Well, I mentioned that Gackt was going to release a Gundam album, so I thought I may as well review it... ^_^
It's a bit disappointing that there are hardly any new tracks on it - six of the nine tracks are just re-releases of his previous Gundam songs. This review only covers the covers for that reason.
And there's no cover of "Tobe! Gundam" (which I only wanted because it would have been amusing).
They brought in Furuya Tohru to randomly say stuff as Amuro, during the songs, so that's fun. ^_^
Gackt's album version of Ai Senshi is much better than the live version that's been floating around on youtube, though it's essentially the same. He sings something closer to the right notes (well, at least for some of the song), and there's not so much clanging (it was too loud before).
After Amuro comes in, he seems to wander off into singing some other song, though...? I'm thinking "hey, wait, you were in the middle of this song! Come back and finish it, you slacker!" ... then he comes back and sings the wrong notes for a bit (like in the live), before finishing off the song.
Oh well.
The cover of "Suna no Juujika", or "Cross of Sand", is an acoustic guitar instrumental version. It's got a sound quality that really isn't studio like, it's not cleaned up, and it's got a real Mediterranean feel to it. The original version is 70s dramatic music with almost enka-style vocals. There's one point where distant church bells are heard in the background, and you get the feeling this is being performed in some Spanish café in the early morning... it's all very pleasant... right until... T_T ... the end, where someone thought it would be a good idea to ruin it all by ending the track as scratched vinyl skipping. -_-;
The final track on the album is a cover of "Meguriai". It seems to also be known as "Encounters" or "Unexpected Meeting", depending where you look. If you want to hear the original version, this AMV uses the song. Gackt's version is very Gackt. It's got a nice soft piano / vocal beginning, and then drops you head first into heavy rock. Impetuous for an old man, isn't he? Then it sorts itself out and builds itself from piano / vocal into rock gradually, then goes off the rails a bit at the end...
The rock parts make this song a little bit too similar to his cover of Ai Senshi, that's my feeling. I guess that's the sound he and his current band specialise in these days. I think it would have been better if it didn't sound so unbalanced; it would have been just as passionate a song if it had remained piano / vocal. Or if had built up to being heavy rock and stayed as such.
...it made me want to listen to Ishihara Shinichi's Para-Para Eurobeat cover of Meguriai! So I did! ^__^ I'm not sure how a Eurobeat cover can seem closer to the original of a song like this, but it does.
Overall Verdict: Gackt is too Gackt to be good at performing other peoples' songs. He rates his own style too highly to be able to adequately see the beauty in another person's song, so he wipes out too much of the character of the original. I know, from listening to his other works, that he's more than capable of producing the right kind of sound to suit these songs, and that he could have done a much more beautiful and faithful job, I think that irritates me a bit.
It's not bad but I don't really like it.
Thursday, 20 December 2007
Wasp in my kitchen
There's a wasp living in my kitchen. First time I saw it, it was probably November, and made me go "aargh!" as I unexpectedly saw it walking round on my cardboard recycle pile. It was huge at the time. The next time I saw it, a few days later, it made me go "aargh!" as I saw it unexpectedly walking around on the kitchen blinds. The next time I saw it, a few days later, it made me go "aargh!" as I saw it walking into my living room. At which point I got a glass from the kitchen and took it back in there. I put a few drops of fruit juice in the glass and it lived in there for a few days. I looked it up on wikipedia - it says that all ordinary wasps die off in the winter, except the queen which hibernates. So I thought... "it's December, this kitchen is cold, it should die soon. Poor thing." ... so it was there in the glass in the kitchen for a few days. Then one day it was gone. This was about a week ago. I thought "do wasps do somewhere to die?" and felt quite sad about it. Today, I saw it walking round on the carpet and... I got a camera and took a picture and decided to post it in my blog. ^_^;;
There's a wasp living in my kitchen! In the middle of Winter! And it walks everywhere!
Thursday, 6 December 2007
Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun
I also bought a copy of "Oyoge! Taiyaki-kun", which is the biggest-selling 7" single of all time, in Japan. Possibly still the biggest-selling single, depending on which reports you read. (Some stories report that Utada Hikaru has overtaken this in sales thanks to downloadable singles being counted in the charts).
Being the biggest-selling record ever, 4.5 million copies sold, there are tons of copies around (even for a record from 1976!) so mine only cost $1.99 ^_^ I already had a copy of the song on a compilation CD, but it's symbolically nice to own a copy of such an important record.
It's a bit like the story of the gingerbread man, it's a short children's song animation. You can watch it here
Every day the baker makes taiyaki and it gets eaten. One day, the taiyaki gets bored of this, gets into a fight with the baker and decides to escape, and it goes off and swims in the ocean. It has a nice time there, lots of fun swimming about, but eventually it gets hungry. So it looks for some food, and sees a worm hanging about in the water.... some old guy fishes him out! What a surprise! So he gets eaten.
