole bouncy rhythm thing.
As for the lyrics, I only came up with the title phrase myself and asked Saeki Kenzo to write the rest.
As with “Tekireiki LOVE STORY,” I spent a whole hellish night by myself at Izu Kitty Studio dubbing the backing vocals for this song.
7.
“Daijoubu I’M ALL RIGHT”
This song beautifully expresses my philosophy of love, and you could even say that the lyrics are actually what created that world of mine. It’s a great song.
However, after I released this song as a single, I was suddenly starting to be treated as some kind of a “second coming of Oe Senri,” and the truth is that at the time I was quite disheartened because it felt like no one was listening to my music properly.
The way I sing “I’m all right” and those ad-libs in the second half, you can tell I’m absolutely trying to mimic Billy Joel.
No, but really. What a great song.
8.
“Koi wa TONIN'”
This album has lots of tracks—such as “Tekireiki LOVE STORY,” “Icchomae ni Koukyuusha,” and “Tokyo no Ojousan“—where the sound-based, play-on-words song titles came first and the lyrics second. This song is no exception. That said, it’s not like the lyrics are very deep at all. It’s fun to just kind of let them go in one ear and out the other.
All of the members in my live band at the time took part in the recordings for this song.
9.
“Iezu no I LOVE YOU”
I’ve said before how it only took me three minutes to write the lyrics to this 5-minute 15-second song. I had been performing it live even before my major debut, and despite not having recorded it yet, the song was nevertheless receiving tremendous acclaim from my fans at the time.
However, while one might think the decision to not release this song as a single was perhaps due to anti-commercialism on my part, it really wasn’t. It was simply a strategic mistake.
But really though. What a great song, again.
10.
“GIRL TO LOVE”
The title song of the album, it was also the last song composed for it.
There’s a story that I wrote this song while staring at a picture of Yakushimaru Hiroko that I had set on the piano. This story is—embarrassingly enough—true.
I must express my gratitude to arranger Matsumoto Akihiko who, for some reason, made me rewrite the melody several times over.
General Commentary
Recorded in the spring of 1988.
As with my previous album, I worked on this one together with Matsumoto Akihiko. On this album, I finally took the task of writing lyrics more seriously. But during interviews after this point in time I was always being asked about nothing besides my lyrics, so I would instead obstinately talk only about the arrangements.
In any case, it’s just a great album full of great songs. The only shortcoming is its cover—it makes it a difficult buy for guys.
Mixed by Kitagawa Teruaki.
BONUS
“Over You”
(non-album single, 1988)
While the title is in English, it’s actually not accepted as proper English—it’s purely Japanglish.
This was my first co-arrangement with a guitar player, but in retrospect we really should’ve just used live rhythm instrumentation on the recording. Consequently, this will probably come across as a better song live than it does on CD.
These lyrics were my first attempt at dealing with the subject of sex.
BONUS
“NEVER LEAVE”
(B-side of “Over You,” 1988)
This, too, was kind of an experimental arrangement. I call it the “drum and fife sound.”
While the “never leave” and “nebari” (“stickiness”) pun was too weak, when you really read the lyrics they actually do have a pretty good message to them.
I’ve performed this song only once, in Osaka at the end of 1988.
