The Wonder Years
July 25, 2008 at 9:06 pm | In Wonder Girls | Leave a CommentTags: 2007, album, The Wonder Years, Wonder Girls
- I Wanna
- This Fool
- Tell Me
- Friend
- Headache
- So What (feat. David Kim)
- Wishing On A Star
- Move
- Take It
- Goodbye
- Bad Boy
- Sorry Heart ~Tears~
- Irony
Quite frankly, this album deserves a better write-up and I feel that I’m sufficiently strong enough, literacy-wise, to do that now.
I Wanna is probably the strongest theme setting opening track I’ve ever heard. It hits on the 80’s influenced dance style that this album is mostly based around. Now that I’ve heard more from the Wonder Girls I realised how strong the vocals actually are here. It’s painfully obvious during this that these girls have a lot of talent and potential and at the moment they’re banking on addictive songs to get them into the charts. I wanna is a little unfocused, there’s a lot of repeating lines and a lot of saying ‘I wanna love you’ which means my enjoyment is lessened slightly.
Track Rating; A-
This Fool (Ee Babo) is, essentially, the track that made me curious to hear more from the Wonder Girls. The synth mixed with the hip-hop/R’n'B stylings in the background, as well as a memorable chorus and great vocals mean that this is a recipe for success. While it doesn’t sound like the kind of song a rap should fit in YooBin manages it. In short Ee Babo is a song worth listening to if you’re not sold on So Hot and Tell Me because it displays some of their versatility and that they have more substance than has been previously shown.
Track Rating; A*
How could we get away from it really? Tell Me is the song that rocketed these girls to fame and I get oddly nostalgic when I hear it. If it’s addictive enough for the entirety of South Korea to learn the dance then it’s good enough to be on my MP3 player for several months. SoHee is the weakest vocalist in the group and this shows due to fact she gets a lead part in the song. She’s not quite of the standard of the rest of the girls and I want to see her improve a bit. As YooBin came into the group as a replacement for HyunA, this version does not contain the rap.
Track Rating; A+
Friend is your basic, bordering on stereotypical, R’n'B ballad. I should hate it but I don’t. The melody is a little dull to tell the truth but the quality of the vocals is more than enough to make up for that. The lyrics are cliche but charming – You’re my best friend but you can’t be my boyfriend - and the ad-libbing is gorgeous throughout.
Track Rating; A-
Headache is a delightfully quirky track. The talk sections at the beginning of each verse infuse the song with ridiculous amounts of personality, and not a little humour. Some odd doses of English here and there which are rather refreshing and give me, personally, something to latch onto when listening to it because frankly I have absolutely no idea what they’re actually on about. The chorus has an interesting sound (flat?) but it’s cohesive with the track.
Track Rating; B+
So What isn’t all that different from Headache in terms of impression. David Kim adds his bit of rap which is quite nice when there’s a “conversation”. I’m finding it rather hard to talk about this song. I like it, but there’s not much to point out really – it doesn’t warrant skipping over but it’s not the most impressive track on the album.
Track Rating; B+
Wishing On A Star is another ballad. I’m not too keen on the opening oohs – They’re a little weak but the verse is very nicely sung. I’ve never been one for ballads and unfortunately this one starts quite slowly and only really gets interesting at the chorus. I particularly like the ‘Wishing On A Star‘ line, but the rest of the track just doesn’t have enough hook to it. Worth it if you’re more inclined to the style of song… I do have one favourite bit though. The one day my dreams will come true line sounds so wonderfully Disney that I couldn’t not love it.
Track Rating; B
Move has a longer opening than it needs. It’s not really that long, I’m just being picky, but considering the rest of the song has exactly the same sound recurring throughout it runs the risk of being annoying. The verses are understated and there’s not much that can really go wrong with the vocals but the chorus owns the entire song. Move, my shaking heart to you sounds so good and the harmonisation is brilliant. The best thing about this track is the space it allows for various girls to show off their adlibbing skill.
