Two weeks ago, I saw a review of Horehound, the newly-released album by Jack White’s new project The Dead Weather, at this link. I had already enjoyed the album, and was not surprised to see nothing but nice reviews about it so far because, well, it’s a good album! However, I was surprised when I checked the above-linked review and saw that the reviewer had given the album two-and-a-half stars and spent most of the review bitching about the fact that Jack White was mostly playing drums instead of guitar on the record, and thus accusing him of not having any real impact on the project. From the looks of the review, I have the feeling that the hack behind this particular review only half-listened to the CD once while doing things around his house before dropping the disc in a pile marked “Sell at used CD store”.
That particular kind of reviewer – the one doing it only because it’s a job and it gets him a few bucks for writing about the record and a couple more for illicitly selling the played-once CD at a local used store or on eBay (either way, such a move is technically illegal, since promotional copies are considered by law to be still the property of the record company) – is one I don’t have much respect for, as they don’t really seem to care about what they’re writing. Many music bloggers (myself included), on the other hand, do their writing because love the music they write about. I might be nitpicky about how some of them describe what they’re writing about – a prime example that comes to mind was how some of my younger colleagues in the J-Pop blogosphere mistook Morning Musume’s funk-heavy 2008 single “Resonant Blue” to be disco instead – but they still like the music. (Just as a side note, the disco genre is more befitting of “Love Machine” and a few other early MoMusu tracks, rather than “Resonant Blue” with its heavy 70’s funk influence.)
[I don’t even have to bring up the age-old adage about opinions being like assholes (i.e. everybody has one, etc.), except in passing. Which I just did. And because I don't want any of my peers to think that I'm dissing them - I'm not. Moving on…]
Reviewing records is one of the easiest and the hardest things to do, and while it’s something I’ve tried to make a focal point of on this blog and its predecessor, other things tend to delay my attempts and desires to write more reviews. One is time, which is a factor for everyone and thus not worth devoting further time itself to. The other reasons are more, well, life-involved. Many has been the time when I’ve needed to review a current or recent release only to find myself wanting to listen to something else instead. Does it mean that the album I want to review sucks? Usually, no. The reality is that I have so damn many different musical interests that whatever I feel like listening to at the time becomes more important than dissecting a new CD.
Another factor in my not doing as many reviews as I should is the approach. Most of my reviews are usually track-by-track affairs, and this is fine for the J-Pop material because I try to write those reviews for a general audience and I want people coming across this blog to get a good idea as to what the record sounds like before they search out a copy. For the Western stuff, it’s harder to write about – the artists usually have more established sounds and perhaps a more encapsulated approach is needed. I would also blame a lifelong habit of writing more than the minimum amount of words needed, most likely out of the concern that I want the reader to understand. And then of course, there’s other projects that some people may have on their mind or their schedule or both. In my case, there’s the manuscript that I’ve been working on for close to two years now; I am only recently just starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel there.
The final factor – which goes with everything I write, and with those who care about their writing – is quality. A well written review, even if it’s not a glowing one, and even if the writer might not know Jack White from Jack Black [sorry for the bad pun] without a scorecard, will go a long way. It doesn’t have to be agreed with, but it should be respected. As far as non-professional reviews go, a well-written review in an age where anyone can post what they think about a particular CD is practically a rarity outside of dedicated music blogs. Browse around RateYourMusic.com (where I’ve been occasionally been re-sharpening my reviewing skills on some albums in my collection that are way out of the chronological and stylistic boundaries TGML covers) – or the comment areas of Amazon or iTunes – sometime. See how many well-thought-out reviews written by average Joes are in place (especially for more well-known artists), and how many reviews are actually the product of trolls, attention whores, and people who couldn’t spell a word correctly, control their shift keys or capslocks, or structure a sentence if their life depended on it.
It probably would not surprise you – and it definitely wouldn’t surprise me – if the latter category of “armchair reviewers” never actually listened to the record or artist they were gleefully bashing. Those “armchair reviewers” are more good reason why I’m going to try to keep doing reviews here, and I’m going to be getting quite a few out of the way over the next month – because the music deserves it. And because quality always perseveres.
