“A SMAP-related album that doesn’t feature SMAP on the vocals but the hundreds of talent musicians that were involved in the making of the funky, jazzy, big band style of SMAP music during the mid-90sâ€
ARTIST: Various Artists
ALBUM: Smappies – Rhythmsticks
LABEL: Victor
CATALOG #: VICP-8165
DURATION: 52:52
RELEASE DATE: April 24, 1996
- Theme of 007 James Bond Theme
- Working People
- Won’t Stop Raining
- Pain
- Pensando em Voce
- Muchacha Bonita
- Part Time Kiss
- I Wish You’ll be Happy
- Morning
- Happy Birthday
With the release of “Smap 007 – Gold Singer”, the seventh album would take the male idol group SMAP and give the group a more mature sound.
The music featured on the album would showcase many fine musicians and the number of talented musicians involved is probably around a hundred or more. And also feature one cool vocal track and these songs would be featured on SMAP’s “SMAP x SMAP” variety show as background music during the end before a performance or an interview with an artist.
For me, I admit that the transition from the pop sound of 006 to a funky, jazzy 007 was surprising but I welcomed it and looked at the album as a defining moment in the group’s music career and a sign of maturity. After all, TOKIO had their rock sound and the emerging Johnny’s music group was V6 sporting the dance pop sound and SMAP, they were now venturing to this live band style and it worked.
The first track “Theme of 007 James Bond Theme” was the first track on the “Smap 007 – Gold Singer” album and featured music by Monty Norman and arrangement by CHOKKAKU. This song alone featured perhaps four dozen or more musicians and featured the talented Brecker brothers, Michael with his tenor sax solo and Randy Brecker with his trumpet solo.    I always enjoyed this arrangement and it was cool to hear so many instruments used on this track alone.
The second track “Working People”, is the English title for SMAP’s “Hataraku Hitobito”. The song is from the group’s “Smap 006: Sexy Six” and features music by Iwata Masayuki and trumpet & sax lines composition by Kosugi Sushi.   The track would feature a tenor sax solo by Michael Brecker and trumpet solo by brother Randy Brecker.
The third track “Won’t Stop Raining”, is the English title for “Amega Yamanai” from “Smap 007- Gold Singer” and features music by Terada Ichiro and an arrangement by Nagaoka Seiko. This track features a cool vibraphone solo by Michael Mainieri and bass by Will Lee.
The fourth track “Pain”, is the English title for the “007” KimuTaku/Nakai track “Setsunasaga Itai”. Music and arrangement is from Zaki and features a cool alto sax solo by Jay Beckenstain.
The fifth track, my personal favorite is “Pensando em Voce” which is the Portuguese title for “Kimiiro Omoi” and features words and music by Hayashida Kenji and vocals and Portuguese lyrics by Pamela Driggs and arrangement by Slide Hampton.  The track would feature a soprano sax solo by Dick Oatts and brass and ax sections from the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra.  This track is just absolutely dreamy, beautifully sung and just awesome!
The sixth track “Machacha Bonita” is from the track “Wakatte Hoshii” that is from the group’s “SMAP 008 – TACOMAX) and features music by Nagaoka Seiko, arrangement by Nagaoka and Morimura Ken. Trumpet scoring by Jamshied Sharifi and flute solo by Dave Valentin, trumpet solo by Arturo Sandoval and drums by Omar Hakim and many more talented musicians to give the song a Latin vibe.
The seventh track “Part Time Kiss” is a jazzy version of the “SMAP 002” song featuring Kanon Kuwa on words, chorus words by Sushi Kosugi and music by Kawakami Haruhiko and arrangement by Philippe Saisse. Bass by Will Lee.
The eighth track “I Wish You’ll be Happy is from the track “Gyokaijigoku Ishidowa Oide” from “SMAP 005” and features music by Kawamura Yuka, big band arrangment and scoring by Slide Hampton. The song is strong on bass but also brass with brass and sax sections courtesy of the Vanguard Jazz Orchestra. A very jazzy track.
The ninth track “Morning” from the “007 – Gold Singer” album known as “Loose-na Morning” fatures music and arrangement by CHOKKAKU. Alto sax solo by Jay Beckenstein and bass by Will Lee. Dave Spinozza’s rhythm guitar is showcased.
The final tenth track is “Happy Birthday” is a gospel choir track with words by Ogura Megui, haba Hitoshi, arrangement by Philippe Saisse and a harmonica solo by William Galison. A very gospel-driven track that is based on SMAP’s “Happy Birthday” from “SMAP 003”.
As for the CD insert, the insert is a six-fold with music credits on one side and in Japanese, the story of the making of each track and the overall album.
This album may not be for everyone. My primary reason for purchasing it was for the music because I did enjoy the funky, jazzy music from “SMAP 007 – Gold Singer” and in the end, I really enjoyed the music but for the track “Pensando em Voce” alone. Just an awesome song.
I know it may have been quite expensive at Y2,800 at the time for an instrumental album but I was buying quite a number of instrumental albums that were soundtrack or artist-based at the time and where most of them are typically piano-based or orgel-based, this one featured over a hundred musicians and didn’t want to pass it up.
An album that I listened to a lot back then and you may be able to pick it up quite cheap now.