Track Rating; B+/A-
Take It is a slower song, but not a ballad. Chimes start us off before the practically required oohs and yeahs are added. Because it just steers clear of ballad territory Take It interests me in the same way as Ee Babo does. The chorus is a real focal point due to all sorts of reasons. The pace is more interesting, the verses feel a little like they’re just there and the harmonisation is great. YooBin’s rap sounds ever so slightly out of place for the first couple of seconds and then you get used to it, but it wasn’t really needed. Listen to it to hear the one adlib that will make the hairs on the back of your neck stand on end.
Track Rating; B/B+
Goodbye does take too long to start. Quite frankly if you have to ask people to report to the dancefloor that many times, maybe they don’t want to. Goodbye is pretty simplistic – there’s nothing fancy done with the backing or melody but it has a slight addictive quality that makes this one of my favourite tracks off the album. Favourite bit is the repetition of Goodbye-ah after the main section of the chorus. After a track where YooBin sounded out of place, she’s fit in just right here.
Track Rating; A/A+
Bad Boy is another of my favourites. The drum beat is unusual but the pace of the lyrics is rather awesome. The lines that they sing together sound great and, once again, the chorus owns. With English lyrics (You’ve been a bad boy to me, Don’t come back to me) which are pretty memorable make this one easy to sing along to when you’re as fail at Korean as I am. Probably my third favourite song.
Track Rating; A+
Sorry Heart ~Tears~ is another ballad, shockingly, and is once again introduced by chimes. This one actually completely fails at interesting me and grabs the prize as the only WG track that I don’t really like in one way or another. Great if you like the style of music but doesn’t offer my any particular saving graces like Wishing On A Star did.
Track Rating; C
Everytime I get to Irony I always think “The end already?”. This song is the lead track from their first single The Wonder Begins and proved to be a minor hit. The repeats of ‘irony’ are pretty addictive and the beat is strong and it is a great dance track. Okay, I’m tired now and this is the last track – this is a cop-out really. I love this song, always have and I’ll leave it at that.
Track Rating; A+
Overall… After the gargantuan success of Tell Me I was expecting to be let down by The Wonder Years. But everything was the total opposite to what I thought it would be. Going back to this album several times since my inital review, I’m surprised that I didn’t notice how truly beat and synth driven the Wonder Girls music actually is. Each song is positively dripping with at least one quality, whether it’s dancability like Tell Me and Irony, or the sweet touch in songs like Wishing On A Star and Take It, all but one song appease some corner of my psyche. Though the style and execution may not be to everyone’s taste this was certainly not a let down from my point of view.
Overall Rating; A
Doushite Kimi wo Suki ni Natte Shimattandarou?
July 24, 2008 at 8:42 pm | In Tohoshinki | Leave a CommentTags: 2008, Box in the Sheep, Doushite Kimi wo Suki ni Natte Shimattandarou?, single, Tohoshinki
- Doushite Kimi wo Suki ni Natte Shimattandarou?
- Box in the Ship
- Doushite Kimi wo Suki ni Natte Shimattandarou? (Instrumental)
- Box in the Ship (Instrumental)
Doushite Kimi wo Suki ni Natte Shimattandarou? has a scarily long title, but once you learn it it’s all good : ). Doushite… is a little unusual. It opens with a lovely harp before introducing the oddly strong drum beat and claps that you hear through the rest of the song. This is classed as a ballad because of the harp, melody and lyrical content as the drums could easily be part of a completely different song. BUT the fact that it is so bizarrely composed makes me like it more. Vocals are very stable with only Changmin getting a strange melody to sing. It’s nigh on impossible to make this song particularly emotional but quite frankly that doesn’t get in the way of the fact that this is a great song. I can see why there are people who aren’t as enthusiastic as I am but personally I can see why this hit #1.
Track Rating; A*
Box in the Ship is a very islandy b-side. While I knew that it was an island style song I wasn’t really expecting a luau theme tune. I love the oh-a-oh-a-ohs but it’s ever so slightly ruined by how funny the pronounciation of the title is. Boxing the Sheep. That’s what they are saying and no I’m not insane. But that is absolutely hilarious. Moving on from that, the style makes this a really fun song to listen. There’s not much room to go wrong vocally – so no-one does……..I’m sorry I just can’t get over how funny Boxing the sheep is!
