An enjoyable collaboration with Japanese alternative rock band The Pillows and San Francisco artist Ben Kweller for a single celebrating Tower Record Japan’s 30th Anniversary. For The Pillows fans, “Lightning Runaway – No Music. No Life-” is an enjoyable single worth checking out, if you can find it!
ARTIST: The Pillows & Ben Kweller
CD SINGLE: Lightning Runaway – No Music. No Life –
LABEL: avex trax
CATALOG #: AVC1-31686
DURATION: 2:27
RELEASE DATE: September 2, 2009
- Lightning Runaway – No Music. No Life.-
With the 30th Anniversary of Tower Records Japan (which was run independent from the international chain), one of the largest music retail outlets in the world, the company celebrated its anniversary with a compilation album titled “No Music, No Life. Songs.” (The motto has been part of Tower Records along with their “Face the Music!”).
One of the singles from the album featured Japanese alternative rock band the Pillows and San Francisco singer/songwriter/musician Ben Kweller and was a low-priced one-track single at 500 Yen to promote the compilation album.
The single featured the track “Lightning Runaway ~no music, no life~”, an all-English rock track featuring lyrics and vocals by Ben Kweller and music by vocalist Sawao Yamanaka. The track features rock music ala “The Pillows” style with guitars by Sawao Yamanaka and Yoshiaki Manabe and pretty cool percussion courtesy of Shin’ichiro Sato. The Pillows provide the music and the background vocals to Kweller and for the most part, the track is an enjoyable track with a pretty cool musical arrangement.
The CD insert features the English lyrics and the Japanese translation of the lyrics.
Overall, for fans of the Pillows, “Lightning Runaway – No Music. No Life.-” is a single worth checking out if you can find it. Although not a difficult single to find (if you are in Shibuya, Japan) but because it is a Tower Records exclusive, TRJ is the only outlet this single can be purchased. Check it out!