Motomeyo Saraba Ataeraren
05 August 2007
An opening to warfare: part two! This post is going to be about the CDs I received last Wednesday. I mentioned a little while ago that I'd bought some Hello! Project CDs from eBay, well they arrived a little later than I expected (thanks to Royal Mail's bloody strike no doubt). I bought Petit Best 1, 2 and 3, Tanpopo's 1st album (Tanpopo), and Morning Musume's 6th album (Ai no Dai 6-Kan). I was really surprised to find that Ai no Dai 6-Kan was still brand new! The resealable plastic outer wrapping was there and the CD still had its factory wrapping on. The poster hadn't been touched, it was pristine, without so much as a single crease on it. I still haven't opened the CD yet. I'm still debating whether I should or not /laugh. It seems such a shame to break the seal. I might look for another copy of it just so I don't have to open a new copy. Yes, I have a bad case of Obsessive Compulsive Disorder /sigh.
Thankfully, someone had already opened the rest of the CDs so I was free to listen to them without moral dilemmas cropping up. Tanpopo's album really surprised me. I wasn't expecting much and had only bought it because it was so cheap. But what I found was enough quality songs to warrant its purchase price three times over. It's such a shame that this sub-group didn't release more stuff. I think they only have a best of album that came out before they broke up. They were definitely one of the more successful sub-groups to emerge from Hello! Project. They have a mature feel to their music. "Tanjoubi No Asa" is a beautiful ballad which is probably my favourite songs of theirs right now. If I see their best of album for sale I might have to put a bid in for it.
The Petit Best albums were also pleasantly surprising. Being a compilation of all acts from Hello! Project, it gave me an opportunity to listen to groups that I would not normally consider. I found Melon Kinenbi's songs to be a refreshing change to the usual Hello! Project sound. In particular their song, "This is Unmei" is addictive because it's so odd sounding at first. Heike Michiyo's songs have more of a J-Rock feel to them. Her songs sound much 'cooler' than most of the other stuff on the albums. I enjoyed the summer shuffle songs a lot. They really suit the season, though it'd be even better if I was in Japan to experience it. "Dancing! Natsu Matsuri" is everything I love about Japanese festivals - the beat of the Taiko drums with the constant chanting - it's just awesome to listen to. I could go on for ages about different songs I found enjoyable from the three albums but that'd take forever and it'd probably make for boring reading. I'll just say that I'm very happy with my purchases and will be hunting down the rest of the Petit Best albums. They're well worth it.
Posted byHocchan at 12:43 pm