CONOR OBERST AND THE MYSTIC VALLEY BAND Outer South (Merge)
Available on CD, 180-gram 2xLP with download code, iTunes, AmazonMP3 and eMusic Rating:
It is a little hard to listen to Conor Oberst recent solo output and not be reminded of Bob Dylan. Hell, with his self-titled 2008 solo release – his first recording for Merge after an almost lifetime association with Saddle Creek (the independent label he practically helped build thanks to his prodigious output under the Bright Eyes moniker) – had a lot of shades of Bringing It All Back Home/Highway 61 Revisited Dylan throughout.
Indeed, Outer South smacks incredibly of Dylan even more than Conor Oberst. Until now, it was unusual for Oberst to retain the same general musical style from album to album in a row, given that the past several years of his studio album output have ultilized electronics (Digital Ash for A Digital Urn), nu-country (I’m Wide Awake Its Morning), and a cross of Pet Sounds and Electric Warrior (Cassadaga). Then again, Conor Oberst the solo artist and his Mystic Valley Band are a wholly different beast than Bright Eyes.
The more consistent personnel of the Mystic Valley Band has brought in a new dimension to Conor’s world: The band is co-credited on the album itself, while several of the members contribute their own lead vocals and/or songwriting to the new album. On the front cover photo, Oberst has even gone so far as to deliberately obscure his eyes with a black marker smudge to divert attention to the rest of his bandmates. The presence of compositions from the rest of the band would explain why this album is appearing a mere nine months after the release of Oberst’s last full-length effort.
When I first sat down to listen to the album, I hadn’t given a glance to the credits and didn’t know that Oberst was sharing lead vocal and songwriting time with the rest of the band. When I was taking notes while first listening to the album (double vinyl edition), I had written “Conor’s singing voice [on “”Big Black Nothing”] is almost unrecognizable here, resembling a consistently on-pitch Dylan.” Nope – it was guitarist Nik Frietas singing his own composition.(Yeah, sorry for the Dylan comparison – I can’t help it with this album). Same with “Air Mattress” where I thought Conor was taking on a slightly more nasal voice – the band’s other guitarist, Taylor Hollingsworth, is the vocalist (and songwriter) there. (Frietas, Hollingsworth, and drummer Jason Boesel contribute two lead vocal/songwriting efforts apiece on the album; bassist Macey Taylor sings a song specially penned by Oberst; Conor co-wrote one song apiece with Frietas and keyboardist Nathaniel Walccott respectively and wrote the rest of the album himself.)
Again, the general musical tone of the album, like its predecessor, reminds me of mid-60’s Dylan, but there are other musical influences rearing their heads throughout Outer South. “Bloodline”, Nik Frietas’ other lead vocal/songwriting contribution, recalls George Harrison’s mid-to-late ‘70’s solo work – on first listen I kept expecting the band to go into “Crackerbox Palace” at any moment. “Roosevelt Room” channels louder Neil Young & Crazy Horse (Hollingsworth does some very Neil-esque electric guitar work not only on this track but on “To All the Lights in the Windows”). “Cabbage Town” finds Roger McGuinn 12-string leads, Phil Spector drum rhythms, and Roy Orbison-esque guitar strums vying for sonic space.
Some talk elsewhere on the internet (mainly early armchair reviewers on Rate Your Music working from leaked copies of the album) accuses the presence of the other band members’ songwriting contributions as actually weakening the album. This is not the case. The contributions of the other band members’ songs are equal with Conor’s, and Conor himself has definitely not lost a step songwriting-wise, given that he really hasn’t lost a step since at least Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep YourEar to The Ground. Having a solid team behind him no doubt helps, but even with the rest of the band sharing the singing and writing duties, Outer South is still USDA prime Conor Oberst – you can consume with confidence.
