TWIJ…#36
10 October 2007
Forgive me if I’m a little out of whack this week as I try to balance listening to three albums I’ve been eagerly anticipating; Spitz’s Sazanami CD, Radiohead’s In Rainbows (Yes, I paid for it. And yes, I paid more than 1p) and Shiraishi Minoru’s Lucky Star ending theme collection. Odd mix perhaps, but variety is after all, the spice of life.
Singles
DAYBREAK’S BELL. L’arc~en~ciel
I’m thinking that I should like DAYBREAK’S BELL a lot more than I do, given how close it is in style to some of my fave Laruku songs like HEAVEN’S DRIVE and LOVER BOY. Maybe I need time for it to grow on me, but I just feel like there’s something missing. And boy, what the heck is going on with Natsu no Yuutsu 2007? I literally couldn’t stop laughing when the guitars kicked in. Heavy metal does NOT suit them. Anyhow, Laruku are miles ahead of the competition and will be sitting comfortably at the top of the singles charts come next Tuesday night. The Gundam connection certainly helps too.
Watch: DAYBREAK’S BELL PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.01
Rating: ★★★☆☆
I Love You no Katachi/Haneyume. Yaida Hitomi
Woah, it’s been a year since her last single. I can’t help but feel Yaiko’s best days are behind her. I Love You no Katachi is certainly nowhere near the standard she’s capable of producing. Haneyume, the theme song for special drama Ganges Gawa no Butterfly is slightly better but I really don’t like the watered-down acoustic style that she’s adopted for the last few years. What happened to the fun, rocking Yaida Hitomi - the one that brought us classics like Hitori Jenga, Ring my bell and Andante? Maybe marriage has made her go soft ^^;;
Watch: Haneyume live
First day Oricon chart placing: No.10
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Key~Yume kara Samete~. Nagase Miyu
She’s baaaccckkkk!! OK, so not a lot of people would be excited about that - maybe most people wouldn’t even recognise the name Nagase Miyu. But the name ZONE should be familiar even to anime watchers, they were immortalised in Haruhi after all. Albeit as ENOZ ^_^ Anyway, after Miyu’s first two urban-styled singles back in 2004 she finally makes a comeback . I’d thought it would be an r’n'b song like Just 4 Your Luv but she’s chosen to return to her rock roots, roping in Porno Graffitti producer Honma Akimitsu (ak.homma). It’s a little more mature than the teeny-bopper rock of ZONE, but still very much the sort of pop that fans can identify with. Though one wonders if Miyu was intent on going down the rock route why she didn’t join Maiko’s band MARIA ^^;;
First day Oricon chart placing: No.11
Rating: ★★★★☆
LOVE★GUN. Hirano Aya
Ugh, rock. Exactly the type of music I’d prefer Hirano not to do. Neither song has much going for it, being the sort of punk rock that went out of fashion 5 years ago. Kurosu Katsuhiko must’ve been asleep when he wrote them both ^^;; And I don’t like how she’s screaming rather than singing the words tbh. No doubt Aya’s zealous army of followers will ensure LOVE★GUN is a hit but methinks she’ll have to broaden her sound if she’s hoping to appeal to anyone outside the otaku faction. Lantis describes this single as ‘CRASH!’ and next month’s as yet untitled single as ‘Cool & Elegance’ which hopefully means it’ll be some jazz or swing, or maybe enka (lol) so that Aya can show off her singing chops.
Watch: LOVE★GUN PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.04
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Aoharuiro. Onsoku Line
Onsoku Line are relative unknowns outside their homeland, sadly. Parts of the oddly named Aoharuiro (青春色) echoes Spitz’ Hotaru but like many of their finest songs is an epic, string-laden singalong rock anthem. Their B-sides are strong offerings as usual, with the groovy Snafu and acoustic folk tune High School Lullaby. Look out for their third album Sanmai Oroshi which will be released on 14th November.
Watch: Aoharuiro PV
First day Oricon chart placing: No.17
Rating: ★★★★☆
WINNER. RYTHEM
The ‘for kids’ tagged on their name made me instantly think of Utada Hikaru’s Boku wa Kuma for some reason ^^; And then I found out that WINNER is also featured on NHK show Minna no Uta so that makes sense. Unfortunately the only part of the song that sounds like it’s aimed at kids are the lyrics (message: don’t give up!), the melody itself is pretty drab and not catchy at all. The c/w song is amusingly titled Chameleon Kamen (Karma Chameleon anyone?), and it’s actually a very fun 70s/80s-style Jpop that recalls the music of idol queens Nakamori Akina and Koizumi Kyoko.
