JURIAN BEAT CRISIS – JURIAN BEAT CRISIS (a J!-ENT World Groove Album Review)

1. サクラ舞う
2. BRIGHTEST WAY
3. 今すぐKiss Me
4. ソーダ味のKiss
5. ナミダの中キミをみつけた
6. ハリケーン☆ラブ
7. もう一度…
8. フライング・ラビット
9. I believe
10. Lonely Flight
11. 逢いたいよ、、、love you
12. ハートの爆弾 (Album Version)
13. Go! Let’s Go!
14. 今すぐKiss Me (feat. Watase Maki)

The Japanese rock band LINDBERG were one of the rock highlights of the 1990’s and after being on hiatus for nearly a decade and coming back in 2008, LINDBERG has continued to show us that they can still pump out awesome rock music. But they are also smart to know that although they have dedicated fans, there is a new generation of music fans out there that didn’t grow up with their music.

So, LINDBERG’s lead vocalist Maki Watase and her husband/guitarist Tatsuya Hirakawa have become producers and in someways, the band has passed the torch to a new band to carry on the tradition of LINDBERG and that band is JURIAN BEAT CRISIS.

JURIAN BEAT CRISIS is similar to a band like ZARD in which the primary focus of the band is the vocalist Juria Kawakami but others involved with the band (especially for this album) are guitarist Tatsuya Hirawaka, chorus by Maki Watase and Sotaro Mochizuki, bass by Kenichi Nemoto and drums by Norihide Saji but for the most part, the musicians are revolving and the primary focus is on the vocalist.

The band features the vocals of Julia (Juria) Kawakami and in 2006, she competed in A-Motion, a talent contest run by Avex Trax and in her second try, she won the Grand Prix. Having been in development with Avex Trax for several years, in 2009, JURIAN BEAT CRISIS made their debut by releasing a digital single every month in 2009 and now they are currently up to their 12th digital single and now she will be releasing her first physical self-titled album.

As a big fan of LINDBERG, I found the whole JURIAN BEAT CRISIS quite interesting but also fun and entertaining. Thanks to Tatsuya Hirakawa and Maki Watase’s involvement, the music definitely carries the soul and spirit of LINDBERG into JBC. For the most part, Juria Kawakami does a good job with her vocals, especially covering LINDBERG songs such as “今すぐKiss Me”.

If anything, the music for JURIAN BEAT CRISIS is awesome and JURIAN BEAT CRISIS is an interesting group and the image for Kawakami is a school girl (the music videos showcase her typically in a girl’s school outfit). In another video, she definitely has a punky vibe and if anything, the presentation is pretty cool.

It’s important to note that both a normal CD and a CD+DVD version (which includes all 12 music videos including a bonus offshot video and drama version of “サクラ舞う”.

As for the CD insert, you get pictures of Juria Kawakami and lyrics to the tracks on the album. Also, an insert promoting JURIAN BEAT CRISIS and her mailbag is included.

Overall, this is a pretty awesome album that’s targeted for a new young generation who doesn’t want to listen to their mother or father’s LINDBERG albums but where LINDBERG really burst into the scene and tore up the music charts, not sure if JURIAN BEAT CRISIS will ever reach the same status of LINDBERG, more than likely not, but nevertheless, I enjoyed the music, enjoyed the presentation and it will be interesting to see if Juria Kawakami will continue to focus on rock music ala JURIAN BEAT CRISIS in the near future.

But I dig JURIAN BEAT CRISIS and I look forward to more of their music!

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