As a modern fan of Momoe Yamaguchi, my catalog of Momoe albums exists totally in Boxed CD Collections like Momoe Premium, Momoe Premium Live and the Momoe Update collection. Though I can boast that I have all of her released albums and singles on CD, the artistic side of me has always lamented not owning any “real” Momoe records: i.e.: Vinyl Albums and Vinyl 45” Singles.
Though it would be crazy to try and get ALL of her back albums in vinyl (especially since I already have them in CD), I’ve always wanted to get at least my favorite albums from her... Sometimes I’d see favorite Momoe albums or single go up for auction online, and feel a tug of longing on my heart…"someday, someday...."
When Sony Music originally released MOMOE PREMIUM, they’d left out her singles and b-sides, an oversight corrected with the MOMOE PREMIUM UPDATE. Having been listening to the first box set’s albums incessantly for quite awhile before I could get my hands on the Premium Update, by the time I got it, these singles, B-sides and unreleased tracks were like manna from Heaven for a starving Momoe fan like me!
Like most J-pop releases, the b-sides (or, as they call them, coupling tracks) are true collectable gems as they are songs that are not only not on any album, but are usually just as good as the lead single and sometimes even better! So many of these songs have become HUGE faves of mine, tunes like INTRODUCTION: HARU, CYNICAL and probably my all-time fave B-Side of hers, the pop masterpiece “Shinsenjou No ARIA”, the flipside of her equally stunning “Otomezakyu”. This was ONE single I just HAD to have!
Going on ebay recently, I was excited when I found a Japan dealer who not only had Otomezakyu, but a handful of her OTHER singles as well, among them the stellar CARNIVAL, (with its the aforementioned b-side Introduction Haru) Zettai Zetsume, Imitation Gold, Be Silent, and my favorite A-Side of hers, “Yumesaki Annainin”!
They even had Momoe’s “Rock N Roll Widow”, which, though the B-side “Apocalypse Love” WAS on an album, (the excellent MOEBIUS GAME) was such an iconic 45 that I HAD to have it anyway! Needless to say, I bought them ALL up and HALLELUJAH, just today, my package came in, and as you can see, THEY’RE FREAKING BEAUTIFUL!
An OBVIOUS plus about having these singles is how cool the sleeves are! Picture sleeves as a rule are nice to look at (seeing as they’re there to promote purchasing), but Momoe’s are a step up because she is so freaking pretty on them, I mean my GOSH, look at how she looks on the cover of Yumesaki Annainin, she is so, so, damn BEAUTIFUL! I could just eat her up.
Another thing that’s so interesting is how DIFFERENT she looks in each of these 45’s. Like the Beatles(yes, I’m going there), Momoe was active for only about 7 years (Beatles 1962-70, Momoe 1972-80), but just like them, managed to musically advance from album to album in giant strides, so much that her early sunshiney, bubble-gummy output barely resembles her later work which was more serious, melancholy and hard-rock edged… and this is evident just by how she LOOKS on the sleeves! From bright wide eyed cutie to dark, smouldering siren , Momoe is the TOTAL package!
Sure, for a person like me whose phonograph has long ceased to function in any proper sense, you could say that these 7” platters are a fairly useless commodity, but as a COLLECTOR, these seven inch gems are a priceless addition to my Momoe Yamaguchi collection! I don’t know, maybe only someone who grew up in the 70’s can know the real thrill of getting a new 45 inch single of a song you’ve just fell in love with off the radio, holding the sleeve in your hands and poring over the credits as you spun the disc over and over and OVER again on the phonograph…that’s how I felt unpacking these treasures this morning!
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com
