Sweet Serenity
14th Album
Sony Music Direct MHCL-10092
Released 9.10.2008
Track listing
- Sweet Serenity & chocolate milk-tea
- Electric Fingerz
- Mada 30dai no On'na
- Rose Pink no Cheek (my mama said, so)
- Father Figure
- Hontou wa Kanashii Kankei
- Gyaku Propose (Kari.)
- 5 years,/And Then...
- Sweet Serenity & chocolate milk-tea (Reprise)
All words and music by Shoko Suzuki
Shoko's fourteenth album, released through Sony, whom Shoko hadn't recorded an album for in over ten years. It is also her 20th anniversary record. After the very intense and piano-heavy Suzuki Syoko album, here Shoko once again stretches herself, tackling a number of musical styles. The title track is an acoustic blues, while "Electric Fingerz" (featuring a solo from former Boredoms guitarist Seiichi Yamamoto) is a blast of hard rock that sounds slightly out of place with the rest of the record (but I still love the song, though). My favorite song on the record, "Mada 30dai no On'na" is a melancholy country-rock song featuring backing by Tokyo Local Honk (and extra beautiful vocal work by Shoko). "Rose Pink no Cheek" is a fine country ballad, and "Father Figure" is a mellow pop song with a notable Moog synthesizer line. "Hontou wa Kanashii Kankei" is so bouncy it's infectious (and is a close second to "Mada 30dai no On'na" for my favorite song on the record), and "Gyaku Propose (Kari.)" even ends with a gospel-influenced coda.
Shoko plays a vast number of instruments on this album, almost recalling her efforts on Love, painful love -- after taking a break the last album, she plays all but one drum track on the record, and even plays some guitar (only the second time she's played guitar on one of her studio records, after Love, painful love). Her vocals are still stellar (she honestly seems to get better as she gets older), as are her backing vocals -- she harmonizes with herself beautifully. I only wish the album was a bit longer -- there are only eight songs (the final track is a brief reprise of the first), which isn't a whole lot. But I love the record anyway.
Sweet Serenity [SACD Hybrid] / Shoko Suzuki - Purchase album at CDJapan
Favorite songs:
Electric Fingerz
Mada 30dai no On'na
Father Figure
Hontou wa Kanashii Kankei
Gyaku Propose (Kari.)
Credits:
Shoko Suzuki: vocals, background vocals, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, acoustic piano, Wurlitzer, Fender Rhodes, Hammond organ, harpsichord, drums, clavinet, glockenspiel, tambourine
Ryuji Yamamoto: acoustic piano, Wurlitzer, Moog, programming
Hirokazu Ogura: acoustic guitar, slide guitar
Genji Kinoshita: electric guitar, background vocals
Fumitaka Inoue: electric guitar, background vocals
Hiromu Kihara: electric guitar
Naruhi Inaba: electric guitar
Takashi Yamamoto: electric guitar, acoustic guitar
Seiichi Yamamoto: electric guitar solo on "Electric Fingerz"
Nobutaka Tsugei: pedal steel guitar
Shinobu Kawai: bass, background vocals
Kenta Arai: bass, background vocals
Mamoru Ota: bass
Takayoshi Matsunaga: bass
Kunio Tanaka: drums, background vocals
Masahiro Takekawa: violin, trumpet, cello
Takuo Yamamoto: clarinet, soprano saxophone
Produced by Shoko Suzuki
Arranged by Shoko Suzuki (M-2-4, 6-8)
Shoko Suzuki and Hirokazu Ogura (M-1, 9)
Ryuji Yamamoto (M-5)
