40th Anniversary

Yukiko Okada: FIRST DATE (1984.04.21)

Considering how few years Yukiko Okada spent in the Japanese pop industry as an idol, she left a very long and lasting impression on her listeners and fans -- so much so, that she continues to gain new followers despite having passed away in 1986. In fact, it's that tragedy that I suspect helps continue to draw in and fascinate both listeners and casual passers-by.

Yukiko Okada was discovered on the famous Star Tanjou! program in 1983 and was immediately picked up by the major label Pony Canyon to release her debut single "FIRST DATE" one year later. Okada had an undeniable, special quality about her, one that prompted both critics and audiences to draw parallels to the then-incomparable Seiko Matsuda, who had already made a massive impact, earning her high accolades and adoration despite just three years on the scene herself (massive is an understatement -- by this point she had already released five albums and was well on her way to earning the title of the nation's forever-idol). You can see it -- both singers had a genuine innocence and inner light combined with raw stage presence that made them catnip to a receptive audience always on the lookout for another young woman to venerate and project heaps of unhealthy and borderline-sociopathic expectations onto. But there was obviously something else, too, some ineffable quality that also attracted some of the top songwriters and producers to her, including prolific and beloved songwriter Mariya Takeuchi, now of "PLASTIC LOVE" fame (in fact, Takeuchi would release the album that included the song only four days later), and Masaaki Omura, who here pen the A- and B-side respectively.

Takeuchi's approach to "FIRST DATE" is pretty on-the-nose: like a lot of her songs in the 80s, it's influenced by 1950s teen-pop. The production and sentiment is typical 80s Golden Age idol, with its lyrics about a girl who's flattered to be asked out on a date despite being feeling like nobody special, and the excited and nervous feelings that the event conjures. It's cute, if almost too cute, but it also makes a genuine attempt to dodge being treacly, territory that someone like Tsukasa Ito would barrel headfirst into. It's also the perfect debut single: the singer evokes the feeling of getting to know someone for the first time, just as a listener is metaphorically getting to know a new artist or idol. The B-side, "Soyokaze no PEPPERMINT," is less literal, and more generic -- I don't necessarily see this as anything more than an extremely competent song that could has been given to any number of higher-tier idols, but that's mostly the power of Omura, who was pretty much a pro at this point, and who would go on to shape the sound of Showa-era pop for another decade to come.

Catalog Number: 7A0368

25th Anniversary

Hysteric Blue: baby Blue (1999.04.01)

20th Anniversary

Ayumi Hamasaki: Moments (2004.03.31)

Ayumi Hamasaki's Moments was the beginning of what the industry and now the lay public refer to as a new "era." The single followed the release of Ayu's first mini-album, a collection of eight songs released at the end of 2003 that compiled her last three singles (including the tripe A-side &, No way to say, and forgiveness), along with four new songs, of which all but one received an accompanying music video (that would be the closing, and fan favorite, title track "Memorial address (take 2 version)," which is considered something of a bonus track.

Her next album would be released almost one year later, and to kick start the promotions, she released the elegant "Moments," a sort of melancholy spring ballad similar to previous ballads like "No way to say" and "HANABI ~episode II~." In hindsight, this was an ominous choice -- ominous as in thick with omens, not inauspicious or threatening -- because it succinctly foretold the musical language of its resulting album, MY STORY (think "walking proud" and "HAPPY ENDING"). It has a steady pace, but it never lacks for punch in the chorus, and like the return to spring itself, it's cyclical, always shifting back to that slower pace again and again. This is another in a running series of "seasonal" singles that Ayumi, like the rest of J-pop, indulged in, but which took on a particular significance here with the two follow-ups: the summery "INSPIRE" and wintry "CAROLS." This sets up MY STORY as a deliberate year-long diary that uses the seasons as a foundational base. And "Moments" is where it all starts, with its symbolic invocation of new life and rebirth in the flowers and bright greens of the cover art. The music video, too, features a literal room full of technicolor flowers, an almost blinding bubblegum-pink field of blooms among which children play. In classic Ayu PV fashion, it takes on a sinister feel, but never gets scary or ugly, instead depicting an uncanny kind of wonder.

