Today, the album in question is Puffy's (known as Puffy AmiYumi in the US) newest release, 'Thank You'. The album marks the 15 year milestone in Puffy's career, hence the title likely being a sort of thanks to the fans that have stuck by them all these years.
For those who don't know, Puffy are a J-Pop/Rock band and... Hey! Come back, let me finish! I know, I know; I was surprised at first too. I'm by no means a Japanese music afficianado - the only J-music i've been in any way moved by so far has been from Guitar Wolf, the Blue Hearts, Pink Lady and Puffy - most of it goes way over my head. BUT there's something about Puffy's immensely varied and exciting back catalogue that is so appealing. Plus their half-arsed dance routines, seemingly dry sense of humour and 'casually dressed with big hair' appearance just adds to my fascination.
Now, the timing of this album probably couldn't have come at a worse time. Unless you've had your head buried under the sand these past weeks, you will of course know of the horrors of the Japan earthquake/tsunami and the struggles over there. I'm not going to dwell on this too much, but I hope that this album does not vanish off the radar because of the disaster...
Thank You songlist:
1- My Country Road (4:33)
2- Jet Love (3:21)
3- R.G.W. (4:20)
4- Hoshi Girl (3:57)
5- Wake Up. Make Up. (4:45)
6- Haru No Uta (4:44)
7- Koi No Yamaarashi (4:18)
8- Ai No Odyssey (4:30)
9- Banzai! (3:13)
10- Fish On (3:49)
11- No! (4:04)
12- Yokubou (4:34)
13- Happy Birthday (3:55)
Total Running Time - (54:05)
This album has certainly felt like a long time in the making, which is weird since their last album was only released two years ago. Anyway, things get off to a VERY positive start i'm happy to report. 'My Country Road' is a steady middle-of-the-road track, but done to a very high standard. Complete with harmonica solos and a wonderful chorus, definately one for my future playlists.
Next we have 'Jet Love'. Hands down my favourite song on the album! Starts with a crazy synth solo, and suddenly goes into a surf-rock\funk bounce. Superbly structured lyrically and musically, if I had to list my top Puffy songs of all time, this would probably go straight onto the list, and likely to be high up there too!
R.G.W. (Red, Green, White) was released as a christmas single last year complete with a fun little video. I didn't like it so much at first, but it has grown on me somewhat. It's better than any Christmas songs from the last 20 years or so, but doesn't have enough 'novelty' or 'stupidity' to make it great.
Track four is 'Hoshi Girl'. Another quality song with again, brilliant chorus and verses. The male backing voices do irritate me a little - and not so much because they're singing in 'Enrish' (though that does annoy me a bit also), I just don't think they're necessary at all.
Things start to get a bit, uhhh, terrible on the next song. 'Wake Up. Make Up.' is, to Puffy's credit, a completely new musical area to explore. But it sounds so 'un-Puffy' that it makes me a little annoyed. It sounds like what many Western musicians are doing nowadays and collaborating with rappers, but with this song in particular, the music sounds very bland and rushed, and the electronics on the voices periodically are very upsetting. Worst track on the album, possibly their worst track ever, which is a shame because without it, this album was looking so strong!
Haru No Uta is pretty unimpressive also. Not as bad to the extent of the last track, it just seems a bit lifeless and lacking in some 'oomph!'. Hopefully things pick up next...
...and they do! 'Koi No Yamaarashi' gets my vote for next best track on the album. Rock steady track with swing and jazz influences in the chorus, and the vocal trade-offs in the verses are a nice little welcome addition.
When I first heard 'Ai No Odyssey' it threw me a bit. There are these bizaare "orchestra hits" near the beginning of the verses. Also, the verses sound dark and build suspense, yet the choruses are like frollicking in the Springtime. A damn weird song musically, but... I dunno... it's been slowly growing on me. I think I love it.
'Banzai!' is a classic Puffy-tune. Beatles influenced intro with a boogie-woogie swing harking back to their cover of 'High-Teen Boogie' from the Hit Parade. Great little song.
'Fish On' is another of the better tracks on the album. Weird synth intro again, but is typically infectious and smile-inducing, and this time the male backing singers don't annoy me so much. Wonderful, wonderful song.
'No!' has a slightly different vibe to typical Puffy-songs. It has a much darker verse than normal, similar to 'Shobjin' from '98s Jet album, but then goes into reverse gear with a fun, powerpop chorus. Definately a good track though!
'Yokubou' has a really nice slide guitar/rhythm guitar arrangement over the front end of the choruses. The rest of the song to me is fairly bog-standard. Definately one i'll be listening to more though.
The final song, 'Happy Birthday' was another single prior to the release of this album. Similar with 'R.G.W.', I wasn't wild about the song at first, but it definately is growing on me. I think I found the chorus a bit twee on the first listen, but i'm warming to it (though I still don't like the 'woah-oh-oh' chants very much).
All things considered, this is a serious Puffy album, in the sense that it does what all the best Puffy albums do, which is, ironically, to not take themselves seriously! It has the weirder aspects from 'Jet CD', the brilliant songwriting and arrangements akin to 'Fever*Fever' and the rock edge of 'Spike' and 'Splurge' without sounding too overproduced like their last two albums.
Even with a couple of duffer tracks (and they are REAL downers compared to the majority of the songs), this is still Puffy's best album in years. My current opinion makes me rank it below 'Fever*Fever' and 'Jet' (my Puffy benchmarks) but about on par with 'Spike', my 3rd favourite. Considering they've now released 11 albums [12 including the covers CD], that's a hell of a standard.
Congratulations, Puffy! And Happy Birthday.
Score: 8.5\10
