A Covert Operation - Mission 8: Cover Yourself

Taiyou to Ciscomoon / T&C Bomber was active for only a year and a half, but they managed to release eight singes and two albums during that time. Since then they have been covered SIX times by other Hello! Project acts. Aside from Morning Musume, which has been active for more than 12 years and has more than five times as much material, it is the most covered unit.

Mission 8: Cover Yourself (Taiyou to Ciscomoon / T&C Bomber

A Covert Operation - Mission 7: Til Death

Nine years after the release of Morning Musume's ninth single "Happy Summer Wedding" (ハッピーサマーウェディング) Hello! Project returned to the theme with the compilation album Champloo① ~Happy Marriage Song Cover Shuu~ (チャンプル① ~ハッピーマリッジソングカバー集~). So let's get ready to say "til death do us part."

Mission 7: Til Death

A Covert Operation - Mission 6: Cover Yuu

It wasn't long after Morning Musume replaced Pink Lady as the best-selling girl group in Japan that the Heisei-period girls released a tribute album to the man who wrote the Showa-period ladies' best-selling hits. Released 2008.11.26, COVER YOU features 14 songs written by master songwriter Aku Yuu, including three tracks originally by Pink Lady themselves.

Mission 6: Cover Yuu

A Covert Operation - Mission 5: Folked Up

By the end of 2001 Nakazawa Yuko had served her tenure in Morning Musume and established a solo career. In November of that year she teamed up with former second-gen musume Ichii Sayaka to release a folk music cover album, FOLK SONGS. The album turned into a five-part series with two concerts.

Mission 5: Folked Up

A Covert Operation - Mission 4: Singled Out

For five years Tsunku wrote nearly every single released by Hello! Project, but in late 2002 Goto Maki released the double A-side Sans Toi Ma Mie / Kimi to Itsumademo. "Sans Toi Ma Mie" was a cover of a Salvatore Adamo song that Tsunku had translated into Japanese. Two months later Morning Musume released a cover of "Hyokkori Hyoutanjima," the theme song of an old children's show of the same name. It was the first true Hello! Project cover single, and seven H!P acts have gone on to release cover singles as well.

Edit: A new discovery! Heike Michiyo's second single, "Sotsugyou ~TOP OF THE WORLD~" (卒業 〜TOP OF THE WORLD〜), is a cover of The Carpenters' 1973 hit single "Top of the World." Former Sharam Q member Makoto wrote the Japanese lyrics for Michiyo's version.

Mission 4: Singled Out

A Covert Operation - Mission 3: Encovers

In 1997 at the age of 24 Nakazawa Yuko's life changed forever. Thanks to "losing" a competition she went from lowly OL (office lady) to the "leader" of a new singing group: Norning Musume. After the group had released two popular major singles Yuko became the first member to embark on a solo career.

Mission 3: Encovers

Yuko's first singles were in the enka style, and, subsequently, so was her first album. Nakazawa Yuko Dai Isshou (中澤ゆうこ第一章) featured the A- and B-sides of her first two singles, two original tracks, and six enka covers of popular songs of the past.

Hello! Café Morning Coffee tasting

Welcome to Hello! Café! You've come just in time for our special Morning Coffee tasting event. We have seven delicious blends and you're welcome to as many tastes as you can handle!

A Covert Operation - Mission 2: Double You

Tsuji Nozomi and Kago Ai graduated from Morning Musume on August 1, 2004, but during their last three months in the group they began activity as a cover unit: W!

Mission 2: Double You

W's first release was a cover of The Peanuts' "Koi no Vacance." The single included two couplings, which were also Peanuts covers. The Peanuts were identical twins, thus making them the perfect duo for the twinned Kago and Tsuji to emulate. W went on to release a cover album, another cover single, and a second album containing some cover tracks.

A Covert Operation - Mission 1: Kaorin

A couple of days ago I wrote about Melon Kinenbi's cover single "Namida no Taiyou" and I included a list of Hello! Project cover singles. This brought me to thoughts of the entire cover albums that have also been released. And thus I have decided to embark on a quest to collect the originals of songs covered by Hello! Project. Now begins A Covert Operation.

Mission 1: Kaorin

While still an active member of Morning Musume Iida Kaori released three albums and two singles, and after she graduated she released one more album. These releases all had a Mediterranean theme, and in fact the first two albums were cover albums of popular songs in French, Italian, and Greek. Her fourth album also contained two covers, one in French and one in Italian.

Namida no Taiyou: a cover for every decade

Lately I've been spending a lot of time reformatting the release pages for Melon Kinenbi over at wiki.JpopStop, and today I ran across an interesting tidbit that I was previously unaware of. Melon Kinenbi's twelfth single (Namida no Taiyou) is a cover. But it's not just a cover, it's song sort of ultimate debut song.



The song was originally released as Emy Jackson's debut single Namida no Taiyou (Crying in a Storm) back in 1965. It's in English and is a rockin' little track. It's credited to Emy Jackson to Smashmen, whoever the Smashmen are.


Eight years later Anzai Maria, who was a quarter European by birth, released her debut: Namida no Taiyou with Japanese lyrics! It's definitely got that '70s sound like early Pink Lady.


Tanaka Minako debuted in 1989, and guess what her first single was. Yep, a new version of Namida no Taiyou. This time we get both Japanese and English lyrics, and an '80s-tastic instrumental. Ah, the synths and the sound of breaking glass!


That same year Sandii & The Sunsetz released their own cover of Namida no Taiyou (with English lyrics) for a slim mentholated cigarette commericial. Fun fact: TV ads for cigarettes were outlawed in the U.S. in 1971 and in the U.K. in 1965 but are still legal in Japan.


After a 14-year lull the world saw the return of Namida no Taiyou on B'z guitarist Matsumoto Tak's cover album THE HIT PARADE with vocals by Aiuchi Rina. This version's got a hard guitar track and with a nice modern sound.


Of course 2004 brought the version we all know and love. Melon Kinenbi's twelfth single Namida no Taiyou. I believe this is their only cover released under Hello! Project aside from MEGA MELON's "GIVE ME UP."

Nearly every major group and soloist in Hello! Project has released at least one cover single. Don't believe me? Here's a list of H!P cover singles:

• Goto Maki - "San Toi Ma Mie" (originally by Salvatore Adamo)
• Matsuura Aya - "Watarasebashi" (originally by Moritaka Chisato)
• Morning Musume - "Hyokkori Hyoutanjima" (originally by Maekawa Yoko & Young Fresh), "Pepper Keibu" (originally by Pink Lady)
• Berryz Koubou - "Dschinghis Khan" (originally by Dschinghis Khan)
• °C-ute - "Shochuu Omimai Moushiagemasu" (originally by Candies)
• Abe Natsumi - "The Stress" (originally by Moritaka Chisato)
• Minimoni - "Rock 'n' Roll Kenchoushozaichi" (originally by Moritaka Chisato)
• v-u-den - "Nanni mo Iwazu ni I LOVE YOU" (originally by Morning Musume)
• W - "Koi no Vacance" (originally by The Peanuts) and "Koi no Fuga" (originally by The Peanuts)
• Melon Kinenbi - "Namida no Taiyou"
  

I wonder when Mano Erina's first cover single will come :D