Track Rating; B
Single Rating; A
Vanilla
July 24, 2008 at 3:04 pm | In Leah Dizon | 3 CommentsTags: 2008, Communication!!!, Kanashimi to Egao no Naka de, Leah Dizon, LOVE SWEET CANDY, single, Vanilla
- Vanilla
- LOVE SWEET CANDY
- Kanashimi to Egao no Naka de
- Vanilla (Instrumental)
- LOVE SWEET CANDY (Instrumental)
Vanilla initially did not impress me much. Though that was partly the fault of the not brilliant PV rip that I was listening to. There can be no disputing the fact that, after Love Paradox, Vanilla is a bit of a let down. Leah trades in the hip-pop style that worked so well for her to go back to her, somewhat generic, pop. Reminiscent of previous song such as L.O.V.E and Koi Shiyou, Vanilla is actually quite good now that I listen to it in full sound. Leah’s vocals are okay in the same way as they were on her debut album. She’s gotten better and hopefully this will continue, occasionally she sounds a little off but that doesn’t ruin anything too much. Vanilla is actually pretty disco/funk and that really works well when mixed with the strong pop elements. I’d also like to mention that the backing singers add a lot to this, from strategic oohs and yeahs to joining Leah on the main melody. Vanilla does require a good listen to like though.
Track Rating; B+/A-
Described as “mid-tempo reggae” I wasn’t holding out much hope for LOVE SWEET CANDY. Imagine my surprise when halfway through the opening verse I found myself smiling. The reggae idea isn’t used in the stereotypical way. It’s actually pretty background and parts of it feel like it might-could-possible-even spiral off into a very unusual ska song. My favourite thing about this song is the interesting melodic twists in the song. I can’t describe it really as I don’t know all the appropriate musical terminology but it makes it a great song to listen to for the first time, because what you expect it to do it doesn’t do. The English lyrics are a bit twee but used in just the right way/amount. I particularly enjoy the “My love’s like candy” line.
Track Rating; A
One should always be careful when they find themselves listening to a Leah Dizon ballad. It could either be boring or badly sung. Truthfully, Kanashimi to Egao no Naka de is neither. Leah displays unusual sturdyness in her voice. She sings nasally, we all know this, but it doesn’t get in the way of the melody here. In fact, occasionally it helps her put a twist to the tone of the note she’s singing. The bridge is probably the worse part of the song because she sort of loses that control, which is a little disappointing but then there’s another couple of choruses to make up for it and I’m willing to overlook that slight flaw. Tell me if I’m wrong but that English chorus sounds like Leah’s forgetting how to pronounce the words, but I slur things when I’m singing in English so I’m not one to talk.
Track Rating; A
Single Rating; A+
Kiss!Kiss!Kiss!
July 23, 2008 at 12:41 pm | In Buono! | Leave a CommentTags: Buono!, H!P, Hello!, Hello! Project, Kiss!Kiss!Kiss!
- Kiss!Kiss!Kiss!
- Minna Daisuki
- Kiss!Kiss!Kiss (instrumental)
- Minna Daisuki (instrumental)
The initial excitement I felt when the PV for Kiss!Kiss!Kiss! appeared on the net died relatively quickly. I liked the song, but wasn’t completely taken with it. In my opinion it lacks some of the initial ‘grab’-factor that Renai Rider and Honto no Jibun were known for. The pop-rock elements scream for attention in every second of the track and, while that’s totally up my alley, I just don’t like it as much as I was hoping I would. Vocally, Suzuki Airi, Tsgunaga Momoko and Natsuyaki Miyabi blend very well in the chorus and the solo lines are masterful. I like the random harmonica solo, it adds a certain amount of character to a track that lacks some identity.
