On listening to Morning Musume's Hawaiian de Kiku CD

This CD has been gathering dust on my shelf. I have it part of my collection for no other reason because of what it is at face value, a novelty and not part of Morning Musume's canon. But as I was re-alphabetizing my CDs ,or re-kanjiitizing them if you will, (shut-up, I was bored and feeling a little squirrelly) I decided to finally have a listen to it, and what I heard made me smile with heartfelt glee for the under-appreciated treasure that it actually is.

The CD was released in 2002 and contains Hawaiian musical interpretations of select Morning Musume's singles up to Mr. Moonlight. The various H!P members contributing their vocal abilities are Morning Musume, Ayaka Kimura and Mika Todd the only two remaning members of Coconuts Musume, Miki Fujimoto at the time still an H!P solo artist, Rika Ishii former Princess Princess member and at the time another H!P solo artist, and Boo Takagi a Japanese Hawaiian who also sang and did most of the musical arrangement of the original songs to fit the Hawaiian musical style (slide guitars and ukeleles).

For the most part all of the songs retain the original single's melodies and cadence. But what was surprising to me is how some of the songs have actually been made better in the Hawaiian versions. On the other hand, some of the songs just didn't lend themselves well to a Hawaiian interpretation, and some are just not even fit to have been attempted let alone recorded. Here's my ranking of the songs on the CD from worst to best.

#12 - Actual Track 11 - Furusato - This song will forever be identified with Natsumi Abe, and also definitely marks the musical departure of Morning Musume from ingenues singing adult-themed songs, to when they crossed the line into cheerful bubblegum with their follow-up single, Love Machine. But this interpretation, sung mostly by Boo Takagi with all of the girls merely singing unharmonized backup is, to put it politely....shit! It's hard to listen to this song sung by anyone else other than Natsumi Abe, but it is absolutely excruciating to listen to an old man sing this song which is about a young girl living in Tokyo and having an unrequited love and crying out for mother's guidance. Worst attempt at auditory homocide EVER!!!

#11 - Actual Track 12 - Morning Musume Hawaiian Medley - This track seems to have been an afterthought, made for and sounding as nothing but for the simple reason to pad the length of the CD from an EP to LP. Each of the tracks in this medley do not flow very well into each other because of the awkward changes in tone between songs that the mixers and sound engineers don't bother to attempt to vari-speed so they went with ukelele riffs to segue between songs. Made up mostly of tracks from the album, the only noticeable thing about this track is that it includes a short clip of Souda! We're Alive, a track that didn't actually make it in the final CD other than in this medley.

#10 - Actual Track 5 - The PEACE! - The call and response of this song's opening doesn't translate very well into a Hawaiian version and the syncopation and happiness of the original is lost in this rather bland and unenergetic re-working set to a plodding and uninspired 2/4 time.

#9 - Actual Track 2 - Renai Revolution 21 - Just like The PEACE! this songs loses a lot of what it made it such a good single with its translation to a Hawaiian arrangement. Just as bland and lacking in energy as The PEACE! but only slightly better.

#8 - Actual Track 8 - Summer Night Town - Sung only by the remaining 1st and 2nd Generation Kaori Iida, Natsumi Abe, Kei Yasuda, and Mari Yaguchi, the slide guitar in this Hawaiian version is hauntingly beautiful, but unfortunately the vocals are a bit lacking and the quick phrasing of the verses don't really work in comparison to the quietness of the track as a whole.

#7 - Actual Track 3 - Love Machine - With vocals from Morning Musume generations 1 through 4 only, unfortunately most of the vocals for the verses are sung by Boo Takagi, save for the middle eight and the chorus which the girls do a good job with. But this isn't really a Hawaiian version, this is still very much a disco song, but played with Hawaiian instruments, and therefore an uninspired cop out.

#6 - Actual Track 7 - I Wish - The dividing line for me between the bad songs on this CD versus the good ones. Vocals by Kei Yasuda, Maki Goto, Rika Ishikawa, Hitomi Yoshizawa, and Ai Kago only. This one is unremarkable, but it isn't bad per se. Boo Takagi singing a number of the important lines about receiving silly emails or being scared about talking to someone else and such are not fitting for the song, however. This one should have been left only for the girls to sing.

#5 - Actual Track 6 - Koi no Dance Site - I never liked the original song as I thought it was an undeserving follow-up to the million-selling, reputation-making single that was Love Machine. However, the Hawaiian version is a noticeable improvement that ups the fun factor and cleans up the somewhat messy vocals of the original single. The inclusion of Boo Takagi in this one is actually welcome as it creates the much needed vocal counterpoint to the girls that sounds like fatherly advice on the joy and wonder of falling in love.

#4 - Actual Track 9 - Morning Coffee - The single that officially started all, and thank the stars for it. Vocals by Kaori Iida and Natsumi Abe with only quiet harmony and counterpoint by Boo Takagi. This one is vocally clean by the two girls and absolutely sweet sounding as though not exactly a love song between a girl and an unseen boy, but a sweet declaration of love and friendship between IIda and Abe.

#3 - Actual Track 10 - Mr. Moonlight - This is a much quieter version in comparison to the original single, but it still manages to keep its energy and fun. Vocals by Natsumi Abe, Maki Goto, Hitomi Yoshizawa, Ayaka Kimura, Mika Todd, Miki Fujimoto, and Rika Ishii. Listening to the note perfect delivery of every line by each of the girls is to find a new appreciation to their vocal abilities, usually buried by a lot of production. Boo Takagi's inclusion for the male speaking role delivered by Hitomi Yoshizawa in the original single takes nothing away from this very enjoyable track.

#2 - Actual Track 4 - Manatsu no Kousen - With vocals provided by Ayaka Kimura, Mika Todd, Miki Fujimoto, and Rika Ishii, this track is absolute perfection in terms of its Hawaiian arrangement and the producers wisely chose to keep Boo Takagi out of this one. ALL of the girls are note perfect, their harmonies are spot on, and the musical accompaniment with the slide guitars and ukelele strums make one imagine the 4 of them dressed in grass skirts and performing a slow and hip-tastic hula.

#1 - Actual Track 1 - Happy Summer Wedding - A great choice in making this the opening track of the CD. Sung only by Morning Musume with Boo Takagi only providing background vocal sound effects and harmonies. Retains all of the energy, fun, and charm while replacing the sitars of the original with Hawaiian slide guitars and ukulele. Yuuko Nakazawa's spoken lines are now uttered by Kaori Iida and still as cute. From the opening "Aloha!" and that awesome slide guitar riff and all the way to the final "Hai hai!" this track is sheer happiness and delivers everything that Morning Musume and H!P wanted to accomplish with this CD.

If you have this CD sitting around, gathering dust and unlistened to, do yourself a favour and play it. You may experience the same joy I did.