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.

25 Days Of Christmas Countdown Day #16: Top H!P/48G songs (From acts other than the current main groups)

I know, I know....I missed another day. I was doing so well with being on time for things (even having some things typed up early!). I will try not to fail for the few days I have left lol.

This pretty much covers any former group, subgroup, and soloist of HP/48G. So essentially none of the current main groups. Of course the vast majority of the list is Hello Project, mainly because I haven't heard much from the subgroups and soloists of 48G yet. They just have SO MANY songs to get through lol. The list was pretty difficult to come up with because of the massive amount of songs to pick from, but I think I like the way the list is. Maybe next year I'll have more 48G representation.

#10: Koharu Kusumi - Balalaika (2006)

#9: High-King - Kioku no Miero (2008)

#8: SDN48 - Tengoku no Door wa 3kaime no Bell de Aku (2011)

#7: W - Ai no Imi wo Oshiete! (2005)

#6: SDN48 - Kodoku na Runner (2010)

#5: Def.Diva - Suki Sugite Baka Mitai (2005)

#4: Country Musume - Uwaki na Honey Pie (2003)

#3: Aya Matsuura - Good Bye Natsuo (2003)

#2: Maki Goto - Ai no Bakayarou (2001)

#1: W - Samishii Nettaigyo (2004)

Enjoy! What do you think of the past groups of 48G & Hello! Project?

Music Discovery Mondays (August 24, 2015)

I feel like I should warn everyone that my classes started back up today, so I can't promise that these & the new music Thursdays will actually be posted on the correct day. Especially because I'm starting a new job as well. I'll try my best but please don't get upset if I forget a week or two! Thanks for reading!

Track #1: SunRisa - Over Flow

I don't know too much about this group. The video has four members, but their website only shows two now. Also, the single cover for this song only shows the two members on the website too so I don't know if they were ever even a four member group or if they re-recorded and released it after the other two left. No clue. What I do know is that the song is incredibly catchy. If you like Prizmmy, SunRisa should be right up your alley. They really remind me of Prizmmy from the sound of the song to the young members.

Official Site

Track #2: Aya Matsuura - Shine More

It bothers me that there's only live performances on YT, but Aya was such an incredible talent that the live version is pretty close to the original track. This song is an album track from her second album, Two. It's got a Latin tinge to it and it reminds me a lot of SDN's Tengoku no Door.

Track #3: Ai Shinozaki - A-G-A-I-N

I'd heard of Ai Shinozaki before coming across this video, but only in passing. I thought she was a model, not a singer. Or maybe she's both. I don't know, don't really care. The song though is fantastic. It's a pure pop track that isn't really anything special musically, but her vocals really make up the difference. Honestly, if this song was sung in English by Katy Perry or any of the other female popstars of the West, this song could smash.

Enjoy!

Morning Musume - No.5

Morning Musume's 5th album. Interesting thing about this album is that it has a song that features Maki Goto after she graduated from the group. I just think that's kind of cool, and to my knowledge the only time any H!P group did something like that. (Meaning a member comes back for a song....not that it includes a single from when they were in the group...)

Track #1, Intro: Just an intro. Doesn't really count as a song.

Track #2, Do It! Now: Review Here

Track #3, Top!: This should have been the album opener. As much as I love Do It! Now (and ignoring the intro) this would've been perfect as the opener. It's got that in your face feel that gets you pumped up for the rest of the tracks. I could go for a Morning Musume song nowadays with this feel. I think Makeru Kon'ya is the closest they've come recently to the feel of this song. 5/5.

Track #4, Tomodachi ga Ki ni Itteru Otoko Kara no Dengon: Typing that just now I noticed that this album has a couple songs with really long titles. Also, I apparently forgot to turn my iTunes off of shuffle because "Rock no Teigi" began playing & I was like "Wow this song sounds so modern for being released in 2003.....oh wait..." xD. For the actual song, it's just ok. Boring really. For an H!P song, it's pretty generic. 3/5

Track #5, Koko ni Iruzee: Review Here

Track #6, Suggoi Nakama: Hm. Maybe I take back my earlier comment on MM's 4th album that the albums were getting better. Well, actually that's not really fair. Their first two albums (and the third to an extent) were snooze fests, this is at least happy but this feels like their generic idol phase. Although the more the song goes the less generic idol pop it feels the more H!P it feels....really don't know what I think about this. Ah yes, the bridge shows Tsunku's genius. Maybe it's not as typical as I originally thought. 3.5/5.

Track #7, Tsuyoki de Yukouze!: Ah. Now we're back to H!P crazy. The guitars make the entire song. This could've been a great album opener too. I love the end where Mari? I think, says "Thank you!" and everything ends. H!P rock stars. 4/5.

Track #8, Megami (Mousse na Yasashisa): This song was used for a commercial. Generasia tells me it was a Pocky commercial, but I don't quite understand what Mousse has to do with Pocky....although I'm guessing Japan has a bazillion more Pocky flavors than you can get over here. Seems more like a razor commercial song though because this song sounds NOTHING like I'd ever associate with Pocky. Maybe it's a culture barrier issues. The song's pretty nice, not sure it makes me want to go buy Pocky, but I'd probably look up who the group was if I heard it in a commercial. 3.5/5

Track #9, Yes! Pocky Girls: Well this one is quite obviously from a Pocky commercial. I'm guessing that both songs were used in the same promotional campaign. Now I DO want some Pocky....unfortunately the closest store to me that sells it is 30 minutes from here...unless the Walmart around here sells it and I've just never seen it. Although this song makes MUCH more sense with selling Pocky, I'd rather listen to the Venus Mousse track. 3/5.

Track #10, Hey! Mirai: This song has a music video for some reason. I'm going to assume that this was meant to be a single because I've never seen H!P release a music video to promote an album before. Not a big fan of the song. It's just ok. The music video features adorable puppies. Should've been cats #crazycatlady4ever! (I swear I'll NEVER use a hashtag like that again xD I just had to xD I figure I'm the only one that will find that funny xD) 3/5.

Track #11, Ganbacchae!: This is the song that features Maki Goto. It also features the H!P Kids before they were Berryz & C-ute. Kind of sounds like Ai Araba. I found out there's a video for this too. The H!P kids look SO LITTLE! They're adorable!. It's actually a little weird saying that because I'm the same age as most of them. Mini Chisato & Mai are so adorable though. This song also furthers my stance that Risa should've been lead vocals for everything. 4/5.

Track #12, Sugoku Suki na no ne: Always appreciative of Tsunku's experimentation in songs. The one line of music that goes through the song (it's not the melody is it? The music at the beginning of the song & in the bridges that kinda sounds Christmasy) is so catchy. 4.5/5.

Track #13, Sotsugyou Ryokou (Morning Musume Tabidatsu Hito ni Okuru Uta): I was so ready to write this song off based off of the beginning. I was sad that MM was going down the boring predictable route on a song like this, but was pleasantly surprised with the pickup. 3.5/5.

This album is a step down from 4th Ikimasshoi, but it's not bad. Haven't heard their 6th album yet so I don't know how this compares in between both their 4th and 6th, but as a whole, I'd call this album the most idol pop they've done on an album from what I've heard. 4/5.