Track Rating; B
Minna Daisuki is an entirely different track. It’s a lot plainer and lighter. The music is a little mario-ish which works in its favour. Overall I enjoy the melody of the verses but I’m not particularly thrilled with the chorus. It seems a little one dimensional and uninteresting and more could have been done with it. Though I believe I could possibly like Minna Daisuki more than the a-side. I was rather surprised to find that it had its own instrumental (a rather rare occurance in H!P singles) but I can see it being a bit of karaoke or fandub hit.
Track Rating; B+
Single Rating; B+
TODAY
July 12, 2008 at 11:30 am | In Angela Aki | Leave a CommentTags: 2007, album, Angela Aki, Kodoku no Kakera, Sakurairo, Today
- Sakurairo
- Again
- Today
- Ai no Uta
- Tashika ni
- Silent Girl
- Moral no Soushiki
- Otome Gokoro
- One Melody
- Tomo no Shirushi
- Kodoku no Kakera
- On and On
- Surrender
Sakurairo is one of the most graceful and elegant ballads I have ever heard. Angela composed this song with so much sensitivity and passion and it is evident in every note she plays and sings. Sakurairo has a very simple opening, but the use of a gorgeous string arrangement and the simple chords make it a moving one. The introduction of the band in the second part of the first verse doesn’t overpower the rest of the instrumentation and the bridge involves some awesome orchestral things (XD). Which brings me to the chorus. If the rest of the song is gorgeous, the chorus is mind-blowing. Angela’s vocals are sheer power, she raises her voice to hit some lovely high notes and the ending ‘Zutto/Motto”’s are pure love. The building of the lyrics, band and orchestra towards the end is the point I always look forwards to when I listen to Sakurairo. It ends just like it begins; simple and unpretentious.
Track Rating; A*
Again has a lot to live up to. Any song being placed after Sakurairo would have the same problem, but intelligently Again is a completely different kind of song. Overall a much more energetic affair, Again uses the band and orchestra to the same effect as Sakurairo and there are more brilliant high-notes from Angela, but the style of song is such an enormous-ish change from the previous track they can’t really be compared. The repetition of lyrics during the chorus makes it very memorable and the pauses just before it starts are incredibly well paced. Angela’s brilliant piano skills are featured in various parts of the track, but it never feels as if it’s for the sake of it. Each section of the song is blended seemlessly into the next bit, no matter how different they could be.
Track Rating; A+
Today slows us right down… for all of four ‘todays‘ before it introduces the band and picks up the pace again. This song doesn’t employ the orchestra but focuses on the band especially during the chorus where everyone in basically bashing the instrument in time. The effect is brilliant and the strength of the beat makes it an easy track to go along with. The ‘Today”s make it quite a memorable track and the slow down when it’s just Angie and her piano mirrors Again. She knows how to play her cards and Today is one instance when she really shows that she can just jam and doesn’t need the support of strings in a track.
Track Rating; A+
A ballad. Ai no Uta is one of my favourite tracks by Angela Aki. She sings with such a beautiful tone and pace that I can’t stop listening to it. Songs like this make me want to learn the piano, as the backing for most of the song only consists of piano and some strings. Ai no Uta could easily be played as just a piano and a voice, the core of the song is in the lyrics and melody. Not to say that the rest is unnecessary, quite the opposite, the other elements add even more to a song packed with all sorts of goodies. The violins (?) during the instrumental break are just beautiful. For a six minute song, it never seems too long. Even when you think it’s ended, it hasn’t, but that could never be a downside to such an awesome song.
Track Rating; A*
Back to the more energetic songs. Tashikani is packed with pace and variety. Angela’s vocals are energetic and enthusiastic. I’ve heard this song so much and I only just properly realised how much string there is here. The chorus isn’t quite what you’d expect from all the repetition of ‘Tashikani‘ here, there and everywhere but it works. Tashikani isn’t one of my favourite songs on Today, it’s very very very good when you analyse each part of it, but personally I’ve never been as enthusiastic about it as many of the other tracks.
