PUFFY – Bring It! (a J!-ENT World Groove Album Review)

1. I Don’t Wanna
2. マイストーリー
3. Bye Bye
4. My Hero!
5. 主演の女
6. DOKI DOKI
7. Twilight Shooting Star!
8. 晴れ女
9. All Because of You
10. あなたとわたし
11. 日和姫
12. Bring it On
13. ウエディング・ベル

Puffy is back with their 11th album “Bring It!” and because the duo is one of the few rare Japanese music artists with a degree of success in the United States and outside of Japan, their latest album features collaborations with Butch Walker & Avril Lavigne, ex-Jellyfish member Roger Joseph Manning Jr., Anders Hellgren and David Myhr from The Merrymakers and also collaborating with Japanese talent such as Ringo Shiina, Masahiko Shimura from Fujifabric, Sawao Yamanaka from the Pillows and Takeshi Hosomi of Ellegarden.

Their latest album “Bring It!” reinforces the duo’s rock n’ roll flair and not much experimentation with other music genre’s as seen in previous albums. But there are experimentation albums especially a cover of a classic 1982 song included in this album.

The first track “I Don’t Wanna” features an all English track by Butch Walker and Avril Lavigne. The song definitely has that Lavigne style and both Ami and Yumi do a fantastic job of performing this song, especially the pronunciation of the words considering it’s all in English. Probably the best all-English track by the duo thus far.

The second track “My Story” features Puffy collaborating with Swedish duo Anders Hellgren and David Myhr from The Merrymakers. The track is the duo’s 27th single. I love this rock driven track and at first, I thought this was a cover of a UNICORN or Tamio Okuda song but nevertheless, an awesome song and a familiar song as it has been used in their makeup commercials in Japan.

The third track “Bye Bye” features Puffy collaborating with Masahiko Shimura from Fujifabric. Featuring an ’80s groove with electric guitar llicks. Pretty cool song.

The fourth track “My Hero!” is a pretty awesome song. Featuring a collaboration with ex-Jellyfish member Roger Joseph Manning Jr. and features another all English track sung very well by the duo which was used for their Kanebo commercial.

The fifth track “Shuen no Onna” features a jazzy, bass driven track written by Ringo Shiina. For those wanting a break from the rock n’ roll and enjoy the experimentation tracks by Puffy will definitely enjoy this track!

The sixth track “DOKI DOKI” features a collaboration with Masahiko Shimura. The song sounds like it was used for an anime theme song because it’s a fun, uplifting fast track. It was actually used for a Morinaga milk commercial.

The seventh track “Twilight Shooting Star!” features a collaboration with The Pillows vocalist Sawao Yamanaka and a track that does have a feel of a rock song from The Pillows.

The eight track “Hare Onna” is a pretty cool track as it starts out slow and then amps up to a fast rock driven track towards and during the chorus. Definitely love the transition!

The ninth track is “All Because of You”, their 26th CD single and an all English song featuring another collaboration with Butch Walker & Avril Lavigne. Another well-sung song by Puffy and definitely a Lavigne-driven track.

The tenth track “Anata to Watashi” features a collaboration with Yuta Saito and has more in common music style-wise with past Puffy rock tracks when they first debuted.

The eleventh track “Hiyori Hime” features another collaboration between Puffy and Ringo Shiina. While the last track was jazzy, this is a more rock-driven track and is very much a Ringo-style of track, especially during the chorus.

The twelfth track “Bring it On” features an all English track and a collaboration with ex-Ellegarden vocalist Takeshi Hosomi. A rock-drven track and another well-done English track!

The final bonus track is “Wedding Bell” by Yoshiaki Furuta and is a cover of the classic song originally sung by the ’80s pop trio Sugar (from 1982) and is a pretty awesome cover and definitely a track that stands out from the other songs of the album because it’s musical style. But a fine bonus track!

The album insert booklet features lyrics and photos of Ami and Yumi including production credits.

Overall, I really enjoyed this album from Puffy. In some ways, their previous albums have been a little lax with some songs and newer collaborations being hit or miss. But this latest album, the collaborations are very awesome and all songs are very well-done and I have listened to this album over and over many times already.

Also, there is more confidence by the duo in singing English songs (despite them telling me they are scared to death of singing them) but for the most part, the English tracks are well-done! If you are a fan of Puffy/Puffy AmiYumi, “Bring It!” is a wonderful album by the duo worth checking out.

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