HANGRY & ANGRY “Sadistic Dance” (single)
(JapanFiles.com)
Available as a digital download through JapanFiles.com and ITunes US & Japan Rating:
This is, admittedly, a quick review because I only have one song to deal with. I hadn’t even thought that Hitomi Yoshizawa & Rika Ishikawa would hit the studio again before coming to America this weekend for SakuraCon, but go they did.
If you liked the Kill Me Kiss Me EP (I certainly did), “Sadistic Dance” is more of the same, basically – which is not a bad thing: a dark-sounding lyric over mostly major-key punk/goth/pop music. The song starts off with an almost snake-charmer-esque lead guitar line, while the body of the song, whose instrumental arrangement is dominated by techno-influenced keyboards with early Jesus & Mary Chain guitar rhythms (without the excess amplifier feedback), is propelled by an almost poppish beat (especially during the choruses). Yossy and Charmy’s vocals, which have never needed any post-production tricks in their entire careers to date, take on an alternate dimension by way of whoever produced the track (JapanFiles didn’t provide any production credits) making an exact copy the duo’s original unprocessed vocal tracks (one of the many creative advantages of hard-disk recording systems like ProTools and Logic, compared to analog reel-to-reel tape), processing that copy with a touch of AutoTune, and then folding it underneath the original vocals so that both the clear and “robotic” vocals sit side-by-side on the track. In an age where some artists are using AutoTune more as a gimmick to hang (or lengthen) a career on, the deliberate side-by-side vocal production on “Sadistic Dance” comes off as a much more creative and honest way of using that particular ProTools plug-in.
Here’s hoping this is a teaser for a new HANGRY&ANGRY album!
MORNING MUSUME Platinum 9 DISC
(Zetima/Sony [Japan]/JapanFiles.com [USA])
Available on CD and through JapanFiles.com and iTunes US and Japan Rating:
Man, talk about playing catch-up. The last time I saw a favorite band release a shitload of long-playing albums in such a short period of time was when Black Flag had come back in 1984 from a couple of years of legal limbo during which they couldn’t record or release new material. In one calendar year, they had released the studio albums My War and Slip It In, the live cassette Live ’84 and the half-spoken word/half-instrumental project Family Man – all in one calendar year. While that may sound like an odd comparison anywhere else in the J-pop blogosphere, I myself don’t think so. While Morning Musume didn’t have any legal holdups to speak of, 2008 was a somewhat idle year release-wise for the band, with only two singles and a side-project for them to speak of until the release of COVER YOU last November. Now, we already have a new album and single out, and a second single already in the can and scheduled for release in May – now that’s the MoMusu release schedule I’ve been acquainted with for the past five years!
MORNING MUSUME Naichau Kamo
(Zetima)
Available on CD and from JapanFiles.com and iTunes Japan Rating:
I like it when Morning Musume does R&B. Not that I don’t like it when the band explores other styles, but R&B – specifically the type of quality urban pop that’s been missing in Americanmusic for the past several years – seems to be something that Hello! Project in general seems to nail to a T. (Immediate examples:Aa!’s “First Kiss”, MiniMoni’s “Crazy About You”, ROMANS’ “SEXY NIGHT ~Wasurerarenai Kare~”, and MoMusu’s “Indigo Blue Love”.) At a time period in American music when what currently passes for R&B is simply a single repetitive strain of music with a half-assed hook sung in a voice oversaturated with ProTools “vocoder” effects, both sides of MoMusu’s new single hark back to the days of TLC, Mary J. Blige, and En Vogue.
“Naichau Kamo” is a solid A-side featuring a dead-serious Morning Musume. Like last year’s opening single salvo “Resonant Blue”, Ai Takahashi and Reina Tanaka are the dominant vocalists. Unlike last year, although the song is uptempo, things are not as peppy and bright sounding as “Resonant Blue” and 2007’s opening barnburner “Egao YES Nude” – the song is about as minor key as you can get. Granted, “Resonant Blue”’s lyrics refered to a rocky relationship as well, but this time around, the lyrics of “Naichau Kamo” appear to be a continuation of “Resonant”’s storyline – things have gone from bad to worse for the couple depicted in the storyline and may be coming to a head one way or another. The song’s PV (an alternate edit of the PV is enclosed on the Limited A version of the single), with the shots of the girls shedding (real-looking) tears, further emphasizes this.
