Reviewing a Christmas-ish CD in May? Sure! I certainly wish it was Christmas....a week off from work, no classes, cold weather. I'm the strange person that prefers cold over hot when it comes to the weather lol. I've never fully understood the decision to have Morning Musume release a mini album instead of a full album or a single in it's place. I read a rumor once about perhaps this was going to be a Berryz release that then got switched to MM, but I don't know how true that is or why they would have done that. It's just that this mini album is an anomaly in MM's discography.
Track #1, Aruiteru: This isn't even a Christmas song lol. It doesn't even feel like a Christmas song to me. I get a beginning of fall feeling from it. Probably because of the music video that ends in the campfire scene. This is such a nice song. It's different enough from the rest of their singles to stand out. I've always viewed it as a transitional song. Going from all of the graduations of the end of the Golden Era into the very beginning of the Platinum Era shortly before Aika joined and when Koharu was new. I might just be blinded by fandom, but I love this even though it's a J-pop midtempo. Tsunku's compositions just seem to blow everyone else out of the water. 5/5.
Track #2, Kira Kira Fuyu no Shiny G: Reina Tanaka's solo song. I remember when she sang this song for her graduation and I had no idea what it was or where it was from lol. I'm not sure if I ever mentioned it before, but Reina was the girl that caused me to really pay attention to MM when I first came across Onna to Otoko no Lullaby Game. I absolutely adored her hairstyle and tried to recreate it with my own hair. I still like Reina now, but now that she's been graduated for a couple years, I can say that really her vocals can be grating. She's certainly a good singer, but her tone is unique and that makes it hard to listen to a full song of her voice. I also had expected this to be a really genki song because of the title lol. It certainly has a Christmas-y feel to it. 4/5.
Track #3, Yuki/AixAnata>Suki: Gosh the way that title is written is really annoying. This is Ai Takahashi's solo with Risa Niigaki doing some sort of radio MC thing. Yikes I never noticed how long this song is. I'm a strong supporter of the idea that songs shouldn't have any random speaking in them. It really ruins a song. I do really like Ai's voice, but this isn't my type of song. It's too slow for my taste. 3/5.
Track #4, Samui Kara Fuyu da mon! ~Doumokou no Naissu yo Mikitty~: Miki Fujimoto's solo song that features C-ute's Chisato Okai & Mai Hagiwara. They really should have never added Miki to Morning Musume. I don't know what it was like when she was actually in the group, but looking back now she seems like she never actually fit into the group. She should have stayed a soloist. She certainly has the voice for it. With this song, I like the beat, but the rest of it is pretty average. I also don't quite understand what purpose Chisato & Mai have in the song besides interrupting it. 3/5.
Track #5, Kotatsu no Uta ~Jyuken Story~: Sung by Hitomi Yoshizawa, Risa Niigaki, and Eri Kamei. The intro is not winter at all. It's like an early Ca va Ca va with the French feeling lol. Besides Aruiteru, I think this is the most interesting song on the CD. It could do with the fact that I have an irrational hate for just about all Christmas music, but I think it's more that this feels like a throwback to Golden Era Musume. If I just got into the group and someone told me that this was released around the time of Do It! Now, I'd believe it. 4/5.
Track #6, Wa~ Merry Pin Xmas!: Sung by Sayumi Michishige and Koharu Kusumi. You can already tell just by seeing those two names what type of song this is lol. It's probably the most Christmas song on the CD. It's certainly not my kind of song by any means though. Much like Miki's solo, the beat makes the song ok, but it's too idoly of a track for me. 3/5.
Fuyu Fuyu Mini (Audio):
This certainly isn't my favorite Morning Musume release, although I expected it to be abnormal due to it being a Christmas album. I really don't like Christmas music all that much and MM doesn't help me to like it even if the songs are original. The album as a whole is just okay. Nothing special at all. 3.5/5
No comments:
Post a Comment