There is considerable temptation – both spoken and unspoken – to compare Morning Musume and AKB48 to each other in the J-pop community, both in the blogosphere and amongst those who frequent boards and chat rooms. In many ways, this is an apples vs. oranges argument. Morning Musume are an established act with over a decade’s worth of albums, singles, and DVDs under their collective belt. AKB48 are practically the new kids in town, not even five years old. One is a more compact unit (albeit one that once boasted 15 members on recordings), the other is a veritable rotating talent pool/reparatory company. One act is more of a singles band than an album act, while the other could be either/or. One has eleven studio albums (counting a forthcoming March 2010 release and a cover/concept album that wasn’t traditionally numbered), the other has several album-length releases, but none could really be called studio albums in the traditional sense – more like cast recordings of their theatrical performances. One band has eleven Number One singles and only ever missed the Oricon Top 5 twice in their entire career to date – and both times, they never peaked at a position lower than #6; the other only has one Number One single so far, and didn’t break the Oricon Top 5 until the fall of 2008 – until then, #6 had been their highest chart position.
However… they both make great recordings. And that is where this series – in planning since last November – comes in.
Over several parts – each devoted to a single apiece from both bands – this author will be comparing the singles of Morning Musume and AKB48, strictly on musical grounds. Neither single covers nor PVs will be involved in the comparison. Sales numbers and chart rankings will have no relevance here, either, especially since neither has anything to do with the long-term impact of the music itself. (Consider how three of the most influential and beloved albums to be released in the mid-Eighties – the Minutemen’s Double Nickels on the Dime, Husker Du’s Zen Arcade, and Slayer’s Reign in Blood – have had far-reaching cultural impact in the twenty-some years since those records were first released, even though their initial sales were a fraction of what the major pop acts of the day were selling.)
How this works will be quite simple: Each Morning Musume single will be evaluated alongside its AKB48 counterpart – or vice versa, depending on which single came out first. The first installment, for example will pair MoMusu’s “Sexy Boy ~Soyokaze ni Yorisotte~” with AKB’s “Sakura no Hanabiratachi”. There will be no pre-determined outcome; there may not even be one. Yes, I refer to Morning Musume as my favorite band almost as regularly as I eat, shit, and breathe, but I am also a big AKB48 fan. If I had disliked AKB48, I would not even be writing this series, let alone be owning, hosting, and collaborating on a site dedicated to a favorite member of that group. This will simply be a somewhat scientific/scholarly look at where each act was when they released singles within weeks of each other.
In most cases, their release schedules for singles happened within weeks of each other, making the comparisons easy. In a couple of cases, AKB48 released singles within weeks of a previous single of theirs while Morning Musume had no brand new release to counter it; one single, the 2008 “re-release”/re-recording of “Sakura no Hanabiratachi”, will be left out of this comparison for reasons to be fully explained later, and their digital-only single “Baby-Baby-Baby” will also, most likely, be left out since there was no Morning Musume single to counterbalance – using the MoMusu side band High-King’s single “C/C (Cinderella Complex)”, released around the same time, would not be a very fair comparison, even if for many fans the single filled what has to be the longest gap between Morning Musume singles (April 2008’s “Resonant Blue” and September 2008’s “Pepper Keibu”) ever. “Boku No Taiyou” has also left me with a bit of a dilemma, given that it dropped seemingly within days of the release of “BINGO!” – I haven’t decided on whether or not it will be part of this survey. It might be, but pitting two AKB singles against one MoMusu single from the same time period will probably be pushing it. No matter. This is strictly for fun, not part of a contest to determine which band is better than another.
Yeah, I know, some of you are saying, “say what”? Didn’t TGML start up back in August of last year? What’s this “third anniversary” shit?
Well, three years ago, I started blogging seriously at the first version of MotokoAoyama.com in April of 2006. However, the exact start date is lost to the ages thanks to the business ineptitude of a webhost owned by a part-time hair metal oldies band drummer. For whatever reason, I didn’t commemorate the first anniversary of Stuck In A Pagoda, but decided last year to make April 11th the official anniversary to coincide with the day my fiancee and I witnessed seeing Iggy Pop & The Stooges at the Electric Factory on 4.11.07. The clip of the Stooges doing “TV Eye” below was shot two days beforehand in New York City.
And to cover the other half of this blog’s usual musical equation and remain with the live concert theme, a live version of one of the best singles Morning Musume has done (to date) in that same three-year time period. No slouch to the rest of the top notch material the band has done in that time period (”Eago YES Nude”, “Mikan”, “Kanashimi Twilight”, etc.), but the choice was easy because it happens to be the most played Morning Musume song on my iTunes:
You can name and/or recognize half or more of the AKB48 research students or H!P Eggs. I couldn’t even name anybody in AKB48 proper, except for Megumi Ohori because of her solo single.
You own at least 10 photos of your favorite idol. Guilty as charged!
