various - ON Associates CM Works (2010)

various - ON Associates CM Works

contains 40 tracks by Makigami Koichi, Kamijo Tsunehiko, Onuki Taeko, Yoshida Minako, Yano Akiko et al.

Released on September 22, 2010


The album is a compilation which consisted of the music used for various TV advertisement, produced by a company called ON Associates.

ON Associates is a music publishing company which made a series of music which graced some of the ever-popular TV advertisement in Japan, like the first Sony Walkman ad in 1977, which is also included here. The album featured a collection of their representative works and many of the selection are not available elsewhere.

It is noteworthy that it actually contains two tracks by Makigami, "Heisei Jaran Bushi" and "100 Nara Dekiru."

"Heisei Jaran Bushi" was a commissioned piece for the TV advertisement of a travel magazine called Jaran (which is still in operation). It was also released on 3-inch CD single under Makgami's name in 1990, and has still been regularly featured on his Cho-Kayo recital. I don't confirmed for myself yet, but it is possible that the version on the compilation is edited. The advertisement itself was used to be available on YouTube for a long time but seems recently gone, unfortunately.

"100 Nara Dekiru" was used for TV advertisement of a gas product called Idemitsu 100 Gasoline. The piece is available for the first time. Having never seen the advertisement myself, I cannot tell what it is like, but according to Makigami, on the advertisement, the song was buried in the mix and almost inaudible. So we could listen to it at last.

If you are a collector, it is advisable you should get this one. Makigami recently expressed his intention for rereleasing "Heisei Jaran Bushi" but apparently the negotiation with the copyright holder was not fruitful. And it is unlikely that "100 Nara Dekiru" sees the light of day anytime soon again.

The album is now available on HMV Japan.


By the way, Makigami did a lot of TV advertisement thing, singing and narration, in the past. This one is for cold tablets, 1990.