In March of 2004, we were well beyond the point of maxi-singles that featured a dozen remixes of the title track, but we do get two remixes on this single: a beautiful acoustic piano version that invoked the Acoustic Orchestra series of remix albums, as well as a mostly forgettable dance remix by CMJK titled the "Flying humanoid Mix." I'm disappointed by this remix, as CMJK usually produces some great stuff, like the "Ocean View Remix" of "Far away" as well as the extended mix of "opening run" on the Daybreak single. Ayumi's vocals sound great on this track so the acoustic piano version, which trades all of the pomp of the original for simple piano and some strings, sounds fantastic.

This was the first Ayu single to be released in both a regular CD-only version, and a CD+DVD version that included the music video. The latter required an extra $8 for the DVD of the music video which can now be found on Ayu's official YouTube channel for free. The cover art was also the same for both versions of this, something that wouldn't change for three more singles until 2005's fairyland. The CD comes with an OBI and a booklet that features lyrics and song credits, as well as a promotional leaflet.

Catalog Number: AVCD-30593/B

25th Anniversary

Ami Suzuki: SA (1999.03.25)

Like clockwork, as soon as Tetsuya Komuro got bored with his latest protege, he moved on to the next one. In 1998, he hopped from Tomomi Kahala to Ami Suzuki, who made her debut in July of that year with the single "love the island." She released five more singles after that until finally dropping her debut studio album SA in March of 1999.

Despite a public weary with his trademark style, now done to death with artists like hitomi, Tomomi, and Namie, not to mention his other projects like dos and globe, TK doubled down on his signature sound, particularly on the opening track "nothing without you": the keyboards, the synths, the funky rhythm and background vocals. Longtime collaborator Cozy Kubo's arrangement brings it all to a satisfying wistful lead-in to the second track. Anyone not already a fan can stop right there.

In terms of numbers, this album did really well for a debut, as expectations were high to for TK's next "It" girl, but in terms of quality, the music couldn't be a better representation of how dull, hackneyed, and by-the-numbers his music had become by then. The album still pulls out some solid songs that remind me how fun TK was at his best, songs like "alone in my room" and "white key" that do a great job of taking you back to J-pop circa 1996. But there are too many lazy melodies that don't get rounded out by the high-quality production we had come to expect. Mentally, I think TK was done with J-pop and ready to board the electric train right on out to Cyber TRANCE compilation town (you can especially hear this on the outlier "all night long," a sonic precursor to a song like "try this shoot," which he would write and release with globe two years later). He just couldn't compete with the rise in R&B and hip-pop that was beginning to sweep the charts with artists like Hikaru Utada and Mai Kuraki. It doesn't help that Ami Suzuki, like so many of the women he wrote music for, wasn't a good singer. Not as bad as Tomomi Kahala, and sufficient for the music we're dealing with, but noticeably patchy in places, and downright bad in others.

I sound really sour about this album, an album that for all my whining went #1 and ended up being the ninth best-selling album in Japan that year. To be honest, I still have a soft spot for this one, because it really sounds like TK is struggling to recapture a kind of magic that came so easily for him half a decade ago. There are parts of this that take you back to hitomi's early albums, and yet, the fight never stops being audible.

I still get nostalgic hearing TK's brand of 90s J-pop, and while there are still some good songs on here, I can objectively see that this was the last feeble roar of a dying dinosaur. It also really tells you nothing about Ami Suzuki as a person or performer, as she had both the good luck and misfortune to work with a producer so big, that it would take several more years for her to develop a light outside of his shadow. In many ways, she never did, as she always seemed to be at her best working under names as big as Yasutaka Nakata, RAM RIDER, and the others who featured on her best albums to date. In a really sad twist, the only way people got to know her as a person outside of music was during the scandal that followed her lawsuit against her management company. But that was years later. In 1999, while it may not have been fresh for any one else, it must have all still been new and exciting for her to get the chance to debut with a legend in the industry, and that hope and enthusiasm still shines through, albeit not easily, on SA.