You buy t-shirts advertising your favorite idol/idol group and wear them on a regular basis. If you’re a man 25+, you don’t feel any regret or embarrassment about this. Regrettably innocent. Japan doesn’t seem to make their shirts in American XL size, otherwise I’d have at least one Morning Musume shirt and one Reina Tanaka shirt.
You know all of your favorite idol’s stats by heart. I know Reina Tanaka’s birthday, where she’s from, and what her first single with the band was. Beyond that, fuggedaboutit.
Whenever anyone insults your favorite idol or idol group, you immediately come to their defense… even if you know you’re b.s.ing half your compliments. (i.e. “They’re good singers!” “She can dance well!” “She has more personality than [insert some famous TV personality here]” “They’re NOT ugly!”) For one thing, I don’t bullshit my compliments when it comes to J-Pop. Other than that, guilty as charged, especially where my fiancée is concerned. All that having been said, anyone in MoMusu could run circles around [name of a certain teen pop/TV star deleted as I vowed never to mention her name on this blog ever again].
You have spent more than you make a day on idol goods. Guilty!
You can recognize all of your favorite idols’ voices. Yep.
You have almost a stalkerish obsession with wanting to meet them or even just see them in person. I definitely don’t know about stalkerish obsession, but let’s be fucking blunt: Morning Musume are my favorite band along with Iggy Pop & The Stooges, and since I’ve gotten to see the Stooges play live last year in what was the best fucking concert I’ve ever seen in my life, I need to get my ass to Japan someday so that I can complete that equation! If I got to MEET them, I’d probably be extremely fucking nervous.
You hear someone say something that remotely sounds like your favorite idol’s name and you immediately assume they’re also a wota. Let’s just say that it doesn’t help that Reina is also a common name for Latin females!
You heavily anticipate any news from your idol. Guilty.
You have sent fan-mail. Honestly, I wouldn’t know where to send them fan mail.
Your favorite idol appears in your dreams more than once. Hasn’t happened with Reina Tanaka yet, but I do remember a dream where I was supposed to be going away somewhere the next day and I’m in a room with my parents and Mika Todd.
You have wondered what would happen if your idol dated you. (Mainly for guys, but if we include Johnnys here…) Actually, I haven’t wondered what a date with Reina would be like. A record-shopping trip with Reina would be quite interesting, though…
Your husband/wife/boyfriend/girlfriend/immediate family has learned to deal with your obsession long ago. Perhaps.
If your favorite idol is suspended/fired/retired/graduated/has no work with their agency/other you check more than two sources of possible info everyday and accept any rumors about his/her return to be true immediately. Um, seriously, I’m trying to put what happened with Ai Kago out of my mind, but…
You have at least 3 photobooks or DVDs of your favorite idol. To date, four photobooks and two DVDs of Reina.
You could colorcode a song sung by AKB48 O.o (I’m afraid of those who can!) I couldn’t even colorcode a song sung by MoMusu!
You do fandubs, cosplays, or fandances of your favorite idol or idol group. This would be fellow Cancerian wota Vee’s department. Personally, on a related note, I’m surprised I haven’t sat down with my guitar and figured out the chord changes to MoMusu songs!
You make birthday and worship posts on a blog/forum. Guilty in the first degree – hell, I started So Hot She Shits Fire on Reina’s 18th birthday and did birthday posts that day on MotokoAoyama.com and YODC as well.
You don’t take the cheap route and buy your idol’s songs from iTunes or another mp3 site, you spend the money to order every edition of the CD/DVD. Unfortunately, I’ve taken the impatient route and downloaded a few things from either iTunes or Hello-Online.org’s tracker when the mail service for an advance order was way too slow for my liking.
Some time ago, another blog covered by IW (I tried to find the link through IW itself but couldn’t locate it – if anyone knows what entry I’m talking about, let me know and I’ll replace this part of the text with that link) asked about the buying habits of fellow bloggers. Given that over a year ago I wrote an entry on Stuck In A Pagoda v2.0 that pretty much lambasted people who rely primarily on pirated mp3’s for their music, and that I practice what I preach, I started to calculate how my buying habits went for new music this past year.
Obviously, my intake of Japanese CD’s has continued at a steady rate this year – loyal grabbings of Morning Musume/Hello! Project releases, Koda Kumi’s most recent album and singles, EPs by The Husky and SCANDAL, the best-of anthology from The Possible, Mai Kuraki’s newest effort, and some initial forays into the world of AKB48 (which is going to be an article in and of itself soon) all come to mind. My interest in enka has also taken a turn towards mostly digital works (both CD and legal downloads – another reason to keep the account balance up on my Japanese iTunes account), which is a good thing.
Then I tried to think back to what non-Japanese CDs I’d bought this year. That was harder, as I tried to recall what was the last non-J-Pop CD I bought.
I kept trying to think it was Metallica’s Death Magnetic, given their having Rick Rubin replace Bob Rock and do some music that harkened, if not to their Ride The Lightning/Master of Puppets days, then at least to …And Justice for All. And kept thinking that I was wrong. It’s on my iPod – that much is sure as I went right to AmazonMP3.com for that one. Why am I thinking that the last American CD I bought was Hawthorne Heights’ new release? Read the rest of this entry »
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.
