ALICE (アリス)

Overview

Alice (Japanese: アリス) is a Japanese three-man folk rock band formed in 1971 by Shinji Tanimura (1948–2023), Takao Horiuchi and Toru Yazawa. Tanimura and Horiuchi shared vocal duties as equals, with no single lead singer. Among their biggest hits are "Fuyu no Inazuma" ("Winter Lightning", 1977), "Johnny's Lullaby" and "Champion". In 1978 they became the first Japanese artists to successfully stage a three-day run at the Nippon Budokan.

Career

Formation and debut

During a 1970 concert tour of the United States, Tanimura, leader of the Osaka folk group Rock Candies, met Yazawa, guest drummer for the Tokyo soul band Brown Rice, and the two agreed to form a professional group once back in Japan. The name came from the pen-written "Alice" logo on the menu of a Los Angeles restaurant. Tanimura recruited Horiuchi, vocalist of the amateur rock band Foolish Brotherhood, and on December 25, 1971 the two formed Alice in an Osaka business hotel room, with Yazawa to join later. The band debuted on March 5, 1972 with the single "Hashitte Oide Koibito yo", and Yazawa officially joined at a May 5, 1972 concert at Nara Citizens' Hall.

Years of grinding and breakthrough

Without hits at first, the trio toured relentlessly: Yazawa, a drummer, carried a conga while Tanimura and Horiuchi played folk guitars, so that the three members and their manager could carry all the gear. They played city halls across the country and performed a record 303 shows in 1974. Helped by Tanimura's radio DJ work (MBS Young Town and Say! Young) and their hit cover of Woody Woo's "Ima wa Mou Dare mo", they produced a string of hits including "Kaerazaru Hibi", "Fuyu no Inazuma", "Namida no Chikai", "Johnny's Lullaby", "Champion", "Shuushifu" and "Kuruttta Kajitsu".

After the three Budokan nights of 1978, they played seven nights there in August–September 1979, bringing their Budokan total to 10 and surpassing Bob Dylan's eight. They also filled baseball stadiums such as Korakuen, Koshien and Yokohama Stadium, as well as major halls nationwide; live albums such as Eikou e no Dasshutsu and Kagirinaki Chousen date from this era. In 1979 they provided the theme song "Utsukushiki Kizuna Hand in Hand" for UNICEF's International Year of the Child fundraising event and joined street collections themselves, drawing about 73,000 participants nationwide. A concert-hall-building project, Theater Friends, fell through, leaving only the documentary film ALICE THE MOVIE. At the height of their fame they declined to appear on NHK's Kohaku Uta Gassen, out of pride after once failing an NHK audition.

Hiatus

As Tanimura's and Horiuchi's solo careers grew, differences in musical direction emerged, and on May 21, 1981 the band announced a hiatus. After a final national tour including dates in Beijing, Hong Kong and Bangkok, they held the farewell concert "Alice Final" at Korakuen Stadium on November 7, 1981, played by the three alone without chorus or backing musicians; it was released as a double LP on November 7, 1982. Horiuchi later said the real reason was jealousy of Tanimura's success. The members never used the word "breakup", only "hiatus". Horiuchi turned to enka and kayokyoku as a solo artist, Tanimura became a professor at the Shanghai Conservatory of Music before resuming solo work, and Yazawa joined BLEND, then left music to run a restaurant and a guitar shop.

Reunions

After three limited reunions, Alice fully reunited in 2009. The first, in 1987, produced the album ALICE X and the single "BURAI" plus a few broadcast appearances. The second grew out of a January 17, 2000 Kobe memorial concert for the Great Hanshin earthquake; the group re-announced itself in August 2000 under the spelling ALICE, appeared on the 51st NHK Kohaku Uta Gassen on December 31, 2000, and in 2001 released ALICE 0001 and toured nationwide, again selling out the Budokan. The third came with their appearance on the 56th Kohaku on December 31, 2005.

Full reunion and later activity

In 2008 the song "Ashita e no Sanka" on Tanimura's best album Ongaeshi, recorded with Horiuchi and Yazawa, revived momentum. On March 4, 2009, at Ueno Bunka Kaikan, they announced a full reunion after 28 years, timed to their 60th birthdays. The tour that summer and autumn grew to 40 shows at 36 venues. Releases in 2009 included Alice VIII, Alice IX / Muhon and ALICE/0001, and January 2010 saw GOING HOME TOUR FINAL at BUDOKAN. On February 28, 2010 they played a five-hour concert at Tokyo Dome.

In 2013 they made the album ALICE XI and toured all 47 prefectures. In 2018 they began regular three-member broadcasts on MBS Young Town. In 2019, the year all three turned 70, they launched the "Challenge of 70" nationwide tour on May 5 in Kobe, finishing with two nights at Osaka-jo Hall on February 7–8, 2020. That year brought the single "Kagirinaki Chousen -OPEN GATE-", the album ALICE AGAIN ... THE SETLIST and ALL TIME COMPLETE SINGLE COLLECTION 2019. On December 25, 2021 they released the single "Kokuhaku / Kiseki Furu Yoru", their first single CD in about 33 and a half years since "Heibon (New Version)"; the single "BEGINNING" followed in November 2022. On November 17, 2022, they marked their 50th anniversary with ALICE GREAT 50 (FIFTY) at Ariake Arena. They had hoped to continue for another decade, but it proved to be their last concert as a trio, and Shinji Tanimura died on October 8, 2023.

Musical style

Alice was initially classed as folk, but added a drummer to stand apart from their peers. After breaking through with "Fuyu no Inazuma", they moved beyond folk into their own world, growing more rock-oriented with electric guitars, synthesizers and a full band for flashy stage shows. They were regarded as one of the central acts of the then-emerging New Music scene. Their genres are also described as kayokyoku, enka, J-pop and folk.