Fever*Fever
2nd Album / Stereo
Epic ESCB 1995
ESYB 7165 (Mini-Disc)
SYUM 0111/2 (LP)
ESGB 301 (SACD)
Released June 23, 1999
August 4, 1999 (SACD)
Produced by Masanori Sasaji (except "Talalan" produced by Andy Sturmer)
Highest Chart Ranking: #3
Weeks on Chart: 8
For Puffy's second full-length album, they turned to Masanori Sasaji - who had previously worked with Puffy on "Yuki ga Furumachi," the B-side of "Kore ga Watashi no Ikirumichi" - to produce. Even though Tamio Okuda wasn't producing or playing guitar (or anything) this time around, he's still all over the album: in addition to adding backing vocals to several songs, he wrote or co-wrote five tracks on the album.
While Puffy's earlier work had shown a clear '60s rock influence, Fever*Fever is their most '60s-sounding album - the loud, grungy guitars that cropped up in places on previous releases are all but absent, replaced with a cleaner, more retro sound. Several instrumental choices also add to the retro mood, such as the electric sitar on "Hatarakuyo" and the Monkees-sounding electric piano on "Kirei na Namidaga Tarinai yo" (seriously, it sounds exactly like the keyboard on the Monkees' "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You").
That's not to say there's no rock and roll to be found on this album. The opener, "Stray Cats Fever" contains some of the loudest, most pounding drumming you'll hear on a Puffy song, while "Yume no Tameni" (a single) and "Koi no Line Ai no Shape" (featuring stellar drumming from the song's writer, Shoko Suzuki) also rock out in classic Puffy style. Elsewhere Puffy continue to branch out, with orchestrated pop ("Hatarakuyo," "Dore ga Sore wo"), country (Ami's "Always Dreamin' About You"), and even a rumba ("Puffy de Rumba" - duh) all being added to the mix.
As a bonus, this album presents Ami and Yumi working by themselves on several tracks, performing songs they'd written themselves. Though none of the tracks are outstanding, they do show that Ami and Yumi - if they wanted to - could probably write an album of catchy rock songs.
Lastly, Andy Sturmer - the "Godfather of Puffy" - finally makes his debut as a producer on an official Puffy album (on "Talalan," the leadoff single from the album). Though he had already produced a track on solosolo, that's not considered an official "Puffy" album.
The CD is well worth tracking down; however, resellers are probably your only hope, as the disc is long out of print.