Catalog Number: AICT-1050

20th Anniversary

move: REWIND ~singles collection+~ (2004.03.24)

One thing Avex Trax is really great at is sticking to its time-tested and timeworn approaches. The label started out with mega-popular co-ed, hi-nrg, eurodance groups like trf in the 90s, and every few years, banked on that popularity by trying the same thing, whether by forming more co-ed groups when everybody else had stopped doing that a long time ago, or continuing to explore and dabble in dance music and all of its various sub-genres, like super eurobeat and trance, long after they had ceased to capture the attention of the general public and disappeared from the charts. In the late 90s they did both with the group move.

move were the successors to globe, with a makeup very much like their godfathers: a trio featuring a woman on lead vocals as the general face of the group, and two men, one the MC/rapper, and the other the aloof, technical mastermind. The group began releasing music in 1997 with their debut single "ROCK IT DOWN," and coasted along with a pretty solid set of dance-pop hits before they began making music in the style of the Avex dance-genre-of-the-moment, trance. Their trance-pop phase lasted from about 2001 to 2003. These first two phases of the group's career were collected in their second greatest hits collection, REWIND ~singles collection+~, released in 2004, just before they went into a third, entirely different musical direction, unnecessarily changed their name by adding periods and using all-caps instead of all lowercase, and started declining in popularity anyway. The only thing that really sets this release apart from their previous greatest hits is that move super tune -BEST SELECTIONS- from 2002 was released as a non-stop megamix that shortened some songs and played around with their structure a bit to create a seamless, DJ-like club experience. This singles collection presents each song in its entirety, and also features two years worth of extra singles, in addition to the bonus track "T.R.A.P.," a B-side to "¡WAKE YOUR LOVE!"

Since I fell off the move fan wagon after they stopped releasing trance music, this collection is pretty perfect. It has their most well-known hits from the late 90s, and then the amazing run of 8+ minute-long trance singles from the SYNERGY album, like "come together" and "Romancing Train."

One thing that really sticks out to me about this release is the track list. There are two discs, but rather than proceed chronologically so that the first disc contains singles from the group's first, more eurobeat musical phase, and the second the trance phase, they are split across the two in chronological order, so you get a progression of half of each of the phases on both discs. This really works if you like both of the genres, as it means you get a taste of both without being overwhelmed with just one of them all at once, though it might not work so well for somebody who just wants one of the genres on a single disc, or wants them strictly in the order that they were released.

The limited edition includes a DVD that contains music videos for many of the singles, for 17 in total (for comparison, there are 21 tracks on the two CDs). Just about all of them feature the members in front of green screens or other abstract settings, performing for the camera. motsu does all of the heavy-lifting re: energy and personality, yuri does the awkward, zombie avex-sway, and t-kimura is always too cool to be bothered, busy being surrounded by keyboards.

The limited edition also includes a mini cellphone cleaner that you could attach to the type of mobile phones people used back in 2004. There's nothing fancy here, but you get solid content, and if you like this era of the group, this compilation is recommended over the abridged and inferior m.o.v.e 10th Anniversary MEGA BEST or Best moves. ~and move goes on~.

Catalog Number: AVCT-10142~3/B

25th Anniversary

Namie Amuro: RESPECT the POWER OF LOVE (1999.03.17)

15th Anniversary

alan: Voice of EARTH (2009.03.04)

While a list of my top ten favorite female vocalists doesn't necessarily preclude objectively great vocals, alan is one artist that, like Mariah Carey and Christina Aguilera, you just can't argue with. Not everyone has to personally like their singing styles, but it's clear that all three have studied and honed their craft beyond the average, and that their abilities far outstrip the everyday pop star. Luckily for Avex Trax, they got in on the ground floor when the singer auditioned for the label and was subsequently signed as their first Chinese artist at a time when Avex was heavily focused on growing a presence in their neighbor's lucrative market (take for example, all of Ayumi Hamasaki's overseas promo work and concerts around the same time).

