Favorite J-Pop Singles: Nishida Hikaru / Oh My God!! Da Ne~
It's been a Nishida Hikaru kind of weekend here! In my last post I talked about how J-pop artist Nishida Hikaru had taken one of her slower, jazzy songs and turned it into a quick-tempo’ed rocker with Bibidebu, and now here’s one of her songs where she went the OPPOSITE way, turning her fast paced pop tune “Oh My God!! Da Ne” into a smoky, bluesy number!
Oh My God!! Da Ne is a song off of one of Hikaru's early albums , the 1990 "Tokimeki No Prologue", but I've always thought of it as one of her later songs because I first heard it on her 1994 compilation album, "The Very Best Of Hikaru Nishida" (which came after her Sundance album). In any case, it was a song I dug very very much!
This song has always been a staple of Hikaru's Live Concerts, this particular performance of the song is from her 1991 tour MANATSU-JOUZU promoting her new album “Esprit” . This is the beginning of the “classic” Hikaru Era for me, with Hikaru as bright and peppy as a Pony Canyon Idol should be:
Fast forward to over half a decade later, late 1997 from her last tour and concert video “Hippy Happy Groove”, Hikaru has grown up and become a fetching young woman and her stage set refelcts this- this show is a LOT more like a regular club performance (though she does get genki and peppy as the show progresses) featuring a female vocalist and her band!
Such a strong, tuff take on Oh My God (love the parts where she’s struttin’ across the stage, so cool!) And though I wasn't able to get a CD release of Bibidebu Dance Version, I WAS able to get a copy of this slow blues version of Oh My God when they released a Live CD of the Hippy Happy Groove Tour!
So great listening to it again- And if you wondered just how much more mature this Hikaru Concert was compared to the earlier ones, THIS is what Hikaru was wearing under that overcoat :
HOLY COW that ain’t standard Idolwear!! Ya know, we always knew that Hikaru had the goods but this is the first time I think we get to see her rockin' it onstage! Thass a real LADY up there!
