A small translated clip of Yuki Maeda

Yuki Maeda: For those who are watching Joy Sound, hello, this is Yuki Maeda.
Thank you for singing my latest single, “Ai Ai Daiko”.

This time, the song contains a part, “Don Don Don!”, which I think is really nice. Whenever you get a chance, please sing “Ai Ai Daiko” more often!

Thank you very much!

Hitomi Saitou's wedding

Taken from jpopmusic:

Former Melon Kinenbi member Saito Hitomi wed comedian Hachimitsu Jiro on August 3rd.
Natalie Article Translated:

It was announced that Saito Hitomi, formerly of Melon Kinenbi, married comedian Hachimitsu Jiro of Tokyo Dynamite.

They entered into the family register on August 3rd, recognized by the Japan Apiary Honey Society and the Japan Honey Union as "Honey Day (Hachi-Mitsu no Hi). There are no plans for a service or reception, nor are there plans for a press conference. Hachimitsu Jiro's official comment will stand in place of other official announcements.

Saito announced at Melon Kinenbi's break-up concert that she would be leaving show business. Since then she has appeared happily on the blogs of other former members who have begun solo work. Let's support this beginning of Saito's second life!

Official Comment from Hachimitsu Jiro & Saito Hitomi
We announce our wedding on this day.

I asked her, "What are you going to do once you've split up?"
She said, "Go back to Niigata."
I said, "I'll take care of you for the rest of our lives. Don't go back to Niigata," and gave her a ring.
Please watch over us from now on.

Hachimitsu Jiro & Saito Hitomi


source:
http://natalie.mu/music/news/35636

New songs by Kei Yasuda

I found some tidbits here and there on the net.

Apparantly Kei Yasuda has written two new songs, and they have been performed in some events realted to either H!P or some OG events.

The songs are "Mou Ichido ~I miss you~" and "Kimi e no Uta ~Always Love~" are songs by Kei. A third song, "Happy", is apparently by Kei and Mari.

I don't know any more of this, if someone does please shed some more light on this :)

Coconuts Musume complete discography review

It's so sad their complete discography consist of four singles and five songs..
An album and a tour from this group would have been great, but seeing there were problems from early on nad UFA putting all their effort in Morning Musume what happened happened.

I found someone revieweing the singles, re-posting it here:
http://totallyhelloproject.wordpress.com/2007/07/09/coconuts-musume-discography-review/



As I just recently managed to get a copy of each Coconuts Musume single I’ve finally had a chance to listen to each full single, previously I hadn’t heard most of the c/w tracks and so I’ve decided to do a mini-review for each, even although the singles are old I thought it might be informative.

Single 1 – Halation Summer / Summer Night Town (English Version) (1999-07-23)

1. Halation Summer
2. Summer Night Town (English Version)
3. Halation Summer (Instrumental)

Some people forget that Coconuts Musume’s first single was indeed a “double A-side” featuring their first original song; Halation Summer and a cover of the Morning Musume single Summer Night Town in English. Halation Summer, as the title implies has a “sunshine mood” and is a very upbeat song with nice vocals, Chelsea has a majority of the main lines with the other girls getting fewer solo lines. The song has never been concert performed as far as I am aware of. Summer Night Town (English Version) sounds quite different from Morning Musume’s in terms of vocals, Coconuts Musume sound more high pitched and the English lyrics are quite suggestive and at times a little odd.

Single 2 – DANCE&CHANCE (1999–08-25)

1. DANCE&CHANCE
2. Zurui Onna (English Version)
3. DANCE&CHANCE (English Version)
4. DANCE&CHANCE (Instrumental)

Coconuts Musume’s second single contains four tracks and is the first of their singles to be released on the now standard 12cm CD. DANCE&CHANCE is a pretty decent song though it took some getting used to for me. The Japanese version is far better than the English version in my opinion as the lyrics of the English version have clearly been tailored to suit the rhythm of the original composition. Zurui Onna (English Version) is a cover of a SharanQ song and isn’t too bad. Mika’s American accent at the start is quite humorous. I find it odd that it is a direct translation Zurui Onna as the song is about being in love with a girl. Like Halation Summer, DANCE&CHANCE features Chelsea as the main vocalist and in the PV she takes center position.

Single 3 – Tokonatsu Musume (2000-05-17)

1. Tokonatsu Musume
2. Tokonatsu Musume (Reggae Version)
3. Tokonatsu Musume (Instrumental)

This is where I think Tsunku began to get lazy. Although the a-side of this single is a very fun track and somewhat like Haltion Summer, the c/w is a poorly remixed version of it and I myself don’t class a remix as a proper coupling track. As for Tokonatsu Musume, it’s Lehua Sandbo’s debut single with Coconuts Musume and although she’s not quite as good a singer as Chelsea her voice is pretty cute. You get some Coconuts Musume stickers with this CD which is a nice surprise.

Single 4 – Watashi mo “I LOVE YOU” (2000-07-26)

1. Watashi mo “I LOVE YOU”
2. Watashi mo “I LOVE YOU” (SAMBA DE CoCo Remix)
3. Watashi mo “I LOVE YOU” (Instrumental)

Again instead of a proper coupling track this single has another pretty awful remix of the a-side which in all fairness is a rather good song. Watashi mo “I LOVE YOU” is a very fun song continuing the feel from Tokonatsu Musume. Each girl has a balanced number of lines in this song and all of them sound pretty good, Lehua’s inexperience in Japanese is notable however, though she manages to make it sound alright. The remix isn’t as bad as the Reggae Tokonatsu Musume, but it’s still not very good and sounds quite strange.

Single 5 – Jounetsu Yuki Miraisen (2001-08-22)

1. Jounetsu Yuki Miraisen
2. Koibito Boogie-Woogie
3. Jounetsu Yuki Miraisen (Instrumental)

In a change of style from the last two singles Jounestu Yuki Miraisen is a more serious song though still fast paced and fun to listen to. Ayaka, Mika & Lehua all sound very good in this single and it’s possibly their best single in terms of musical arrangement and vocals. What’s more, the single includes a completly original coupling track, not an English cover or a shoddy remix. Koibito Boogie-Woogie is a great song and the “Oh Yeah!” line which is repeated throughout the song seems to fit very well.

The worst position

A few months ago, Kei Yasuda was on a variety show (sanma no karakuri) singing a parody off of "Renai Revolution 21".
The lyrics go on about how management treats her bluntly, how everyone got their photobooks shot overseas while she got her shot at a business hotel a few blocks away from the office. It also talks aobut how she is always put in the back row. The song is called "Worst position".

Look where they put her on the cd cover xD

Afternoon Musume

I am busy with work these days, so I am shamelessly borrowing this from Jpopstop:

Afternoon Musume (アフタヌーン娘。) is a promotional unit for Georgia Coffee drinks. A song, which will be a digital release titled "Gouhoubi no Afternoon Coffee", is a slower Enka stylized version of Morning Musume's first official single "Morning Coffee". The unit consists of some of the more popular Morning Musume OG members.

Nakazawa, Iida, Abe, Yaguchi and two non-old school ex/HP girls are part of the group.

YEAH!

Let's hope more will come from this!!

Uchuu de La Ta Ta

EE Jump (produced by Tsunku, disbanded in the early 2000's) did a cover of Taiyou to Ciscomoon's "Uchuu de La Ta Ta" back in the days:



It says on the page that it is an unpublished track.
This means Aya Matsuura, Country Musume, C-ute, ZYX and EE Jump all covered various songs by Taiyou to Ciscomoon!