Voice of EARTH was released in 2009 and was alan's Japanese debut. There are one issue that come to mind right away when you have a vocalist at this level, what I like to call the Celine Dion Problem, after an interview that I remember watching with the singer around the release of her album, All the Way... A Decade of Song where she spoke enthusiastically about getting the chance to work with Max Martin and release an uptempo song, since she's always given ballads and slow numbers. Of course, when you have a singer like Celine Dion, you want to give them worthy material that shows off what they're capable of, but it does leave you with fewer options in terms of tempo. "That's the Way It Is" is not Celine's voice at full power, but she obviously had a great time with it, and it was nice to see her do something outside of her usual sound. Unfortunately, we have the same problem with alan, who was clearly given all of the slowest, sappiest material in Avex's storage room, stuff that was waiting for a worthy vocalist but that also leaves much to be desired in terms of variety or excitement. The pieces that work best are the ones that were clearly written for her specifically, like the incendiary "Ashita e no Sanka" and "RED CLIFF ~Shin.Sen~" which show off her dynamic range and that exceptional, soaring Tibetan wail against a backdrop of rising strings and dramatic tension. Those two were the reason that I first purchased this album and they remain the best thing about it. The rest of the album, vocals aside, is mostly forgettable, with the back end especially dry. That's a difficult admission to make for an album composed and arranged almost entirely by Kazuhito Kikuchi and Yuta Nakano, who worked on some of my favorite Ayumi Hamasaki ballads like.

This CD came with an OBI, a booklet that includes pictures and lyrics, and an additional sheet of paper that includes the lyrics translated into Chinese. The album was released in two versions in Japan, a CD-only and a CD+DVD version, and, as noted, nine months later in China with the vocals re-recorded. Overall, this is an album that does exactly what it's supposed to do, while also falling low on the musical novelty scale. I've listened to all of alan's original Chinese albums, and a few of them are a lot better than this one, especially Love Song. Japanese albums just weren't her strength, though she did release some really incredible singles after this, like "BALLAD ~Namonaki Koi no Uta~" and "Minna de ne ~PANDA with Candy BEAR's~", as well as one last Japanese album that made my Most Disappointing list when it was released nine months later. She still releases music in the Japanese market today, with her latest release being the surprisingly touching "Shin'ai", though she tends to fly way under most people's radar.

15th Anniversary

Tommy february6: Strawberry Cream Soda Pop "Daydream" (2009.02.25)

A greatest hits collection can be irresistible. Generally speaking, they bypass the chance of any filler tracks, do a solid job of hitting and summarizing the career highlights, and are especially beneficial to new listeners looking to test the waters of a new obsession while also being a great stroll down memory lane for longtime fans. I agree with the argument that these collections became superfluous cash grabs after the ability to burn CDs at home rendered them moot, let alone the birth of the digital playlist -- why pay for someone else's idea of the best songs when you can customize your own? -- but I can't help grabbing one off of the shelf, sometimes over a studio album, whenever I'm in a hurry, knowing I'm guaranteed a great experience from start to finish. There are some really great ones that hit it out of the park and come to mind immediately: hide's PSYCHOMMUNITY, The Weeknd's The Highlights, and Tommy february6's Strawberry Cream Soda Pop "Daydream."

Tommy february6's greatest hits collection was released in February of 2009, and celebrates two amazing album cycles of music under Tomoko Kawase's alter ego. At eighteen songs, there's a lot to explore here, as aside from the big singles like "EVERYDAY AT THE BUS STOP" and "je t’aime ★ je t’aime," it also features some B-sides and album cuts. And since Tommy's albums were so excellent, this compilation ends up being nearly flawless. Every track captures the sugar rush of peak-80s synth-pop, heavily inspired by cult duo Strawberry Switchblade and the compositions of Stock Aitken Waterman filtered through MALIBU CONVERTIBLE's impeccable production.

In fact, there are only a few issues that I have, the biggest being that it felt a little early for a greatest hits collection. Though we were seven years into her career, with just two full studio albums, it felt more ominous than celebratory, and indeed, this sort of preceded what ended up being a much more sparse release schedule under the moniker -- after this collection, she only released one mini-album, one full album, and a handful of songs from february6, most which lost this signature sound, veering instead toward more modern dance-pop. Perhaps she saw this coming and released this to collect those songs and deliberately signal the end of a kind of era. That would make sense if you took into account the last track on here, which is the new song "◯Strawberry●Cream◯Soda●Pop◯," a song that sounds a tad out of place. Second, with so many songs on the collection, it begs the question as to why certain non-singles songs were chosen over others. I don't have any good answers, and I don't mind the choices, but I do feel like the second half gets a little packed with slower songs.

This album was released as the sister compilation album to her other alter ego Tommy heavenly6's Gothic Melting Ice Cream's Darkness "Nightmare." It was released in three different versions: CD+DVD, CD-only, and a giant limited edition box set over 12" tall that featured lots of extra goodies. Greatest hits albums have the advantage of being easy to declare near perfect, and this is one of the easiest of all.

