CD Review :: Yusuke - Ano .. Konnan Dekimashita Kedo.
Cover For Both CD Only & CD + DVD Editions :
Tracklist :
1) Minna no Uta (Everyone's Song)
2) Himawari (Sunflower)
3) Naminori (Surfing) My Story
4) Ichou (Gingko)
5) Hane (Wings)
6) Machi (Town)
7) U-sic
8) Wanpaku Yakyuu Baka (Mischievous Baseball Fool)
9) 10nen (Years) Feat DOHZI-T
10) Tanpopo (Dandelion)
11) Kaizokusen (Pirate Ship) ~1-bannin no Sen'in (10,000 Crews) Ver.~
12) Ijime (Bullying)
13) Never Ever Feat lecca
14) Suimen (Water Surface)
Ano .. Konnan Dekimashita Kedo. is Yusuke's debut album . It was released on 16th Dec '09 & his debut offering contains his 1st 3 singles which were released last year .
The album debuted at #2 with 1st week sales of 167,499 & most if not all the songs were written & composed by him .
Minna no Uta (Everyone's Song) is a nice upbeat song to kick start Ano .. Konnan Dekimashita Kedo. & I definitely find it catchy & light hearted after listening to Minna no Uta .
Himawari (Sunflower) is Yusuke's debut solo single & this was used as the theme song for his biopic drama Kamiji Yusuke Monogatari .
This's the song that got me interested in his material to begin with & I still like it even up to now . You can feel the sincerity/maturity he displayed in his debut solo offering which I felt it was a good stepping stone for him .
Naminori (Surfing) My Story is the 2nd album track & just like the title of the song itself , you can hear the sounds of sea being echo in the music background & I think this's something you might visualise yourself listening to if you're chilling out in a beach .
Ichou (Gingko) is Yusuke's 3rd single & this's the last single that he released before Ano .. Konnan Dekimashita Kedo. was released .
This's no doubt is a touching love song which sampled the classical music piece Pachelbel's Canon in its melody & I still think it's clever of Yusuke to sample this classic melody & utilised it to his advantage .
Hane (Wings) is track #5 & it's the only album track that received a music video .
The opening of Hane caught me by surprise because it had some gorgeous orchestra strings & I thought it might be another modern meets classical song just like Ichou but it morphed into a pop no. as soon as the opening's done .
Pity I say because I honestly do not mind another Ichou part 2 but Hane's fine with me .
Machi (Town) is the next album track & this's a light hearted mid tempo track & this has a nice piano driven melody attached to it . It's 1 of those songs that you might catch yourself humming alongside without realising as each listen goes by .
U-sic is the only album interlude & this flows straight to track #8 Wanpaku Yakyuu Baka (Mischievous Baseball Fool) in which it's probably the most amusing song , title wise .
I thought Wanpaku Yakyuu Baka was going to be a crazy song but it turned out to be a fast paced pop song that's somewhat electro driven . It's catchy but I was hoping for another Kaizokusen or something from Yusuke LOL
10nen (Years) is the 1st collaborative song you can find in Ano .. Konnan Dekimashita Kedo. & this no. features rapper DOHZI-T .
I find that 10nen 1 of the stronger album tracks seeing that both Yusuke & DOHZI-T's vocals gel extremely well together in this piano driven ballad .
In fact , I took an instant liking to 10nen when I 1st listened to it as well since there're not much album ballads you can find in his debut album offering .
The next 2 songs are the 1st 2 A-sides of his 2nd single Tanpopo / Kaizokusen / Sono Kobushi & Sono Kobushi is excluded from Ano .. Konnan Dekimashita Kedo.
Tanpopo (Dandelion) is a simple man's sincere love song & if you have watched the video pertaining to Tanpopo , I suppose Yusuke more or less convey the message behind this no. pretty well & nicely .
It's almost like a follow up from Himawari since both song titles are the names of flowers to begin with .
Kaizokusen (Pirate Ship) is the energetic Soca dance number & in Ano .. Konnan Dekimashita Kedo. , it has been given an album mix in the form of a ~1-bannin no Sen'in (10,000 Crews) Ver.~ .
This's probably still Yusuke's most craziest song to date since I did had a shock when I 1st listened to Kaizokusen .
The difference between the single & album versions of Kaizokusen is that in here , the background vocals are more louder which almost like 10,000 people shouting stuff in the background hence the whole ~1-bannin no Sen'in Ver.~ .
Ijime (Bullying) is a laidback guitar driven no. . After the introduction's out of the way , Ijime becomes a more pop driven no. which's something that Yusuke sounded at ease in here .
Never Ever is the 2nd collborative song you can find in Ano .. Konnan Dekimashita Kedo. & in here , this song features the vocals of lecca .
On 1st listen , I found Never Ever to be a cool somewhat upbeat Christmas driven no. & just like 10nen , both artistes's vocals complimented each other pretty well for that matter .
Suimen (Water Surface) is the final track & incidentally , it took me quite a while to remember how Suimen sounded like .
For once , it's a mellow tune & it has influences of Enka which's something that Yusuke didn't ventured into .
I wouldn't consider Suimen as a fave album track of mine but this closed the album off pretty nicely .
Overall , Ano .. Konnan Dekimashita Kedo. is quite a solid debut offering coming from Yusuke . There're many different music styles he showcased in his debut album & he pretty much showcased everyone that he's quite versatile .
Also considering the fact that he wrote & compose pretty much the whole record , it's something worth commending about/for .
I sure hope to see more top quality releases from him & I think that will happen as 2009 was a really great year for him .
