Namie Amuro Play Tour 2007 Cover Scan

I saw Namie Amuro's Play Tour 2007 DVD for sale today, so I decided to make an impulse purchase. I had seen the Play concert on JPOPSUKI, but my ISP does a great job in preventing me from getting it. The concert was okay. I don't think there's much lasting value, since I don't see myself watching it more than two times. I would recommend you "sample" this concert before you buy it, since the concert wasn't spectacular.

I love the DVD cover:

The Namie Amuro Play Tour 2007 cover, scanned by me. I'm a newbie at scanning stuff, so hopefully it turned out correctly. It was originally scanned at 300dpi and Flickr shrunk it down to 692x1024 (which is not too bad of a resolution). I wasn't able to find a large scan of the cover anywhere, so this is my attempt to scan something.

Not Dead...Yet. Just Really Busy

I've been really busy with work, so haven't had time to do anything Jpop related.

Luckily, even when I'm completely out of touch with Jpop, I can always rely on these two great sites for finding recent and older releases:

Jpop n' Kpop
Too Fast To Live

Basically, they are my JPOPSUKI substitutes, since I would get exactly what shows up on those two sites anyway :) If you didn't know about those resources before, check them out!

Monkey Majik's new single is out tomorrow. Hopefully it won't be disappointing or I'll be crushed.

Monkey Majik - Together

Title: Together
Artist: Monkey Majik
Single: Together / Akari / Fall Back
Release date: April 23, 2008

It's about time Monkey Majik released something new in 2008. I've been eagerly waiting for something new from Monkey Majik. When I found out that the title of their new single would be Together / Akari / Fall Back, I was overjoyed at the potential for three killer songs. Hopefully these songs will be the triple counter to compete against Namie Amuro's 60s 70s 80s single, which will probably still be at the top of Oricon SINGLES TOP 30 when this single is released.

Luckily, this single starts off nicely with the song Together. Together follows the award winning Monkey Majik recipe: the use of their indie-pop style, amazing guitar playing, excellent English and Japanese vocals, and no rapping (thank God). Overall, Together has a depressing tone similar to their song "Sotsugyō, soshite mirai e.". About 85% of this song is sung in Japanese with very few consecutive lines of English. I felt that the tidbits of English were appropriate and didn't sound out of place.

I'd say the weak point of this song was the chorus. I didn't find the chorus to be particularly interesting. To me, it's a rare anomaly, since Monkey Majik choruses are usually the song's hook. Besides that, I really enjoyed the song. As an added bonus, the music video was well made too. The music video is touching, as it focuses on a mother and daughter dealing with the death of the father. This music video reminds me of the "Christmas Gift" scenario in the Nintendo DS game Elite Beat Agents, which has a similar premise (including the ghost father watching over his family). Here's the Together music video:

Mirrors:
High quality MV at Jpop n' Kpop
Flash video at JpopAsia

Lyrics: Monkey Majik - Take

Title: Take
Artist: Monkey Majik
Album: eastview
Year: 2005

Take what you will what you will
I can go where I wanna go

Take what you will what you will
I can go where I want to
Say what I want to

I forget
Repeat x4

If I changed your name
Repeat x3

Take what you will and what you will
I can go where I wanna go

Take what you will what you will
I can go where I want to
Say what I want to

I forget
Repeat x4

If I changed your name
Repeat x3

You can take back
What you wanted
I don't need it
I don't need it anymore
Repeat x2

Take what you will and what you will
I can go where I wanna go

Source: lyrics from eastview CD pamphlet, typed up by me with minor modifications. The reason for the modifications is the CD pamphlet does not repeat certain versus/choruses, so I had to recopy some lines and add repeats.

Lyrics: Monkey Majik - Apology Accepted

Title: Apology Accepted
Artist: Monkey Majik
Album: eastview
Year: 2005

Forgive me if I do forget

Forget your name seems to have changed
overnight just keep it the same
I know it's 12 o'clock
I was gonna pick you up around the blockade
Your Birthday, it's the same day, now isn't it?
Have we met before
I don't even know if you were
a purple, brown, black, blond, blue eyed, red head
I don't remember

Apology Accepted

Source: lyrics from eastview CD pamphlet. Odd song, I can't actually hear most of these lyrics, so I typed it up as is.

Lyrics: Monkey Majik - Inside

Title: Inside
Artist: Monkey Majik
Album: eastview
Year: 2005

Did you ever wonder how we got this far
All these little people crammed up in a jar (I know)
Living like we take for granted everyday
Made up of a single thought that blinds our way

All I ever wanted wasn't there to take
A reason to explain my only real mistake
Even if I asked you wouldn't clear my name
'Cause that is just something for me

Leave me inside here wither with you
This is the place I belong to
Tell me in secret what should I do
Tell me you need me with you

Did you ever wonder how we got this far
All these little people crammed up in a jar (I know)
Living like we take for granted everyday
Made up of a single thought that blinds our way

All I ever wanted wasn't there to take
A reason to explain my only real mistake
Even if I asked you wouldn't clear my name
'Cause that is just something for me

Leave me inside here wither with you
This is the place I belong to
Tell me in secret what should I do
Tell me you need me with you

Source: lyrics from eastview CD pamphlet, typed up by me with minor modifications. The reason for the modifications is the CD pamphlet does not repeat certain versus/choruses, so I had to recopy some lines.

Lyrics: Monkey Majik - I was waiting

Title: I was waiting
Artist: Monkey Majik
Album: eastview
Year: 2005

I was waiting
Everybody knew my name
If you didn't notice
Everything was still the same
'Cause everywhere I go they're watching
Everyday I hear them screaming
Everything is building up on me
'Cause everywhere I go they're watching
Everyday I hear them screaming
Everything is building up on me

Everybody wants to be like me
Repeat x2

Hanging on a string
It's never too late
'Cause I want it
Repeat x2

I was waiting
Nothing ever came my way
Didn't even notice
Everything would be the same
'Cause everywhere I go they're watching
Everyday I wake up screaming
Everything is building up on me
'Cause everywhere I go they're watching
Everyday I wake up screaming
Everything is building up on me

Everybody wants to be like me
Repeat x2

Hanging on a string
It's never too late
'Cause I want it
Repeat x2

'Cause everywhere I go they're watching
Everyday I wake up screaming
Everything is building up on me

Source: lyrics from eastview CD pamphlet, typed up by me with minor modifications. The reason for the modifications is the CD pamphlet does not repeat certain versus/choruses, so I had to recopy some lines and add repeats.