Catalog Number: DFCL-1530~1

25th Anniversary

Faye Wong: Eyes On Me (1999.02.24)

While I'm not much of a gamer now, I used to play video games a lot when I was in grade school, and my top two favorite game franchises of all time also reflect two of my favorite video game soundtracks of all time: the original Spyro the Dragon trilogy, composed by Stewart Copeland (and famously, tragically, never officially released in either physical or digital format until very recently), and Final Fantasy VIII, composed by the prolific Nobuo Uematsu, who wrote the music for the Final Fantasy franchise in whole or in part through Final Fantasy XI.

Besides the gorgeous orchestral arrangements that make up the bulk of the soundtrack's sprawling four discs, there was also a notable vocal version of the central love theme. The central romantic story line in FFVIII was a notable game-changer for many young people who might not have found any reason to play video games before, bringing in many new players who would grow up to help expand the demand for alternative gaming, so its importance cannot be understated. The love theme between the characters Squall and Rinoa (and Laguna and Julie/Raine) was sung by ultra-popular Hong Kong-native Faye Wong, one of the most well-known figures in Asian pop culture at the time. Besides a storied career in films, Wong also had a history in popular music, having recorded several of her most well-known albums throughout the 1990s. I'm not sure how Uematsu was able to snag her for this soundtrack, but it created that delightful moment when the perfect song meets the perfect singer. "Eyes on Me" was released in Japan in February 1999, about two weeks after the release of the video game, and is a sweeping love ballad expanding upon the themes heard throughout the game, notably with cues like "Waltz for the Moon" and "Julia" (in fact, Wong is singing as the character Julia in the game, who is confessing her feelings toward Laguna during a performance). Wong's voice is lithe enough to keep the song light and sweet, rather than moody, which is perfect for the tone of the game, which is exciting, occasionally dangerous, and sometimes sad, but never dark or grim. There are many beautiful instrumental iterations of this theme throughout the game, but the song plays in its full vocal glory only twice: once toward the back half of the game, and again with an expanded orchestral arrangement upon the game's completion. They're all fantastic.

The single's c/w track is "ACACIA no Mi," a ballad composed by Jim Lau, this time sung in Mandarin. It's a pretty, though somewhat anemic, slow number that fits the mood of the disc, but of course comes nowhere near the grace and beauty of the A-side. The single finishes with the instrumental version of "Eyes on Me."

The single came in standard 3" mini-disc packaging, with the lyrics and credits written on the back of the cover. Not surprisingly, this song ended up being one of the most popular video game songs of all time, second only to Hikaru Utada's "Hikari," written for Kingdom Hearts. It hit #9 on the Oricon chart, which was also pretty impressive at that time for a song from a video game. The entire soundtrack to Final Fantasy VIII is incredible and merits many more words of analysis and praise, but this post is just for the game's most well-known song -- the four-disc soundtrack proper was released one week later. Like the rest of the OST, "Eyes on Me" has aged incredibly well, and still sounds as beautiful as the day it was released, a testament to both Faye Wong's impeccable vocals and Uematsu's bottomless capacity for moving melodies.

Catalog Number: TODT-5271

2023 at a glance

20th Anniversary

Namie Amuro: Style (2003.12.10)

There are at least four distinct eras in Namie Amuro's career: 1) her initial debut with the idol-ish super eurobeat/dance group SUPER MONKEY'S (which spawned the group MAX) from 1992 to 1995, 2) her major debut as a solo artist with Avex Trax in 1995, kicked off by the single "Body Feels EXIT," through to the height of her popularity as a leading figure in the J-pop industry alongside producer Tetsuya Komuro until her abrupt hiatus in 1997, 3) the awkward, not-very-well-received comeback and transition to post-TK R&B, which saw the lowest sales numbers of her career, and lasted roughly until the release of Queen of Hip-Pop in 2005, and 4) her meteoric rebound, transition back to dance-pop, and the cementing of her status as a legend, until the abrupt announcement of her retirement in 2017. There are a lot of mini-moments within these eras, and many parts overlap so that it's not exactly seamless, but that's the gist of it.

