Ichigo-Ichie -Sweets for my Spitz-: Spitz Songs with a New Feel.
Written: Nov 04 '02 (Updated Nov 04 '02)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Nice to hear some of the new takes on the old Spitz classics.
Cons: Some of the other new takes are pretty mediocre.
The Bottom Line: 3.75 rounded to 4.
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| Alkaiser's Full Review: Ichigo-ichie Sweets for my SPITZ - Various Artists... |
In celebration of 15 years of chugging along as a band, Spitz decided they were going to do something a little different to celebrate the milestone.
After releasing their most recent album, "Mikazuki Rock", they decided to let someone else do the work, and "Ichigo-Ichie" was born.
The term "Ichigo-Ichie" in Japanese roughly translates into "one encounter, one chance". Basically, make every moment and meeting in your life count, as it may be the only one you get.
So, they rounded up a bunch of moderately well known artists like Shiina Ringo, Okuda Tamio, and Matsutoya Yumi along with a bunch of lesser known artists trying to find their niche like Papabox, Going Underground, and Cellophane, and had them give their renditions of 13 Spitz tracks.
Being the rabid Spitz fan that I am, I decided to take it and give it a listen.
Track 1: "Supika", by Shiina Ringo (4:36)
I really like Shiina Ringo when she's not busy being super weird. She's really got passion. Unfortunately, that usually manifests itself into some strange music. Well, this time she's on target, and submits a version of "Supika" that I'd have to say I like better than the original Spitz version.
The original song was interesting in the way it completely switched gears from the verse to the chorus. Shiina Ringo does it better, perhaps because she's used to doing things like that, and her voice matches the song better. She does an exceptional job of making the song sound "hers" and not just her doing a version of the song.
Track 2: "Robinson" by Rashinban (4:35)
I'm not exactly sure why they decided that an unknown band should sing Spitz's most well known song. I tried looking for them, and I can't even really find any info on them.
My friend Mari had the perfect description for how this song turned out, "It sounds like someone's at karaoke." That's prretty much exactly the way it sounds. The guys sing with no enthusiasm. I'm pretty sure I could sing this better than they did, and that's not a very good thing considering this is supposed to be a tribute album.
Unless the tribute is supposed to show that Spitz can't be imitated, this has no place on the album, and if I never hear of Rashinban again, I won't miss them.
Track 3: "Kaede", by Matsutoya Yumi
This song's very Matusutoya Yumi. You can easily recognize that this is her song. This isn't a bad version of the song, but I like the Spitz version better.
It's kind of a fun, lighter, slower, version of the original. It's different, but still pretty good.
Track 4: "Aoi Kuruma", by Gentouki (3:30)
One of my favorites on the album. I've never heard of Gentouki either, but they did a much better job with their big chance than Rashinban did.
The guys in the group do a good job of harmonizing, almost like they're normally an a capella band but this time have a drum machine and light guitar back them up. This is a real crisp, clean sounding version of the song.
I'd like to hear more of their stuff to see if they're normally this good.
Track 5: "Tsumetai Hoho", by Kazuyoshi Nakamura (3:23)
I haven't heard of him either, but that doesn't means he hasn't been around. He's released 4 albums and has been around since 1997.
This is a real good version of this particular song this guy's got a pretty good voice, and he uses it well in his rendition of this track. Another one of the standout tracks on the album.
Track 6: "Sore mo Toberu hazu", by Papabox (5:13)
Ugh, one of the low points of the album. This was particularly disappointing because I heard a much better version of the song done by 4 girls on an advertisement for tea.
I was expecting something of that quality, and Papbox doesn't deliver. It is a group of girls singing, but they don't harmonize as well as the girls on the commercial, and they sound off at points during the song. If it turns out that they are the same group of girls who did the commercial, they totally blew it in the studio.
Track 7: "Yumi oi Mushi", by Cellophane (5:23)
This is the most recent song covered on the tribute album, a single which was released a little more than a year earlier.
The Spitz version was a version that rocked more, and was one of my favorite songs that year. Unfortunately for Cellophane, their slower, softer version of the some doesn't capture the same feeling that the original had. It's not that's it's bad, it's just that it had been done much better before when Spitz did it originally.
Track 8: "Inakano Seikatsu", by Lost In Time (4:55)
Another good track. I can only vaguely remember how the original version of this song goes, but Lost in Time makes a pretty good go of it.
Good guitar work and I like the flair the lead singer adds to the song. Solid effort.
Track 9: "Umeboshi", by Okuda Tamio (4:00)
I don't know what they did to this song, but for the first half, it sounds like it's being played at the morgue organ. An average track, which is kind of a bummer...I expected more from Okuda Tamio.
Track 10: "Neko ni Naritai", by Ayano Tsuji (3:13)
Ayano Tsuji just kind of popped up recently. She plays a ukelele, and looks very similar to what a Japanese Lisa Loeb would look like.
Her rendition of Neko ni Naritai is pretty nice, really soothing with the ukelele and the background singers in the chorus. My only problem is that the song ends rather abruptly. This is definitely another of the high points of the album.
Track 11: "Cherry" by Polysics (6:28)
Man, the longest song on the album and it ends up being the worst. This is a completely butchered version of Cherry. The only good part is the bridge section that begins, "Donna ni aruitemo, tadori tsukenai..."
Aside from that, there's no music during the verse parts except a guitar playing one chord for the beat, and what sounds like a guy screaming into a megaphone.
The chorus sounds ok, if only because it means that I won't have to listen to the main part. During most of the bridge, they go into what sounds like a horrid Devo-inspired musical interlude.
Track 12: "Y", by Going Under Ground (4:17)
This is another pretty good adaptation of the original. I think if more of the people invovled stuck to making the song sound like the original version, without trying to push the limits too much, this would have been a much better album.
Track 13: "Natsu no Mamono", by Mayumi Kojima (4:20)
I've got a soft spot for this song, because she sounds remarkably similar to Okakita Ayu. (Oddly enough, they seem to play the same venues, too...Club Quattro, Shibuya AX...)
This is a really good way to finish off the album soft, soulful, and relaxing. Really good work.
Overall, this album finishes off slightly above average. Some of those songs really needed to be done better, or they should have included more tracks, because this only ends up being like a 7 song CD for me.
Some of my favorites, like "Ore no Subete", "Fujimi no Venus", and "Unmei no Hito" didn't end up making it onto the album, and so when Polysics ends up trashing Cherry, I kinda get ticked about that. Just sticking Shiina Ringo's cover of "8823" would have been better than most of the songs I don't enjoy on the album, so I don't understand why they let the subpar tracks onto this album.
I wish this was better, as Spitz deserves a bit more for being around for so long and producing consistently good stuff. But, it's worth a listen if you can find a used copy somewhere, or borrow a friends copy.
Recommended:
Yes
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Alkaiser
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Member: Clayton Chan
Location: Irvine, CA
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Broke the 700 pound mark on my leg lifts.
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