Splurge

5th Album / Stereo

Ki/oon KSCL 1010

Released June 28, 2006

Produced and arranged by Butch Walker (M-1, 4)
Andy Sturmer (M-2, 9, 14)
Seiji Kameda (M-3)
Takamune Negishi (M-5)
Jon Spencer (M-6)
Charley Drayton and Tamio Okuda (M-7)
Tamio Okuda (M-8)
Anders Hellgren and David Myhr (M-10)
Kenji Ueda (M-11)
Saito Kazuyoshi (M-12)
Ken Yokoyama (M-13)
Masashi Uramoto (M-15)

Highest Chart Ranking: #19
Weeks on Chart: 5

Puffy's big 10th anniversary album. In keeping with the title of the album and the festivities surrounding it, Puffy decided to go all-out in terms of producers and songwriters. Despite the large number of different people involved with making this record, it isn't disjointed in any way - the entire album flows together perfectly. There's hard rock (Ami's "Security Blanket," "Shall We Dance?", "Mogura-like," the Japanese bonus track "Basket Case"), beautiful ballads ("Koi no Etude," "Sunday In The Park," "missing you baby," Yumi's "Rakuda no Kuni"), and even a rock/power ballad to get the lighters going in concert ("Radio Tokyo"). "Hajimari no Uta" and "Nice Buddy" are present as well, but remixed differently from the single the two songs originally appeared on, which is a slight minus.

Much was made of the sheer amount of well-known talent on hand on the album: Tamio Okuda and Andy Sturmer are back, but there are also American artists like Butch Walker, Jon Spencer and Dexter Holland (also known as "that guy from The Offspring") in the mix, in addition to Japanese rockers Ken Yokoyama and Seiji from Guitar Wolf (who also had a cameo in the "Teen Titans Theme" music video). But that doesn't (and shouldn't) take the focus off of Ami and Yumi, who once again deliver an outstanding album that any Puffy fan can't do without.

Track Listing (*Bonus track)

1. Radio Tokyo (words & music: Butch Walker) (4:56)
2. Nice Buddy (words: Puffy/music: Andy Sturmer & Andy Thompson) (3:14)
3. Tokyo I'm On My Way (words & music: Dexter Holland) (2:42)
4. Shall We Dance? (words: Puffy/music: Butch Walker) (2:56)
5. Koi no Etude (words & music: Masamune Kusano) (3:30)
6. Onna Machine-gun (words: Guitar Wolf/Seiji/music: Jon Spencer) (2:48)
7. Sunday In the Park (words & music: Charley Drayton & Tamio Okuda) (4:58)
8. Mogura-Like (words & music: Tamio Okuda) (3:16)
9. missing you baby (words: Puffy/music: Andy Sturmer) (2:26)
10. Soshun Monogatari (words: Puffy/music: Anders Hellgren & David Myhr) (3:29)
11. Mogura (words & music: Hioroto Kohmoto) (3:06)
12. Rakuda no Kuni (words & music: Kazuyoshi Saito) (3:58)
13. Security Blanket (words: Ami Onuki/music: Ken Yokoyama) (4:25)
14. Hajimari no Uta (words: Puffy/music: Andy Sturmer & Bleu) (4:21)
15. Basket Case* (words: Billy Armstrong/music: Billy Armstrong, Michael Pritchard & Frank Wright) (2:52)

Notes:

• Initial pressings of the album came with bonus Puffy 10th anniversary trading cards. It would seem there were at least two editions of the record ("A-type" and "B-type") that each came with different cards.
• The jewel case for the CD is thicker than normal jewel cases, and thus will not fit in normal-sized storage slots.
• "Radio Tokyo" is a cover of a song originally done by the Marvelous 3, Butch Walker's old band.
• “Nice Buddy” and “Hajimari no Uta” were released on single almost exactly a year before Splurge came out; the two songs were also remixed for inclusion on Spluge, with the backing vocals and keyboards being mixed down in both songs.
• "Hajimari no Uta" was used as the closing theme for the 8th Pokemon movie, while "Nice Buddy" and "Koi no Etude" were used in commercials for the Daihatsu Move Latte.
• The melody and lyrics of the chorus of “Tokyo I'm On My Way” are almost identical to those of the 1978 song “Tokyo,” by Dutch band Gruppo Sportivo.
• The main guitar line of “Shall We Dance?” is seemingly derived from the main riff of “My Sharona” by the Knack.
• “Basket Case” is a cover of the Green Day hit from 1994.

Other

• Larger Image of Album Cover
• Collectable 10th Anniversary Trading Card #4/12
• Collectable 10th Anniversary Trading Card #8/12
• Image of CD
• Splurge / PUFFY at CDJapan
• Splurge at YesAsia
• Splurge at Amazon.co.jp