Track Rating; B
Silent Girl is an incredibly unfortunate song. It falls pray to the same fate as Oogesa ni “Aishiteru” before it. It’s placed after one of the fastest songs of the album and seems almost boring in comparison. Silent Girl is one of the cases where you should skip it and listen to it later, because on first impressions it’s not worth your time. When you have listened to it, you realise its beauty. Angela’s vocals are at their best here with soaring high-notes and beautifully sensitive delivery are coupled with some gorgeous piano playing to produce an incredibly underrated track.
Track Rating; A
Moral no Soushiki takes the prize for my favourite track on the album. The darker tone of the verses flowing into the almost hopeful feeling of the chorus mean that this is practically a tour-de-force of emotion shifts. The strings are at their most evocative here and Angela’s left hand must be dying after she plays this because the arrangement is just non-stop. Half way through it lightens up and gives you a breather, with military style drums. I always accepted that, but now I’ve thought about it. Angela even includes Latin in her lyrics with the introduction to the chorus being ‘Pater Noster’. A year and a half of Latin tells me that means ‘Our Father’.
Track Rating; A*
Otome Gokoro is a funky jazz song. The music is a teensy bit repetative but I just love Angela’s vocal delivery. The lyrics have quite a fast pace to them during the bridge unlike the rest of the song, which provides the variety that the musical is lacking a bit. The best bit of the song is probably the chorus because it provides a focus to the song. I think it’s the second shortest song on the album at around four minutes and fifteen-ish seconds, which somewhat works in its favour. I don’t listen to Otome Gokoro much, maybe I should but it shows that it’s not a song that I listen to much as I had to sleep before finishing this paragraph.
Track Rating; B-
One Melody has one of my favourite openings in all of Angela’s work. The simplicity sums up the rest of the track beautifully and when she begins to sing I tend to find myself carried away by the song. ‘There is just one melody’ is the opening line of the chorus and it’s sung gorgeously. Angela’s rich tone carries One Melody. Again, when the band comes in they keep it simple and don’t overpower anything else in the track.
Track Rating; A
Tomo no Shirushi begins with a double bass solo! You can hear the double bass through the track if you listen for it, so it’s not a completely pointless opening. The actual song is a pretty simple affair. Mostly she sings at a lower tone during the verses but she does raise make her tone lighter during the chorus. Tomo no Shirushi is the perfect song to listen to when you don’t want to think, it completely chills you out and there’s nothing that you wouldn’t expect to come. The final lines of the chorus are my favourite because of the way they lead into the ‘tomo no shirushi‘ line.
Track Rating; A
Kodoku no Kakera is reminiscent of Kiss Me Goodbye in my opinion, especially with the instruments used. The little pieces of woodwind you can hear along with the violins etc. add so much to the overall arrangement. Kodoku no Kakera ties with Sakurairo for second favourite song on the album, simply because of the powerful chorus and the Final Fantasy-ness of it. Angela’s vocal performance here is awesome especially the build in the chorus and when the instrumentation is stripped right down and she sings almost a cappella. I have many fond memories of listening to this song and, even though its meaning goes right over my head, I like to think that I understand and appreciate its sentiment. I could be completely wrong though.
Track Rating; A*
I’ve never particularly liked On and On that much. It never really interested me much. Even though I love the beginning the rest loses my interest pretty quickly. Of course, vocally and lyrically, Angela never fails to impress with some awesome notes and some brilliant English. Unfortunately, On and On falls between two of my favourite songs and therefore I’m never much motivated to listen to it.
Track Rating; B-
Okay, so I whinge and moan and complain when someone ends an album with a ballad. Angela is probably the only exception in the world because when I love to hear from her are the ballads and slow songs. Surrender is a beautiful, lyrical piece which is completely in English like Your Love Song from Home. It feels very much like a lullaby and the delivery is sensitive and sweet and powerful at the same time. As the song goes on you can hear Angela’s voice get more and more emotional and that only adds to the power of the words. To put it simply, you feel like you want to learn something from the lyrics.
