[WORLD GROOVE] Currently listening to Various Artists – “LUNA SEA MEMORIAL COVER ALBUM -Re:birth-”

January 12, 2008 by Dennis Amith 

 

 

ARTISTS: Various Artists

ALBUM: LUNA SEA MEMORIAL COVER ALBUM ~Re:birth~

LABEL: Avex Entertainment

CATALOG #: AVCD-23430

DURATION: 1:03:20

RELEASED ON December 19, 2007 

1. Dejavu – Mucc
2. Sweetest Coma Again – abingon boys school
3. STORM – Tamaki Nami
4. ROSIER – HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR
5. I for You – Morishige Juichi (ZIGGY)
6. IN MY DREAM (WITH SHIVER) /LM.C
7. END OF SORROW – YU-KI & DJ KOO from TRF
8. LOVE SONG – kannivalism
9. SHINE – Marty Friedman VS LEGEND feat. SHINICHIRO SUZUKI
10. WISH – SID
11. MOON – Tsuchiya Masami

I’ve been a big LUNA SEA fan since I first purchased the CD single for “DESIRE”.  After X-JAPAN and Mr. Children, I’ve been a big fan of the band and even their solo works.

Even though it has been years since the group went into hiatus, I still continue to listen to their music and their “PERIOD THE BEST SELECTION” album continues its rotation of my highly played CD’s.

So, who couldn’t be stoked about the group announcing in 2007 that they would reunite again but only for one night (Christmas Eve 2007), it definitely gave me a reason to be excited for their music again.

And with the group back on the forefront in the news, labels have the opportunity to do their re-releases and what do you know… a cover album.

When I heard that a cover album titled “LUNA SEA MEMORIAL COVER ALBUM – Re:birth-” would be released, I figured…it couldn’t be so bad.  Get a few of the hard hitting bands and artists on the scene to do their rendition of popular songs and it should be all good right?

The cover album turns out to be an interesting collaboration with all the major Japanese record labels from Avex, Sony and Epic, Victor Entertainment, Pony Canyon, TOKUMA JAPAN COMMUNICATIONS, etc. and I’m scratching my head on certain artists selected for the cover album and most of all, spent hours thinking of the artist chosen, what their marketing dept. and A&R department was thinking.

On track 1, Mucc does their rendition of the old LUNA SEA classic “Dejavu”.  I actually like this version of the song a lot and probably one of the few highlights on this cover album.  Love the vocals and the overall musical balance of their rendition.

On track 2, Nishikawa Takanori (aka TM Revolution) has his band abingdon boys school doing the rendition of LUNA SEA’s “Sweetest Coma Again”. Another highlight on the album and really love the densely intermeshed guitars on this track.  Also, dig the percussions on this track!

On track 3,  “STORM” is a song that I absolutely love and I was even more surprised to find out that the cover is by Sony’s pop diva Tamaki Nami (who I have interviewed and enjoy her live performances and pop songs).  Now, I’m thinking that with her constant popularity with the teen crowd, her inclusion was to get Tamaki Nami fans to buy this album.   Maybe?  Possibly give her fans a chance to see how she would sound if they made her a rock singer?  It’s not bad but I’m sure that there are many people who feel that any pop singers singing a rock song on a major cover release for a major rock band in Japan, would probably see Tamaki (and other pop artists) on this album as an unusual selection.

On track 4, It’s Merry’s rendition of “PRECIOUS…”.  I have to be truthful that the first listen, I wasn’t feeling it.  But I’ve listened to this song several times and grown to enjoy the song and it’s galloping guitar playing.

Let’s go to track 5.  Sony’s rock band HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR singing the classic “ROSIER”.  A very well done cover song by the band and liked both vocalists Yusuke and Maki involved in the actual song and their rendition rocks and was impressed by their version.

Track 6 is one of my favorite Japanese ballads ever…”I for you” and Ziggy’s vocalist Morishige Juichi’s rendition is ok.  Basically piano playing and Morishige showcasing his vocals.  It’s an ok cover of the popular LUNA SEA song.

Track 7 features LM.C singing “IN MY DREAM (WITH SHIVER)”.  Well, if Pony Canyon had someone to offer, I supposed LM.C would be the label’s logical pick from their lineup.  An electronic-based song that again, people might like to see a different rendition of a LUNA SEA song done LM.C style or a song that will frustrate LUNA SEA fans for another bad selection.

Let’s go to track 8.  YU-KI and DJ KOO of TRF singing “END OF SORROW”.  As many of you know, I love TRF and it was dream come true when I interviewed them several months ago BUT I’m shocked that Avex chose TRF to sing a LUNA SEA song.  Avex has its share of rock bands and artists and I would of thought they would go for PENICILLIN, KIRITO or another rock band or artist.  So, I’m a bit surprised of the inclusion of YU-KI and DJ KOO on this album.  It doesn’t make sense.

Track 9 is “LOVE SONG”, a ballad from LUNA SEA that I listened to over and over and over again to this day. The cover is done by kannavalism and although it’s hard for me to listen to this song made by anyone else, but their rendition is pretty cool.  Of course, not anywhere near the greatness of the original ballad but still pretty good.

Track 10 is “SHINE” and features Megadeth lead guitarist Marty Friedman (who has collaborated with a good number of the Japanese visual kei artists/bands)  VS LEGEND feat. SHINICHIRO SUZUKI.  Suzuki is a member of the visual kei band BLOOD. The song is pretty cool but very mellow to the point of being a slow ballad.  I think many people seeing Marty Friedman’s name would expect something explosive but nothing hard hitting or explosive on this track.

Track 11 features SID with their rendition of “WISH”.  SID has been doing very well on the Oricon Charts and their version of “WISH” is exciting, sung well and definitely captures that LUNA SEA style of sound almost.  I dig it!

Track 12 featuring Tsuchiya Masami’s rendition of “MOON”.  A very odd song featuring Tsuchiya singing (with piano in the background) in a room full of reverb and then a little blast of electric guitar and almost like a haunting version of the song.  For some reason, listening to this song gives me a visual of a Japanese guy wearing a Count Dracula outfit, singing the song and then rocking out with a guitar.  Yes, a disturbing mental image.  I know.

The CD insert booklet features the lyrics to the songs and band information.

Again, I thought about this because it was nagging me to figure out Martin Nagano’s plan was when he was supervising the production of this album.

But in truth, this past year, there have been a good number of multi-label collaborations which featured artists of different genres for tribute cover albums for other bands and artists such as UNICORN, BOOWY, Avril Lavigne, Celine Dion and countless others.

So, in that respect, I am not surprised to see pop groups on this album.  What I am surprised is the choice of who they selected to perform these songs on the album and the most perplexing is YU-KI and DJ KOO of TRF.  But if the labels wanted bands of different genres for participation, I guess I can understand that direction, but by doing something like that, I guess it depends on the consumer and how they react to it.

I could listen to Tamaki Nami’s version of “STORM” and think it’s so cute of her rocking out to this song and it’s not bad at all, it’s just an unusual selection to see this pop diva promoting and sing “High School Musical 2″ in Japan and then the label selecting her to sing a rendition of a major rock band’s hit song for a cover album.

All in all, with biases aside, you do get a mix bag of renditions for this cover album.  There are some really awesome tracks on this album from artists such as SID, MUCC and even from HIGH and MIGHTY COLOR.

But it’s hard for me to give this album a highly recommended thumbs up and spend $25-$30 for it.