Favorite J-Pop Songs: Nishida Hikaru / Bibidebu

Though most of Queen’s radio-listening public only know of their “stadium stomp-and-chant” version of “We Will Rock You”, those who have heard and seen their live concerts know that there is in fact a FAST (and incredibly catchy) Rock N Roll Version of the song (at the time of the “News of the World” tour, it was their opening song, no less) with pounding drums, droning bass and sonic guitarwork! This version was so different from the studio recording that BOTH versions were featured in a single concert!
 Speaking about Queen and J-pop in the same breath might draw ire from some, but when I hear the two versions of We Will Rock You, I can't help think about Nishida Hikaru and her song "Bibidebu" off of her album Love Always, because when she performed it live in concert, she did just about the same thing, giving the audience TWO versions of the song- one paced slowly and one played fast!  

 The Love Always album is really more of a Mini Album, with a mere 8 songs to its register, but what GREAT songs they are! Performed in a variety of styles, the “Bibidebu” track is Hikaru’s ode to those classic old jazzy torch songs, with tinkling ivory piano, brassy horns and a cool, smoky shuffling beat:

Though Hikaru did a tour for the Love Always album, it was the following year’s “Sophisticated Yanchya Lady” tour (promoting her next album “A File Of Life”) which REALLY showcased Bibidebu and made me love it! Unlike the previous tour which played all the Love Always tracks equally,  in THIS concert , they OPENED the show with Bibidebu!! The Concert starts in darkness, and as Hikaru appears on top of the stairs, WHAM, the horns blare out, and then Hikaru enters the stage, shuffling out as cool as a cat! I was like WHOA, what a beginning!!

What a cool and SASSY song this was! I never realized how good this song was until seeing it performed here! And from there they went right into another Love Always song "Tsukiyo No Mermaid" which was great, too, and then they moved on to the new FILE OF LIFE songs as well as a few old favorites. I was thoroughly immersed in the show, Like most Pony Canyon artists, Hikaru was blessed with awesome stage musicians and the charismatic dancers and background singers, all of which helped to make a SOLID show!  Little did I know that the best was yet to come!
After the end of the "main" portion of the show, (giving her fake "goodbyes" which everyone in the audience knew was a sham) Hikaru left the stage, but she returned for her ENCORE set to perform two more songs, one the playful "Go Paradise" with singers SWEET BEAT SOUL whom I've mentioned before here) and then, to my surprise, they did Bibidebu AGAIN...but WHOA- this was a version I'd never heard before- fast, poppy and FUN! 
Queen used their rocking version of We Will Rock You as the opening song to their concert, conversely, Hikaru uses the dance version of Bibidebu as the CLOSER of her concert, since she'd opened the show with the slow version, having this peppy version seemed like a perfect "reprise" to it, perfectly "Book-Ending" the entire show!

I gotta tell you, the first time I watched this, I was so freaking blown away- I already loved the jazz version, but to have this dancey track with Hikaru, her band and the dancers all rocking out and wrapping up the big show with so much happiness and passion my GOSH, it made me love the song even MORE! So, so catchy!!!
Just about the only drawback being that since it was at the end of a very energetic show, Hikaru is really out of breath for most of the song, and it’s times like this that I really, really wish that there was a proper STUDIO recording of the fast version. But twas not to be! 
 I found out that they released a CD of the 1994 Sophisticated Lady Concert and leapt up with happiness thinking that AT LEAST I’d have the LIVE version! But I guess that since they already included the song ONCE  (and space was limited) they CUT the fast version from the CD! ARGHHH.

Sophisticated Lady Live CD 

Watching the live performance again, it occurs to me that maybe Hikaru's voice was a bit TOO MUCH out of breath to justify releasing it on CD, but my GOSH does it ROCK live, in context of the whole concert video, this is such a powerful ending, everyone’s spirits are high and they’re all happily exhausted knowing they’ve given the audience a GREAT show! Lucky for us, we can watch it over an dover again!

Sophisticated Lady Video. Couldn't they have used the Live CD cover?

PS, I have a confession to make- Much as I LOVE Hikaru’s Sophisticated Yanchya Lady Concert, my GOD, I HATED the Laserdisc Cover,  featuring Hikaru in this prickly shag wig-(she wore wigs in a couple of sets in the concert, I didn't like either but this was by far the worst, UGH!) MAN, why couldn’t they have used the CD COVER as the Laserdisc cover, too?

Ooh, wait, the paper insert has the CD artwork!

 But then I happily realized that the Laserdiscs’s inside photobooklet had the CD cover as its picture, and by sliding the booklet insert inside the laserdisc plastic  OVER the offensive cover, I could recreate the CD cover! 

What if I slide it OVER the crappy cover?

SUCCESS! Now my Laserdisc has the cover I Like!

I stuck it over the other cover, and until I removed it to take this picture, I’d never taken it off! Egh, WIGS, how I HATE them! OK, time to put the good over back on….
Posted by zdorama @ zdoramaagain.blogspot.com