The single’s coupling track, “Yowamushi”, could have been a Mary J Blige song from one of her early albums – a comparison I attribute to the song’s arrangement and its particular use of slap bass, wah-pedal guitar, piano, and a few different minimal synth sounds. The only difference here is the more airy, fragile-sounding vocal tone of the various Morning Musume members rising above the instrumental arrangement, rather than the bolder and streetwise sound of Blige’s singing voice.
It’s not the normal first-of-the-year single I have come to expect for Morning Musume – coming out with such a sad-sounding A-side (tempo be damned) is a rather bold move artistically (but not saleswise – the single has already come close to 50,000 copies sold in its first week). But, with a new album forthcoming and the fact that the songs and the genre they are emulating are of a writing and performing standard that most Western R&B acts aren’t even bothering to try reaching for, it still makes this single a winner.
BUONO! Buono! 2
(Pony Canyon)
Available on CD and on iTunes Japan Rating:
Buono!’s full-length debut, Café Buono!, topped TGML’s Best Albums of 2008 list, so their sophomore effort has a big reputation to follow. How do you even dare follow such a perfect collection of modern-day girl-power pop-rock? To be honest, since this group was formed simply to provide theme music for an anime, I don’t even think that Airi Suzuki, Miyabi Natsuyaki and Momoko Tsugunaga expected this project to go more than a couple of singles at best or be more than a minor diversion in-between Berryz Koubou and °C-ute sessions. The fact that it’s gone this long is testament to the likelihood that the surface has barely been scratched as to what Buono! can do. (Don’t even get me started on the Japanese-pop-idols-with-guitars fantasies that the girls keep igniting within me every time they pose with instruments!)
“Early Bird” is a bright, peppy opening number, similar in tempo to Café Buono!’s opening title track. With it’s chiming synth notes, “Lust for Life” rhythm, and the girl’s fine harmonies, the song is so strong that it could have easily been a single A-side on its own.
“Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!”, the band’s third single, took a little while to grow on me. In the context of the rest of Buono! 2, it works like a charm, becoming even more of a highlight than it already is on the LP.
“Kira Kira” keeps the uptempo pace of the album going, albeit a few BPM’s slower than the preceding tracks. A descending chord pattern a-la Richard Hell’s “Blank Generation” gives way to Dinosaur Jr powerchords and Johnny Thunders guitar fills that fit in perfectly with the group’s vocals, climaxing in a brief coda of Sonic Youth-esque feedback.
“Shoushitsu Ten -Vanishing Point-” could have been a Tanpopo song for either the original lineup or the classic Johnson/Marippe/Aibon/Charmy formation. Guitars are mostly deemphasized (save for some acoustics throughout and a slightly Clapton-esque electric guitar solo) in favor of piano, chimes, and string synthesizer.
“Rottara Rottara”, the last Buono! single of 2008, starts off deceptively with an almost surf-like introduction only to shift gears into Dookie-era Green Day pop-punk when the rest of the band kicks in. It’s easily this album’s equivalent to last year’s “Renai Rider”.
“co • no • mi • chi”, this album’s preceding single, is indescribably infectious. The pop/punk guitars are present, but the emphasis on this rocker is the group’s vocals, judging by how prominent they are in the song’s final mix.
“Minna Daisuki”, the only B-side from the post-Café Buono! singles to make it to long-playing status, sounds like an anime closing theme to me – which is a kind of bizarre thing to mention given that it was actually the second opening theme to Shugo Chara!, the anime for which Buono! was first convened to record theme music for.