Track Rating; A*
Overall… Home was fabulous. TODAY is just as fabulous. It’s realy quite hard to compare the two albums too much as I enjoy them both immensely. From my commentary I’m sure it’s obvious which tracks are my favourites and I hope I summed up why well enough for you to understand. One thing that I haven’t mentioned is that most of these are single tracks, the album tracks had a lot to live up to and mostly they did. In my humble opinion TODAY is a must listen even to those who don’t necessarily appreciate the style of music.
Overall Rating; A*
With U
July 10, 2008 at 4:58 pm | In Big Bang | Leave a CommentTags: 2008, Big Bang, mini album, With U
- Intro
- With U
- Baby Baby
- This Love
- Mad About You
- We Belong Together
- Shake It
- My Girl (Japanese Version)
I wrote up until We Belong Together ages ago, but that was when my motivation had all but disappeared. But I’m finishing it now. Reading it back I realise that bits of it are a little fangirly and I apologise but Big Bang are one of my favourite groups… just keep with me.
We begin with the Intro which just sets up the tone of the album well. Even though I may not have expressed this before, but sometimes I find the ‘gangsta’ English a little irritating and sometimes just plain funny but I can overlook that because despite the lyrics being a little laughable, at least they’re pronounced mostly correctly.
Track Rating; (Pointless)
Ooooookaaaay….. With U is just plain hot. There is no other way to describe it. I absolutely adore the opening ‘oh’s and the transition into the main melody is a little weird but it still works. Here you notice that their English has gotten better (!) but Daesung does suffer from an unfortunate case of Malicious Consonants XD This track is just plain solid, the synth adds so much to the feel and strengthens the tracks immensely. It’s fundamentally TaeYang’s song as he gets the majority of the solo lines (and rocks them) but with Big Bang, it’s impossible to forget about everyone else as they each put in strong performances with whatever they have to work with. The first few times I listened to With U I felt that the raps-that-aren’t-really-raps were a little out of place and felt a bit pointless but after a while I got used to them. If you hadn’t guessed, I love this song.
Track Rating; A*
And the English version of Last Farewell entitled Baby Baby. I must admit that Last Farewell suffered my ‘OMG I love the track before it’ syndrome, so I’ve pretty much always looked over it. Anyway, I always seem to find myself saying ‘Big Bang is back, most definitely’ for no reason now, just like ‘I love you more, more’ from Lies. Initially I didn’t have very strong feelings for this track, but now I adore it. The pace is ridiculous and when the chorus comes in at the beginning it always takes me a second for it to sit well with me. The rap sections are plain ♥
Track Rating; A+
Sampling and completely messing about with Maroon 5’s This Love, a song I was obssessed with for about a year, I remember the first time I listened to the original (mostly) Korean version I was really impressed with how GD took what is probably Maroon 5’s most identifiable song and threw it into a completely different genre. For all of three seconds I was considering summarising the plot of the song… but a lot is said in the song, all in totally understandable English, so I’m not going to try. One negative thing I do have to say about this is what the heck is up with the ending?
Track Rating; B+
Oh, I love this song! Mad About You is the first time I’ve heard Big Bang sing in Japanese and I think it’s brilliant. After With U it’s probably the second most listened to track on my MP3 mainly because I adore the vocals during the chorus, even though I found them a bit funny to begin with, but probably the biggest reason is because I realised how goddamn much I love TOP’s voice. Nothing is out of place here even though I still find some of the falsetto adlibbing amusing. Also, thanks to this I have a new favourite word… Beauti-damn-ful XD
Track Rating; A+
We Belong Together is another display of the -take a western song and turn it on its head- process that GD is so adept at. I adore Park Bom’s voice and the chorus kills me every time. I love the raps and the fact that the song resembles its namesake in no real way. Some of the lyrics are a bit laughable and then others have a flow and intelligence that saves the problematic parts. I think that the only weakness with this song is that it’s not for those who don’t particularly enjoy rap. Though the rap is rather melodic.