There's a live version here too:
http://www.megavideo.com/?v=XPHOOBLL
Hooray for Masato Shimon! Isn't he great? Why is he surrounded by businessmen, clapping? Well, it seems that the reason this was such a big hit was not just because it's a great song, but everyone in Japan could relate to it as a metaphor for working life.
...isn't that somewhat depressing? I guess it depends on your interpretation.
Apparently due to contracts, Masato Shimon didn't make much money out of this at all. :( The record company made enough profit to build a new building just from this one record, though.
Being the biggest-selling record ever, 4.5 million copies sold, there are tons of copies around (even for a record from 1976!) so mine only cost $1.99 ^_^ I already had a copy of the song on a compilation CD, but it's symbolically nice to own a copy of such an important record.
It's a bit like the story of the gingerbread man, it's a short children's song animation. You can watch it here
Every day the baker makes taiyaki and it gets eaten. One day, the taiyaki gets bored of this, gets into a fight with the baker and decides to escape, and it goes off and swims in the ocean. It has a nice time there, lots of fun swimming about, but eventually it gets hungry. So it looks for some food, and sees a worm hanging about in the water.... some old guy fishes him out! What a surprise! So he gets eaten.
There's a live version here too:
http://www.megavideo.com/?v=XPHOOBLL
Hooray for Masato Shimon! Isn't he great? Why is he surrounded by businessmen, clapping? Well, it seems that the reason this was such a big hit was not just because it's a great song, but everyone in Japan could relate to it as a metaphor for working life.
...isn't that somewhat depressing? I guess it depends on your interpretation.
Apparently due to contracts, Masato Shimon didn't make much money out of this at all. :( The record company made enough profit to build a new building just from this one record, though.
MIO (MIQ) - L-Gaim & Starlight Shower
I've been buying vinyl. ^_^
I bought the L-Gaim 7" single, along with the album "Starlight Shower" by MIO.
The single contains "Time For L-Gaim" on side A, and "Starlight Shower" on side B. Its catalogue number is K07S-512 (K07S-512B) and cost 700 yen when it came out in 1984.
The album contains both those songs, and more. Both records were released on the STAR CHILD label. Its catalogue number is K28G-7197 and it cost 2800 yen when it came out in 1984. Prices haven't changed much! The full tracklisting is provided handily on the back in English, hooray!
Side A:
* MORNING BELL
* KAZE NO DUET
* BIARRITZ NO KYUJITSU
* Good-bye TOKYO
* SAYONARA WA Tenderly
Side B:
* L-GAIM - Time for L-GAIM
* AMOREI
* MINT BAR
* MAGIC CITY
* STARLIGHT SHOWER
It comes with a lyrics sheet and also, separately, a full fold-out poster of MIO - that's kinda cool. ^_^
I haven't listened to them yet - too busy playing with my new iPod. I need to get my act together and preserve this vinyl to MP3 format... my computer is being dodgy when it comes to recording from line-in at the moment, though. -_-;
I really do like listening to MIO. Or, MIQ as she's now known. Such a great voice, quite low, especially compared to other female singers from Japan. She sounds something like she ought to be a glorious black gospel singer, but no, she's a little Japanese lady. That's cool. ^_^ I already have some of her work - various live performances on CD and DVD, various Xabungle 7" records, her recent hits CD album, the Dunbine CD single and the L-Gaim CD single, even! But the L-Gaim CD single doesn't have the song "Starlight Shower" (L-Gaim ending theme), and I am especially addicted to that song at the moment.
I bought the L-Gaim 7" single, along with the album "Starlight Shower" by MIO.
The single contains "Time For L-Gaim" on side A, and "Starlight Shower" on side B. Its catalogue number is K07S-512 (K07S-512B) and cost 700 yen when it came out in 1984.
The album contains both those songs, and more. Both records were released on the STAR CHILD label. Its catalogue number is K28G-7197 and it cost 2800 yen when it came out in 1984. Prices haven't changed much! The full tracklisting is provided handily on the back in English, hooray!
Side A:
* MORNING BELL
* KAZE NO DUET
* BIARRITZ NO KYUJITSU
* Good-bye TOKYO
* SAYONARA WA Tenderly
Side B:
* L-GAIM - Time for L-GAIM
* AMOREI
* MINT BAR
* MAGIC CITY
* STARLIGHT SHOWER
It comes with a lyrics sheet and also, separately, a full fold-out poster of MIO - that's kinda cool. ^_^
I haven't listened to them yet - too busy playing with my new iPod. I need to get my act together and preserve this vinyl to MP3 format... my computer is being dodgy when it comes to recording from line-in at the moment, though. -_-;
I really do like listening to MIO. Or, MIQ as she's now known. Such a great voice, quite low, especially compared to other female singers from Japan. She sounds something like she ought to be a glorious black gospel singer, but no, she's a little Japanese lady. That's cool. ^_^ I already have some of her work - various live performances on CD and DVD, various Xabungle 7" records, her recent hits CD album, the Dunbine CD single and the L-Gaim CD single, even! But the L-Gaim CD single doesn't have the song "Starlight Shower" (L-Gaim ending theme), and I am especially addicted to that song at the moment.