While Namie's comeback was one of the rarest in music history, the factors that led to the initial nadir are just as interesting and numerous. For one, she had squandered the goodwill of the public by engaging in activity that was frowned upon in Japan at the time: she hooked up with a backup dancer, got pregnant, got married, got tattoos, and got divorced, all within the space of a couple of years. On top of it, Namie's success was tied to that of her producer, the mega-popular and prolific Tetsuya Komuro, who was basically running a personal empire in the 1990s. While Namie's popularity and success was never due solely to the music he was writing for her, it was an enormous contributing factor to her sales numbers. TK's brand of pop was the defining style of the 90s, with no one better able to pry open wallets in what was the CD format's most lucrative era. But just as quickly and completely as he ruled hearts and charts, his music fell out of style, also as a result of several factors (mostly the rise of singer-songwriters and R&B/hip-hop in the mainstream, and personal issues involving everything from tax evasion, to drug rumors and a wild romantic life). Namie teaming up with him again for her immediate comeback never stood a chance against so much drama. So major changes were made when Namie ditched the Komuro baggage, taking the plunge with new support -- Dallas Austin, m-flo, ZEEBRA, even Teddy Riley -- into the world of R&B and hip-hop.

This brave step didn't immediately produce amazing results: if anything, Namie's early forays proved lackluster and indecisive on albums like GENIUS 2000. It wasn't until 2003's STYLE that she finally and fully committed to the change. Gone were the days of chasing the chance and dreaming that she was dreaming, Namie was now putting up her dukes, wishing on the same star, and shining more. The songs on the album were all heavily influenced by contemporary Western trends of the time, especially Black hip-hop, fashion, and culture. The early 00s was still the era of P. Diddy, Jennifer Lopez, Nelly, Busta Rhymes and Missy Elliott, and in some ways, STYLE samples sounds from all of these artists in different ways, with the inclusion of a few softer songs, such as "Four Seasons," "As Good As," and "Come," which were deliberately added for variety. But for the most part, the album is built on beats, bars, and rhymes. This was still a fairly new thing to see in the Japanese mainstream, and certainly by an Avex Trax artist -- for comparison, Ayumi Hamasaki had just released her rock opus I am..., while RAINBOW merely dipped a toe into R&B on a song like "Real me," Ai Otsuka was less than a year out from releasing LOVE PUNCH, Hikaru Utada was actually going softer and more art-pop with Deep River, and both BoA and Kumi Koda had just debuted in Japan with LISTEN TO MY HEART and affection respectively, which stayed squarely on the softer R&B/pop side of the fence. Only Crystal Kay, HEARTSDALES, and maybe DOUBLE were a step ahead of Namie, but I would argue that STYLE and Namie's involvement in projects like SUITE CHIC really let the sound transition into the broader and bigger Oricon mainstream, prompting a rash of copycat records.

Even so, STYLE did poorly. It still hit #1 in its first week, but it stands as Namie's least popular record with the fewest sales numbers to this day. It does, however, have something of a cult following by fans who now look back at the early 00s with nostalgia. Personally, I didn't like this album when I first heard it -- its lack of pop and dance music, which I was used to hearing from Namie, coupled with what seemed like a desperate bid for relevancy in a genre that I wasn't particularly interested in at the time, turned me off from spending much time with it. Nowadays, I dislike this album less -- there are songs on here that I actually really like. My only real caveat is that the album is split too abruptly at the halfway point between the bangers and the non-hip-hop tracks. In hindsight, STYLE is clearly Namie still getting comfortable in this milieu, and it's especially obvious next to albums like Queen of Hip-Pop and PLAY that were more successful at capturing something both influenced by hip-hop and unique to what only Namie could bring.

This CD album comes in a standard jewel case with an OBI and a booklet that features additional photos and lyrics. First press editions featured two exclusive bonus tracks: a remix of "SO CRAZY," and an alternate version of "Wishing on the Same Star." For me, this album is more interesting for what lead to it, what it lead to, and what it said about the state of Namie Amuro and J-pop at the time. It's not great, but it's not nearly as bad as I remember it being. Avex Trax, of course, would politely disagree, largely ignoring it on the career-summarizing compilation album Finally (only "SO CRAZY" represents). After something as tentative and a bit try-hard as this, the world was not ready for what was coming down the pipe with Queen of Hip-Pop, making that era all the more wild and magical.

