Music Post: The 5 Great Hello! Project Albums That Aren't Morning Musume
Anyone who writes on J-pop should have a keyboard macro for it: "Morning Musume, the flagship group of pop idol collective Hello! Project..." It goes without saying that they are synonymous with girl groups in contemporary Japanese music. But because of that same ubiquitousness, they also tend to overshadow their own spinoff groups and co-performers ... many of which, when added up together, create a musical spectrum that extends past just the sparkly girlpop that is the MM trademark. In some sort of particular order, here are the 5 Great Hello! Project Albums That Aren't Morning Musume:
1. Mini Moni the Movie: Original Soundtrack
I don't know if I'm paraphrasing a quote from somewhere, but generally speaking, "the perceived highbrowness of a musical genre is inversely proportional to the actual difficulty of composing and songwriting in that genre." That's why there are so many untalented hacks and noodlers producing ass-sucky "New Music" in the classical field and still get hailed as geniuses. And that's why bubblegum pop and children's songs are the hardest music to write. Every note, every chord, must be perfect, because you CANNOT afford any unnecessary complexity or gimmickry.
The Mini Moni movie soundtrack (The Great Cake Adventure) is the apotheosis of that challenge, as well as being my personal favorite of theirs. (Yes, even better than the first album.) As the soundtrack to a children's movie, it strikes a perfect balance of orchestral mood pieces and pure pop bliss. The songs are all winners, especially the rousing closer "Genki Jirushi no Oomori Song," and the soundtrack pieces do something I haven't heard since the Precious Metal Age of early-90's Disney movies: they use thematic material from the songs in the movie, as well as the rest of Mini Moni's repertoire. Seriously, you HAVE to hear the Telephone song re-arranged in different styles and moods; it is a triumph of melodic orchestration that, sadly, many "serious" movie composers have forgotten.
I had thought about putting Mini Moni's first album here, but then I remembered that I only like to listen up to about the first seven songs, then my ears tire out, and by about Track 12 or 13 the songwriting has really dropped and you're just struggling for the finish line. Besides, the movie totally brings together Hello! Project past and present: you've got Ai Takahashi just as she was joining Mini Moni but BEFORE Mari Yaguchi quit, you've got the grand old lady Yuko Nakazawa storming the stage as the imperious fairy queen, and a very young, freshly-scrubbed quartet of H!P Kids. Can you imagine a time when Mai Hagiwara was just six years old? I can!
2. All of Tanpopo
There are some words in Japanese that just don't translate fully into English. Oh, you can find an English equivalent, but it doesn't carry all the connotations and shades of meaning that the Japanese carries. So when I say that Tanpopo is the most "otome" (乙女) of all Hello! Project groups, I mean otome, because to call them "virgin" or "maiden" sounds froo-froo and is totally missing the point. I suppose if you really wanted to you could call them "ladylike." Yeah, that's about it.
All of Tanpopo collects Tanpopo's hits through the years, showing us the evolving otome-ness of the group's multiple lineups: from the sultry image of the original trio to the joyful verve of the 2nd-generation quartet (Baby baby oo-ooh), but NOT the short-lived 3rd generation, which is just fine since nobody liked them anyway.
It is also, above all, the ULTIMATE songwriter's album -- even more so than Morning Musume's 4th Ikimasshoi!, which is really more of an arranger's delight -- and every song on All of Tanpopo is steeped in melodicism and heartfelt lyric. I tell you, if I were running a "How to Write Hit Songs Japan-style" course for gullible hacks who think you can just pay for musical genius, I would make Tanpopo's sheet music a required textbook. By the time you hit the "Grand Symphonic" of their eponymous title song, it's time to reach for the Kleenexes. This is what otome is all about.
3. Club Hello! Trance Remix
Okay, so I cheated a little, and there IS some Morning Musume on this album. But every song is so warped and re-structured that it's essentially new stuff anyway, and this is really the work of the remixers and not the performers. I remember those dark days, around the turn of the century, when trance was THE buzzword in electronic pop, and you couldn't swing a dead cat around without hitting an Ayumi Hamasaki remix. At some point, Hello! Project jumped the bandwagon too, turning out this curiosity of pounding beats, synth effects, and audio engineering gimmicks laid over Japan's shiniest girlpop.
It works. For me, it works. This is a terrific party album (assuming that you are having a party consisting of sugar-high schoolkids who like to wave their, um, lightsticks). And the choice of material is funny as hell, too (in a good way); it's really an ear-opening experience to hear things like Mini Moni's "Hinamatsuri" run through the trancepoptronica grinder. Of course, also they go through all the obvious standards like "Love Machine" and "Renai Revolution 21," making you hear these songs in a new way.
Some stuck-up electronic-music cocktards think this album is a travesty. They're a bunch of asshats.
