Sowelu – The Best 2002-2009 (a J!-ENT World Groove Album Review)

DISC 1:

1. across my heart
2. beautiful dreamer
3. Part of me
4. Rainbow
5. breath ～想いの容量～
6. Fortune
7. Glisten
8. No Limit
9. I Will
10. Last Forever
11. Do You Remember That?
12. Let’s go faraway
13. Get Over
14. to YOU
15. Dear friend
16. 幸せのちから

DISC 2:

1. 誰より好きなのに
2. 24karats -type S- (feat. EXILE, DOBERMAN INC.)
3. 光
4. Wish
5. Can’t take my eyes off you
6. Candy Rain
7. パールカラーにゆれて
8. The Rose
9. Play That Funky Music (feat. Urb)
10. LOVE IS STRONGER THAN PRIDE (feat. Jake Shimabukuro)
11. Morning Train (9 to 5)
12. Piano Man
13. SEPTEMBER
14. Time After Time
15. MATERIAL WORLD
16. AINOTE

In 2002, R&B and pop artist Sowelu made her entrance to the Japanese music industry known with her hit single “Beautiful Dreamer” and for those internationally, with her song “I Will” which was used as the ending theme for the anime series “Bleach”.

And for eight straight years, Sowelu has released a total of 19 CD singles and a total of five albums and now she begins a new chapter in her life as she will be moving on to her new label at Rhythm Zone and to help commemorate her releases at DefSTAR Records, the label has released one final Sowelu album featuring all 19 CD singles as well as her English cover songs.

For the most part, best albums are always subjective to the listener and in this case, this is one best album done right in the fact that you get ALL singles, no remixed versions of those songs but how they were presented in the original singles and you get 13 extra tracks. Also, receiving a simultaneous release is a CD+DVD version, for those who want the music videos for her hit singles.

It’s important to note that Sowelu’s music has been R&B pop and she has not broken into Oricon top 10 but she has had a good number of singles that have broke the top 20 and her best selling singles were “I Will” and “24 karats-type S-”. Followed by “No Limit” and “Hikari”. For anime fans, her “Bleach” song “I Will” is included but the theme for the 9th Pokemon film “Mamoru Beki Mono” is not included on this best album.

If there is any surprise was the English cover songs of ’80s hits such as Sheena Easton’s “Morning Train (9 to 5)”, Bette Midler’s “The Rose”, Wild Cherry’s “Play That Funky Music”, Billy Joel’s “Piano Man”, Sade’s “LOVE IS STRONGER THAN PRIDE”, Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” and Kool and the Gang’s “SEPTEMBER”. She does a great job singing those tracks, some pronunciations with the “R” and “L” of course are noticeable but for the most part, her vocals throughout this album including the English songs are awesome!

Overall, you really can’t go wrong with this best album. Especially if you haven’t purchased a Sowelu release before, because you get all singles on this album and for the most part, her songs are pretty solid, but the fact is that Sowelu is an underrated pop star and hopefully with her now being at the Rhythm Zone label, we’ll see her music being marketed much better.

If you are a Sowelu fan, “The Best 2002-2009″ is definitely recommended! Definitely go for the CD+DVD version, as you do get the music videos! Otherwise, this version I am reviewing is just the music.

BUY THIS ALBUM from CDJapan.com:

Sowelu The Best 2002-2009 [Regular Edition]

Sowelu

or YesAsia.com