Bands similar to Off Course?

[Zaktom]

Hey guys, I recently discovered the band "Off Course" and I really like them! Can anyone recommend me some bands that have a similar sound to them?

Also, where can I download Off Course's discography? I can't seem to find anything on the web!

[epigene]

Off Course is an old group that disbanded many years ago.

Its leader (and writer of most of its songs) Oda Kazumasa is still active. If you search for his albums, you'll be able to find most of the Off Course songs.

Similar bands? Hmmm... I can't think of any similar bands, but have you checked singer-songwriters such as Zaitsu Kazuo and Inoue Yousui (of the same generation as Off Course)?

[Zaktom]

I haven't heard of other songwriters from that generation except for Tatsuro Yamashita, and I am trying to find more.

I listened to the two you listed, and I didn't like them very much. Any more recommendations?

[ASHIKAGA]

As popular as Off Course was in its hayday, it also received some negative reactions from the music fans for their lyrics amd music which were on the "sensitive" side as well as Oda's high-pitched vocals and very sensitive, girly-man / Emo persona. The Japanese music scene has grown up since then and Off Course's brand of pop/rock music totally void of sex is accepted by today's young people, which explains the success Oda's been enjoying as a solo artist even to this day.

Now, there was another band that was initially got bashed for its musical/lyrical sophistication, SUGAR BABE, a band headed by Tatsurou Yamashita. The band now enjoys a legend status among music fans and its first and only album SONGS has been reissued recently.

In addition to Yamashita, the band also featured a very talented and unique singer-songwriter, Taeko Oonuki, who has gone solo after the band's breakup and is still active today. I highly recommend her 4th solo album titled Romantique released in 1980. She truly is one of a kind.

Solely from the vocal point of view, male singers such as Jun-ichi Inagaki and Hideaki Tokunaga fall in the same category as Oda, with their nigh-toned, non-vibrato voices. They are also similar to him in the way their deliveries/personas lack masculinity, which many female fans seem to find disirable for their "non-threatening" nature.

Another contemporary of Oda/Off Course I should mention is Yumi Matsutoya (nee Arai). She was an integral part of the so-called New Music Movement that Off Course was also a part of. The worldview expressed in her songs are, like that of Off Course's, decidedly non-Japanese. She was/is known to come up with very distinctive and memorable hooks/chord progressions in her songs and is similar to Oda in that sense, too. The two even have collaborated on a song in the past.

Anyway, those are a few of my recommendations.