Catalog Number: AVCD-17372

20th Anniversary

Ayumi Hamasaki: No way to say (2003.11.06)

Japanese pop music is rich in seasonal songs: when spring rolls around, artists clamor to release their best new-beginnings tracks, like, say, Perfume's "ONE ROOM DISCO," a song about kids moving all their junk into tiny dorm rooms when the new school year starts. In the summer, everyone jumps into swimsuits and drops their best upbeat, high-energy, beach-weather jams, like Kumi Koda's "LALALALALA." And when the temperature drops, bringing cooler, crisp air, and the snow begins to fall, the inevitable deluge of ballads begins.

As the reigning J-pop queen of her time, Ayumi Hamasaki is no stranger to the practice, and released several of her own seasonal-appropriate hits, including a number of ballads and slower-tempo tracks in the wintertime, like "M," "Voyage," "CAROLS," "HEAVEN," and one of the first to be so obviously geared to the season, 2003's "No way to say." The single was composed by BOUNCEBACK, one of the songwriting teams Ayu had newly enlisted for many of the tracks off of the eventual Memorial address EP, and features soft acoustic guitars that crescendo into a nice, classic Ayu synth-ballad, similar to many of her slower songs released around the same time period, like those off of 2004's MY STORY. It's a really pretty song and has remained very likable despite its PV that features a creepy Santa Claus head.

The rest of the tracks, in keeping with the winter-ballad theme, feature acoustic, or "acoustic orchestra" versions of songs, except for one. Notably, we get one for the title track, and ones for the ballads "SEASONS," "Dearest," and "Voyage." Unfortunately, for one of the few times in Ayu's career, we get re-released tracks that had appeared previously on other albums, with the acoustic version of "SEASONS" being from 2001's ayu-mi-x III Acoustic Orchestra Version, and "Dearest" from 2002's ayu-mi-x 4 + selection Acoustic Orchestra. I can't imagine if you weren't already a huge fan of Ayu's acoustic orchestra line (or huge fan in general) that you wouldn't already own those albums, so re-hashing them is a definite missed opportunity that opts for empty filler. I can't remember if the "Voyage" one is also a re-hash, though I know it was later worked into a different acoustic version that can be found on 2013's A CLASSICAL, along with new versions of the other two. Finally, there is a rather forgettable house remix of "No way to say" to close things out. Ballads are notoriously rough territory for club remixes, and this one doesn't fare any better than the rest. Overall, this an A+ title track that's marred with some rather forgettable coupling tracks, and suffers from one of the cheapest tricks in the book by including old material.

Still, one thing to note is how great Ayu's voice still sounds at this stage. It doesn't surprise me that we don't get too much in the way of these stripped down, acoustic compilations as much anymore, since Ayu's voice doesn't sound as good as it once did, with her clean timbre and more restrained delivery. Finally, this includes the instrumental version of "No way to say," which is predictably terrific.

This is a very sweet, very classic Ayu ballad, one that she has performed dozens of times live for a good reason, usually in a cosmically large ballgown, and it does a good job of representing this period of her career. Ayu has released many winter, or winter-adjacent, ballads over the course of her legendary career, and this one still stands as one of the most well-known and beloved.

Catalog Number: AVCD-30542

Pizzicato Five: the international playboy & playgirl record

25th anniversary

By 1998, Pizzicato Five had settled into the perfect groove: they had found their voice and niche as leading purveyors of the Japanese indie-pop/Shibuya-kei scene, were regularly releasing some of the most interesting and stylistically original music anywhere, and had also established their signature look, incorporating their love of 60s ye-ye, 70s funk, soul, and disco, and 90s hip-hop and house into the now iconic throwback looks ripped from the pages of Petticoat and Queen. This mid-90s period was their most fruitful, with almost one studio album released every year that decade (not to mention the countless remix and best-of compilations, and EPs) -- when genius burns, it positively scorches. At their height, right on the cusp of the end, they released the international playgirl & playboy record.

