The first Moritaka Chisato Album that I purchased at the beginning of what would become a lifelong love of all things j-pop was Chisato’s awesome 1996 greatest hits package called, plainly enough, DO THE BEST. The album, which I had bought chiefly for her latest (at the time) single, FUTARI WA KOIBITO, was the gateway that would introduce me to all the other great songs that Chisato had, and with songs like Watashi No Natsu, Watarase Bashi, Natsu No Hi, and Watashi Ga Obasan Ni Nattemo, I eventually liked her enough to venture into getting all of her albums as well, and Moritaka-san soon became one of my favorite j-pop acts of all time!
Amidst the rock and roll tunes and zany novelty songs on DO THE BEST came quite a few of Chisato’s very best ballads, including the aforementioned Watarase Bashi, the incredibly melancholy Kyo Kara, and a sweet little keyboard driven tune called Ame.
Though a pretty song in its own right, It wasn’t until I saw Chisato performing it on the almighty LIVE ROCK ALIVE Concert that I really began to like it, and it wasn’t until a chance viewing on MUSIC FAIR that it became a song that I absolutely LOVED!
Viewers of MUSIC FAIR know how the format of the show goes: usually they’ll invite an older, seasoned artist and pair them up with a new and upcoming artist. They showcase the two artists performing together, then after a brief interview, the individual artists will sing their latest songs. At least, that’s the way it USED to be, I’m not sure what kind of procedure the show goes through nowadays…
Anyway, on this one occasion, they’d invited both Moritaka Chisato and the newly solo Okui Kaori (whose band Princess Princess had broken up a short time earlier)- Now, Moritaka Chisato and Princess Princess have always had a sort of close working relationship, (as witness the old clip of Puri Puri performing Chisato’s “Teriyaki Burger” with her), so you knew that you were in for something FUN and out of the ordinary!
Sure enough, that fateful Music Fair episode started off with a bang! The show opened on a somber setting with the two established artists sitting at back-to-back pianos, and after a quick opening of “Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head”, the song segued into the most UNIQUE performance of “Ame” ever heard, as the Chisato song got the full Okui Kaori treatment! Kaori’s arrangement skills have always been a HUGE part of Puri Puri’s sound, and she didn’t hold back here-with swirling piano melodies decorated around Chisato’s straight forward playing, the song became a lush, dreamy body of work, all building up to an incredible, RICH chorus as Kaori sang harmonies along with the usually-solo voiced Chisato. WOW!!!
That would have been fantastic enough, but after the interviews with both girls, it came to the part where the artists sing their latest singles. But in an interesting twist, CHISATO sang lead on Kaori’s new song “Happyman”, with Kaori’ band playing background, and Kaori and her band sang Chisato’s new single “La La Sunshine”, with a bonus: CHISATO WAS PLAYING DRUMS!!! YES!!!
Ah MAN, what an awesome show that was!!!!!
After that show, I immediately dug up my Do The Best CD and listened to Ame afresh, totally seeing it in a new light! And you know, there are actually three or so different versions of Ame available on Chisato’s albums, so there’s a version for everyone!
I lean towards the rock version from THE MORITAKA album, but truth be told, whenever I hear Ame, the version I REALLY want to hear is that magical Music Fair take of the song!