Meiko Kaji is justly celebrated by fans of international genre cinema as the star of the 1973 film Lady Snowblood and its sequel from the next year. Alongside a sizeable filmography, she recorded an extensive body of work as a singer that amassed a dedicated following. The Wewantsounds label has been catering to her fanbase with high-quality reissues, and they’ve just released her 1972 debut Gincho Wataridori in an attractive gatefold sleeve deluxe edition with an insert and an OBI strip. It’s a musically swank affair, sturdy as pop but with cinematic sweep. Aficionados of global sounds, step right up.
Due to its outsized impact on Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill double banger, Lady Snowblood is Meiko Kaji’s most well-known film with the international audience, but she was busy before and after, and reliably in the role of a single-minded vengeance seeker; if Meiko Kaji starred in a film, it was a cinch that bloody mayhem would be part of the scheme.
Debuting in a supporting role in Retaliation (1968) billed as Masako Ota (her birth name), many standalone films and series followed. Regarding the latter, there was the Stray Cat/Alley Cat Rock series (five films, 1970–71), the Sasori series aka Female Prisoner Scorpion series (four films, 1972–73) and the two Gincho or Wandering Ginza Butterfly films (1972), the first of them giving Kaji’s debut LP its name.
Although the title song and “Ginchou Buruusu” from the film Gincho Wataridori are included on this album, it is not a soundtrack. The record also includes “Koini Inochio” and “Jingi Komoriuta” from Blind Woman’s Curse (1970), the final entry in the Rising Dragon series, and notably, the film where Masako Ota became Meiko Kaji.
The change from her birth name to a stage moniker signified a progression away from a screen image geared essentially toward cuteness. The move to tough-as-nails maiming and killing seeker of revenge role made her a star at home and ensured eventual cult stature abroad. It took a few films to flesh out the transition, but by Gincho Wataridori the persona was essentially complete.
Interestingly, her debut album connects far less as an extension of her screen image (at least from the perspective of a non-Japanese speaking observer) and much more as an introduction to Kaji as a pop phenom, but with a few stylistic maneuvers (obviously the aforementioned songs culled from her films) reinforcing her status as a movie star.
Does Kaji deliver the goods? Indeed she does, handling these songs with vocals pretty but strong. If she doesn’t transcend the norms of records cut by movie stars, her contributions here certainly raise the standard. The best tracks do come early, and right away in fact, as “Gincho Wataridori” surrounds her with big-screen symphonic sweep and injections of fuzz guitar. “Jingi Komoriuta” swings in the opposite direction, radiating a very trad Japanese vibe.
The rolling bass line and the lone horn (possibly a French horn, flugelhorn, or cornet) in “Koini Inochio” gives off ’70s Italian soundtrack vibes (the disciples of Morricone rather than the Maestro himself), while in “Ginchou Buruusu” there’s jazzy trumpet and guitar flourishes bringing to mind the theme to a lost quickie ’60s secret agent-sleuth flick (it’s a smidge Mancini-esque). Kaji’s singing unites both and is the focusing anchor for the LP.
“Hakodate Monogatari” is a side one highlight, flaunting a loungey slinkiness as Kaji belts it out. Over on side two, opener “Hamabeno Meruhen” adds backing singers as a mainstream pop excursion begins (with assorted jazzy touches, such as vibraphone), the journey continuing to varying degrees for the rest of the album. This isn’t a knock, as Kaji’s voice elevates the scenario and the instrumentation is lively (if a little too string laden).
The up-tempo “Kokoro Nokori” arrives at just the right time, and then the drumming in “Shitto” inspired thoughts of The Wrecking Crew. Unlike some of Meiko Kaji’s films, this album isn’t a brain melter, but the songs avoid sounding like a rush-job cash-in (again, at least to these Western ears), and that’s impressive. With singing warm and engaged, Gincho Wataridori is a likeable kickoff to a long recording career.
GRADED ON A CURVE:
B