Pizzicato Five were one of the very rare and lucky Japanese groups to have a cult international following, with the indie label Matador distributing their music beginning with 1994's Five By Five and Made in USA, a compilation record, before finally doing the group justice enough to release albums mostly unchanged. Thus, the international playboy & playgirl record became, simply, Playboy & Playgirl for the U.S. release, coming out seven months after the original in the spring of 1999. By many hipsters' account, Shibuya-kei was mostly done by the late 90s, a hip trend taken to its logical dead-end with the number of copy-cat groups and zero-sum looting of obscure musical samples that rendered obsolete the special "insider's knowledge" of bragging rights that made the genre so fun. I can also see how some might think Yasuharu Konishi, the main writer, producer and one half of P5, with Maki Nomiya on vocals, was running out of ideas.

Certainly, the music on Playboy & Playgirl is some of their most commercial yet, tending towards a more standard J-pop sound with singles like "WEEKEND" and the title track "PLAYBOY PLAYGIRL." It's certainly some of their most lush, with the orchestral hints on previous album ROMANTIQUE '96 now making way for full string quartets and roiling brass popping up throughout the album like Burt Bacharach on caffeine. Along with the iconic jacket art, it's a very cinematic sound, the fulmination of Konishi's entire aesthetic now in its full, no-cost-spared production. It's absolutely gorgeous, and the fact that the focus shifted from showing off Konishi's esoteric musical influences to crafting actual masterpieces only made the music better and stronger on its own. Sure, you might be a more sophisticated listener for being able to name the James Taylor, Herb Pilhofer, and Richard de Bordeaux & Daniel Beretta samples, but even if you didn't recognize them, you could still enjoy the songs.

I don't want to ignore Maki Nomiya -- she may not have been the ultimate mastermind like Konishi, but you can hardly imagine P5's entire aesthetic without her. Besides being the face of the group, she has one of my favorite voices in Japanese music history. While she may not have the bold, endless range and gymnastic ability of what people in the West associate with great vocalists, like Christina Aguilera or Mariah Carey, say, she has what I consider quintessential 90s J-pop vocals: light but steady, clipped and precise, smooth, and impeccably articulated. There's nothing immediately recognizable about it in the context of her J-pop contemporaries, but her voice is absolutely perfect for the type of music P5 did, and her essential presence enhances the warmth of their sound.

the international playboy & playgirl record was released in many different versions, and since this is my favorite P5 record, I finally own all of them. It was first released in Japan on the group's own Readymade label under Nippon Columbia in a slim DVD-sized cardboard box, as well as on 12" vinyl that included selections from the album, rather than the record in its entirety. It was also distributed on the indie label Matador in the US, which came in a digipak with a booklet featuring various photos, and the lyrics printed in the original romaji next to English translations. Many of the song titles are close or close-enough adaptations of the original Japanese titles, although the Matador version swaps out a track called "THE INTERNATIONAL PIZZICATO FIVE MANSION" for a track that doesn't appear on the original Japanese release, called "La Règle du jeu." This is most likely due to the fact that the former is a track composed almost entirely of inconsequential "background music" set to Japanese dialogue. "La Règle du jeu" was originally released in 1998 as a stand-alone single with "Atarashii Uta," or "New Song." Matador also released this album on 12" vinyl, featuring different cover art than the original Japanese vinyl version (which are all different from the CD version), as well as a slightly different song selection (it also includes the missing track “THE INTERNATIONAL PIZZICATO FIVE MANSION” not found on the Matador CD).

There are a lot of Pizzicato Five songs and albums that I really like, but for me, this album really captures the essence of the group at their most commercial, and therefore, most inclusive, best. ROMANTIQUE '96 and HAPPY END OF THE WORLD might have cooler samples, but it also rendered them a bit more exclusive and closed off to anyone without the requisite hours spent in the stacks memorizing long-forgotten jazz riffs of the 1960s. Playboy & Playgirl took the snobbery out of Shibuya-kei in a way that made anyone capable of appreciating its ornate Copperplate flourishes. That’s what makes pop music so great, and while that might have contributed to the genre’s and group’s eventual dissolution, I will never pass on the opportunity to hear a sound made more accessible by appealing to more common-denominator foundations, rather than less, as long as it's done respectfully and successfully. P5 made both approaches work, and here, still managed to retain their signature sound without succumbing to a loss of what made them so unique.

Happy 25th anniversary to the international playboy & playgirl record, one of the greatest albums of time.

25th Anniversary

Pizzicato Five: the international playboy & playgirl record (1998.10.01)