4. Natsu Natsu Mini Berryz
Oh how I love me some Berryz Koubou. They are the poster girls for Zoltán Kodály's music-education philosophy: that music should be accessible -- AND performable -- by anyone, for the enjoyment and betterment of themselves as well as others. People who speak out against the idol concept, who think music performance is a State Secret reserved solely for Juilliard-educated freaks of nature or Pitchfork-approved garage bands, are the ones DESTROYING music literacy: why shouldn't the average kid-next-door be allowed to make music and engage in -- you know -- entertainment?
Anyway, that's not the point. I had to get Berryz on here somehow, because they are Hello! Project's R&D department, and with not a single member over the age of 15, they STILL have plenty of time to improve and branch out. Unfortunately, neither of their two full-length albums really qualify as "great" -- on the first one, they were still too young and untrained, and the songs were crippled to fit their limited ability, and the second was mostly a gathering-up of singles plus some janky filler material.
But Natsu Natsu, a six-track EP labeled as album No. 3, is Berryz concentrate -- everything distilled into a power-packed flavor. The summer theme helps to streamline the song selection and provides creative impetus for some of Tsunku's finest songwriting of 2006, the soaring feel-good number "Maji Natsu Sugiru." Of course you also get that DDR-worthy single "Jiriri Kiteru," which easily qualifies as Top 5 material in Berryz' repertoire, and cover songs of past H!P hits that showcase individual talents (some of which involve dance as well as song). Sweet, tangy, Berryz concentrate.
5. Fruity Killer Tune
Frankly, pengie has said more about Melon Kinenbi than I'll ever need to. Yes, they are great. They are the four coolest girls in Hello! Project. And their best songs are not just great idol pop songs, they are great songs, period. Really, can the formalist brilliance of "This is UNMEI" be compared to anything less than the opening of Mozart's "Dissonance" String Quartet, another work that truly explores the musical space of four voices?
This greatest-hits compilation is ALMOST the songwriter's album that All of Tanpopo is, but it's more diverse in style; if Tanpopo's collection is the textbook, then Melon Kinenbi's is the bookshelf reference. With this album in hand you can study the different approaches of hard-hitting rock ("Onegai Miwaku no Target"), percussive, uptempo pop ("Saa! Koibito ni Narou") and sultry R&B (oh ... you know). And everything else in between. Best of all, this album doesn't have "Chance of Love" on it, which is the one Melon Kinenbi song I've never, ever liked because it sounds like a ripoff of "Careless Whisper," which I have also never, ever liked. But everything else is definitely a "killer tune."
I don't doubt for a moment that I left off a lot of people's favorite Hello Pro non-Morning Musume albums. Where is justice, you say, on a list that leaves off Aya Matsuura's best collection, or anything by W, or Natsumi Abe's first album, or Miki freakin' Fujimoto? I dunno. Maybe justice is out right now, blindfolded and headphones on, bouncing along to "Koi wo Shichaimashita."
Baby baby oo-ooh!
1. Mini Moni the Movie: Original Soundtrack
I don't know if I'm paraphrasing a quote from somewhere, but generally speaking, "the perceived highbrowness of a musical genre is inversely proportional to the actual difficulty of composing and songwriting in that genre." That's why there are so many untalented hacks and noodlers producing ass-sucky "New Music" in the classical field and still get hailed as geniuses. And that's why bubblegum pop and children's songs are the hardest music to write. Every note, every chord, must be perfect, because you CANNOT afford any unnecessary complexity or gimmickry. The Mini Moni movie soundtrack (The Great Cake Adventure) is the apotheosis of that challenge, as well as being my personal favorite of theirs. (Yes, even better than the first album.) As the soundtrack to a children's movie, it strikes a perfect balance of orchestral mood pieces and pure pop bliss. The songs are all winners, especially the rousing closer "Genki Jirushi no Oomori Song," and the soundtrack pieces do something I haven't heard since the Precious Metal Age of early-90's Disney movies: they use thematic material from the songs in the movie, as well as the rest of Mini Moni's repertoire. Seriously, you HAVE to hear the Telephone song re-arranged in different styles and moods; it is a triumph of melodic orchestration that, sadly, many "serious" movie composers have forgotten.
I had thought about putting Mini Moni's first album here, but then I remembered that I only like to listen up to about the first seven songs, then my ears tire out, and by about Track 12 or 13 the songwriting has really dropped and you're just struggling for the finish line. Besides, the movie totally brings together Hello! Project past and present: you've got Ai Takahashi just as she was joining Mini Moni but BEFORE Mari Yaguchi quit, you've got the grand old lady Yuko Nakazawa storming the stage as the imperious fairy queen, and a very young, freshly-scrubbed quartet of H!P Kids. Can you imagine a time when Mai Hagiwara was just six years old? I can!
