PANAM was created by Nippon Crown on March 1, 1970, as a label dedicated to folk and New Music, away from the enka and kayōkyoku that made up much of the company’s catalogue at the time. The Japanese folk group かぐや姫 (Kaguyahime) helped establish its name with 「神田川」 (Kandagawa) in 1973. PANAM later released music by artists including イルカ (Iruka), 鈴木茂 (Shigeru Suzuki), 大貫妙子 (Taeko Onuki) and Tin Pan Alley.
In March 2025, the label marked its 55th anniversary by putting 133 early singles online, many of them digitally available for the first time. Producer 佐橋佳幸 (Yoshiyuki Sahashi) then returned to the catalogue with another idea: recording some of those songs again.
PANAM 55/100 SUPER SONG COVERS started in September 2025 as a series of individual releases. Nine covers followed before the project became a ten-track digital album on October 7.
The artists did not all come to these songs in the same way. 山内総一郎 (Soichiro Yamauchi) had been influenced by Shigeru Suzuki since seeing him perform as a teenager. For 「八月の匂い」 (Hachigatsu no Nioi), he plays slide guitar while KREVA contributes a new rap. KREVA knew neither PANAM nor the song before the project. He accepted because he had performed several times with Sahashi but had never recorded with him.
槇原敬之 (Noriyuki Makihara) also hesitated when Sahashi offered him 「都会」 (Tokai). The chance to record it with Taeko Onuki changed his mind. Onuki, who originally released the song in 1977, returned for the new version.
The final track goes back to Tin Pan Alley’s 1975 album Caramel Mama. 宮沢和史 (Kazufumi Miyazawa) remembers hearing “YELLOW MAGIC CARNIVAL” when he was in junior high school and wondering what he had just heard. 高野寛 (Hiroshi Takano) had first connected with Miyazawa over their shared interest in YMO around 35 years ago, but the two had never recorded themselves singing together.
Miyazawa suggested adding sanshin and samba percussion to their version. Those Okinawan elements were absent from the original, and Takano felt they gave them a reason to record the song again in 2026.
Tracklist
1. 「僕の胸でおやすみ」 (Boku no Mune de Oyasumi) — 藤井フミヤ (Fumiya Fujii) with 南こうせつ (Kosetsu Minami) 2. “LADY PINK PANTHER” — GOOD BYE APRIL with 南佳孝 (Yoshitaka Minami) 3. 「さよなら人類」 (Sayonara Jinrui) — 鈴木実貴子ズ (Suzuki Mikiko Zu) with BLACK BOTTOM BRASS BAND 4. 「なごり雪」 (Nagori Yuki) — seta with Darjeeling 5. 「都会」 (Tokai) — 槇原敬之 (Noriyuki Makihara) feat. 大貫妙子 (Taeko Onuki) 6. 「8分音符の詩」 (Hachibun Onpu no Uta) — イルカ (Iruka) & スターダスト☆レビュー (Stardust Revue) 7. 「22才の別れ」 (22-sai no Wakare) — デーモン閣下 (Demon Kakka) feat. 伊勢正三 (Shozo Ise) 8. 「八月の匂い」 (Hachigatsu no Nioi) — 山内総一郎 (Soichiro Yamauchi) & KREVA 9. 「赤ちょうちん」 (Aka Chōchin) — 山寺宏一 (Koichi Yamadera) & 花澤香菜 (Kana Hanazawa) 10. “YELLOW MAGIC CARNIVAL” — 宮沢和史 (Kazufumi Miyazawa) & 高野寛 (Hiroshi Takano)
These ten covers are also ten reasons to go back to PANAM’s originals. Kaguyahime, Shigeru Suzuki, Taeko Onuki, Tin Pan Alley and the others belong to different parts of Japanese music history, but they shared the same label. Fifty-five years on, PANAM 55/100 SUPER SONG COVERS offers a good excuse to hear those songs again, or to discover where they came from.