“I NEED YOU” starts off oddball – early Beatle chords played reggae style over popping syndrums before kicking into hyper-caffienated punk rock with lo-fi drum kit. Definitely a schizophrenic mix of styles (although conservatively so compared to Koharu Kusumi’s infamous polka/punk/reggae hybrid “Konnichi-pa”).
“Gachinko de Ikou!”, the group’s fourth single, is wonferfully typical Buono!, this time with techno-esque snatches breaking up their usual punky pop style.
“You’re My Friend” seems to be one of the more left-field tracks compared to most of the rest of the album. The song’s feel is more post-grunge 90’s rock – think Third Eye Blind’s “Semi-Charmed Life”, of all things, with a few sped up Thin Lizzy guitar harmonies and some uncomplicated organ chords coming in and out.
“OVER THE RAINBOW” starts to bring the tempo of the album down, again deemphasizing electric guitars (save for a couple of leads) in favor of acoustics and keyboards. After several uptempo songs in a row, a ballad-esque song that allows Airi, Miyabi and Momoko to stretch out vocally is a welcome treat.
“Goal” closes out the album with a brilliant mining of the same instrumentation and feel that Coldplay used on the title track of Viva La Vida. Apparently, myself and Vee weren’t the only ones in the J-pop world (inside or out) that were digging on Chris Martin and company’s latest effort. A-B both songs back to back on your iPod and you’ll see how uncanny the resemblance is. If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, Coldplay should be, as they say in merry old England, very well chuffed.
Verdict? The album’s track list is immaculately sequenced, and the group’s vocals have broadened and matured considerably without losing any of their youthful charms. Their chemistry as a threesome has also gotten stronger as well. Simply put, Buono! has beaten the sophomore jinx to a bloody fucking pulp.
KODA KUMI Trick
(Rhythm Zone/Avex)
Available in CD and CD+2xDVD editions; iTunes Japan edition pending Rating:
If it’s the beginning of the year, another new Koda Kumi studio album must have been released or is about to be. I love when this happens and always pre-order the most elaborate version I can get my hands on – usually whatever version has 2 DVDs in it (usually, one of PV’s and one of a live concert). Granted, the eyecandy is nice, but it’s what’s on the CD itself that I am most interested in. Last year, Kingdom had our Kuu-chin wearing a queen’s crown and sitting on a throne. This year, she’s rocking harlequin threads, matching makeup, and a Clockwork Orange hat. Not sure what’s up with that, but it’s an interesting look for the album cover.
After the album starts with what is by now the traditional overture on every Koda Kumi studio album, Trick gets into high gear right out of the starting gate with the techno groove of “TABOO”, probably my favorite out of all the singles she released last year.
“show girl” (yes, there are no capital letters in the title, just like on Minutemen album covers) follows, and while at first glance some people may be tempted to compare the song to Christina Aguilera’s recent big-band-influenced efforts, the song really owes more to Janet Jackson’s classic work with Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, especially in the song’s chorus.
The ballad “Your Love” follows at a very welcome place in the track sequence after the one-two punch of the previous cuts. The song’s arrangement is very heavy on electronic keyboards and multi-tracked Kuu-chin harmonies, with minimal bass parts coming in only in the chorus and bridge.
The album’s pre-release single, “stay with me” (another title with no capital letters involved) continues the ballad pacing, this time with a solo Kumi vocal and a beautiful string arrangement cushioning live piano and strings. The song itself could definitely be at home on pop or adult contemporary radio as well as Kuu-chin’s native urban/R&B format.
“This is not a love song” is not a cover of the Public Image Ltd. classic (although that would have been quite interesting and wouldn’t have been Kumi’s first foray into rock-influenced material – “Ningyo-hime” from Black Cherry, anyone?). Instead, it’s back into mid-tempo R&B/pop territory with British producer/remixer Pete “Boxsta” Martin (whose credits include Danni Minogue and Sugababes), all digital synths and multiple Koda harmonies. Not outstanding but a very solid album track.
“Driving” is appropriately named – another “TABOO”-esque uptempo tune not only bridging, but blurring the lines between R&B and techno.