2. All of Tanpopo
There are some words in Japanese that just don't translate fully into English. Oh, you can find an English equivalent, but it doesn't carry all the connotations and shades of meaning that the Japanese carries. So when I say that Tanpopo is the most "otome" (乙女) of all Hello! Project groups, I mean otome, because to call them "virgin" or "maiden" sounds froo-froo and is totally missing the point. I suppose if you really wanted to you could call them "ladylike." Yeah, that's about it.All of Tanpopo collects Tanpopo's hits through the years, showing us the evolving otome-ness of the group's multiple lineups: from the sultry image of the original trio to the joyful verve of the 2nd-generation quartet (Baby baby oo-ooh), but NOT the short-lived 3rd generation, which is just fine since nobody liked them anyway.
It is also, above all, the ULTIMATE songwriter's album -- even more so than Morning Musume's 4th Ikimasshoi!, which is really more of an arranger's delight -- and every song on All of Tanpopo is steeped in melodicism and heartfelt lyric. I tell you, if I were running a "How to Write Hit Songs Japan-style" course for gullible hacks who think you can just pay for musical genius, I would make Tanpopo's sheet music a required textbook. By the time you hit the "Grand Symphonic" of their eponymous title song, it's time to reach for the Kleenexes. This is what otome is all about.
3. Club Hello! Trance Remix
Okay, so I cheated a little, and there IS some Morning Musume on this album. But every song is so warped and re-structured that it's essentially new stuff anyway, and this is really the work of the remixers and not the performers. I remember those dark days, around the turn of the century, when trance was THE buzzword in electronic pop, and you couldn't swing a dead cat around without hitting an Ayumi Hamasaki remix. At some point, Hello! Project jumped the bandwagon too, turning out this curiosity of pounding beats, synth effects, and audio engineering gimmicks laid over Japan's shiniest girlpop.It works. For me, it works. This is a terrific party album (assuming that you are having a party consisting of sugar-high schoolkids who like to wave their, um, lightsticks). And the choice of material is funny as hell, too (in a good way); it's really an ear-opening experience to hear things like Mini Moni's "Hinamatsuri" run through the trancepoptronica grinder. Of course, also they go through all the obvious standards like "Love Machine" and "Renai Revolution 21," making you hear these songs in a new way.
Some stuck-up electronic-music cocktards think this album is a travesty. They're a bunch of asshats.
4. Natsu Natsu Mini Berryz
Oh how I love me some Berryz Koubou. They are the poster girls for Zoltán Kodály's music-education philosophy: that music should be accessible -- AND performable -- by anyone, for the enjoyment and betterment of themselves as well as others. People who speak out against the idol concept, who think music performance is a State Secret reserved solely for Juilliard-educated freaks of nature or Pitchfork-approved garage bands, are the ones DESTROYING music literacy: why shouldn't the average kid-next-door be allowed to make music and engage in -- you know -- entertainment?Anyway, that's not the point. I had to get Berryz on here somehow, because they are Hello! Project's R&D department, and with not a single member over the age of 15, they STILL have plenty of time to improve and branch out. Unfortunately, neither of their two full-length albums really qualify as "great" -- on the first one, they were still too young and untrained, and the songs were crippled to fit their limited ability, and the second was mostly a gathering-up of singles plus some janky filler material.
But Natsu Natsu, a six-track EP labeled as album No. 3, is Berryz concentrate -- everything distilled into a power-packed flavor. The summer theme helps to streamline the song selection and provides creative impetus for some of Tsunku's finest songwriting of 2006, the soaring feel-good number "Maji Natsu Sugiru." Of course you also get that DDR-worthy single "Jiriri Kiteru," which easily qualifies as Top 5 material in Berryz' repertoire, and cover songs of past H!P hits that showcase individual talents (some of which involve dance as well as song). Sweet, tangy, Berryz concentrate.
5. Fruity Killer Tune
Frankly, pengie has said more about Melon Kinenbi than I'll ever need to. Yes, they are great. They are the four coolest girls in Hello! Project. And their best songs are not just great idol pop songs, they are great songs, period. Really, can the formalist brilliance of "This is UNMEI" be compared to anything less than the opening of Mozart's "Dissonance" String Quartet, another work that truly explores the musical space of four voices? This greatest-hits compilation is ALMOST the songwriter's album that All of Tanpopo is, but it's more diverse in style; if Tanpopo's collection is the textbook, then Melon Kinenbi's is the bookshelf reference. With this album in hand you can study the different approaches of hard-hitting rock ("Onegai Miwaku no Target"), percussive, uptempo pop ("Saa! Koibito ni Narou") and sultry R&B (oh ... you know). And everything else in between. Best of all, this album doesn't have "Chance of Love" on it, which is the one Melon Kinenbi song I've never, ever liked because it sounds like a ripoff of "Careless Whisper," which I have also never, ever liked. But everything else is definitely a "killer tune."
I don't doubt for a moment that I left off a lot of people's favorite Hello Pro non-Morning Musume albums. Where is justice, you say, on a list that leaves off Aya Matsuura's best collection, or anything by W, or Natsumi Abe's first album, or Miki freakin' Fujimoto? I dunno. Maybe justice is out right now, blindfolded and headphones on, bouncing along to "Koi wo Shichaimashita."
Baby baby oo-ooh!
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