Track Rating; A
Shake It is the only song that has Korean in it. Shake It is one of my favourite Big Bang songs. Period. The dance elements and addictive, memorable lines along with the vocals performances have always kept this high up in the list (It’s a long list.) The synth that’s used consistantly throughout make this an incredibly recognisable song too.
Track Rating; A+
And finally TaeYang’s legendary solo; My Girl. But instead of being an English version… this one’s Japanese. And I say ‘Well done’. Because, despite a bit of mispronouciation (which I’m proud of myself for picking up), this is very well done. My Girl was always my favourite solo so to get another version was icing on the cake for this album. Unsurprisingly, TOP and GD rap in English but we knew they can do that already.
Track Rating; A-
Overall… There was next to no possibility of me not liking/loving this. Each song has its strengths and weaknesses (though I am blind to some of those) but each is presented and performed well. The only difficulty I can see is that the styles of music are not completely universal and could pose a problem to casual listeners or those who are sort of interested. I just wish that it could be full-length rather than mini.
Mini-album Rating; A+
Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance
July 10, 2008 at 11:12 am | In Berryz Koubou | 2 CommentsTags: 2008, Berryz Kobo, Berryz Koubou, Maji Good Chance Summer, single, Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance
- Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance
- Maji Good Chance Summer
- Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance (instrumental)
Yuke Yuke Monkey Dance’s opening plays on traditional sounds and messes around with them something amazing. The vocals start with the awesomly addictive ‘Digidigidigi’ lines, which are impossible not to get stuck in your head. This song oozes fun and playfulness from the vocals to the lyrics to the instrumentation. One of the few times Sugaya Risako’s vocals haven’t annoyed me and the “less-popular” members get more to do than they have before. Notably Sudou Maasa and Tokunaga Chinami, the latter own purely based on her ‘BANZAI’. This song is definitely not one of the more accessable to the western listener, (I’ve played it in the presence of couple of friends; bad mistake) but the fact that it has at least three sections which could possibly be identified as a favourite part really work in its favour.
Track Rating; A/A+
I was expecting the b-side, Maji Good Chance Summer, to be a lot more hyper than it actually is. The melody in the verses surprised me and the chorus wasn’t what I was expecting. The more I listen to it, the more I realise that this is the kind of thing H!P does. I like Maji good chance, but not as much as Yuke Yuke but if you don’t feel energetic enough for a Monkey Dance then this is a good alternative.
Track Rating; B
Single Rating; B+
Honey, Honey
July 10, 2008 at 10:57 am | In SEAMO | Leave a CommentTags: 2008, Ayuse Kozue, Honey Honey, SEAMO, single
-
Honey, Honey feat. Ayuse Kozue
-
Honey, Honey (instrumental)
-
Honey, Honey (Live Version)
In the beginning I wasn’t even planning on reviewing Honey, Honey but recently I’ve been listening to it almost too much. The light airy toned chorus kicks of the song after a series of really pretty ‘da-la-da’s from Ayuse Kozue. The real instrumentation doesn’t kick in until the first verse and then it’s full of beats and chimes and a bit of acoustic guitar. Brass is then added and greatens the love that is the chorus. I love this song a lot, SEAMO puts so much personality into the words and Ayuse Kozue has a wonderfully soft, atmospheric voice. The song is addictive and it’s got some very memorable lines which make it all the more entertaining to listen to.
Track Rating; A
The live version begins with SEAMO leading the crowd in the ‘ii otoko ni wa, ii onna ni wa’ lines which makes me smile a lot. Listening to the opening I was suddenly very aware of the huge string arrangement. It’s very prominent here and it’s something that you don’t really notice in the track. Audience participation in a recorded live on a single isn’t something I’ve heard before, so that wins a lot of points. Ayuse Kozue isn’t in this version but the backing singers fill her place in the chorus well. Overall, a typically charismatic performance from SEAMO, even if it is just on CD.
Track Rating; A
Single Rating; A
Blog at WordPress.com. | Theme: Pool by Borja Fernandez.
Entries and comments feeds.