“Bling Bling Bling” is the album’s weakest track, way too imitative of American hip-hop. Kumi’s rap vocals come off as an unconscious mockery of Fergie’s infamous “London Bridge” single. Her normal singing voice in the choruses saves the song, just barely.
And speaking of Fergie, the Koda Kumi/Fergie collaboration “That Ain’t Cool” follows. While I do have to admit that Fergie’s scenes in that black catsuit were way too freaky, my concern is the song itself, and the collaboration between the Kumi and Fergie works despite the fact that both vocalists’ ranges are so damn similar that they blend indistinguishably with each other, just like Bob Dylan’s and Tom Petty’s vocals did when they sang together on the Traveling Wilburys’ “Handle with Care”.
“Hurry Up!” is propelled by a hyper guitar riff and matching drum beat reminiscent of, of all things, Ministry’s “Jesus Built My Hotrod”. The only thing missing is Gibby Hanes’ auctioneer-on-acid scat-singing (he’d probably be too busy staring at Kumi’s ass) and the image of Al Jourgensen almost falling off the end of his Marshall-amped pedal steel.
“Moon Crying”, last summer’s single (“That Ain’t Cool” was its double A-side) returns to a fitting ballad form for Kumi’s vocal talents – acoustic piano, strings, and drums. Sometimes I think Kumi is a really underrated singer, and I like it when she gets chances to show off her entire range (and to emote without falling into the trap of using ridiculous American Idle histrionics) like this one.
“Just The Way You Are” is NOT a cover of the Billy Joel standard, but finds Kuu-chin collaborating with yet another gaijin production/songwriting team, Canadians Matthew Gerrard and Greg Critchley. Gerrard worked with some Radio Disney puppets, which doesn’t impress me at all, but Critchley’s comments on his MySpace blog (“This song is fun, and was more of a “top-line” co-write for me…all part of my recent efforts to do the unfamiliar and go where I don’t usually go”) do. The song itself is again uptempo and Janet Jacksonish, driven by a catching string quartet riff.
“Joyful” is one of the standout album tracks, with Kumi getting a nice, multi-sectional pop/R&B song with varying guitar textures (almost folkish acoustic strums, funky rhythm parts, and some biting lead fills), string synths, and almost gospel-esque chorus harmonies sharing the stage with Kuu-chin’s vocals.
“Ai no Kotoba” is the last of the album’s ballads, giving Kumi some live guitar and bass to go along with the piano and strings this time around.
The album ends with a nice surprise in the form of a tough, solid cover version of Shocking Blue’s “Venus” that puts both the original recording and Bananarama’s lame 80’s remake to shame. Even nicer is the fact that Kumi has her English diction down to a T (compared to her cover version of “A Whole New World” on Best: Second Session), although early on a few fans (judging from the last.fm comments) thought Kuu-chin was singing “I’m your penis”. Um, no, guys… that’s definitely not what she’s singing. If Kumi was on an American record label they’d probably be exploiting the fuck out of this song right about now.
Trick is definitely a good way to start off J-Pop in 2009, and I think it’s already fast becoming my favorite Koda Kumi album. 4.75 out of 5 stars.
MORNING MUSUME Cover You (Zetima)
Availability: CD, iTunes Japan and US Rating:
First, a few facts. This is (and probably isn’t) Morning Musume’s ninth studio album. There’s no number in the title. And contrary to what the Wikipedia entry for this album says (As of this writing, wiki.theppn.org is still down), the album is not entirely Pink Lady covers (I’ll get to that in a moment) – the unifying theme of this album is that the songs were written or co-written by the prolific songwriter Yuu Aku. Interestingly, this is also the first Morning Musume album where the band didn’t suffer a lineup change in the period between albums – counting best-of releases, since those tend to have single A-sides and other tracks no other album contains.
