I’ve long held the belief that Pony Canyon are just about the MASTERS when it comes to pure, unadulterated pop-perfect tunes, with a fine pedigree of acts that include Onyanko Club, Ushirogami Hikaretai, Kudoh Shizuka, Nishida Hikaru, ribbon and the mighty CoCo. So when I was introduced to the works of cute duo BaBe, I knew I could expect some great tunes!
I was initially introduced to BaBe’s music through the wonderful Oldies But Goodies” Tsuzilla site, and eventually liked the girls enough to spring for their recent Pony Canyon collection BABE COLLECTION LITE, part of the ongoing PC project of re-releasing all of their major acts, and a nice way to get all of their singles in one swipe!
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| BaBe Collection Lite CD |
One of my favorite tunes frpm the girls was the later single “Wake Up” , but if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the years is that even if you love a song to death, you haven’t gotten the full experience ‘til you’ve seen it performed live and BOY is Wake Up a testament to THAT credo!
Like all the other Pony Canyon acts, these two girls (Tomoko Kondo and Yukari Nikaido) are a cute and genki group with a fine set of pipes and some absolutely 80’s sensibilities…think Okui Kaori during her “19 Growing Up” phase, and you’ve got the idea: white lace blouses and ripped denim jackets and jeans with bouncy synchronized dance moves!
I thought the song was peppy at first, WOW, what an awesome performance! Set up against the bouncy, bubbly tune, the girls are giving it their cheery ALL, seems like they never stop moving and their singing is soooo catchy and sincere!
Looking at the credits, I see that the band playing with BaBe is listed as a group called “Ash”. ASH? Not the absolutely ROCKING band that backed up CoCo in every single one of their Concerts as well as Miura Reiko and Senou Azusa’s SOLO Concerts? Yet, it would make SENSE , since both bands were on the Pony Canyon label and playing the same kind of masterful j-pop tunes…I wondered what the chances were?
So I’m sitting there enjoying that awesome live performance of “Wake Up” and then, at around 1:11, I spy the guitarist, and I’ll be DAMNED if he isn’t a DEAD RINGER for Noriyuki “Golden” Hamazaki, ASH Axeman extraordinaire! Well, it certainly LOOKED like him, but that could have been a coincidence, I guess. But then, as the song wound up to its rocking finale, at 3:33, the guitarist started wailing, and I INSTANTLY heard the same guitar solo style I’ve heard in CoCo live performances a la NAZE?...! MAN, I told myself, THAT”S GOLDEN HAMAZAKI, ALL RIGHT! Haha, I could be wrong, But Boy, that guy sure sounds/looks like him!!
No matter, whoever those musicians are, they rock the house, as do those two genki gals BaBe! Here’e looking to even MORE great new performance discoveries from them! Youtube here I come…