Yay! I bought an iPod!
Woo!
Shiny, isn't it? ^_^
This is my first portable MP3 player. Well, the first proper MP3 player. I've had portable CD players that could play MP3s and I can play MP3s on my handheld consoles and what-have-you, but... well, you know what I mean.
It's a 6th generation silver iPod classic, 80GB. ^__^ I got it on Amazon for what I think is a pretty good price, considering its capacity.
So far, I'm happy with it. The only irritations I'm feeling are:
* I find the navigation wheel a bit annoying.
* It only comes with a quick start manual, and it's too simplistic
* I managed to scratch the metal back already (!)
(how? I haven't done anything! I haven't even left this room yet!)
* You can't charge the battery and listen to music at the same time.
The last being plain stupid design, IMHO.
I got round having to install iTunes by getting a copy of Poddox, which seems to work well. It won't transfer video, but I'm not bothered about watching video on little portable devices anyway.
Shiny, isn't it? ^_^
This is my first portable MP3 player. Well, the first proper MP3 player. I've had portable CD players that could play MP3s and I can play MP3s on my handheld consoles and what-have-you, but... well, you know what I mean.
It's a 6th generation silver iPod classic, 80GB. ^__^ I got it on Amazon for what I think is a pretty good price, considering its capacity.
So far, I'm happy with it. The only irritations I'm feeling are:
* I find the navigation wheel a bit annoying.
* It only comes with a quick start manual, and it's too simplistic
* I managed to scratch the metal back already (!)
(how? I haven't done anything! I haven't even left this room yet!)
* You can't charge the battery and listen to music at the same time.
The last being plain stupid design, IMHO.
I got round having to install iTunes by getting a copy of Poddox, which seems to work well. It won't transfer video, but I'm not bothered about watching video on little portable devices anyway.
Wednesday, 5 December 2007
JAM Project to cover Lucky Star OP
To be released on 2007-12-26:
Lucky Star Mottake Sailor Fuku Re-Mix002 by JAM Project.
Fun! You can hear a clip of it in this CM!
Catalogue No: LACM-4445
Price: 1,200 yen
Lucky Star Mottake Sailor Fuku Re-Mix002 by JAM Project.
Fun! You can hear a clip of it in this CM!
Catalogue No: LACM-4445
Price: 1,200 yen
Saturday, 1 December 2007
Misawa Go - anime composer - died aged 79
From animenation news:
Goh Misawa, the soundtrack composer for the 1972 Devilman and 1973 Aim For The Ace! anime television series, died of esophageal cancer in a hospital outside Palm Springs, California, on the morning of November 20. He was 79. Misawa moved from Japan to America, where he continued to create music and dub movies, in 1976.
--
He had the same birthday as me, but half a century before... follow this link for a big list of anime songs he worked on (list in Japanese). As well as the opening themes to "Ace o Nerae!" and "Devilman TV", he wrote the opening theme to "Ryuusei Ningen Zone"! I think that might be my favourite of his songs, but it might equally have been because of Masato Shimon's performance of the song.
Of the others, I've only heard the song "Attention Please" as part of Mizuki Ichirou's "Seishun For You" compilation song... -_-;
Oh he also wrote the opening to Jungle Kurobe, but... it's not one of my favourites...
(This may be a bad time to say it, but... I like the Devilman ED theme much more than the OP theme)
Goh Misawa, the soundtrack composer for the 1972 Devilman and 1973 Aim For The Ace! anime television series, died of esophageal cancer in a hospital outside Palm Springs, California, on the morning of November 20. He was 79. Misawa moved from Japan to America, where he continued to create music and dub movies, in 1976.
--
He had the same birthday as me, but half a century before... follow this link for a big list of anime songs he worked on (list in Japanese). As well as the opening themes to "Ace o Nerae!" and "Devilman TV", he wrote the opening theme to "Ryuusei Ningen Zone"! I think that might be my favourite of his songs, but it might equally have been because of Masato Shimon's performance of the song.
Of the others, I've only heard the song "Attention Please" as part of Mizuki Ichirou's "Seishun For You" compilation song... -_-;
Oh he also wrote the opening to Jungle Kurobe, but... it's not one of my favourites...
(This may be a bad time to say it, but... I like the Devilman ED theme much more than the OP theme)
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