In reviewing this album, I have to qualify that despite my trying to find as much as possible about past Japanese pop classics, there’s still a shitload that I have to learn. It’s a cycle that started for me with the first, all-covers W album and has slowly – painstakingly, at times, since English information on most pre-MoMusu J-pop is scarce – manifested itself since. One thing I can compare Cover You with, obviously, is W’s aforementioned first album Duo U&U. Also, I should state that with the exception of the three Pink Lady tracks, I cannot compare Morning Musume’s covers to the originals. Given my growing interest in Showa-period Japanese pop and enka over the past year, I really looked forward to this album. Read the rest of this entry »
MESHIBE OHORI (Megumi Ohori of AKB48) “Amai Kokansetsu” single
(VAP)
Available on CD Rating:
According to legend (well, actually the news as reported here), AKB48′s oldest member, Megumi Ohori, was alleged to be “struggling” to be a popular idol within the band. Her age, 25, is being used as an excuse as to why. AKB48′s creator and lyricist, Yasushi Akimoto, reportedly put forth the challenge: sell 10,000 copies of a CD single under an assumed name, or be next to graduate from AKB48. The reason for an assumed name is said to be insurance for the rest of the band in case the single flops. The single is also released on a label other than AKB48′s new label, King or their previous label, DefSTAR/Sony Japan. Talk about covering your ass! Members of the band seem to be behind her, given that a reproduction of a note of support for Meetan-hime is being given to buyers of the single. Will she get those 10,000 sales (well, 9,999 more, since a copy sits on my desk)?
If she doesn’t get those sales, there’s something wrong. The song, a Latin-infused number a la Sexy Otanajan’s “Onna, Kanashii, Otona” (only several beats faster in tempo, very sexy-sounding, and not so bossa-nova’ed), is very well written and played by an all-live band, and Megumi/Meshime’s voice reminds me a lot of Kaori Iida’s.
The only caveat? No coupling track. I would have liked to have heard a B-side that complimented “Amai Kokansetsu”, because I was left wanting more than just the A-side and an instrumental version.
Hopefully Megumi/Meshime will still be a part of AKB48 after this single reaches its sales target, because I want to hear more.
Five stars.
ETA: When I got home from work, I had a chance to see the PV on the single’s bonus DVD. Let’s just say that it’s been a long time since I had difficulty picking my jaw up off of the floor…
MORNING MUSUME Pepper Keibu (single)
(Zetima)
Available on CD, CD/DVD and iTunes US & Japan Rating:
This is the way I like to review a single – not from a torrented download, a PV soundtrack, or a radio rip, but from the actual CD.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, the idea of Morning Musume doing a Pink Lady cover appealed to me greatly. I liked MoMusu’s version as heard on the PV, but waited until hearing the actual CD before formulating a final opinion on it for the purposes of this review. I am definitely not disappointed.
Morning Musume’s cover of “Pepper Keibu” starts off rather deceptively with a slow keyboard ending before going into an almost-note-for-note, beat-for-beat copy of the Pink Lady original. When the first verse starts, however, the rhythm changes and we get a suitably rigid-yet-swinging 21st Century dance/pop rhythm. The band could have done the song note for note and it would have been an enjoyable listen, but it wouldn’t have been a true Morning Musume single. In other words, the song as performed here sounds like it should be a strong A-side; a 100% copy of the original arrangement wouldn’t have rated more than a B-side or album track (and probably come off as filler amongst an album of Morning Musume/Tsunku originals).
The B-side, “ROMANCE”, is a song I’m not familiar with – I don’t know who did the original song (someone else in the IW blogosphere mentioned it, but I forget who). It sounds like the arrangers may have stuck a little closer to the original recording’s Showa Era-arrangement, albeit with a few more modern production touches like a sequencer pattern, audio strobing (i.e. in this case, the backing track cutting on and off rapidly and rhythmically), and the like.
The vocal performances are top notch – the A-side in particular has some of the best harmonizing the present lineup has ever done. Nothing wrong with Reina’s solo lines either. There’s a reason why she’s up front on this single and on “Resonant Blue” – the woman can sing!
This’ll be a nice tide-over until COVER YUU drops.
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