Love, painful love
12th Album
Warner Music Japan WPC6-10099
Released 9.27.2000
Track listing
- Suika (I turned 17 today)
- paingiver
- Fune (Crippled little boat)
- Watashi no Nozomi (Ambition)
- Sugar Daddy Baby (Sugar daddy baby)
- Gimmie Some Life
- Fuan na Iro no Blue (It rains, as it ends)
- Sickness
- Ikenai Kotokai
- Love, painful love (Demo)
All words and music by Shoko Suzuki
except "Ikenai Kotokai" words and music by Yasayuki Okamura
Shoko's twelfth album, and a landmark -- as the disc's obi states, it's the first entirely self-performed record by a major female artist. Beyond that significance, though, is my favorite Shoko Suzuki album. To me, her albums rarely have any weaknesses, but this one is one phenomenal song after another. It starts off with the one-two hard rock punch of "Suika" and "paingiver" (the album's single), then switches gears to the gentle folk pop of "Fune," then the more upbeat "Watashi no Nozomi" (which Shoko had written for Yumi Yoshimura of Puffy a few years prior). "Sugar Daddy Baby" was actually the first song from the album to be released, as a B-side to Atarashii Ai no Uta -- it's a stark, slower song dominated by electric piano and a slow, simple drum beat. "Gimmie Some Life" is another great rock song (with a pretty frantic drum part), albeit one without any guitars. My favorite song on the album, "Fuan na Iro no Blue" is a gorgeous pop song carried by wonderful vocals (lead and backing)...very wistful. "Sickness" is an '80s-style rock song, carried by its blazing synth parts, and "Ikenai Kotokai" is a simple song with only piano and vocals, but Shoko's singing completely knocks this song out of the park. Interestingly, the final track is only a short, mostly wordless demo. When the album was released, it was actually accompanied by a contest challenging record buyers to write their own lyrics to the song, then send them to Shoko and Warner Music Japan. I don't know what the outcome (if any) of that contest was, but it would be neat to find out.
The arrangments on the album are, by the nature of the project, a bit more stripped down than normal -- there aren't any strings or horns to be found anywhere. I don't really mind, however, because the arrangments are full enough as they are -- I can't imagine the songs sounding better any other way.
This album is currently out of print.
Favorite songs:
Suika (I turned 17 today)
paingiver
Fune (Crippled little boat)
Watashi no Nozomi (Ambition)
Fuan na Iro no Blue (It rains, as it ends)
Sickness
Credits:
Shoko Suzuki: vocals, background vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, banjo, bass, drums, piano, Wurlitzer, harpsichord, organ, synthesizers, glockenspiel, tambourine, percussion
Tomoyuki Konishi: synthesizer programming
Produced and arranged by Shoko Suzuki
