Melon Kinenbi - 1st Anniversary

Well, it hasn't been TOO long since my last post lol. I had been going through my albums on iTunes and came across Melon Kinenbi's first album and realized I had ripped it, but never listened to it. I figured this would be a great album to do a "first impression" post on. Of course I have heard some of the songs on the album before, but I haven't heard all of them. I'm looking forward to doing this because I don't quite care for Melon's singles so I'm interested in hearing the full album.

I'd say Melon Kinenbi is probably pretty well known among Hello! Project fans who have been part of the fandom for a bit, but since they're an older group I'll just give a little background on them. Melon Kinenbi officially debuted in Hello Project in 2000 with four members: Hitomi Saito, Megumi Murata, Masae Ohtani, & Ayumi Shibata. They were one of the early groups of H!P, and they are also one of the longest lasting groups in H!P. I believe they're also the longest lasting H!P group with no member changes. Towards the end of their run, they weren't really idols in the sense that Berryz Kobo were when they ended. They had been kind of off doing their own thing under UFP before their disbandment in 2010.

Track #1: Melon Kinenbi no Theme (OP)

Track #2: Akai Freesia

Although I don't know a whole lot about Melon Kinenbi, I believe that this is their most well known song. It seems like everyone in H!P sings this song at some point. I personally have never really cared too much about the track. It's a pretty generic J-pop track really and doesn't have the "Tsunku feel" like other H!P songs. It's also a not very upbeat, upbeat song. If that makes any sense. Like there's not a whole lot of life in it. 3/5.

Track #3: Kousui

This is such an early 2000s midtempo H!P track. It's got that faux "hip hop" feel that Minimoni & early Berryz were trying to do. It's not a bad song, and they certainly pull it off better than Minimoni, but it's not really my cup of tea. 3/5.

Track #4: Anniversary

Ah the first song that sounds somewhat lively so far. I believe this is an album track as I haven't heard it before. It still has that "yo yo yo" in the background with the fake hip hop sound. But where Kousui fails, I think this song prevails. It's uptempo and doesn't rely on the fake hip hop sound to carry it. 3.5/5.

Track #5: This Is Unmei

I think this is another track that people think of when they think of Kinenbi. I personally don't like it. I do really enjoy the verses and the use of classical music, but the chorus is awful and ruins everything. I just picture those terrible pop rock groups when it starts. 3.5/5.

Track #6: Kokuhaku Kinenbi

I swear I just want to write Kenobi when I try to write Kinenbi. I remember watching the music video for this when I was first trying to dig deeper into H!P's past and wondering why it was so bright and why they were wearing blond wigs. As with most early H!P songs, I don't like this or hate this, but I'd rather not listen to it a lot. The very early 2000s (like 2000-2002) songs in H!P, outside of a few songs, are incredibly dated. More dated than Britney Spears' Baby One More Time & THAT song is dated. What I do like about it is that like other songs from that period, it's not trying to take itself too seriously. It's fun, it's catchy, and it's not trying to be mature fake hip hop. 3.5/5.

Track #7: Nemuranai Yoru

Now this song really sounds like Minimoni's Crazy About You. It's not as good as it though. I enjoy the slower, more dramatic verses; but the chorus is just too upbeat and screechy sounding. It's also weirdly sandwiched inbetween two completely different sounding songs. 3.5/5.

Track #8: Saa! Koibito ni Narou

Wow is this ever a mix between Koi no Dance Site & Hyoutanjima. With a splash of rock thrown in. It's so weird. It's not one of Tsunku's better weird tracks, but it's interesting enough to hold your attention. 3.5/5.

Track #9: Denwa Matteimasu

I had to look up what date this song was released again because I was surprised that it's a 2001 track. H!P music tends to have very distinct sounds for different years and this reminds me a lot of 2005-ish with Berryz & Osaka Koi no Uta. However, I guess that it's also like Maki Goto's albums during this time. I'd have to say that this is probably my favorite song on the album. It's more the style that I like. A dance track that's more of a mature sound. 4/5.

Track #10: Natsu no Yoru wa Danger!

The opening is another H!P song. I know it is but what is it I can't think of it. I can't bring myself to think of anything to say about this song. It's essentially a completely forgettable song with nothing memorable about it. 3/5.

Track #11: Amai Anata no Aji

Their first single. It's also the best song on the album. Sure it's incredible outdated, but it's one of the few tracks that doesn't sound like a Morning Musume/Minimoni reject. It has a character that is the group itself and not someone else. 4.5/5.

Track #12: Endless Youth

I like the traditional sounding opening and feeling through the verses. One of the biggest downfalls of Kinenbi's music are how the choruses are mainly let downs. Everything starts out so promising and then falls flat in the generic "peppy" verses. Disappointing. 3/5.

Track #13: Melon Kinenbi no Theme (ED)

Includes all songs except for Nemuranai Yoru

This album really represents to me the problem of companies not releasing albums every year or two for their acts. To me, this isn't an album, it's a compilation. The songs styles are all over the place and you can tell very distinctly in most of the tracks what year they were released in. Because of how all over the place this is, it's really difficult to listen to it as one package. It also doesn't help that the songs sound like Kinenbi just got all of the throwaway tracks from each era that weren't good enough for Musume. It's just not a very interesting album to me. It's nice to own for collection purposes, but it's not something I'd actually listen to. 3/5.