No sooner did I mention how long it was since Morning Musume last released a studio album, than word comes out (in the wake of “Pepper Keibu”’s PV hitting Dohhh! UP – suffice it to say that I am knocked out by the song and its current PV and that, for obvious reasons, I certainly won’t complain about the amount of face and mic time Reina Tanaka gets; I’ll save further description for the week the single is actually in my hands) that Morning Musume are releasing an album of covers centered around the work of songwriter Aku Yuu (who died last year at the age of 70, leaving behind 5,000 songs from his prolific pen). This made my ears perk up considerably given my deepening interest in Japanese popular music of all kinds (something that sparked my grabbing that stack of enka 45s on eBay, which sparked The Vinyl Pagoda Project, of course).
Like the tracks that filled out the first W album (including two songs penned by Yuu, the Pink Lady covers “Southpaw” and “Nagisa No Sinbad”), the album will offer to 21st century music lovers a look into Japanese pop music history. The bad news is that since the album’s concept is centered around songs from the Aku Yuu back catalog, there’s no opportunity for Morning Musume to try their hand at some other Showa Era songs – like, for example, a chance for Reina Tanaka or Ai Takahashi to plow through a rocking take on Akina Nakamori’s “Shojo A”.
Unfortunately, as a couple of other bloggers in the IW blogosphere have pointed out, the cover concept also orphans all of the post-Sexy 8 Beat singles that would have otherwise ended up on a MoMusu long-player. Granted, “Kanashimi Twilight” and “Onna Ni Sachi Are” may have a home on the ALL SINGLES COMPLETE anthology, but what about “Mikan” and “Resonant Blue”? I don’t know, but I’m not completely worried about that right now. This is the first Morning Musume studio album to not have a number in its title, so it’s a relatively safe guess to suggest that Morning Musume’s proper ninth album, after another original single release in, say December 2008 or January 2009, will give “Mikan” and “Resonant Blue” a long playing home.
COVER YUU, when released this November (a year after “Mikan”), will also serve one other positive purpose, I think: Not only reinforcing, but cementing Morning Musume’s place in Japanese music history. They’ve already broken Pink Lady’s records for most Top 10 singles and most Number One singles on the Oricon charts, and it already looks like MoMusu’s 21st century take on “Pepper Keibu” will extend those reigns. What other record of Pink Lady’s could Morning Musume surpass? Going higher on the Billboard singles chart than “Kiss In The Dark” did would be nice – but that, as one wise man often says, is another show.
As odd as it might seem for Morning Musume to be following up one of their best ever singles with a cover version, I certainly don’t object to their forthcoming cover of Pink Lady’s “Pepper Keibu”. Pink Lady were the first Japanese act I had ever heard back when “Kiss In The Dark” was being heavily pushed by Elektra Records here in the States, long before that disastrous variety show. And it isn’t the first time Morning Musume ever encountered Pink Lady (their 2004 Music Fair collaborations on “The*Peace”, “S.O.S.” and “Love Machine”, anyone?) or anyone in Hello! Project recorded a cover version from Mei & Kay’s back catalog – Aibon and Nono, of course, covered “Southpaw” and “Nagisa No Sinbad” on their first album as W, Duo U&U, back in 2004. Of course, there was Takitty and Gaki’s recent turn portraying Pink Lady on Japanese TV earlier this summer (doing this very song).
What makes this even cooler is that Morning Musume broke Pink Lady’s record for most Top 10 singles in the Japanese Top 10 awhile back, which adds a nice bit of irony (however unintended) to the proceedings.
Hopefully, once this single hits the racks, we won’t have to wait several months for the follow-up. It’s already been almost two years since the last studio album, for Chrissakes…
It’s kind of lame that the first thing I post about regarding Morning Musume at my new blogging home is the cancellation of their TV show HaroMoni@. However, I’m not worried.
I didn’t see any full episodes, only clips (many of those having only Reina Tanaka in them, for reasons obvious only to longtime readers of MotokoAoyama.com (both versions) and SHSSF. From what I read of descriptions of the show, it seemed to get sillier and sillier with every episode. Didn’t bother me though.
It wasn’t the talent that was the problem with the show – Morning Musume still continue to sell records, having not missed the Oricon Top 10 in their entire history. It was the situations they found themselves in. Their previous program, Hello! Morning, had the group in a bigger variety of situations both in and out of the studio. HaroMoni@ had them stuck in a TV studio being bossed around by a puppet in a crown and a diaper.
Morning Musume and Up-Front Works will, no doubt, have a new TV outlet to replace HaroMoni@. With the band still a priority for UFW, that’s pretty much a given, and I wouldn’t be surprised if UFW had a contingency plan in place once they saw the writing on the wall. I would also not be surprised if an announcement on MoMusu’s replacement program came before HaroMoni@’s last episode airs at the end of September.
The only real disadvantage I can see, from my point of view, is that the end of HaroMoni@ also means the end of eyecandy of my favorite MoMusu wearing those rather sexy cat ears.
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