Watch: WINNER on Minna no Uta
First day Oricon chart placing: No.29
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Tuning Note. Fujiki Naohito
Fujiki’s more well-known as an actor with roles in popular drama like 1litre no Namida, Proposal Daisakusen and Hotaru no Hikari. I’m more familiar with his music career though, having randomly stumbled across the PV for his debut single Sekai no Hate on the telly 6-7 years ago. Tuning Note is his first single in over a year, and is the theme song for NTV drama Harikei. It’s a decent enough pop song, but I’m struggling to remember it after the first listen. Same goes for the other two tracks - bland & completely unmemorable. It’s nice that Fujiki is composing his own songs but based on this single, it’s best he leave it to the experts.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.09
Rating: ★★☆☆☆
Albums
Sazanami CD. Spitz
A new Spitz release is always something to be celebrated. For me anyway, since they’re my favourite band - I’d call them my first Japanese love ^^; Spitz have got one of the most recognisable sounds in Japan - whatever you call it; nostalgic, melancholic, wistful, dreamy, there’s nobody around that sounds like them. I was glad that the Hachikuro anime brought Spitz to a wider audience cos they deserve to be heard. And, oh… enough fangirling.
Their albums have become progressively mainstream over their career and Sazanami CD is the most accessible one they’ve released yet. There’s precious few attempts to rock out here, with Kusano sticking to writing melodic pop-rock, an art that he’s perfected over the course of Spitz’ 20-year career. Some of the highlights include the gentle ballad P, the spiritual successor to the similarly singularly lettered Y (from Hachimitsu), the gloriously upbeat Fushigi & the contemplative title track Sazanami. In time, this might just overtake Fake Fur as my favourite album but one thing I can assure you is that Spitz fans will not be disappointed by this.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.01
Rating: ★★★★☆
Lucky Star Ending Theme Collection - Shiraishi Minoru no Otoko no Lullaby. Shiraishi Minoru
Not a Lucky Star maniac, but I did tune in for the ending sequences during the second half of the season to see what Shiraishi came up with. I’m actually very impressed by his ’songwriting abilities’, from the sentai theme Shikaida no Uta to the fantastic early-90s Jpop-like Kaorin no Theme to the infamous Ore no Wasuremono. I only wish Otoko no Ikizama had gotten a full recorded version cos it’s an absolute blast and perfect for karaoke. Someone get Shiraishi Minoru a recording contract ASAP!
First day Oricon chart placing: No.19
Rating: ★★★★☆
2007. SOPHIA
I was slightly concerned about how 2007 would turn out given the patchiness in quality of the singles that preceded it (Stain, Aozora no Kakera) and the fact that it’s their 11th album in 12 years - surely they’ve got to take a break sometime or the public will be bored of them. In truth, all the new songs on the album sound good enough to be singles and I wonder how the likes of Moratorium Ningen and bell never made it as A-sides. And therein lies the main flaw of 2007 - there isn’t much flow or balance in the tracks, jumping from ballad to rock song to ballad again. It’s enjoyable, but just a bit disjointed.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.05
Rating: ★★★☆☆
ALL LIVE BEST. Suga Shikao
I’m not sure the world needs yet another Suga Shikao live album. Especially not a double-disced one. The last live CD was a mere 4 years ago, and again he didn’t include any of my favourite songs T_T (Hikari no kawa, 8gatsu no Serenade, Happy Birthday). That’s not to say that ALL LIVE BEST is rubbish, Suga is a good live performer - but just that the material, with the exception of Gogo no Parade and Yudachi sound rather stale and flat.
First day Oricon chart placing: No.04
Rating: ★★★☆☆
Wonderful Life. JUJU
New-York based jazz vocalist JUJU’s first full-length album. Unfortunately what starts as a pretty promising album fizzles out towards the middle, bogged down by too many sloooooow ballads. I would have liked a few more fast-paced songs like rush hour and Song for you to shake things up a little. Also doesn’t help that two of the best songs on Wonderful Life, Kimi ga Nozomu nara… and Open Your Mind were already on JUJU’s mini-album released just 4 months ago. People’s memories aren’t that short, Sony…
First day Oricon chart placing: No.27
Rating: ★★★☆☆
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I’ve got 9mm Parabellum Bullet and Matsushita Nao’s new releases as well, but now I’m saving them for my in-flight listening pleasure this holiday weekend. Will review them next week. And yeah, I gave up hoping that Nonaka Ai would ever improve so even though I did listen to her new single Ureshinaki I’ve run out of insults for her. She ran a similar 3-months, 3-singles campaign as Hirano Aya but obviously with much less success ^^;